Exploring the White House: Inside America's Most Famous Home by Kate Andersen BrowerMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
View all my reviews
Welcome to my altered journey through life. You never know if I will be into home improvements, knee deep in a good book, on an Alaskan cruise or just being silly. I hope this blog will give you tips, tricks, ideas and books to add to your TBR list. Thanks for stopping by.
13 January 2021
Review: Exploring the White House: Inside America's Most Famous Home
Exploring the White House: Inside America's Most Famous Home by Kate Andersen BrowerMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
View all my reviews
10 January 2021
Faith Journal Page
Hello and welcome to 2021!!!
So many people keep journals, myself included, and every year I look for a journal that gives me what I want. In 2020, I kept adding to the existing one that I was using and decided for 2021 I was going to make some of my own pages. I worked on a faith page because I wanted a place to reflect on good things, which is what I try to use my journal to accomplish anyway.
My journal is a combination of art, books, events, prayers, faith, gratitude, and BT. I try to write down a BT for every single day. What is a BT? It is the BEST THING that happened that day. Try doing that, it completely changes your outlook on how your day went. I don't think I said "I had a bad day" one day in 2020 since I started.
I am going to share with you the page that I made today. Use it if you like, change it up, do your own thing, and may you have the greatest year ever!!!
Download a copy here.
03 January 2021
01 January 2021
Looking forward to these new releases
Every year I make a list of books I want to read that will be published in the upcoming year. I see I never posted it last year, but did all the other years, weird. Anyhoo, I am going to publish it this year because there are some that I cannot wait to get my hands on. There are also a few titles that I have already read and I can't wait until my friends get to read them too.
What I do is make a list of all upcoming titles that interest me. I then look at my libraries to see if I can go ahead and put any of them on hold. If I can I do if I can't then I keep this list and every month I go back to my libraries and see if I can put any of the upcoming titles on hold.
I looked back on this year's unpublished list and I have read all but two books that I chose. The year before (that list is posted) I read all but one.
I cannot find many books listed to be published after May (I think I had this problem last year too), so I may update this later. I have some that I can't find dates for, like Blood by the Jonas Brothers. It keeps getting pushed back.
Here is my list for 2021
January 5
January 5
January 12
February 9
I have read this one and loved it!! I can't wait for you guys to read it. It is about the American Library in Paris during WWII
March 9
I was lucky enough to get a hold of a copy of this one too. WOW!! This one is all about a shipwreck in Savannah and features two time periods. The first period is the setting of the sinking, the backstory, and the aftermath of the sinking are depicted. The second time period is a modern-day setting and the shipwreck has been found and now the archivers need to uncover the ship's secrets.
March 9
March 23 
March 30
I was also lucky enough to get my hands on this book. Stephanie does an incredible job of showing three time periods. One is the American Revolution where you meet the bride, Adrienne, of Gilbert, Marquis de Lafayette. Next, you see Beatrice in World War I, Beatrice has purchased the home of Gilbert and Adrienne's chateau in France. Lastly, you will see Marthe try to uncover her past and survive Hilter's regime in WWII. This was an exceptional book.
May 4
31 December 2020
30 December 2020
27 December 2020
A look back on 2020 book picks
Today I thought I would look back at a year of Read with Michelle. I chose a book (or two---and a couple of bonuses) for us to read together. I thought I would put the list here in case anyone wanted to look back or revisit the list.
1. The Glittering Hour by Iona Grey
2. Dear Edward by ann Napolitano
3. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
4. They Called it Camelot by Stephanie Marie Thornton
5. Follower: A Novel by Megan Angelo
6. The Queen's Secret by Karen Harper
7. Nothing More Dangerous by Allen Eskens
8. The Book of Lost Names by Kristin Harmel
9. The Lions of 5th Ave by Fiona Davis
10. Killing Kennedy by Bill O'Reilly
11. The Luckiest Man by Mark Salter
12. The Oregon Trail by Lauren Reeve and Wow, no thank you by Samantha Irby
Bonus books:
Recipe for the Perfect Wife by Karma Brown
All the Ways We Said Goodbye by Beatriz Williams
25 December 2020
How is your reading challenge going?
Hello to you fellow readers!
Here we are approaching the onset of winter. I am ok with winter as long as I have enough clothes to keep warm. I love snow if it snows like it means it and not spit snow. I hate nothing more than snow that just messes up things and then leaves and you get nothing out of it (snowcream, snowman, or photos).
