⭐️⭐️⭐️
Samantha Irby is hilarious.
And although there were a few essays that weren't exactly my cuppa (porn preferences, toilet tales, and gastrointestinal anecdotes), there was plenty of her signature self-deprecating humor and spot-on observations to carry this collection through. I especially loved "The Last Normal Day," "How to Look Cool in Front of Teens?", and "Please Invite Me to Your Party."

#audiobook #pantone2023 @Clwojick

You know it's gonna be a fabulous day in the library when THESE type of standing orders come in!

I feel equal parts amused and delighted and nostalgic... and slightly MORTIFIED that we are "flashing back" to the '80s and '90s. That was my youth!!

#easyreaders

#SundayFunday @ozma.of.oz

I can't say I *always* pay attention to a book's publisher, but when I like a book and appreciate some detail about it, I have to look at the copyright page.

I've noticed a pattern in loving:
• travel guides by DK Eyewitness. I adore their photography, layouts, and their illustrations of buildings' interiors.
• graphic novels by First Second as well as Graphix.
• titles by Quirk Books and Scholastic Press.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
On October 1st, 2015, students at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Oregon, lost a professor and 8 of their peers to a mass shooting. Kindra Neely, a survivor, shares her experiences coping with this tragic event and with the effects of her PTSD in her debut graphic memoir.

Cont'd in comments ⬇️

Hello friends!
A month or two in, and we've made some progress on the home library. IKEA Billys (and extenders!) were assembled, original bookcases were donated to loving homes, paint was ordered, and additional trim supplies were purchased. Wekends never seem long enough, and we've had to juggle complete dedication to this project with errands and prior commitments, but we're getting closer to me knowing, with certainty, where my books are 😁

Playing catch-up on #Pantone2023 😁
@Clwojick

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Bummed to learn that this would be the end of the "Great Cities" series for N.K. Jemisin... That where the author had planned for a trilogy, this became a duology. It saddens me to learn of innovative writers losing steam with a project, but I can't fault Ms. Jemisin for doing so considering she was writing this in the middle of the pandemic! An emotionally-draining time of great turmoil and uncertainty indeed.

Cont'd in comments ⬇️

Late to the party, but always delighted to be here 😁😊🥳

Many #TBRtarot titles that I DO genuinely want to get to (and am excited about!) as well as plenty of #Roll100 choices.

Not entirely certain how this will work out with so many of my books on the floor in a very haphazard, loose genre arrangement, but I'll figure it out! 😉

#Bookspinlist @TheAromaofBooks @CBee @PuddleJumper

This is what 15 years of marriage looks like in book form.

97% of the books are mine. My husband claims... maybe about a total of 40. We haven't counted them 😳

Some came into the wedded bliss chapter with me; the majority of them have been acquired since.

As I shared at the beginning of the year (for this VERY visually OBVIOUS reason!), I haven't purchased any since January 1st and have been gifted a total of 5.

I regret nothing.

We are bidding farewell to the old shelves... and entering our Billy era.

Denial won't save us...

Filmed in the mid-to-late 1980s, the documentary "Paris is Burning" chronicled the New York City Ballroom culture of the time, introducing us to its drag queen-organized pageants, and to a small cast of its iconic participants, among them performers such as Dorian Corey (who made headlines posthumously when a mummified body was found in her closet) and Pepper LaBeija, as well as Angie and Venus Xtravaganza.

Review & CW/TW cont'd in comments ⬇️

In recent weeks, my eyes have begun to let me know (in subtle and LOUD ways!) that my computer-heavy job is taking a toll on them. After a visit to the optometrist, I was diagnosed with SPK (superficial punctate keratitis) - a (treatable!) ocular surface disease that affects the cornea, decreasing vision and causing the eye to become red, watery, and sensitive to light.

(Cont'd ⬇️)

Here is my February #BookSpinList ?

My #BookSpin is "The Midnight Library" and my #Doublespin is "This Time Tomorrow".

Goal for the month is to read! ? And to get some of my sweet #TBRtarot as well as #Roll100 selections off their respective lists.

Fingers crossed ?? for a better reading month than January! ❄️

My gratitude to @TheAromaofBooks @CBee @PuddleJumper for all they do to help us add even more joy to our reading ?

