So, what had happened was…😆

When making our reading schedule, I mistakenly consulted the table of contents for a retold/abridged version of the book, which only had 19 chapters. The actual book has 33 chapters. SO—I have adjusted the schedule accordingly! I divided the remaining number of chapters by 3 weeks, so now the pace is about 9 chapters per week instead of 5 —but it should still be really doable. ⤵️ #KindredSpiritsBuddyRead #LMMAdjacent

I enjoyed this unfinished piece of Arthurian poetry by Tolkien, along with the accompanying essays by Christopher Tolkien (that make up most of the book). Overall, though, it was a bit unsatisfying—I wanted a little bit more from all of it (but that‘s my own issue, not an actual problem with the book). “The Poem in Arthurian Tradition” made me want to study the poem in the context of an Arthurian Literature course, to go deeper into the sources ⤵️

Another belated review… this was the #ChristiesCapers #AgathaChristieClubR3 pick for February.

I was excited to read this because I hadn‘t read any of the Tommy & Tuppence books before, and it was such fun—in spite of the more improbable & unrealistic aspects of the plot! Both Tommy & Tuppence annoyed me a little at times, but I did enjoy their youthful energy and banter—as well as seeing Agatha Christie write younger protagonists. ⤵️

#KindredSpiritsBuddyRead check-in, 5 chapters in! I‘m reading this Book League of America edition from the 1940s & the print is TINY. 😵‍💫

I‘m having trouble keeping track of the various players & alliances in the conflict, but I‘m interested to see where things go with our travelers. I‘ve also been on edge about how this is going to go as far as racism & stereotypes.

What do you think of our main characters and of the book so far? #LMMAdjacent

#5JoysFriday!

1. Sunday jazz with my husband‘s combo
2. Lunch on St. Patrick‘s Day with dear friends
3. Last-minute cheap tickets to see HP & the Cursed Child at the Pantages in LA
4. Unearthed some “treasures” from the garage—including a little ceramic alien my sister made at age 12
5. Phone call from one of my regular editing clients thanking me for my work—helping him craft a eulogy for a mentor of his 💜

I had so much fun reading this with the #HashtagBrigade, although I still question my judgment in deciding to read both this and Nicholas Nickleby simultaneously. This was a re-read for me, but I remembered little about the twists and turns of the narrative, so the unveiling of the various secrets and plots was still largely a surprise. 😆 Also, I‘m happy to report that my review from August 2011 still holds up! ⤵️

“There are many pleasant fictions of the law in constant operation, but there is not one so pleasant or practically humorous as that which supposes every man to be of equal value in its impartial eye, and the benefits of all laws to be equally attainable by all men, without the smallest reference to the furniture of their pockets.”

#WhattheDickens

Soooo far behind on reviews! The #KindredSpiritsBuddyRead read & discussed this over a month ago. But, my viable excuse for this late review is that I only just finished the four related stories!

This was a slow-paced description of life in a small, coastal Maine town in the late 1800s. The semi-autobiographical slice-of-life plot is narrated through the eyes of a writer boarding there for the summer. Through small vignettes, Jewett‘s writing ⤵️

This was…OK. I‘ve seen the “real world characters enter a fictional world” premise executed better elsewhere, and this felt a bit lacking. Selby & Dan felt under-developed, and their interactions with Hamlet and the play‘s other characters were handled a bit awkwardly (really? Hamlet has few-to-no problems/misunderstandings of modern culture or language?). The book explores concepts of mental health (naturally, encountering Hamlet & Ophelia ⤵️

We start reading The Last of the Mohicans tomorrow! The weekly schedule is above (we‘ll be reading about 5 chapters per week). I‘ll post a check-in on Saturdays, and we‘ll have a wrap-up discussion of the whole book on Saturday, April 12. Looking forward to reading along with all of you!

#KindredSpiritsBuddyRead #LMMAdjacent

LMM dedicates Rainbow Valley to three young men who were killed in WWI, and the ending of the novel, with its references to the Piper, foreshadows the war to come. Did you notice anything else in the book that echoes or explores these bookend references to the war?

#KindredSpiritsBuddyRead #LMMReread

It was heartbreaking to read the above in LMM‘s journals and to see LMM‘s loss of her cousin and dear friend overshadowing the publication of Rainbow Valley. But I loved hearing the source for both of these Rainbow Valley moments.

