TTT: 5 Underrated 5 Star Books

This post brought to you by the Top Ten Tuesday series over at That Artsy Reader Girl! 

This week's prompt is a good one, as it allows us book bloggers to shout about our favorite books that don't get the love that they deserve. So get ready for some shouting because these books are AMAZING and I think they should get a lot more love and attention.


 A Madness of Angels by Kate Griffin

I will never not put this on a list of underrated books because this book I read in undergrad is still my favorite urban fantasy novel EVER. I have yet to read another book that captures my imagination like this one did.


The Lost City of Z by David Grann || my review

This was a gem I found while doing my nonfiction reading challenge. The author really did his homework, the book is as well researched as a textbook and reads like a soap opera. What more could you want??

 52 Loaves by William Alexander

Okay. so. I found this book while on a bread-making forum researching how to get the perfect crumb (fancy word for texture). It was Christmas break and my dad was struggling to make the perfect loaf of homemade bread and this book popped up and I have never laughed so hard while reading a nonfiction book. This book is amazing and everyone should read it.


Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen || my review
I bought this book for a couple of dollars at a thrift store a couple of years ago and only recently read it and my mind was BLOWN it was so LYRICAL and BEAUTIFUL and why aren't more people shouting about it??


 Song of a Captive Bird by Jasmin Dapznik || my review 

I got this book from Netgalley so I'm literally confused at the absence of glowing reviews because this fictionalized memoir was beautiful and touching and atmospheric and I thought it was really well done. It introduced me to a land and a people and a culture I know very little about.




That's it for me! What about you? Have you ever heard of/read these books? If so what did you think?

Dear Sunday: Autumn Breezes

Dear Sunday is my weekly post participating in the Caffeinated Book Reviewer series. This week I'm also doing a brief Stacking the Shelves and have also linked up with tyngas reviews.

It's a Dear Sunday on a Monday Tuesday! Sorry that my blogging here has been so inconsistent lately-- last year of grad school is really keeping me busy. 

But in lieu of complaining or ranting or exalting my schedule I give you a glamor shot of my cat, Otto. I recently got a new phone (*remembers cost* *shudders*) the google pixel 2 and let me tell you the camera has blown me away! 

But onto the books!

 I picked up Who Moved My Goat Cheese? via an ebook loan from my library. I was looking for a cute cozy mystery and while it was a cozy mystery it wasn't very good (review to come!).

I received this book Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie in a surprise package my friend sent me last week! It looks just like my cup of tea.

• Dear Sunday: Mini-vacation
• TTT: 5 Foreign Netflix shows you need to check out 

• Top Ten Tuesday: Amazing books that you never hear about
• yeah no this one will also be a temporally confused post
• top ten thursday? yeah I should be able to write that post by Thursday?
• right life? *looks nervously at schedule* 

Okkayyy that's it for me in this terribly late Sunday post! I hope you are in a less hectic time of your life. I hope I'll be in a less hectic time soon. Okay bye.

TTT: 5 Foreign Netflix shows you need to see

This post brought to you by the Top Ten Tuesday series over at That Artsy Reader Girl! 

When it comes to Netflix shows, I'm somewhat of an unintentional hipster.

Mention Stranger Things to me and I'll just stare blankly at you before telling you about this obscure Russian drama you just have. to. see. Somehow, without quite intending to, I manage to miss out on all the latest top shows that everyone and their mother are watching.

Instead of binging on Orange is the new black or Handmaid's Tale or really anything hip, I tend to watch obscure, mostly foreign, Netflix shows and let me tell you I have found some gems. So if you are trying to add a little diversity to your TV watching, read on!

The Ministry of Time

Country of Origin: Spain 

Language: Spanish with good English subtitles

Genre: Sci-fi/Fantasy

Brief Summary: What if there were doors that lead to the past? And what if a Spanish bureaucracy was created to manage those doors? This fast-paced beautifully-shot drama features the lives and adventures of several agents who travel through time to advert disasters. 

