New book to try and battle the months long reading slump , so I had to rummage through the bookmark collection and find a suitable match.

Rejoined the RoaringWolf Fright Night book club on Fable when this was chosen. I‘m excited to discuss a book again. 😅❤️

My #BookSpinBingo list for August. Let‘s see if I can shake off the reading slump and maybe manage to read more than six books this year! 🤦‍♀️😅

Besides a reading slump, 2025 has been a big creative slump for me as well. 😮‍💨 I‘ve barely worked on my writing or really any craft or art projects. Still knitting this entire skein of sock yarn into an overly long scarf for a ball jointed doll. 😅

The plan is to get my craft room organized and not looking like an episode of Hoarders. Then I hope to really tackle some big projects. 🥰

#ShowandTellTuesday

I swear, I‘m alive!

I haven‘t picked up a book for my own pleasure since May. Every time I try to dive in, my brain refuses to focus. I was enjoying both books I was reading too, so I honestly don‘t know why this reading slump attacked so aggressively out of the blue.

Real life is crazy, but it‘s been crazier before and I was still able to escape into books. They‘ve been what got me through those crazy times…

Anyway, just wanted to report in.😅

Mother‘s Day free books haul!
We were on our way to my mom‘s and a neighbor had things out in their driveway with a “Free” sign. I spotted stacks of books and immediately pulled in. 😅 There was a good selection but either they weren‘t for me or I already had them. But these three! The tagged has been on my wishlist for a bit. I love that there are post-it bookmarks left in by the previous owner. I can spy what crafts caught their interest. 🤣

Today is my five year Litsyversary!

I found Litsy at the beginning of the Covid lockdowns. It got me through those rough times and has continued to help me traverse the new landscape around me every day. Forever grateful for the people and books I‘ve met and befriended along the way. ❤️

My #BookSpinBingo list for May. Mostly carried over from last month. 😅

I took the fun little quiz from @TheSpineView but it‘s also linked on posts by @TheLudicReader and @ReadingOver50 ❤️

I love how even a test can‘t pin my reading personality down. Me neither, buddy. 🤣 I do like how it tries to play off my chaotic reading habits as a feature and not a bug. 😅

The two books from my out of control “currently reading” stack that managed to accompany me to bed. 😅

4 ⭐️s
I loved this one. It gave me a feeling like The Chronicles of Narnia or The Hobbit did when I first read them. I‘ll be keeping me eye out more often at independent bookstores; never know when a wee book dragon might flit by overhead.

The little illustrations inside are fantastic. I wish it were a longer book so that there was space for more. 😅😍

This was my #DoubleSpin from January.

Catching up on reviews. 🤦‍♀️

3 ⭐️s
A decent adventure story. Slow start, the ending is where all the action is. I loved the characters and their relationships. I‘ll pick up the next book someday.

Despite being the title and featuring on the cover, the wereanimal battle is about four pages max. 😒

This was one of my January picks for #Roll100.

The Wyrmling‘s first official library haul!! He picked out Tickle because we have Potty by the same author. He recognized the artwork immediately. 🥰

He chose all but the Eric Carle book (tagged because pic cut off title), that was a nostalgic mama pick. 😅

Quick library trip to cleanse the soul today. 😅❤️

Trying something different (again) for my quarterly bingo. I‘ve found I‘ve become a mood reader of late. I‘m five or more pages into about nine books right now. 😅 All are good, all have my interest, but none are the winner of my full attention. So instead of being hyper focused on what I need to read to get a bingo, I‘m leaving it to chance. ⬇️

Ooooh, which to choose now?!?! ❤️😱❤️
#BookSpin #DoubleSpin

My April #BookSpinBingo list! I‘m so not prepared. I still need to make and fill out my second quarter bingo board too.

Happy Birthday to Douglas Adams, one of my favorite authors ever to exist. I remember reading Hitchhiker‘s Guide to the Galaxy as a young teen and feeling like everything I‘d ever read before had been only halfway using the English language. Here was someone who played with it like a toy and who was too good at satire to be fair.

It‘s been too long since I did a reread, so today‘s the day.

DON‘T PANIC
and always know where your towel is.

