Pre birthday book haul. All the books are for me except the tagged book and Furia. #sorrynotsorry

My #doublespin is part memoir, part travelogue, and part self-help book about the joys of traveling alone, something I hope to do once I retire. The author spends time in Paris, Florence, Istanbul and her hometown NYC (a city she tries to see with fresh eyes). I found the writing, her observations and her thoughts about the topic lovely.
@TheAromaofBooks

I loved John Hughes films back in the day, many of which would likely be considered problematic by today‘s standards, particularly my favourite, 16 Candles. This memoir isn‘t so much about Hughes, although the author spent many years trying to write Hughes‘s biography - without any access to the man himself or the people who knew him. I found this repetitive, grim and kind of annoying. Basically, our 20s. 😂
#bookspin @TheAromaofBooks

Happy Mother‘s Day.

Two nonfic books for May‘s #bookspin, @TheAromaofBooks

Current situation.

May‘s #bookspin selections.
@TheAromaofBooks

I really enjoyed this author‘s first book, The French Girl, but I found this one slow and frustrating, with wonky character development. Ailsa inherits a manor house in Scotland after her mother dies, but from the minute she arrives the house makes her uncomfortable. The action picks up the last 75 pages or so, but I still had to read 300 pages to get there.

My April #bookspin was a collection of short stories by the Canadian author of The Saturday Night Ghost Club & The Troop (writing as Nick Cutter). Each of the six stories in this collection examines relationships (mother and child, siblings, friendships) and each one was perfection - particularly their ambiguous endings, which are a personal favourite of mine. @TheAromaofBooks

Cook is always going to be a pick for me because I‘ve loved his literary mysteries ever since I read Breakheart Hill 20 years ago. Blood Innocents is his very first novel, published in 1980, and you can see the beginnings of his style, although this book doesn‘t have the same depth as his later books & I am not sure if I had read it first I would have sought him out as I have over the years (his books are difficult to find). Still, a soft pick.

I actually want to go through this book and count how many times these characters drop the F-bomb because it‘s a lot. And I am not expletive adverse, it‘s just…cringe-y, as is much of the rest of this story of 19 yr old Beth and 21 yr old David who have known each other all their lives, and have fought their attraction for years. These are porn stars not people. #doublespin @TheAromaofBooks

This is a dual time-line narrative about Juniper, who returns to her hometown to help out a friend, but also to figure out who is planning to do a podcast about a double murder that happened 15 years ago, a murder for which her brother was implicated but never charged. I really enjoyed this book, and Juniper‘s determination to mend relationships with her family and figure out whodunnit. There‘s a splash of angst, too, and I am there for it.

What a delightful and unexpected surprise, @Mitch
Thank you so much for thinking of me and for sending the best kind of mail- book mail. ❤️

April‘s #bookspin selections, @TheAromaofBooks

I flew through the story of Jane, a Vietnamese woman who has been held captive by Lenn for many years. The author does a really great job of creating a sense of dread; I was anxious the whole time. Jane‘s abuse is not graphic, but that doesn‘t make it any less horrifying. The ending is a little tidy, but this was a great, page-turning read.

Did anyone like this book? For me, this book was such a disappointment. A bunch of names on a page, a trite ending, just a colossal waste of time. I loved Daisy Jones and the Six, but this read more like One True Loves, which I didn‘t like.
My March #doublespin, @TheAromaofBooks

My #valentineswap book from @maich was fun to read. Stella, 30, hires a male escort, Michael, to help her get better at sex. Despite the fact that she‘s smart and beautiful, she hasn‘t had much luck because she has some quirks due to her autism. Take that out of the equation and you‘d still have a fun, smutty romp. I didn‘t get why they complicated things for the characters at the end; it seemed unnecessary. If you like graphic sex… 😂

Current situation on the last day of my March Break.

My March #bookspin . I feel ambivalent about this story of a family who has put everything (and I mean everything) into their daughter‘s gymnastic ambitions. I have read other books by this author which I have enjoyed a lot more than this one. @TheAromaofBooks

@StillLookingForCarmenSanDiego sent this book to me as part of my #poutinepenpals #fallswap and it was great. When six-year-old Claire, her older sister Alison and their parents take a vacation on Saint X, the unthinkable happens. Years later, while living in NYC, Claire meets one of the men involved. This is a beautifully-written examination of family, grief, race & privilege, the secrets we keep & the stories we tell ourselves.

@TheAromaofBooks my March #bookspin reads.

My March #bookspin selections, @TheAromaofBooks

This is a soft pick. Bea Kim, a high school senior, hides her love for music (and her innate talent) from everyone. Then a new music teacher arrives at her school. He‘s worldly, and talented, and beautiful and he thinks her musical gift should be celebrated. You can guess the rest. I am not sure Ohlin managed to flesh out these characters or the relationship between teacher and student in more than broad strokes, but it was an easy read.

Niven captures the breathlessness of first love in this NA story about newly graduated Claude whose life implodes when her parents announce a separation and she ends up traveling to an island off the coast of Georgia with her mom. There she meets Jeremiah Crew, who upends her world and mends her heart. First love was a long-ass time ago for me, but this brought back those memories and then some. Loved it.

Oft recommended here, this book is fabulous, heart-wrenching and beautifully written. I loved everything about it.
The story follows Franny as she hitches a ride on a fishing boat in an effort to track terns in a future world where most of nature has been destroyed by climate change. How she came to be here is revealed through multiple time lines. Glorious. Highly recommend.

