Everybody knows someone who needs killing. This little book is several linked short stories where the elderly lady of the title takes care of those people in her life. It got a bit too repetitive and the final story was a retelling of one already told, just from a different perspective. Over all, it was okay but... Full review at https://booknaround.blogspot.com/2019/03/review-elderly-lady-is-up-to-no-good-by...

Waiting on lunch with a friend, this might be a bit of an incongruous choice of reading. 😂

The story of two girls and the neighborhood they live in in Baghdad, this had aspects that didn‘t entirely work for me but it is an interesting look at the lives of regular people from the First Gulf War up to now. Full review at https://booknaround.blogspot.com/2019/03/review-baghdad-clock-by-shahad-al-rawi....

A very fun event (with tasty treats) listening to Matt and Ted Lee talk about their book about the catering world at Park Road Books tonight.

The great room is getting painted so everything is under plastic again, my usual reading couch included. I‘m going to have to find a different spot to read this one.

1. Pringle‘s or Doritos (shhh—it‘s a guilty pleasure)
2. Earrings or purses
3. I don‘t watch tv
4. Dangerous Beauty or Le Grand Bleu (French version, not US version)
5. Blue (green and purple too)
6. Ice water
7. Sitting in the rowboat in the middle of the bay watching the sunset

Thanks for the tag @SamHeartCoffee

@nelehelen

I‘m finally jumping on the bandwagon and reading this one. Also, it‘s the choice for two of my book clubs this month. 😉

My college kids are home so I can start my book while my daughter makes our favorite kale salad for dinner. 😁

As expected I was the book club curmudgeon on this one. The writing was pedestrian, the characters not engaging, the ending easy and unearned, and more. Even being interested in Russia didn‘t help this book succeed for me. #unpopularopinion Full review at https://booknaround.blogspot.com/2019/03/review-winter-garden-by-kristin-hannah....

New in this morning. Taking bets on whether I can finish it in time to review it tomorrow. 😂

A fictional take on the Dionne quintuplets told through the eyes of the nurse who was there from their birth, this is a fascinating story. Full review at https://booknaround.blogspot.com/2019/03/review-quintland-sisters-by-shelley-woo...

Finished my last book after my oldest‘s college graduation yesterday. 🎈🎉 This one is next up. I don‘t know if she‘s a mother but it seems like Mother‘s Day is a good day to start a memoir about an inspirational woman.

I had to go shopping for a dress for my son‘s graduation. The only kind of shopping I enjoy is book shopping so this was a bit painful. But it‘s done and now I can sit down and read my book.

Don‘t you just love the cover of this one? Started it today.

Not book related but had to share. Ozzie and Gatsby can hardly contain their excitement but I am truly over the moon. I just got the phone call that the margins on the melanoma are clear and the lymph nodes are negative! 🎉🎉🎉

1. Tea
2. Salty but I don‘t turn down sweet either.
3. We have one of each.
4. I am a lake girl through and through. (I‘ll do the ocean if I can be in it rather than in all that itchy sand.)
5. Anyone want to play along who hasn‘t?

Thanks @SamHeartCoffee for the tag!

I generally don‘t do sci-fi but this one came highly recommended. I really enjoyed it and when one of my book clubs agreed to read it, they asked me to facilitate the meeting, which meant I had to write book club questions for it. A friend who works for the publisher passed them onto the editor and they might use my questions in an official capacity. Full review at https://booknaround.blogspot.com/2019/03/review-and-book-club-questions.html

Ozzie and I have a rockin‘ Saturday night planned. I‘m sleepy already so going to pick up this book of short stories in hopes I don‘t lose plot threads in my exhaustion.

Three siblings and the father who left their family recount the path they traveled away from each other and on the way back to try to come together again and heal over the span of forty years. Full review at https://booknaround.blogspot.com/2019/03/review-tiny-americans-by-devin-murphy.h...

I‘m almost halfway through this one and I dislike the doormat main character, loathe her selfish (perfect, everybody loves him) husband, and want to fling the book across the room. Not boding well at all but I have to soldier on.

If these walls could talk, eh? I think they‘re going to in this non-fiction about the iconic hotel. Next up.

Between a pick and a so-so, this is the fictionalized story of Consuelo Vanderbilt, who marries into the British aristocracy becoming the Duchess of Marlborough. It‘s a first person narrative but superficial even so but it does give a good overview into the life of the caring, philanthropic person she became despite her unhappy marriage. Full review at https://booknaround.blogspot.com/2019/03/review-american-duchess-by-karen-harper...

Starting this one tonight. Not widely read on Litsy but pretty well loved by those who have. Looks promising!

Although I don‘t use the library anymore (don‘t throw stones, I have reasons I‘ll list in the comments), I will never forget my childhood librarian, Miss Zigger. I was even invited to her wedding.