What are some of your favorite parts of Rainbow Valley? Favorite episodes or quotes?

#KindredSpiritsBuddyRead #LMMReread

For those who are re-reading the series: How was it reading Rainbow Valley right after House of Dreams instead of after Anne of Ingleside?

Does this book feel like an “Anne” book to you? What do you think of the glimpses we do get of Anne and Gilbert?

#KindredSpiritsBuddyRead #LMMReread

What worked or didn‘t work for you in this book? What did you most enjoy? What did you dislike or find problematic?

We get a bunch of new characters: Anne‘s children and the Meredith family, and various members of the community including the West sisters. Which were your favorites or least favorites? Who would you have liked to read more (or less!) about?

#KindredSpiritsBuddyRead #LMMReread

Belated #5JoysFriday!
1. My dad & I are making progress in getting rid of unnecessary stuff—someone took the dresser we left at the curb, and we gave a bunch of vintage clothes & hats to a local youth theater org for costumes
2. During the above, I found a sweet “Thank You Grandpa” booklet my nieces gave my dad almost 20 years ago (we kept that!!)
3. Between rainstorms we had some glorious clear days where I could see snow on the mountains ⤵️

“…they're all called monks or monastics, as ‘monk‘ comes from the Greek monos, meaning ‘alone.‘ But as we know, society likes to create separations and binaries of everything, so the word for nuns comes from the Latin nonnus, meaning ‘monk.‘”

😂

It‘s super hard to review all three books together, because my enjoyment varied greatly from book one to book three! This had been on my list for a while, since my MIL recommended the series to me. And initially my question was WHY did anyone ever think this would make a good series?!?! This question persisted for me throughout the first book and a half, which read like a mildly interesting description of rural village life in the late 1800s. ⤵️

Another belated review—I read this in January for #AuldLangSpine!

This was so much fun. Set in Regency-era England, it follows “Gus” and Julia, spinster twin sisters who set out to rescue a friend‘s goddaughter and join forces with a charming rogue along the way. It‘s full of humor, adventure, and female empowerment, as well as more serious issues and higher stakes than I imagined there‘d be. I was so glad to see there‘ll be a book 2!

A much-belated review of the #OokBOokClub read from January (I‘m working through my backlog of completed-but-not-yet-reviewed books!)

I‘m torn over this. I loved its examination of political/religious propaganda (especially in wartime/in service of conflict), and I loved the way it pokes fun at and takes down gender stereotypes. I loved its diverse characters and the little cultural glimpses each one gives us, from trolls to Igors to vampires.⤵️

I've seen this quote before, and I love it, but I love this framing of it even more!

Also, I think I need this quote on a t-shirt. For those non-great days.

My birthday is in just under 3 weeks & I‘ve been putting together a multi-year reading challenge to complete before 3/31/28 (my 50th birthday 😱). I went through my physical shelves & TBR lists and chose 50 books I‘d really like to finish before I turn 50. Then, I wrote prompts for each—so anyone who‘d like to join me can choose their own books for the challenge. Who wants to read #50x50 along with me? Link to StoryGraph challenge in the comments!

“(Am I responsible for any of these vulgar fluctuations, which begin with unhappiness and end with tea?)”

#hashtagbrigade

I‘d just like to take a moment to share a lil‘ picture I took of a small misprint in this morning‘s liturgy at my church 😆

I‘m sure it was completely unintentional; our admin likely copy/pasted the first Sunday of Lent liturgy from last year and didn‘t notice there were adjustments needed, but still. It made me chuckle.

Hello, #KindredSpirits! Checking in halfway through our read of Rainbow Valley!

📚How is your reading going? What are your thoughts so far?
📚What stands out to you from the first half of the book?
📚Any favorite sections or quotes?

#KindredSpiritsBuddyRead #LMMReread

“The dark organ music filled the Department of Postmortem Communications. Moist assumed it was all part of the ambience, although the mood would have been more precisely obtained if the tune it was playing did not appear to be ‘Cantata and Fugue for Someone Who Has Trouble with the Pedals.‘ As the last note died, after a long illness, Dr. Hicks spun around on the stool and raised the mask.”

