It’s time for some celebrating as my blog is turning 18 years old today! It’s so fun to go back through old blog posts and read about the  books, book lists, book hauls and the best part, the conversation with all of you.

There have been times over the past few years when I’ve thought it may be time to say goodbye to the blog but then I think of the wonderful community and the joy it brings me to share about my bookish life and I decide to stay. Many of you who’ve been blogging for a while can probably relate to this.

One thing I definitely want to say is a big thank you to all of you who stop by to visit and comment. It takes time away from family, work, and other books even so really, thank you for hanging around with me.

To celebrate this big occasion there’s nothing else than to do a bit of book shopping right? So this weekend I’ll have to either go visit a bookstore or do some online book shopping. Or maybe both! I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and I’ll be back soon with more book talk soon!

Given that I’ve been away from the blog for a while I haven’t had a chance to tell you about what I’ve been reading so I wanted to have a bit of a catch up. The first part of the year was really a struggle and I didn’t get a lot of reading done. Normally reading is my constant in times of stress but I was so drained from everything that was happening that I would pick up a book and fall asleep. Luckily my reading mojo returned around April.

I’ve been reading poetry, mystery, fiction and even some nonfiction. For today’s post though I just want to share about three books that really wowed me.

First up is What Kind of Woman by Kate Baer. I love poetry but it tend to prefer styles that are accessible and poems that focus heavily on nature or on themes that speak to me. This book centers on what it means to be a wife, mother and lover. The poems are raw but I felt there was real honesty there. Loved this collection and will definitely look for more by Kate Baer.

Then we have Atomic Habits by James Clear. I think I’m the last person to hear and read about this book but it was so interesting. I especially liked the ideas revolving around building good habits versus breaking bad habits. I’ve always been a list-maker so I’ve taken some good info from this book and have been putting it to use both in personal and work life.

Finally my other favorite was A Far Cry from Kensington by Muriel Spark. Mrs. Hawkins tells the story of her time living in London and working in the publishing industry shortly after WWII. Her life will never be the same after she tells a writer who is trying to win her favor to get in the publishing industry that he is terrible, more specifically she calls him a “pisseur de copie“. Of course that sets off a whole chain of events but Mrs. Hawkins won’t back down.

Let me know if you’ve read any of these books or if it’s a title you’ve been thinking about.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. I plan to stay indoors as much as possible, drinking cold drinks and hopefully catching up on some good reads.