Currently reading The Beach House in Orange Beach, Alabama. My husband and I are renting a beach house here with my family from Kansas. Today while I was reading by the beach my niece brought me a pina colada so, yes, it was a good day! 🏖️📖🍹💙

Here‘s my #BookSpinBingo card for June!
My #Bookspin book Is Travels with Charley and
my #doublespin book is The Cliffs by J. Courtney Sullivan.
I made my board by stamping on a printed Bingo card, and writing with Zebra Clickart markers.
Thank you @TheAromaofBooks !

📚 I read 2 new favorite books this month, Death of the Author and North Woods.

🔮 Labyrinth: Coronation is the first library book I‘ve read in awhile!

🍏 Because I Had a Teacher was a gift from a special student.

📚 Good reading month!

#bookly #bokklyapp

Summer break means time for #BookSpinBingo for me! Thank you for keeping it going @TheAromaofBooks !

This is basically my summer stack -
books for challenges, group reads, books my sister wants to read with me, or series to continue.

Isn‘t it funny though - I grabbed 20 books, sorted them by color into 2 stacks, and they‘re the same size?! Sorcery!

#summertbr #tbr #naturalitsy

I loved reading a story where the main character is the house! This was my first book by Daniel Mason and it won‘t be my last. North Woods will be on my favorites list for the year.
Read if you like nature, stories spanning time, various pov, or themes about humanity.
🍏🪓🍏🪓🍏

Thank you for leading the #NaturaLitsy buddy reads @AllDebooks !

On Monday I finished The Sea of Lost Girls. I love her mysteries! This one was not my favorite of hers but it was still a good escape. I did not connect with the main character who repeatedly frustrated me. I didn‘t figure out who dunnit though so that was fun!
❤️❤️❤️

#jumpstartsummer @TheSpineView

I am loving North Woods so much! Bombadil can‘t wait to see how it ends.

#dogsoflitsy

Thank you @TheSpineView for hosting #JumpStartSummer! I made my goal which was to finish The Sea of Lost Girls! I also started North Woods which I am LOVING!

#bookly #booklyapp

📚I made a stack of books that my sister and I are going to try to read together this year.
🐕 Bombadil helped.

🧙🏻The Book of Magic (anyone know if I need to read Magic Lessons first?)
✨ Where the Forest Meets the Stars
🤠 Outlawed
❤️ The Invisible Hour
👻 The Cliffs

#dogsoflitsy #reesesbookclub

This cover is hidden under the dust jacket for Death of the Author. The main character, Zelu, writes a wildly popular sci fi book called Rusted Robots, and we get to read some of it in Death of the Author. It was so good. I would read the entire novel.
🤖 Taken with some of my Star Wars robots that matched the robots in the story 🦿

I‘m joining #JumpStartSummer with @TheSpineView !

My goal is to finish The Sea of Lost Girls. I started with 146/291 pages to go and read 31 pages today.

If I finish in enough time I‘m going to read North Woods by Daniel Mason next.

I finished this book at 1:30 am for my book club Saturday! Death of the Author will be on my favorites list for the story and the story-within-a-story both evolving their plots with complex characters sublimely. I loved the robots & the representation of a disabled main character, Zelu, who is much more than her disability.
Zelu loves her mom‘s Nigerian cooking so we went to a Nigerian restaurant for some joloff rice & puff puff! Yum!
🤖🦿🤖🦿🤖

I will need the power of the force to finish all these books this month!

🧙🏻 Son of a Witch - villain pov for a fairytale challenge on IG
🧜🏻‍♀️ Sea of Lost Girls - #keywordreadingchallenge on IG
🤖 Death of the Author- book club
🏚️ North Woods - with #naturalitsy and @AllDebooks !

🌵 Taken with our backyard prickly pear today

I finished up some books I‘ve been reading for awhile, and had fun with 2 buddy reads. Good going, April.

#bookly #booklyapp

I finished today, only 1 month behind the #NaturaLitsy crew!
I loved all the cool factoids about insects, and I might even be ready to eat one. It‘s a great reminder that when we destroy our environment we destroy systems that support us all.
🐝🦋🪲🐞

🐌 Picture taken earlier this month on a hike. This viewing spot even had a built-in bookshelf, and I just so happened to have a book with me. 😅

💎 I finished Strange Weather today and thoroughly enjoyed all 4 novellas. It was really hard to put down because the stories were stressfully compelling. “Loaded,” the second story, hit me with the realization that Mr. Hill isn‘t here to play. He has something to say about society and it‘s time to wake up.
🌧️🌧️🌧️🌧️🌧️

🌼 Taken at the Desert Botanical Garden earlier this month

My Independent Bookstore Day haul from yesterday!
I went for Death of the Author for my book club, but had to also pick up A Psalm for the Wild-Built from the banned books pop-up.
📚 What did you get?

