Review: The Essential Christmas Classics by Charles Dickens, ETA Hoffman, et al

The Essential Christmas Classics Collection by Charles Dickens, et al

The Essential Christmas Classics Boxed Set by
Charles Dickens, E. T. A. Hoffman et al
Aladdin
Published October 7, 2025

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About The Essential Christmas Classics Collection (Boxed Set)

Celebrate the holidays with this collection of Christmas classics, including A Christmas CarolThe Nutcracker, and a collection of holiday short stories—together in one hardcover boxed set!

Celebrate the season with this collection of popular holiday stories from Christmases past. This set includes E. T. A. Hoffmann’s The Nutcracker, the story of a girl’s Christmas gift coming to life and battling the sinister mouse king, which later … Continue reading

Review: Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

Wuthering Heights
Emily Brontë
Viking Classics
Published November 22, 2022 (Orig. 1847)

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About Wuthering Heights

“Whatever our souls are made out of, his and mine are the same.” -Catherine

Emily Brontë’s 1847 gothic novel is set on the windy moors of Yorkshire and depicts the tragic and ill-fated love between Catherine Earnshaw and her father’s adopted son, Heathcliff.

Using vivid imagery to portray their volatile, passionate relationship, Brontë has crafted a timeless masterpiece that honestly depicts the pain and anguish felt from love, hatred, and revenge.

For over 150 years, millions of readers … Continue reading

Review: Animal Farm by George Orwell

Animal Farm by George Orwell

Animal Farm
George Orwell
Signet Classics
Published April 1, 1996 (Orig. 1945)

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About Animal Farm

A farm is taken over by its overworked, mistreated animals. With flaming idealism and stirring slogans, they set out to create a paradise of progress, justice, and equality. Thus the stage is set for one of the most telling satiric fables ever penned –a razor-edged fairy tale for grown-ups that records the evolution from revolution against tyranny to a totalitarianism just as terrible.

When ANIMAL FARM was first published, Stalinist Russia was seen as its target. Today it is devastatingly clear that wherever and whenever freedom is attacked, under … Continue reading

Mid-Year Reading Check-in and July Reading Scramble

2024 Mid-Year Goals Check-in and Reading Scramble. Image shows part of a laptop screen next to a stack of books: How to Write a Sound Track for Your Life by Fiona Hardy, How to Make a Movie in 12 Days by Fiona Hardy, The Loudest Silence by Sidney Langford, Unbecoming by Seema Yasmin, The Complete Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi, and Garden of the Cursed by Katy Rose Pool.

Mid-Year Reading Check-in and July Reading Scramble

The summer is flying by this year, but I wanted to make time to pause for a moment and check in on the goals I set for the year. I’m also doing a Mid-year Reading Scramble with The Word N3rd this month, so … Continue reading

Spring 2024 Backlist Reading Check-In and Life Update

Spring 2024 Backlist Reading Update

Life Update: It’s Been Wild

Whew. It has been a tough few months, y’all. Wowza. I had to take an unplanned break from reading because things got too overwhelming. And the weird thing is, there wasn’t a gigantic, immediate crisis at any point.

My kids hit some big milestones and needed extra support. My partner was traveling for work. It meant additional output from me, but nothing that I would have called unmanageable.

Except that it was. Which, thankfully, prompted me to get medical advice. I’ve had some low-key, annoying, but not dangerous, issues going on for a while. I thought by now, I’d be getting relief from new meds and treatment. … Continue reading

Review: Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

Little Women
Louisa May Alcott
Naxos Audiobooks Ltd.
Published September 21, 2022 (Original story first published 1868)

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About Little Women

Grown-up Meg, tomboyish Jo, timid Beth, and precocious Amy. The four March sisters couldn’t be more different. But with their father away at war, and their mother working to support the family, they have to rely on one another.

Whether they’re putting on a play, forming a secret society, or celebrating Christmas, there’s one thing they can’t help wondering: Will Father return home safely?

Why I Read Little Women

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