Birthday Book Haul | Including lots of books I think will be 5* reads! 

Happy Birthday 🎉❤ Great recommendations. I found several available on Everand which is fantastic!

Belated happy birthday!! Lol re massaging kale - but it makes a big difference!! Massaging with salt and olive oil then baking for a few mins in the oven omg so good. I gave the house opposite 5* a couple of years ago. Sounds like you've got some amazing books there (& thanks for getting them into our library!)

Look for local gardening groups. They swap plants and advice. Let neighbours and relatives know you want to get into gardening and you’ll have no end of plants and advice

Happy belated birthday 🎉 I think the books you hauled sound super interesting especially Pretty Baby. I read Lust, Caution by Eileen Chang, I was a bit disappointed in the storyline but really enjoyed her writing , definitely need to read more from her !

Nature writing is my favourite genre. Braiding Sweetgrass remains my favourite but there is certainly a bit of a boom in nature writing lately. We're in for a treat! Happy belated birthday, I wish you the best Mercedes!

We were once a family has definitely been one of my top of this year! And I’ve read some great books already luckily

Let Johnny decide on your next few reads😊! Salt Houses was in my top ten reads of last year. Unfortunately I couldn't get hold on The Arsonists City, I am sure I would adore it!!

Happy birthday! And thank you, as always, for such great recommendations. I hope you enjoy them all. 😊

Happy birthday! I enjoy treating myself with a lot of books on my birthday as well. You're much better than I am at reading your physical TBR "We were once a family" was a really interesting book, I think you'll find it informative (albeit infuriating and heartbreaking)

I am really excited for you to read Lost in the Garden!

Happy Birthday, Mercedes, and happy reading these wonderful books!

Belated happy birthday Mercedes ☘️👋🍀🎉🎂🥳💐

Happy birthday!! Enjoy massaging your kale!

Happy Birthday, Mercedes!

I recently picked up Uprooting. It looks really good. I also bought Lost in the Garden at the weekend. I think it's going to be my next read. Happy belated birthday wishes!

Hope you had a lovely birthday! I really want to read Lost in the Garden!!

Thanks Mercedes just bought The House Opposite on Kindle.

That Deep Water edition is gorge. Read it back at the end of March and enjoyed it. I liked that the guy in it kept snails haha as that was one of Highsmith's hobbies. I think you would love the Andrew Wilson biography of Highsmith it was stunningly written and really showed the contradictions in her as a person. Talented Mr Ripley is still my fave Highsmith. I have Edith's Diary next on my list of hers to read. Read Carol just last week, and I think that's been her best flashes of writing thus far. And if you like interwar/postwar novels I think you would like The Girls of Slender Means by Muriel Spark

Oh, Lily Dancyger's memoirs is amongts my favorite books and I also just got the essay collection whoch I am looking forward to start ( but still have to wait a little as I want to buddy read it with my best friend:)) Hope you will enoy "negative Space" as much as I did

Happy birthday 🥳📚📚🎉🎉

Happy Birthday to you! ❤️🌈📚

Happy Birthday 🎂

Salt Houses was great. I’m about to read another Palestinian book Before the Queen Falls Asleep by Hussna Habayeb which is supposed to tell the story of a Palestinian family with a lot of warmth and humour - the cover is stunning (art by a famous Palestinian artist depicting a mother and child)

I really liked Between Two Moons. It should have made The Carol Shields Prize short list... maybe should have won. I thought it was better than Brotherless Night.

Happy birthday! Mine was yesterday 😊 I own and really want to read We Were Once a Family. My grandma passed away when I was in Wales last summer but my experience is so so similar to yours. My grandma got a virus when she was three that destroyed quite a bit of her hearing and she was also taught to lip read. As she aged, her hearing got worse and worse and it was such a bummer that she wasn’t taught ASL. Do you follow along with the monthly picks from The Book Naturalists? Their list is so diverse this year!!! It's Heidi from My Reading Life and Doris from All D Books :) PS- I'm going to Norwich again in a hot second! We only have 8 more days of school before summer holiday and I'm leaving at 4am the next morning for the UK :) That said, Bird and Blend made me purchase their biscuit tea package because I just couldn't wait until I arrived in Norwich and I didn't want to miss out lol.

My dad is deaf and also has to lip read. It can be very challenging in social situations.