#FurrowedMiddlebrowClub

I read this last year but never reviewed. I‘m reusing a picture used in 2025 for a different prompt. I didn‘t re-read but skimmed to remind myself of the details.

Do any of you get little echo of Austen‘s Persuasion here? Not a retelling but maybe an inspiration?

First we have Anne with a sister even named Elizabeth who is too good for anyone else, a snobby father, a family that disapproves of Ann‘s choices in life…🤔

We interrupt our planned #JanuaryBluesReadathon books to listen to the tagged book.

While I had the occasional quibble, overall I enjoyed this story of a young woman whose world changes in ways she least expects when her ex boyfriend publishes an article in a popular woman‘s magazine about “loving a larger woman”.

#Ihavequestions

Just like I don‘t read seasonally, I don‘t think I have a reading vibe? 😂

Like the vibe is always the same song on repeat, “read as many books as possible AND keep up with new publishing, but don‘t forget the classics AND read my own damn books”.

I‘m a boring person. 😆

These three books are what I know for sure I‘ll be reading for the #JanuaryBluesReadathon in addition to Shirley a chapter a day for #HashtagBrigade . For sure I‘ll finish the Encyclopedia Brown this weekend but the other two might last me to the 20th. 🤔 If not, I‘ve plenty to choose from. 😆

#SeriesLove2026

Getting my 2026 reading act together in an effort to stay sane in an increasingly unstable country.

📚read the final 5 books in the Amelia Peabody series. I‘m skipping the very last because it wasn‘t actually written by Elizabeth Peters.

📚read at least 1 book in the following series: Aubrey-Maturin; Ladies No. 1 Detective Agency; Cazalet Chronicles; Forsyth saga.

📚 Finish out the Tawny Man trilogy by reading Fools Fate.

I finally wrote up my 2026 #Roll100 list. I‘m happy with the selection for January.

📕The Garden will work for #TBRTarot (recommended by Litsy)

📗The Fortune of War will work for #SeriesLove2026 (though I have yet to post that 🙊).

📘Black Narcissus is a physical book I own -always a goal to get them read!

My last #OffMyShelf book “unusual form” and my last book of 2025/first book of 2026.

I‘ve owned this for 12 years and finally picked it up. It‘s an experience more than it‘s a novel-a puzzle The text is last novel of the reclusive (possibly non existent) author VM Straka and in the margin notes and ephemera, an adventure and a love story (two really). From the creative minds of Doug Dorst and JJ Abrams. Style over substance but entertaining.

I am participating in two awesome readathons to carry me into the next year:

#26for26
#Welcome2026Readathon

I‘m not going to finish “Ship of Theseus” for #OffMyShelf by tonight midnight, so it and volumes two and three of the March series will carry into 2026. Once they‘re completed, I‘ll start on my various January group reads: #NancyDrewBR #EBBR #FurrowedMiddlebrowClub and #HashtagBrigade . 🥳

Hey #EBBR friends. Happy new year to you! We are kicking 2026 of with the rather ominously titled tagged book which is I think no. 12 in the series. Hope you can join in. 👍

This buddy read is open to anyone. If you would like to be added to or removed from the tag list, let me know.

@LitsyEvents

#OffMyShelf “retelling”

This novel is from the point of view of Lavinia, the wife of Aeneas in Virgil‘s “Aeniad”, who apparently played a very small role in that epic compared to, for example, Dido of Carthage. Le Guin‘s background and interest in archaeology is apparent in the details of this novel.

“But you can‘t have two love stories in an epic. Where would the battles fit? in any case, how could one possibly end a story with a marriage?”

Happy New Year #FurrowedMiddlebrowClub members! 🥳

In January, we start off with the tagged as our first book of the year! I have read it before and very much enjoyed it.

Ann doesn‘t quite fit in with the rest of her intellectual, artistic, and frankly snobbish family. Will she find a place where she is loved and appreciated for her true merits?

This group read is open to all. If anyone wants to join, please let me know. 😊

@LitsyEvents

#OffMyShelf “current issue”

Really interesting memoir about growing up nonbinary and asexual. I read for a variety of reasons but one is to experience what is outside of my own microcosm and this book certainly does that. I can also imagine this book being a lifeline for anyone who is questioning their own gender. It‘s so important that works like this remain accessible for everyone.

#OffMyShelf “Graphic Novel”

Actually a memoir but close enough. This three book set chronicles John Lewis‘ experiences as a Civil Rights activist in the last century. The book opens on the day of President Obama‘s inauguration in 2009 and flashes back to Lewis‘ beginnings and later trials and accomplishments as part of the movement. This format is a good way to make history come alive.

