My TBR got so long scrolling through all the posts with nominees for #camplitsy24 🙈 So here are mine!

This was.. ok I guess? I did finish it. But I didn‘t connect with any of the characters and the story was very far from being relatable or meaningful. It was more some kind of emotionless reading. Which was ok as well, as it still soothed my forever-thinking head for a moment. #bookspin

I picked a picture book for this month‘s #foodandlit for Venezuela. While it was a nice story, I felt like the history in it wasn‘t really explained but just implied, assuming the reader just knows. And especially for children‘s books, I don‘t like that.

Definite pan. Read this for a bookclub, that‘s also the only reason I finished it. It was way too gory for my liking and when the homophobic undertones started, I was out.

I wanted to get a head-start for this month‘s #Naturalitsy, but it was so interesting, I finished even before the month started.

A journalist travels to the eight bear-species that are left on our planet and tells their story, their past and future in a very engaging yet informative style.

Bears have always been my favourite animals but I didn‘t know that much about them. That has changed now. I will remember the facts I read for a long time.

Completely redid my #bookspin list this month in the hopes to get some more numbers read than in the last two. I am excited! @TheAromaofBooks

Picked this for #foodandlit as it‘s set in South Korea and it‘s the second book I read this year that was set in Asia and teaches the power of changing your mindset. I liked it even though it took me longer to finish it than I thought it would.

My #bookspin this month. Had to bail. I couldn‘t care less.

Still in my fluffy bookish book bubble. But I think I am ready to step out of it now. This one was nice, kept me engaged. I liked the characters and the love for books.

I wanted to stay a bit longer in my feelgood-bookish-book-bubble. This one was the next on my shelf. The end felt a bit rushed. But the thing I loved is how a book‘s story is different for everyone who reads it.

My first #Naturalitsy read this year and oh, it was fascinating! Loved all the history and the facts. There‘s so much you just take for granted and never really ask yourself how it got here in the first place. It also I am itching to finally go outside and start planting but I have to wait another month…

Not my usual read. But I needed something light and fluffy and my #bookspin this month delivered. Cute cozy tale from a tiny English village with a good community and books.

Another one for this month‘s #foodandlit Had this on my TBR for quite some time. It felt a bit like cheating, though, as I started an audiobook which turned out to be an abridged version. I only noticed when I was already too deep into the story to start again.

I like to dive into books without much checking them out beforehand. But sometimes it‘s better to read some trigger warnings. This was this month‘s pick for #foodandlit. It started lovely but then got very dark very fast. And then even darker. It‘s a fascinating autobiography, I read it till the end. But for you so you don‘t make the same mistake: trigger warnings are in the comments.

Even though it is in my favourite „genre“ books with/about books, I never read this. Now I had to because it was a bookclub pick and I struggled. The scattered storytelling never let me fully get into the story. I liked the characters but I think it would have been much more powerful if their story would have been told differently.

I am struggling with a bookclub-book, so had to sneak in a short read. This has been on my tbr ever since I read „Small Things Like These“ and when I saw it on @JamieArc #AuldLangSpine list, I was very happy. Claire Keegan manages to built so much with so little words. I like it a lot. @monalyisha

Oh, this book. It holds you in a warm and tight hug, telling you everything is gonna be alright while at the same time lovingly shoving you in the right direction to do something new. I absolutely loved it. So much, that I have a proper book-hangover now.

„You may say that it was the book, but it was how you read a book that is most valuable, rather than any power it might have itself.“

this book 😍

A crime-story set in Ghana. A forensic scientist, a village and an old story. I loved this! Didn‘t want to stop reading.

This has been my #FoodandLit book, so today I cooked joloff rice with chicken legs.

(Also can we please have more books in this format? My little hands appreciate this!)

#FoodandLit @Texreader @Catsandbooks

I have read this slow. Tried to take some time each day, on the train, during lunch, in a quiet minute after dark, or hidden away in a bathroom-stall in the place where I work. This got to me. But in so many different ways. And I learned more than ever, that you read differently in every different (head-)space.

Thank you again for chosing this @JamieArc

#ALSpine @monalyisha

This month‘s #bookspin is a proper lockdown book. The first I read and I don‘t know how to feel about it. I like the idea - in lockdown, people can mail in with their problems/situation and the bookshop „prescribes“ them some books. But there were too many character so the storylines stayed on the surface. And those who went deeper seemed too extreme. Also some of the backstories weren‘t resolved? ⬇️

Read this for my bookclub. I can understand how people really like it and connect with it but it wasn‘t for me. This all felt too constructed, the story, the characters and mostly the storytelling.

One ring to rule them all, one ring to find them, one ring to bring them all and in the darkness, where they know they should actually go to sleep but even though they have read this story many times before somehow can‘t put the book down, bind them.

Reread done. Loved it as much as always.

