I loved Ausubel's No One is Here Except All of Us, so I had high hopes for this one. Unfortunately, it didn't quite do it for me. The portrayal of lab life is outdated at best, and the character interactions mostly seem...weird to me. The baby mammoth is cute, though, so there's that.

1) OK Computer (Radiohead, 1997)
2) Our Time in Eden (10,000 Maniacs, 1992)
3) How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful (Florence + The Machine, 2015)

And lots of other runners-up. :-)

#TLT #ThreeListThursday
@dabbe

Today's #WondrousWednesday inspired me to locate (and collageify) photos of my very first library card. It must have been 1980-1982 when I got it (I was 4 or 5). My signature is actually less legible now than it was then.

1. So many! There was the time we held snakes, the time we interacted with birds of prey, the time my newly potty-trained son peed on the couch in the children's area, the time I organized a kids' ASL class series, the time we signed up for a library coding activity while visiting a city and ended up on their website about the program.
2. Library (but anywhere but Amazon)
3. The Last Animal by Ramona Ausubel
#WondrousWednesday @Eggs

There are so many worst songs in the world, but aside from almost every U2 song, one of my least favorite songs is "Freedom" by Paul McCartney.

Today I'm enjoying a mix inspired by a friend's recommendation. There are some awesomely raunchy songs on the mix (think Riot Grrrl x10), but two of the less radio-unfriendly songs:

"Villain" by Bella Poarch https://spotify.link/ucFCLa5ZAJb

"Angry Too" by Lola Blanc https://spotify.link/NBaYOt6ZAJb

I started this one on e-book, continued in hardcover, then finished on audio. It's well written, but I found the recitation of one story after another a little tedious to read at times. I'm giving it a pick because it's beautiful, but I doubt I'll read it again because it's depressing to think about climate change and environmental degradation and how much we as a species have destroyed, even though it's pleasant to spend some time in old woods.

My plan worked! My family got me a color Kobo for Mother's Day and even remembered a sleep cover and threw in a stylus! Now to clear my schedule so I can spend some quality time with my new e-reader. 📚

Soft pick on this one. I'm pretty sure this ended up on my TBR when I was trying to add another novel by the same name, but I figured I'd read this one anyway. The moral of this story seems to be, "It's easier to get into a whale than to get out of one." There are some really yucky bits and some rather on-the-nose metaphors, but I found it an enjoyable listen. Having lived in Monterey as a child, the on-land setting was interesting to me, too.

I can't remember how this book got on my radar, but overall I like it a lot. There's a lot here that resonates with my recent experiences working full-time after a long, long break then choosing to go back to part-time. I think I'm less prone to define myself by my work, but I'm not immune to our culture's take on the virtue of labor. I wish I had a better roadmap for influencing systemic change, but the book provides welcome validation.

My class is working on rough drafts of their mystery stories, so in between answering questions, I can catch up on my re-read of the course text. It's always amusing to me how many tiny details I remember and how many big plot points I forget.

This is an interesting novel. My spouse asked me about it, and I described it as "quiet." When asked to elaborate, I explained that the story unfolds quietly, slowly, haltingly. There are delays, but even in those delays, things happen. It's introspective but is very efficient with the words used to describe that introspection. The tone of the story is paralleled by the feeling of the setting---isolated, remote, cold, foggy. Definitely a mood.

I went to the local bookstore for book club for Clear, but apparently this group is one that periodically just decides not to meet, so I chatted with the bookseller a bit then bought another #camplitsy24 selection. I almost bought Whale Fall, too, before I remembered I'd preordered it from bookshop.org already. That was a near miss!

Next month's selection is The Guest by Emma Cline, so I might try to make it to that one.

I enjoy the way that this story of generational trauma unfolds, even though it's frustrating at times how obtuse the characters can be. They're realistic but maddening in the way that they jump to conclusions and make assumptions and keep secrets that are better revealed. I'm glad to know that "Outback teacher" is a possible career path (although not keen on 45C temps).

Photo: Death Valley NP, California

April #bookspinbingo card. No bingos again this month, but I'm not surprised as between work, school, volunteer stuff, and just regular life, I have had very limited reading time. And it turns out I completely forgot the title of one of the books I read, so I put it on my May list, thinking I hadn't read it (even though I read and loved it, I forgot the title). This is where my brain is at this moment in time. 🙄

@TheAromaofBooks

Anyone can whittle!

The book on the far left is Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day.

I find this library display delightful and kind of hilarious.

This one is a fairly fun if a little bland Christie mystery. Poirot is back yet again, but he seems a little tired. I guess it's good he's staying busy and keeping his mind sharp, and growing marrows in the country wasn't his thing, but he tries to retire and people just keep bothering him. Maybe he could open a school to teach younger generations to solve mysteries and grow elaborate mustaches so they can fend for themselves eventually.

I ignored the imperative of the title of my textbook and did May's #bookspinbingo card first. Now I'll wrestle with chords until my next class.

