Thanksgiving break, Day One! I was honestly a little afraid to start this book right now because of its length and knowing that this is a really busy time of year — I don‘t need to spend a month on one book right now. But so far, I don‘t think that‘s going to happen. It‘s lovely, and I‘m hooked.

I know it‘s early, but I had to try out this cute Christmas cup we found last weekend!

A student borrowed this book from the library & then told me I *have* to read it. So I am. After the distance-learning debacle of last year, I‘ve found it more difficult this year to get students invested in reading, so moments like this are less common than usual. Once I‘m done with it, this copy will go on my classroom shelves for other students to enjoy.

Picked these up at a library sale yesterday even though I have eleventy billion unread books at home. Why am I like this?

Report at 9:00. Wait for 30 minutes. Get told to come back in an hour. Welcome to jury duty, Day 2. 🤦‍♀️

Not home today to make anything better than a note on my phone for my August list 😅
#bookspin #bookspinbingo @TheAromaofBooks

Another July #bookspinbingo book - this one is my #doublespin .
Finished this a couple of days ago. While reading this book, I was reminded at varying points of Harry Potter, City of Bones, and Twilight. ⬇️

My #bookspin book for #bookspinbingo @TheAromaofBooks

I was supposed to have read this years ago when I was working on my masters‘s degree in Comparative Lit. Unfortunately, there was not enough time in any day to both read all the books I was assigned and write all the papers, and I had to skip a couple. This was one of those, and it has been glaring at me from a shelf ever since. 😅 ⬇️

Probably the fastest I‘ve ever read a book of this length. Compared to my usual speed, I basically inhaled it. Yay, summer and free time and most of all, David Mitchell! Still one of my favorites.

So good. What an adventure. 💙

Different book, same difficulty with reading. 😜

Halfway through, still loving it.

What better time than summer vacation to read a 600+ page book? 😆 100 pages in and loving it so far.

…and my July bingo card. Took ages to get it right. 🤦‍♀️😂 #BookSpinBingo @TheAromaofBooks

I‘d never heard of #bookspinbingo until today, (a day late 🤷‍♀️) but I‘ll give it a try! @TheAromaofBooks

Well, that was delightful.

It‘s fine. I wasn‘t trying to read.

If you loved or even liked RP1 — don‘t mess it up by reading the sequel. I don‘t understand how the same person wrote both of these. I made myself finish RP2 because we got it for Christmas. Santa must hate me... I hope he‘ll forgive me now that I‘ve done my penance. (continued in comments)

Randomly grabbed this from a shelf. Couldn‘t remember why I bought it, or who I heard about it from. Loved it.

We bought a Roomba at a discount, and then it sat there for two years because I didn‘t want to take it apart to clean it, and nobody else was willing to do it, either. Then I finally just did it.
Will I sit on my butt and read this book about happiness while I sip wine and a machine vacuums for me? Yes, I think I will.

I feel like I‘ve been in a reading slump since the pandemic started, and given the rave reviews, I was hoping this one would pull me out of it. Nope. I do like O‘Farrell‘s writing, and I wouldn‘t say I didn‘t enjoy the book at all, but it was hard for me to feel anything much about the plot or characters. It just fell flat for me, overall.

Got my little #bookhaul from Vroman‘s Bookstore in today‘s mail!

I don‘t know if it‘s the book or me, but I was struggling to begin with... though I am enjoying this more now.
Made a #bookbento as an example for my students. This was fun - I might do it more often. Can‘t wait to see what they come up with next week!

About an hour into the audiobook and enjoying it so far 👍🎧

Saturday. I‘m 24 pages in and not sure if I‘m going to like this one...

Welp, now I am properly terrified of Ebola.

I LOVE this new podcast by Marlon James and Jake Morrisey. If you are after some erudite book banter... check it out. It‘s not stuffy by any means — they curse and everything. 😅 Super fun.

Listened to four hours of this while cleaning today... so far, so good.

I have had this trilogy in my TBR FOREVER.

Happy Saturday!

