I picked this up when the #goldenagecrimeclub selection for last month was almost impossible for me to find, haha (sorry @Mitch ). I really liked it! Like an early romantic suspense. I cared about what happened at the end despite the main protagonists being rather flat - but the villains were excellent. A great femme fatale and a fantastically creepy doctor later played by Karlof in a movie.

Goodbye, May 💃🏻
I‘m doing terribly at my New Year resolution to read slowly as I‘ve been flying through audiobooks like crazy… but at least this means I can tick off two bingos for #bookspinbingo and finally mark a few lagging #roll100 books as read!
The tagged was a roll100 from a month or so ago (oops) and my fav of the month. It just barely overcame Essex Serpent (another roll100 🙃) and Vera Wong, which was a whim and unexpected hit for me.

I always feel like this walking through the tiny streets of old European cities. Love it!

Hello, June! I‘ll be doing some traveling for work this month, so my kindle is already all loaded up with #aam, #sundaybuddyread, one of the #camplitsy reads, and #roll100 picks 🥰

I can‘t decide if I want to read the tagged for #AuthoraMonth, or if I want to go in the suggested order for the Hainish Cycle and start with Rocannon‘s World… UKLG says there are only loose connection among the books, and I own the tagged novel, sooo…

Earthquakes, hot air balloons, chocolate, and bossy-cheeked girls, oh my! Glad I could get this historical YA set in the San Francisco of 1906 from the library in physical book form just in time for the May #sundaybuddyread - I was able to flag some of my favorite quotes. I def cried through the last quarter, but Mercy is a generous and kind heroine and this bighearted book is just right for an AAPI YA (& maybe MG?) read.

#NetgalleyGroup #NGGSummerSmashup
For my first challenge, I decided I need to get back out there: log back in & request some books! Um. Mission accomplished. Last time I was on the site, I hated how hard it was to get my feedback ratio up to 80% 😭 so this was a big step for me (you know, not just ignoring it so I don‘t have to think about it…). If needed, I can always get a “read now,” but I did get the tagged book already so here we go I guess!

Low pick, I‘m sorry to say. Lila‘s cousin Ronnie makes a surprise return to town (true Prodigal Son style), only for one of his investors to turn up dead by poisoning.
There just wasn‘t enough personal growth here for any character (except maybe Tita Rosie and Det Park???) and Ronnie is leg. terrible - at one point he blames his mom for his dad abandoning them. He never really apologizes either.
But the recipes included look to be the best yet! ⬇️

Oof! I just finished the adaptation of this on Netflix and am hesitating to use one of my Libby holds on the audiobook - is it as much of a snotbomb as the Tom Hanks spectacular? I tend to listen to audiobooks in public and I‘d rather limit the amount that I look like a lunatic. 🫣

1. Historical SF; NYC; near-future dystopian US; and the tagged which I‘m not exactly sure? But might be in a fictional small midwestern town 🤷🏻‍♀️ these are my current active reads at least lol
2. I don‘t know! I love getting a feel for new places I‘d never dreamed of before!
3. So many 🫣 Im a sucker for any lush fantasy world, tbh 🧌🦄🐉🏞️
#wondrouswednesday

Lush and magical little YA that made me happy I lifted my YA moratorium! There‘s romance, but it‘s light, and the plot revolves more around the relationship between two sisters.

I see there‘s an owl crate for this book, which could be fun given the imagery that comes with a magical, traveling hotel that is not what it seems. Performers! Girls turned to birds! Strikingly beautiful young men and women!

The library loan for the tagged expired when I was halfway through, so I picked up an out-of-genre pick for #aam - only to have my hold get redelivered early! So now I can officially say I like Larsons nonfic more 😂
Beasts was an interesting view of the beginning of Hitlers rise to power through the lens of the anti establishment and kinda unlikable US ambassadors family.
No One was a nice little supernatural story with an odd and curtailed end.

2nd time getting gelato and reading during my work trip. No regrets.

