Some pink, a little red and a lot of Public Opinion.

William Lippmann had me agreeing with him until he said, “I argue that representative government, either in what is ordinarily called politics, or in industry, cannot be worked successfully, no matter what the basis of election, unless there is an independent, expert organization for making the unseen facts intelligible to those who have to make the decisions.”
Who chooses these experts? Who?

Not my usual book review.

Not sure this will work for me as there isn't enough room to jot down a full review.
However, I love the Netgalley Reading Journal,

I wish that as a child there had been a book like this. This book was definitely up my loving the supernatural type of stories. Lora Senf can write like the best of them! This book is up there with The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman. I recommend reading this with your child or recommending it to the purchasing librarian at your local Library, I know I will! I've got a few kids who wander the stacks looking for books like The Clackity.

1. Edie Howard - doing everything she can to save her business and home, The Blue Lion Hotel
2. James Geddes- artist and current resident at the Blue Lion Hotel. Flawed.

(favorites from this book, not my overall favorites of all time. Can't choose one except Emily from Emily of New Moon. Think Anne Shirley but sweeter.)

@Eggs @Jabberwocky

This closely based “true story of one of the most shocking crimes in recent Italian history, The City Of The Living is a spellbinding, intoxicating journey into the darkest corners of Contemporary Rome.”

Written in an easy, conversational way. It's hard to put down and filled with thrills and chills.

#europaeditions #nicolalagioia

1. I don‘t withdraw, however I do take a break for a week or two.
2. Scott Reintgen
3. L.M. Montgomery

Thanks, @Eggs for always doing fun Wednesday Qs. #wondrouswednesday

Have you read this book? It sounds interesting and also insightful on dealing with Dementia

Every year in the town we lived in in Florida they had a Zombie walk. These are a few of our friends prepping for the zombie video they were making to psych up everyone for the upcoming event. I can‘t find pictures I only have video of our last walk. Between the blood, gore and dead eyes, all I can say is it was pretty epic!

#scarathlon #zombiewalk #photochallenge #teamcryptkeeper

Good game, @Eggs thanks for this one!

1. As a child there were actually two books: The Secret Garden, & The Lion The Witch and the Wardrobe. I couldn‘t choose between them if I tried!

2. When I turned 7, My dad & I starting taking walkabouts around towns we‘d visit, usually towns he had lived in. Ones that have special meaning to him. I learn so much about his life from those walks.

3. Oct. 7th crawling through an archeological site in Eqypt.

October 18 scarathlon photo challenge: Zombie

While searching the Internet for a good Zombie book, I ran into this article on CNET. Now you too can be informed on how to protect yourself from a Zombie invasion… i guess you can thank me later 😂

#scarathlon #scarathlonphotochallenge #teamcryptkeeper

https://www.cnet.com/pictures/everything-you-need-to-zombie-proof-your-life-pict...

A year ago I read One Hundred Saturdays by Michael Frank, based in his interactions with Stella Levi a 92 yr old Jewish woman who survived her horror in Auschwitz-Birkenau after her community in Rhodes, Greece was sent to the Camps.

This book affected me deeply, & more poignant was visiting Rhodes 2 days after the initial attack on Israel. I felt such deep sadness as I walked through the Juderia.

This is a book to put on your list.
#nonfiction

Watched this Stephen King produced series from 2001. What a doozy… this is based on the book The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson.

Is it fun when a cameo is done by the so called directors or authors of movies- like Stan Lee in all of his Marvel Movies? I think so, what do you think?

#scarathlon #TeamCryptKeeper @LiseWorks
#halloweenmovies @Clwojick @StayCurious

October 17th Scarathlon photo challenge: Haunt
@LiseWorks #TeamCryptKeepers #scarathlon @StayCurious @Clwojick

i spy with my little eye for the photo challenge today a picture that another posted…
Cute theme. Thanks, @Clwojick!
October 15, 2023

#scarathlon #TeamCryptKeeper @LiseWorks @StayCurious #scarathlonphotochallenge

#scarathlon #TeamCryptKeepers #scarathlon23 @LiseWorks

2 books so many bingo spots!!

i really love the oldie horror movies. They might now be as scary as say, IT or other movies but psychological thrillers get me everytime! October 1st-14th

What is your favorite generation of scary movies?

#scarathlon #teamcryptkeepers @LiseWorks @StayCurious @Clwojick

This bingo has been fun to work on for the first half of #scarathlon.
Is anyone else having as much fun as I am?

Sorry about the overload of posts, I was gone with no cell service or Wi-Fi for almost 2 weeks… just catching up.
#TeamCryptKeeper #scarathlon2023 @LiseWorks

Thank heavens for the Happy Halloween Scarathloners! word challenge or my halfway mark might be even lower, still not bad for being away on a cruise to the Mediterranean for 2 weeks, although I did fit in a lot of reading. 📚🎃
84,555 points for #TeamCryptKeepers
@LiseWorks
#scarathlon

@Clwojick thanks for the challenge.

