I absolutely loved this collection of Amish romance novellas. Each of the stories were sweet and enjoyable and hit the spot for cozy Christmas romances. Sometimes it is really nice to take a break from darker and more realistic stuff and enjoy more wholesome and formulaic stories with happy endings.

#bookspinbingo. @TheAromaofBooks

This was a fun origin story for Santa Claus. It was very creative and adventurous and reminded me somewhat of a Roald Dahl book. I‘ll have to watch the movie next year!

#SnowedIn #Bookspinbingo

This story was a lot of fun…and the two main characters were a bit more interesting than many cozy/cheesy romances. Some of the plot twists are nearly painful, similar to Hallmark movies where couples and possible romantic interests are somehow completely incapable of not jumping to conclusions or of having a real conversation. But it was definitely cute!

#bookspinbingo
#SnowedIn

This alternates between tales of Longfellow‘s life and a modern church congregation as it prepares for its Christmas concert. Even if the tales from Longfellow‘s life didn‘t exactly compliment the stories from modern times, I truly enjoyed this book. The reader learns different perspectives among the church members and about their own struggles and hopes. This is more serious and meaningful compared to many sugary holiday reads.

#bookspinbingo

I was unfamiliar with Bryson‘s work and had relatively low expectations for this book based on reviews. I ended up absolutely loving it! Bryson flies through the history, folklore, traditions, and modern aspects of the holiday. He drops the most interesting, random facts throughout the book. My only complaint is that it was too short! I‘ll definitely be reading more of the author‘s work any may revisit this again during future holiday seasons

Sadly this book didn‘t really work for me…it felt like it was mostly going through the motions on all levels. Usually I appreciate novellas, but maybe this would work better as a longer piece with more character development and a more detailed plot.

#bookspinbingo
@TheAromaofBooks

This is Bigfoot‘s guide for surviving the holidays. It includes stories on how he and his friends handled various seasonal incidents. He also gives advice on topics that include handling stress, hosting, and gift-giving. It was cute but quickly grew stale. I think the format of having to stick to a how-to guide hindered the fun and creativity. I think a holiday-themed story collection about Bigfoot and his forest friends would be more fun.

Here we go….the fun, Christmas influenced December #Bookspinbingo and TBR list!

@TheAromaofBooks

This is Jackson‘s memoir about raising a family. It covers a span in which their family grows in number. I love spooky stories, but this is absolutely my favorite book by the author. With her wit and engaging writing style she makes everyday occurrences interesting and at times hilarious. I especially loved the stories based on when her son started attending school after their move and the tale exemplifying how the household deals with illness

@bekakins you‘re #snowedin! ❄️ Fortunately, you‘re well-stocked with supplies and have a stack of books you‘ve been meaning to get around to!

This was engrossing when Olson focused on Mount St. Helens to include the events leading up to its eruption, the actual eruption, and the damage and aftermath. I learned details I had never known. The book shows how the scientific community and government did poorly in preparing for a worst case scenario and informing and protecting the public.

Solzhenitsyn effectively described the prison and work camp system that incarcerated millions of Russians to suppress the population and obtain free labor. He covers arrest and interrogation, initial imprisonment, the brutality of camp life, various escape attempts, the addition of women and children, and release and exile. The abridged version has plenty of information on the subject (21 hours vs 60+ listening hours for the 3 volume series)

What can I say? Well, it was unique. The book satirizes modern times to include politics, religion, and technology. It moves at a breakneck pace, which I think helps cover some of its flaws. Like, is it really that deep? Probably not. I‘ve seen a lot of views that this is like a Philosophy 100 class (which I loathed). I‘ve also read some opinions that this was written by AI…who knows? But it kept my attention. 3/5, maybe 3.5? I don‘t know! 😂

This book tells the tale of what happens when a plane crashes into a nuclear power plant. This is a gripping, edge-of-your seat type of drama from start to finish. Overall, it was a lot of fun and the characters seemed interesting and fleshed out enough to keep me engaged.

#bookspinbingo
@TheAromaofBooks

Here‘s my list for November‘s #bookapinbingo
@TheAromaofBooks

Here are my totals! Doing word searches and participating in word finder activities make a bit of a difference! This seems like the most I‘ve read in any given month in several years and the most fun I‘ve had to boot!

Many thanks to @CSeydel for leading the #grimreaders and @PuddleJumper for putting #hauntedshelf together

Events like this are what make Litsy my favorite book app, even if I am absolute 💩at tracking points as I go! 😂🤦‍♂️

I finished this just before the deadline this evening. I described this to a friend as “The Exorcist on meth,” and I think that description held up pretty well. This was gory but pretty damn fun!

#hauntedshelf #grimreaders #bookspinbingo

I always try to cram at least one nonfiction piece each October, and this one kept with that tradition. This is about Danny Robins, a British comedian and broadcaster, and his research into the paranormal. I listened to a few episodes of his podcast last year and thought I‘d try his book. Will he change your opinion on ghosts and the supernatural? No. But he‘s charming and his enthusiasm on the subject is infectious!