#bookmail!
First one is for #FoodandLit, second one is for my IRL Bookclub and the third one I just had to get. Also ordered Margaret Renkl‘s „Comfort of Crows“ but its still missing a delivery date :(

„I know most people try hard to do good and find out too late they should have tried softer.“

I want to highlight the whole thing. I don‘t know what it is with poetry that it just… ugh… ~gets to you. I will devour this in tiny bits. #ALSpine

The first 3/4 of the fourth book for me is always the hardest part to get through. But I made it right before midnight and finished it this morning, enjoying the sun. I can think of worse ways to start a new year :)

Bullet journal is set up (so many bookish spreads! 😍) and my reader is equipped with some of my #AuldLangSpine reads. I had to use a lot of willpower not to start with the tagged book already. I am really looking forward to it! @JamieArc

Here it is, my #MtCookBook. I will try to chose one for each month and cook at least one new recipe from it. Thank you @Tamra for the inspiration! I love how I am now have two Litsy-Challenges that also contain cooking 😊

Finished this in what felt like no time, even though I took care to read every word. I don‘t know what it is with these books. I have read them so many times but I still can‘t wait to read more to know what happens next.

I have not done one of these before, but @monalyisha has suggested this for #AuldLangSpine, so I thought, why not :)

Hi @JamieArc , I am Anna, 36 years old, living in Switzerland. I read mostly as an escape from my very busy and hectic life as a sports journalist and mum of a very active 4-years-old. My reading is all over the place: bookclub-reads, cozy crimes, stuff I stumbled over on Litsy. I am also a big sucker for books about books.

Second Gaiman I read for my bookclub this year. Didn‘t care much about it, though. Maybe it was too short.

It‘s time. It‘s been four years since I last read this. But a couple of weeks ago, I felt the urge creep up on me and suddenly no other book felt interesting enough anymore. So here we are again. With my old friend. I am looking forward to it.

Japanese feminist ghost stories. I liked the atmosphere all of these short stories created. It took my quite some time to get through it, though. I am in a bit of a reading slump. So what do you do? You sign up to challenges. Just sent in my form for #AuldLangSpine

This was weird but in a very charming way. I wanted to bail after the prologue but I am so glad I didn‘t. But the book would have been just as good without it.

After years of having it on my tbr-pile I finally read this. It was beautiful and sad and still so accurate in today‘s time. That really got me.

#bookmail! Whoop whoop. Was eyeing this for quite a while and since it‘s our #Naturalitsy December-read, I finally gave it. It‘s a beauty! @AllDebooks

A what a wonderful book. Heartbreaking yet still warm. Alfonsina Strada is best known for taking part in the Giro d‘Italia 1924. She‘s still the only woman who has ever ridden in one of the three Grand Tours.

Her story is the story of a fighter, who - against all odds - keeps on fighting. She wins, breaks records, she loses (her money, her husband). But the only thing she ever wants is being accepted by her family.

To be honest, I kind of expected the cliché Small-Town-Bookstore-Needs-To-Be-Saved-Storyline but was surprised by the interesting characters and a story-arc wider than expected.

Already did my #bookspin-list for November. It‘s a completely new one. I am so excited! (Also: wtf? It‘s November?!?) @TheAromaofBooks

After Tomorrow, Tomorrow.. I was again in the mood for something contemporary and I turned to Sally Rooney. The thing with her books is: I read and think „but tbh, this is boring“ - and then I think: „but this is life. This is exactly what people are like!“ So yes, lots of points for accurately picturing Life. Nevertheless, it was too long.

I started this book and read and read and then came to a point at which I didn‘t know I was still reading because I liked it or because I was feeling sorry for it. (this months #bookspin)

Finally managed to read one od the #goldenagecrimeclub picks. It said it‘s a binliomystery but the book didn‘t play that big of a role. I didn‘t mind. There was a female character I liked.

Oh this made me read past my bedtime for the last two nights. I just had to know how it ends. First it felt like a warm blanket with the gaming and the 90s. I read so many gaming-books in the actual 90s. Then it shifted and I just had to finish it. Fast.

Almost forgot to post this. This was my first #buddyread in ages. It was for #Naturalitsy. Saw it while scrolling and it somehow caught me and I dived right in. It took me a time to get into it but then I loved it very much. It was so interesting! I will keep all of the funghi-facts with me for a long time, I think 🙂

I loved the first part about the pool. But then it kind of hit a bit too close to home for me to enjoy it properly. Which probably also shows that it‘s quite good.

Read 6 books in September, so I updated my #bookspin-List. Yay! @TheAromaofBooks Lots of books-about-books this time.

Did some #audioknitting last night with this. It was a cute story, perfect for a read-through in one sitting. But it wasn‘t about books.

This month‘s #bookspin got me two crime stories set in Britonny. I really liked this one. I have a soft spot for sea-and-storm-stories and this delivered. I also liked the fact that it was a crime story that did not end with a big-bang-detective-in-danger.

Oh god, they confused Baseball with Basketball in the translation 🤦‍♀️ Makes me want to bail immediately.

Graphic novel about a girl, growing up in Turkey. And about finding oneself. Absolutely loved it.