Top left: the view from my window in NJ. Bottom right: zooming in on what‘s visible of the sun.

The wildfires in Canada are no joke! I hope our neighbors in the North are safe, and that those on the East Coast are staying indoors!

I have a 4-day weekend and I‘m thinking of hunkering down with my TBR stack. This view is like a dystopian novel come to life!

This novel sweeps generations and I think I would choose to read a print copy if I had it to do over, if only because I spent a whole section of the audio book thinking I was listening to one character when it was someone else.

#readingbracket2023 #fiction

This was a reread for me, and this time I listened to Heather tell her tale. God, I‘m just so sad; have been since I heard that she died of depression last month. I keep thinking about how she would never leave her kids, how she was so hopeful after this treatment. How things seemed to unravel at such a quick pace. It‘s gutting.

#readingbracket2023 #nonfiction

Is anyone else participating in the #QueerLitReadathon in June? I think I went a little overboard with building a TBR 😬

#junetbr #lgbtqia #queerlit

I thought this was funny because I‘ve asked Millie who her favorite Beatle is, and she grunted when I said “John?”

Poor Mills has reached senior age and is starting to have trouble jumping on the couch. She has no interest in figuring out how to use the stairs we bought years ago for her to get on my bed. For now, we‘re helping her get a leg (or 4) up when she wants to. I‘m so anxious thinking of her aging.

I‘m finding it harder to get into this one than I expected, and I‘m not sure if it‘s me or the book…

#AuthorAMonth

I didn‘t expect the news of Heather Armstrong‘s death to hit me as hard as it has, but I keep thinking about those early years of blogging, how the internet was different back then, how fucking funny Dooce was with her writing.

It‘s hard to reconcile some of the last posts she made with that person. They were harmful to a group including her child. They were alarming to anyone familiar with the mental illness struggles she wrote about. 👇🏻

A further small digression, you say? Basically foreign to this book, you say?

Victor, I‘m still trying to get the image of women on their knees licking crosses on the floor out of my head. Ready to rejoin our main characters when you are, sir!

#LesMisCAD

Donatella explained this so well to her grandmother! My Jersey Italian self so wishes she could explain it to a family member and be received so well.

I mean, sure, it‘s the first time most of us have seen a British coronation, but it‘s also library book sale day. Do I need more books? No. But these things don‘t happen every day… 🤷🏻‍♀️

#readingbracket2023 #fiction

This was a beautiful, sad memoir about Bloom‘s journey through the loss of her husband after an Alzheimer‘s diagnosis. I‘ve long been a proponent for assisted suicide and wish more people had the choice when faced with such a fork in the road.

#readingbracket2023 #nonfiction

Yesterday was my first missed chapter for #LesMisCAD - I‘m impressed that I kept it up for nearly 4 months! It seems like this weekend‘s chapters were meant to be read together, anyway, so no harm done.

Learning about the nuns and their daily life was truly something. Hugo painted a picture by describing their yellow teeth and their penance while kneeling on the stone floor for hours. Sounds miserable to me!

Seeing as I‘m old enough to be Zorie‘s mother, allow me to say that I don‘t like her omnivorous attitude and she is GROUNDED! 😝

You want to see against nature, kid? Instead of your glamping trip, let‘s head to a factory farm. Brat.

#readingbracket2023 #nonfiction

#readingbracket2023 #fiction

So much winning, Donald. Congratulations, you historic clown.

Midweek watching, after finishing the book today.

#AuthorAMonth

Gabilan deserved better. I‘m only through the first chapter, but I‘m sad now.

#AuthorAMonth

It seemed appropriate to finish this book yesterday, on International Women‘s Day, with Eve and Charlie. Although I wasn‘t sure about it at first, I really grew to enjoy the story and was eager to see how it all played out. It was hard not to root for our heroines.

Thanks to @BeckyWithTheGoodBooks for another great #ALSpine pick!

Y‘all, if Elizabeth freaking Taylor, at 32, though she was too old and too fat, it‘s no wonder so many of us are victims of unattainable standards.

#februaryrecap #februarywrapup

#readingbracket2023 #nonfiction

#readingbracket2023 #fiction

Still thinking about this book after finishing it earlier this month. It was an easy choice for winner this round.

You know how they say you hate what is mirrored about yourself in others? Well, as a person who often keeps things inside as if people are psychic, it‘s no wonder practically every character in this book pisses me off. Good lord! 😬😁🤔

Remembering Fred Rogers on the twentieth anniversary of his passing. He was such an integral part of my childhood - one of my first teachers. It‘s because of public television like Mister Rogers‘ Neighborhood, Sesame Street, and Reading Rainbow that I became a voracious reader.

Thank you, Mister Rogers, for creating a space safe for children to learn and imagine. It‘s you we like.