#OffMyShelf “different world”

This is the 6th in the series and the 10th I‘ve read so far. I love the Discworld.

This one focuses on Granny Weatherwax, introduced in “Equal Rites” and it‘s really about the magic of the theater and the dangerous capacity of words and rumors to sway public opinion.

There‘s a lot of playful references to (and muddling of) Shakespeare‘s plays, particularly Macbeth, and to fairy tales.

Penny dog is at the groomers again and I‘m enjoying a Panera salad for lunch/dinner reading the tagged on my kindle.

 @Reggie They did not have any Everything cookies 🍪 so I got chocolate chip again. I‘ll be back in two months and try again. 😅

Aaaaannd that‘s a wrap on my #10beforetheend challenge!

This was farcical, a look at race in America through an absurdist lens. Not Sidney (his real name) navigates modern America as a Black man with Ted Turner (yes THAT Ted Turner) and a propensity to become embroiled in situations that resemble the plots of Sidney Poitier movies. Also, Everett himself cameos.

Thank you @ChaoticMissAdventures for hosting and whittling down my physical TBR.

#ChristmasCrimeChallenge “Transport”

The tag line is the perfect summary: “Six Crew-One Ship-One Killer”. I really enjoyed this murder mystery set in space. The crew is made up of clones. Something goes very wrong & they all wake up in the cloning vats w/ their previous bodies strewn all over the ship…dead and violently so.

This completes the challenge for me. Thanks so much to my lovely co-host @RaeLovesToRead for making it possible. 🎄🔪🎅💀

#HappyFridayReadingHour

Sitting down with a mug of toffee flavored instant coffee. It‘s not very good - more like hot chocolate than coffee- but it brings happy memories of those Suisse Mocha Coffee commercials from the‘80s which I somehow thought represented my future. The lifestyle they were selling is what I thought I wanted. 😉☕️

The books are my attempt to complete the #OffMyShelf challenge in the next five days. 🤞

These are my #Roll100 reads from the second half of 2025. 15 of the 26 are from my shelves. So many had been languishing for years. This challenge helps me get to those books I was so excited about and yet…

Many thanks to @PuddleJumper for organizing! 😊

#ChristmasCrimeChallenge “Cozy”
#OhCanada

I believe I understand the appeal but the mix of procedural and cozy in this series just doesn‘t work for me.

The loathsome CC de Poitiers is Three Pines newest resident and its most recent murder victim. Nobody liked her but who killed her during the annual curling event? Chief Inspector Gamache will get to the bottom of it with help from the village‘s residents.

My 9th #10beforetheend book & “Starts w/ your initial” for #OffMyShelf

For fans maybe of Karen Russell. This was a fantastical novel about a whaling family in the mid 19th century. Mercy goes on a quest to find her long missing father who has been at sea for almost a decade. With her is her cousin, Mordecai, who has not left his attic room perhaps ever? Weirdness and adventure ensue as Mercy learns the truth about her family and their history.

#HashtagBrigade

Am I probably actually going to read a free copy from Project Gutenberg downloaded to my ereader? YES

Did I nonetheless splurge on this beautiful hardcover? YES

Does it match my other Anne and Charlotte Brontë Everyman‘s Library editions? YES

Am I probably going to buy Wuthering Heights in the same edition, even though I own it in a Penguin black spine paperback and will likely never reread having already read it twice? YES

#weekendreads

It‘s the home stretch! These are the four books I “have” to read by the end of the year.

📕A Fatal Grace for #OhCanada and #ChristmasCrimeChallenge

📗The Rathbones for #10beforetheend + it‘s on my #Roll100 list

📘I am not Sidney Poitier for #10beforetheend

📙Six Wakes for the #ChristmasCrimeChallenge

#ChristmasCrimeChallenge “Locked Room”

Glad to have read it because I want to experience all the classics which inspire others as this 1908 book did. But I‘m not a fan of locked room mysteries - they focus on the technical over the psychological. I‘m here for WHY someone murders over HOW.

A woman is attacked behind a bolted door and barred window. Her father and servant are in the next room. When they break down the door, the woman is alone.

Happy holidays #EBBR friends. How‘d you get on with this month‘s selection? I didn‘t really even try. The solutions felt waaaay far fetched. Hat sizes? Words that start and end with the same two letters? The only one I solved was The Case of the Window Dressers along with Sally. 😂

I‘m pretty sure I read this one before because a few of the cases felt familiar. I had fun reading it, even though the “mysteries” were pretty thin.