Winter is the perfect weather to just grab a book, curl up in your favorite chair with your favorite cat, and spend the day in another world.
I only did one reading challenge this year and it was the one I created. I am not sure exactly why because usually I have three or four going at once. Covid has changed so much this year and I guess this is just another thing that I let slip by during the quarantine, healthy at home, and all the jazz.
My reading goal was 100 books read and as of today, December 21, 2020, I have read 124, so there is one goal complete!!! In the next week, I will compile my reading stats and share those with you, but for today you get my complete reading challenge.
Have you made new reading habits or completed a challenge in 2020? Share here or on my Facebook page, Read with Michelle in 2020.
21 December 2020
Read with Michelle first book pick(s) of 2021---a new classic and a new release
The January book pick is On the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford.
In September 2009 I discovered this little book, basically because the cover gripped me the second I saw it sitting on the library shelf. I took it home that day and finished it before I went to bed (September 20 according to my book journal). The story was riveting and I may have shed a tear or two during my journey. I have picked it up a few times since that first reading and every time I love it a tad more.
It is the story of Henry Lee, a Chinese American man, who in present-day sees that inside the Panama Hotel are found trunks of belongings from families that were sent to internment camps during WWII. He wonders if he knows anyone whose belongings are in that basement. He flashes back on Keiko, a Japanese American girl that he loved. During the war, Keiko and her family were sent to an internment camp in the USA, yes they existed here on American soil).
In 2013, Jamie published a digital read called Middle, Lost and Found. It is a little small work that talks more about the lunch lady (who is one of my favorite characters in OTCOB&S). If you can find this, I highly recommend it to you also. I met Jamie in 2014 and I had printed off this digital book (because he likes physical books) and bound it for him. Actually, I made two, one for him as a gift and one I wanted him to autograph for me. My autographed Jamie Ford books are some of my prized possessions.
In 2015, my husband and I went to Seattle and we both looked and looked for the Panama Hotel. I know we were close, but my husband got sick (drat that Norwalk virus) and we had to abort the plans, I went to the first Starbucks instead.
Please don't stop with this book, Jamie has other books that are simply divine. Songs of Willow Frost and my second favorite of his, Love and Other Consolation Prizes. Also, there is a movie being filmed, or maybe has completed and Covid has screwed up its release too (stay tuned).
I also want to give you a currently published book in case you have read this or only want to read new releases. I have not read this one, but I have read every book by the author and she has never let me down. So the bonus January pick is Our Darkest Night by Jennifer Robson. I admit I have no idea what this one is about...I just know that I will read it because (as I said I love all of her books) she is a fantastic writer. I actually was granted the right just today to read it before it was published so stay tuned.
17 December 2020
Book Journal System---Michelle Style
I have kept a paper book journal since 1996 (and a digital one for stat purposes since 2011), and I have edited it a lot over the last 25 years. At the bottom of this post, you will find the actual log that I have used for about five years. I finally think I have found a formula that works perfectly for me, so much so that I had a rubber stamp printed with exactly this text on it so that I could stamp it in a Moleskin journal (they are my favorite journal books). While I did not create the original layout, I have had added to it, changed it, and made it my own. I am sharing it with you today in case you want to use this version or get inspired to create your dream reading log too. Maybe you just want to keep a Moleskin (I am telling you they are the BEST) with just the title and the dates read. My 1996 journal looks exactly like that, a title and a date, nothing else. That little pet postage stamp journal has been tortured over the last 25 years as I perfected what I wanted to retain in a reading journal.
I would love to know how you keep a log of your reading life. Please don't hesitate to reach out and let me know.
My reading journal page can be found here. Below you will have a snippet of what you will find on the download (there are three entries on a page with the download).
Kelly's 2021 Reading Challenge
If you follow or know me at all, you probably know Kelly is one of my very good friends. She is a librarian and the host of a book club/Facebook group called Bookworms (she is also part of the reason my TBR list is about 100 books long).
Kelly and I both like to get folks to read more books and almost at the same time we told each other "I am working on a reading challenge". I shared mine with you a few weeks ago (but if you missed it go here) and today I am sharing Kelly's.
It is a fabulous challenge!! Her goal is to read a book a week, but you can do it as you like. There are some good categories here, and I think you will have a good time with this. Remember reading challenges are to inspire you not overwhelm you. You do you, but have fun and hopefully, our challenges will inspire you to read more.
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