Hi Littens! Quick question for y‘all: Do you have any advice on finding an IRL bookclub? I can‘t go back to my last one (a coworker invited me to hers, apparently just to get dirt on me to trash me at work), but I really enjoyed it while it lasted, and I really, REALLY need to get out more and make some new friends (I‘m not doing well lately). Has anyone used Meetup? Have you found good groups? Would it work for an extreme introvert like me? TIA!

Super unmotivated this month, so this is as good as it gets. I think I‘m going to skip Bingo this month. But at least I get to play with my new Rocketbook.

The tagged book is my #Bookspin

The Testaments by Margaret Atwood is my #DoubleSpin

April #Bookspin

That‘s it for now…I don‘t want to pet any peeves.

April #roll100

I made all my March recaps/April lists at the same time, and then planned to post one a day so as not to blow up your feeds. But then I forgot…so…💥

No Bingos, but not a bad reading month (at least for me). #bookspinbingo #march2023

@Sleepswithbooks I finally got your cards today! I‘m sure it‘s been in my mailbox for a few days, but I‘m glad I found it today when I really needed it. Thank you so much for your kind words - they really brightened my week. And I loved the envelope! ❤️🎄☘️❤️ #litsylove

Trying to finish this one up, but I just can‘t with the mean girl stuff tonight.
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Found out my work friend, who recently invited me to join her IRL bookclub, has been trashing me behind my back. So I lost a friend, a bookclub, and possibly a promotion.

I‘m less than two weeks away from my 40th birthday, which is entirely too forking old for this bullshirt.

Someone please remind me when I‘m doing next month‘s #BookspinBingo board to not be extra with the background for my individual Bingo squares. I just can‘t resist when it comes to glitter. 🤦🏻‍♀️

March #bookspin #doublespin.

Between race training and a cluster **** of a month at work, I only finished one book in February, but I‘m hoping I can catch up over Spring Break (in between Spring Training, the World Baseball Classic, and March Madness ⚾️ 🏀 📚).

My March #Roll100 is VERY serious…😬

I‘ve never read The Catcher in the Rye, but I‘ve heard that usually the people who love it are the ones who first read it as angsty teens, and people who read it for the first time as adults hate it. Anyone else have any experience with this? Will it make a difference if I‘m an angsty adult?

Hello #GroupL! I hope I didn‘t misunderstand the assignment, but these all were tagged as lighthearted on Story Graph. Let me know what you think (or I‘d be happy to go back to the drawing board!)

#LMPBC

My #FoodAndLit #DominicanRepublic book won‘t be here until Tuesday, but I couldn‘t wait to make this Dominican Chimi Burger. 😋
I still have plenty of recipes for the rest of the month, so it‘s okay. 🇩🇴

#BookspinBingo February

Vampires and demons…if I needed a sign to replace Valentine‘s Day with a second Halloween, well, here it is.

#bookspin #doublespin

I‘m going to play this year! Thank you @chasjjlee for putting this together!

#2023ReadingBracket

Only a day late for #FoodAndLit #Uganda. I LOVED the Ugandan Rolex - I‘ll be using that technique again in the future (even though I cheated and used a store-bought tortilla instead of making the chapati. I was just too tired).
Not a lot to say about the book. I wish I knew more Ugandan history. It‘s worth reading for the Thank You Note chapter alone.

Looking forward to the Dominican Republic for February.

Work is really getting in the way of my reading time. I spent half my day today in meetings…and it was a SNOW DAY!

Here‘s my sad #BookspinBingo for January. But, I‘m still one book ahead of schedule on my GR challenge, so that‘s something. ☺️

#Bookspin #Doublespin list for February!!

I love the Valentines Day themes way more than any terminally single person has a right to.

Fitting selection for February‘s #Roll100.
Short stories about weddings for Valentines Day.
A baseball-themed romance to coincide with the start of Spring Training, and…
Well, okay, I guess The Historian doesn‘t really fit. But it‘s a chunkster, and it‘s highly unlikely that I‘ll finish before Halloween anyway, soooo…

This probably would have only been 4 stars - a little too twistED yet somehow not twistY enough, if that makes sense. But that last chapter/epilogue was so heartbreakingly beautiful that it earned a little extra credit.

Is there any greater joy than getting a notification that the book you forgot you pre-ordered will be here tomorrow??!!??

#BookspinBingo January 2023

#Bookspin - Gothic Short Stories
#DoubleSpin - Room

Watching Friends and starting a new book. Coincidence??? Or is it *possible* that Courteney Cox was in Fort Worth reselling books at HPB? 🤔

Happy New Year!!!! 🎆
Starting off this year like I finished the last…behind (still working on December‘s #FoodAndLit. But the German Cabbage and Sausage is a New Year‘s Day tradition).

I‘ve been seeing this all over Facebook and Litsy, and it looks fun. Send me your suggestions! No limits, I‘m not a picky reader at all!

Here we go!!!

