Blogger Love!

Since I haven't done it in awhile and we are so close to Valentine's Day, I thought it would be nice to spread some love about the book blogging community and share some of my favorite bloggers!  I'm so grateful to be a part of this book blogging community - there's so much love and support, and this is just a small list (in no particular order) of some wonderful people!

Christina at Confessions of a Book Addict

 

Sam at We Live and Breathe Books

Aj at Read All The Things!

Stephanie at Bookfever

Alicia at A Kernel of Nonsense

Lindsey at Lindsey Reads

Jordan at Forever Lost in Literature

Erin at Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs

Kay at Kay's Reading Life

Happy (early) Valentine's Day!

Nonfiction November 2025: New to My TBR

 

It's the last week of Nonfiction November and it's hosted by Deb at Readerbuzz.  This last week is all about the new books we've found out about this month and what we've added to our TBRs!  Life got away from me this month and unfortunately I wasn't able to blog hop as much as I wanted to.  However, I did manage to find three new books for my TBR!  Thank you to the following bloggers:

Ice Ghosts - Read All The Things!

Uncredited - Book'dOut

Shakespeare, The Man Who Pays The Rent - What? Me Read? (I actually saw this book on many blogs, so I apologize for not mentioning them all!)

Nonfiction November 2025: Book Pairings

 

Week 3 of Nonfiction November is hosted by Liz at Adventures in reading, running and working from home.  This week is Book Pairings of fiction and nonfiction books - one of my favorite weeks of the event!  I love pairing fiction and nonfiction books, and here are the pairings I've done this year!

 

The Museum Edition

 

The Heiress Edition

 

The Astor Edition

 

The Out of This World Edition

Have you read any of these pairings?

Nonfiction November 2025: My Year in Nonfiction

 

It's time to start celebrating Nonfiction November!  The first week is hosted by Heather at Based on a True Story and is all about our year in nonfiction.  At the time I'm writing this, I've read 9 nonfiction books this year, and they've all been 4 stars or higher!  My taste in nonfiction tends to be all over the place - so many things interest me, and here are some of my favorites of the year:

The Indifferent Stars Above // The Ship Beneath the Ice // White House by the Sea

My goals for Nonfiction November are to see what everyone else is reading, find some interesting titles for my TBR, and to celebrate the genre of nonfiction!  Here are some I'd like to read this month:

Women in the Valley of the Kings // Nuclear War: A Scenario // Powder Days

What are some of your nonfiction highlights from this year?

Musing on Nine Years

It's a little hard for me to believe, but 9 years ago, in 2016, I pressed "publish" on my first post on Musings of a Literary Wanderer!  Back then, I had no expectations for blogging; I simply wanted a space to share book reviews and also document our travels, particularly the many hikes that Tom and I were doing back then.

So much has changed since then!  Tom and I moved from our condo and purchased our first home together, I've changed jobs twice and careers once, and, of course, we had Henry!  Life looks a lot different than it used to, and that means the blog has changed, too.

What has evolved over the years?  My book reviews have gotten shorter.  I participate in fewer features hosted by others (Top Ten Tuesday and Can't-Wait Wednesday are no longer weekly for me).  Travel posts are almost non-existent now, but I do like to document indie bookstores and Little Free Libraries that I visit.  In general, I just post less, but my sister has also come on a guest blogger/co-blogger and even has her own series now!  Michele's Monday Picks has been a staple for a couple years now.  My reading tastes have changed quite a bit, too!

What has stayed the same?  My love for reading and the book blogging community is still there.  I still love sharing what I'm reading (and what Henry is reading, too!), even if I don't post as often.  There never seem to be enough hours in the day to do both what I want AND what I need to do, and unfortunately hobbies sometimes have to take a backseat.  I am so grateful for the community I've found - I've seen a lot of blogs come and go, so I appreciate the group I've found! (And I also apologize if my blog-hopping isn't as good as it used to be!)

Where do we go from here?  I hope to continue blogging for a long time, although I don't know for sure what that will look like.  Maybe it means posting less, maybe it means taking breaks sometimes - but as long as I'm enjoying it (and I still am!), this space will always be an outlet for us to talk books (and occasionally other things) together.

So, thank you to everyone who has supported this little blog over the years, from reading my words to commenting on posts - I appreciate it so much!

Cheers!

Nonfiction November 2024: New to Our TBR

 

It's the last week of Nonfiction November, and it has been a great month of nonfiction!  This week is "new to our TBR" and is hosted by Deb at Readerbuzz.  Life got a bit in the way this month and I didn't get to blog hop and find as many new books as I'd hoped to, but I did come across some very interesting ones, so thank you to the following bloggers for the new additions to my TBR!

The New Guys - Simple Tricks & Nonsense

No Scrap Left Behind - Based on a True Story

Furious Hours - Notes in the Margin

The Year Without Summer - Simple Tricks & Nonsense

The Other Ancient Civilisations - Bookfever

Nonfiction November 2024: Book Pairings

 

It's week 3 of Nonfiction November and this week's topic, hosted by Liz at Adventures in reading, running and working from home, is book pairings, matching up a nonfiction title with a fiction one.  I have always loved this topic and it actually inspires my reading during the year.  Here are my book pairings from this year:

 

The Ocean Edition

 

The Windsor Edition

The Romanov Edition

 

The Out of This World Edition

Nonfiction November 2024: Choosing Nonfiction

 

It's week two of Nonfiction November!  This week is hosted by Frances at Volatile Rune and is all about how we choose our nonfiction reading - "What are you looking for when you pick up a nonfiction book? Do you have a particular topic you’re attracted to? Do you have a particular writing style that works best? When you look at a nonfiction book, does the title or cover influence you?"

When I think about different genres or areas of nonfiction, I can kind of pinpoint things that don't super interest me - business, self-help (to a degree), religion, health/wellness.  So on the surface, I think most of my nonfiction reading veers towards history.  I was a history major in college (and worked as a historian for many years), so it's always been a subject that interested me.  I love learning about people, events and even buildings/structures, both big and small.  But history is such a vast subject - are there areas I'm more drawn to?  I took a look through my last few years of nonfiction reading to see if there were any patterns that stood out.

  

  

  

These are just a few of the books I've read and enjoyed, and there is definitely a focus on survival stories or people who have faced great challenges.  Royalty is also a big draw for me, as well as famous buildings.

Other subjects I enjoy are space and politics (which is really surprising, since I am not a political person at all!).  Although, my political reading tends to lean more on the personal side.  Kate Andersen Brower is a particular favorite author of mine in this area.

  

I don't follow many nonfiction authors, but Erik Larson has become an auto-buy favorite after reading my first book of his many years ago.  His narrative nonfiction style has brought so many areas of history to life for me.

 

 

What kinds of nonfiction are you drawn to?