This is a great dog story! There are some rough moments throughout as Sam‘s owner does not treat his dogs well, but in the end things work out for Sam & the boy Evan he befriends. Evan also has an interesting group of friends at school that add to the story.

🎧 Audio duration: 4 hours 48 minutes

* I received this #MiddleGrade #audiobook through the #Librofm Educator #ALC program.

📷: My pets are cozy inside while it‘s dreary & rainy outside.

I thoroughly enjoyed this story of a glassmaking family through time. The way in which it skips through time while focusing on the same family is a fascinating storytelling technique, and it includes so many interesting details about glassmaking in Murano and the history of Venice.

#LitsyBookClub #audiobook

This is a fun, short listen for someone who finds microbes fascinating! I had hoped there would be more about the human microbiome, but it‘s about all different kinds of microbes in the world around us. I would also be interested to see the illustrations that go with this #nonfiction book for middle grade readers.

🎧 Audio duration: 1 hour 57 minutes

* I received this #MiddleGrade #audiobook through the #Librofm Educator #ALC program.

Last weekend was so busy that I never had time to share, so I‘ve got two weeks of joy!
💛 Bored Teachers comedy show with friends/colleagues #TeachersOfLitsy
💛 End of the school year events and graduation for another class
💛 As commencement speaker, I was able to reminisce with the seniors about writing and reading projects as well as personal memories from our experiences together.
⬇️

School‘s out for the summer, so I‘ve got a few quiet mornings to enjoy a slow start with a book. I‘m looking forward to getting into this next Shardlake novel. I read it once before, but in a rush so that I remember even less than the others I read longer ago.

#BookAndBreakfast #ShardlakeBR #reread

Toni Morrison is a master at describing the most devastating and heartbreaking stories with wonderful language, and to hear this one in her voice added to that. Some of her books strike me much more than others and this is one of stronger. The switching perspectives and sometimes backwards storytelling were somewhat confusing, but they all had purpose and are worth the effort to follow.

#audiobook #1001books #Reading1001
#TBRTakedown May 2025

ensorcell: enchant, fascinate (verb)

#WeirdWords #WeirdWordWednesday

This was not the book for me. It‘s a strange, dark story with repetitive scenes from the perspective of a narrator frequently in an opium haze. At least that‘s how it seemed to me. I also think I missed aspects due to differences of culture & translation. I feel there‘s much more symbolism than I‘m aware of.

📷: Gandalf kept me company during my #HammockReading this evening.

#translated #1001books #Reading1001 #TBRTakedown April 2025

I went to Audible looking for something else this morning and stumbled across this upcoming release. I tend to use the library or Serial Reader for most classics, but I also appreciate making the most of my credits with collections so I preordered. This collection featuring several narrators will be released in the middle of June.

#WhatTheDickens

It‘s been a whirlwind week/weekend, but I made time today to finish my #reread of this wonderful book on audio. I had forgotten just how solemn and sad the entire story is. It is truly a novel of WWI on the Canadian home front with all of the stress and grief that includes. Yet, it also has those signature moments of pure beauty and humor that LMM writes so wonderfully. I loved revisiting this story.

#KindredSpiritsBuddyRead #WWI #audiobook

Happy Sunday! These are a couple of books I‘m very much looking forward to for May.

I‘m going to listen to Rilla on audio since I‘ve yet to start, and after yesterday‘s posts compare passages to my print copy.

As for Lamentation, I read most of Heartstone in ebook, and I may have to do the same for this one so I can fit pages in when and where I can without carrying this hardback around.

#KindredSpiritsBuddyRead #LMMReread #ShardlakeBR

This story starts with a mother evacuating Florida with her college age stepson and two younger children as a massive hurricane heads for Miami. Suddenly their well to do family is separated, has lost access to all cash & credit, and is being bused to a camp for displaced people in Oklahoma. It‘s often a tough story and considers various perspectives as we deal with more extreme weather.

#audiobook

📷: Luthien exploring this morning

💛 More morel mushrooms!
💛 Completing a very busy week of school
💛 Teacher appreciation events at school
💛 Bacon & tomato sandwich
💛 The pets

#5JoysFriday #DaiseysJoys

April 2025 #BookSpinBingo
April was a busy month, but I completed these 7 books, including the long listen of Sherlock Holmes stories narrated by Stephen Fry. Heartstone & The Colour were top reads this month.

