My idea of an ideal Mother's Day is settling into my "reading chair" with a cuppa coffee, something to nibble (chocolate?), and a BIG stack of books that I've yet to read! For those who might feel likewise, or have young'uns to read to, we offer up some lists of books that have a Mother's Day theme. From Pixabay Let's start with books for the grownups... The Cozy Mystery List has a Mother’s Day Mystery Book List https://cozy-mystery.com/mothers-day-mystery-book-list.html Janet Rudolph's Mystery Fanfare chimes in with Mother's Day Crime Fiction and Mysteries   The Washington Post provides For Mother’s Day: 11 books for moms who — more than ever — need an escape From Good Housekeeping we get 26 Gripping Books for Moms Who Love to Read Goodreads always comes through. There's 305 books (a mix of toddler to adult) on this Mother's Day Books list Goodreads also has a shelf of Mothers in Literature   And how about a list of books featured on the...

Alrighty, folks, we're winding down on Women's History Month (which includes International Women's Day), but that doesn't mean we have to stop reading relevant books on March 31st! So, roll up your reading sleeves, and let's march forward with some reading lists for your consideration: CNN recommends 20 books that are essential reading for Women's History Month   Princeton University Press (ahem, yes, THAT Princeton) offers an impressive nonfiction reading list for consideration Popsugar pops out The 11 Most Popular Books to Read During Women's History Month Here's a GoodReads post on  64 Top Nonfiction Books to Read for Women's History Month  (which includes an almost equal number of comments with more suggestions and some interesting perspectives on the list) Buzzfeed waxes enthusiastic about 9 Fantastic Books That You Must Read for Women's History Month Orion goes poetic with 17 Poetry Collections to read during Women's History Month   Mov...

It seems to me that the end of October and first of November are just crammed with holidays/celebrations. Wonder why? Not sure if that applies to other parts of the year as well, but just saying, I was struck by this as I settled in to write this post. So, without further ado (but maybe a “Boo!” or two), here is some lists of reading lists as the months turn (with a special non-book-related link at the end). Image by  Larisa Koshkina  from  Pixabay Halloween (Oct. 31) Cozy Mystery List:  Halloween Mystery Book List   Elephant on the Road:  15 Spooky Romance Books To Read this Halloween Season   Goodreads Listopia (lists and more lists, by subgenre etc.):  Halloween Book Lists   Bookriot: New Horror Novels:  18 Books to Keep You Scared in 2021   Samhain (Oct. 31– Nov. 1) Goodreads Listopia:  Samhain reads   Best Kids’ Books:  Samhain   Irish Myths:  Samhain Reading List: 13 Frightening Works of Fiction for Ce...

Looking to fine-tune your writing? Need a little extra inspiration to jumpstart your initial draft or your final edit? Well, we’ve got lists (and in some cases, lists of lists) of books for your consideration. So, in no particular order, let's jump in! Reedsy offers this recently updated post: The 40 Best Books on Writing: A Reading List for Authors The Write Life provides a list of 34 of the Best Books On Writing Penguin Random House steps up with their take on The Best Books on Writing This list is a few years old, but still quite interesting: New York Magazine’s The Best Books on Writing, According to Novelists, Poets, and Writing Professors Listopia on Goodreads has no less than 722 books (!!) in the list Best Books on Writing (Books on writing, grammar, punctuation, spelling, and more) For those writing, or thinking of writing, children’s books, you might glance over this post on Michael Mahin’s blog, titled What Are the Best Books on Writing for Children?   What do YOU have o...

Poetry for me started with Mother Goose, many many decades ago. I still have a fondness for the old nursery rhymes, but of course, there's much more to this particular genre. To help you (and me) celebrate/appreciate Poetry Month, I wrangled together the “list of lists" below. So, hickory, dickory, dock , let's hop to it! (Or should that be hickety, dickety, dock ?) Hickety Dickety Dock 2, by William Wallace Denslow Public Domain   Powell’s Books in Portland, Oregon, turned to experts for A Real Poet’s Poet: 11 Favorite Poets on What They’re Reading for Poetry Month Bustle offers 14 collections in Here’s Your National Poetry Month Required Reading List New York Public Library’s “Poetry Committee” chimes in with It’s Poetry Month: Here Are NYPL’s Best Poetry Books of 2020 Because I’m a fan of haiku (a little volume of Little Enough is sitting by my desk), here is Read Poetry’s 10 Vivid Haikus to Leave You Breathless   Moving beyond Mother Goose, this Scholastic post lists ...