👍🌌

Started today. Already adore it. The illustrations inside are surprising and I love them. 🥰

I have yet to finish a single book in February. 🤦‍♀️ Here‘s hoping my March list gets more attention from me…
#BookSpinBingo

Posting my template for “Worst Read of 2025”. A dumpster fire felt fitting for the times and the theme of the template. 😅

Feel free to use! I also posted it to my IG (same username). I don‘t know which site would have better resolution. 🤷‍♀️

I made it on Canva, using a stock photo and then smoke and fire graphics layered on top; so I don‘t own any of it.

My #BookSpin and #DoubleSpin for February. 💚

Spaced on uploading my February list. 🤦‍♀️ I didn‘t even take the time to pick two books for the previously vacated spots from January. 😅 So I have vague placeholders instead.

5 ⭐️s
A really beautiful story about finding strength in our weaknesses. As someone who struggled with math and had similar unhealthy/unhelpful coping mechanisms to Ally, this was very poignant for me. I loved the characters and their relationships. The friendships were organic and real. Mr. Daniels might be my new favorite fictional teacher. So much emotion packed into such a short book. I absolutely loved it.

This was my #BookSpin for January.

Apparently beige is my color of the month for February. 🤣😂🤣 Seriously, what are the odds? All three titles are in or have red too, so I guess they‘re at least attempting to be festive. 😅❤️

6 - The Giver
42 - Oedipus Rex
82 - The Wizard of Oz

#Roll100

I enjoy matching my bookmarks and books. For this one, I picked my colorful Lilo one. Partway through the book, this extra bookmark fell out. I bought the book second hand and free bookmarks are the best surprise, but this one felt more special. It says, “Make mistakes. They may turn into something spectacular.” I can‘t help but feel like these were gifted together at one point, when someone felt another needed the message of this story. ❤️

3 ⭐️s
Fun, quick, witty. I like my horror to be a bit more frightening, but the humor and literary world insight was unique. I thoroughly enjoyed the ending.

My first #FrozenSick prompt completed! I‘m already starting on the book for the next space. 😅🤣 I love this challenge!

Book set in winter: Secret Santa ✅

@PuddleJumper created the awesome challenge, if you want to play along!

*I made a character in BG3 to play as and to use as a model for my posts. You don‘t have to do anything like that to participate in the challenge. 😅❤️

5 ⭐️s
(I spaced posting this before the end of the year… 🤦‍♀️)

New favorite book. Such an amazing read. It makes me feel the way I did after reading The Hobbit or LOTR. Small, deceptively helpless creatures go on the most metal
adventure ever.

Seriously, these rabbits are badasses. I adore them. It's hard to pick a favorite, but I think Bluebell stole the scene every time with his sense of humor.

I look forward to reading this to The Wyrmling.

5 ⭐️s
This is another one that leaves me feeling completely inadequate. I don't know where to even begin to express the scope of the story or the impact it has had on me. I urge anyone that enjoys historical fiction, multi-generational storytelling, and having your heart torn from your chest to read it immediately.

Five HUGE stars.

It wrecked me.

Read it.

2 ⭐️s
I really wanted to continue to enjoy this series, but this last installment left me feeling like maybe it‘s just not for me. I love the transformations, monsters, gore and action scenes, (the manga‘s style is gorgeous) but a lot of the rest of it reminds me of the worst parts of middle school and I just can‘t deal. 😅

I might fall back into it after a break. I honestly have enjoyed it up until now. 🤷‍♀️

Getting ready to finish up Children of First Man. Next up is Secret Santa, which I had already tried to start while reading the other, but January brain wasn‘t having it. 😮‍💨

The Wyrmling is completely over his cold so everyone in the house is healthy (for now). I‘m seeing a friend for lunch and much needed margaritas later. 😅❤️

I hope everyone is doing well and has a lovely weekend ahead. What are you reading? Any fun/not-so-fun plans?

The Wyrmling is still dealing with his cold and now I‘m fighting something off. 😷 Prepping for a possible 10-12” of snow in this neck of the woods, so what better way to spend the time than snuggled with a good book?