I already have a handful of books started, so I‘m ripe for starting one more while I hang out in my yard and throw the stick for my pup! #moodreader #sundaybuddyread

1. Biology or English
2. Taking the chance to review this sweet little middle grade magic school book! Lots of HP callbacks in it with some fun twists, and the main character was fun and believable.
@TheSpineView #twofortuesday

I think this is the quickest I‘ve read a #doublespin pick!
This was a sweet, often silly, and a bit smutty of a little romp. Honestly, only a little like my #littenkitten, who is a silly, sometimes sweet, and often annoyed and pushy little barfmachine. But he is a black cat, and this is a book about witches… 🧙‍♀️
He also couldn‘t figure out how to use this scratching post house I got him for Halloween 🎃 😂💀

I thought I‘d do a #bookspin and #bookspinbingo recap now that I‘m 1/3 of the way through the year, and it‘s looking pretty good so far! I still need to finish January‘s bookspin and the bookspin and doublespin from March, but I‘m happy with the two bingos each in March and April. It is possible that I was most excited about the tagged bookspin from February - Talia Hibbert is always an author to celebrate, and I had that book on preorder lol.

I can‘t believe it‘s almost May! I‘ve been holding out on some of these books for too long - glad #roll100 and #booket could push me to re-prioritize them 🤩

Dunno why I was drawn to a story about an obsessed fan bringing Selena back from the dead, but here we are, and it was as weird as #booked23 could have asked for. I connected more with the poems where the narrator is a young person in the city trying to find romance and create art more than what happens after the undead celebs start appearing, which is odd since eldritch boyfriends that eat your cat would objectively seem to be more my thing.

I really liked the voice of Olga in this book, and I thought the portrayal of a mom “without the mothering gene” was really valuable, and something that rings true. I liked hearing about how the Acevedo siblings‘ came to grips with their heritage, whether it wanted them or not.
(Yep, still working my way through #tob23! 😉😅💀)

Anyone else a bit surprised by the Olga casting for the Hulu show? I mean, I love Aubrey Plaza, but…

I thought I‘d read this for the #readharder23 prompt “read a cookbook” - but it is so much more than that! Twisty traces food origins as a way to investigate his own background as an AfAm, and shows just how complicated both are. (+ Really great discussion of the place of genetic genealogy for those looking at “where they came from”)

*photo has nothing to do with the wonderful food mentioned in book, is only food pic on phone 😅

Read for #aam
I find Ware‘s books to be generally engaging and suspenseful reads, and this was no different. I think The Death of Mrs Westaway might be a better constructed mystery, and maybe less shallow than this novel, but maybe that‘s just bc DoMW had a well-done Du Maurier vibe that I liked?
The It Girl just got to me from the library, so I may listen to that one for this month, too!

Let‘s camp! I‘ve tried to pick some books I‘ve not seen in other lists - which means they are all in my genre sweetspot even tho I generally use ToB etc to find books outside my comfort range! (sorry-not-sorry)
I‘m sure my final vote will still be a surprise, lol.
#CampLitsy23:
1. The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi
2. Monstrilio
3. VenCo
4. The Thick and the Lean
5. Lone Women
6. The First Bright Thing

Since the tagged is, sadly, not out yet, here‘s a running #booketlist of 1) books on my shelf that are literally calling to me + 2) books to library hold.
Lists = ❤️ and since I already have monthly lists of Shame (#roll100‘s reminder to Read the Books I Own😅) and whimsy (#bookspin), I love the idea of using this quarterly to remind myself of books I put on my tbr (or *cough*bought*cough*) bc something about them really grabbed me!
#booket001

15 books? And the world is ending? You might as well just tell me that some much-needed reading glasses are broken 😜 @RaeLovesToRead (actual pic of me avoiding this dire thought) #ihavequestions #belovedbooks

Here‘s my list (with commentary!):
1. The Hobbit (⬆️THIS copy and yes I‘ll be mad if it gets scuffed or dinged)
2. The Complete Ivory - Egan (hey, series is contained into one book!)
3. Magic Strikes (the BEST Kate Daniels. Fight me.)
⬇️

Interrupting my vacation weekend for my partner‘s birthday to rave about this book 😉💕🤩
I love Kingfisher so much! This book effortlessly blends Lovecraftian wizard horror with humorous observations from a cantankerous academic. I don‘t know how a book could be more in my wheelhouse, tbh, esp since the heroine is an archaeoethnoentomologist - and pretty close to what I used to be!

