Gulp. What happens when you cross a chain letter with a ransom/kidnap plot? Lots of evil deeds that push victims & perpetrators to their limits in this griping story about just how far people will go to save someone they love. The story definitely grabs you and while the writing is at times rather choppy, the book is hard to put down. Definitely a page turner and a good summer read if you like them dark, creepy & morally ambiguous.

This week‘s covers come from the sale shelves. I love these small pocket sized editions which are easy to take along anywhere. That being said, I did somehow manage to resist buying these since I already own multiple copies of each...Do you have a favorite?

I have two more weekends on the excavation and two more sets of covers. Then I‘ll be home and catching up on ALL the reading. Can‘t wait!

The only time I really read electronic books is when I‘m traveling & it‘s really because I can‘t take ALL the books with me all the time & the five or six I do take, in this case for our two month excavation season, are never quite enough. New books include the tagged one which is getting a lot of buzz, The Anomaly about a rogue archaeologist (ha!), & then nonfiction, a fantasy novella & literature. (The last I‘ve already read & reviewed.)

Committed to reading more nonfiction this year...even while on excavation. So, this is the book I brought with me. It has very good reviews so I‘m anticipating a good read.

I‘m late to discover this series—I feel safe in saying I bet most people in my Litsy circle are already aware of what awesome good fun this book is. Add my voice to the chorus of good reviews—this is a really fun space opera that has you tagging along with an ex-cop who partners (if you can call it that) with a merry band of misfits to stop the annihilation of humankind. Yep, the stakes are that high. I‘ll read more & probably watch the show too.

A little late on posting book covers this week. Last week it was James and the Giant Peach for the win. This week I‘m jumping from childhood favorites to two covers that just caught my eye as I was checking the sale aisles at one of my favorite local bookstores. Although you can‘t really see it in this photo, the cover for Woodson‘s book is metallic and sparkly in the right light. Do you have a favorite?

This book is fantastic and the perfect thing to read at the end of a work day that begins with a 3:30am wake up. I‘m really enjoying it and trying to pace myself...we‘ll see how long that lasts!

Going to start this one next.

I enjoyed this book & look forward to reading more. Bennett has created a fascinating world with thieves, merchant houses, magic, & people who want to remake the world. Sancia, a skilled thief, is hired to steal a valuable object & when the heist gets complicated, secrets unravel & danger abounds. My only real complaint is that the voice of one of the characters (a character I like) is so annoying I found it hard to read. Entertaining read.

Oops! Got distracted yesterday and didn‘t post my book covers. So, first week it was Sherlock and last week it was Persuasion for the win. Today I‘m going with two childhood favorites—this week it‘s a James and the Giant Peach vs. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Do you have a favorite?

This novella was a free download from Tor. Did I enjoy it? Yes. Is it easy to describe? Not really but I‘ll try. Never bleed, that‘s the rule and if you do, it‘s kill or be killed. Every time Molly bleeds, a murderer is created...someone who looks just like her and is intent on killing her. How long can Molly live this way? How long does she want to live this way? Horror at its finest—a quick, creepy read which is best with the lights on.

While excavating I typically wake up at 3:30am for a work day that starts at 5:00. On the weekends I usually manage to sleep in until 4:15, like I did today, or maybe 5:00 if I‘m really lucky. While some might see this as really terrible, I prefer to think of it as bonus reading time (don‘t get enough of that during the week) and an excuse to take an afternoon nap!

Super excited about this news. I‘ve talked about Fence before—it‘s a fun comic about the competitive world of high school fencing. I‘ve also talked about Brennan‘s In Other Lands which I absolutely love. I‘m anticipating a great read!

As expected, my reading has decreased significantly while I‘m excavating. Only 15 books this month—I suspect there will be even fewer next month. These were my three favorites, the tagged book beating out The Worst Hard Time by the slimmest of margins.

Excited about this news! Loved the tagged comic—Pacat did a great job raising the stakes and keeping the tension high in a story about a high school fencing team—and I‘m definitely interested in seeing what she does with a YA fantasy.

Last Saturday it was Sherlock Holmes vs. The Three Musketeers—Sherlock won the cover battle pretty handily.

This week the decision might be a little harder—I‘m going with Persuasion vs. Sense & Sensibility. Let me know if you have a favorite!