(Excerpt from my review on Goodreads)

I‘m a little sad... I think maybe Morgenstern was just too ambitious with this one, and it got away from her. Too many threads just wound up in a tangled, inexplicable mess. She can write like nobody‘s business, and I hope she writes another book (and that we don‘t have to wait another eight years!), and I will again read whatever she writes. But this one will not rank among my favorites.

So excited to finally be reading this. Plus wine makes this a perfect evening.

This is the most ambitious by far of the three books in this trilogy, and I think the best one. So many different threads from the previous books come together, along with the new ones created in this book. So much thought-provoking content for students to discuss! Loved it... and YA is a harder sell for me, so I don‘t say that lightly.

It‘s been a while since I‘ve DNF‘d a work of fiction... but this one is tempting me.

Liking my current view. 😊 Happy Friday!

So excited to start this!!!

The end of a great trilogy. I‘m going to miss it.

This book is fascinating. Might try this on the first day of school. Haha! “There are tablets and medicated chewing gum that prevent travel sickness by numbing the nerves of the gut. When the nausea abates, feelings of anxiety often disappear, too. If unaccountable grumpiness or anxiety can originate in the gut (even without nausea), is it possible that these drugs could be used to banish them? By temporarily numbing a troubled gut, so to speak?”

Also began this one - saw it on Audible, but the Kindle ebook was only $2.99 and has pictures. Hoping it will answer some questions about what has been going on with my stomach lately!

(Author pictured)
Since I finished an audiobook yesterday and have a credit expiring soon, I browsed Audible for a new book. I don‘t always immediately start listening to books I select with my credits, but I did this time. I would never have expected to choose this book, but the sample was so interesting, so... sometimes it just happens that way.

Also, finished listening to this today. Also excellent; changed my perception of the funeral industry and made me think about how much we are disconnected from and in denial of death as a natural, inevitable process.

Read the last third of the book in a dead sprint today. SO good — I think even better than the first one.

Last book was a no, returning to a trilogy that I know is a YAAAASSSS for me. I ❤️ Alicia!!

I was really hoping from the accolades this book has received that I would enjoy it. Instead I dragged myself through nearly 600 pages of unnecessary details, cringy dialogue, and ill-conceived plot.

I hadn‘t intended to read this next, but it was finally my turn with the ebook after a month on the library waitlist. 10% in. I‘m hooked.

This book: a small dark gem, full of horror and beauty, death and life.

Yeah. This took me forever to read, but I loved it. I‘m going to have to read the next one soon, if not right this second.

Only 15 minutes into this audiobook and I‘m already certain I‘m going to love it.

Finished listening to this tonight — my first Nora Ephron. Full disclosure — the writing was great and funny, but I think Meryl Streep‘s masterful narration is what really made this work for me.

I wanted to love this book, or at least really like it. The Boston Globe called it “Very funny” in large font on the back cover. Dammit, Boston.

I still like Mindy Kaling, and I thought her book was fun... just not really funNY.

Overall, I enjoyed listening to this enough that I bought a physical copy to flip through from time to time for a little pick-me-up or to share with my students when they are feeling paralyzed by perfectionism and fear of failure. Gilbert embraces failure as part of a “Who cares? Just have fun” process - not a new idea by any means, but comforting nonetheless.

This book. SO good. It‘s bonkers and beautiful and about so many things: humanity, history, culture, personal vs social obligation, colonialism, politics, climate change... I think I‘m in the minority, but I liked this more than All the Birds in the Sky.

#teamSophie

I am all in on Team Sophie.
Happy Saturday! Got my book and my Scotch; hubby‘s got his fishing pole (and three fish, so far).

Some lines were beautiful. I found chunks here and there that I understood and appreciated. Then there was the incomprehensible remainder. I felt like I was trying to view a beautiful painting in a pitch dark room with nothing but a small flashlight to help me; I‘d get glimpses of brushstrokes or colors that I would recognize or enjoy but could never see the whole picture. Apparently, I‘m just not “bright” enough to “get” these poems...