Instagram story viewer> @e.m.bennet_> Posts

Em •

@e.m.bennet_

1.5K

followers

749

following

lit fic • fantasy • classics • rom coms • and more
eastern townships • québec • canada
••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

POSTS STORIES REELS TAGGED

Q3 book haul • Here are all the books I acquired in July, August and September 📚 Moreover, they make a good-looking rainbow 🌈

The birthday presents
➖Hell Bent by Leigh Bardugo
➖Boyfriend Material by Alexis Hall
➖What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher

The secondhand finds
➖Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen
➖The Maid by Nita Prose
➖Mother Tongue: The Surprising History of Women’s Words by Jenni Nuttall
➖North Woods by Daniel Mason

Those I bought new
➖Bridget & Gabe Are Not Okay by Lex Croucher
➖Jane Austen’s Bookshelf by Rebecca Romney
➖Nine Goblins by T. Kingfisher
➖When the Crow’s Away by Auralee Wallace
➖Silverborn: The Mystery of Morrigan Crow by Jessica Townsend

I’ve already read one of these and I’m currently reading another. Have you read any of these? And what did you think? by @e.m.bennet_

22

7

11 days ago

Book review • Miss Buncle’s Book by D.E. Stevenson was put on my radar a couple of years ago thanks to #spinsterseptember hosted by Nora @pear.jelly . This year was my turn to read this dear little book, and it was my reading highlight of September.

It’s the 1930s during the Great Depression. Barbara Buncle—a spinster and wall-flower—needs money, so she decides to write a book and hopes to have it published. An editor is found, her novel is published under a pen name. It becomes a bestseller. The thing is, Miss Buncle isn’t the person with the biggest imagination (her words), so the characters in her book are all people she knows under different names. Moreover, what happens to them within the book is very close to reality. The whole village is in uproar, people recognise themselves in the story, and they are not happy. They’ll do everything they can to discover who the author truly is.

This was a delight! The story is simple and full of humour. For me, it was a perfect mix of the joy and simplicity of Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day by Winifred Watson, and the provincial life and humor of The Diary of a Provincial Lady by E.M. Delafield. If it sounds like your cup of tea, I would heartily recommend! by @e.m.bennet_

43

8

14 days ago

June + July + August 2026 • This has been a wonderful summer of reading! After a super busy spring that unfortunately left me very little reading time, I finally feel like I’ve got my mojo back. I finished 15 books over the summer season and many of them were amazing choices. Down here is the list, but please do swipe through for a brief thought on each of them.

➖The Anthropologists by Ayşegül Savaş
➖A Lady’s Guide to Scandal by Sophie Irwin
➖The Strawberry Patch Pancake House 🎧 by Laurie Gilmore
➖Paladin’s Grace by T. Kingfisher
➖The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien
➖Colony by Annika Norlin
➖Heartstopper Volume 5 by Alice Oseman (a reread)
➖Heartstopper Volume 6 by Alice Oseman
➖The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World by Robin Wall Kimmerer
➖Funny Story by Emily Henry
➖The Death of Vivek Oji by Akwaeke Emezi
➖The Summer Book by Tove Jansson
➖Uncharmed by Lucy Jane Wood
➖The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion Volume 1 🎧 by Beth Brower
➖The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion Volume 2 🎧 by Beth Brower

☀️ by @e.m.bennet_

37

21

a month ago

Bookshelves • I present you my most recent book organization. I now have a study (I could call it an office, but it feels more like a study) where I keep all my books and have a reading nook, but also where I work from home. It’s nice to have a dedicated space for them. The room is small—therefore it’s a challenge to take a good snapshot of the whole thing—but it’s cozy.

What you see here are my read books. My TBR is in a smaller bookcase on the opposite wall; more on that in a different post.

I moved into my new home in Spring. It takes so long to settle in and make a home. I’m trying to be patient and take my time, not rush anything. Meaning the study is nowhere near finished, but it’ll get there in good time. In the meantime, at least the books are in place, which is the most important 📚 by @e.m.bennet_

56

9

2 months ago

Let’s call it the Q2 book haul • After not buying a single book for close to three months, I still failed my resolve to not buy any new book before moving 😅 A girl has to bookshop as therapy sometimes. So here are the books I treated myself to in May and June.

Category is: preorders (because pre-ordering a paperback format also counts)
➖John of John by Douglas Stuart
➖The Killer Question by Janice Hallett
➖Uncharmed by Lucy Jane Wood

Category is: there was a sale on Book Outlet
➖Wreck by Catherine Newman
➖The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield
➖Starling House by Alix E. Harrow
➖How to Lose a Lord in Ten Days by Sophie Irwin

Category is: I haven’t read Paladin’s Grace yet but I still got the 3 next books in the series
➖Paladin’s Strength;
➖Paladin’s Hope;
➖Paladin’s Faith; all three by T. Kingfisher

Ok now I need to not buy any more books for another few months 😅 what do you think? by @e.m.bennet_

33

17

4 months ago

April + May 2026 • I can finally take a moment to share the books I read in April and May. This spring was a roller coaster for me, as I moved out of my old flat in the city and into my house in the countryside. Settling in takes time, and I feel it’s going to take a while to find my pace back.

Nonetheless, I read 5 books over those two months. Swipe for my quick thoughts on each of them.