Happy Poetry Month!

Today I finished this book of poems which I‘ve been reading a bit at a time for 7 months.
Some of them I loved. Some I didn‘t connect with.
It is clear, however, she was our Poet Laureate for a reason! She can use words to paint a picture of what‘s happening in the heart.

🐎🐎🐎

🌵 Taken today at Saguaro National Park

💦 We “checked out” some seeds from the seed library at our public library for the first time!
We got the zinnia seeds and desert wildflowers. Next step is to plant them! 🌱

“You left your typewriter at my apartment
Straight from the tortured poets department.”
- Taylor Swift

Happy National Poetry Month!
My library had a cute display!
Hoping to finish She Had Some Horses by Joy Harjo this month.
Are you currently reading poetry?

📚 We went to the library today to celebrate National Library Week. We checked out books, seeds, and cds, and I also got Deacon King Kong by James McBride for a $1 donation!
📚 Did you celebrate, and how?

#nationallibraryweek

I already have a lot of stuff in my planner for April so I think reading time might be the a little more scarce than usual, but I like making a dream stack anyway.

🪲 Extraordinary Insects and The Land of Little Rain - for #naturalitsy buddy reads
⛰️ When I Sing, Mountains Dance - for the #keywordreadingchallenge
❄️ Strange Weather - for an Instagram buddy read
🍎 Winter - for #serieslove2025

I started this last year with the #naturalitsy group, but decided to go rogue and read it out of order to coincide with the months in my life.
This is a beautiful book - the photography and sketches appeal to my nature-loving self. The writing I didn‘t enjoy quite as much. I applaud the author for sharing her mental health struggles and her attempt to best them with an appreciation of nature, but I was hoping for more focus on nature.
🌼🐝🐦‍⬛

I had a good month of reading! Parable of the Sower was my favorite.

#bookly #booklyapp

In March I reached 40,000 Litfluence and celebrated my 7th Litsyversary!
Thank you everyone for being the reason I love this community!

I took a Little Free Library book! I‘ve been wanting to read it (or reread it?) since reading Dash & Lily‘s Book of Dares.
I‘ve donated at this #LFL before but I don‘t see it registered on the website.
#93599

Any Dash & Lily fans?

I read this for my book club.
A church is set on fire & someone is murdered, & the self-proclaimed “punk rock nun” becomes suspect propelling her to solve the crime.
This was a good mystery & I like Sister Holiday & her story, but I wasn‘t into the (understandable) religious parts sprinkled throughout. Bonus points for a lesbian main character.
🚬🚬🚬🚬
🚬 This has to be the best book cover I‘ve read all year! 😍 Showcased with Shrubby Jasmine 🌼

I found another book scavenger hunt on Instagram & decided to use favorite female authors again for Women‘s History Month.

🐖 An animal: Pigs in Heaven (read The Bean Trees first)
💙 A cover you love: Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood
🔥 A verb in the title: Burning Bright
🐘 A 3 word title: Water for Elephants
Ⓜ️ A title or author starting with M: Sue Monk Kidd
💛 A yellow spine: Shrill
🌺 A floral cover: Purple Hibiscus

👉 Tag! You‘re it!

I read this book to my class this week and thought of the #naturalitsy group reading A Tree a Day.
I love the illustrations in this book!
🌳🌳🌳🌳🌳

If you were a tree, what would you be?

Currently reading for my book club. Not sure about the story yet, but the cover is definitely a win for me!

#weekendreading
#weekendreads

I‘ve driven by this Little Free Library 100 times but today I stopped!
Very cute! Great variety of books!
#101399 💔

After finishing Parable of the Sower, I bought my friend flowers at a local independent bookstore. I thought I might as well get the sequel for myself while I was there to support the cause. 😅📚

🌱 Yesterday I finished Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler. It was good so I will read the sequel, but not for awhile because it was kind of tough to get through mentally.
☑️ But…now I can check off another book from my Free Black Women‘s Library sweatshirt. When I got it a few years ago I had only read 2/7 of the authors and now I‘m up to 5/7!
🩶 Also it‘s not just inspiration, it‘s one of my favorite hoodies!