#OokBOokClub

🎉🎉🎉 So excited!! Even though there is absolutely no room in my current reading lineup! 😆

#5JoysFriday!

1. Saturday was our wedding anniversary and we celebrated with a fancy dinner paid for by a gift card from my husband‘s boss
2. After the fancy dinner, we went to a Radiolab quiz show followed by a musical performance by Julianna Barwick
3. My good friend who‘s not a big fiction reader decided to read Nicholas Nickleby since I‘m reading it right now, and she‘s really enjoying it and texting me about it!
Continued ⤵️

“It is never quite safe to think we have done with life. When we imagine we have finished our story fate has a trick of turning the page and showing us yet another chapter.”

#KindredSpiritsBuddyRead #LMMReread

I‘m looking at my reading for the month and trying to decide what to pick for my #BookSpin! #DoubleSpin landed on the tagged book, but BookSpin landed on a category for the #192025 challenge: a book from the 1980s—2000s. I‘m trying to decide between the above four. Any recommendations?

“He‘d always wondered what dishabille looked like, but he'd never expected to see so much of it in one go. Even now, some of his memory cells were still trying to die.”

#OokBOokClub

“There are days when he growls at everybody because he thinks he is fore-ordained to eternal punishment… My own opinion is that he is not sound in his intellect, for none of that branch of the Millers were. His grandfather went out of his mind.”

Well, THAT lands differently after reading last week‘s section of LMM‘s journals. 😳😬😢

#KindredSpiritsBuddyRead #LMMJournals #LMMReread

“…It can be so hard sometimes to have hope,
yet even knowing what winter did,
look at all this life.
I am here to remember again how the field
is made of uncountable blades of grass,
and how I, too, am one of many
that make up the whole, all of us growing
together...”
—from “Between Winter and Spring” by Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer

https://ahundredfallingveils.com/2025/03/03/between-winter-and-spring/

“Socrates said, ‘The misuse of language induces evil in the soul.‘ He wasn‘t talking about grammar. To misuse language is to use it the way politicians & advertisers do, for profit, without taking responsibility for what the words mean. Language used as a means to get power or make money goes wrong: it lies. Language used as an end in itself, to sing a poem or tell a story, goes right, goes towards the truth. A writer is a person who cares what ⤵️

I‘ve had this on my shelf for a long time & I‘d really love to tackle it this year! Is anyone interested in a buddy read?

It‘s a trilogy of historical novels set in 14th-c. Norway, originally published in 1920, 1921, & 1922. These would work well for anyone finishing the #192025 challenge this year! I‘m planning to use the first 2 books for 1920 & 1921.

I was thinking May—July or June—August, one book per month. Comment if you‘re interested!

“I am almost worn out and feel as if the only thing that would do me any good would be to get away out in some lonely waste place and shriek at the top of my voice for half an hour.”
—July 22, 1919 (p. 173)

Same, Maud. Same.

#KindredSpiritsBuddyRead #LMMJournals

Next up in the #KindredSpiritsBuddyRead: our #LMMReread of Rainbow Valley, and our #LMMAdjacent read of The Last of the Mohicans.

I‘ll post check-ins on Saturdays; the full discussion of Rainbow Valley will be March 15, and for Last of the Mohicans it will be on April 12.

All are welcome to join in! I‘ll post my tag lists for each book in the comments. Please let me know if you‘re not tagged and you‘d like to be (or vice versa!)

This week‘s section was ROUGH and heartbreaking to read, and I‘m glad we‘re alternating between the journals and other books! A couple questions to get us started:

What stands out to you in LMM‘s description of her grief?
What stands out in her descriptions of Ewan‘s illness and her own response to it?
Are there other sections that you found interesting or meaningful?

#KindredSpiritsBuddyRead #LMMJournals

“You should be angry. You must not be bitter. Bitterness is like cancer. It eats upon the host. It doesn't do anything to the object of its displeasure. So use that anger. You write it. You paint it. You dance it. You march it. You vote it. You do everything about it. You talk it. Never stop talking it."

I read an awful lot of books this month to have not gotten a #BookSpinBingo. Maybe I can read Raybearer before midnight? 😆

✅#BookSpin: North Woods
✅#DoubleSpin: Behold the Dreamers

15 books read total

5 from my TBR
2 re-reads
8 library

13 belated reviews yet to write (from both January and February) 😬😂

#5JoysFriday!

