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Welcome to my weekly update for July 26, 2026!
It’s been a busy couple of weeks! My birthday was July 18 and my husband’s was July 25. We took a trip to Mackinac Island, Michigan for my weekend. Conditions were not ideal for Mackinac Island with all the wildfire smoke, but luckily it had improved from its absolute worst by the time we got there on Friday and Sunday was actually pretty clear and sunny. My husband was on call for emergencies at the hospital for his birthday, unfortunately.
I signed up for Christmas in July over at That Artsy Reader Girl and I received my package of goodies on Thursday. Kathleen P. did a great job of wading through my meandering questionnaire answers and sending me books and treats I love! Many thanks to her!
My family was generous with beautiful books for my birthday too. I grabbed A Founding Mother for myself at The Island Bookstore while we were on Mackinac Island.
All images © Jennifer G. at Introverted Reader 2026
Left: Lots of goodies there but the two books are The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese and Fairy Tale by Stephen King
Right, clockwise from the top left:
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, curated by Barbara Heller
Yumi and the Nightmare Painter by Brandon Sanderson, illustrated by Aliya Chen
A Fortune of Sand by Ruta Sepetys
A Founding Mother: A Novel of Abigail Adams by Stephanie Dray and Laura Kamoie
Posted:
Nothing.
Read:
Links go to my full reviews on GoodReads
The Summer Tree (The Fionavar Tapestry #1) by Guy Gavriel Kay–4.5 Stars–A re-read that lived up to my fond teenage memories of it. I particularly appreciate the strong female characters, surprising in a high fantasy genre that tends to focus almost exclusively on Men Doing Things.
The Stardust Thief (The Sandsea Trilogy #1) by Chelsea Abdullah–4 Stars–A perfectly paced retelling of some of the One Thousand and One Nights tales with delightfully complex characters
Fables, Vol. 9: Sons of Empire by Bill Willingham–3.5 Stars–I don’t care for the ongoing plot featuring the Adversary plotting against the Fables but I did like the parts about Bigby the Wolf
The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins, read by Hillary Huber–2 Stars–Very dark and too long and meandering for me
Tales from the Café (Before the Coffee Gets Cold #2) by Toshikazu Kawaguchi, translated by Geoffrey Trousselot–4 Stars–A satisfying follow-up that builds on the first book a bit
Building a Second Brain: A Proven Method to Organize Your Digital Life and Unlock Your Creative Potential by Tiago Forte–4 Stars–Solid tips for getting your thoughts and knowledge in order but I do not recommend reading on a Kindle Paperwhite because of all the graphics. It’s also too long and a bit repetitive
Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You about Being Creative by Austin Kleon–3 Stars–Short and inspiring but feels more like an illustrated bullet list to get you to stop stalling and start creating
Currently Reading:
A Fortune of Sand by Ruta Sepetys
An Unpardonable Crime by Andrew Taylor, read by Simon Vance
The Border: A Journey Around Russia by Erika Fatland, translated by Kari Dickson
What did your week look like?
Hosts:
Deb Nance at Readerbuzz hosts The Sunday Salon and Kimberly at Caffeinated Book Reviewer hosts Sunday Post. Kathryn at Book Date hosts It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?
1 Comment
I’m glad the smoke wasn’t awful when you were on Mackinac Island. I’ve always wanted to visit there. We’re downsizing to a Class B van, so we’re hoping to do more traveling to the northeast and east coasts. We have family in Durham, so we may be heading to NC next year! Looking forward to your thoughts on The Covenant of Water. It’s on my list.