I hope everyone has a safe and happy weekend! 🥰

Fish in a Tree is definitely getting read first. It‘s been on my TBR for way too long. Looking forward to another awesome year of reading. 🥰

#Bookspin #Doublespin

My first three #Roll100 picks of the year! Now to decide which one to pick up first. 😅

Lie Down With Lions is a holdover from last year‘s BookSpin list. It went twelve months without ever being picked and now that I moved it to a different TBR list, it‘s picked in the first round. Probably a significant sign. 🤣

And the winner is! I‘m not surprised. When I finished The Vaster Wilds, I knew everything else would be hard pressed to outdo it. Watership Down certainly gave it a run for its money. They‘re both very similar in a way and I find that both amusing and comforting.

It was so much fun tracking my best reads throughout the year. I‘m tempted by other people‘s “worst of” boards too. 😅🤣

Thank you to @CSeydel for the original template I used.

My 2025 list for #Roll100! I‘m looking forward to focusing more on reading what I already own this year so instead of doing a half and half list like last year (fifty of the spaces were just supposed to be the next book in a series I was reading), I filled my list completely with actual titles that I chose from my shelves.

I‘m hoping many of these fit the prompts for #FrozenSick but I haven‘t looked ahead because I want to be surprised. 😅

My #BookSpin list for January 2025! It‘s mostly fresh picks with only a few veterans from last year.

I‘m excited for this new year of reading. I‘m going to focus strongly on reading books I own so I should be able to get to more books from this challenge than previous years. My personal library needs a serious clearing out. 😅

Is Litsy showing up on the iPhone like this for anyone else? It‘s been several days and the buttons for like, comment, stack and even add photo, just don‘t show up. I remember where they are and can still click the invisible buttons, but it just looks like this all the time. And I have to check the like count of something before I like it or else I don‘t know if my like registered or not. 🤦‍♀️ So Litsy still works for me, it‘s just weird…

Blank template 3 of 3

Blank template 2 of 3

Blank template 1 of 3

My best book of the year bracket for 2025. I split it into quarters and each quarter gets a bonus book. I‘ll upload my filled in one for 2024 probably in January.

I have a blank version (no dragon or labels) of this and two other color themes if anyone wants me to upload them somewhere for your own use. (Here or instagram.) ❤️

My final #BookSpinBingo list of 2024. ❤️

Did I get so stoked over the #FrozenSick event hosted by @PuddleJumper that I created an OC in Baldur‘s Gate to serve as my model for update photos?

Yes, yes I did. But can you blame me?!?! This is like, the COOLEST event idea EVER!!!

Check out her original post and let the fun begin!

You absolutely don‘t have to be this extra, but if anyone else matches my freak, I‘d love to see your characters too. 😅

4 ⭐️s
I really enjoyed this, the scientific ideas were fascinating, the aliens were unique and I adore Teela Brown and want to follow her on her adventures. Honestly, Louis Wu can go fly a kite, just give me a whole series on the “walking Improbability Drive” that is Teela. 😅 I also want to see how the group‘s relationships continue to grow and mold around each other. I‘ll definitely be continuing the series.

*spoilers in comment*

#ClassicLSFBC

I finally got a bingo!!!! It‘s on my quarterly board too, so there‘s two more months for me to get even more bingos! ❤️ So close to getting another one already. 🤞

October‘s #BookSpinBingo board. No bingo for the month, but I still marked off more than I have any other month this year. 😅

I didn‘t finish any books in September and then doubled my typical reading in October, so I swapped out the September space for an extra October one. 🤫😜🤣 Not that it matters, The Vaster Wilds is still haunting me daily and just might win the year… 😅❤️

#BookSpinBingo list for November. My main goal for the rest of the year is to get to a lot of the books I‘ve neglected from this year‘s events (BookSpin, Roll100, SeriesLove, etc.). I‘m WAY behind in my reading goal but I‘ve already read more books than I did in the past two years (individually), so honestly anything from here on out is a huge win. 😅❤️

3 ⭐️s
Full disclosure, I haven‘t yet taken the time to do the deep dive on the music that inspired this novella. It might change my rating. For now, I‘m feeling a bit “meh”. I think that‘s more my fault for having different expectations of what it was going to be. It‘s a unique story of family, individuality, community, loneliness, needing to belong, the list goes on. It is impressive how many themes Solomon squeezed into such a short story.