My last #Roll100 book for 2025

I think Irving and I need to break up. After a passionate romance from about 1985-1999, we took a 20 yr hiatus and now things just aren‘t the same. This is the 2nd book published in the 21st century of his that I‘ve kinda hated. To be fair, we both have changed.

IMO this was a mess. Juan Diego is a writer in Iowa via Mexico. He remembers his past on a trip to the Philippines. Too scattered/unnecessary sex scenes.

#ChristmasCrimeChallenge “Famous Detective”
#HashtagBrigade

A parlor game played in the dark with a sword, what could go wrong? A house party turns into a hostage situation with a bizarre Deus ex machina rescue.

I had to find out the solution to this slightly nutty mystery, so I read ahead. 🙊 it was fun in its way. Apparently, Allingham didn‘t know at the time of writing that Campion was going to be her lead detective in future novels.

My second to last #Roll100 for 2026. I get the appeal and normally I love character driven SFF with political intrigue, but there was something that didn‘t work for me.

Baru‘s homeland is assimilated by the Falcrest Empire. She is sent as a child to a boarding school to be groomed as a civil servant to the Empire. But secretly Baru has plans for revenge on the usurping empire that destroyed her family. Will she have the nerve to see it through?

I found the book overly long. Neo-Victorian novels are normally my jam, but was disappointed a bit. The 780 page brick of a book lacked forward momentum IMO. John Mellamphy aka Clothier aka Huffam goes from bad to worse and back to bad again while he and his mother are beset by nefarious forces who will stop at nothing to steal the boy‘s rightful inheritance.

#ChunksterChallenge2025
#AllergictoChunksters
#10beforetheend
#ChristmasCrimeChallenge

My dad is letting me borrow his copy of The Count of Monte Cristo for the 2026 #HashtagBrigade Buddy Read.

Ummm…I think I might just buy him a new copy? 🤣🤣🤣

#FridayHappyReadingHour belatedly on Saturday morning! I did read some last night but the transition from work week to weekend was poor. 😅 But Friday Happy Reading Hour is a state of mind, really. And it starts now! ☺️☕️📚☀️

#weekendreads

📙The tagged and the Irving are for #Roll100

📘 The Crime at Black Dudley is for #HashtagBrigade

📗 The Qinncunx is for #10beforetheend

My 7th #10beforetheend book.

Multiple perspectives: Frank, suffering from PTSD retuning from Korea, his beloved little sister, Cee, who needs rescuing, Lenore, their bitter step grandmother, and Lily, a good woman Frank leaves behind. All against the backdrop of a racist America that impedes and imperils the characters‘ lives.

It is Toni Morrison, so it‘s good, but compared to other of her books, I found it slight. I‘d have liked more.

This was a love letter of a book to libraries and their importance using the 1987 LA Central Library fire as a jumping off point and its history as scaffolding.

#Roll100

My 6th #10beforetheend book

This was Kunzru‘s debut and while I think it shares themes with his later work regarding identity, race, and class, it‘s more conventional.

Moving from India to England to Africa, the story is Dickensian in scope. Pran is an Anglo-Indian boy who can pass for white. Circumstances put him on the streets, forcing him to adopt new identities to get by. He‘s always chasing after belonging, but underneath he is hollow.

#weekendreads

Unfortunately I have a (for me) busy four day weekend. Tis the season…ugh 😂 Nonetheless I should be able to finish at least two of my currently reading books.

The Library Book - #Roll100
The Impressionist and Home - #10beforetheend
Impossible Fortune because my library hold came in, though it could also work for #ChristmasCrimeChallenge

I don‘t have television but my parents do, so I watched this today after Thanksgiving dinner with my mom. I thought it was very well done. 👍

I was worried about Bognan‘s casting in particular but the actor was perfect. I want to live at Cooper‘s Chase. I can‘t decide whose apartment I love the most. I would have loved to have been on the set design team.

Hey #EBBR friends! This is your reminder to source your copy of the December title. This is book No.11 in the 25 plus book series. Apparently it was also reissued under the title “Encyclopedia Brown and the Case of the Exploding Plumbing and Other Mysteries”.

Please let me know if you want to continue to be tagged in these posts next year. Also, if anyone would like to join, say the word.

@LitsyEvents

#ChristmasCrimeChallenge “set in winter”
#Roll100

A quirky kind of mystery, occasionally funny, sometimes sad.

