It was a beautiful evening, so I spent a bit of time in the hammock in the back yard with Gandalf and my current audiobook. Mr. Pip is set in Papua New Guinea and includes the only white man remaining on the island reading Great Expectations to students in the local school.

#audiobook #ReadingOceania2024 #PapuaNewGuinea #ReadTheWorld #ReadingTheWorld

I haven‘t been listening to this a chapter a day, but I downloaded it over the weekend to catch up. Then I just had to finish the last couple chapters last night. Even as a reread, it‘s so suspenseful. I thoroughly enjoyed it and am glad I made the time to listen again.

#PemberLittens #HashtagBrigade #audiobook

I thought about this prompt for a bit and decided on this book. Jillian lives in a small coastal Louisiana town that is slowly disappearing due to rising water. After another storm, the school is closed due to flood damage and the bridge into town is condemned. As she fights for her town and learns more about its history, she also learns how much of it has already disappeared under water.

#MiddleGrade #MiddleGradeMonday #Louisiana

This is definitely my favorite sourdough cookbook. I mixed up the dough for these overnight baguette twists yesterday afternoon, shaped them early this morning, and baked them before leaving for church. The recipe is simple and delicious!

#MtCookbook #cookbook #sourdough

I didn‘t find any life changing advice in this book, but I can see how it would be helpful for people without good relationships as models. A large part of it is about changing your own self sabotaging actions as well as considering more people as potential partners. The middle section includes some thoughtful strategies to try while actually dating new people, but much of it was just common sense.

#audiobook #nonfiction

This historical novel is set in Berlin in 1960 to 1961 in the months leading up to raising of the Berlin Wall. I‘ve read stories set in East Berlin, but always with characters ready to escape. Instead, this one includes a son of a U.S. soldier and his cousin who has grown up in East Berlin believing most of what he has been taught. They become friends during the time when people can still go back and forth between the two sides.

It‘s been a bit of a rough week, so I‘m purposefully taking this opportunity to focus on some positives.

💛 It rained yesterday, and now everything is beautifully green.
💛 We finished our first week of state testing & all students were present each day.
💛 My 6th graders were completely engaged in our math activity today.
💛 This beagle makes me happy every single day.
💛 Tonight I‘m having pizza & drinks with great friends.

#5JoysFriday

Apparently, I‘m going through a contemporary romance phase. I saw a review of this book by @LibrarianRyan the other day, and made a snap decision to see if I could find a copy. It was absolutely a pure fluff read about a football player and a librarian who are long time friends. There‘s low drama and an emphasis on body positivity.

#audiobook

This is an amazing book narrated by a horse named Joey during WWI. Joey does different jobs and ends up traveling a lot during the course of the war. It touches on some hard topics and has some truly sad scenes, but it also has a happy ending.

#MiddleGrade #MiddleGradeMonday #WWI #MsDsLibrary

I‘ve read Caroline Alexander‘s book about Shackleton‘s expedition, & I have Alfred Lansing‘s on my shelf, so I couldn‘t resist downloading this audio as well. It‘s more straightforward & scientific in a logbook sort of way than Alexander‘s, but I still found most of it fascinating as a more immediate, first person version. The part about the Aurora got long to me, but other than that, I‘m amazed by this survival story every time I read about it.

I‘m enjoying taco salad for supper and a few chapters of Anything for Billy in the backyard on this beautiful evening.

#ReadAndEat #DeweysReadathon

✅ Another strange book marked off the 1001 list! Thankfully, it was short & fairly easy to follow at double speed. It‘s a disjointed mishmash of stories with way too much graphic M/M sex for me. Some scenes were interesting in how they were repetitively told with slight variations, but I didn‘t get the point. It wasn‘t as difficult of a read as de Sade‘s Justine, but I‘m giving it the same kind of rating.

#1001books #audiobook #DeweysReadathon

This was a great listen that describes the experiences of the first six American women to be astronauts - Sally Ride, Judy Resnik, Anna Fisher, Kathy Sullivan, Shannon Lucid, and Rhea Seddon.

#nonfiction #audiobook #LitsyBookClub #DeweysReadathon

Happy Saturday and good morning! I started this audiobook with breakfast today and am looking forward to spending lots of time listening while I work around the house today.