And since it‘s the weekend, I hope to spend some quality time with my next book. I‘ve heard only good things about it so I‘m definitely looking forward to a good read.

It‘s the weekend which means I finally found enough time to finish this book...which I started on the trip over. Kate Moore doesn‘t think too much about it when her husband decides to move the family to Luxembourg for a new job. When some of the other Americans she meets start acting suspicious, Kate starts to investigate. This was an enjoyable, somewhat predictable book perfect for a vacation read.

We get underway in earnest tomorrow—that means 4:00am wake up & a work day that doesn‘t really end until 7:00pm. Needless to say, I‘ll have less time for reading & posting on Litsy the next 6 weeks. 😢 I don‘t want to disappear completely & I have a plan. I‘m going to post a pair of book covers every week & I want to know which one everyone likes the most. Help me pick the best covers!

First up—The Three Musketeers vs. Sherlock Holmes: The Novels

This was the perfect book to get me through a few nights of jet lag. Honestly, what‘s not to love about a murder mystery set in the world of Faerie? Toby Daye, a changling who doesn‘t quite fit in either the human or Faerie world, falls under a curse & will die if she doesn‘t solve the murder of Countess Evening Winterrose. The mystery wasn‘t hard to solve but Toby is an engaging character & I enjoyed the story. I‘ll definitely read more.

Seriously, what IS it called?!? I often use the word “spritzing” to describe such rain.

🌦☔️🌧☔️🌦

That‘s quite an image.

You‘re never too old to get assigned homework apparently! 🤓 Not making too much progress today—waking up at 2:00am after getting only 4 hours of sleep will do that—but I have a week before excavation begins so with luck I‘ll finish! 🤪

Woke up to an email from my husband letting me know my #bookmail arrived safe and sound... and that he got me a little something extra to enjoy with it when I get home. Can‘t wait!

Oh how I love jet lag! Ok, not really but the upside is I do get a little more reading time. 🤪 Don‘t want to wake my roommate—that would just be mean—so it‘s reading on my phone for now. This is my 2:00am—or whatever time it is now—read.

😂

Have to be honest, I think this is a pretty good skill to have!

After a day of travel which included delayed flights, missed connections, screaming babies (ear pressure is no fun and I‘ve travelled with young ones so I get it), and a run through Heathrow to make sure another connection wasn‘t missed, I‘ve arrived on site and am ready to get in the dirt and start digging. Glad to have this book along for the ride. I‘m really enjoying it so far!

Remarkable & does not disappoint. The story of Abdulrahman Zeitoun & his family in the days leading up to Hurricane Katrina, the storm itself & then its aftermath is inspiring, deeply human, frustrating, horrifying &, ultimately, infuriating. As you read this book it‘s almost impossible to believe such things could happen in the US & yet they did. This book puts a very human face on what happens when disaster strikes. A definite recommend.

One of the first comics the staff at Chicago Comics recommended I read was Swamp Thing. I wasn‘t too sure when I first picked it up but within a few pages I knew they were right. I‘ve been working my way through the series ever since & it continues to be a really well told story & a gorgeous old school comic. Love the smell of the paper (newspaper quality) it‘s printed on, love the saturated colors, & love the story. Definitely a good read.

Sometimes you just let the books speak for themselves...

As we get ever closer to the end of the school year, more & more books, although never ALL the books, are being returned. The shelves are bursting—including the graphic novels/comics section which is one of our fastest growing & most in demand. Ten years ago graphic novels filled half a shelf. Today we have five full shelves. Some kids want only chapter books, some picture books & some comics—we just want them to ❤️ reading whatever the format.

#ncbd and it‘s the last comic haul for me until I get back from excavating. Yay for the magic that is the pull list and coming home to what will be a big, wonderful stack of comics in August. For today, it‘s Wonder Woman #72 with another great cover (love her expression on this one), Ironheart #7, Champions #6 and Orphan Age #3. Oh and Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man which is for my daughter. Comics & then back to Zeitoun which is excellent.

Picked this one to read next because it‘s been hanging out in my TBR pile for a while. Of course the first blurb I see is by Timothy Egan, the author of The Worst Hard Time. The only other Eggers book I‘ve read is The Circle—I didn‘t love it but there were parts of it—and certainly the IDEA behind it—I enjoyed. I have higher hopes for this one.

