Thanks for participating in my 25000 Litfluence points giveaway @CSeydel @julesG @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks @TheQuietQuill @BarbaraBB @Ruthiella @TheBookHippie @Deblovestoread @ShelleyBooksie @LeahBergen @dabbe @Cuilin @Beatlefan129 @RebelReader @Cinfhen @AmyG
The lucky winner- as chosen by a random generator - is @AmandaBlaze
Reach out to me at ludicreader@rogers.com with your snail mail details.

Almost at 25,000 Litfluence points, so this is your last chance to enter my giveaway. All you need to do is comment below with the name of the best book you read over the summer.

There‘s still time to get in on this giveaway. All you need to do is leave a comment and tell me the best book you read this summer.

First #bookhaul of the new school year. Damn you, BookOutlet.

25,000 Litfluence giveaway.
Feel free to share.
Open worldwide.

This is 3🌟for me. I thought I was going to love it based on the first 50 pages, but then there was too many convenient plot twists, too much telling and although it was certainly readable, it wasn‘t the *best* book of this type that I have read. I am just sooooo picky about my thrillers.

#sorrynotsorry #bookhaul because if there is an incentive to buy books (Teacher Appreciation 20% off or 10 times the Plum Points) it is like a siren call.
Oh, who am I kidding.

No school for me today as we had a pipe burst in the building which flooded a bunch of rooms….not mine, thankfully (at least I don‘t think my room had water although it happened on my side of the building.) Today I will mark & finish the tagged book for our book club discussion on Thursday. I haven‘t really been enjoying it, tbh. The balloon figures were my grandmother‘s. I loved them as a kid and was so happy to receive them from my aunt.

#bookhaul because of buy three get one free…but I would have bought them anyway. Obviously.

Not as quick a read as I was thinking it might be, this was still an interesting look at all the different “cults” that exist…including “cultish” groups that we might not have realized use the same rhetorical language as religious cults do to “hook” their members.

I was delighted to be invited by @shawnmooney to talk about Helen Dunmore's debut Zennor in Darkness on his Youtube channel (https://www.youtube.com/@shawnthebookmaniac6275) this summer. The episode of Bite-Sized Book Chats that I appeared on dropped yesterday and you can watch that here: https://youtu.be/lDu_cUSDY44?si=8nfdoqxoXsrYkcaV. I start at about 7:22, but the whole episode is worth watching.

This week has been kicking my butt…but how you doin‘? (Please say this in the voice of Joey Tribbiani)

#Top10SummerReads2023
I read some great books this summer.
@Cinfhen
Thanks for the tag @dabbe

#notbookishcontent
After moving Con into his new apt…which he is sharing with four strangers…here we are celebrating with a great meal. I will help him again in the morning, but then I will head home.

Time has run out on my summer as today I am back to school. @dabbe your beautiful time piece arrived just in time to mark the occasion. Thank you!

#bookhaul number bazillion….but who‘s counting.

Tough question @dabbe
1. The Strangers. The first time I tried to watch it, I had to turn it off because it creeped me out. I did manage to get through it in the end.
2. The Wizard of Oz when I was a kid. I was sure the Wicked Witch of the West was under my bed.
3. Jaws. Enough said.
#ThreeListThursday
Wanna play @ShelleyBooksie @TheSpineView @merelybookish @DebbieGrillo

Late…as usual.
1. Crazy, Stupid, Love always makes me laugh …and cry. And I have to say my kids and I have watched She‘s the Man a zillion times and that one always cracks me up, too.
2. At the theatre: Barbie
3. I wish people would come to their senses.

#WondrousWednesay @Eggs
Thanks for the tag, @dabbe

Whole heartedly recommend this beautiful book about love, family, sacrifice, and the natural world. The narrator, Torie, is 17 when her story begins and it is a gorgeous, heartbreaking and redemptive story and I LOVED every second of it. Wayyyyyy better than Where the Crawdads Sing.
#14books14weeks2023
@TheHeartlandBookFairy

Celebrating a Boys & Girls Club book sale with a Crafty Radler. #bookhaul

I know people love this book, but for me it was only so-so. I just don‘t think I like this type of book…while the writing was fine, it felt like I was being told the story, rather than living it…and there were so many names, I just stopped trying to keep track. A student in one of my classes was moved to tears reading it in the spring, but I honestly felt nothing. Am I heartless?