“The psyche is our defense system - it makes sure we never understand what is going around us. It‘s main task is to filter information, even though the capabilities of our brain are enormous. For it would be impossible to carry the weight of this knowledge because every tiny particle of the world is made of suffering.”

#christmascrimechallenge “hard boiled”

It took me a few chapters to get used to the tone of this modern day noir that‘s deliberately mimicking and referencing Chandler‘s Philip Marlow. Set in LA (naturally) the detective is Korean-American Juniper Song. When one of her best friends asks Song to find out if his father is having an affair, Song gets involved in a string of murders and has to solve the mystery before she becomes the next victim.

#ChristmasCrimeChallenge “Short Stories” 🎅🏻💀🎄🔪

I ❤️ Agatha Christie and it‘s no surprise that I very much enjoyed this collection of Poirot short stories, most of which also featured Hastings.

I‘d seen all but two adapted for TV with David Suchet. The exceptions were “The Lemesurier Inheritance” and “The Market Basing Mystery” which were not filmed as part of the ITV production, though part of their plots were worked in to other episodes.

My 5th #10beforetheend

This is my 2nd Enright title and I don‘t think she‘s for me.

The writing is excellent, but the story is fragmented, nonlinear and an example of the unreliability of memory.

Narrated by the middle-aged daughter in an Irish family of 12 children. When her brother dies, she has to reckon with her past, her grief, her anger… I‘m sure many readers will come away with a clear idea of what really happened, but I‘m clueless.

Well #EBBR buddy readers, how did you do with this month‘s title?

I found them fairly easy to solve, though I also know that I read this one as a kid because I remembered the solution to “The Case of the Barefoot Thieves”. As a child who usually went barefoot outside in hot California summers, I remember wanting to test the solution out myself! 👣😅

73 The Traitor Baru Cormorant
The #Roll100 Challenge this year has really helped me get to some of those SFF books that have been long on my TBR! 👍🚀

58 The Library Book
I‘ve never read any Susan Orleans and this book feels like a good entry point . 👍📚

26 TO BE DECIDED John Irving title
I‘m torn between rereading or working toward completing his body of work and picking something I‘ve not yet read, like the tagged. 👍❓

#MajicMonday

Thank you for the tag @Eggs 😊

I completed a difficult months long work project in July of this year. My agreeing to take it on was part of my promotion. It‘s an annual report and not adequately supported in house, which is where a lot of the difficulty comes from. It stressed me out but I‘m proud I was able to successfully bring it together.

Finished my first #ChristmasCrimeChallenge book! 📕 “red cover”

Inspector Daglish takes a holiday with his elderly aunt on the Suffolk coast when the corpse of a neighbor turns up.

I read this before but had no memory of the plot. It was a very entertaining re-read. I love how James makes virtually everyone look guilty. The ending was a little OTT and the confession of the murderer a wee bit convenient, but up until then I was hooked.

#OffMyShelf 26 letters in title
#10beforetheend
#37by37

Peter Carey is never going to be a favorite, but I do admire him even if I don‘t love him. This started off well but became baggy in the middle. A French aristocrat travels to antebellum America to ostensibly writes treatise on American prisons but really to escape political threats. He‘s accompanied by Englishman Parrot, a nominal servant but very much his own man and with a tragic past.

I missed #FridayHappyReadingHour yesterday but this morning I am enjoying my coffee and listening to the sound of the rain with the slider open.

I am ready to finish up the tagged for #NancyDrewBR as well as Parrot and Olivier for #OffMyShelf and #10beforetheend today.

Later, after errands and my parents, I will crack in to my pile for #ChristmasCrimeChallenge.

A soft pick. I picked this up because the essay about Tolentino‘s reality TV stint was referenced in “You Wanna Be on Top?” by Sara Hartshorne. Generally I found the collection to be interesting and smart, but maybe it‘s my attention span, the essays were all too long for me - about 30 pages each. I thought a lot about what I‘d have asked her to cut were I her editor. That said, essays aren‘t my usual fare.

#37by37 (only two more books to go!).

#OffMyShelf “made me happy”
#10beforethend
#37by37

This was a posthumous publication of four previously unpublished novels, four short stories and an essay by Pym - a must for any Pym fanatic. The title novel is the longest and the probably best, but I loved all of this collection. I just love Pym‘s sedate and subtly humorous style. Each section has a short introduction by the editor and Pym‘s long time friend, Hazel Holt.