I am switching to audio on this one. Anyone else read this and struggle with the amount of punctuation going on here? I never realized I could get annoyed by parentheses before!

Getting my booster, because I have a lot of Agatha Christie books left to read and I need the time.

This book. I feel bad 😊 it sounds so interesting, it has been sitting on my bookcase since 2015. It was my #bookspin for March, and I just cannot seem to pick it up. When I do I only get a few pages in and then get distracted by anything else that is laying about.

I am finally going to call this a bail and move on. Some books are better in theory than in actual reading I guess.

I don't know what it is about Sally Rooney. I dislike all of her characters, and not in a "hate them but they are interesting" way, but I really enjoy something about her writing. The mixture of simplicity, richness, in the writing and a bit of horror at how terrible these people are.

Here we go December!

Bingo Board
Bookspin: The Golden Rule
Double Spin: Damnation Spring
Free spaces will be for all the Bookspins I put off the last year!

@TheAromaofBooks #bookspin #bookspinbingo

Patrick Radden Keefe is quickly becoming my favorite non-fiction writer. This book is brilliant and infuriating. I finished this 2 days ago and am still processing how blatantly evil this family is. Greed and malice mixed with a complete lack of empathy. I appreciate how Keefe lays out the facts in a straight forward but interesting way, & how he was able to keep the people distinct - definitely pick up the physical book for the family tree.

If I had another week... ahahah

Not as good as last month, but 2 bingos for November!
@thearomaofbooks

November Reading Roundup!
So many great and essential reads this month!

5💝
The Word Is Passed
Razorblade Tears
Empire of Pain

4.5💝
Olga Dies Dreaming
The Trouble with White Women

4💝
The City of Mist
Daring to Drive

3.5💝
A House in the Sky

3💝
A Rustle in the Grass
Because of You
The Personal Librarian
Things We Lost to the Water

2 💝
Bewilderment

I really wanted to love this but just got a bit bored. I find ants fascinating, and this had been on my TBR since 2015, a little known book similar to Watership Down but with ants. The characters are distinct and richly drawn and there is lots of adventure. I think this would be perfect for middle grade or lower YA readers who love nature, it probably would have had a bigger impact on me when I was young.

#weeklyforecast I am currently reading the tagged and Rustle in the grass so hope to finish both and start 2 more! We will see if I luck out and start a December #bookspin

Ready for December! I still have 4 bookspins to finish from earlier this year, but I am determined!

#womensprizelonglist2021 not a book I would have picked up otherwise. I don't know where to start here. Highly readable, I flew through this but it was messed up. Will say pick as long as you read it with someone so you can call them with "??" every 50 pgs.
The storyline is dark and could have been an emotional rollercoaster but she throws in humor and it doesn't match, maybe I don't understand her humor though because it wasn't LOL but WTF.

While I am almost done with this book, and still cannot figure out my feelings on it, at least I know I am coming out of it with this great quote.

"Truly, I've met some pricks in my time, but you, sir, are the full cactus."

OMG!!! BOTM dropped the December books and Olga is one of them!

I am so excited for this release!! The reg. pub date in the US is Jan 4, 2022. I read an ARC and totally adored it. If you are a BOTM subscriber and have not picked your books yet I super encourage you to pick this one up!

I loved this!!!
Thank you Edelweiss for the advanced copy.
I was reading 2 other books when I on a whim read the fist chapter and could not put it back down. I loved living with Olga, Preito and their family with all the drama.

I use the same graphic each month, putting together my list, and removing the books as I read them throughout the month. Even if I don't get all the Bingos, it is still gratifying to see the empty numbers at the end!!

Have you ever read a highly readable book, but the storyline and content is...WTF???
I am breezing through this but am a bit horrified at it. It starts with 2 women giving birth one baby dies and that mother steals the other's baby... But French apparently is trying to add humor? With things like a character named Detective Cheese? The back is completely confusing. Why am I reading this, and why am I flying through it??

#Healthteabookcrate day!! I love this subscription box ❤️
I didn't have this book anywhere on my radar, I don't normally read books about pregnancy or parenthood. Has anyone read this and enjoyed it?

Today is a complicated holiday in the US. I hope everyone gives a minute to sit with our sorted history, and the lies that lead us here. But also enjoys you family (blood or chosen) and finds many things to be thankful for.
This year I am thankful for my home, my health, my family, and grateful for a 4 day weekend to see people I love and read a lot!

NYT has their 100 books of 2021 list out! I LOVE an end of year list - to see what I picked up over the year that they felt was worthy and to see books on the list that I hated! Both are fun to see.

Have you read any of the 100 Notable books picked by the NYT?
https://vm.tiktok.com/ZM8sW26eW/

I have read 12 and have 8 on my TBR shelf.

Sunday evening dreaming.

Well written, a level look at extremism how she went from extreme religion to being a fantastic women's right activist.

