Shannon Kay's Blog

My daughter’s sixth grade class was reading Holes by Louis Sachar. I decided to read it too since I had never read the book, but liked the movie. 

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The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery is one of those backlist classic books I’ve meant to read for years. I’ve loved the Anne of Green Gables book series since I was a young girl, but I haven’t read many of her other books. I read this mostly from an actual paperback book.

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Did you know that you can put photos in your GoodReads reviews? If you’re a “bookstagrammer” and also use GoodReads, adding one(or more!) of your photos to a review can let even more book lovers enjoy them.

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This year, I went to yallwest for the first time. That’s a Young Adult book festival in Santa Monica. I went by myself and had a great time meeting people and attending panels.

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Happy New Year! I truly love Rainbow Rowell’s New Year’s Eve themed short story, Midnights, and I already have it in two other volumes of her short stories. This year, I was delighted to enjoy the story in this adorably small paperback, which also has unique illustrations that are not in the other volumes. 

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In November, I started reading the Earthsea books by Ursula K. LeGuin for the first time and read Iron Flame, the sequel to Fourth Wing from earlier this year, as soon as it came out. I also continued my Jane Austen read-through by reading Mansfield Park.

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My oldest child, Guinevere, is a 12-year-old, and while there are some new challenges to tween parenting, it’s mostly pretty great. 

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We attended our second concert in as many days on Friday night. It had been a while since I attended a live performance that didn’t star one of my children.

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Last night, we left the house and saw The Beths in concert.

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The new Percy Jackson book came out this week, and I read it within two days, despite being quite busy and trying not to rush it. In the end, it was pretty short and very wonderful.

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The first 21st century Apple product that caught my eye was the pink iPod mini. After the Apple event on Tuesday, I ordered the pink Apple Watch series 9. I’m really excited about it, and planning to pass my current watch down to my tween daughter. 

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Read: August 6-29, 2023
Seasonal Vibe: Summer
Time: 2020 and 1980’s
Location: Cherry orchard in Michigan and New Hampshire
Genres: Literary, Dual Timeline, Contemporary, Historical
346 pages | 🎧 Amazing audiobook

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I was intrigued when I saw Every Duke Has His Day by Suzanne Enoch described as Bringing Up Baby, in the style of Jane Austen. I love Bringing Up Baby, which is a 1938 movie starring Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn, and a Leopard. I grew up watching it, incorporated the song from the movie(I Can’t Give You Anything But Love) into my wedding ceremony, and had a framed Bringing Up Baby poster in my living room. I also like Jane Austen books.

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I’m a seasonal planner, which means that I plan the upcoming season. This doesn’t necessarily mean that I’m planning based on the weather or the astronomical cycles. I am planning the seasons of my life and the year. This can include things like holidays, but also “back to school” and “summer vacation”.

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Enchanted to Meet You by Meg Cabot was a funny and enjoyable fantasy romantic comedy with excellent fall vibes in a cozy small town, perfect for the Halloween season. 

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The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty is a great historical fantasy adventure. Amina Al-Sirafi is a middle-aged piratey sea captain who is persuaded out of retirement and away from her daughter. What she thinks will be a fact finding and rescue mission to recover the daughter of a former crewman turns into a full scale supernatural adventure. 

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