I had these 3 TJR novels hanging on #MtTBR for various lengths of time, and #AuthorAMonth was the impetus to finally get them off the mountain! I enjoyed all of them, with Evelyn Hugo being my fave of the 3.

With the Daisy Jones series coming next month, I‘m glad I get to stay in Reid‘s world a bit longer this time around!

If I‘m not mistaken, today‘s chapter is the longest thus far, as Jean Valjean struggles with making a choice between admitting his identity or letting another man go to the gallows in his place. What would you do on his shoes? 🤔

#LesMisCAD

I just clipped a tablet mount to my headboard and am expecting a Bluetooth page turner from Amazon tomorrow.

Have I reached peak bookworm or am I now in too much lazy territory?

#AuthorAMonth Kindle deals!

They‘re both from Random House, too, so eligible if you‘re signed up for Penguin Rewards.

I had been wondering how Rushdie was doing since the attack on him last summer. Here‘s a new piece leading up to the release of his new book.

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/02/13/salman-rushdie-recovery-victory-ci...

I‘ve read the first two sections of this book and I‘m really enjoying it.

It could be too much nineties nostalgia this week, but I‘m really worried right now that Emma is going to pull a Kelly Taylor-esque “I choose me.” Should I prepare to throw this book across the room?

No, don‘t tell me! 😬😂

#AuthorAMonth

I love reliving the BSC with these graphic novels!

Mr. Pike‘s Daddy Stew always made me smile because it reminds me of my mother‘s Mommy Soup.

#readingbracket2023 #fiction

Taking a page out of @jenniferw88 ‘s playbook and doing separate brackets. Up first #readingbracket2023 #nonfiction

I think I started off the year well! I definitely didn‘t stick to my planned TBR for the month, but I finished 2 #AuldLangSpine picks, one for #AuthorAMonth, and 3 off my owned TBR.

I will say, I‘m struggling to get into Harlem Shuffle. Whitehead is very hit or miss for me… might he be the year‘s first DNF? 🤔

#januaryrecap #januarywrapup

As a human who reads, I feel judged.

Part One of the book is named for Fantine, and we finally meet her just over 100 pages in! It‘s interesting to hear about her before she was Cosette‘s mother.

#LesMisCAD

If you‘re following along with our Les Mis chapter a day, I know we‘re only just getting to know Jean Valjean. Care for an interlude?

Randy Rainbow had released his first video of 2023, and the clusterfuck that was the Speaker vote(s) was just asking for this!

https://youtu.be/tXoJd4BoZTQ

#LesMisCAD

I‘m a sucker for how Emily Henry writes banter. Throw in childfree leads in the book industry and I‘m trash for the story. I‘m also pretty sure Henry is an auto-read author for me. This is my second favorite read of the month 😉

The month isn‘t over yet, but so far, Evanna Lynch‘s memoir is my top read for January. Often difficult and beautifully written, Lynch recounts her experience with anorexia, the troubling ways the system tried to help her, and what it‘s like navigating the world in recovery. You needn‘t be a fan of Luna Lovegood to admire Lynch‘s story.

I of course urge careful reading as the topics of self-harm and eating disorders are discussed throughout.

I‘m watching a swat team in California searching a van after a mass shooting while reading about George Floyd and Philando Castile and hell if this country doesn‘t make me incredibly sad in so many ways.

#AuthorAMonth

Full disclosure: I was a huge Dawson‘s Creek fan but I‘ve pretty much never seen anything else Busy Philipps has starred in. We‘ve lived very different lives, but were both born in 1979 and the chapter titles here show we both have great taste in music.

I‘m so glad this was on @BeckyWithTheGoodBooks #ALSpine list, as I‘d been meaning to pick it up for awhile and needed a nudge. Busy writes like she‘s chatting with the reader 👇🏻

I‘ll take “Things I never expected to read about the Royals” for $200, Alex.

In the time that I‘ve read the first 50 pages of Les Mis, I‘ve also finished 6 books 😆

The first 14 days of #LesMisCAD acquaints us with the bishop who will play an important role in the life of a convict we haven‘t met yet up till this point!

Yeah, so if no one gets me this for my birthday later this month I am absolutely using a B&N giftcard I‘ve been saving because I don‘t have the patience to wait for 129 people before me 😆

Just finished my first #AuldLangSpine read and can‘t recommend it enough! I‘m ashamed to to admit my knowledge of Deaf culture is limited to what I saw in the show Switched at Birth, so I learned some surprising things here (Alexander Graham Bell, anyone?). I was also infuriated on behalf of Charlie, Elliot, and Sky.

My only complaint is how quickly the ending crept up. I wonder what comes next for everyone.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

2023 is only hours old, but week one is in progress! I‘ve begun my #LesMisCAD journey, started two of @BeckyWithTheGoodBooks picks for #ALSpine, and even got the first freebie of my birthday month (thanks, Simon & Schuster!).

What is everyone selecting for Amazon First Reads? We get two this month… 🤔