My February #bookspin was a dud. I have read a lot of Nicci French and have loved a lot of it, but this one - about a married woman who discovers the body of her lover and decides to clean up instead of calling the cops is just ridiculous. I did all my eye-rolling practice for the month with this one.
@TheAromaofBooks

#bookhaul #sorrynotsorry #classlibrary

February #bookspin & #doublespin, @TheAromaofBooks

So, this is my view this morning. Luckily, my landlord has a snowblower & he is hard at work out there clearing the walk & driveway. Quite a storm. I am not reading this weekend, unfortunately. End of term marks are due tomorrow and I have another full day of marking ahead of me, but then the kids come back to school on Wed after three weeks of virtual teaching so YAY! Hope you other East coasters made it through the blizzard. @Crazeedi

#NYWD22 book #3 this is a soft pick for me. Ellie Littlejohn has climbed the corporate ladder dragging her secrets behind her. She‘s the only Black woman on the executive floor and she‘s only there because her boss (and lover) is found dead. I think a rather pedestrian mystery is elevated by Morris‘s observations about race and misogyny.
@JamieArc @monalyisha

When her best friend from college, Julie, disappears without a trace and then reappears two years later, Elise knows something isn‘t right. A girls‘ getaway with their two other besties goes nightmarishly bad. Although it doesn‘t completely hang together, this was a page-turner.

It‘s -23, -30 with the windchill, so it‘s the perfect day to snuggle up with my third #NYWD selection All Her Little Secrets.
@Andrew65 @JamieArc @monalyisha

My pledge this year is to not waste time on books I don‘t enjoy. Both of these have been on my tbr shelf forever…and #bookspin and #doublespin has cleared them. I bailed on them both.
@TheAromaofBooks

I was surprised and delighted to find a parcel waiting for me from @Bookgoil , @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks and the #Litsylove team. It‘s been a week, let me tell you, and this certainly brightened my day. Thank you. ❤️

My second #NYWD22 selection was just okay for me. I loved the premise- an elderly widower and a lonely teenage girl connect over books, but it all felt contrived to me. 😬 There was just too much going on for any of it to really land, the book discussions were cursory and the ending was, frankly, implausible. This might be a case of it‘s me rather than it‘s the book.
@JamieArc @monalyisha

Besides the tagged book, I recommend
The Secret History
Fingersmith
The Book Thief
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
The Paper Palace
Chaos Walking trilogy
anything by Thomas H Cook

Thanks for the tag @Elizabeth2 @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks #sundaysoapbox

Any interest in sharing your recs @catiewithac @MadelineMcCrae @ShelleyBooksie @merelybookish

First #bookhaul of 2022. #sorrynotsorry. 15 of them are for my classroom.

@Andrew65 #WeekendReading prompt has me thinking about how I am going to spend my post-blizzard Saturday. On tap, my #bookspin and #doublespin and my second #NYWD22 selection. It‘s ambitious to think I might complete any of them, but I will give it a go. Art by my daughter- a huge self portrait which was an art school assignment and now watches over me while I sleep.

Getting started on my second book for #NYWD22, @JamieArc & @monalyisha
It‘s blustery out there.

Well, @JamieArc , my first #NYWD22 read was a cracker. I was completely invested in this story of 18-year-old Daunis, who becomes swept up in an investigation into the meth trade that is killing her friends. I loved that the book straddles cultures, incorporates Native stories and traditions, and is a page-turning, kick-ass story with a terrific main character and several fabulous secondary characters. 100% a winner. @monalyisha

Two books I have had forever for my #bookspin and #doublespin, @TheAromaofBooks

This constitutes all the #litsylove snail mail I received in 2021. As a kid, I had lots of pen pals…because that was a thing you did in the 70s…wrote letters, exchanged friendship books and slams. It has been so much fun getting to know my fellow littens the old fashioned way. @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks @Tattooedteacher @BookNAround @CoffeeNBooks @Crazeedi @Lovesbooks87 @AmyG @Soubhiville @catiewithac @Moonprismpower @Mrs_B @quietjenn @ —->

January 2022 #bookspin #doublespin selections, @TheAromaofBooks
Here‘s to a new reading year.

I started this novella a while ago, but like with other Lessing novels I‘ve read, I just didn‘t really enjoy it. I saw this movie a while ago and found it entertaining, though. Best friends start sleeping with each other‘s teenage sons. What could possibly go wrong? This completes my 2021 reading challenge. Cue confetti.

This was one of the books in my #fallswap package from @StillLookingForCarmenSanDiego
It‘s a novel in verse about Michael, a mixed race kid coming of age in London, trying to figure out who he is, and finally finding his voice in a drag club at university. I really enjoyed it.

My December #bookspin, which I started at the beginning of December but only finished last night. As a kid I loved Christie, but I found this book s-l-o-w. Too much talking and no suspense. @TheAromaofBooks
Looking forward to a new year of #bookspin.

A quiet moment to reflect on life while I sip my tea and wait for my kids, who are no longer kids, to get up up. I went to bed before them last night and listening to them talk and laugh was pretty much the perfect gift. I hope your holidays are filled with lovely, peaceful, perfect moments, too. ❤️

@FantasyChick I am so stoked about the book you chose from my #jolabokaflodswap. Thank you so much. Hope you have a fabulous Christmas. @MaleficentBookDragon

I LOVE the show Felicity and so I enjoyed this novel about an awkward, introverted girl who imagines the characters from the show are her RL friends…and then further complicates her life by following a boy from school to college just like Felicity followed Ben. #teamBen

Nailed it.