Thanks for the tag @dabbe
1. I return to school on Aug 28. Students start after Labour Day
2. Tagged book, The Secret History, The Chatham School Affair, Reconstructing Amelia, Claire Marvel, The Girls Are all So Nice Here
#Two4Tuesday
@TheSpineView
Tagging @andrew61 @Texreader @iread2much @ShelleyBooksie

This is a so-so mostly because I finished it... begrudgingly. This wasn't a book I would have ever chosen on my own. It was a gift from a student. It's overly sentimental, mostly dialogue and all tell. Jo, a grad student recovering from her double mastectomy & her mother's death meets Ursa, a 9 yr old who claims she's from outer space. Then there's Gabe, the hunky farmer. #foundfamily

Finished another #14books14weeks2023 book. This true crime story cleverly inserts Knox into the action which makes you feel like you are reading nonfiction. The story is made up almost entirely of transcribed interviews with the people left behind after a college student goes missing. Fans of true crime podcasts etc would likely eat this up. I found it extremely entertaining. @TheHeartlandBookFairy
I am dog-sitting in the country.

This book lands squarely in the wtf category…up until the twist, which I had not been spoiled for. Ted, his sentient cat, Olivia, and his daughter, Lauren, live in a boarded up house on Needless St. Dee moves in next door because she is convinced Ted is responsible for her sister‘s abduction 11 years prior. I have never read a book quite like this one. It‘s a total page-turner.

Anyone else not able to see any pictures on Litsy? I deleted and re-uploaded the app…same problem.

This is between a pick and a so-so…mostly because it wasn‘t really my type of book (it‘s for my book club). Ginny had planned a surprise holiday to celebrate her 25th wedding anniversary, but her husband leaves her. She can‘t get her money back, but she can move to a cheaper hotel and take more people, so she offers up free vacations to four strangers who are also dealing with heartache. It‘s a fairy tale, but some people might be charmed by it.

I am a big fan of Greene, and this lovely, quiet novel about Henry and Margot who meet and fall in love in college and then are separated only to meet again 20 years later is filled with joy, melancholy, and a tenderness for who we are when we are young and who we become as we age. Gorgeous.

Yeah, so I guess I am just not a straight up romance reader. I didn‘t think that‘s what this book was going to be and I had a hard time not rolling my eyes. Once a character releases a breath they didn‘t realize they were holding…well, I have a hard time taking anything else seriously. Beautiful people, in a beautiful setting but just not the book for me.

The one where I look at some of the book hauls from this year and see how many of these books I have actually read. A lot of these books are for my classroom…obviously I can‘t read everything I buy. 😂

This is a powerful memoir about a sexual assault at a private New England boarding school. The writing is spectacular; the story is devastating especially in the way that the perpetrators were protected and the victim was villified. #14books14weeks2023
@TheHeartlandBookFairy

@dabbe your lovely package arrived today…and as the shit is currently hitting the proverbial fan, it was a wonderful surprise. Thank you so much. 😘😘

I read this book for the first time 30 years ago…and as I often recommend it, I thought it was time for a reread. It definitely landed differently this time around, but was an enjoyable experience. Tartt is a masterful writer, and this story of a group of pretentious college students is amazing considering it was her first novel. I did find it overwritten but I am very glad to have read it again.

“Lizzie Borden took an ax and gave her mother 40 whacks and when she saw what she had done, she gave her father 41.”
This book is another take on this infamous story, imagining the crimes through Lizzie‘s eyes as well as her sister Emma‘s, the household maid Bridget‘s and a man called Benjamin‘s. The writing is compelling and the story, as always, fascinating.

I really enjoyed this book, the story of a sketch writer for an SNL-like show who puts her cynicism regarding romantic relationships into her writing and a hunky musician who ends up guest hosting. The two hit it off even though Sally is, to her mind at least, nothing special. The banter between these two is a cut-above and made for some thoughtful and highly entertaining (and swoony) reading. Perfect summer read.
And yes…that is the sun!

