Being all magnificent and everything.
Kimber here. Letting you know The ‘Ole Curmudgeon is being her curmudgeonly self today. Again. Still. Ya see, we just saw this post somewhere about “50 Most Popular Fantasy Books of the Last 3 years.” Or some such Tom Foolery.
The ‘Ole Curmudgeon: “Three years? Seriously? That’s not even a bat of the eye lash. Especially for those of us who were on a first-name basis with Moses. And eye-witnesses to the Parting of the Red Sea. Sheesh.”
Well. You know Mom.
Can you spare five minutes? Good. Cuz that’s about all the time I’ve got on this Reading Goods thing. Ya see, Mom has her I’m Reading: Do Not Interrupt on Pain of Death face on. You know. With those eye glass do-dads and a furrowed brow. (No idea what that means. If you do, kindly holler.) So I gotta get this in like, pronto!
Squirrel!
Wait. Where was I?
Oh yeah. Reading Goods. You may know it as Goodreads. But let’s not get picky here, Buttercup.
If you’re reading this blog, chances are you’re either: 1) A humungous book lover, 2) A humungous dog lover, 3) Both, or 4) Tired of kitty-sitting the neighbor’s feline.
Well. Have we got a deal for you.
Ya see, Her Royal Momness stumbled upon this “Summer Reading Challenge” thingy about three months back. (Stumbling. Ya know. Like Mom finds most things. Don’t tell her I said that, okay?)
Anyhow, this SRC Challenge ’24 is hosted by the 52 Book Club. Since 2024 is a Summer Olympics, this year’s reading challenge had an Olympics-ish flavor. With 24 sports-inspired book prompts. Participants chose which “medal” they wanted to aim for, based on the number of books they planned to read during the summer in line with select Olympic-ish book prompts: Bronze, Silver, or Gold?
Via The 52 Book Club:
One of us has been wanting to say that for the longest time. Like, whoa. Gnarly, dude. Totally.
Anyway, She Who Is Older Than Dirt came up with a harebrained idea the other day. Another one.
“Hey, Kimmi!” says Her Royal Momness. “Let’s do a post on best books published in the 1960s. As in, most memorable titles of that decade. You know. The Classics.”
And that’s how we got here. The short version. Sort of.
So here, without further ado – whatever that means – is The Official Mom and Kimber List of Most Noteworthy and Pawsome Books From the 1960s (original publication date, not anniversary or later versions). Yes, we’ve read them all. More than once. Like, totally. Recognize any of these?
In no particular order:
What?
So Her Crankiness is grumping about this thing called “winter.” Seems Mom’s kinda tired of the thing. She keeps saying stuff like, “Cold. Gray. Pouring rain. Dark too early. Let’s move to Miami!”
No clue what that means. But I thought today would be a good day to warm up some cozy reading suggestions. So I got my Thinking Cap on and came up with the following. (Okay, okay. Mom helped. A little. But it was mostly me.)
These cozy winter reading suggestions include books that are either set during winter or there’s plenty of snow and cold in the pages. So grab a hot cuppa, a warm blanket and find your next great winter read (Yes, we’ve read all of these):
Her Momness and I love Christmas! If Christmas was a dessert, we’d eat it up with a spoon! The decorating! The music! The lights! The tinsel and mistletoe. Food, festivities, ugly sweaters and sappy seasonal movies. The rejoicing. Christ the Savior is born!
But the season can also be tough. Bittersweet. Memories of lost loved ones seem especially keen at this time of year. Especially when the loss is fresh.
I’ll let Mom fill you in:
You know that feeling you get when a million-ish people read your latest stroke of brilliance? And another million-ish are looking for it? It’s not quite as good as sinking your teeth into a nice, thick, juicy rib eye steak…
Wait. Where was I?
Oh yeah. Popular blog posts.
Her Momness and I have been fielding lots of requests for an encore of our post about Reedsy Discovery. A fair amount of peeps have weighed in on this review site for indie titles from an author’s point of view. But a review of Reedsy Discovery from a book reviewer’s POV is as scarce as a slim sow.
We fixed that.
Rather than re-post that stroke of genius again en toto, we decided the best way to do an encore is to provide the link to the original post. With some updates. So here ya go. You’re welcome:
Kimber: “Memoirs? Biogs? Is that like when that Barbra lady sings about misty water-colored memories? Like in the movie with Robert Corvette?”
Mom: “The movie is The Way We Were, Kimster. And the actor is Robert Redford.”
Kimber: “You drive what you want and I’ll drive what I want… Wait. Where was I? Oh yeah. Memoirs and Biogs. Guess we better start with some definitions:”
Got that? Great. Cuz we’re gonna color outside the lines a bit. Bring you some of All of the Above, under the general-ish category of Memoir/Biogs. (We’re using the terms a bit loosely. So don’t blow a gasket, okay?)
Hello Friends!
Kimber the Magnificent here to tell you something you probably already know (if you don’t, you should):
MOM IS SERIOUSLY PAWSOME!!
She not only cooks a mean T-bone steak that’s all luscious, delicious and flavorful, mouth-watering and juicy and…
Wait. Where was I?
Oh yeah. Mom. Seriously PAWsome. As in, Bibliophile Extraordinaire and World Class Reader. Like this:
You read that right: Mom and I read 403 books in 2022. (Well, it was mostly me. But Mom chipped in. A little.)
It’s a New Personal Reading Record for most books in one year. And nope, we didn’t review every book. Cuz that’s just silly.
I’d let Mom tell ya more. ‘Cept she’s snoozing. For obvious reasons. I ‘spect she’ll wake up around spring. Or maybe later.
You gonna eat that? Askin’ for a friend.
What are your eating… I mean, reading goals for 2023?
Her Grumpiness: “Ding! Ding! Ding! Kimmi, we have some winners!”
The Magnificent One: A winner for what?
HG: “Winners for Worst Book of The Century,” saith Her Grumpiness. “We’re talkin’ Barf-o-rama on Steroids here.”
TMO: The century? Really?
HG: “Okay, Kimmi. How ‘bout Worst Books We Read in the Last Month?”
TMO: Better, Mom. Should I get the Tylenol?
HG: Maybe. First, let’s run through the list of Four Worst Books of December, the condensed version:
Note: We received complimentary copies of these books via Reedsy/Discovery in exchange for honest reviews.
Pages & Paws 