#sorrynotsorry #bookhaul where the majority of books are for me.

Sort of have mixed feelings about this one, but Swiv's sustained voice and her wacky family keep you turning the pages.

More for my classroom. I am stocking up on books for as companions for Romeo and Juliet (Our Violent Ends), sequel to The Marrow Thieves (Hunting by Stars) and the tagged book is a student request. #sorrynotsorry

My #NewYearWhoDis22 list was curated by @JamieArc and I was astonished by how many of the books I had never even heard of! I have only read the tagged book. At least one of the others is not even available to order and a couple more are only hardcovers which…expensive. 😬 May need to get a library card. Pictured are intriguing.
I have a copy of Firekeeper‘s Daughter in my class library.
 @monalyisha , thanks for organizing (and catching my error!)

#bookhaul for no reason other than #books. #sorrynotsorry

Thanks for the tag @Crazeedi
1. I personally love an unreliable narrator.
2. My favourite bookish item is a book.
3. I often recommend the tagged series, partly because it‘s one of the few series I‘ve finished….and I finished it because I really liked it. I also recommend The Book of Lost Things a lot.
@MoonWitch94
I‘m late getting to this so consider yourself tagged.

Utterly bleak, award winning YA novel translated from the Danish. A group of fourteen-year-olds set out to prove to one of their classmates that the world/life does have meaning, with devastating results.

Twisty YA mystery with two narrators that I found really entertaining because it was well-written and I couldn‘t (until near the end) figure out how the pieces fit. Great Sunday afternoon read that I get to book talk in person tomorrow, after two weeks of remote teaching due to a strike. 😬

I just cannot go on with this drivel. November #bookspin #doublespin fail, @TheAromaofBooks

Back during lock down, I submitted info about my bookshelves to Shelf Absorption. Have a look: https://shelfabsorption.wordpress.com/2021/10/05/theludicreader/

Canadian musician Jann Arden is my fave female vocalist. She‘s also a fiercely outspoken animal rights activist, and a funny, self-deprecating straight shooter. I was thrilled that she made a cameo in my birthday video. Check her out on YouTube. This is my November #bookspin and it‘s a memoir of sorts which talks about getting older and the things she‘s learned along the way. Quick read and I certainly saw myself in it. @TheAromaofBooks

At its centre, this is about the murder of the protagonist Sylvie‘s sister, Persephone, which happened 16 years prior, when Sylvie was 14 and Persephone, 18. Sylvie always believed her sister‘s boyfriend was responsible, though he was never charged. Now Sylvie is home to look after her mother who has cancer. Secrets are the order of the day. This is less a thriller and more a well-written family drama. A great read.

1. Lacklustre
2. I don‘t really follow what‘s up and coming, so I had to do some research. I do enjoy the tagged author, so that‘s what I chose.
Thanks for the tag, @Eggs
Tagging my fellow NBers
@ShelleyBooksie @DinoMom @merelybookish

@TheAromaofBooks my November #bookspin selections.

Here‘s a low stress swap which is so much fun I started one at my school. I signed up and so should you.
@MaleficentBookDragon

November ##bookspin. The selections are completely random, @TheAromaofBooks
Here‘s hoping November is a good reading month.

This is a beautiful essay about the joys of reading and books in general which I will definitely be reading again with hi-lighter in hand.

Fantastic YA mystery about five prep school boys, one of whom ends up dead, and the pact the others make to keep whodunnit a secret. Then there‘s Kate who is interning at the DA‘s office, and is tasked to dig through clues and take photos. Thoroughly entertaining, smart and better-constructed than lots of adult thrillers. Well-written, too. A total pick.

The author was a Scientologist for 25 years and so clearly understands the psychology of cults etc, but this book is about 250 pages too long (it clocks in a 544 pages) and a lot of nothing happens until the last 50 pages when too much happens. Also, a translation so the dialogue is a bit stiff. Apparently the first of a trilogy, but I will not be carrying on.

I went for the tagged book (next month‘s book club read) and then I bought Good Girl, Bad Girl and Ari and Dante for my classroom library because: reasons, and The Last House on Needless Street is all y‘all‘s fault. I used Plum points, so this stack was only $20. #sorrynotsorry.

This is my #bookspin for October and I got about 100 pages in and I just….cannot do it. The writing is clunky, nothing has happened and I can‘t tell if it‘s supposed to be creepy or funny. It feels like a time suck and as it‘s a series and I know I will not be continuing, better to just move on.
@TheAromaofBooks

Sisters Rosie, 15 and Skate, 16, live on the Jersey Shore and cope separately and together with their father's alcoholism and their relationships with each other and the other people in their lives. This is a quiet coming of age novel.

This book has been on my tbr shelf for probably 20 years and my reading radar for way longer than that. It is the charming, delightful story of 17-year-old Cassandra who lives in a crumbling castle with her eccentric father, stepmother, older sister and younger brother. Their lives change when the American grandsons of the castle‘s owner arrive. Loved it.

This is Tuesday‘s book club discussion. I am trying to decide whether I will be the odd man out in thinking it was twee, predictable and, although easy to read, lacking in emotional heft…which might be what you‘d expect in a book like this. I knew exactly where I was headed by page 40. If you want to read something to make you appreciate this “one wild and precious life” read/watch Thornton Wilder‘s play Our Town instead.