Seyit ve Sura

Country of Origin: Russia 

Language: Russian? But also with random Turkish phrases? (with good English subtitles)

Genre: Historical Fiction, Romance [WWI]

Brief Summary: This romance, which takes place in Russia during WWI, is a star-crossed lovers affair between a Turkish Russian officer ((yeah wanna guess how long it took me to figure out nationalities? aGeS)) and a Russian noblewoman. There are things I LOVE about this series ((hello healthy representations of masculinity)) and things I don't ((hello unhealthy representations of obsessive love)) but overall: highly recommend. 

Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries

Country of Origin: Australia 

Language: English

Genre: Historical Fiction, Murder Mystery [1920s]

Brief Summary: This is a fun murder mystery series featuring, well, Miss Fisher, a witty, brillant, English socialite. She somehow manages to come across dead bodies nearly everywhere she goes and forces her help upon the local police who want nothing to do with her. Overall it's a lot of fun!  

The Paradise

Country of Origin: England ((still counts as diverse right?? kind of?))

Language: English

Genre: Historical Fiction

Brief Summary: This series follows one girl as she leaves the countryside to work for one of the world's first department stores-- The Paradise. ((it's actually a lot more interesting than that sentence might lead you to believe!))

Land Girls

Country of Origin: England 

Language: English

Genre: Historical Fiction, WWII

Brief Summary: During WWII women could join the Land Army-- where they were shipped out to British farms to help raise crops for the war effort. This series follows several city girls as they adjust to life on the farm and life during the war. Highly recommend!

HONORABLE MENTION

Okay so I've only seen the first episode of this series so I can't really recommend it, but! I so rarely see Koren art/shows/books/etc I felt like I should tell y'all about it anyway. 

Secret Healer

Country of Origin: South Korea

Language: Korean but with decent subtitles

Genre: Historical Fiction, Fantasy, romance?

Brief Summary: From IMDB: A barren queen seeks the help of shaman to give birth to a prince.

That's it from me! Five foreign netflix shows I love and one I just started. Have you heard of any of these? Any foreign shows I need to check out? 

Dear Sunday: Mini-Vacation

Dear Sunday is my weekly post participating in the Caffeinated Book Reviewer series. This week I'm also doing a brief Stacking the Shelves and have also linked up with tyngas reviews.

sunset outside my apartment :)

These past few weeks have been rough. What with school starting, classes to take, labs to teach, research to do, organizations to help run (yes I'm the sucker who agreed to help run two different organizations my 'senior' year of grad school), my second job to do-- well, it's been busy. Add in the fact I haven't had a weekend off in like a month, and well, let's just say I'm happy that it's Labor Day Weekend!

Not that I have any big plans for the extra day off, besides lounging and reading and lounging some more.

Which sounds pretty grand to me, I gotta admit.

Oh! And I'm hoping to use the downtime to get ahead on my blog posts so that hopefully I can publish on some sort of a schedule again.

O Pioneers! by Willia Cather

I was inspired to try this book by a contemporary of Laura Ingalls Wilder when it was mentioned in Prairie Fires.

The Disappearances by Emily Bain Murphy

So far I've been severely underwhelmed and disappointed by this lackluster YA novel but I'm tired of not finishing books so I'll try and read through it quickly.

• Top Ten Tuesday: 5 books I read in school
• in which I reflect on the age old question: can you ever enjoy a book you are being forced to read?
• Disliking Everyone's Fav || Ready Player One DNF Review
• in which I admit to disliking a book I wanted to like SO MUCH 

• Top Ten Tuesday: 5 Foreign Netflix shows you need to check out 
• get excited
• I have a knack for finding the weirdest shows on Netflix that causes my friends to pause, scratch their heads and go, wait. that's on netflix?
• perhaps another post
• or perhaps not!
• the universe we live in is a chaotic and unknowable place 
• so. there. 

That's it for me! For those in the US I hope you have a safe and relaxing Labor Day weekend :)