Thanks to @monalyisha for finding my bookish match and setting us all up to read some excellent books in January for #auldlangspine. @BarkingMadRead has great taste in books, and I‘m especially excited to pick up A Good Girl‘s Guide to Murder (a beloved choice by my students), Well Met (which has been sitting in my kindle forever), and The Count of Monte Cristo (should‘ve read it a long time ago). Happy Reading!

This quote stopped me in my tracks. “Their marriage was like a set of scales constantly balancing itself. And then, at some point, when neither of them was paying attention, they‘d tipped so far into bad, they‘d settled there. Now only an enormous amount of good would shift them back. An impossible amount of good. The good that was left between them didn‘t carry enough weight…” (p. 220)

🎧📖Ok, hear me out—2/3 of the way done. I‘m going to go ahead and call it as a meh book so I can move to something else. I don‘t dislike it, but I just don‘t care about the characters. I do plan to finish the audio on our way back home tomorrow, but I don‘t see my opinion changing. For the record, I LOVE Rainbow Rowell but gave this 3 stars about ten years ago. I should‘ve left it at that and not got swept up in the Christmas-ness of it.

Oh my goodness, these covers of the Classics at Barnes and Noble are BEAUTIFUL! 🤩😍🤗

Despite the incredibly tough subject, this is one heck of a memoir. It‘s so well-written and takes into account moments when readers are going to struggle to keep going, and addresses it, and redirects so you can keep reading this story of such an awfully tragic life. One hundred percent essential reading.

It feels like a duty, like every American should read this memoir.

A million times yes!!! Give it all of the stars! I come out of this book with pages of notes and quotes and just general goodness about life and how people should be treated. This book is so very special.

“I mean, Judas Priest, the internet is a sewage dump, a toilet where anonymous assholes compete to out-ignorant each other.” 🎯🎯🎯

An old copy of a classic will always catch my attention at a thrift store, and barring any weird smells, it‘s coming home with me. I didn‘t see the notes on the inside covers until after the fact. Pretty sweet surprise! 🙌🤓

My goodness, why isn‘t anyone talking about this book??! I‘m on page 94 and think it‘s probably going to be in the top of the year. Ordinary Grace vibes, and I‘m obsessed. 🫶

🎧 The narrators did not work for me, and I think I‘m not meant to hear in my ear any even mildly 🌶️ scenes. I‘m not built for it. Reading the physical book may have worked better for me, but overall, this was not it. Dogs are one of my favorite things ever, but the MC “hearing” what the dog was “saying” but without any magical realism elements to back it up was an ick. And then the epilogue…🫠🫨

This pulled me right out of a ‘between books lull‘ and I‘m so glad it did. This is Nic Stone‘s first adult novel, and it did not disappoint. Fast paced, well-written, and super entertaining. The world in this book is not anything I‘m familiar with, but dang, this is a good book.

It‘s a ‘not right now.‘ I‘ll 100% be coming back to this because Kirsten Miller is a genius. But right now, my ability to focus is abysmal, and the between books stage is getting the best of me. Headed to look for something with short chapters that doesn‘t require a lot of thought. Wish me luck! 🍀🤞

I knew nothing about the short story or novella that preceded this “complete haunting” (which I understand to be the story of the initial haunting included in the novella and a new group of scary spirit seekers staying in an incredibly haunted lighthouse). There was a lull, for me, about 2/3 of the way through, but when the story picked back up, boy, did it pick back up! I really enjoyed the format and the story.

Cute!!! Lynn Painter has a formula that most definitely works for me. Loved it ❤️

I think it‘s been 7 or so years since I‘ve read this book, and its staying power is unmatched. I still think about it often.

Lynn Painter is just a gem. I loved this audiobook! The cutest banter with zero cheese, likable characters, grumpy sunshine, fake dating, one bed…every good rom com trope is handled with such finesse in Painter‘s hands.