#MonthlyStats #ReadingStats #DaiseysReadingSummary

I realized as I joined the discussion of this book that I had forgotten to review it. I felt this one started slowly (which was partially impacted by my lack of reading time), but once it got going I really enjoyed it. There were a lot of things going on in this one, but I also love those layers of complexity and history. I also really appreciate that we get to know characters more in the series, but the mysteries are unique.

#ShardlakeBR

💛 A long Easter weekend with my family
💛 Luthien & Gracie (my sister‘s dog)
💛 Mushroom hunting with my dad & my niece
💛 Easter nests
💛 Fresh asparagus

#5JoysFriday #DaiseysJoys

Sometimes I just need a light and fun romance for a change of pace. The reader knows from page one where this story is going as it starts with the reveal of the big secret and then flashes back to the beginning. It was quite an insta-love story, and the best parts were the bookish aspects and Fabio the cat.

I think most readers can relate to this quote.

#quote #KindleQuotes

Much of this book is set in Tokyo‘s book district which sounds like a fascinating place, and it had an interesting cast of characters. It was a fairly quiet and enjoyable read, but I don‘t think it‘s one that will stick with me.

#audiobook #LitsyBookClub #ReadTheWorld #ReadingTheWorld #Japan #translated

💛 I planted a couple broccoli and an early tomato plant.
💛 My strawberries are blooming & violets are popping up all over my yard.
💛 The tulips are beautiful! 🌷
💛 The pets! Luthien ran for miles yesterday, and LaGata got some snuggle time.
💛 It‘s Easter weekend and our spring break for school.

#5JoysFriday #DaiseysJoys

This is a story of a family dealing with some big things which come out slowly over the course of story. It‘s told in alternating chapters from the perspective of Ernest, one of the boys in the family who loves words, and Olivetti, the family‘s typewriter. The typewriter makes for an interesting point of view, and the story includes a wonderful group of characters.

#MiddleGrade #audiobook

📷: my tulips! 🌷

I had a hard time with this book. It did not hold my attention well through long sections, then something rather bizarre or violent would happen and I‘d get caught up in the story again for a while. It also took a long time to get the characters straight.

When I finished, I did listen to a podcast episode that discussed a few aspects and gave me a bit more to think about. (Link in comments)

#audiobook #LMMAdjacent #1001books

This year I‘m listening to an audio devotional leading up to Easter. It‘s a good length most mornings to pair with a news podcast on my drive to school. Today I completed the Lent portion before church and moved on to the first for Holy Week.

#Christian #audiobook

It‘s been a good but busy week and weekend.

#DaiseysJoys #5JoysFriday Sunday Edition

I‘m a bit late starting, but I got caught up listening to the first few chapters of The Mill on the Floss while taking a walk with Luthien today. I‘m not sure what I think of these two siblings yet, but I‘m looking forward to seeing where this goes.

#HashtagBrigade #audiobook #1001books

Parts of this book were bleak and I was almost constantly listening with a slight feeling of dread about what might be about to happen, but I also enjoyed it. It actually ended on a more hopeful note than I expected through most of the story. I felt it described the setting of 1860s New Zealand and the gold rush very well.

#ReadTheWorld #ReadingTheWorld #NewZealand #audiobook #1001books #TBRTakedown

A day late this week, but still worth acknowledging

💛 A weekend with my family
💛 Helping Dad clean up a field and burn brush piles
💛 Plants continuing to green up and bloom for spring, even if it‘s turned cooler again
💛 Fixing my dishwasher
💛 Pets, of course

#5JoysFriday #DaiseysJoys

March 2025 #BookSpinBingo

March was a busy month, so I only finished a few books. I‘m also currently in the middle of several reads.

#MonthlyStats #ReadingStats #DaiseysReadingSummary

💛 Pets!
💛 Our HS quiz bowl team placed second in their conference tournament.
💛 My daffodils are blooming!
💛 Wild ramps are coming up.
💛 A weekend with my family

#5JoysFriday #DaiseysJoys

I finished this over the weekend, and then I almost forgot to review it. I found some parts interesting, but overall I‘m just ambivalent about the whole thing. I will be curious to see if our book club discussion gives me any greater appreciation for it.

#LitsyBookClub #audiobook

lissom: thin, supple, and graceful (adjective)

#WeirdWords #WeirdWordWednesday #FellowshipOfTolkien

Happy Tolkien Reading Day! After recently reading Tolkien‘s work on The Fall of Arthur I decided to revisit a bit more of his poetry today in the tagged book with supper tonight. I love the story of Beren and Luthien, and the parts that were written as poetry are especially wonderful.

