We found the best bookstore in Vancouver! Picked up a couple of complimentary ARCs and a couple of used books, too! The pictured stairs lead up to their art and nature sections. Swoon…

Starting the weekend off right with a book about cowboys! I have high hopes for this since I‘ve heard so many good things about it.

Really liked this! It‘s an engaging read and I‘ll likely read others in the series.

Got to see the Boxtrolls at the “Films of Laika” (Coraline, etc) exhibit at The Museum of Pop Culture in Seattle today and it was amazing! Probably time for a re-read!!

This is such a comfort read! I‘ve loved watching the PBS series and the book is just delightful. Highly recommend!

I love this series! Reading a middle grade between denser, heavier reads is one of my favorite ways to cleanse my reading palate. 🌳

🌳 Whenever I‘m in a reading rut, or even a personal rut, I turn to Mary Oliver. This one is as beautiful and tender as her others. A breath of fresh air. 🌱

Love this bookstore! I‘ve visited the nearby Munro Books, which is also lovely, but this was my first stop at Russell Books and it did not disappoint. Two floors of previously owned, vintage, and new books. Swoon!

📚5-13-23 || Starting this one today! The Pulitzer announcement bumped this one to the top of my TBR.

📖 3-8-23 || Another delightful collection of connected essays from Katherine May! I think Wintering may still be my favorite of her three, but this is a close second. Highly relatable.

🎧 2-25-23 || Juliet Stevenson knocks it out of the park again with her narration. This is a re-read for me and it‘s been close to 30 years since I last read it so everything was new again. I‘d forgotten how poetic Woolf‘s writing is. It truly is a masterpiece.

📖 2-11-23 || This is a soft pick for me. Pulitzer winner, dark humor, quick read. I can see why this gets mixed reviews. So many say they find Less unloveable yet I think that‘s entirely the point here. It‘s a story of Less coming to fully accept himself and his life in midlife and I suspect this is somewhat autobiographical.

2-4-23 || I‘ve tried to lean into the season this year by reading this slowly over the past couple of months. It‘s divided into 50 short chapters and also features 50 of Bentley‘s famous snowflake photographs. There are sections on everything from Estonia‘s ice roads to the Icelandic word for “snowflakes big as a dog‘s paw“ to the Kilimanjaro glaciers. A perfect read for this winter season. ❄️

📖 2-3-23 || I have mixed feelings about this one… I totally can see why this is so popular. Loved, absolutely loved, the writing which pulled me in so much that I cried. However, I didn‘t love some of the characters, the ending, or most of the parts about gaming. Overall it‘s a pick for me and I will most certainly buy her next book.

🎧 1-27-23 || I love Lucy Worsley‘s biographies, and this is no exception! She handles Christie‘s disappearance with sensitivity and is very thorough in her research. I especially liked listening to this one at the same time as I read one of the Miss Marple mysteries. 🔍

📖 1-27-23 || My second Christie and just my first Miss Marple. I was a little disappointed that we didn‘t see more of Miss Marple herself in this one. But it was still fun to guess and to see how it would all come together in the end.**This was the January pick for the Comfort Book Club of my favorite bookish YouTuber, Miranda Mills:
https://youtu.be/7pHYp34y3d0

📖 1-21-23 || This is the year I‘ve discovered Barbara Pym! Why did I go so long before picking this one up? It is a pure delight… funny, subtle, and reflective.

These podcast episodes have added to my appreciation:
The first has snippets of audio from her interviews - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/backlisted/id1063252175?i=1000471273492
Another favorite -
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/slightly-foxed/id1441881918?i=100055768427...

🎧 1-22-23 || This was my read for #AuthorAMonth and I really liked it. I think it would be a good companion piece or alternate to Little House on the Prairie. Sensitive readers should be aware that It does have some traumatic events.
I‘ve also read The Sentence by Erdrich and really like her writing.

🎧 1-21-23 || This felt like a bit of an over-share but what was I expecting? I‘m now most interested in the Pulitzer winning ghostwriter JR Moehringer, and after a bit more research on *him*, I want to read his other books including his own autobiography, The Tender Bar.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-64217330.amp

📖 1-9-23 || What a masterpiece. This is just stunning and I won‘t forget it. It‘s a retelling of Dicken‘s David Copperfield but you don‘t have to know that story to love this one. This is compelling and unputdownable. All the stars. Also, this podcast episode goes into the mechanics of how Kingsolver structured and wrote the novel and I find it fascinating:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-book-case/id1621128813?i=1000589361856
🐍🏈💊

Happy New Year! ✨ And we‘re off… This is going to be a great reading year! This game is one of my favorite parts of Litsy. Thank you, @TheAromaofBooks ! #Bookspin #DoubleSpin

📚 12-31-22 || Final book of 2022 🎉 I ended up really liking this one, though the first quarter seemed to drag. The last half flew by and this author is now an auto-buy for me. A group of women in London become friends while mending wedding dresses to loan to brides during WWII. “An uplifting read that‘s as soothing as a warm cup of Earl Grey on a gloomy morning” (Booklist) 😊🫖

I love the StoryGraph charts! My top 20 genres from this year are all over the place… and I have another twenty genres on the board (but they didn‘t all fit here.) What‘s your favorite way to track your books read?

One of my reading goals for the upcoming year is to visit more independent bookshops. I live in a bookstore desert where the closest shop is more than a 45 min drive away. I got a jumpstart today and came away with this book haul from a magical small indie (tagged)✨📚

This makes my Gen-X heart so happy! I highly recommend the audio of this as Bono weaves his personal story of faith, love, and reconciliation through 40 of U2‘s classic songs. With snippets of original recordings, this is my favorite audiobook of the year (just under the wire)!