I saw a book scavenger hunt on IG. For #internationalwomensday mine is books written by female authors!

🔟 Number in the Title: The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow
🛶 Setting: The Lake of Dead Languages by Carol Goodman
🌼 Name: Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid
💜 Color: The Color Purple by Alice Walker
🦋 Animal: The Butterfly‘s Daughter by Mary Alice Monroe
🐕 One Word Title: Faithful by Alice Hoffman

👉 Your turn!

Getting crazy on a Friday night! After a long week it‘s Parable of the Sower and a dog pile ftw.

#dogsoflitsy

Here is my laughable TBR for March. I finished 1 book last month so let‘s see if I can do better.

🌲The Overstory - #keywordreadingchallenge
🔥 Scorched Grace and 🦴 Nettle & Bone for book club
🌱 Parable of the Sower - currently #withthebanned2025
🍎 Winter and 🌹 Ravish - #serieslove2025 & fairy tale challenge
⭐️ Where the Forest Meets the Stars - for my sister
🐞 Extraordinary Insects - #naturalitsy

Wish me luck! 😅

I felt like I read a lot in February but with all these down arrows looking at me I guess I didn‘t. 😅
Good month of reading anyway.

#bookly #booklyapp

I had fun with my friends at the VNSA Book Sale again this year! My 2025 haul was 21 books for $42! It was worth standing in line at 6:30 am. 😅

Currently reading…
💪🏼 There have been some really good excerpts in Women‘s Lives so I‘m adding more authors like Janet Frame to the wishlist, & moving Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard to the top of my stack.

📕 Here‘s another Phyllis Rose shelfie from when we rented her house 2 summers ago. I recently read the Annie Dillard excerpt and wonder if this is the actual copy of An American Childhood she referenced when editing it? 🤩

Currently reading Heart-Shaped Box, but you don‘t want what‘s inside. 👻

❤️ Happy Valentine‘s Day!

🌯 Taken last weekend at Someburros

This is the book I got when I went to Wijaya House for the first time. My book club is reading it next month!
🌈📚

I read this to my class today - what a sweet story. It made me think of the #naturalitsy group on here because this is like We Are the ARK for kids.

I had an appointment in a different part of town on Friday so I had to stop in at the Half Price Books in the neighborhood. They had a nice Black History Month display at the entrance. (This is the right half of it.)

✔️✔️ I‘ve already read The Color Purple and
The Hate U Give.
🔮 Want to guess which one I bought?

#BlackHistoryMonth

I checked off my first 2 countries in one book for #ReadtheWorld2025 :
Japan and Canada! This book really transported me to both places!

My goal is to get to 10 this year to beat last year.

Thanks for hosting @GatheringBooks !

Here we go…

🌱 Parable of the Sower - #WithTheBanned2025
❤️ Heart-Shaped Box - buddy read on Instagram
🍎 Winter and Ravish - fairy tale challenge on Instagram, and Winter is also for #SeriesLove2025
⭐️ Where the Forest Meets the Stars - my sister just read this and loved it and it‘s been on my shelf for a couple years now

🎉 #JumpStart2025 gave me a good push this year! I read almost 8 more hours and 92 more pages than last January.
⌚️My favorite this month was A Tale for the Time Being, but I liked all my reads this month.
🙌 Thanks for the challenge @Lizpixie !

#bookly #booklyapp

I just finished this and it was so good! Told in 3 timelines by 3 narrators we meet Nao from Japan in the past and Ruth living in Canada in the present. Connected by flotsam their stories come together. I enjoyed both of their voices so much, and the metaphysical aspect.
⌚️⌚️⌚️⌚️⌚️

🎅🏽 My Secret Santa at work picked this for me
📚 Reading for the #keywordreadingchallenge : time
📸 Taken at Ja Ramen with their cool wallpaper
#JumpStart2025

Another picture from my visit to this bookstore last weekend - horses and books - yes please.

I visited a new-to-me bookstore over the weekend. Small but very cute! I will share a few more photos this week. 😍

3 of my students earned lunch with me today as a reward, and one asked if we could read together when we were done. Yes! Maybe he meant read the same book together? In any case, I squeezed in a few extra minutes with my book. 😂