Rachel Kovaciny's Blog, page 13

"Best Shot in the West: The Adventures of Nat Love" by Patricia C. McKissack and Frederick L. McKissack Jr., illustrated by Randy DuBurke

What a fun and engaging way to present the life of "Deadwood Dick," also known as Nat Love, one of the Old West's premiere cowboys!  This fast-paced graphic novel presents Nat Love's life and adventures in a way that mixes the flavor of tall tales with a healthy dollop of facts.  It's written as if an aging Nat Love is writing down his experiences for a newspaperman, which is a fun way to frame the stories, especially since they are all taken from Love's autobiography.
Is this a 100% factual biog...

"The Mistletoe Countess" by Pepper Basham

Do you ever thoroughly enjoy a book, except for one small aspect of it?  Or, do you ever want to recommend a book to lots and lots of people, but feel like you have to attach a caveat to that recommendation?
This is that kind of book, for me.
I loved the characters.  I mean, full-on loved them.  And you know that usually means I will love a book.  My goodness, Gracelynn was infectiously loveable -- never quite so abounding in endless optimism as to be a "manic pixie dream girl," and never quite so...

Reading Goals Behind and Ahead

I had a few goals for my reading life in 2023.  The same sort I usually have, like clear off my TBR shelves some more, read some classics, read diversely, and so on.  Here's how I did with my 2023 reading goals:
Overall Goal
I aimed to read 55 books in 2023.  I read 96.  Yay!

Classics Club
I wanted to read at least twelve books from my fourth Classics Club list.  I read fourteen!  You'll find all their reviews on that page or right here.

Diverse Reading
I wanted to read at least twelve books by or abo...

Top Ten Tuesday: My Favorite Reads of 2023

Our first Top Ten Tuesday prompt from That Artsy Reader Girl for 2024 is all about looking back over our reading from the past year and picking our top reads.  As usual, I am doing two lists, one of my top ten favorite new reads, and one of my top ten favorite re-reads.  I've linked each title to my review here on my blog, and provided a little info about each book as well, including its publication year.

My Ten Favorite New Reads:
1.  (PG-16) by Stephanie Landsem, 2023 -- Chris...

"The Hart of Christmas" by Latisha Sexton

I started reading The Hart of Christmas before Christmas and set it aside because I just wasn't in the mood for a romantic comedy.  Picked it up again (well, pulled it up again, as I was reading the ebook version on my phone) a couple of days after Christmas and finished it off in two days.  Mood reading do be that way sometimes, heh.
This is a cute Christmas romance set in the mountains of Tennessee (so just a hop, skip, and jump away from where I grew up in the foothills of North Carolina).  Mi...

"Classic Christmas Crime Stories" ed. by David Stuart Davies

There's something about the bustle and chaos of the lead-up to Christmas that makes me crave the restoration of order that a good mystery provides.  This collection of festive mysteries and other crime stories was just what I wanted to read in the middle of December!
There are eleven short stories here, ranging from very familiar Christmas mysteries like "The Blue Carbuncle" by A. Conan Doyle to story featuring the characters from the BBC show Rosemary and Thyme.  I enjoyed nearly all of the stor...

Top Ten Tuesday: Additionally

This week's Top Ten Tuesday prompt from That Artsy Reader Girl is "The Ten Most Recent Additions to My Bookshelf."  I received five books for Christmas, won one in a giveaway, and bought the others myself over the past couple of months.  Behold!

The Bookish Bandit by Erica Dansereau and Britt Howard (Christian contemporary romance involving book publishing)
A Cranberry Christmas by Wende and Harry Devlin (festive picture book I loved as a kid)
A Cranberry Thanksgiving by Wende and Harry Devlin (fes...

"Big Red" by Jim Kjelgaard

You know what I love about Jim Kjelgaard's books?  The dogs in them don't die at the end.  That shouldn't be a revolutionary concept, and yet, it sure seems to be.  So many dog books broke my heart when I was a kid, and then I discovered Kjelgaard, and he became my hero.  I read every book of his that my library had on their shelves.  I asked for them for Christmas.  I bought them at yard sales.  I still buy them at used book stores.  I actually haven't looked up how many books he wrote, I just ...

"The L. M. Montgomery Christmas Collection"

I love L. M. Montgomery's writing, and I love Christmas, so I am naturally drawn to her festive stories and poetry.  The Christmas with Anne  collection is one of my favorite Christmastime reads, so I am excited to add this new collection to my shelf.  It does have some overlap with that other volume -- both contain the "Matthew Insists on Puffed Sleeves" from Anne of Green Gables, as well as several of the same short stories.  This collection has a couple of different Anne chapters too, and six ...

Top Ten Tuesday: Reading in a Winter Wonderland

Today's Top Ten Tuesday prompt from That Artsy Reader Girl is "Books On My Winter 2023-24 TBR List."  So, here are ten books from my to-read shelves that I would like to read by the end of February, 2024:
Best Shot in the West: The Adventures of Nat Love by Patricial C. McKissack and Fredrick L. McKissack Jr. (graphic novel biography)

Bluebird on the Prairie by Tasha Hackett (Christian historical fiction)

The Bookish Bandit by Erica Dansereau and Britt Howard (Christian contemporary romance)

Kling K...