Hey #WildWomen - I haven‘t gotten into the discussions because my new copy (bigger print!) was stinky and needed airing out. I thought I‘d catch up this weekend, but I landed in the ER today for a few hours (tried to get a tattoo, now I have 3.5 octopus tentacles and that‘s it 😆 because I had a vagal seizure partway through) so my plans have…changed. I‘ll catch up when I‘m able! I‘m home, resting and recharging, and headed for okay.

I think this just isn‘t for me. It‘s probably great if you‘re actively facing a major diagnosis, or a loved one is, but I‘m not finding this terribly helpful. The author is grating on me with comments like the above, because her expertise is absolutely the most useful thing in any situation. She seems like the “friend” who barges in and takes over, regardless of what anyone actually wants.

Okay, now I‘m losing confidence in the writer/editor.

Starting this book today.

I‘m not a true crime reader, but I am a Forensic Files addict (when I‘m somewhere with TV service), so I thought I‘d try it. The writing felt self-indulgent, more about the reporter‘s experience than the case, almost a memoir through the lens of this unresolved story. Big takeaways: all the boys (men) involved look shady as hell, including the boyfriend; and the BPD screwed up in every possible way, but will keep the case open just to hide it.

Well, it was good. It just wasn‘t what I expected it to be, based on the title and cover. If you want some really good explanation of evolution (REALLY good) from both the anthropological and genetic perspectives, this is it. But if you‘re looking for, I don‘t know, the origin of language, this isn‘t as great. The first half is strong and the second devolves into supposition and loses its steam. Not bad, but not as promised.

Well, that‘s horrifying, and now I‘m all itchy.

Also, the article title is hilarious.

Here we go (maybe)! Page 129 (of 266 text pages).

I‘m about 1/3 through this book, just over 100 pages, and there hasn‘t actually been any discussion if language. Evolution, physiology, bipedalism, brain development, sure. It‘s all interesting and probably leading to the advent of language, but…the book is called “The Origin of Language.” I kinda thought we‘d be there by now.

Yesterday, kiddo and I went to the local used book sale. Her picks are on the right, mine are the rest. We weren‘t planning to go, but her book club met yesterday and almost everybody was going to the sale and she decided she haaaaad to go, too. Between yesterday and today, the sale will move something like 65,000 books, all to benefit the college‘s literacy foundation.
#bookhaul

Starting my next library book while kiddo has her violin lesson. Moments like this make me happy.

I just got my new copy, and it is SIGNIFICANTLY larger than the previous one! It needs to spend a day or two in the freezer (it‘s a little funky) but then I intend to get this party started!
#wildwomen

This is a cute story about a fly-by-the-seat-of-her-pants FMC and a by-the-book MMC thrown together by a winning lottery ticket. Fake dating, grumpy/sunshine, with some undiagnosed neurodiversity for flavor.

I didn‘t love it. It took a long time to settle in with the characters, and while I liked the middle section, I found the final conflict and its resolution unsatisfying. Normally I‘d get through this in a week, but this took six, so 🤷🏻‍♀️

My national Read a Book Day/caturday afternoon while kiddo is at dance rehearsal (did I tell you she gets to be Clara‘s friend in the Nutcracker this year, and one of the polichinelles who dance on pointe? She‘s over the moon excited about both). Hubby tried to get my tire replaced, but the shop was unexpectedly closed, so still no tire for me. Otherwise a good day so far.

Oh, and this story is chillingly, darkly good. Recommend.

I did it again. I wasn‘t even looking at the new books display, I swear, and then there I was with these two books in my hands…

I returned Not My Type and Know My Name, so this is a wash in that respect. But…I haven‘t started the two that followed me home last week, so technically I‘m two in the hole. 🤦🏻‍♀️

Not sure what I expected, but this was far better and actually, strangely enjoyable. I‘m going to look for Carroll‘s other books because her voice is very readable. There were some difficult parts, as expected, but overall she makes this memoir funny, relatable, quick-paced, and memorable. Highly recommend.

This right here is why I can actually say I‘m enjoying this book. Carroll‘s sense of humor is just fantastic.

Holy shit this book was intense and prescient. How have I only discovered Kendzior recently? I need to get physical copies of all of these books (I did all audio from the library) and sing their praises to everyone I know.

Go find this book and read it. Right now!

@GingerAntics @nanuska_153 my copy is on the right, and a hardcover I just finished on the left. 😬

It was hard to get into this book. The writing does get stronger, and very powerful by the end, and I wonder if that was deliberate or incidental. I expect to see a lot kore out of Chanel.

It was hard to stay with this because of the subject matter, but worth it. It‘s infuriating but important. If you can, read this book.

I found my copy! Now to see if my eyes are up to the tiny print, which is what made me give up my last try. However, I am fully bifocaled now and ready to try again! 😆🤓
My women-standing-on-shoulders vision is less matrilineal (my mother is a force, for sure, but her mother was a piece of work) and more in the tradition of wise women, elders, “aunties,” and such, all passing down lore and love. May we all become them!

#DannyBoy has had it with our homeschool ridiculousness and wants us to be done for the week. The kiddo also wants us to be done for the week. Not coincidentally, the mama also wants to be done for the week, but our methods differ greatly. (I want her to finish corrections, she wants to ignore everything; Danny just wants us to shush)
#catsofLitsy

Dammit, new books display at the library got me again. I need to finish Know My Name and Not My Type before I can start on these, plus I have two others I started ages ago that keep getting bumped because they‘re mine. Oh, and an audiobook.

I need more time to read. And concentration, definitely.