5⭐
This is such a great read. I love how Schuller is able to give a more rounded look at the actions and motivations of our most know women leaders - giving credit and criticism. While also weaving in their compatriots who were striving for an inclusive world. This book is getting slammed over on GR because of racist white women who do not like any criticism or mention that white people could have done better, but please pick this up and read it!

I was so excited for this. I am frustrated reading the authors historical notes, where you learn that they have taken the weirdest "liberties" by moving around the dates of some known events. Nothing would have changed inside the story by leaving facts as they are, but it does diminish the book itself in my opinion.
Beyond this is did not enjoy the stilted writing style and will probably not pick up anymore book by this author.
???

Anyone who followed UNC's refusal to give Nikole Hannah-Jones tenure this last year will find this unsurprising and still frustrating.

#booked2022 Fall outlook - Getting these older (some heavy and intimidating) books off that old TBR!

I do not read books that revolve around food, so I would LOVE suggestions to get out of my comfort zone with recipes. I thought about My Life In France with Julia Child, which I have always been interested in but never read, but I am unsure if there are recipes in that? I also LOVE Anthony Bourdain so if his Kitchen Confidential or one of those have a recipe thrown in that would be amazing
Tagged is one of many of my most anticipated 2022 books!

#booked2022 Spring outlook - looking through my TBR bookcase, and I have something for everything on this list (more then one for all of them) for Make Your Own I am going with A book by a non-binary author

#Bookd2022 outlook, hoping to get a lot of books off my very old TBR list. #winter

😂😂 Help 🤣😂🤣

I am not a grieving parent of a troubled child, so I have wrestled with my feelings on this book. But goodness did I mutter "Get that child a therapist" way too many times to enjoy this book. The core of the book is supposed to be this environmental pre-apocolypse idea, but it gets way overshadowed by Robins mental health issues and the father's parenting.
The book itself was overwritten and overall just not for me.

"Snapped back to reality"

Okay. Anyone else read a line in a book and a song so far off from that book starts playing in your head? Eminem, you don't belong in this story! ?
I hope they keep this cover it is lovely.

Haunting, and so interesting! Both Miguel de Cervantes and Antoni Gaudí make appearances. The stories range from super short couple of page bombshells to 30is pages slow burns. His last book and I am both so grateful for his work and so sad we will not be getting more.

First book of a 4 day weekend! Earlier this week I finished 2 fantastic books so expectations were way too high for another. This was good. The time jumps were a bit erratic and jarring, but the writing is lovely and it is a solid immigrant story. Would not - not recommend it.

We time change this weekend and I hate it so much, I have taken Monday and Tuesdays off, going to hibernate and clean and read and start fresh on Wednesday.
Weekend reading goals:
(Finish) Things We Lost In The Water - Eric Nguyen
Bewilderment - Richard Powers
City of Mist - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
The Trouble With White Women - Kyla Schuller

5⭐
This should be required reading for Americans. This is truly an outstanding book.Smith is a poet and he uses language to make a terrible history lesson a beautifully written book.His research is impeccable, and no matter how much you think you know you will learn something. I had no idea the "United Daughters of the Confederacy" helped build a disgusting, hateful traitors park just an hour from me in Washington state.
Blown away by this book.

My box is here! I feel like I am always the last to get mine.

4.5 ⭐. This is so good. I sped through it, the action just kept coming, the dad's kept growing. It was intense, gritty, and emotional.
Roxane Gay called this an "explosive thrill ride" and I couldn't agree more.
One of the best novels I have read in awhile.

Ouch. Right out the gate this one is choosing violence 😂

Wow. I absolutely loved this. A rich and unusual read. I enjoyed this much more than her first book, probably because the pacing was better here. Clarke has imagined a captivating world and has brought in intriguing with plausible memory loss and unreliable narrator and supporting characters.
This is a fantastic magical realism book. 4.5⭐

November TBR shelf

#BookspinBingo @TheAromaofBooks
Ready to GO!

#Bookspin and #Doublespin for November.

Thanks @TheAromaofBooks for helping me get that back list cleared! .

#weeklyforecast it is a heavy reading week. Next week I should make sure to add some fun books!

@staycurious #teamhendrix

#Scarathlon2021 wrapup. Thank you so much for all the work, and fun!

Total points 8,770

Did some bingo cards!

I even ventured to Starbucks to get a fall drink special, and like every time I go there Coffee Snob me screams why?!? Tries to drink half of it and then gives up and is mad I spent $5 of grossness 😂

Bingo! This is a first for me. I completed the #bookspin, the #DoubleSpin and got 3 (SO close to 5) bingos!

Thanks @thearomaofbooks for making getting through my TBR extra fun.

#scarathlon #photochallenge #pumpkin representing in a cozy reading corner. @Linsy

#scarathlon #photochallenge #orange @Linsy