This book tells a remarkable, seemingly impossible story all the more riveting & mind-blowing because it is true. That it happened not even 100 years ago is incredible, that we‘ve learned so little about the power of the natural world & how human agency can change environmental conditions so dramatically it can take the land decades to recover (if at all), even more so. There are lessons for today in this book about the Dust Bowl. Recommended.

This is so not okay...🐝🐜🦗🕷

For our last book club meeting, we read Speak. We had a great, wide ranging discussion. Everyone loved it but when I asked about how they would feel if the book was taught in class they all hesitated & when I asked why we don‘t have a problem with books about the Holocaust, racism, violence etc...in middle school but we do with sexual assault, it definitely lead to a🤔moment. No easy answers but the discussion will continue in the fall with Shout.

My dig season is right around the corner (so too is camp for the kids) which means we spent much of the weekend packing. It‘s a good thing too—no more changing my mind about the books going with with me. The decision is made and I‘m sticking to it (🤞)! And every year I go, I make a new bookmark with pictures of my kids to take with me—they‘re 15 & 13 now (wow)—and they add a short note on the back.

📖 Tagged—Locke & Key
🎬 Coraline
🎼 Our House (by Madness)

#manicmonday @JoScho

Saturday morning reading while the family is asleep, the sunlight is cascading in through the windows and the birds are chirping is just the best. I‘m really enjoying this book and actually don‘t mind that my busy schedule has kept me from cranking through it. It‘s very well-written, compelling history and a book I can recommend even before I finish reading it.

Ok, I have to admit, this is a wacky comic. Really weird and yet fabulously fun and funny. Found Vol. 1 & 2 on sale at the comic shop and picked them up for my son who conveniently left them lying around. So of course I decided to read it. Have to say, I had no idea I needed a comic about Batman and Robin celebrating the holidays—ALL the holidays—but after only a few pages, it was clear I did. A fun, quirky read.

Big news in the book world today. Hopefully this means great things for Barnes & Noble moving forward.

😂😂😂

I bet I‘m not the only one who can relate to this cover!

Here‘s what I‘m going to say about Issue 13–while my husband was helping our daughter with her trig homework during breakfast this morning, I excused myself, sat down for a little quality time with Deadpool (important to remember, it‘s well established I‘ll read anything Skottie Young writes) & preceded to giggle hysterically/maniacally/bemusedly from the first page to the last. This was a funny one.

Can‘t forget it‘s Wednesday which means it‘s also #ncbd! Another light week. I only picked up the tagged comic as well as Deadpool #13. Skottie Young‘s Deadpool run ends with Issue #15 so just two more issues to wrap up whatever story he wants to tell. As for Man-Eaters, I love the cover and am excited to see where Cain is taking the story.

A wonderful night of Books & BBQ with @ElishaLovesBooks and another friend of ours tonight. Just a short stack from the bookstore. I know I have a copy of The Alienist from waaay back in the day but I cannot find it anywhere so I picked up a new copy—having just watched the show, I want to reread the book. Also picked up a Krakauer book I haven‘t read as well as the tagged book about which I‘ve only seen & heard really great things.

Not reading as much these days as preparations for my excavation season ramp up but there is always time to post cool retro book covers. Today‘s isn‘t actually all that old but it is a beloved, battered 1984 paperback edition of Pawn of Prophecy. $2.95 and worth every penny. This was my favorite fantasy series as a teen and one that holds up (the original 5)—still makes me laugh every time I read it.

This just popped up in my email and is super cool! I‘ve read the tagged book, which is excellent, and I‘m excited to read the other three. If I remember correctly, it‘s really easy to sign up (maybe just sign up and give Tor your email?!?) and the best part is there‘s a free book to download every month. Definitely take a look if you are a fan of science fiction and/or fantasy!

Fantastic afternoon with author Chad Sell who visited our 3rd, 4th and 5th grade classrooms with his Eisner Award nominated The Cardboard Kingdom. Great presentation on the book, characters, process, and to finish up, some drawing. The kids were so into it, you could hear a pin drop. So many great questions too. Such an inspiration and a joy to bring authors and young readers together. A great start to the week.

Tonight...Mom gave it to me to read which means it should be entertaining. I‘ve seen a lot of positive things about it on a Litsy too so I am expecting a fun book.