The bulk of my reading at the moment 😁

Got a few minutes to start this in the morning while the baby was taking a nap. She‘s much crankier in the evenings so we‘ll see when I get back to it.
Love the setting so far. Makes me really want to travel to Mexico.

Not at all what I expected. I thought it would be creepier - that Rebecca would haunt the place more, maybe even be secretly living in the west wing. So I was therefore more surprised by the twist than I normally would be.
Now that I‘ve finished it and can look at what it is rather than what I thought it would be, I can appreciate the reflections of Jane Eyre and the duality of the Mrs de Winters. Looking forward to discussing with my book club.

Helen, thank you so much for the book! Sorry it‘s taken so long to post - it turns out I don‘t have much time to do anything that can‘t be done one-handed glued to a chair 😃. And yes, this is the perfect book! Neely is also very fond of squirrels so he was dead excited.

It was really strange to read this while breastfeeding a newborn!
This was a solid pick for me. I was expecting it to be solely about the commodification of pregnancy, but it asked a lot of good questions about how to act on privilege and how the best intentions can be really blind. I also liked that there weren‘t any answers (easy or otherwise) about how to live in the world with such income disparity.

If you‘ve noticed I‘ve been MIA, this is where I‘ve been. I miss you all, but I don‘t have the mental energy to keep up at the moment. I‘ll be back eventually though, I promise.
Extra apologies to anyone with a birthday coming up. You‘ve all been so good to me, I hate to forget your special day, but I just know I won‘t be making up parcels anytime soon.
All my best Litsy Family ❤️📚

Liked, but didn‘t love. The book‘s descriptive power is its strength as well as its weakness. I felt really sucked into each of the settings, but I needed a more compelling plot to pull me along. At almost 500 pages, it‘s a little too long. She could have sacrificed one of the subplots for the sake of a tighter narrative.

I did really enjoy it - I just wanted more from it. This was her debut, so I may give The Fingersmith a try.

I‘ve been meaning to read this for years. Glad my book club selected it this month.
Whether I will actually get to go to the meeting or not, who knows? It‘s 2 days after my due date.

I loved this in the same way I loved Dreyer‘s English. They are both fun, sometimes snarky, looks at language. And both authors do an excellent job reading their audiobooks - conveying the absolute joy they find in their subjects.

Utterly heartbreaking, but really beautifully drawn. It was pacey enough to keep me interested, with well written characters. Maybe my favorite read of the year so far.

Such a weird bookshop! But I came home with a book!

Exploring the lovely Whitby Bookshop. I‘m getting a bit of reading in on my weekend away.

Starting Miracle Creek and an iced latte. Stay cool everybody!

Starting my next book club pick!

This was definitely a thriller. The first book where I “had to know what happens next!” in a long time. But it sometimes felt like a bad horror film in terms of things just kept going unbelievably wrong.
It‘s also a pet peeve that the main characters (being stalked, tortured, nearly killed) in these are almost always women, even if the author is a man.
Great premise - just wish there had been more creeping suspense and less outright violence.

I‘m on like page 2 and there are geographical problems! I didn‘t realize this started in Boulder.
There is no part of Utah you could be driving to where you would go from Boulder through Denver! Also, where the hell is she on Rte 6 like 3 hours after leaving Boulder? My head is not in this game because I am trying too hard to geolocate the characters.

Just started this for book club. I‘ve been terrible and haven‘t finished the last 2 in time for the meetings, so I really want to get this done. Send me all the reader concentration vibes!

My #top6reads of the first half of 2019 - 3 fiction, 3 nonfiction.
This has been such a weird reading year for me. I‘ve struggled much more than usual to get into any books. So I was pleasantly surprised to find there were a handful of books I had really enjoyed.

As with any essay collection, there are some hits and misses. But on the whole this collection is very strong. It was especially good on audio.
One theme that kept coming up is how surprised immigrants were at how bad American food is. “American” food is terrible. The best food in the US comes from our immigrant and indigenous communities!

A reader in her natural habitat. Also there was cake.

I‘ve been swamped with work all week, but this morning I snuck in a few chapters. After all this rain, I had to sit out in the sunshine for at least a little while.

Just returned home from holiday to #bookmail from @TrishB ! Thank you for sharing the #litsylove and thanks so much for the extra goodies! Very thoughtful.

I‘m not much into nature writing, so this wasn‘t really my thing. It was fine, but just didn‘t grab my interest. Oh well! Every reader is different!

Proper family holiday. Everybody‘s reading.