Even if I didn‘t love each of the short stories in this collection, Keisling was always swinging for the fences in terms of creativity. The stories that I did enjoy, were so good that I added two or three other books by the author to my TBR list. Faves in this collection were “Radio Free Nowhere” and “Saving Granny from the Devil.”

#hauntedshelf #grimreaders #bookspinbingo

A powerful storm is headed to a small coastal town in California. The rising water brings with it a mysterious squid-like monster that leaves locals and tourists stranded and fighting to survive more than the flood waters. This was a lot of fun. The characters were likable and interesting enough overall and the action was cranked up to make for a thumping good read! I‘ll definitely be reading more from Castaneda‘s Dark Earth Rising series.

Visiting the Haunted Mansion at Disney World as a 9-year-old is one of my favorite memories. So I enjoyed this graphic novel for the nostalgia. Is this a riveting story? Well, have any of the adaptations been that great? The answer is yes, Muppets Haunted Mansion (also the movie with Eddie Murphy was pretty good). My favorite part of this was the art, especially the pieces between chapters. So fans, it‘s worth it, just don‘t expect too much

Some kind of horrible creature is loose in Pikesville Tennessee. Farm animals are being slaughtered and then children begin disappearing.

Ten-year-old Jeb Sweeney has seen the beast and knows what the deal is. When the lazy sheriff ignores his pleas for help, he places the burden on his own shoulders. He journeys deep into neighboring Fear County to seek out help and possibly magic to slay this beast.

The story follows Bailey, a student at Autumncrow High. She‘s been plagued by nightmares since the loss of her father. Things get weird on the first day of senior year when she bumps into the boy from her nightmares…

I was completely absorbed by this the first 50 to 60% of the book. I was pumped to read this based on really enjoying Chaney‘s original Autumncrow story collection. I didn‘t realize Chaney is a huge fan of the Fear Street series.

This is about a couple who move into a swanky new building. Soon after moving in, Rosemary becomes pregnant! But ever since their move, things seem to be a bit off, perhaps even weird. The husband is increasingly distracted by his fledgling acting career, odd things happen to people they know, the neighbors seem nice but quite meddling, and Rosemary has the most miserable of all pregnancies. There‘s a reason this is a classic!

This story was more complex than I expected. At first I was creeped out by the family. There's Merricat, who's is 18 but acts like she's maybe 12. There's Uncle Julian droning on about his damn papers and obsessing on the infamous familial incident. However, events occur that make me empathize with the family and truly appreciate the story. I think this story has a lot of hints and layers and deserves a reread at some point.

This is a dark and intense collection of short stories. Some of them involve literal monsters, but in many of the stories, the humans are the monsters or at least the ones commiting monstrous acts. Ballingrud's characters are complex with many of them dealing with loss and having screwed up backgrounds. Favorites included The Good Husband, Sunbleached, Monsters of Heaven, and North American Lake Monsters.

Here‘s my total so far! Sorry for the delay….I‘m so far behind on posts!!

#grimreaders
#hauntedshelf

A bloody good origin story for Mrs. Lovett. My only complaint was that the Lovett/Todd partnership developed much too quickly in the story once they met. This was fast-paced and fun even if it bordered on the ridiculous a few times. I thought the extra twist at the end was fun!

#hauntedshelf #bookspinbingo
#grimreaders
@CSeydel @TheAromaofBooks

Here‘s my TBR for #HauntedShelf, #Bookspinbingo (even if I need to kick 5 off but that‘s for another day), and any other readathons I end up joining!

#GrimReaders
@CSeydel
@PuddleJumper
@TheAromaofBooks

Here are some of my favorites for this time of year! They include a novel about vampires living in the NYC underground, a book about a writer‘s month-long stay in Salem over the Halloween season, a writer‘s search for evidence of ghosts, and a collection of Halloween-themed short stories!

#HauntedShelf
#GrimReaders
@CSeydel
@PuddleJumper

This was a cute book that fanatics of the movie should enjoy. I would compare it to watching an old episode of A&E‘s Biography where they were relatively lightweight stuff. However, it genuinely seems that everyone in the cast and crew got along so well and that filming went down without any major issues to the point there wasn‘t much juice to report. I enjoyed the stories about William Goldman visiting the set and Andre the most!
#bookspinbingo

@janeycanuck with your unlimited curiosity and habit of wandering places where you don‘t belong, you‘ve managed to get yourself trapped in a spooky house!

It‘s not all bad though, the library has a number of titles you‘ve been meaning to get around to. There‘s also a mini-fridge packed with your favorite snacks and beverages and a fully stocked bar. Hopefully help will come, eventually, but only after you‘ve run out of snacks! 👻 🎃 📚 🍷

This book destroys the myths about the Alamo, to include the people involved and the reasons for the battle. The main reason for the Texas revolt, which included the defense of the Alamo, was slavery. Mexico had banned it, infuriating American settlers.

The second half of the book looks at the strange history of its preservation and cultural context. Fun tidbit, musician Phil Collins is a major player in the site‘s recent history.
#bookspinbingo

I last saw the movie as a teenager and only more recently realized it was based on a book. I liked the movie from what I vaguely recall. So I was surprised to find I absolutely loved this. It is utterly ridiculous and packed with adventure. This was honestly the most fun I‘ve had reading in quite some time!

