I understand the assignment! ☕️🫖📚😎

Stopped at Syd‘s Book Shack in Madison, CT, for their annual sale. It‘s a nonprofit used bookstore that raises funds to purchase assistive communication devices for nonverbal people. Here‘s my haul—and a view of the marsh out the back window.

Friday afternoon —made it to the end of the week! It‘s time to log off the work computer and enjoy a snack of chips and salsa while reading a book about serial killers.

#lifeisgood

1. My Marine son is home for a week before he leaves for another deployment on Aug. 3
2. The boardwalk in town with a gorgeous view of the ocean
3. Beautiful gardens at our town library
4. Anti-Prime sale at Bookshop.org
5. The humidity finally broke and today‘s weather is lovely 🥰

#5JoysFriday

When you completed the entire summer reading challenge at your library in less than 3 weeks but you‘re holding onto the entry form because you don‘t want the librarians to feel bad because it was too easy. 😚

I picked up this book and fell into it, coming up for air after 200 pages. It‘s a heartbreaking (trigger warning: death of a child) tale of the mistakes we make that irrevocably change our lives. Do we deserve mercy, forgiveness and reconciliation when we‘ve hurt the ones we love? Wally Lamb has done it again.

We were totally annoyed when we showed up at the blood draw station this morning for our fasting test and discovered that a glitch in the computer system meant that the appointment we had made on the app didn‘t go through and we‘ll have to come back another day. We were going to complain loudly but we decided that WE DON‘T CARE—and we went and bought doughnuts instead. 😎

#wdncw #wedonotcarewednesday

@marleed TAG, you‘re it! You posted a review with an image of the ocean on its cover, and that‘s this week‘s theme for the new scavenger hunt game created by @Chrissyreadit ! Your turn to spot a Litten! 😀

#tagyoureit

A-freaking-men. 🙌🏼😖

I‘ve been wanting to read Robert Caro‘s books about Lyndon Johnson for forever —hoping to get a start on the first one before this year is up.

#sundayfunday
@BookmarkTavern
#readingispolitical

Just finished my library books and was contemplating what to pick up next —and Wally Lamb appeared on my local news to discuss his new book. Ok, Wally! I got the message. Diving in now.

I know that Cosby writes characters who are difficult to root for—they are morally and ethically complicated. And they make choices that are hard to stomach. Every one of his books is a roller coaster ride, and I‘m totally here for it. But oof… this one was DARK. 😬

In 2009, historian Wendy Lower discovered this photo in the US Holocaust Memorial Museum. It depicts the actual moment of the murder of a Jewish family in 1941. Over a 10-year period, Lower conducted extensive research to identify the location and date of the mass executions, the German and Ukrainian soldiers who pulled the triggers, the Slovakian photographer who snapped the photo —and the identities of the woman and her children. #antifabookclub

This is the best thing the U.S. Postal Service has ever done and do not argue with me about it—I will brook no dissent. 😍🔥

We saw the weather forecast for the next week, and it included all the terrible “H” words that we hate about summer: hazy, hot and humid. 😖 We know that many people look forward to beach days all winter long, but WE DO NOT CARE for this weather and these temperatures. At all. We will be spending the weekend indoors with a book to avoid the humidity.

#WDNCW #WeDoNotCareWednesday
@dabbe

AMEN. 🙌🏼

I‘m a nonfiction geek, so these are the books that come to mind for when I need an emotional pep talk: Historians of fascism offer their guides to surviving and resisting America‘s recent turn towards authoritarianism. Because those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

Thanks for the tag, @Chrissyreadit !
#overcomingevilempires #readingispolitical #antifabookclub

When you‘re at the airport and you already have a loaded iPad and a paperback in your bag, but you can‘t resist picking up one of the books that made NPR‘s list of best nonfiction reads for summer 2025.

And that‘s a wrap for June 2025. Balanced perfectly between fiction and nonfiction reads —just the way I like it ! 👍🏼

We do not care that we went to pick up our library hold today without a bra on because a) it‘s 100-freaking-degrees outside and who wants any additional fabric touching their body?? and b) as a woman of a certain age we are basically invisible so nobody even noticed anyway. 🙄😄

#WDNCW #WeDoNotCareWednesday
@dabbe

Our library just started an intergenerational Read for Your Rights Book Club focusing on books that have been banned. Last night we met to discuss “Giovanni‘s Room.” I‘d never read Baldwin before and I was blown away by his prose. The discussion was wonderful. And the participants ranged in age from 18-early 70s, which provided a richer understanding and sharing of perspectives. Next up is “The Things They Carried.

The mystery is OK—a bit meandering and confusing. The characters, however, are what makes this book. I liked Amy, I loved Steve —and I adored Rosie D‘Antonio. She‘s a hot ticket. 😄 Even the bad guys were wonderfully droll. I‘ll read more of this series.

Even famous people geek out about authors!

I read a wide range of genres, but I‘d have to pick narrative nonfiction. I do so love a well-written nonfiction account that educates me about a person, event or topic while entertaining me at the same time.

#SundayFunday
@BookmarkTavern

Reading about the damage Facebook has done to democracy and society made me horrified, depressed and sick to my stomach. I literally felt like throwing up at the chapters about Facebook‘s role in the destabilization of Myanmar and active influence in the 2016 U.S. election. May Mark Zuckerberg, Sheryl Sandberg, Joel Kaplan, etc. all burn in Hell. 😖

Short, sweet book about the friction that comes with relationships and marriages and the forgiveness needed to maintain them over long periods of time. As someone who‘s been married for almost 34 years now, I found myself nodding along to much of the dialogue and situations.