#ManicMonday on a very late Tuesday, but here I am swooning over this lovely lemon 🍋 yellow 💛 picture background, thinking about the #LetterY 😁😊 @CBee @ChaoticMissAdventures

📚 The Year of Magical Thinking [Didion], Yes Please [Poehler], You Do You: How to Be Who You Are and Use What You've Got... [Knight], You Don't Have to Say You Love Me [Alexie]
🖊 Yakoub, Nastasia; Yancey, Rick; Yang, Gene Luen

Cont'd in comments ⬇️ 😁

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
My husband and I both greatly enjoyed listening to Trevor Noah narrate stories from his childhood. Although at times tackling very difficult moments and traumatic experiences in his life, we appreciated the frankness and humor with which he approached these topics. His mom's grace and wisdom were also especially admirable.

#Pantone2023 @Clwojick

#ManicMonday #LetterW @CBee @ChaoticMissAdventures

📚 Walking Your Octopus: A Guidebook to the Domesticated Cephalopod [Kesinger]; We Don't Eat Our Classmates [Higgins]; We Were Liars [Lockhart]; The Weird Sisters [Brown]; Where I Live [Spinelli]; Will Grayson, Will Grayson [Green & Levithan]; Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs?: Big Questions from Tiny Mortals About Death [Doughty]; With the Fire on High [Acevedo]

Cont'd in comments ⬇️

An unapologetic love letter to cultural identity, heritage, and ancestry. A visual poem honoring the beauty of one's complexion, praising the legacy written in the tresses of natural Black hair, and in celebration of self-acceptance.

#Pantone2023 @Clwojick

These are four book series I definitely want to tackle this year. Here's to hoping this will be the year I stop postponing them!🤞🍀💜📚

#SeriesLove2023 @Andrew65 @TheSpineView

Let the tardiness continue! 🥳🍾🥂

I genuinely *DID* want this to be the year of organization, mindfulness, and *planning*... of being *prepared*... and I know it still CAN be... but being a perfectionist always throws a wrench into the works and I get paralyzed. I wanted to have beautiful written journal spreads, but here we are. Better late than never! 😁

Above are more of the #readingchallenges I plan to participate in this year. Yay! 💜📚

Always fashionably late to the best Litsy parties in town 😉🥳🍾🥂

Be prepared to see plenty of catch up posts from yours truly for beginning of the year reading plans that I procrastinated on because I a) was too overwhelmed by all the fabulous options and b) let the pursuit of general holiday coziness take over my life. Planning kinda went out the window. I regret nothing. 😁🤩 More to come!

#goodreads #readingchallenge #readinggoals

#ManicMonday #LetterU @CBee @ChaoticMissAdventures @Read4Life

📚 The Unfinished Life of Addison Stone [Griffin], Untamed [Doyle], Unwind [Shusterman]
🖊 Ukazu, Ngozi; Usdin, Carly
🎬 Under the Tuscan Sun, Up
📺 The Umbrella Academy, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Unsolved Mysteries
🎤 U2

Cont'd in comments ⬇️

These are (were?) my last book purchases of 2022.

I took advantage of Barnes & Noble's 50% Off Sale after Christmas AND bought the top 2 books from a local indie on Friday.

And with that I enter the #NoBuy/#BuyLess zone to #PrioritizeMyShelves in 2023 😁

The only exceptions I plan to make are for pre-orders already made and for gifts (although I'll encourage my family to get creative and think beyond books!)

@CBee @JamieArc @RaeLovesToRead

Had I not decided that Psychology and Library Science were my academic paths in life, I think I would've liked to've given graphic design a shot!

I had quite a bit of fun digitally collaging this together 😁☺️

@Tove_Reads @Andrew65 - I humbly submit this image for your consideration for the #OffTheShelf2023 reading challenge. Hope you like it! 💜😊

@JamieArc @RaeLovesToRead

🎶 On the 4th day of Christmas... 🎶

Blame it on Netflix!

This sweet graphic novel makes me want to take all of its main characters, wrap them in a blanket of acceptance, and keep them safe in a little snow globe filled with candy sprinkles. Gives me all the warm fuzzies! 🥰

#12booksof2022 @Andrew65

"Personal Effects: What Recovering the Dead Teaches Me About Caring for the Living" was my favorite March read.

As the owner of a disaster management company, Jensen doesn't shy away from talking plainly about recovery work after mass casualty events, from the Oklahoma City bombing to the Grenfell Tower Fire.

Not necessarily a book for everyone but one I found fascinating.

