pickI didn‘t love this but it was fun! It was like a YA fantasy novel with an older protagonist—not to say that Claire isn‘t believable as a 60-year-old grandmother, but that it‘s light, a bit tropey, and made me roll my eyes more than once. I‘m looking forward to my book club‘s discussion and I‘m considering buying the sequel. I want to know more about the midwitches!
“If hating one‘s body effectively motivated change, do you really think there would be many heavy people in the world?”
I forgot to put this book in one of the free squares 🤨 Oh well—I wouldn‘t have a #bookspinbingo anyway!
Pretty good but not great reading month. $15.28 for #pennyperpage.
Here is my list for #bookspin #bookspinbingo!
“When is the last time you ate a meal made without opening a can, bag, or jar or handing over money at a drive-through window?”
Um… right now. This very minute as I read. 😆
This was picked by one of my book club members. I was hesitant because it‘s not at the library and I don‘t like spending money on books if I‘m not sure I‘m going to like it, but this is a lot of fun so far! And it‘s definitely refreshing to have a heroine who‘s 60 instead of 16, much as I love YA fantasy.
My #newyearwhodis list from @HOTPock3tt ! I‘ve already read some of these (One Last Stop almost made it onto my own list), and I‘m excited to read some of the others! Legendborn has been on my TBR for a while so I‘m definitely starting with that one—it sounds right up my alley! Plus I see that @AbigailJaneBlog , provider of last year‘s fantastic NYWD list, loved it too! 😄
pickI liked this one a lot more than Hidden Bodies—it felt like a return to the Joe we hate to love and things not going weirdly, irrationally well for him. The only things that go well are because he‘s managed to convince people that he‘s such a great guy… and some things go very badly for him because of that. And so many characters that are so delicious to hate, just like in You!
I still feel like Love makes no sense though.
Magick and salad for lunch!
pickI remember this being my favorite of the Sandman books, though I‘m not sure it is anymore! I really enjoy the Calliope script at the end, though I noticed several places where Gaiman‘s descriptions are deviated from in the art to make it more sexual (note: TW for rape)—which is pretty disappointing.
pickAnother fun story in Clark‘s alternate-history-fantasy world. It speeds toward a fairly predictable ending, but I love the world and characters. I‘m looking forward to reading A Master of Djinn, which I believe is the first full-length novel in this world.
so-soThis book is definitely not what I expected! The first third or so goes over some basics of Wicca and witchcraft. (I never grasped the “intuitive” part—it‘s very prescriptive.) Then it spends a good chunk going over the traditional Wheel of the Year. I did like some of the spells and rituals provided in this section. Then there are two short chapters on creating your own wheel—which is what I thought the whole book would be! That was… 👇🏻
Here is my October wrap-up post, finally! I finished five books, including my #bookspin (though not my #doublespin…). $9.13 for #pennyperpage.
Next up! I‘m much more confident that I‘ll like this one 😁
bailedGood lord, I could not stand the POV character. Among other things, she managed to insult me, personally—including twice on one page! I think there was supposed to be witchcraft but I didn‘t get far enough.
I have no idea what this book is about 😂 I‘m 90% sure I put it on hold after Rachael Herron interviewed the author on her podcast, so presumably it sounded great. And it came up on my hold list today when I had finished Anti-Diet, so here goes!
pickVery thought-provoking! I sort of knew that dieting didn‘t “work” but the way it is presented here is very comprehensive. There were a few things that didn‘t convince me, but I‘ll definitely be looking more into intuitive eating, and I‘ll probably check out her podcast.
pickFinally finished this! 🙌🏻 I really enjoyed all the comparative mythology, all the different and similar myths and legends and magic from around the world… though it did get repetitive. Frazer‘s conclusions about the common threads and their meanings were a lot more suspect.
@bibliobard Thank you so much for this awesome #basicwitchswap!!! I‘m looking forward to trying the tea and I looooove the bisexual witch hat pin! And I am super excited about both books. You are awesome!
Time to give this one a try! With seasonally appropriate produce 😆
pickHob, Gilbert, and the spider ladies are just as delightful as I remember. The cereal convention is just as delightfully horrifying as I remember.
“…telling people they ‘should‘ be eating ‘whole, minimally processed‘ foods didn‘t differ much from telling them they ‘should‘ be eating low-fat, low-carb, or low-calorie foods. It was all part of the larger system of policing what people are under the guise of improving their health—and it was harming all of us.”
This book is definitely thought-provoking!
