Book Concierge’s Comments (group member since Jan 14, 2016)

Book Concierge’s comments from the Paging All Bookworms! group.

The Dog Who Followed the Moon – James Norbury – 3.5***
In the deepest part of winter, a small pup, Amaya, gets separated from her parents. Wandering alone in the woods she comes upon a pack of wolves. And this begins the latest fable by James Norbury. Once again, he reminds us that life is about the journey, not the destination, and that all experiences are ones we can learn from. And I really love his illustrations.
LINK to my full review

Great job, Koren!

I think I've got everyone linked to this point. If I missed you, please DO let me know.

Enjoy the challenge!

The Door-to-Door Bookstore – Carsten Henn – 3***
A small-town German bookseller has delivered books to his customers each evening after the store is closed. This is a lovely story of friendship, purpose, kindness and found family. It’s also about dealing with loss and grief, and about having the courage to make changes in one’s life.
LINK to my full review

Driving Miss Norma – Tim Bauerschmidt & Ramie Liddle – 4****
When his mother was diagnosed with uterine cancer at age 90, she decided to forego medical treatment in favor of “hitting the road,” with her son and daughter-in-law. This memoir of their time travelling throughout the USA is a result of that decision. They let go of their fears and “what ifs,” and embraced the adventure of saying “yes” to living.
LINK to my full review

The Story Collector – Evie Woods – 3***
This is a charming fable of love lost and love found, of superstition and faith, of family and community, of grief and recovery. Sarah was at times infuriating, but I came to understand her need to grieve and to face her demons. And I really liked the way her relationship with Oran developed. I liked the historical timeline as well, but I had a hard time believing Anna, a village girl, would have written her diary in this way.
LINK to my full review

October 2025 mini challenge: HALLOWEEN S*P*E*L*L
Begins: 01Oct25 / Ends: 31Oct25

0 / 5 completed


Treat
T
R
E
A
T

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Our challenge participants:

CLICK on your name to go directly to your challenge post

Beverly

Carolyn

JennH

Koren

Sheila

TerriS

Tessa

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October 2025 mini challenge: HALLOWEEN S*P*E*L*L
Begins: 01Oct25 / Ends: 31Oct25

SPELL ONE (or more) of the words below.

You may use: the first letter of the title (exclude: A, An, The), or the author's first or last initial.
(The LAST initial is the final element of a name with a space before it. So Kate DiCamillo has a last initial of D. But Daphne du Maurier has a last initial of M)


Word choices :
apple
cider
costume
ghost
jack-o-lantern
pirate
princess
pumpkin
tombstone
treat
vampire
witch


(You may also spell a word of your choice that you feel represents Halloween; tell us about it.)

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RULES OF THE CHALLENGE

All books used must be a minimum of 100 pages long - Page length determined by HARDCOVER 1st edition. If there is no Hardcover, then the most popular paperback governs page #.

You may read in any format - text, audio or e-book. If using audio or e-book I suggest using Amazon.com's "look inside" feature to get a page number for your quote.

You MUST finish the book before you can claim credit for completing a task.

A book may be used for only one task, even if it would satisfy the challenge for multiple tasks.

EXAMPLE of a successful post:
Spell BLUE:
B - Nickolas BUTLER / Shotgun Lovesongs ✔ - 03July25
L - Lucky in Love ✔ - 23July25
U - The Unteachables ✔ - 31July25
E - Elizabeth Strout / My Name Is Lucy Barton ✔ - 15July25

If you'd like to be recognized as finishing, the challenge, please post a new comment alerting me to your finish. I do not get notifications when you edit your original post.

Have Fun!

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And Luz has made her grand entrance!

(Got a text from my brother - baby's granddad - at 6:45 a.m. today with a pic of happy parents and a swaddled baby ... really can only see her little hat, a tiny bit of dark hair and part of her left ear. Born Sep 26, at 6:23a, 7lbs 2 oz, 21 inches long.)

Great challenge work, Sheila!

Finally completed my July challenge!

Welcome to the challenge, Sheila. You're not that far behind. I haven't finished Aug challenge either.

Welcome to the challenge, Sheila!


(FYI .. Baby girl has yet to make her entrance. She seems quite comfortable where she is....)

The Night We Lost Him – Laura Dave – 3***
This mystery opens with Liam Noone, a hotel magnate with three ex-wives, three adult children and a long-term lover, being pushed off a cliff to his death. Two of his children, Nora and Sam, join forces to discover what happened to their dad, and why. I am Soooo over the dual time-line device and this one isn’t done all that well. By the time the kids determined that he was pushed, I’d lost interest in who did the pushing. It’s okay, at best.
LINK to my full review

Graceland – Nancy Crochiere – 3***
This was a fun read with over-the-top characters dealing with drama mostly of their own making. I liked the road trip aspect the best, though their various antics once they all arrive in Memphis also kept the plot moving along nicely. (Loved the scenes with the Elvis impersonators!)
LINK to my full review

The Berry Pickers – Amanda Peters – 5***** and a ❤
In 1962, an indigenous family from Nova Scotia arrives in Maine to pick blueberries for the summer; a month into the season their youngest child disappears. This was a wonderful book. The characters come alive on the page. Their hurts, joys, struggles, connections, love, tenderness, anger, frustration and pain are shown through their actions and reactions.
LINK to my full review

People of Darkness – Tony Hillerman – 3.5***
Book number four in the Leaphorn & Chee mystery series focuses Navajo Tribal Police Sergeant Jim Chee, as he tries to unravel a 30-year-old mystery in pursuit of a missing box of “trinkets and mementos” that has been stolen from a very wealthy man. Hillerman does a marvelous job of weaving Native American (particularly Navajo) traditions, culture, and myths into his mysteries. I came late to the Tony Hillerman fan club, but I’m glad I got here and I’m enjoying the series.
LINK to my full review

Love that you ended with a winner, Terri!

The Little Old Lady Who Struck Lucky Again! – Catharina Ingelman-Sundberg – 2**
Book number two in the League of Pensioners series, featuring elderly Martha Anderson and her friends – Brains, Rake, Christina and Anna-Greta. The first book was a hoot, and I rather enjoyed the outlandishness of it all. But this one…. Well, it seemed to me that the author was just trying too hard to make this a comical crime caper, but it came across as tedious.
LINK to my full review