I love pretty endpapers 🥰

As the parent of a physics major, this gave me a good chuckle. The kid agrees, btw 😂

Love this!

If we are not in someone else‘s memory, do we even exist at all?

Interesting book. This takes the murdered woman trope and flips it on its head. Set in a not too distant future (she doesn‘t tell us, but technology is familiar, yet advanced), it‘s a bit speculative fiction, a bit mystery. Fast paced- I easily read it in one sitting yesterday afternoon.

“The first weapon I ever held was my mother‘s hand.”

What an opening line!

Taking advantage of a rare 50 degree February day!

I have mixed feelings about both this book and The Passenger. McCarthy is a hell of a writer, there is no doubt about that. There were phrases in both books that made you stop an appreciate his skill. I appreciate McCarthy's curiosity, but I really related to the psychiatrist in Stella Maris. He frequently responded to Alicia's musings with "You lost me" or "I don't follow". Yeah dude, you and me both.

Favorite fiction part II. Read a handful from the Booker shortlist and enjoyed them all, particularly The Colony.

Favorite fiction part I. The Trees was probably my top book of the year. The Feast I picked up after seeing it here on Litsy and I‘m so appreciative of those that posted about it.

My favorite nonfiction this year! Particularly enjoyed We Don‘t Know Ourselves and Orwell‘s Roses.

I read Hamnet in January and absolutely loved it. Picked up Heatwave and Esme Lennox. Loved those too! So I just grabbed the rest 😂 Finished the last one just in time for her new one next week. (Hamnet is definitely my fav)

Congressman- “All I know is that we just spent a lot of damn time learning nothing of consequence except what it feels like to get your ass handed to you by a goddamned librarian!”
I love that the hero in this story is a librarian!! 🥰

Bookstore haul!

Phenomenal book! The story and characters were great, but I also learned so much about deaf culture and deaf history. In the Author‘s Note, she writes that she hopes this book to be rallying call for allies and I think this novel can achieve this.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Olivares details his experience working with families separated at the border in 2018, interspersed with his own experiences as an immigrant. He does a great job explaining complex intricacies and history of our immigration system.

Walked into the bookstore today and picked up four intriguing, but unknown to me, titles. Can‘t wait to dig in! Where to start??

Don't miss this captivating look into the Exodust movement, as freed African Americans established Black communities across the Great Plains during the late 19th century. At once a look at the diversity of Great Plains history as well as an opportunity to consider history as a catalyst for art, author and professor DeMisty D. Bellinger explains how these migrations informed her forthcoming novel, New to Liberty.
(National Cather Center)

Entertaining and thought provoking, just like her last collection. The essay on self care is so on point- definitely my favorite in this book.

Really enjoyed this one on audio- each story uses a different narrator, with Levar Burton reading the first one! Loved the title story and “Buying a House Ahead of the Apocalypse”.

Read these amazing books this weekend and while they could not be more different, they are both ultimately about plagues. One biological, one social.

Wasn‘t sure what to read next so I went with a color theme. 😄

If war has an opposite, gardens might sometimes be it…

So dark and weird and hilarious. And the commentary is spot on.

Every man you ever meet is nothing but the product of what was withheld from him, what he feels owed.

Listening to this on audio before the author talk.

Turned out to be a fitting publication day.

There are so many ways of being despicable... But the way to really be despicable is to be contemptuous of other people‘s pain.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

#bookmail today!!

Economy of attention

So many gems in just the first essay alone.

Focus on you. On the things that make you happy and calm. The things that make your heart beat faster and slower. This is how you will learn who you are, and what you are supposed to do in this life.

I know I‘m late to the game on this one, but wow! So refreshingly insightful- I was genuinely surprised with this one. 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

I didn‘t plan on reading this- I skipped it when it was a Book of the Month selection and had not interest in it whatsoever. But then it started winning all of those reader‘s choice awards so I picked it up to see what the big deal was. And before I knew it, I was halfway through! What a fun adventure!

The governor of Nebraska is pretty pissed that our state library commission chose this for our One Book read. Of course, my first reaction was to order a copy. Can‘t wait to read it!
https://mobile.twitter.com/TedGenoways/status/1082290450768322561

If stream-of-consciousness is not your thing, this one is not for you. It's bleak & dark but the writing style gives a strong viewpoint in life in a war zone and to be a young woman in a violent, oppressive society. Burns offers so many opportunities to really connect with the narrator - particularly the book-lover and the habit of burying ones nose in books in order to avoid the terrible political situation. Recommended for fans of Eimer McBride.

I had to put this down (and most everything else) after losing my grandma to cancer a couple months ago. I finally picked it up and it was just what I needed. A very personal (but fiction) story of mortality, cancer and family. I included a shot of the author‘s note on his inspiration for the novel.

How objectification works

Interesting history of medicine, NY and the US as told through the lens of Bellevue Hospital. From the contributions of their doctors to Civil War battlefield medicines, to how the hospital and its staff handled the outbreak of AIDS, 9/11, and Hurricane Sandy.

“As girls‘ smiles become less authentic, so, too, does their understanding of themselves”

#BookHaul Where to start?!?!

Morris is a former Marine and war reporter who was injured by an IED in Iraq. Subsequently diagnosed with PTSD, he began researching it. Expecting to write a book about veterans and PTSD, Morris was surprised to find that most cases of PTSD involve civilian women: survivors of sexual assault and domestic violence. The result is part memoir, part social history of the disease and who it affects, veterans and civilians alike.

This line.... reading this while trying to avoid the disgusting news coverage

Eerie, creepy, psychological thrillers. When you start a story, you have no idea where she‘s going to take you, but you have to appreciate her sharp, snappy twist endings! Each one could easily be a Twilight Zone episode.

Well this came through much faster than I expected!! I‘m going in!

I should be out enjoying this by the fire pit but it‘s grossly hot out. Again. I‘m so ready for fall weather!!

August is always so crazy with prepping for the new semester, I hardly have time to read. But this weekend I made plans to read a book a day. Mission accomplished. ✔️✔️✔️