I have really liked every one of O‘Leary‘s books. The audio is very well done. She masters how to write a fun romance with serious depth, how to include heavy things without the whole story being depressing. In this one, there is a bit of fun figuring out what is going on. Why did this man no-show on Valentine‘s Day for 3 separate women? What are the connections? Another story with great heart.

Found on the internet. I say yes, and for me, also read some books that might be outside of your normal reading comfort zone.

In the midst of moving and packing up all my books, I saved 20 for May‘s #Bookspin list!

"She liked the sight of a good thick book. A lot of reading in that one, she would say, just as she would say there was a lot of wear in a coat or blanket. Indeed, the book was just like a warm, thick eiderdown that she could pull over herself, snuggle into."
Alice Munro - Accident, The Moons of Jupiter: Stories, Vintage, 1991.

Berthe Morisot - Reading, 1888.

Couldn‘t resist the cover for The Hacienda, and then someone‘s review left me really wanting to read The Change. A lot of other choices seemed like they would be good on audio. #BOTM

“Books are the quietest and most constant of friends; they are the most accessible and wisest of counselors, and the most patient of teachers.”
Charles W. Eliot

Alexander Oscar Levy - Resting, 1930.

“Between life and death there is a library, and within that library, the shelves go on forever. Every book provides a chance to try another life you could have lived. To see how things would be if you had made other choices… Would you have done anything different, if you had the chance to undo your regrets?”
Matt Haig - The Midnight Library, 2020

Vanessa Bell - Interior with the Artist‘s Daughter, 1935-6.

It may have taken me two months to read this chunkster, but every page was worth it. Wild Swans tells the story of 19th century communist China through 3 generations of women. I was throwing out tidbits to my husband every time I picked the story up. Chang is a great storyteller, as horrendous as it was to read about a revolving door of hunter and hunted, torture, indoctrination, upside down values. Highly recommend #Booked2022 Set in China

I didn‘t love December, so my expectations were low. But oh my… I loved this. A celebration of love - for others, for community, and most of all, self. And on a charming Irish island nonetheless. There were so many beautiful, quotable phrases that took my breath away. A book I desperately want to be made into a film.

A very belated thank you to you @robinb This was such a nice surprise to receive. My apologies for not sending the thank you much sooner! Thank you for your kindness and passing it along ❤️. I‘m saving it for a summer read. #LitsyLove

If not for #LMPBC, I probably would not have left a review, because my thoughts are all over the place and I‘m not sure how to review it. It felt like there were walls to Benson, and I had a hard time finding any depth to his relationship with Mike. Cooking with Mitsuko was a welcomed reprieve, and I was much more interested in Mike‘s life in Japan. I found myself saying, “Ugh” a lot. Glad to have this one off my shelf.

April #Bookspin list

#BOTM choices are up!

For March‘s #Bookspin list, I included more books that I really want to read and less that I feel I *should* read. Looking forward to whichever numbers are picked!

I am tired to the bone after a week of hard and exhausting adulting things, so my reading has slowed. I can‘t imagine I will get to 20 hours, but it will be good motivation to catch up on some reading, including the tagged book. #20in4

Shallow Waters tells the tale of Yemaya, Yoruba goddess of the sea. As a mermaid falling in love with Obatala in Africa, following him on a slave ship to America, and her experience becoming human among Native and enslaved people in America. The story itself is super interesting to follow but is quite simplistic in the telling, missing out on an opportunity to go deeper with important themes.
#Booked2022 Black-centric publisher
#DoubleBookspin

The local library display has me chuckling 🤭

While the story revolves around the disappearance of the father of the Riordan family, this is really a story about family and who we are and who we grow to be. It reminded me of Anne Tyler and Ann Patchett‘s writing in the ability to zone in on the details of who we are as human beings while making it interesting to read. What I thought was going to be a slow read had me finishing the second half in one day. #Booked2022 Weather Term in Title