#Bookspin January 2023

This line hit.

Once I got over what I expected this to be, I was able to really enjoy it, although I may not be smart enough to have fully understood it. I definitely would not recommend trying to read it quickly, because it‘s very detailed and smart.
Obviously Tim the dog was my favorite ❤️🐶❤️, but I also loved the humor.
I would love to see this on film, and would definitely read any more books in the series if they were available.

January #Roll100!!!
#96 - next in the Sookie Stackhouse series (GR lists all the collections that contain Sookie short stories as part of the series, so I‘m reading all of those too, and have really liked some of the stories from other authors). I actually only have 1 or 2 Sookie novels left.
#84 - This Is Where I Leave You (I‘ve seen and enjoyed the movie)
#45 - Broken Monsters (my 2nd Beukes; I loved The Shining Girls. SO excited for this one)

Here‘s my 2023 #Roll100 list. Don‘t be fooled by the masterpiece in the upper left-hand corner. I know it looks like beautiful abstract art, but really I just briefly forgot how to spell “roll.” 🤦🏻‍♀️
This is my first year playing, and I‘m really looking forward to it!

Same…
🫥
It took a while to get into, but I really liked this book.

Feeling very grinchy tonight. My neighbor has been blaring their music ALL night and is RUINING #jolabokaflod.
It‘s not even Christmas music. It‘s like hotel cocktail lounge Muzak that was never intended to be played at full volume and makes me feel like I should be eating canapés in a puffy-sleeved LBD. ?

I‘m definitely not going to accomplish my goal of zeroing out my Currently Reading list, but I did complete my 2022Reading Challenge! With a week to spare! And without a bunch of eleventh hour children‘s books to pad my numbers! 🥳

What do you like to read when you‘re feeling lonely?
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Having a pity party (but with spaghetti!). I‘m failing in every aspect in my life and feeling so lonely. My boss hates me, my family doesn‘t talk to me, and I‘m driving the few people who do talk to me crazy. I‘m just so over everything thing right now and I need anything that will make me feel better, even if just for a little bit.

December #BookspinBingo…only a couple days late. 🤷🏻‍♀️

And here‘s my #Bookspin list for December. My goal is to zero out my “Currently Reading” list by 11:59pm on December 31st. But, since that list is currently 35 items long (because I‘m a crazy person), I‘m less than optimistic. Still…I‘ll give it the old college try.

Sooooo close!
I didn‘t get a Bingo, but I finished a lot of books (for me at least) in November.

#Bookspin #BookspinBingo

Okay, so I loved Dracula! Yes, I wish I had read it in the order Stoker wrote it before doing #DraculaDaily, but it was still really good. And I tried one of Jonathan Harker‘s yummy recipes (Paprika Chicken may be a new favorite for me too). Next weekend I‘ll be watching the movie. And then the parody movie. I couldn‘t help but hear Mel Brooks whenever Van Helsing spoke. I am definitely my father‘s daughter. 😂

Hi #LMPBC Group A!! I replied to Deborah‘s email on Thursday, but I got an undeliverable response back, so I thought I‘d better ask here instead. First, Deborah, all your selections look great! I‘ll look through my stacks for some options for my book, but before I do, are there any subject matters/content issues I should look out for? Any genres that anyone in the group doesn‘t read? Any theme we want to stick to? As for me, I‘m open to anything!

#bookspin #bookspinbingo

I was so sad to learn of Julie Powell‘s passing. I read Julie & Julia in my favorite class in college, and loved every minute of it. It was snarky and hilarious, but also really beautiful and poignant. I always point to the chapter this quote comes from when I try to sell this book. Powell spends an exhausting day searching all over NYC for a marrow bone for a recipe. When she finally gets it home, she realizes she has no way to actually…(cont‘d)

Not book related, but I wanted to share. We are hosting early voting in the building where I work. Sitting in my office, I can occasionally hear the people in the room where the polls are located, and all week, I‘ve heard cheering coming from that room every few hours or so. I finally figured out why (cont‘d)

This month, I‘m trying something new, in that I‘m making no promises as to what I will or will not accomplish in October. That way, I won‘t set myself up for failure (again).
#BookspinBingo

Here are my #bookspin and #doublespin for October. Just catching up (and staying caught up) with #DraculaDaily and the 500+ page existential tailspin that is the Bryson book. 🧛‍♂️🪐

Excited to be starting this one with #pemberlittens. It‘s my first time reading. I thought I had it in paperback, but I can‘t find it, so I‘m using Serial Reader. I‘m sure my copy will turn up a couple of days after we finish. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Finished this last week for my IRL book club. I think the consensus was that none of us really liked the out-of-left-field twist 3/4 of the way through. If there had been anything to even remotely hint at the direction it would take, it could have been great. It just felt a little lazy, like Sager wrote himself into a corner and had to pull out the modern-day thriller version of deus ex machina to get out of it.

I can‘t believe it‘s already October! 👻 🎃

#bookspin #doublespin