Elton John. What a talent, what a terrific human. I love so many of his songs (with Bernie! Will read his story next) A life force and a reminder that fame and fortune do not make a life; embrace the love in your corner of this utterly confusing confounding world. 🌎

#July2025 Book66
📸 Myrtle Spurge

I am starting this today, reading a chapter a day. Would a family tree be easy to find in the webs? I don‘t quite get who the heir is - a cousin? And what did this mean “wearing black ribbons for his wife”?

#Persuasion2025 @AvidReader25

The vividness of these radishes provoked me to take this picture, continuing my habit of posing my books with gardens, plants, flowers, produce. This is my last book for #ToF and it is already capturing my attention; page 10. This will be my 3rd by this author. I expect it to be interesting, philosophical, culturally relevant.

Finished this late last night and immediately considered that OOOPS I was supposed to only read the first half?! #CampLitsy2025

Very pregnant Annie navigates Portland OR after a devastating earthquake wreaks havoc. My heart was pounding, I was incredibly thirsty, I was so scared for her & lil Bean!!

#CherryRhubarbPie 📸 #Debut #EarthquakeLit #Happensin1Day #ILovePie #LitPie #July2025 Book65 (Book mentions #KeyLimePie)

Repost from @AvidReader25 about our August no frills all fun readalong #Persuasion2025; M‘s favorite and my first time! This has been years in the making, back and forth, “let‘s buddy read” > “which book?!” 😂

I am excited!
M - are these all your copies? Or do you have more?!

Elton will be joining me to and from work this next few weeks and I couldn‘t be more excited!

Squeeeee! This better be a fast read. #CampLitsy25 #LFG #Hardcover #PrettyCover

I found this harrowing and so so sad. Also, I will say it touched my heart and I learned a lot; I am glad that I have read the Epic of Gilgamesh (tho it isn‘t necessary for understanding this story and the characters.)

Had to pull a pic from the archives; this glorious rushing stream is near Gunnison Colorado.

#July2025 Book64 #ToF

This has my favorite theme: found family 🌟
Frank has had an interesting childhood with an unconventional mother. From her, he learns (and so did I!) about great musicians; “vinyl is the best”. He opens a music shop that only sells records - not tapes nor CDs; and he has the gift of knowing exactly what music a person needs to hear. Until one day when someone stops in & he can‘t figure out what to recommend. 💕💗 🎼🎻💿💖 #July2025 Book63

“To write is to free yourself from the constraints of place and time.”

This book is taking me forever and I think it is because I fear disaster in the ending 🫣

Had a minute before work so I detoured into the local indie bookstore (Watermark Books/ICT) and found these lovelies. 📚 Tilt because my hold at the library is not looking to come before #CampLitsy25 discussion, Persuasion for my August buddy read. The others were on sale!

Starting this.

Okay. OKAY! Did I almost tear up 😢 at the end and then laugh at myself for it? Yep.

#TeamBrittle and even some #TeamMadKind❗️
I just like the term “madkind”, I think. #bookclub #scifi #existentialism

NOTE: the narrator is a woman, female, so to me Brittle is she/her. Does it matter?

“Women are expected to be like rivers—readjusting, shapeshifting.“

A gift from a friend. “When a friend says, I want to send you a gift, don‘t protest! Just let ‘em!” (I have no idea if that is a good example of what I will learn in this book, but I do respect when a friend wants to give, then embrace the sentiment and allow the joy of receiving.) Thank You, NeEtta! And don‘t let anyone tell you how you are supposed to feel, how you are supposed to grieve, how you need to care for your family 💖 Ignore them?

Book club was last night. I can‘t say I enjoyed the book. I thought the main character was annoying? Something just didn‘t gel in the story and from the discussion I think everyone had issues with too many possible plot points going unexplored. But because the author is local and it‘s a debut, I feel horrible giving it only two out of five stars.