@TheAromaofBooks

Finally posting for #TuesdayTunes!

The final project for my audio tech class involves composing and mixing a (mostly) electronic song, so I've been listening to Daft Punk for ideas for how to layer different sounds. So far, I like their first album (Homework) better than their later albums. https://spotify.link/56S3xu2deJb

@TieDyeDude

May #bookspin list! I finished it while having lunch in my car between classes. I kind of wish there were a couple more days in April so I could finish another book or two before jumping into May. I'll have to write a letter to my elected officials about this potential calendar change.

@TheAromaofBooks

Well, #sdbookcrawl is over, and I didn't collect any prizes, but I did get a second book for #CampLitsy24 today! And I found out that my local indie bookstore is having a book club about this one in May...quite tempting!

I casually mentioned the existence of the new color Kobo e-readers to my spouse, alongside the casual mention of the dates of Mother's Day, my birthday, our anniversary (I'm pretty sure 25th is traditionally the e-reader anniversary), and Christmas.

Now, we wait.

(And then we get antsy and casually send him the link to the Kobo website, just to be on the safe side.)

(Photo from the Kobo website, in case that wasn't apparent.)

It's a tie between The Iliad and The Odyssey (4 each), although I guess it's maybe different than "copies" since they're all different translations/interpretations. Not counting audiobooks, the next closest are Anne of Green Gables, The Secret Garden, Feeding the Whole Family, Merriam-Webster's Dictionary, and Roget's Thesaurus (2 editions each).

#SundayFunday @BookmarkTavern

If you've listened to the author on Ezra Klein's podcast, you probably got pretty much all you need from the book, although the final chapter on the limitations of marriage is really interesting. Cohen's picture of intimate platonic friendships challenges paradigms, but I feel a little like I'm learning about a different species as this type of friendship, although appealing, is not one I've experienced personally, and I'm not sure how it happens.

One bookstore, one book for #CampLitsy24! It's the closest to my house and the farthest from all the others. We'll see if I can visit some more tomorrow and Monday. Maybe I can rope my home-from-college kid into going with me. At least one of these is near a cupcake shop, which will perhaps sweeten the deal. 🧁

I used to buy books rarely, almost exclusively getting them from the library, but during the pandemic I started buying them, and now it's getting out of hand. I mentioned this to my spouse, who noted that I've been getting books from the library again. "You're not buying them anymore, right? You just have the ones we own to pare down?"

All I can say is that I must be giving books away fairly well, if he hasn't noticed that we keep getting more.

Hey, SoCal Littens! Anyone want to coordinate meeting up during the San Diego Book Crawl this weekend (April 27-29)? If you're interested in trying to coordinate time/bookstore, you can message me on Instagram (@ctlvoiceover or @imperfecthappiness), and we can exchange contact info (or if you're comfortable sharing your email in comments here, I can email you.)

Psyche and Eros has been a favorite myth of mine for quite a while. I even worked on my own retelling a few years ago, but I couldn't quite get to the bottom of the emotional truths I was trying to convey. This is a solid retelling, and I like how McNamara puts it in the context of Greek history, but while it incorporates ideas from recent retellings of other myths (Achilles, Medusa), I'm not sure it adds much of a new perspective on the story.

1. I feel like I'm on the edge of doing something cool and creative and potentially cathartic, although I don't know yet what that might be. Maybe just a butternut squash soup innovation or something related to chord progressions (like maybe learning how they work).
2. Camille and Silo!
3. Great horned owl (in a place where they don't use poison on rodents) or a barn swallow.
4. Done!
#MotivationalMonday @Cupcake12

Cultivating an aesthetic for my language arts class this morning.

I found the mc pretty annoying for most of the book, the family/friends dynamic is foreign to me (I can't imagine having a friend I'm close enough with that they could be my hospice caregiver or vice versa), and I have a bias against books about people from NYC (I'm just sick of them), but even with all of those things, this is a beautifully written book. The portrayal of death, loss, and grief feel true to me. Now I need to read something light.

This list shifts frequently, but three of my faves:

1. Frances McDormand (esp Fargo and Raising Arizona).
2. Shirley Maclaine (esp Steel Magnolias and Terms of Endearment)
3. Kate Winslet (esp Heavenly Creatures, Little Children)

(And Cate Blanchett (Elizabeth, LOTR). And Jennifer Aniston (specifically in Office Space and Cake and not in Friends). Couldn't help sneaking in a couple more!)

#TLT #ThreeListThursday @dabbe

I'm glad I left enough time to dry my eyes and blow my nose after listening to this on my ride to class today. And that I didn't decide to wear mascara today. Oof. I might wait until I get home to listen to the rest so I'm not driving and crying.

I. Experiencing new places.
II. Patterns of behavior that no longer serve me.
III. My family (my spouse, my kids, homeschooling for so many years, the adventures we've had, and the parenting improvements I've made compared to the previous generations in my family of origin).