Hill House and hot chocolate: a perfect combination for a chilly October evening.
panVery shallow and often barely related to the moon. Some of the chapters felt like the author had just thrown a bunch of index cards in the air to shuffle them together and tried to come up with chapter headings based on that. Also, a bunch of gender essentialism, diet culture, and just general weirdness.
#littlefreelibrary find—I‘m intrigued but skeptical! I see good Litsy reviews, though, which makes me more hopeful. I recently had my hormonal IUD out and my cycles have been very short, which is better than the endless bleeding with the IUD but still annoying.
so-soI might be a little hard on this book due to THUG comparisons and taking several days‘ break in the middle but 🤷🏻♀️ I liked it, didn‘t love it. I never fully connected with Bri. While in theory I understood the choices she made I didn‘t really GET them. The ending didn‘t really come together for me.
I purchased this book sight unseen from a secondhand seller on Amazon, so I was a little nervous. But I couldn‘t be more thrilled! It‘s in great shape and it‘s just such a beautiful book. The typography is lovely and they put that perfect first paragraph of Hill House on its own page. 😍 I‘m so glad to finally have my own copy of these books!
My #basicwitchswap from @bibliobard arrived today! 🤗 Can‘t wait to open it.
I really need to get on my shopping and shipping… 😅
pickMy father passed away on Friday after a year-and-a-half struggle with pancreatic cancer. This book was a very good choice to retreat to over this difficult and painful week. The characters are delightful and with the focus on character, I didn‘t get too worried about what the bad guys might be going. I‘m glad I had done some grieving and was less emotionally fragile by the time I got to the finale, though!
I… don‘t think that‘s the first thing you should do when you have a medical emergency.
I keep hoping this book will get better but it has a lot of “scientific” claims with a very thin bibliography, a bunch of weird gender essentialist stuff, and a bit more weight loss/diet culture than I expected in a book about magic.
September wrap-up: Not a lot of books finished, partly due to work, partly because The Golden Bough is so dang long. $7.77 for #pennyperpage.
My #bookspin came up as “library hold” and this was the first one to come in, so I guess this is October‘s pick!
pickI keep forgetting to post my review of this #pemberlittens read! I enjoyed this sapphic retelling of Persuasion, but didn‘t love it. I felt like it stuck too close to the book at times (especially that quick-summary epilogue). I did really appreciate the addition of flashbacks to Anna and Frida‘s original relationship, though. Being an f/f Austen and set in New Zealand, it reminded me of If I Loved You Less, and suffered for the comparison.
October #bookspinbingo list! I somehow ended up with 21 this month… probably because The Golden Bough turned out to be a million years long and I‘m still reading it!
Wow! It‘s my FIVE-YEAR Litsyversary! 🎉🥳👏🏻
Litsy continues to be the best of all social media. I‘ve been considering a social media break, and if I do take one, Litsy will be the exception.
#LittensDressedInBlood – Strange Magic – Piranesi is trapped in a strange, magical house. Of course, he doesn‘t think he‘s trapped. He loves the house.
#LittensDressedInBlood – He Did It – Did he do it? Didn‘t he? Somebody did. Honestly I‘m not sure why I had this book on my list for this prompt but here you go 😂
#LittensDressedInBlood – I Put a Spell On You – I didn‘t actually like this book, but I wanted to! I really liked the way magic works in it. It begins with the main character emerging from a spell that‘s been placed on her, escaping from the form of a frog.
#LittensDressedInBlood – Come, Little Children – but don‘t come to the Blackwood house… it‘s not safe there.
pickThis book is more gruesome than I remembered. 😅 I feel kind of bad for suggesting it as a book club read. At least two members couldn‘t finish it. I enjoyed it, but it certainly isn‘t Gaiman‘s best work.
#LittensDressedInBlood – Black Magic Woman – There are some real black magic women in this book! And by that I mean women who do magic, black women who do magic, and women who do black magic.
#LittensDressedInBlood – Sweet But Psycho – This prompt reminded me of Gram. She seems like a sweet old lady, inviting Margot into her heart and home, when Margot has always wanted more family than just her mother. But when Margot gets to the farm, she finds out there‘s a lot more there…
#LittensDressedInBlood – Walking With a Ghost – “…Hill House, not sane, stood by itself against its hills, holding darkness within; it had stood for eighty years and might stand for eighty more. Within, walls continued upright, bricks met neatly, floors were firm, and doors were sensibly shut; silence lay steadily against the wood and stone of Hill House, and whatever walked there, walked alone.”