I really struggle when I‘m between books and past me put a hold on enough for four people to read. It leads to decision fatigue and my perimenopausal teacher brain can‘t take it. Maybe after a workout and some house cleaning, my brain will be back in order. 😵‍💫🤪

Bill likes this book as a pillow book more than I did as my latest read. I‘ve learned that I am not the reader for these very plot-driven stories. I‘m not built for the drama. Jesus, could these people have had more trauma? Also, I‘m going to accuse Sheridan of some absolute emotional manipulation at the end. She stated very specific information in a way to lead the reader to think this thing had happened but then, no no, just kidding. Ughh. 🙄

Lynn Painter is perfection. One thing I love about her is the supporting characters she creates for her protagonists. There‘s a less than ideal parent and a peer antagonist, but they‘re overshadowed by great, caring family members and a kind, supportive, drama-free friend group. I loved this. I did a mix of physical book and audio. I know jack about hockey, but I love how she represented the culture. And I love this book!

To be honest, I found myself skimming most of it. The characters weren‘t super interesting. The storyline was fine, I guess. The ghost stuff should‘ve been way more something: meaningful, funny, interesting, but it just wasn‘t. I was really excited about this one based off of how much I loved the author‘s first series, but meh. I can even decide if I love or hate the cover. The potential was there, the book was longer than it needed to be…🤷🏼‍♀️

Going with a spooky read for the Sixth Graders this year. It‘s not the first time I‘ve read this one, but it will be the first time I‘ve taught it, so I spent the weekend marking it up and getting myself ready to remind kids reading should be fun!

Isn‘t that drawing beautiful? Good thing, because the cover art is a definite highlight. This feels like a Magnolia retelling with different but not as great characters. There are SO MANY similarities, like mind-bogglingly the same. The difference, these characters have ZERO redeeming qualities. I don‘t need to like characters, but these are eye-roll worthy. The male MC is awful. Magnolia is an all-time fave series. This one was nowhere close.

Listen, I LOVE Jessa Hastings‘ original covers, but this bucket hat is throwing me. Giving very Justin Timberlake in his unfortunate era vibes.

We left the island for a quick haircut and visit with my in-laws and my fave @Allyneedsbooks 🥰 Maybe just maybe I can‘t be trusted to be back in civilization amongst the beautiful bookstores…

You know the GIF with the confused lady thinking really hard with the formulas and stuff just floating all around her? That‘s me trying to figure out how Featherstonhaugh turns into “Fan-Shaw.” 🧐😄

This is how I like my romances, light and sweet. Keep your dark, morally gray men and give me a good Golden Retriever male lead any day 😁. Cindy Steel is 2/2 for me. Faking Christmas wasn‘t life changing, but I sure remember feeling like I loved it while I was reading it. The cover had me a little worried, but Kiss Cam was feel good without the cheese.

I annotated the shizz out of this book, and it brought me back to my days of teaching The Crucible, focusing on the harmful power of fear and how quickly people‘s common sense can be swept away and replaced with rumor-fueled hysteria. There‘s a lot to be said about the way the world treats our girls, especially those with grit and courage. The cover is perfection; this reading experience has been perfection. Loved every minute.

This cover and “The Crucible” as the first words on the dust jacket?! Yes, please 🤓🙌

This one captured my attention from page one and held on. Great writing, well-developed characters and an interesting look into the power of fear. I‘ll be making my way to Cassidy‘s backlog and looking forward to future releases. Good stuff!

Sadly, it‘s a DNF. I don‘t know if it‘s the cruise ship setting or the punk band aspect, but something just isn‘t clicking for me. I‘ve had a WEEEEEK, but that‘s not what keeping me from picking this up and reading. It‘s just kind of not interesting. I really liked her other book, Art of Catching Feelings, but for me, this one is a snooze fest. Moving on. ✌️

This lovely interaction between people is exactly what I need to see right now. Someone makes a sensible request in a very nice way. The responding party hears and understands the request. Kindness and goodness bloom from there. The world feels like a complete dumpster fire right now, so I‘m going to seek out and enjoy moments of decency and humanity wherever I can find them. ❤️🫶🤍🫶❤️

Rufi Thorpe can do no wrong! Why did I wait so long to read this one? Who even knows?! And who would think a story about a young mom making a go of it on OnlyFans would be so thoughtful, meaningful, and lovely? Only in Thorpe‘s masterful hands could this book have turned out the way it did. So, so good!

Sometimes you head into an indie bookstore wanting to find something just to support the store. That‘s how I ended up with this, and it couldn‘t have been more perfect. This book is a love letter to bookstores (even the authors say so) and a romance that‘s not scared to poke fun at the genre. Loved that the male lead owns the romance-only shop and his least favorite trope is enemies to lovers (the title alone tells you where this is going). Cute!