February is Black History month, and, whoops, we are already well into the month (which is short to begin with). So let’s get busy and list some lists and read some books! From NetGalley’s “We Are Bookish” site: #ReadingBlackout: 29 Books to Read This Black History Month  (Side note: I’m particularly happy to see Attica Locke—an incredible mystery/thriller writer—included in this list) Audible provides Mysteries & Thrillers for Black History Month  (Of course, you can always look for these titles in their paper or ebook formats, as well) Epic Reads has 44 YA Books You Need to Read—Especially During Black History Month   For more books than you’ll ever have time for, Goodread's Listopia has 2,155 titles shelved on  Black History Month Books If you need a list that’s a bit more manageable in size, Listopia’s 2021 Black History Month Recommendations  has 22 titles recommended by The Connecticut Black Caucus of the American Library Association (BCALA-CT)  ...

 Reading a new book in a beloved series is like settling down with a nice cuppa to chat with an old friend. And who couldn’t use a little bit of that kind of comfort during a pandemic, when meeting face-to-face with living friends is dicey business? So, without more ado, here are some lists that list “best of” series in various genres.  Let’s start with a little ROMANCE (since we are closing in on February): She Reads Romance Books lists The Best Romance Series to Binge Read  (I’ve read very few romances but will admit I’m rather fascinated by the mention of a series featuring a family of “bearded men of Tennessee .” Who would've guessed you could make a series based on bearded men???) Bookriot offers 19 of the Best Romance Book Series for Adult Readers   Goodreads gets into the act with Listopia’s Best Adult Romance Series   Now, how about mystery? Bookbub lists 13 of the Best Mystery Series to Read Right Now Back we go to Bookriot, for 16 Mystery Book Series ...

It may be the end of July, but the reading never stops. For your browsing pleasure, please check out the lists below. You'll probably find plenty to add to your TBR (to-be-read) virtual or paper-based stacks of books for the rest of summer and beyond. The Booklist Reader has a list of authors and books to tackle for various July events, including Canada Day, the Fourth of July, P.T. Barnum's birthday, and Bastille Day. (Note: the list is nine years old, but hey, some authors never go out of date.) BookBrowse lists their Best book for July 2019 . You'll find all kinds and flavors here. Click on a cover to learn more about a particular book. For the Fourth of July, the Cincinnati Public Library has recommendations for all ages and tastes. To stretch the timeframe a bit, Listopia's Best Children's Books about Summer provides plenty for small fry to devour—251 books in all. Now, to mysteries, because that's my favorite genre.  The Cozy Mystery List Blog ...

It's JUNE, the start of summer and perhaps a little more reading time for us all. If you delve into this list of June holidays , there's a mountain of holiday themes to plan your reading around. So, without further ado, here are a few holiday-themed June reading lists. Earlier this month, BRP blogger Maryann Miller offered up some Father's Day reads . Here are a few additional lists to consider: The Cozy Mystery List has a goodly sample right here .  Mystery Fanfare never lets me down, and won't let you down either. Here are some offerings for Father's Day .   Goodreads Listopia has a Fathers: Good, Bad and Surrogate list of books to consider.  Another Listopia has 260 picture books about fathers for the younger set.   Now, how about the rest of the month? Well, June is Gay Pride month. Image by Jasmin Sessler from Pixabay Hold your rainbow flag high with pride with these book lists: The McQuade Library created a Listopia of the LGBTQIA ...

The many faces of April, from April Fool's Day to Easter to "April showers bring May flowers." Claude Shafer   (The Tacoma Times), Public Domain   As we close in on the end of April, I figure we can't turn our backs on the month without a quick look at what books might be out there with an April Fool's theme. Let's start with mysteries. (After all, mysteries are basically designed to mess with readers' minds, and then jump out, shouting "Fooled you!" at the end.) We have this handful from the Cozy Mystery List . Hurray for Janet Rudolph, whose Mystery Fanfare blog always comes through for holiday/special day reads. April's Fool's is no exception .  Moving away from murder and mayhem... The blog Borrow.Read.Repeat. offers " Laugh-out-loud reads " for April Fool's Day. Listopia has Hoover Library's Insatiable Reads' April Fools (It's Always Good to Laugh) list, including Howl: A collection of the ...

Ah… Valentine's Day! Bring on the romance and the love, the chocolate, and the lacy, cutout paper hearts. Sooooo lovely! (By Chordboard - Self, from material in my possession., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4310800) ] --> But I'm a mystery author, so I can't help but think of the "dark side" as well: The downside of love—jealousy, possessiveness, obsession.  The poisoned box of candy.  The scissors, sharp enough to cut paper, but maybe sharp enough for other, more deadly uses…  ... And now for the dark side. "Jealousy" by Edvard Munch, 1895 (Edvard Munch [Public domain]) Whether you prefer the light-hearted romance or the emotional ruin of this special day dedicated to lovers—or something in between—there's something for you to read as the following lists show… Let's start with some cozy-with-murder mysteries, provided by The Cozy Mystery List . Here's the latest list from the ever-...