My cold, dark February nights aren‘t as unpleasant as usual. The Calm app has a Caladan soundscape, which has been great to listen to as I read the book. I‘ve been looking forward to snuggling under the covers at night with Dune in print and sound 📚🎵

Here are my suggestions, though I have PLENTY more to choose from if none of these work. Fireflies is new, so it feels like cheating a little, but if it‘s picked, at least it won‘t stay unread for years 😂 #BOTM #LMPBC

Interesting article. Cool concept, but terrifying to think of books disappearing (I also don‘t think that‘s really true). I also wonder how people feel about his feelings about e-readers. Has anyone read his book, The Last Book (not found in Litsy database)?

This might be my favorite of my #NYWD list that I‘ve read so far. I see why all the love for it. The characters are so raw and richly created, a beautiful entanglement of beauty and flaws. This book had intimidated me for a while. Not sure why, but I‘m glad I was nudged to read it. I won‘t be surprised if it makes my top list of 2022.
✅ #Booked2022 Title Repeats Itself

Between a pick and a so-so for me. I do love the use of fairy tales and children‘s stories to explore much darker goings-on, as well as an atmospheric read with a creepy house. A+ for these things. But it was often hard to know what was going on and follow the story.

This will be my last #NYWD review for January, though I will continue reading the list. Overall, good reads, but a bit too dark and heavy to read back to back for me.

My review comes out of my personal experience with the Pentecostal church (that I left and felt pretty traumatized by), so it may be very unfair. I was hoping for a connection with the author‘s story that I didn‘t get. It felt a slog to get through at times, and I felt there was a lack of depth, awareness, and observation. It left me utterly disappointed and with so many questions.
✅ #Booked22 About a cult or religion

Finally settled on my February #Bookspin list. Featuring more from #NYWD, some BOTM titles to catch up on, and some lighter and anticipated reads.

*Finally*!!!!! I was starting to get worried that we actually would have to wait until the 1st this month.

And so it begins (again)…
#pleasedontbreakmyheartagain

Hoping to finished the tagged book for #NYWD and #Booked22 along with making progress in Dune and Forbidden.

Me walking into Barnes and Noble: “There aren‘t any books I want to buy right now. It‘s safe to walk around.” And then I found out they were having good sales 🤦🏻‍♀️
Me arriving home, to my spouse: “You are allowed to judge me.” (He never would though)
Bookhaul inspired by getting antsy to buy a house. And it‘s National Puzzle month so they are buy one get one half off at B&N. These were too cute to pass up and perfect for weekend getaways.

I don‘t have teenagers, but if I did, this is a conversation I would love to have with them.

This one had been on my radar for a while. It made me laugh, and made me so anxious for Zelda (check CWs if you need). I loved all the parts of Zelda‘s life: the community center and the library, and the array of characters in her life. Using Vikings as a touchstone throughout the story was interesting and gave continuity. A book with so much heart, though tough to read at times - enter the story with the courage of a Viking 🗡 #NYWD

📚Hoping to finish When We Were Vikings
📚When We Spoke in Tongues
📚Dune

Whenever I‘m in a small, independent bookstore, I feel obligated to buy at least one book to support local, so I gave myself a rule: that book has to be one I had not heard of before (so not a hot new release). I love the books I am collecting, including this one, from Bay Books in Sutton‘s Bay, Michigan. The owner was lovely, and I look forward to stopping in whenever I‘m in the area.

I read and liked this author‘s other book, The Roanoke Girls, but also know how dark this author can get, so I braced myself for this one. It was a good mystery. Fast-paced, and then for the last 40 pages, I had to cover the page so my eyes didn‘t glance ahead to find out what happened. This book is about a lot of things, and I like that it shows that people aren‘t all good or all bad. A solid mystery, though it‘s already fading from memory #NYWD

✅ We Begin at the End Finished
✅ The Familiar Dark finished
✳️ Making progress on When We Spoke in Tongues
⚠️ Have not started Sing, Unburied, Sing or Paper Palace
BUT
✳️ Started When We We‘re Vikings (#NYWD)
✳️ Making progress on Dune

Overall, #JoyousJanuary readathon is going quite well!