What a fun readathon!! Second book in the Wicked Witches of the Midwest book series.
Helping me rack up the points.
#onemorechapter #scarathlon @LiseWorks

Still working on adding up my points…

#scarathlon #teamcryptkeepers @LiseWorks

Please excuse me for being late to the party!! We were on a cruise & the wifi service was spotty at best.
However, I did keep up on my buddy read of The Shuddering. Sadly, I wasn‘t able to get game number 1 though, & now cramming in game 2. Looked like a challenge!!
#buddyread #scarathlon #teamcryptkeepers
I‘ll update my points soon, I‘ve been reading & enjoying the challenge for the last two weeks! So many fun/scary books to explore.

Feels remarkably familiar.

Someone placed these books in a box unprotected & out in the rain for over a weeks. I was going to save them back at the start when it was sunny as I drove past on my way home from the park & thought, no someone will take all the magazines out of the LFL & put these books in it. Didn‘t happen.
The house owner doesn‘t own the LFL…Bugs & moisture destroyed the books one of which came from the free area in the P.Library. I can‘t save them. I‘m sad.

A little town on the border of Maine & Canada filled with a rich tapestry of characters.
The book addresses Postpartum Depression, & the aftermath of everyone left who has to deal with their loved ones suicide.
Postpartum depression is so often overlooked even by doctors that the one suffering doesn‘t feel as if she can talk about what she‘s going through.

My daughter suffered from PPD with the birth of her first baby. Luckily I knew the signs.

Do you need a beach/summer read? Summer Retreat is “Mean Girls meets Scream in this heart-pounding psychological thriller about a group of friends stranded on an island with a serial killer on the loose.”

Coming June 13, 2023 (which is a great present for my birthday!) if you‘ve read Ski Weekend, you will know this author has a vivid thriller mind.

Have you read The Graphic Novel (comic book at the time it was released) Maus?
It‘s an interesting way to the tell the story of an Auschwitz survivor.

*check out the gorgeous handwriting our purchasing librarian has. 🤩

Ms.Berest literally took my breath away on pgs 188,189,193 &199 of The Postcard —the most sobering pages I have ever read in my 53 years of life. I‘ve read so many books on the Holocaust, & the treatment of the Jewish People in Concentration Camps, however, The Postcard is the most comprehensive story of a race‘s eradication in modern times. This book should be read by EVERYONE.

https://bookingitwithsandra.wordpress.com/2023/05/16/the-postcard/

My #bookspinbingo Board for May.

I thought for fun I‘d add books to the free zones even though they are not going to count. If I don‘t get to them, I‘ll add them to June‘s Book Spin…
I‘m hoping this will help me read those upcoming ARCs in a more timely manner. 🙃

@TheAromaofBooks you are fantastic! Thanks for putting this together.

1. I love to walk in the woods
2. Eating potato chips
3. Historical Fiction: The Postcard by Anne Beresr, The Light between us Andrew Fukuda, The Book Thief by Markus Zusak.

@Eggs @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks #wonderouswednesday

“The tailor sees everyone as badly dressed,
the hairdresser, everyone disheveled,
the milliner, everyone hatless,
The physiotherapist, everyone injured
and I, psychiatrist, see everyone as mad.”
Section 16

#europaeditions

A history of 1 family lost at Auschwitz whose names show up on a postcard to their loved ones.
In honor of Yom Hashoah or Holocaust Remembrance Day I‘m reading (ch.4 so far) the upcoming book The Postcard.
We can‘t forget the 6 million people who died due to hatred. The holocaust is near & dear to my heart & this book is reinforcing the need to remember those who were victims of that hated & never forget & fight against this ever happening again.

The Hourglass by Keiran Goddard is a jumbled mind strewn out on the page trying to get over the lose of two loves- one of a girlfriend and one of a mother.
Even a week after finishing reading the book I‘m not sure how I feel about it. I feel sadness for the protagonist of the story over the heart wrenching profoundness of his losses, and yet, I feel like so much of his problem is also of his own making by being so desperate for love itself.

“Most people expect seers to live somewhere weird. A creepy house on the corner with roses that never bloom. Some lonely farm with a hunched roof. Anything mysterious.
Which is why people are always surprised by Grammy‘s very suburban townhome.”

A sunny lunch break at work means a sandwich and starting a new book.

I‘m getting really sick of the snow. A high of 40° feels like heaven when the sun shines, and that is crazy being that I don‘t even like a temperature less than 50°.

Have you read anything by Connor Sullivan? He is a new author for me.
Wolf Trap was released March 14, 2023

Winter is starting to wear on me as we‘ve had so much snow in the last few months. However, reading a good dark movie type Noir.

I‘ve heard John Irving‘s The Last Chairlift isn‘t a fluff book, it‘s meaty, and might not be for everyone, but I hope at least it will challenge my mind into taking a plunge out of the snow, and into a place that‘s filled with its foibles and good storytelling.