Heading out for our local #NoKingsDay protest and taking it to the streets. 💪🏼🇺🇸

When your office has a Summer Fridays policy and you can log off at noon to lounge in the yard with a cold drink and a stack of books on a glorious sunny day. 🥰

The harrowing tale of a cruise ship at the very start of the Covid-19 pandemic, and how the virus spread throughout the passengers and crew. A must-read for anyone who still thinks Covid was/is “basically like a cold.” It was frightening to read about how quickly things went terribly wrong and how politics stranded the people on board with no way off the ship.

Oh, it‘s a happy day when the new Wally Lamb book arrives in your mailbox! 😍🤩💃🏻🕺

A soft pick. Provides a background on the lives of four female scientists (2 Jewish, 2 not) and how they managed to get out of Nazi Germany. Also gives good info on the various immigration processes that people tried to use to escape. However, it‘s rather repetitive and I really don‘t like it when authors interject their personal opinions or make subjective snarky comments in a work of nonfiction like this.

I rarely listen to audiobooks. Except, of course, when it‘s a Malcolm Gladwell book read by Malcolm Gladwell. I was actually offered the hard copy of this from the library 3 months ago, but I declined and stayed on the waitlist until the audiobook was available. This dive into social epidemics and tipping points and how the overstories we create lead us in directions that are both unexpected and predictable was worth the wait.

This is the most depressing news I‘ve read in a long time.

https://www.abcactionnews.com/us-news/education/reading-to-kids-at-all-time-low-...

This is a soft pick. It kills me to say it, but I didn‘t love this one. While it had Backman‘s trademark humor and emotional depth, it felt meandering, verbose and somewhat saccharine. And in many places, the writing was more juvenile than you‘d expect. I thought maybe it was the translation, but no —it‘s the same translator as previous books. I was actually reading quickly just to get it over with. I guess they can‘t all be home runs. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Stats for May 2025. I‘m actually surprised that I managed to finish this many books/pages, given that we were traveling for the first two weeks of the month!

This book wasn‘t what I expected—and that‘s not a good thing. I don‘t like romance. But the back cover summary intrigued me —is it about two serial killers finding love? How would that even work? Halfway through, though, it veered unevenly into standard rom-com — and I promptly lost interest and skimmed to the end.

This #AuthorAMonth book wrecked me. It‘s the 5th Everett I‘ve read; every one has been an incredible experience. He published 3 versions of this book, where the stories diverge at 3 different fulcrum points — where thoughts either do/do not lead to actions and plans that are/are not followed to completion. The differences seem minor, but tiny choices have big impacts on the outcome. My version was C: If you‘ve read A or B, tell me your thoughts.

9 years?? Time certainly flies when you‘re reading with fellow book lovers!

@Kshakal , happy Litsyversary to my Litsy twin!

Fun and quick read about the guys who made watching arguments entertaining. 👍🏼 I always enjoyed “Siskel & Ebert” — they were smart, sharp and opinionated. In this bio Siskel comes across as a jerk, though. 👎🏼 The “pranks” he played on Ebert behind the scenes weren‘t very funny — it sounds more like bullying to me. 😖 Thanks to @JoeMo and #AuldLangSpine for putting this one on my radar!

Tried to read this for #BookedinTime, but I have to throw in the towel. The narrative is plodding and pedantic and the dialogue comes across as lectures by the characters. Life is too short —moving on.

This book was funny and weird and provocative and brilliant and completely bonkers. And I couldn‘t put it down. Percival Everett is an absolute gift to literature. #AuthorAMonth
 @Soubhiville

It used to be “War & Peace” or “Les Miserables” (I don‘t remember which one is longer!) — until the #Clarissa Crew took down this monster (all 1,781 pages/ 943,000 words of it). It‘s considered the longest novel ever written in English. I will never not brag — and complain — about finishing this one. 😄

#sundayfunday
@BookmarkTavern

I‘ve known for years that I should read this classic but the description of it as “romantic suspense” left me feeling lukewarm about picking it up. But I needed a paperback for our trip, so I packed this one and figured that would finally force me to read it. I‘m glad I did. I wouldn‘t classify it as “romance” at all—just delightfully creepy Gothic suspense. Check this one off the list. ✔️

So excited to arrive home from vacation to find this in the pile of bills and junk mail!

The only word that comes to mind to describe this book is “interminable.” It was probably a good thing I was stuck on an 8-hour flight or I may not have finished it.

When I was a junior in high school, my English teacher told us about her escape from Budapest during the 1956 revolution, and how she swam to freedom across the Danube River with a backpack that contained only a change of clothes and a copy of “Hamlet.” (You try explaining that you don‘t care for Shakespeare after that story…) She was brilliant and terrifying and she scared the crap out of me. And she pushed me to become a better writer … ⬇️

My husband and I have made it to Budapest on our trek through Eastern Europe. I‘ve tried to pick up a book in each country (but I missed out in Bulgaria and Croatia—not enough time to track down bookstores in the towns where we were that sell English editions). Anyway, I couldn‘t decide between a nonfiction and a fiction for Hungary —so I got them both. 😀 My carry-on is bursting at the seams now. Good thing we‘re heading home this weekend! 😬

This is the book I picked up from the Serbia leg of our trip through Eastern Europe.

Today‘s find in Belgrade: the Serbian edition of “Cutting for Stone.”