#DeweysReadathon #readathon #BookAndBreakfast #LitsyBookClub #audiobook #nonfiction

I seldom read contemporary romance, but this one has been on my TBR for a while and I needed a light, fun read this week. It was the perfect book for the moment with two teachers in their 40s finding a happily ever after. The ending is a bit abrupt and over the top, but overall I appreciated the school setting, the focus these characters put on their work, and their clear communication. Rose‘s former in-laws also added an entertaining dimension.

I ordered a copy of this as something a bit different to add to my class library. It‘s a fun book full of thoughtful and poetic comics through the seasons. This is my favorite page but I enjoyed several. There are pages about school, writing, nature, and other topics. For most readers, I would consider this quick read more of a book to borrow rather than buy.

#MsDsLibrary #Poetry #GraphicNovel #MiddleGrade

Today I immediately thought to share Alabama Moon as a book with moon in the title, but of course it‘s currently checked out from my class library. Watt Key‘s books are favorites with several of my rural JH students. I gathered a few other titles to share as well.

#MiddleGrade #MiddleGradeMonday #MsDsLibrary

My new at school read, although I‘m pretty sure I‘ll soon be invested enough that I‘ll be taking this book back and forth. It starts out with three men meeting each other on a foggy mountain and deciding to travel together. It‘s a McMurtry novel I‘d never heard of until a former student recommended it to me.

#TeachersOfLitsy #CurrentlyReading

This was a disturbing story. I was fascinated throughout the first part as Grenouille learned all about scents (and horrified by one scene), then a bit lost by the hermit in the hills portion, and again intrigued by the next section. Then things got crazy! I have no words for the ending, but I was completely engaged in listening.

📷: Happy beagle photo to balance out the creepy murders in this story.

#1001books #audiobook #TBRTakedown April 2024

I enjoyed this historical novel set in WWI France. Pauline is a Chinese woman who came to Paris to work with her uncle in a store selling Chinese goods and antiquities. Camille is a French woman living in the French countryside near the headquarters of the Chinese Labour Corps. Their lives are brought together by Theo, Pauline‘s cousin, serving as a Chinese interpreter.

#LitsyBookClub #WWI

I don‘t have a specific weird word to share from my own book reading this week, so I‘m sharing some of Grant Snider‘s work instead. He‘s currently creating a weekly “Words of Wonder” series on SubStack that I truly enjoy. These panels are from this week‘s post. The tagged is his most recently published book.

#WeirdWords #WeirdWordWednesday

Tre is a sophomore, and his family is dealing with the recent death of his older brother. This story is about his family dealing with that grief, but it‘s also about friendship, crushes, the pressure of high school sports, and figuring out how those things work together. It‘s also about a Native American team proving themselves, and includes some action packed basketball games. 🏀

Due to language and alcohol use, I would consider this mature YA.

I like this idea from @Karisimo to share more #MiddleGrade reads!

Button Pusher is a memoir driven graphic novel about growing up with ADHD. It provided a personal perspective that has helped me be even more understanding of some of my students.

I read The Miscalculations of Lightning Girl a while ago but remember loving it. Lucy is a math genius with OCD tendencies attending middle school for the first time.

#MiddleGradeMonday #MsDsLibrary

March was a busy month for me, and I only finished 5 books. However, that included Evelina, The Brothers Karamazov, and The Silmarillion, which are all pretty long and/or in-depth reads. My favorite this month was absolutely rereading The Silmarillion. I‘m also thoroughly enjoying slowly making my way through The Complete Sherlock Holmes. Orlando is currently paused/in hibernation.

#BookSpinBingo #MonthlyStats #ReadingStats #DaiseysReadingSummary

I‘ve appreciated the world building of this book every time I‘ve read it, but after multiple rereads I can simply enjoy reading it as well. There are epic stories with amazing characters. Yet, it only shows a small part of the world Tolkien created, and now reading it makes me want to reread books with other versions as well. This time I switched throughout between print, ebook, & audio versions.