If Eleanor Oliphant had a Jamaican family and was much more self destructive.
I loved this. But you have to be ok with characters making terrible decisions

Really enjoying this so far. I wish there were contemporary novels set outside of London, but I‘ll just have to enjoy this one while I wait.

Baby‘s First Bookshelf!
We are expecting a massive parcel of books from my in-laws, so this will be full in a week.

I don‘t know if I‘m just not in the mood for YA. This hovered between a pick and a so-so. Interesting subject matter, didn‘t resolve in a cheesy way, believable family dynamic, but I also didn‘t much care what happened. It could just be me though.

(I figured out the answer to my earlier question though! Within the book click “go to” and choose “cover” rather than a chapter.)

Kindle‘s first outing!

Can anyone tell me how to show the cover of the book I‘m reading? All I‘ve figured out how to do is get books from the library and read them. I don‘t understand anything else on this thing. (Yes I am a 110 year old Luddite)

Finally starting this book that @Oryx sent me in a swap over a year ago 😳
#toomanybookstoolittletime

Like short stories, I often wish essay collections were a bit more cohesive instead of having that stop-start quality. But that is my problem with the format, not a criticism of this book. I enjoyed Hunger more - it was more raw - but no matter where Roxane Gay can write. I particularly enjoyed the last essay, Bad Feminist: Take Two.

Trip to the Little Bookshop. Trying hard not to buy all the books.

Starting some new airport reading

Off to Zurich for the week to see me best friend! And reading my Easter Mystery @Leniverse ! (Completely accidental that it‘s a mystery, it‘s my next book club book)

I didn‘t love this book, but I did love this quote.

Thank you @squirrelbrain for the lovely gift at #readingretreat last weekend. Your local charity shop really is a magical place.

I had been avoiding this because I don‘t do scary, but then it was a pick for one of my book clubs and it‘s so short I thought I‘d try it.
The first 2/3 there‘s a mounting dread and suspense that was really working for me. Then things got really weird and I just wasn‘t worried for her anymore and I didn‘t care as much what was happening.
Want to read the other 2 to find out what happens, but I‘m not sure I‘ll ever get to them.

I‘m a slow reader, so I‘m happy to have finished one book on #readingretreat
This book pairs really well with White Rage by Carol Anderson, which I finished last week.
The chapters are long enough to really get a story for each character, but short enough to keep from getting mired down. I like that each character‘s story is carried on in the next generation. Solid pick.

Last few hours in this cathedral of books #readingretreat

Blind date book swap. It‘s like book Christmas!

My shelfie for Hour 3 of #readathon
Obviously not mine, but these are the books I‘m hanging out with at Gladstone‘s right now.

1) Gladstone‘s Library in Hawarden, Wales
2) tagged
3) scones
4) I‘m on a reading retreat this weekend!
5) I‘m going to try not to pick up my phone every 5 minutes!
#Deweys24hourreadathon #readathon

Where I‘m doing my reading this morning

On the train to North Wales. #readingretreat here I come!

Final selection for #readingretreat this weekend. What do you think?
@Oryx @jhod @squirrelbrain @Mitch @julesG @RachelO @Leniverse @scripturient

@kathedron I‘m enjoying this so much I‘ve put the other 3 books I‘m reading on hold while I indulge in the ridiculous nuance of where we buy groceries.

I have to look something up on pretty much every page, so this has become a very interactive book.

I am so happy to have won @kathedron ‘s giveaway! Thank you Kate for the lovely books and sweets. The book about class is exactly what I‘ve been looking for to learn more about Britain. I don‘t understand half the class-coded things people talk about. I‘ve also heard really good things about the Ali Smith, so I look forward to digging into that too.
Thank you!!!❤️❤️❤️

Finally getting back into this book after a detour for 2 book club books and a you-don‘t-have-enough-room-in-your-luggage-why-don‘t-I-buy-this-and-you-can-read-it-before-you-leave-my-house Christmas present from my Dad.

A book hasn‘t made me feel rage quite like this in a long time. Well done, Ms. Butler!
I was wary of the antebellum setting (slavery is a tough and important topic, but I can only read so much of the same story) but the difficult moral questions posed by Dana‘s trips to the past, her relationship with Rufus, and the power dynamics at play made it really interesting.
Exactly what a book club is for - getting you to read a book you wouldn‘t have.

I was looking through my old photos and found this one of Cărturești Carusel in Bucharest. I know we all seek out new bookstores when we travel. What‘s the most interesting one you‘ve come across?