This wasn‘t really my kind of book. It was an old-fashioned ghost story set on a remote Scottish island in 1860, so atmospheric for sure, but certainly not scary. Elspeth goes to Skelthsea to be nanny for Mary and finds that there are dark forces at play. Easy read and probably more entertaining for readers who like their ghosts quiet.

Book 4 of #14books14weeks2023 was a massive disappointment. I loved Koomson‘s book The Ice Cream Girls, but this one- about three women whose lives intersect is just ridiculous. The character development - if you can even call it that - made no sense. Why did I keep reading? Well, I skim read it because of the “mystery” but even that was unbelievable. Terrible.
@TheHeartlandBookFairy

This is superior YA. Beth, a talented violinist, tries to negotiate her final year of high school while also coping with pressures at home, mental health, an absent father, and her feelings for one of the members of her core friend group. This is a beautifully written book which really captures that moment in time just before everything changes. Excellent.

This book is characterized as a stand-alone sequel to The Family Upstairs, but I am not sure that one would find this remotely satisfying without having read the first book which, imho, is heads and tails better. I was not nearly as invested in these characters this time around, and a lot of it felt like telling. I love Lisa Jewell, but I don‘t think this book adds anything to its origin story.

Changed reading location today to finish this book. Like all Reid's books, this was pretty much unputdownable and also....what did I just read? Penny, by prearrangement, goes to live in a long term care facility, but things are super weird...or does she have dementia. Smart and also wtf? That's my son Connor in the background.

Holy guacamole. This book has all the things: a cunning and brutal serial killer, a smart and tenacious sheriff, a small town with deep veins of racism, interesting secondary characters. I read this puppy in a couple of days. My first by this author, but I will definitely read more. I know I have another by him on my tbr shelf.

This is my 7th book by Helen Dunmore, so I guess you could say I am a fan. Like everything she writes, this is a beautiful, albeit sad story that takes place during WW1 and concerns a young girl, Clare, her cousin, John William, and D.H. Lawrence. Not much happens, but it is totally immersive and evocative of a time and place.
Book 3 of #14books14weeks2023
@TheHeartlandBookFairy

#MidYearFreakOut tagged by @dabbe
1. Hands down: tagged book.
2. N/A
3. None of This Is True by Lisa Jewell
4. I have a lot of great books to look forward to, I am sure…but when they will be released. 🤷‍♀️
5. Lessons in Chemistry
6. Brother by Ania Ahlborn
7. Hard to say since I hate to judge anyone on one book.
8. Celine and Brad from Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute
9. Tagged
10. See #8
11. 😳
12. It‘s a long list.

Check out @DinoMom ‘s fabulous #athingaday giveaway.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfy-aHqaM7ptFl5NrccCV842MsZugZew5LrUep_...

Mini #bookhaul to take advantage of buy 3 get 1 free at Indigo. There are two more books included in this haul, but I bought them for Connor for his birthday. The tagged book is for book club.

Really enjoyable read that cleverly skewers the publishing industry, celebrity, social media and the isolation and paranoia that comes with a creative life. Entertaining and thought-provoking.

I recommend this book to no one. It‘s awful in every way.

I am supposed to have this book read by Thursday‘s book club meeting but I am not enjoying it at all. Lily agrees it‘s a snooze fest. Anyone read it? Is it worth the slog or should I skim read?

@dabbe tagged me a couple days ago…but it‘s been a week with prom and grad (today). I have been awake since 4:30…so thought I could give this a (belated) go.
1. Ryan Gosling. Love him.
2. I think he could play any part, but how about the one where he meets the middle aged (I know, it‘s a stretch) teacher with the shrine to him on her classroom wall and falls madly in love with her? 🤣
@TheSpineView

Ten years after her older brother, Nolan, disappeared, Lucy returns to her childhood home to find answers. This book wasn‘t what I was expecting at all, but I found it thoughtful, well written, and worth my reading time, even though- like the great mysteries of the universe - there are no easy answers. #14books14weeks2023
@TheHeartlandBookFairy @valeriegeary