…like all survivors of sexual assault who take their cases to court, my body is at the heart of the case…

There‘s a theme in my current reading.

He‘d seen me as a body, but would attempt to destroy me as a person.

But whatever we can offer, our interventions, and the risks and sacrifices they entail, are justified only if they serve the larger aims if a person‘s life. When we forget that, the suffering we inflict can be barbaric. When we remember it the good we do can be breathtaking.

Just picked up today‘s library #bookhaul - now all I need is time to catch up on all my library books. I believe this makes four at the moment.

It‘s fine, but not terribly helpful for my situation. I appreciate the difference this book and its author made in the medical profession, but it‘s definitely both specialized and dated.

Another very timely moment.

Well, this seems to hit the nail on the head, not so specifically about dying, but generally for the existential crisis of our times.

Current library borrows. The tagged was on the New Books shelf, and how could I not?

Hey Littens - I‘m having a bad spot and need some help. My mom is declining, pretty rapidly. Well, to be specific, she‘s exceedingly healthy but one of her cancers has returned and there‘s not much to be done. I know there are some good books to help with this transition (more for me than for her) but I‘m having trouble finding them. Recommendations? Nothing religious, please, I am atheist and my mom is a recovered Catholic. Thanks for anything.

And I‘m out on this one, too. I tried to overlook the emphasis on teaching “godly” character and a biblical worldview, but now there‘s garbage about avoiding “government indoctrination” about gender and “critical race theory.” Enough dog whistles, thanks.

You know the people who think homeschoolers are anti-education system, militant in their beliefs, and generally antagonistic toward all non-homeschoolers? This book perpetuates all of that. Traditional school is socialist! And conformist! And deliberately bad for most children! And the only solution is for everyone everywhere to educate their children at home, regardless of economic situation, family philosophy, ability, or desire! Hard pass.

I started this yesterday as my commute audiobook, and it turns out to be almost perfectly sized for it. I‘m only in the car for about 20 minutes at a time, which is about the length of most of the essays so far. I already highly recommend this one, too.
#DannyBoy for tax. He‘s not impressed with Mom working and gone for several hours every evening, so we get extra morning snuggles whenever we can.

People keep asking me what I‘m reading. The past month I was traveling and preparing for an upcoming musical theater gig, planning kiddo‘s birthday party, getting her to her various obligations; I‘ve got zero bandwidth to spare. What‘s the best thing to tell people when the truth is: copious amounts of digital smut because I can‘t concentrate on anything else? 😆🤪🤣

My mom sent the packages of what I couldn‘t squeeze into our suitcases when we came home. Kiddo already absconded with her stack of manga drawing books and Baby-Sitters Club graphic novels. I must have put a cookbook or four back at HPB because I thought I had more coming, but these actually fit on my shelves! This is a combo of HPB, BN, and my mom‘s shelves shopping sprees. One of them is for our homeschool library, does that make it better?

Am I ignoring my towering, teetering stack(s) of books at home to read this book that just came in to the library? Why, yes. Yes, I am, thank you for asking.

Very generously rating this a meh. The idea is good, but the execution…not so much. Poorly written from a grammar-and-punctuation standpoint, this feels like fanfic at its mediocre-est. I enjoyed the cameos (Mr. Woodhouse as a cranky plane passenger, for instance). I HATED how Frederick Wentworth‘s Navy career got explained (it isn‘t hard to find out how rank structure works, even in the US Navy). Plus, pages keep falling out of this copy. Meh.

This section ends: “Take care of yourself and remember that taking care of something else is an important part of taking care of yourself, because you are interwoven with the ten trillion things in this single garment of destiny that has been stained and torn, but is still being woven and mended and washed.”

“Who the hell wants unity with Nazis until and unless they stop being Nazis?”

Another great essay.

Very similar in tone to Hope in the Dark, in how change is incremental and invisible until it‘s not, this essay in particular is really striking to me. Sometimes I miss with Solnit, but this is a home run.

We are writing stories that are not markers to say, “We got here,” but compasses to say, “Press on in this direction.”

These were acquired BEFORE our trip (to be joined by the rest my mom is sending…I have a cookbook problem, for real) as library discards. I showed restraint, I really did! But I cannot be trusted at the freebie cart. Now to squeeze them into my already-groaning cookbooks bookcase.

Part 2 of kiddo‘s haul: she‘s recently become obsessed with manga/anime/kawaii/chibi art styles, so when she found the bottom five at Half Price Books I wasn‘t going to say no. Even when we found many (many) more at B&N, too. I‘m a sucker, that‘s no secret. The rest are en route thanks to Gramma because our suitcases were maxed out.

Part 1 of kiddo‘s haul: the tagged has been borrowed from the library at least a dozen times, the bottom two finish the series, the Daughter books is her cousin‘s absolute favorite series (she carries them around and calls them her children) and a birthday present for my kiddo, and the Calin just because (and author‘s first name is kiddo‘s first name so if that‘s ever a bingo square again she‘s set).

My most recent Haymarket subscription book. I wasn‘t really excited about any this month, but this is a beautiful cover.

Kiddo and I just got back from 16 days at Gramma‘s house (kiddo did a ballet intensive and we had some sorely-needed family time). We may have gone crazy with the book shopping. Photo deluge incoming (some are being shipped, so this will last a while).

Just as enjoyable as all the others! Full of book references and fun puzzles, as usual.

#bookmail from the last few days, as preorders trickled in. I‘m traveling next week and considering taking one or both of these along. Might need to do a series reread for the tagged, though, because I don‘t remember the first two primas stories, so maybe that will wait for later this summer. Oh, the decisions!