Anyone else reading a little extra Tolkien today?

#TolkienReadingDay #JRRTolkien #FellowshipOfTolkien #ReadAndEat

Saturday night #BooksAndBooze

I‘ve reached the part of this book where I just don‘t want to stop, but I also don‘t want to get too far ahead of the chapters on the schedule for March.

#ShardlakeBR

#5JoysFriday #DaiseysJoys

This one reads slower than the previous one to me, but I‘m still thoroughly intrigued.

#ShardlakeBR

For the most part I really enjoyed this one. There were so many interesting characters, and I enjoyed seeing Nicholas grow. I also appreciated how the different storylines came together for both him and his uncle in the end.

#WhatTheDickens #1001books #audiobook

I have personal copies of books I will only loan out selectively, but for the most part if someone borrows a book and doesn‘t return it, I‘ve learned to let it go. Having a middle school class library has taught me to be much more relaxed about this. The tagged series tends to come back in the worst shape or sometimes not at all, but it‘s also a series that gets more reluctant readers reading and that‘s the real goal.

#SundayFunday

#5JoysFriday #DaiseysJoys

Chiasmus: a figure of speech in which the grammar of two parallel phrases is inverted

#WeirdWordWednesday #WeirdWords #FellowshipOfTolkien #MedievalTolkien

I‘ve been listening to a lot of other things lately and realized this weekend that I really should try to wrap up this audiobook before I start The Last of the Mohicans. I listened this afternoon as I enjoyed the beautiful weather and passed the halfway mark. Spending several hours with the story this weekend also helped me become more invested in some of the characters than when I listen to shorter sections at a time.

#WhatTheDickens #audiobook

From “Speech and Silence in The Lord of the Rings: Medieval Romance and the Transitions of Eowyn”

#FellowshipOfTolkien #MedievalTolkien

After finishing The Fall of Arthur this morning, I pulled this book from my shelf this evening. In the introduction, the description of this essay relating Eowyn to a female medieval knight seemed a perfect complement to my earlier reading. It‘s a truly interesting analysis of Eowyn‘s character development from court lady to acting lord of Rohan to shield maiden and finally to wife and healer.

#FellowshipOfTolkien #MedievalTolkien

I finished this book with breakfast this morning. As with many of these incomplete works by Tolkien, it‘s a combination of fascinating and frustrating. They always leaving you wanting to know and be able to read more. I‘m so grateful to Christopher for putting the work into sharing this, but I only recommend it to serious fans of Tolkien‘s writing process or readers interested in various versions and retellings of the King Arthur legend.

I thought this quote about how Tolkien viewed language and the change in it over time interesting.

“Our language now has become quick-moving (in syllables), and may be very supple and nimble,
but is rather thin in sound and in sense too often diffuse and vague. The language of our forefathers,
especially in verse, was slow, not very nimble, but very sonorous, and was intensely packed and concentrated — or could be in a good poet.”

Reading Tolkien‘s commentary about Old English Verse this morning. I really do enjoy this poetic style.

#FellowshipOfTolkien #MedievalTolkien

💛 Sourdough cheeseburger focaccia
💛 Enjoying a HS conference band concert
💛 My team had 2 mostly successful nights of matches to start their Scholar Bowl/Quiz Bowl season!
💛 The pets, featuring LaGata this week
💛 A Friday night out for supper with friends

#5JoysFriday #DaiseysJoys

This book was a fascinating read. There were times I was a bit confused by the different timelines, but I was always curious to know how they would come together. It has some wonderful descriptions, and I felt so much for these characters. We also had a great book club discussion about it.

#LitsyBookClub #1001books

This was a wonderful short read for today! I‘m very much an introvert and frequently time to myself is my happy place, so I found several aspects of this story very relatable. I also loved some of the things it had to say about happiness and contentment, and I laughed several times over the absurdity.

#quote #KindleQuotes

This is my favorite line so far in this section, “The Evolution of the Poem.” Even after works were published, they weren‘t always safe from further revisions by Tolkien.

“As a rule, indeed, no manuscript of my father‘s could be regarded as ‘final‘ until it had safely left his hands.”

#FellowshipOfTolkien #MedievalTolkien

I haven‘t had a lot of reading time this past week, so my priority was finishing The History of Love. Now that it‘s done, I finally settled in to start “The Evolution of the Poem” this evening with supper. Also, crazy Missouri weather was in the 60s yesterday and back in the 30s today, so it was chili for supper again.

#FellowshipOfTolkien #MedievalTolkien #ReadAndEat