#July2025 Book61 #BookClub #eBook

Next up! I know I can blame summer camp discussions on picking up this one. I even pitched it to my book club 😬😱😳 which I am sure half of the group is displeased. #ohwell #bookclubrecfear Raise your hand if you, too, fear the wrath of poor book choices?!?! 🙋🏻‍♀️

So I was loving this book in the first half but my cynical self kept casting doubts on a few silly plot points. Soft pick, and certainly a recommended book if you like family drama. Everyone was likeable and I cheered for a positive ending. Sad stuff, though. Marriage is hard. Humans are complicated. #July2025 Book60

#WordoftheDay

This book… is SOMETHING.

The image above is the really cool book circle sculpture at the Kansas City Public Library.

Please, if curious abt this book, check out @monalyisha ‘s post and comments. I am still wading through the words, like bopping through a slow river of molasses. Yet so intrigued! 💖

Another Copper with Collection of Poems…. Up next. A gift that, sadly, I have forgotten who gifted it to me!

#DogsofLitsy #CopperBopper #poetrymatters #APoemADay

Loved this collection; includes a powerful series of poems in conversation with Gravity. Her poems of grief and fear of relating to and with her elderly parents were incredibly moving.

#DogsofLitsy #CopperBopper #Agingparents #poetrymatters #APoemADay #July2025 Book58

#5JoysFriday @DebinHawaii

1. Flowers
2. Family BBQ this afternoon
3. Watched Hamilton on Hulu (wow!!)
4. Three days off before I go back to work!
5. Tiny glimmers of hope for kindness and rational thought plus empathy
Took me this long to find 5 things 🎆🧨😐

Pumpkin Pie mentioned at 35%. You can usually count on a Thanksgiving scene to have a pie mention. #iLovePie

I need to get my hands on this!! I know, it shouldn‘t be too hard to find, right? Just may purchase it just for fun, and then donate to my library after…
And please note that in August, @AvidReader25 and I are planning a #buddyREAD of this because it is one I haven‘t read yet, and I think M is reading through ALL the Austens; she can correct me if that‘s wrong. Anyone reading this is fine to join in.

Up next and I am so excited and hopeful that I will love it that I‘m almost scared to begin 😱

#ToF #LibraryBook so I best get started.

I don‘t usually give credit to short chapters nor consider the multiple POV of a story but #CampLitsy25 discussion has me grappling to explain what worked for me in this story. I do believe it was excellent craft of setting the tension, layering the mystery, being inside each character‘s fears and my questions of why on their actions. Perhaps pacing was perfect due to my only having many short time spans to read it, thus off time ⬇️

Listening to this now. I have heard good things (even if I had no clue and can never remember what rock band he is in! I am clueless with popular music these days)

Filler book to hit a category of #AsheCoNCReading Challenge : a book by Kristin Hannah 😂
I respect her ability to churn out books people love but she‘s not for me. I searched Libby for anything short of hers that was available.

#June2025 Book56 #iLovePie #RhubarbMeringue

For book club, local author (KS)

“I am a tunnel, wind screaming through me.”

(OMG the two sentences that follow the quote above. 😬😳😱🫣 ~page 67)

📸 Wall, MHK

I‘m not at the shore, but am starting this on a wild windy thunderstormy day; it‘s dark now, and the power across the street has been out since early morning. Ours came on around noon. Be safe out there. ⛈️ ☔️ 💨 🌱⚡️

So good. Took me way too long to get into but that was all me and too many freakin‘ mundane things to attend to (like cleaning and j-o-b). Gotta love a book that upon finishing the very last sentence, tears threaten and so I must laugh instead. Pick! Stack it!

#June2025 Book55 📸 Stormy sky in Kansas

Grand so.

“It‘s hope that makes us afraid, and I remind myself that a man should be grateful for his fears, ‘cause it means he has something to lose and to win.”