#FellowshipOfTolkien #Silmarillion #reread

I finished this yesterday on my drive because I knew I‘d have a busy weekend with family and didn‘t want to drag it into April. I didn‘t enjoy it, and I probably wouldn‘t have finished it without the #HashtagBrigade. I had a hard time staying focused on many chapters and just didn‘t care what was happening or being discussed. Maybe I‘d get more from it at a different time, but I‘m probably not going to try again.

#TheBros #audiobook #1001books

Sharing a weird word of the week a day late. I‘ve read The Silmarillion several times but never stopped to figure out exactly what weregild meant until this week. In this case, Isildur kept the one ring as a weregild for his father & brother killed in battle.

weregild: monetary value set for a person and paid to their family or lord if slain; also man price or blood money (noun)

#FellowshipOfTolkien #Silmarillion
#WeirdWords #WeirdWordWednesday

Happy Tolkien Reading Day! The Tolkien Society chose to focus on Service & Sacrifice as a theme this year. With that in mind, I‘m sharing this quote that I love about the small deeds of simple people being important in the matters of the world.

Additionally, today is Annunciation Day, recognized by the Catholic Church, and Lady Day, for a long time considered the beginning of the new year in England.

#FellowshipOfTolkien #TolkienReadingDay

“Of Tuor and the Fall of Gondolin” is one of the stories in The Silmarillion that is only a tiny portion of what Tolkien actually wrote about this event. I had to go look up some other passages and revisit the illustrations by Alan Lee after reading the chapter.

#FellowshipOfTolkien #Silmarillion

I‘m playing catch up again this weekend. This is another epic story, but unlike most of Tolkien‘s stories that end on a hopeful note, the story of Turin is truly a tragedy. It includes the dragon Glaurung and the sword Gurthang, which are both important and fascinating characters as well.

#FellowshipOfTolkien #Silmarillion

Yesterday I made the jalapeño cheddar sourdough from the tagged cookbook. I shaped one larger loaf and a few of these small rolls as well. The combination made for an amazing sausage and egg breakfast sandwich along with the chipotle mayo I made as well.

#MtCookbook #Cookbook #Sourdough

There are so many parts of The Silmarillion that I truly enjoy when rereading, but this has got to by my favorite story. I love Luthien‘s strength and dedication, and Huan is another amazing character. I read a few pages last night and then listened to all of it today.

#FellowshipOfTolkien #Silmarillion #BooksAndBooze

This book has been on my TBR for a while because I liked From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. I enjoyed this one, but I felt it was somewhat disjointed with the separate stories and too short of a time with all the characters together. I was expecting a bit more about the preparation and actual competition of the team.

#MiddleGrade #MiddleGradeMarch #audiobook

I‘m not doing a great job of posting regularly about The Silmarillion or weird words lately, but I‘m sharing this one before I call it a night. Leaguer is a word that‘s pretty easy to figure out in context, but it‘s definitely not one I read often. Leaguer can be a noun meaning a siege and can also be a verb meaning to besiege.

#WeirdWords #WeirdWordWednesday #FellowshipOfTolkien #Silmarillion

I started out reading this on Serial Reader but fell horribly behind and downloaded the audio. This weekend I caught up and then finished it. I was frequently amused by Evelina‘s complete naïveté in telling her story.

This audio edition includes an afterword by Orson Scott Card about reading this book because of his interest in Jane Austen that I found especially interesting.

#audiobooks #1001books #epistolary #RandomClassics

It took a long time for me to become invested in this story of a Bengali couple that moves to the U.S. and starts their own family. Yet, in the end I really enjoyed reading Gogol‘s story.

#audiobook #1001books #Reading1001 #TBRTakedown March 2024

Post 1/2: When I read ”Of the Flight of the Noldor” now after reading the History of Middle-Earth (HoME), I always miss the actual inclusion of the oath of Fëanor and his sons. Reading the words feels so much more dramatic than only a narrative description. So, I‘m sharing two versions. This is the version from the tagged book.

#FellowshipOfTolkien #Silmarillion

Post 2/2: When I read ”Of the Flight of the Noldor” now after reading the History of Middle-Earth (HoME), I always miss the actual inclusion of the oath of Fëanor and his sons. Reading the words feels so much more dramatic than only a narrative description. So, I‘m sharing two versions. This is the earlier version in poem form from the tagged book, and my favorite.