I hear these are Santa‘s favorite Chocolate Chunk cookies… 🎄✨🍪

https://smittenkitchen.com/2015/04/salted-chocolate-chunk-cookies/

📖12-19-22 || One of my 2022 reading goals was to expand my poetry horizons by reading a book of poetry each month. I missed two months this year so I‘m quickly catching up. I figured this is an appropriate choice as we approach the winter solstice. I can‘t say I “get” all of these but I do like Rilke and this is a very concise volume.

📖 12-19-22 || This is a soft pick because though I enjoy Benedict‘s writing this one dragged a little. I was disappointed to realize that the MC is completely fictional. It‘s apparent that Benedict did thoroughly research Carnegie and his transition from industrialist to philanthropist, as well as the immigrant experience of the Irish in the later 1800s. I enjoyed The Personal Librarian and still plan to read other books by Benedict.

This just makes so much sense to me! 📚📚📚

🎧 12-11-22 || I‘m not sure why I didn‘t pick this one up earlier but I‘m glad I did now. The end of the year holiday season seems like just the right time. On the advice of another Litsy reader, I listened to this one; it‘s delightful, with music and nature sounds and bonus commentary from the author. 🎧✨

📖 12-10-22 || Love this just as much as I did when I read it in 4th grade (decades ago!). I love this special edition so much with the original illustrations, the photos of the author‘s correspondence with the editor, and invitation to the Newbery award ceremony in 1968.

I can‘t believe it‘s my 3rd Litsyversary!
Thank you all for providing me with such a fun place to share our enthusiasm about all bookish things! Cheers 📚🎉

📖 10-5-22 || Loved this #NunLit book! The story is character-focused on a young sister who falls out of love with the church. The writing is excellent and evocative. There‘s also some humor mixed in.

📖 11-30-22 || I bought this #NunLit book and just couldn‘t wait until next year to buddy read it for #NunLitQuarterly🤭 This is a witty and irreverent account of a year spent visiting and living in convents in order to discern her true calling. I wasn‘t really expecting the past trauma details, but overall I found this a very enjoyable read. I will save more of my thoughts for reviewing it with the group next year!

📖 11-19-22 || This is an interesting story set on Cyprus with a fig tree as narrator. I would‘ve preferred the story be told in a more linear approach, rather than skipping around different times and perspectives. I wanted to know more about Yusuf and Yiorgis. I do feel like I learned a bit about the history of Cyprus and the Greek and Turkish Cypriots, though…

📖 11-1-22 || Why didn‘t I read this sooner?! I absolutely love this one, and I definitely needed some tissues. The characters are loveable and the story is moving. So many books and authors mentioned… this is a book for those who love to read. “We read to know we are not alone. We read because we are alone. We read and we are not alone. We are not alone.”

📖 10-29-22 || This is as uplifting and enjoyable a read as everyone said it is! Loooove Marcellus and his outlook on life. Highly recommend this one!!🐙

📖 10-10-22 || Just as compellingly readable as TJR‘s others, though I didn‘t enjoy this one quite as much. I didn‘t really *like* Carrie, though I think that may be the actual point… I will auto-buy anything from Jenkins Reid.

📖 10-9-22 || Resilient | Life-Affirming | Exquisite
I try to read one book of poetry a month and this is my most recent selection. I especially love listening to books of poetry read by the author. This author is our current US Poet Laureate. Loved it!

📖 10-9-22 || I‘ve been wanting to read this classic horror story for awhile and figured now is the perfect season to do so. I found the audio version somewhat confusing but overall enjoyable. Especially creepy on my foggy evening walks…

My #BookSpin choices for October. I am using the same selection since I was not able to read much in September after all. Here we go!

📖 10-1-22 || This book brought me out of my reading slump! I love Lucy Barton just as much as Olive Kitteridge. Although Strout‘s books always have an undertone of sadness for me, this was beautifully written and I will remember it for a long time. I love all of the cameos of characters from her other novels, as well.

📖 9.22.22 || This is beautiful and I‘m glad I didn‘t wait until Christmas to read it. I confess I wasn‘t aware of Magdalen laundries nor that they existed until 1996. This is shortlisted for the 2022 Booker prize.

📖 9-17-22 || I started listening to this weeks ago and had stalled but picked it up again this week. I found this to be entertaining, while still even-handed and well-sourced. The cover is misleading since this also looks at many of the male members of the Royal family (Charles, William, Harry, Edward, etc).

Look at this stellar stack of library holds that just came in! I‘m still recovering from a concussion so it may take me awhile to get through these. Where would YOU start?? 📚

I got to visit this cool bookstore in Victoria today! This is Alice Munro‘s and they have quite a selection of her works. Such a fun stop!

💗RIP

After sustaining a head injury this weekend, I haven‘t been able to read (!) or look at screens for very long, but I *can* still listen to books! 🎧 I‘m really enjoying this one on audio. I loved her earlier book Wintering so much and this one is just as personal and introspective.
I‘m feeling very grateful for my Libby app right now!

My #BookSpin choices for September!
Nos. 1-10 and 11-20.

📖 8-31-22 || A frank look at different aspects of menopause and an encouragement to “take charge of the change” by knowing the facts. I heard the author, who is an OBGYN, on a TedTalk podcast and was intrigued by her perspective on feminism and women‘s health. This book is informative and has lots of food for thought!

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ted-talks-daily/id160904630?i=100057502616...