📚Early #BookSpin numbers today!
🔥Wearing this t-shirt
🎹My husband‘s piano service—paired with this poem by Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer: https://braidedway.org/how-to-meet-this-difficult-day/
I‘ve been wading through mean-spirited accusations and nonsense on FB this week, but there have also been some delightful joys:
🌅Sunset pictures of my beloved Ely Riverside from Veronica in the Fens
😊Tara Wine-Queen‘s roundup of whimsy & joy

Thanks for the tag, @julieclair !

Favorites:
Rebecca
Sound of Music
And I can‘t decide between Shakespeare in Love and The King‘s Speech!

Want to see:
It Happened One Night
An American in Paris
Schindler‘s List (I learned & played the theme from the soundtrack in college, but I haven‘t seen the film!)

Didn‘t like:
The English Patient
Chicago
The Hurt Locker

https://www.listchallenges.com/academy-awards-for-best-picture
#tlt #ThreeListThursday

This was a fascinating look at a part of the White House I‘ve heard referenced frequently during crises, but otherwise knew very little about. The book traces the history of the Situation Room and the way it‘s changed and developed over the years, from JFK through Biden, focusing on a crisis in the Sit Room during each presidency. It was fascinating to see the vastly different ways each president approached/interacted with the room & its staff⤵️

This pick from @librarybelle‘s #AuldLangSpine list was a delight! I thoroughly enjoyed Sister B‘s letters describing ups and downs at the convent of St. Winifreda. They open a farm shop and begin to engage the community in their struggle to remain open as church leadership is pushing to sell their land. An unexpected bonus for me was discovering that the setting was the Fenlands of East Anglia, not far from Ely—where I lived as a child. 💜💜

This was an assigned read for my spiritual direction program. In some ways I loved it, and in other ways it annoyed me. I love Starr‘s approach to seeing the mystical in ordinary, everyday life—affirming that sacred mystical experience is for ordinary people, not only spiritual and religious “professionals.” And her strongly interfaith stance broadened my understanding of mystical experience. However, there were times when her descriptions of ⤵️

It‘s said that MLK Jr. was inspired by Thurman‘s work & often carried a copy of this book with him. Published in 1949, Thurman‘s insightful wisdom is (unfortunately) still fresh & relevant today. Thurman discusses how hatred destroys both the oppressor & the disinherited—and offers Jesus and the truth of the Gospel as an example to follow, in love and in resistance. It was the second time I‘ve read this, and I got even more out of it this time.

March #BookSpin list! I have lots of usual suspects: book club, buddy read, and challenge picks, etc.—but since March is my birthday month, I‘ve fleshed out the rest of the list with several books I‘ve received as gifts but haven‘t read yet 😆

A sweet, huggable, cozy, found family fantasy. I liked the characters, and I liked their growth and their growing vulnerability and connection to each other. Overall, the book felt a bit light and forgettable—but there‘s nothing wrong with a light, enjoyable cozy fantasy. That cover, too! 😍

I thoroughly enjoyed this Golden Age murder mystery. The characters are almost all over-the-top cariacatures, and as such, were hilarious. Gossip and judgment turns to murder and there‘s suspicion all around—and there‘s no shortage of witty dialogue and clever characterization along the way. This was my December #BookSpin (yes, another belated review!).

This was a soft pick. On the surface, it checks lots of boxes for me: a secret enchanted world, the aftermath of returning from (and to) that enchanted world, found family vibes, and a gorgeous cover! I enjoyed it overall, but it was missing something for me. Some of the mechanics of the world felt clumsy, and the ending felt hopeful but unsatisfying. I did enjoy the characters & I wonder if a sequel might resolve some of my unsatisfied feelings.

Catching up on belated reviews… I read this back in December for the #OokBOokClub. I loved Pratchett‘s take on journalism, as William deWorde accidentally invents the first newspaper in Ankh-Morpork. The story brings up questions of what the truth is, how it‘s told, how that telling shapes people‘s perceptions, who tries to suppress that telling & why… there‘s so much here that‘s still alarmingly relevant. And I loved Otto!