Winter #Booked2023 complete! Tagged and Round House were my favorite reads from this challenge, but I liked all of them except Frankenstein. Which is sad! I really wanted to enjoy Shelley‘s first and much copied scifi novel, not least because of the circumstances of its creation. I think it cannot be a coincidence that it was written by a new mother whose partner was dissolute and likely quite unhelpful… but alas.
Good luck all Booked challengers!

I have to say I found #ToB2023 rather satisfying! My top reads are on the top row (& the books I was not able to get to on the bottom 👀). I initially thought Sea of Tranquility was my fav only to find out that Babel actually edged it out 🤷🏻‍♀️ IMO, the first half+ of Babel was really excellent and it powered me through the rest… but I can better see how others might feel dif after these 2 books faced off 2x, and with such dif results lol

April #bookspin list - excited about the tagged! It‘s already on my kindle as a library loan, and I didn‘t have time for it in March, so the kindle is even on airplane mode so I can still read it, lol.

Also, honestly, I‘m pretty into this very Spring-like and psychedelic theme from Canva 😂 I‘m ready for Spring! 🌸🌿

I very much enjoyed this novel and wouldn‘t have picked it up (thanks to its reputation as a bit of a slog) if it weren‘t for #AuthoraMonth
There is some awkwardness, I won‘t lie - why does Steinbeck include anecdotes from his own family history, and why do I connect with them more than to the cyclical, “Biblical” Trask generational saga? - but there is some great food-for-thought in the prose, and I adore evil Cathy! I also can‘t ⬇️

Jane Eyre in the setting of The Martian. It works, if oddly.

The March #bookspin list is primarily #tobshortlist for #tob23. First up is the tagged novel. Wish me luck!

February has felt a little full! Between a family ski vacation, a work conference in Orlando, and regular work fun, I‘ve been fitting in books where I can. I‘m trying to read as many #tobshortlist #tob2023 as possible, to actually participate in the tournament for once, and of course keep up with #aam and other challenges… but sometimes giant fantasy/horror chunksters get in the way 😆 I enjoyed all of these - and they were all so very different!

Soft pick on this #tobshortlist #tob2023
I kept comparing it to another #ownvoices book about minorities in classical music, Light from Uncommon Stars, and not enjoying VC nearly as much. Maybe I just prefer cozy sff? Oh well. I think this book felt like a debut, and I felt the music more in LfUS, too.

So, I‘m reading really slowly this year and (as y‘all can see) not putting much of a dent in my challenges, hah… and I have two #roll100 lists bc I have no self-control when it comes to kindle daily deals… but the wait lists for the tagged book were MONTHS and I just had to buy it 😬 here comes roll100 list no 3! 😘but don‘t worry friends, the only thing I‘m keeping up on are read alongs!
#bookspin #bookspinbingo #Naturalitsy #goldenagecrimeclub

Erdrich continues to be a favorite! This book was devastating, poignant, informative, and surprisingly funny - and it all combines to create a slice-of-life story that is just so real. I didn‘t love the audiobook narration, which came across too old for the coming-of-age theme… but otherwise a solid pick and a great start to #Authoramonth 😊

Image cred: https://www.jacki-li.com/mr-poppers-penguins-1

Last read of the month was Death and the Penguin, off my #AuldLangSpine list from @jhod
Which was a wild ride into nihilism and my own psyche 🤪
I realized I had bought it (years ago) and never read it (shame!) and think I bought it because it reminded me… really strangely… of Mr Poppers Penguins. it is not similar 😆

Thanks for setting this up @monalyisha !

It‘s a tale of two #tob23 #tobshortlist books! I think I am in the minority with really liking the tagged book that follows a motley bunch of refugees that all become part of a WWII-era movie production company. It lacked focus, but the language was lovely (sometimes slightly overly constructed) and the story(ies) were poignant. BUT am I am really struggling with the next tob shortlist on my list, The Violin Conspiracy!