Thomas returns to his old high school on the Côte d‘Azur to attend his 25th reunion. A lot of shit went down back in the day and all those secrets come bubbling to the surface. I dunno. Maybe it‘s because it‘s a translation, but I found it all a bit over the top and neither thrilling or suspenseful. ? #bookspin #doublespin @TheAromaofBooks

Thank you so much @StillLookingForCarmenSanDiego for the lovely #fallswap package, which I opened this morning as I have a busy day ahead. I can‘t wait to wear the socks, brew a cup of cinnamon apple tea and dive into one of those books. #poutinepenpals 😘❤️

I am sad I didn‘t enjoy this more because I love the title and cover. Jessica Miller attends her ten-year college reunion with the hopes of showing everyone how fabulous her life has turned out. It‘s a problematic reunion tho: her ex will be there, plus the guy she was in love with, oh, and there‘s the pesky unsolved murder of her roommate. Started out strong, the writing is good, but it just all falls apart.

@StillLookingForCarmenSanDiego box #2 shipped today. Everything I bought wouldn't fit in the first box. (They only had small boxes), and to put the left overs in a padded envelope would have cost MORE! to ship. So, I added a couple more things and voila. Not sure it will arrive on time, but it's en route. #poutinepenpals #fallswap

Here‘s hoping my October #bookspin is more successful than September. I‘m going for thrillers this month, @TheAromaofBooks

See How Small was my September #doublespin, and I got as far as 122/207. Tell the Wolves I‘m Home was my #bookspin and I didn‘t even crack the spine. Shuggie Bain is partly to blame; the start of the new school year also had something to do with it. *sigh*
@TheAromaofBooks

Thanks for the tag @Moonprismpower
1. Vampires are hands down my favourite.
2. I always think people are the worst monsters by far, and the tagged book kinda proves it. Also, The Lesser Dead needs more love.
3. I am sure that all the monsters have been written, but how about some love for succubus or incubus?
@ozma.of.oz

Wanna play @DinoMom @ShelleyBooksie ?

Classroom #bookhaul #3 courtesy of Teacher Appreciation at Indigo. Tagged book plus The House in the Cerulean Sea are for me.

Winging its way to you, @StillLookingForCarmenSanDiego and there's a funny story, which I will tell you later. #poutinepenpals #fallswap

Classroom bookhaul #2. 😂

First classroom bookhaul of the year. 🥰

This YA novel about 18-year-old Natalie- her friends and family, her plans for the future, her social awkwardness and insecurities- is sheer delight from start to finish. It‘s funny, sweet, hopeful and really well-written.

Look what was waiting for me when I got home, @StillLookingForCarmenSanDiego . I am still waiting on something for yours, but I think these boxes ship really quickly. 😁

This is a beauty of book. I loved these characters and enjoyed every painful moment I got to spend with them. It‘s highly worth your time.

I have never read the last page of a book- not even if I abandon a book. Just why? I hate spoilers, too. Book blurbs that give away too much is another of my pet peeves. I‘d love to hear some of yours.

I am a huge fan of vampires and I have never encountered one quite like the vampire in this book. Hendrix‘s book is funny, will squick you out x 100 and has a lot of thoughtful things to say about women, race, & family. My second book by Hendrix and it did not disappoint.

#bookspin picks for September, @TheAromaofBooks

Thanks for the tag, @FantasyChick Sorry I am late responding.
1. Currently three
2. @Eggs but I am always happy with whatever number I reach.
3. Thomas H. Cook, Lisa Jewell, Celeste Ng, John Green, Courtney Summers, Nikki Gemmell, Iain Reid
4. Warm weather & my kids
@Eggs

This novel in verse tells the story of sixteen-year-old Amal, who has been (wrongly) convicted of attempted manslaughter and sent to jail. His art and poetry sustains him…but barely. I am more conscious than ever of my privilege and thankful for books that make me look more closely at the things that privilege has made me blind to. I read this in an afternoon and will be recommending it to students.

I mean, it was easy to turn the pages, but it was just kinda meh for me. Rachel‘s daughter is kidnapped and in order to get her back she must pay the ransom and kidnap someone else‘s kid, who must then do the same thing. It‘s a lot of dialogue and straight up exposition. I didn‘t feel connected to anyone…and some of it, especially at the end, was just way too convenient.

August‘s #bookspin and it was a winner. Zelda lives with her older brother Gert. She has Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and is fascinated by Vikings. Gert tries his best to look after her, but he has his own demons. This book is funny, violent, and empowering. Zelda is an amazing creation and I dare you not to fall in love with her. @TheAromaofBooks

1. I can often see a twist coming a mile away, and I love it when a writer can legit surprise me.
2. I am notorious for abandoning series, but I did finish and ❤️ Patrick Ness‘s Chaos Walking series.
3. I shamelessly love bad boy/good girl, forbidden love, and angst in stories.
4. Summer holidays and being able to return to a job I love.
@Eggs

Apparently unless people are suffering, I don‘t like romance. I thought this might have been a nice little palate cleanser, something I could motor through quickly, but 100 pages in I just find everyone and everything in this book about former college writing rivals meeting again by chance just meh. 😬

This is Chris Whitaker ‘s (We Begin at the End) debut novel. Billed as a crime novel, this is really more about several people whose lives intersect when three-year-old Harry is abducted from his bedroom in the middle of the night. I liked Tall Oakes; I LOVED We Begin at the End. Still, this book was often quite funny, and the characters are all interesting. Easy to turn the pages. Thanks again for the gift, @BarbaraBB ❤️

This YA novel written in verse tells the story of Melinda, a teen who has run away from an abusive home and fallen in with charismatic Henry and his “family.” Loosely based on Charles Manson and the Helter Skelter killings, I found this book repetitive and disjointed.

If you are an Instagram user and are looking for a late summer challenge, perhaps this is it.