“Directors without a producer are like a ship without a sail, the medium of wind to endeavors nautical being equivalent to coin in all theatrical,…”

Some really great sentences in this! 🌟 #debut #drama #ToF

After difficulty finding an audiobook immediately available on Libby for Pride Month, I decided to search for a banned book. This is one that I selected. So important and so astonishing to me that someone, some “many”, would prefer that this book not be available. So sad. 💔 My offer to the Resistance is to celebrate empathy, respect, diversity, and inclusion.

Pic of my latest pie: Strawberry Rhubarb Pie Day was June 9. Finished the book on June 10. #iLovePie #WiaN2025 Alliteration category #AsheCoNCReadingChallenge celebrity category #June2025 Book54

I enjoyed this, she is extremely driven and her journey has been full of adventure. I love the Pitch Perfect movies.

Next up! #ToF

I can see why many have loved this read but it just wasn‘t for me. I didn‘t get fully invested nor swept away and once I read a few meh reviews, I couldn‘t unread those impressions but only then found I was in agreement. On to the next read! #June2025 Book53

Going on a road trip and need an audio! Since I have a “celebrity memoir” category to fill for #AsheCoNCReadingChallenge, will listen to this one. #LibbyAudio oh! It also fits the Alliteration category for #WiaN2025! And 8% in, she mentions apple pie. #PieinLiterature #iLovePie

Apparently I forgot to blurb that I am now reading this. I happened to start it the same day that I had a lovely chat with an old friend who told me she just finished. It‘s fun to find these overlaps; however, we rarely like the same books 😂 #eBook #PieinLiterature

Audiobooked and skipped a few chapters; needed a “female leader” for the #AsheCoNCReadingChallenge. #June2025 Book52

Uh. . .

What WAS that?!

Cannot wait to discuss this! #CampLitsy2025
#June2025 Book51 (and yes, the plant is called Mouse Barley (aka Foxtail) which the bane of dog paws 🐾 everywhere and it is horrifically prolific this year in my neighborhood!)

LOVED THIS. And it truly did have me laughing out loud. Team Abigail!

#June2025 Book49 #AsheCoNCReadingChallenge Furniture 🪑 on the cover category.

A friend recovering from surgery asked me to pick up some audiobooks from the library - my choice! I have read Educated and the Doerr (no idea if she has) - does anyone want to chime in support for the other two? I have Born a Crime on hold - which is my favorite audio of all time that I recommend. Photo to help me remember! (Otherwise, slim pickings.

#weekendreads @rachelsbrittain

I have three terrific and captivating stories that I have on rotation at the moment. I don‘t usually have so many fiction books going at once, especially if same delivery method: Audition and Woodworking are both hardcovers and due soon at the library. I have Broken Country captured on my Kindle in Airplane ✈️ Mode

Okay, sometimes this lovely meme is exactly what I need to realize remember and reinforce that my life does not suck, yaknow? Firstly, and non pictured here is that I received 4 personal letters today that cheered me beyond explanation. Also, as I prep this? Hub and I are having a terrific conversation and the weather is amazing. 2. Had my annual health check ✔️ 3. Zinnias!!! Cosmos!! 4. Red wine “happy camper” 🏕️ 5 . Upcoming trip to KCMO 💖 🪁

It‘s finally here!! And the dollar 💵 pays my fine. 🥴

Library hold ready for pickup!

Oh! Just realized that the cover art would count for a challenge of “Furniture on Cover”!! #AsheCoNCReadingChallenge2025

OooOOOooo! I like this cover more than the one on the hardcover I read (US, library) Anyway, I am giving this a “Pick with reservations” and truly, this is a case of “Book, it‘s not you, it‘s me”. I just couldn‘t overcome the reluctance I felt, the chore it seemed to get this thing read!! I don‘t have time for this, too many books coming at me fast and fury with deadlines. I made it to page 200 before I skipped to the last 4 chapters ⬇️

This made me laugh. Shout out to all the 🐈‍⬛ cat lovers! Yes? 🙌 #catsofLitsy

“Hanging out with Man Man, a humongous black Maine Coon cat who required the attention of a human at all times, was perfect.”