#12booksof2022 @Andrew65

Meant to post this yesterday, @Cinfhen, but I think yours truly spent WAAAYYY more time fiddling with the image and watching Christmas movies 🎄🎬

It is my sincerest wish to complete at least 2 of the books on the top row this week and to start on the 3 below as well 😁

Because I CANNOT, for the life of me, read one book at a time.

#WeeklyForecast

Cheating a tiny bit on Day 2 of the #12booksof2022, but I couldn't include one without the other.

My favorite February read was "Alone Together", edited by Jennifer Haupt, and although it took me a while to complete due to its anthology format, it was still a very worthwhile perspective on how folks coped with life during lockdown and with the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Love Was Inside" gave a child's view of the same.

@Andrew65

My favorite January read had me reminiscing on old habits (wrapping myself with the chord of the kitchen phone) and beloved objects of the pre-Internet era (Rolodex, anyone?) It was a nostalgic walk down memory lane and provided welcome moments of reflection on things lost (and gained!) Pamela Paul has also written another book I'm looking forward to reading in the new year - My Life With Bob.

#12booksof2022 @Andrew65

Last food post of the day! 😁

Spokane is currently experiencing NEGATIVE degree wind chills (as are many other parts of the country, so I know we're not special!) Made for a perfect day to get some chowder!

I shared their clever drink menu earlier, but these were our lunch choices: I had elote corn chowder while hubby had pork carnitas chowder. He had a cheesesteak sandwich with salad and I had a Cuban sandwich with tater tots!

Hubby and I are having lunch together at a spot called "Chowderhead" and I love their cheeky drink menu ?

Cold Soups: Drip coffee, Cold brew, Soda can, etc.

Grown-up Soups: Lumberbeard Stout, Trailbreaker Cider, etc.

Thanks for the tag @Read4life 😁😊 And thanks for the #Two4Tuesday questions, @TheSpineView

1. No traveling this year as we have family all over the States. Hubby and I are staying put in the PNW 🥰🎄

2. YES! Oh gosh, yes! It's been snowing 🌨 ❄️ ALL day today and will probably continue to do so well into the next two days. Will likely stick around for the weekend, too before our weather warms up.

Play along if you'd like @CBee 💜

? I'm late, I'm late! For a very important date! ?
#ManicMonday #LetterT @CBee @ChaoticMissAdventures

? They Call Me Güero [Bowles], They Called Us Enemy [Takei], This Book is Overdue! [Johnson], Twilight: the Graphic Novel (vols. 1 & 2) [Kim]
? Tamiko, Mariko; Tan, Amy; Telgemeier, Raina; Tucholke, April Genevieve; Tung, Debbie
? Transformers ("Autobots, roll out!"), Twilight (I know... It's my cheesy, guilty pleasure movie!)

Cont'd ⬇️

Asked Santa for an early Christmas present that'll be a tad delayed as it is a pre-order.

For those who might not know this about me, I am quite fond of the tagged title and greatly enjoy modern retellings of it. Although this is not the latter, it IS a new edition of the classic, designed by Nerdy Ink, due out in February 2023.

I'm in love 🥰 and grateful that the Instagram fairies were smiling down upon me while browsing.

#ManicMonday #LetterS @CBee @ChaoticMissAdventures

📚 Sarah's Key [de Rosnay], The Secret Diary of Lizzie Bennet [Su], Severance [Ma], The Shadow of the Wind [Zafón], Slothilda [Fabiero], Southern Lady Code [Ellis], Spilling Open [Harrison], Stargirl [Spinelli], Still Alice [Genova], The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry [Zevin]

Cont'd in comments, of course ⬇️😁

This was supposed to be #Day6 for the #WinterReadathonDailyChallenge - celebrating St. Nick.

And the best I could do/find was a picture of our jolly hand sanitizer station last year during the panini. He got new outfits for every major holiday!

Upper left is yours truly with reindeer antlers that light up! (And a festive mask because we had to find small joys where we could get 'em! 😷 )

@Andrew65 @DieAReader @GHABI4ROSES

This one goes out to @shortsarahrose 😊

Hooray for pre-orders!

"That's the whole point of being a kid. You believe things before the world proves you wrong." -- Marimar Montoya (pg. 44)

Loving this story steeped in magic ?