“From a superb new literary talent, a rich, lyrical collection of stories about a tight-knit cast of characters grappling with their own personal challenges while the forces of gentrification threaten to upend life as they know it.”
This story gives soul to the people who live in older buildings who should not just be a number in a boardroom, but should be seen as complex individuals who need to stay in their homes for so many reasons.

The third book in the Sunshine Vicram mystery series. I‘ve never read such fun chapter headings in any other book besides this series. Darynda Jones has got some spunky humor!
For instance:
“If your coffee was so dark a
demon mistook it
for a portal to hell, you will
need three things:
a new mug, a mop, and an
exorcism.
—Sign at Caffeine-Wah”

All the wisdom of the world with that same laidback way of putting people at ease comes flying out of Green Lights by Matthew McConaughey.

This book is a much needed read and the interviews he does for this book are also enlightening. If you need more, YouTube your way to his interviews. I especially liked the one with @jordan.b.peterson.

#memoir #autobiography #matthewmcconaughey #greenlightsbook #wisdomgained #humorous

Beach reads are always a must!

“Adrien, Etienne and Nina are 10 years old when they meet at school and become inseparable. Years later, a car is pulled up from the bottom of a lake, with a body inside. Virginie, a local journalist with an enigmatic past, follows the case. Step by step she reveals the extraordinary bonds that unite the three childhood friends. How is the car wreck connected to their story? Why did their friendship fall apart?”

Sometimes, you just gotta sit, read and dream…
This is my little slice of backyard heaven.

Two years ago this was just a spot with 20ft pine trees too tall and heavy for a 6ft block wall. We had envisioned a place for pollinators and birds with tons of bright flowers. Now, it inspires instead of hiding the sun.

This Vicious Grace the first book in The Last Finestra series is a dark and twisty thriller with a little yummy romance sprinkled in. Emily Thiede‘s Italian-inspired debut won‘t let you down.

See the whole review on my blog: https://bookingitwithsandra.wordpress.com/2022/06/26/this-vicious-grace/

Congratulations, @katherinewrites in the release of your new book, Last Call At The Nightingale.

Publisher‘s summary:
“New York, 1924. Vivian Kelly's days are filled with drudgery, from the tenement lodging she shares with her sister to the dress shop where she sews for hours every day.

But at night, she escapes to The Nightingale, an underground dance hall where illegal liquor flows and the band plays the Charleston with reckless excitement…”

Have you read the Crowns of Croswald Series yet? If not, you should. Today with the release of the last book in the series, The War of the Woods, you can order the complete set and binge this adventurous tale starring Ivy Storey and her lovable cast of friends. This is a series you can binge read with your kids and enjoy immensely! You will want to thank me when your done.

Today Rory Power released a new book! If you loved her YA Wilder Girls and Burning Our Bodies Down, you will want to read this new Adult Fantasy. This book will have a sequel in 2023.

Watching my son this weekend play a game of Curling in Maryland reminded me of how adding pressure at some points and smoothing the path you travel can help your life move forward even when it hardly travels the path you want. Curling is full of those motions. So is The Floating Girls by Lo Patrick!

A girl investigates her mysterious new neighbors, a kidnapping, and a murder, only to find out her parents may have a role in it all.

Out July 12th

I find it heartening when an a book that I love hits the number 1 bestseller in the store (& # 4 on the New York Times Best Seller‘s list) over someone who is super famous and also has a great book! Way to go, Lucy Foley!

I‘m so grateful, I was able to read the ARC, then buy a copy so I could share it. 😀

I‘m sure this is going to be an unpopular post: I‘m not in love with Rom Coms. There I‘ve said it. whew…

They are capable escapes, however, sometimes they seem so utterly drippy sweet i just can‘t handle another one to read. I go for months on end where I steer clear of them so I don‘t get utterly lost in teeth aching prose.

Anyone else feel that way? Please, I can‘t possibly be the only reader to not love Rom Coms…

The Promise by Damon Galgut is a story about a woman, Rachel Swart who makes a promise to her Black maid, Salome. This promise will divide Rachel‘s family. This book is based in South Africa and spans 30 years. Will The Promise be kept or not? That‘s what I‘m about to find out…

Have you read this book yet? It won the 2021 Booker Prize.

#europaeditions #thepromise #damongalgut #newbooktoread #southafricantale #readtogrow #readingisfundamental

We all dream of Wanderlust. Vagabond is the author‘s initial spiritual wandering that evokes Eat, Pray, Love, but turns into some that is more like Jack Kerouac‘s On The Road. Ceilidh Michelle takes her own journey that twists and turns, takes a few curves and leads her to so many experiences you, yourself, can‘t help but grow from it too.

Do you scope out the magazines at your hair salon? I love Magnolia Journal! The spring issue is always my favorite because it‘s packed full or spring ideas & this one isn‘t lacking any of that. Gardening plans are already in the works for our backyard garden. Tomatoes were ginormous. It might be fun to do an arbor full of them, so we have little red baubles.

Do you read at your hair appointment? What‘s your favorite magazine you grab when there?