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Warm, healing, rebellious, comforting: The flavors and facets of fantasy tea
Perhaps the most consistent part of my reading experiences over the years has been my beverage of choice. Whether I’m reading mystery, fantasy, or epistolary, I’m always accompanied by a steaming hot mug of tea. (In summer – or in the Bay Area “summer”, aka late September, you may catch me with an iced version.)
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February 2025 roundup: a mystery here, some history there
Somehow, February is already over. I’m not sure how we got through two months of the year so quickly! This month has been a busy one, both at home and at work. But, I still got some reading in, most of it accretive to my 52 Book Club goals. Plus, I finally caved and got
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Funny, thoughtful fantasy in Tress of the Emerald Sea
Sometimes, you read a book you love so much it takes you a couple of weeks to process it. I’ll confess – I wasn’t expecting much when I picked up Brandon Sanderson’s Tress of the Emerald Sea. I know Sanderson has a big fan following, and some of my closest friends love his work. But
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Reading adventures: Mysteries in the Tahoe snow
It is truly Winter here in the Bay – the skies are grey, the streets are drenched. Which means, of course, that it’s the right time of year for a trip to Lake Tahoe. I love Lake Tahoe, even though I find Winter Tahoe to be strictly worse than its summer sibling. I’ve been up
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January 2025 Roundup: Falling further in love with reading
I committed this year to monthly updates on my 52 Book Club Challenge, with short blurbs on anything I hadn’t written about yet. I am pleased to share that this approach seems to be working! I’ve already tackled 16 books from the challenge in January, and many are books I may not have touched if
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Reading adventures, redux: Molten Death in Maui
It is early in the year to be traveling – but I’m lucky enough to have a trip already under my belt this year. We took one look at the grey skies and early sunsets of the Bay and decided it was time to head for more tropical climes. And thus, we set out for
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The rise of cozy reading: mystery, fantasy, and more
The idea of “cozy” fiction seems to have spiked in the last few years. Cozy mysteries, cozy fantasies – shelves are overflowing with authors insistent of making you feel all warm and fuzzy inside. (Google Trends seems to agree with me on this. Searches for cozy mystery, cozy reading, and cozy fantasy grew 2-10x since
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The gift of reading: Scenes of the Crime and Once Upon a Book Club
Welcome, friends to 2025! I hope your first week of this mathematically fun year has been treating you well. I usually spend this week trying to recover from the intensity of the holiday season. This year, that means reading everything I can get my hands on and indulging in some cozy games as well. And
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Considerations – and charts! – on the challenges of 2024
As we prepare to send 2024 out with a bang, I wanted to reflect on my reading journey this year. Personally, 2024 has been a year of immense growth and intense change. I hit a milestone birthday, and a major educational moment. I got a big promotion. And I did a big International trip (and
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Mystery, music, and everything in between: My Top 5 Epistolary Reads of 2024
We’ve made it through mystery and fantasy to arrive at my favorite epistolary reads of 2024. I’ll be honest – this was not a great year for epistolary releases… but that doesn’t mean I didn’t get to read new material. Instead, I got to dig through some extant epistolaries to blend with the newer stuff.