I decided at the start of this year to read slower and to savor books more. And success! Halfway through January and here is all that I‘ve finished- much fewer than this time last year 😉 fav so far is tagged…
However, I am reminded of why I was a little more amped up in pace when I realized I also have 7 other books in progress and most of those are back on library hold 🤦🏻‍♀️

#pemberlittens
I am /very/ behind 😂 suffice to say, I was using Serial but didn‘t realize it doesn‘t always deliver whole chapters to read!
As I caught up with Ch 4, I was struck by this sentence from Mr. Brooke and rabbitholed (while evocative I didn‘t know what an “irregular solid” is) only to discover Sofja Kowalewskaja, a Russian mathematician who developed an equation to describe any irregular body revolving around a fixed point - and she ⬇️

Hooray for the new year! Hope it‘s off to a great start for all, and that we all have luck with our respective #bookspin and #doublespin lists. Not listed are a few read-slows that I‘m trying in order to chill out my reading (like the tagged for #pemberlittens 🥰). I did not get much reading done these holidays, so we‘ll see how much of a dent I make in the new year‘s challenges…
#aam #ToB23 #RH23 #Pop23 #roll100 #SeriesLove2023 #ALSpine

I love the StoryGraph stats! I like that I can separate out my yearly goals between pages read and overall books finished, since I go through audiobooks pretty quick when I‘m at work. And it looks like I had a pretty great reading year 🥰
Next year I think I‘d actually like to read less, and do more savoring, but I‘m still impressed at the number of pages i devoured this time around!
Last read of the year tagged (💙 MurderBot, but it was just ok)

Here are some series that have been on my tbr for a while - looking forward to #serieslove2023 to try them next year!

There are also a bunch of series where I‘ve read all but one or two books that would be good to finish up… we‘ll see how far I get 📚

Well, I‘ve not been online enough for the more traditional #12booksof2022 - too many lovely other things going on with family! - & I couldn‘t narrow my faves down to 12 😅 but I do love a good list, so here‘s my favs in 2022.

Top 5:
1. Vita Nostra (here grouped w/ another great cerebral fantasy, Babel)
2. The Sentence
3. The Thursday Murder Club series
4. The Argonauts
5. A Memory Called Empire

(W/ Bunny + Our Wives Under the Sea close behind!)

#tob crew, I am ambling through the current and former brackets and need help understanding the zombie picks 😫
How are these chosen? I see it is a poll… does everyone who participates in the poll pick their favorite from among the shortlist, and the two with the highest votes that were also eliminated in previous rounds make a comeback in the quarterfinals?
I don‘t remember those who tob, so consider yourself tagged if you like, and thanks!

I've not been on Litsy much lately... Now that the Read Harder Challenge has been released, I've been happily plotting and planning for next year. I'm planning to do #AuthorAMonth, #Booked23, #Pop23, #RH23, #52Book, #NoShame, #AuldLangSpine, and #roll100 so far, and I'll also try to do my local library yearly reading challenge 😅 Or at least, I'll spreadsheet the f* out of them 😂 Any of the rest of you getting ambitious?

Lovely to meet you, @jhod ! I've just spent the evening most enjoyably exploring your #auldlangspine list since they are almost all completely new to me and very intriguing 😁 the five indicated are the books that struck me the most so I'll start there - the tagged looks especially fun!

I'm looking forward to getting to know you a little better @jhod - thanks for the match, @monalyisha 💖

This year I discovered the bittersweet fiction by Bryan Washington, whose stories are filled with queer, diverse, and intensely human characters. They made me feel all the things - not least of which was how much I miss Houston, TX.

His books also fit the #booked2022 prompt: main character has AIDS. So, worth a consideration for any last-minute challenge scrambling!

#adventrecommends @emilyrose_x

#adventrecommends day 1

This book was probably my favorite read in January. It lifted me out of a reading slump (I had 2 bails in January! And I almost never bail!!) AND I wouldn‘t have picked it up if it hadn‘t been for #aam. So this post is as much a rec for the #aam challenge as it is for the book 🥰!

Now that Kingsolver is on my radar - does anyone have any favorites I shouldn‘t miss?

Finally committed to a final tbr #bookspin list for 2022 / gave up on getting through my November list 😂😉

(I already started the tagged book! 🤫)

I know I‘m late to the party, but I still really liked this Jadzia Dax / Aztecs / Byzantine Empire mashup. Excited to read book 2!

Plus, I finished my #bookspin and #doublespin for November, read one book for #aam, did some damage to my backlog from challenges, and got a bingo. Surprising for a month where I said I‘d be doing more “relaxed” reading!