Great questions, @Eggs ! #WondrousWednesday

1) Resting in Uncertainty (alternate: That Was Fast. What Now?)

2) It's not specifically what I would do at this point in my life (biking solo 10,000+ miles), but I love the way Sara Dykman lives her values.

#TwoForTuesday @TheSpineView

#motivationalmonday

1. Between paid work, volunteer work, and school work, I have SO MUCH to do. And my son has a band concert Wednesday, so that's fun.

2. The dusty table and chairs on my back patio.

3. Southern California. Kind of chilly for April, but reasonably sunny.

4. I'm not really liking this one.

@Cupcake12

This novel reminded me of Stephen King's short story, "The Raft." Smith does a great job conveying tension and peril, along with what being in these conditions brings out in people (spoiler: it's mostly negative). Not all of the characters are distinct personalities. The two main guys and the two main women seem interchangeable, and I kept mixing them up. Matthias is an individual, and perhaps the only likeable character in the novel.

I got done with this book, and my spouse asked me how it was. I said it was cute, there was torture, and I could see it being made into a movie without much modification. "I don't plan on reading it, so don't worry about spoiling it for me," he said, encouraging me to say more. I shrugged. "I don't like it enough to say more." If I loved it or hated it, I'd have more to say. As our teen son says, this one was mid.

So, here's a Zion NP waterfall.

Overall I enjoyed this novel. I especially like the way Harper writes relationships and manipulation. Two things reduced my enjoyment, though: One is that sometimes characters' reactions are written as though they're obvious when they aren't to me (possibly a cultural thing?). The other is that solving the mysteries hangs on happenstance and intuition a little more than I'd prefer. I won't say more about that, but it's something I found annoying.

I'm still on vacation in my heart. Death Valley National Park isn't my favorite desert park (and I wouldn't want to visit May through October), but it's certainly unique. I feel like the landscape goes with the title of the tagged book, which I started today.

I enjoyed this novel, and not just because of Emilia Fox's interpretation of a southern (US) accent. The characters are complex and realistically cagey, and Miss Marple rocks, as usual. The observations about the differences between US and English culture are interesting. I can't judge how accurate the English side is, but Christie basically suggests that United Statesians don't mind shameless self-promotion, and I can't say she's wrong.

Yesterday I was here, and today I'm back home, doing dishes while listening to the tagged book (with cats staring at me wondering why I'm not sitting and petting them indefinitely after being away for a week).

Oh, my gosh! I love this novel! It's so weird and intense, with such an honest, deep representation of "home" and all the complicated things that come with it. It's about the accommodations we make to hold things together, and what it looks like to set a firm boundary, at long last. And alongside that, it's a deliciously creepy haunted house story. Probably shouldn't have read it on vacation in a house whose noises I don't know, but here we are.

Vacation library visit! They had a lovely eclipse-themed display and LEGO portraits made by elementary students, and it was awesome to see a family lounging on the bean bag chairs reading quietly.

April #bookspinbingo card, ready to go! Now to find time to read. 🤔

@TheAromaofBooks

I'm traveling this week, and I forgot my fancy pens, but this is my essentially complete March #bookspinbingo card. I didn't get a bingo this month, but I did finish both my #bookspin and #doublespin, so yay!

@TheAromaofBooks

This one feels similar to Mona Awad's Rouge but with less focus on grief and more on how privilege and racism inform beauty standards and how wealth can take a reasonable idea to an unreasonable extreme. I enjoyed the novel, but the story feels a little young, like it's lacking a layer of meaning that life experience might give it. Or maybe that was part of the point.

Ready for April...sort of. My younger kid is going on a trip to Europe with his school band for spring break, and when I think of the geographical distance that's going to be between us, my chest feels tight. I know he'll have a blast, but oh, my mommy heart! At least I have books to distract me.

#bookspin @TheAromaofBooks

I really enjoy how Lord Peter seems clever but also a little silly and impetuous, but there's a point in each of Sayers's novels when his serious side comes through, not in a heavy-handed way, but often just as a glimpse. In many ways I find this mask/true self characterization more realistic than the more either/or characters in many books, and it helps to explain why those around him are so devoted to him, even when he acts like an ass.

Well, the results of the "official" #ToB are out and Blackouts won by a landslide over The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store, which is interesting to me because I DNFed Blackouts pretty early on. I guess I like the "tyranny of narrative," which judge Kyle Chayka says Blackouts resists. Now I feel like I should give Blackouts another attempt, maybe in a different format, but the thought makes me want to go back to bed.

1) Nothing to See Here by Kevin Wilson (read on my own, read aloud to my kids, then family road trip audiobook---narrated brilliantly by Marin Ireland)
2) LOTR (read on my own, read aloud to my kids, plus audiobook)
3) Winnie-the-Pooh (the original A. A. Milne, both read aloud by me and listening to the magnificent Peter Dennis audiobook on repeat for years)
Bonus: Anne of Green Gables by LMM

#TLT #ThreeListThursday @dabbe