Labor intensive for presentation purposes only. Nothing very original in terms of smoothie content. Nice if you want to serve something special for a brunch but not useful on the daily

❤️🥰🦕

A solid and delightful #bookspinbingo May!

A unique urban fantasy that takes moral ambiguity to the next level. Fascinating and intriguing. I was thinking about a reread before I even finished.

June #bookspin list ready to go!

Still, on a certain summer‘s morning, she carelessly allowed her heart to be seduced by the sight of a remarkable orange-furred cat, a rough but handsome bully of the back alleys. He stood outside her door, greeted the smallday in a fine yodeling voice, claws stropped to a razor finish, whiskers, proud like filaments of new brass. —The Beancounter‘s Cat by Damien Broderick

If you are, like me, someone who loves good food but hates cooking, I cannot recommend Instant Pots and Urvashi Pitre's cookbooks enough. The food is good, the clean-up is limited, and the need to be present in the kitchen (instead of reading) is minimal. If also like me, you just want simple exact steps to follow because you have the soul of an accountant and not a cook, she is also the cookbook writer for you.

I have a lot to say about this one, all of it good and too complex to boil down to the character limit here on Litsy. I try to avoid this, but it‘s best to see my full review on StoryGraph in this case: https://app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/0c0bb64a-a69d-4b16-ae3a-b7c5e2704378

I had entirely forgotten this book until it was returned at our branch and I saw the art on the cover. I had last read it at age 8, but I had read it over and over again. 42 years later, I found myself only remembering the joy that I associated with it and the comforting familiarity of the art. This book certainly shows it's age in some ways, but what a delightful escape it provided me as a child. I'm delighted to have remade its acquaintance.

It‘s clever and all, but I just don‘t give a fuck what happens. #doublespin

“All of the true things I am about to tell you are shameless lies.”

From the blurb to the start, this sucked me right in building a fantastical dystopian world around a misanthrope fighting for survival. It's an enticing tale with a shock in the middle and Oooooo DAMN! What an incredible ending.

From the blurb to the start, this sucked me right in building a fantastical dystopian world around a misanthrope fighting for survival. It's an enticing tale with a shock in the middle and Oooooo DAMN! What an incredible ending.

Just not for me but others may love. It had an absolutely rousing start but the romantic subplot got to be too much for me about midway through. I have a low threshold. #bookspin is off my tbt though!

“… he preferred stories to real life, which was messy and full of plot holes and disappointing protagonists. You couldn‘t count on real life to deliver a satisfying twist, just more complications and the random violence of everyday heartbreak.” —Laurie Penny, The Hundredth House Had No Walls

An absolutely marvelous bilingual*, middle-grade biography of Julio C. Tello, Peruvian Archaeologist and member of Congress. It tells not only his story, but speaks to the importance of people telling their own stories rather than having those stories told by outsiders who, more often than not, fail to consult those individuals with living experiences of the topic.

*Spanish and English

Language matters. Invaded, not discovered or explored, tells the truth of history in an age-appropriate way.

How I love doing this 💕📚🖋️📓

Very much enjoying this dinosaur book geared towards adults ❤️🦕

Got a couple for April! #bookspinbingo

#bookspin list ready for May!

I do so love an unreliable narrator. Fun scifi mixed with social messaging about PTSD and an all-around anti-war message.

A beautiful, complex, and sad novel with an unexpected ending. This one will stick with me for a while.

“For girls, becoming women was inevitability. For boys, becoming men was ambition.”

Loving this art

If it's a collection of excerpts, advertise it as such NOT as a collection of short stories. All false presentation does is turn me off of the authors and the publisher.

I love novels in verse, and I definitely enjoyed this YA historical fiction. A very satisfying #bookspin

I sped through this graphic and am so sad that I'm done now. The art is truly lovely to behold, the characters are a delight, and adventure is exciting. The worst part is not knowing when I'm going to get more. 🙁

Even if I don‘t like the story, I‘m going to enjoy the art. ❤️

Well that was a fast #doublespin. I don‘t care for the writing style at all. It sounds quite authentically like a middle-grader telling you a story. I know some folks don‘t mind that which is great because that‘s how we have teachers and children‘s librarians but I am none of these things.

If you‘re listening to this on audio, when you get to the last essay (the one about Terry Pratchett and his death), have a tissue handy. I‘ve read that one in print before, but hearing Neil himself read it is much more emotional.

Ummm, so, then it‘s not. Never DNFed a book before the list of contents before. Pity, I‘m rather interested in the history of Jewish organized crime battling nazis. 🫤

Stopped at 17%. This one feels significantly slower than the first two and has a significant portion focusing on a romantic relationship.

Not the Instant Pot cookbook I‘m looking for. There are too many steps that happen outside of the pot in other pots and pans. The recipes look flavorful and will certainly save time compared to other methods of cooking the same dishes; however, I‘m heavily invested in saving dishes.

My April #bookspinbingo list

No #bookspinbingo for March but I had some mighty fine reading.

This is really good with lots of moral ambiguity, but it pushed my tolerance for violence and grimness to the edge. Also, I feel fairly safe in giving this a content warning for pretty much everything you might consider warning someone about. GREAT narrator.

“Local civilian women firefighters struggling to control the fires that raged in Pearl Harbor after the Japanese attack, 7 December 1941.”

Thoughtful, vulnerable, and humorous. Exactly what I look for in a memoir. An excellent #doublespin read.

This is a great cookbook for people who are using the instant pot so they don‘t need as much time to cook. I, however, am much too lazy for this cookbook. The recipes look delicious though.

The book lost me when it claimed that legendary folklore heroine Mulan was based on Amazonian legend and referred to her as a “modern day” heroine along with Zena Warrior Princess and Wonder Woman. Way to ignore millennia of Chinese culture. A disappointing #bookspin read but it‘s off the list.

A thoughtful political fantasy that moves at a relaxed pace. A leisurely and gentle read. Quite different from what one normally finds in political fantasy and quite enjoyable.

I love Indian food, and this has made having it at home so much easier. Plus there are recipes for masalas and dishes that I‘ve never seen here in the US.

There‘s some racist language in this that‘s awfully hard to stomach and a complete lack of lovable characters. There is something compelling about the story despite all that though. Michael C. Hall‘s narration is excellent.

I had no idea that any of the Cosmere books were Weird Westerns and I'm thrilled. The action in this is tremendous. The characters are a delight. Such a fun read.

I had no idea that any of the Cosmere books were Weird Westerns and I'm thrilled. The action in this is tremendous. The characters are a delight. Such a fun read.

Charles Keeping‘s haunting illustrations are a perfect compliment to Tennyson Arthurian poem. An absolute pleasure to read. Would definitely recommend taking a look at this edition to lovers of ink drawings, poetry, or the lore of Camelot.

A few near-misses for February #bookspinbingo but I am nevertheless pleased.

Ready to spring into March #bookspin 🙃

An excellent examination of how and why caste works in our society as well as explaining why it is so damaging. A thoroughly edifying #doublespin read.