#FellowshipOfTolkien #Silmarillion

I haven‘t had much actual reading time lately, so I caught up yesterday on audio while I took my beagle Luthien for a long rambling walk. “Of the Flight of the Noldor” is heartbreaking to me every time, but it‘s also an amazing story.

This morning I read “Of the Sindar” with breakfast. Here we learn more about Thingol & Melian and meet their daughter Luthien.

#FellowshipOfTolkien #Silmarillion #BreakfastWithTolkien #BookAndBreakfast

February #BookSpinBingo
I finished 8 books and have several longer reads in progress.

#BookSpin Misty of Chincoteague
#DoubleSpin The Year of the Hare

#MonthlyStats #ReadingStats #DaiseysReadingSummary

This book was a rather odd but delightful journey around Finland. I was by turns baffled by the main character Vatanen‘s choices and amused by the resulting events. Compared to much of my reading it was a generally lighter and entertaining read, although Vatanen does make some choices that get him into a some serious scrapes.

#ReadAroundTheWorld #ReadTheWorld #Finland #1001books #audiobook #translated

Yesterday I caught up on my reading of The Silmarillion. Now that we‘ve gotten into the Quenta Silmarillion itself, there are so many names. I appreciate this chart detailing the sundering of the elves. Then, this morning I read “Of Thingol and Melian” in which Elwe falls in love with the Melian, a Maia, and therefore stays in Middle-Earth and becomes known as Thingol.

#FellowshipOfTolkien #Silmarillion

I‘m enjoying and intrigued by this book that mixes New Zealand history with personal memoir.

I listened to quite a bit of it today while walking with Luthien. She‘s got a new tracking collar so she can spend more time off leash, and she very much enjoyed it today.

#FoodAndLit #NewZealand #ReadingOceania2024 #nonfiction #memoir #audiobook #audiowalk #DogsOfLitsy

This week‘s word isn‘t from a current book, but instead a talk I watched about Tolkien‘s art. The speaker examined several illustrations pointing out possible faces. He also showed examples from the natural world. This is my own favorite from the creek near my sister‘s house. We called it the dog rock from the first day we saw it.

pareidolia: (noun) the perception of patterns or recognizable images, especially faces in accidental arrangement

I thought the story of 101 year old WWI veteran Geordie, his family, and his memories was difficult while also interesting and thought provoking. There were very relatable moments about death. However, the other storyline with Nick‘s family and the history of their home did not mesh well for me. I‘m not sure if I‘m just missing things or they really didn‘t work well together.

#1001books #audiobook

I never went through a horse crazy phase, so I didn‘t read these any of these Marguerite Henry books as a kid. They make for an enjoyable and relaxing listen now.

#ChildrensClassicRead2024 #audiobook #MiddleGrade

I lost my library audiobook for a few days, and I was almost to the point of finding a version on LibriVox. Luckily, my hold came back in fairly quickly, and I spent time this weekend catching up on the past week‘s chapters. So glad for the buddy read to keep me going through this one. Now, are we actually about to get to the murder?

#PemberLittens #HashtagBrigade #TheBros #1001books #audiobook

Happy Sunday Littens! I‘m so looking forward to rereading this again with a group of readers here. It‘s sometimes a tough read, but I get more out of every reread.

#FellowshipOfTolkien #Silmarillion #reread #BreakfastWithTolkien #BookAndBreakfast

This morning I saw discussion posts & realized I had kind of forgotten about The Sign of the Four this month. Luckily it‘s not too long, so it was a perfect listen while I worked around the house & took a walk with my own hound. The inclusion of Toby is one of the things I really enjoy in this story. I found it much more interesting & entertaining than A Study in Scarlet.

#NoPlaceLikeHolmes #Sherlocked #audiobook #audiowalk #DogsOfLitsy #reread

#FellowshipOfTolkien Readers,
Life has been a busy and I realized last night that I‘ve yet to share a schedule for The Silmarillion. I adjusted a previous schedule to include weekly catch up days since I know many of us are reading multiple things and The Silmarillion can be hard reading. I‘m so looking forward to reading this again with you all! I‘d love to see your edition as we get started.

#Silmarillion #ReadingSchedule #JRRTolkien