Picture compliments of Pickford Community Library in Pickford,MI

1. Upper Peninsula Michigan
2. Lemon blueberry bread with fresh picked blueberries
3. Driving the boat or building a fire
4. Water
5. Cheap sun glasses (because I lose them in the lake every year)
6. In front of the fire or on the front porch if the bugs aren‘t bad

A busy day yesterday (Independent bookstore day, a pediatric cancer fundraiser—we won an electric guitar, prom for my youngest, ironing the oldest‘s college graduation gown, and catering a post prom breakfast for son and friends until 2 am) means a sleepy reading day today. I have 2 books I need to finish by Tuesday but I might be too tired. Book club book might have to wait!

If you like scuba diving, you‘ll probably want to see this collection of amazing dives. If you‘re not a scuba diver you might just want to see the pretty pictures. Full review at https://booknaround.blogspot.com/2019/02/review-100-dives-of-lifetime-by-carrie....

Recovering from surgery stinks. I keep having to fend off Ozzie and Gatsby who just want me to feel better already and maybe if they lay across the incisions that‘d help. 😜 So I‘ve chosen to set down the book that I should be reading but isn‘t diverting my attention and pick up this one that is billed as “wildly entertaining.” Hope they mean it!

My choice to take to my surgery today and all of the down time waiting beforehand. I know I need something that will completely grab me and keep my mind off the surgery.

My youngest tried on his tuxedo for prom and decided to dance with Gatsby, who was already in her formal fur.

My mom went through her treasures when we were there for Easter and gave me this old book. We don‘t read German so we don‘t know what it is but it‘s apparently a family heirloom. It was wrapped in many layers, the outside most of which was labeled with a sticky note that said “Rare book.” 😂

I came home to a truckload of book mail. This one is supposed to be reviewed tomorrow but since it didn‘t come until either Friday or Saturday and my husband couldn‘t bring it to me at my parents‘, I‘m likely to be late on the review. I‘d say oops but it was their oops not getting it to me in a timely manner. 😜

Time to switch over from the heavier reads to the first of my book club books.

Gatsby, descendant of wolves, thinks this is a great title. Of course, she‘s not the one reading about the horrors of the starvation and atrocities visited on women and children in East Prussia as WWII comes to a close. #schnauzersoflitsy

True at my house. 😂

A novel about a damaged family and sibling relationships told by the youngest child long after she has become a celebrated poet. Full review at https://booknaround.blogspot.com/2019/02/review-last-romantics-by-tara-conklin.h...

The memoir of a young man who taught English on a tiny and remote island in the Marshall Islands for a year, this is a look at his experiences and the culture, language, and people of the island. Full review at https://booknaround.blogspot.com/2019/02/review-surviving-paradise-by-peter.html

Litten librarians, I thought y‘all would like to see this giggle from a library close to our summer place.

I‘m off to get my haircut for the first time in forever but my stylist just texted to say she‘s running late. Good thing this was in the car!

Book mail today just in time for my long road trip looking at colleges with my youngest. Pittsburgh, Morgantown, and Richmond here we come. (Side note if you know of good, don‘t miss independent bookstores in any of these cities, do let me know.)

Can‘t sleep so I‘m moving onto the next book. I want it to put me to sleep but I also don‘t want it to put me to sleep if you know what I mean.

So not my wheelhouse but so many people rave about Murderbot and I need a short break from all the 2019 Great Group Reads submissions so I‘m going to attempt it (and if all else fails, I‘ll gift it to my son for his birthday in 2 weeks as he‘s about to graduate college and be unemployed so will have loads of time on his hands when he‘s not job searching). #schnauzersoflitsy

Book mail that arrived with chocolate and coffee! (I‘ll pop them in the mail to my daughter as a tiny exam goody since I‘m not a coffee drinker and she adores dark chocolate.)

I‘m breaking down and reading on my Nook. Have I mentioned how much I dislike e-reading? I‘m a tree book girl all the way but this was sent to me digitally so buckle down I must.

This is sort of last minute Louie but any #NCLittens or #Charlotte Litten want to join me tonight? It‘s a free event. I‘ll be there regardless.

A novel about a Jewish woman who wakes up in a field missing ten years of her life and the absent German bookstore owner who loved her, the story is told in two timelines: Hanna rebuilding her life post Holocaust and Max telling the story of their lives as Hitler rises to power. There is a small speculative fiction piece to this as well. Full review at https://booknaround.blogspot.com/2019/02/review-in-another-time-by-jillian-canto...

I‘m on trend! (And what took them so long to discover this fashion accessory that I‘ve been rocking for 40+ years?)

A messy, dysfunctional family tale of three sisters who have endured much tragedy in their lives who go home for their great aunt‘s funeral even while hiding their own current rock bottom situations to each other, this was easy women‘s fiction with a few predictable plot reveals. Full review at https://booknaround.blogspot.com/2019/02/review-sisters-hemingway-by-annie.html

Apparently my out of control book stacks give the best vantage point for Ozzie to survey the backyard. (This mess is on one of the chairs at the kitchen table.) #catsoflitsy