A f/f romance with strong, very intelligent women? Yes please! I would have liked more build up to the relationship, but overall, this was a great palate cleanser after some of the heavier things I‘ve been reading. I loved the support of each other‘s intellectual and artistic pursuits.

I often need to be dragged into books that have domestic hardships and are going to rip my heart apart, like this book. I had a little bit of a hard time getting into it, in part due to the writing style, but the plot drove me forward and the characters drew me in. And indeed, I shed tears through the last pages, for Robin and Duchess, for Vincent, Walk, and even Darke. Strong start for #NYWD

Weekend reading plans include:
📚Finish the tagged book today
🎧Start the audiobook of Mirrorland
📚Make progress in The Familiar Dark
📚Make progress in When We Spoke in Tongues

This is my first time seeing this list and I am in TROUBLE! One of my goals was not read as many buzzy books. I have a feeling I‘m going to fail marvelously. So many good titles on this list.

https://themillions.com/2022/01/most-anticipated-the-great-first-half-2022-book-...

#JoyousJanuary Goals:
📚Finish We Begin at the End (almost done)
📚Finish When We Spoke in Tongues (just started)
📚Finish The Familiar Dark (just started)
📚Start/make progress on Sing, Unburied, Sing and The Paper Palace
This feels ambitious for me but doable 💪🏼

All I can think about is this book 😳😳😳

https://bbc.in/3qmNjTv?fbclid=IwAR0R7FJmlGyRcTOIz2UKTZA-Q8xPRVFigfwwOo94QoZFn5Gl...

January‘s edition of BookPage has my TBR overflowing and makes me want to crawl under a cozy blanket and spend the next month reading. So many good books to add to my list, including a few that will fit into #Booked2022 prompts (like the tagged book). I believe you can peruse it at www.bookpage.com if your local library doesn‘t carry it.

Thank you for all the birthday #LitsyLove! And a special thanks to my original Litsy pen pal, @catiewithac for this book! I am really excited to read it (trying so hard not to insert toilet humor here 🤐).

#WeekendReading
Started Dune and We Begin last week and plan to start the other two today.

Thank you for all of the birthday wishes! I had a lovely morning with bookish gifts (I grew up NEVER being gifted books so this was very exciting). I‘m now headed up to the Leelanau peninsula where I will spend the weekend solo with a room on Lake Michigan cozied up to the fireplace getting a lot of reading done. This is my second year doing this and it fills my soul ❤️📚🌊

✨#Booked2022, and mainly not to get caught up on all the new titles, but read what‘s on my shelf and some more obscure titles.
✨Tranquility: I need slow, quiet, low-expectations this year
✨I started Dune a month ago but it got lost among the quick holiday reads. As soon as I picked it up again I started enjoying it a lot!
#thoughtfulthursday
Consider yourself tagged of you‘d like to share 😊

Thank you @AmyG for the #lcs package! I‘m on a huge Paris kick right now, so this is the perfect choice. I‘m taking myself on a solo reading retreat this weekend, so the goodies will be perfect companions for that. Thank you for hosting, @bookish_wookish ❤️

A delightful article about home libraries…

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/24/realestate/why-do-people-keep-books.html

I picked this up on a whim, because I‘m a Francophile. When Hannah‘s train separates in the night, taking her to Paris instead of Amsterdam with her boyfriend, she spends the day in Paris with Leo. The characters and plot were okay. But read this if you want to go to Paris, because it takes you all the places. And I will never not want to be in Paris. #firstof2022

Today‘s #BookMail
BOTM and I couldn‘t resist this copy of I Capture the Castle for a reread for #NYWD.