pickAn absolute delight. After a homeless man returns her stolen wallet Mrs Yoem, a retired teacher, offers him a job in a convenience store she owns. Compassion, giving people a chance, assumptions, human connection, kindness—all this & more is interwoven in a story that shows how the man not only changes the store & those he is working with but also how he comes to understand & forgive himself. A quiet story about life in all its messiness. Loved it
pickAnother absolute stunner from Ram V! Indian mythology meets a European vampiric threat as the East India Company threatens colonialization in a supernatural retelling of the Anglo-Mysore wars. A brutal story and fantastic art.
Really enjoying this one…
#Celebrate Has authors' notes. Here is Monica Whitlock singing a song about Authors Note in her closet walls. The song is pretty raw. The book is Beyond the Oxus. @Eggs @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks
Still trucking along through TURBULENCE alongside sweetie-pie Stormy. It feels very much like assigned reading, which is what I‘m in exactly the right mood for. I carry on not because I‘m invested in the characters but for the window on the rural China of the 1980s and the opportunity to consider the differences between Chinese and Western story structures. I‘ll hopefully finish it tomorrow.
Throwback to yesterday afternoon, when I drank a lovely Cat‘s Got the Cream Ale from Rebellion Brewing Co and began TURBULENCE. So far, the book‘s interesting but not gripping. I keep coming back to how the story often feels like it could be set at any point in the last 2000 years, until someone mentions cadres or telephone poles and it‘s like, oh yeah, we‘re totally in the 1980s.
My last day of teaching was December 19th. Besides my students, I loved searching for great literature to inspire; I'm already missing it. I can't enjoy my retirement because I am mourning my job. Not depressed, just sad.
For #Foodandlit #Cambodia would some of you like to read and discuss at the end of the month? It's very heavy - middle grades.
@Texreader @Kelly_the_Bookish_Sidekick
#ChunksterChallenge2025 @Amiable
I read several #BitsyChunkster but the two I enjoyed the most were The Lincoln Highway (Towles) and The Valley of Horses (Auel).
#ChunksterPetite Zorro (Allende)
#Chunkster The Priory of the Orange Tree (Shannon)
#ColossalChunkster Shogun
Giving #BookSpin another, well, spin in 2026! 🌀
Dropped in some options for #FoodAndLit2026, #AuthorAMonth, and Book Riot's Read Harder challenge to help me choose. 😂