#WinterReadathon

#ManicMonday #LetterR @CBee @ChaoticMissAdventures

📚 Reading Quirks [Wild Detectives], Ready Player One [Cline], The Refrigerator Monologues [Valente]
🖊 Reynolds, Jason; Reynolds, Peter H.; Rice, Philippa; Rim, Sujean; Robinson, Phoebe; Rosenthal, Amy Krouse; Rowell, Rainbow; Rubin, Gretchen; Rubin, Sean; Ruiz Zafón, Carlos; Rylant, Cynthia
🎬 Romeo + Juliet (1996, dir. Baz Luhrmann); Rudy

Cont'd in comments ⬇️😁

#WinterReadathon #WinterReadathonDailyChallenge #Day4

So today appears to be National Sock Day and my socks just happen to match both my blanket AND my shirt! Thanks Old Navy ?

Hubby and I just finished watching Noelle and now I'm ready to replace OMG with "Oh my garland!" ☺️

@Andrew65 @DieAReader @GHABI4ROSES

Although my #BookSpin choice will not make for a joyful selection given the subject matter, it is still something I feel compelled to read. I just hope I'm emotionally strong enough to do so.

The #DoubleSpin selection is one that just seems to follow me from one month of bingo boards to the next so let's see if this will finally be its lucky month.

@TheAromaofBooks

Playing a tiny bit of catch-up with December's #BookSpinBingo.

We'll see how this month turns out 😊💜📚

Late to the #December #BookSpin party 🥳 but very happy to be here!

I'm always ambitious with these and maybe I need to give jotting down the same title multiple times a try 😉 Maybe that'll get me a little further along than usual! ☺️

@TheAromaofBooks

This image is a little chaotic, but I hope it'll make some sense ?

The #December #TBRtarot prompt is to "choose a book... where the blurb starts with the word IT" and here is my selection: Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree (with Seanan McGuire's recommendation in the foreground.)

And peeking in the background? My November TBRtarot pick: The Inheritance of Orquídea Divina.

@CBee

Happy National Mutt Day! 😁😊

We've been lucky in our married life to've had 2 sweet pups as part of our family ❤️

On the bottom left is my husband with his girl Dolce (who is also on the upper right w/Santa!) Bottom right is yours truly with Hannah 🥰 Upper left is my mom's chihuahua Lucy 😊

(Cont'd in comments ⬇️)

#WinterReadathon #WinterReadathonDailyChallenge #Day2
@Andrew65 @DieAReader @GHABI4ROSES

As requested, here be a Christmas tree 😁😊🎄

It isn't mine, but it IS the one at my hair salon (where I had an appointment much earlier today) and I must say it's the very first upside-down tree I've ever come across!

#WinterReadathonDailyChallenge #Day1
@Andrew65 @DieAReader @GHABI4ROSES

#ManicMonday #LetterQ @CBee @ChaoticMissAdventures

📚 Quiet: the Power of Introverts... [Cain], Quiet Girl in a Noisy World [Tung], Quince [Kadlecik]
🖊 Quindlen, Anna; Quintero, Isabel
🎬 A Quiet Place
📺 Queer Eye
🎤 Queen!
🎶 Quando, Quando, Quando (feat. Nelly Furtado) [Michael Bublé]; Quiéreme Despacito [Jesse & Joy]

Didn't get a chance to post my stats for the #NovelNovember #Readathon yesterday, but here they are today ?

My reading was a little all over the place with some last minute additions/substitutions, but goals-wise:

• Finished "One Italian Summer" (October #TBRtarot) and "Hollow" (YA GN; library copy)
• Read for more than an hour 5 out of 9 days (not great, but not awful either!)

@Andrew65 @CBee

Oh, this is gonna be a LENGTHY #LetterP for #ManicMonday!

Hold on, y'all! @CBee @ChaoticMissAdventures

📚 Parkland: Birth of a Movement [Cullen]; The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake [Bender]; A People's Future of the United States [LaValle, ed.]; Personal Effects: What Recovering the Dead Teaches Me About Caring for the Living [Jensen]; The Poet X [Acevedo]; Practical Magic [Hoffman]; Pride and Prejudice [Austen]

Cont'd in comments ⬇️

Buenos días, fellow Littens! Good morning to you all ☺️ Buongiorno!

Here is my mini reading plan for the #NovelNovember #Readathon. Thank you so much for hosting, @Andrew65!

#Goals are to
• Complete reading "One Italian Summer" and jump into either "The Inheritance of Orquídea Divina" OR "Our Missing Hearts". Or BOTH! ?

Cont'd in comments ⬇️