#bookspinbingo @TheAromaofBooks

This book tells the story of how the rape kit came into being and gives proper credit for its invention to Marty Goddard, a forgotten advocate for women and victims of sexual assault in Chicago. The author then takes on the task of trying to locate Ms. Goddard to give her the credit she is due. The book ends by looking at the sexism and issues sexual assault survivors still face today and looks at how things continue to evolve in modern times.

Here‘s my list for September‘s #Bookspinbingo

@TheAromaofBooks

In September 1982, 19-year-old Ricardo Melogno murdered four taxi drivers in the span of a week. He was arrested within weeks and has spent his life in prison and psych units. Thirty years after the crimes, he sat down with the author for several conversations, which resulted in this book. Melogno has served his full sentence but authorities won‘t release him under the fear he may be a threat to society.

Gary Hart did a bit of everything to include wrestling, managing, and booking. This autobiography covers his career which included time in Texas, the Carolinas, Australia, Japan, Georgia,and Chicago. He worked with just about all the big names in the territory days. He did it all with his own unique code of honor.

I‘ve always seen this book listed among the great wrestling autobiographies of all time and it exceeded all expectations.

I read this as a result of my trip to Nola. This book breaks down everything that went down at Memorial Hospital during Katrina and the flooding afterwards. This book covers what occurred but also many different points of view as the patients, staff, and families are left stranded with things growing more desperate by the hour. The book‘s second half follows the investigation into what occurred there and the resulting legal ramifications.

The true appeal of the book was learning about the establishments where the stories take place and the vibe of the city. He also does a thorough job of fact-checking and debunking a number of the Quarter‘s myths and legends to include Madame LaLaurie, Marie Laveau, and the Laffite brothers. Most of the ghost stories are pretty mild. I enjoyed this though as it gives great descriptions of the city. I even added a few stops during my time there!

This book looked at the preparation (or lack thereof) and response to Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans and the gulf states. The focus is placed on New Orleans where things went completely off the rails. With the storm having been nearly twenty years ago, I had forgotten a number of the details or never knew them as an outsider. The poor decision-making, lack of planning, and inadequate response made for a maddening listen.

This was a great introduction to Malfi‘s work. It consists of 4 novellas with themes centered around books. All were at least interesting. The author works with familiar themes but places his own unique spin on them. All were at least interesting, but This Book Belongs to Olo lagged behind the others as the characters were too cliched for me. My fave was The Story, a dark tale filled with twists and turns which brought things to a close.

I listened to this in prep for vacay time! It focused heavily on the 18th and19th centuries with only a chapter or two on more contemporary times. I was hoping for more balance…but now I know all about its time as alternating French and Spanish settlements along with it being the main hub for the slave trade in the US in the 50 or so years leading up to the Civil War. It was so informative I zoned out of long periods of time 😴

#bookspinbingo

This was the most fun I‘ve had listening to a book since some of Hunter S Thompson‘s work. This is part COVID travel memoir of the author‘s quest for the perfect dog and history of the cuisine. This was informative, foul, and absolutely hilarious! It was exciting to find another person who loves trashy food as much as I do. I created a travel list of hot dog stands and restaurants based on this book!

Here‘s my #bookspinbingo list for August!

@TheAromaofBooks

This was okay. Reading about how state borders came into existence was way more boring than expected. These facts were so obscure they‘ll never even show up on Jeopardy. Worst of all, the book was organized in alphabetical order instead of by region, so there was a lot of repeat information. For example you learn about the border between North and South Dakota when you learn about all of North Dakota‘s border and then again when you get to SD.

This is the story of how a swampy area of MD and VA ended up as the US capital. The story seems perfect for a Cohen brothers movie with incompetency, corruption, stubbornness, and dumb luck eventually resulting in Washington DC becoming a reality. The whole process was quite the shit show, from being selected over various locales in PA (take that Columbia), to its design, to getting funding and then built, burnt to the ground and built again!

This book tells the history of the US national anthem. The highlight is the story behind the song and Francis Scott Key‘s retelling of the attack on Fort McHenry. It was also interesting to learn about how the song evolved to include verses being added/subtracted to attempts to standardize it. The problem was the book never found a happy medium. The first half was too exhaustively detailed at times while the latter half had too much filler.

This was a reread for me and I still love it! It‘s a multigenerational novel about a Lebanese family that infuses classic Middle Eastern tales. It‘s a story of Osama, a son who returns to Beirut after many years in the US to see his sick father. What unfolds is a series of memories from his youth and the stories of his family‘s previous generations mixed with the stories that his grandfather, a hakawati, shared with Osama during his childhood.

So I‘ve known a little bit about Todd‘s music for a while now. Recently I ended up doing a deeper dive one night while working. I liked some of his music, but I found my self paying more attention to the stories he told between songs. Then I found out he had this book of stories about his career. It ended up being a lot of fun, partially due to the tales, and partially due to the fact I ended up going down so many other rabbit holes.