🎧🚨Unpopular opinion: Outside of Daisy Jones, I‘m not a TJR fan. Daisy Jones‘ oral history/interview style forced TJR into a different writing style. The others, I can‘t handle the drama of it all. The writing is so dramatic; the way the characters speak to each is so dramatic. For me, this suffers the same fate as Broken Country. The MC is too perfect. Continued in comments:

This book is so in my wheelhouse. I love the weird dystopian (but you don‘t really know why it‘s a dystopia) setting, the reality show and the boundaries it pushes for the sake of “entertainment,” and the view of consumerism. How much of yourself would you give up for stuff, especially with it being televised? My jaw dropped a couple of times, and these are some fleshed out characters. I loved it. Gave me Chain-Gang All-Star vibes.

To be fair, I skimmed a lot of this book and was never surprised by where it picked up. And by skim, I mean skipped. I so badly want to like this author. I want to read Native American lit that is fun and of the times, but Nava just isn‘t for me. I didn‘t read many of the scenes where the MCs were making out, but in two of two, she “kissed him with everything she had.” This repetition was part of my problem with Nava‘s first book. I‘m moving on.✌️

So incredibly unhinged, but I couldn‘t stop reading it. The writing is superb. The premise is WILD. There‘s an underlying humor that‘s not quite enough to shadow the incredible sadness of the characters. Definitely not one I‘m going to forget and not one I can recommend to just anyone…😬🤭

The main characters are awful, insufferable people. They‘re awful to each other. The moral compasses are way out of whack. I wanted to know what happened to these two who get caught in a fire at a high-rise hotel during one of many trysts in their years-long affair, but finishing this was very much a hate read. PS: No quotation marks usually don‘t bug me, but the dialogue was so close to internal thoughts that it made it a little frustrating.

This book wasn‘t everything that I wanted it to be, but I sure needed to read the portions that spoke to me, like what alcohol does to our body, the influence society places on drinking, why alcohol is considered palatable when the effects on the body are much like (the no longer socially acceptable) cigarettes, how alcohol has been marketed, etc. I skimmed or skipped the parts that felt too heavy handed and found what I needed to read.

@Allyneedsbooks and I got to visit the BEST little bookstore in upstate New York. It‘s a mix of new and used books with some antiques thrown in, all under the roof of the most precious old house turned perfect bookstore setting. Hardwood floors, porch to sit on, completely beautiful surroundings for book wandering. It was EVERYTHING!

Finished this one on a flight with @Allyneedsbooks and I really liked it. Enough action to keep my interest and quality writing to back it up. Rekulak is creeping onto my auto-reads authors list. 🤓

So @Allyneedsbooks and I are visiting the hometown of on of our very best friends. On a walk, she pointed out a neighbor‘s house, a ‘botanist at a college who spends her summers up here.‘ Y‘all, it‘s the author of Braiding Sweetgrass and The Serviceberry! I can‘t believe it!

This cracked me up! If you‘ve ever taken your kids to Disney, you feel this deeply. 😂 (For reference, Dad is trying to pay for parts of his daughter‘s wedding, but she‘s marrying into a very, very wealthy family.)

Quick listen and practical advice. I love him!

Finished out the series reread today. I mainly listened to this one, so I felt like maybe I missed some details about the secondary characters. Regardless, it didn‘t sway my love for all things Hunger Games. This is my least favorite in the trilogy, but it‘s still a love for me.

Just perfection. Utter perfection.

Currently re-reading this beauty. When the book came out, way back when, I devoured it. One of my all-time favorites, and nothing is changing this time around. Just pure magic. Here are my various copies. Can‘t stop, won‘t stop picking them up...😍🫶🤗

I think I‘m going to have to pass on this one at the moment. The setup (estranged daughter of super rich recently deceased dad returns home to the family that‘s full of drama and there‘s a romance with guy she meets while she‘s there) sounds way, way too close to The Conditions of Will that I just finished. Like eerily close.

This was not my favorite. I didn‘t love the main character. She studied personality/body language/reading people and if I saw AU18 or AU24 followed by a description of what it meant one time, I read it 247 times. And the sibling dynamic, wowza. I‘ve never been more glad to be an only child than after I finished this book. Wow. With that said, the book was not bad and prob even better than meh, but my love for Magnolia had the bar set really high.