➖The League of Gentlewomen Witches by India Holton
➖We All Want Impossible Things by Catherine Newman
➖Not for the Faint of Heart by Lex Croucher
➖The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden
➖The Secret Adversary by Agatha Christie

Have you read any of these?
🌾 by @e.m.bennet_

34

8

4 months ago

Season of change • How is Spring for you? Over here, it’s chaotic in the best of ways. The big news is: I’m moving!

I’m now the proud owner of my first house 🧡 I feel very grateful. This will bring a lot of changes, the most obvious one being that I’m leaving the city and moving to the countryside. I’ve longed for it for a long time now and I’m thrilled it’s finally happening.

For now, the boxes are more and more numerous in my flat; I’m driving a lot to and fro between Montreal and the house; there is a lot of logistics to operate. I’m moving in a month from now and it both feels like a long time ahead and not time enough to do everything.

As for the books, they are being packed and my main bookshelves look very disheveled now, to say the least 😅 My cat Chacha is still doing well amidst the chaos and I’m so proud of her. My mom and her cat are moving in the house with us, so it’s going to be a joyful household of lady-cats and cat ladies 🧡 So many things to look forward to 🏡 by @e.m.bennet_

83

23

6 months ago

March 2026 • Not many books were read in March, but I really enjoyed them all. Quality over quantity as they say.

I can’t really mention a favourite of the month, as all four books had quite different vibes and they all provided what I wanted to read when I picked them up.

➖Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel
➖Gliff by Ali Smith
➖Heated Rivalry by Rachel Reid
➖The Fate of Mary Rose by Caroline Blackwood

📚 by @e.m.bennet_

37

2

6 months ago

Two books I read early in March were Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel and Gliff by Ali Smith.

I devoured Sea of Tranquility; it’s short all right, but I read it in 3 days, which is unlike my typical reading pace. I loved how readable it was. It has different narrative arcs set in different centuries, and there is something linking them together. It’s hard to say more about the plot without saying too much. It was my third book by the author and I find myself in a comfort zone while reading her books. I would totally recommend, as well as Arcadia by Iain Pears, as the vibes of both books were similar in my opinion.

Then I read Gliff, my 7th Ali Smith 😅 Typical Ali Smith, here you don’t fully understand what you’re reading. It’s full of layers and she puts a lot of emphasis on the form as well as the content. This book is her take on Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, that I read 20 years ago (so how it compares to it, I couldn’t expertly say). Gliff is a dystopia about how technologies and big organizations are set to rule and take away all our humanity, and how some people fight back against the system.

Also, Gliff made me reflect on my relationship to Ali Smith’s books. I never remember the stories I read by her, and I understood it’s because she plays with the form so much, it makes it harder to build images in my mind. And as someone who relies a lot on my visual capabilities, I find it harder to retain information when I don’t have all those visual references. However, instead of rebuking me from her work, her style fascinates me and I’m always down to read more. Also, I should probably reread her novels, to rediscover them anew.

Have you read one or both of these books? What did you think? by @e.m.bennet_

37

3

7 months ago

February 2026 • Last month was a bit of a whirlwind. I read mostly short books; it was the easiest way for me to take some time to enjoy reading with everything going on around me.

The book that brought me the most joy:
➖Game Changer by Rachel Reid

The book that I’ve been thinking about the most:
➖Moon of the Crusted Snow by Waubgeshig Rice

The other books were also enjoyable but less impacting:
➖Thornhedge by T. Kingfisher
➖Heartburn by Nora Ephron
➖The Husbands by Holly Gramazio

🌟 by @e.m.bennet_

31

2

7 months ago

First book haul of the year • I like to post about the new books I add to my TBR, and one of the reasons is to be able to look back and see which one I still haven’t read 😆

Here are the books that found their way to my shelves in December (I’m a bit late with these ones), January and February.

December
➖The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie
➖Colony by Annika Norlin (translated from the Swedish by Alice E. Olsson)

January
➖The Anthropologists by Ayşegül Savaş
➖The Ornithologist’s Field Guide to Love by India Holton
➖All of Us Murderers by KJ Charles • this one is a late late birthday gift (my bday’s in August) from my friend @megionet

February
➖Glyph by Ali Smith
➖Game Changer by Rachel Reid • which I’ve already read 🧡
➖Heated Rivalry by Rachel Reid
☝️For the sake of transparency, I must admit I’m cheating a bit in posting this now. I’ve ordered the rest of the Game Changers series by Rachel Reid and I should get those 4 other books next week 😊

Ok that’s it, have a great Sunday! by @e.m.bennet_

35

4

8 months ago

January 2026 • How was January for you? The first month always feels like the longest month of the year ❄️ I don’t feel very eloquent these days, which means no longer book review from me. But here is an overview of my reading this month. Swipe through to read my quick thoughts on each books.

Books that spoke to my heart:
➖Things I Don’t Want to Know by Deborah Levy
➖The Princess and the Grilled Cheese Sandwich by Deya Muniz

A book I really liked:
➖Intermezzo by Sally Rooney

Books that were fun to read but may be forgettable in the long run:
➖The Examiner by Janice Hallett
➖Emily Wilde’s Compendium of Lost Tales by Heather Fawcett

❄️ by @e.m.bennet_

33

6

9 months ago