December's #bookspinbingo board is ready to go! I love that #bookspin and #doublespin ended up in the same column. Very convenient!

@TheAromaofBooks Thank you so much for hosting every month, Sarah! I don't know what it is about this challenge, but it really works for me, and I so appreciate all of the work you put into it!

Just like I wouldn't want to be a friend of Bosch because people in his life tend to get dead or seriously injured, I also wouldn't want to be too close to Mickey Haller. And I haven't spent much time in courtrooms, but I would be really surprised if they were this dramatic so much of the time. Still, this is a fun story that kept me listening.

December's #bookspin list! For my birthday (for the past 20-odd years), my spouse chooses five books from my TBR and gets them for me from the library. I have been given no indication that he's doing differently this year, so I've worked those unknown books into my list.

November #bookspinbingo board.

I was trying to see how many books I could read without getting a bingo, but I ended up with two (one thanks to a DNF). I finished my #doublespin but not my #bookspin this month.

@TheAromaofBooks

Umm...okay. Not sure what this just was, but it was short and interesting. Difficult not to read from a feminist perspective.

As I'm accustomed to with Oyeyemi's books, I like this one a lot without really understanding it, especially the ending. I appreciate the way the story deals with love, the trade-offs of pursuing what we love and/or need in the face of the culture around us, the difficulty of recognizing and giving honest love when what we've received has been so much different from what love should be, and the challenge of being or even recognizing ourselves.

Shteyngart's memoir is as self-indulgent as most memoirs are, but it's refreshing that the author is aware of this and calls it out repeatedly. It's an interesting look inside the identity issues that come up for a child born in a different country from the one where they grow up. I mean, all of us have identity issues growing up, but to also be between two cultures and two languages seems really to turn the dial up.

#doublespin for November

When the pie is gone but there's still coconut whipped cream left, difficult choices must be made. I enjoyed this embellished decaf while listening to the tagged audiobook today.

Visited a tiny bookstore at the model train museum today. Unfortunately, I could only window shop, but it looks like a lovely place.

What a bizarre and twisty novel this is! There might have been one twist too many for my taste, but it's definitely creative (and creepy).

I haven't been able to get my checked-out books to sync from Overdrive/Libby to my Kobo for the past three days, but otherwise, today has been an excellent day. Pictured is from our tidepooling outing between dinner and pie. We saw a seal, pelicans, cormorants, hermit crabs, snails, anemones, mussels, barnacles, and lots of kelp and surf grass, and we heard (and smelled) sea lions.

After jumping around through the digital version of this book, I have decided I like Reeves's approach. I'm going to buy myself a physical copy of the book and a couple of notebooks (okay, so I don't need more notebooks, nor do I need more excuses to buy notebooks, but I'm going to buy some anyway) and try to make 2023 the year that I reestablish a daily writing practice. I did Morning Pages for years, but I like the focus of daily prompts.

This novel took what felt like forever to read. It was enjoyable overall if perhaps a little slow at times. I like how Tchaikovsky interprets the psyche of a non-primate species and how he addresses the challenges inherent in a meeting of two sentient life forms.

I like what Connelly tries to do here, showing how bad actors might take advantage of a chaotic time, and I like that he takes the story into the Central Valley, which is a part of California many people don't think of when they think of the state, even though so much of the country's food comes from there, but the story itself feels a little weak.

1) Tidepooling (when the weather and tide charts align). This year the timing works so we'll eat dinner, explore the tidepools, then have pie.

2) Pumpkin pie. Oh, how I love pumpkin pie! I also make it for my birthday two weeks after Thanksgiving.

@TheSpineView #Two4Tuesday

Despite feeling somewhat meh about the ending, I enjoyed this novel. The setting is a place I want to visit every time I read about it, and there are some interesting issues of classism and xenophobia mixed in with the mystery and frustration and almost universally cringey male characters.

(Photo is from my walk to work this afternoon while listening to the end of this audiobook.)

I like imagining that Silo is watching for the books I'm expecting to arrive, but if he is, he's looking out the wrong side of the house. Maybe he's looking for the books the neighbors ordered to arrive. (The neighbors haven't told me they ordered books, but I assume they must have at some point.)

What an interesting collection this is! I like Chiang's approach of using fiction, especially sci-fi/alternate histories, to explore issues of human nature. It reminds me a little of how my math students use examples and counterexamples to reason through complex problems. "How would humans act in this situation?" Chiang seems to ask. "Or this one? Or this one?" It's the kind of writing I would like to do if I were better at writing fiction.

I enjoyed this novel, but I don't have much to say about it as a book. The series seems to be evolving into something less like a series of interconnected standalone novels and more like one continuous story. There are things I find frustrating and/or annoying about this novel, but it seems premature to judge it based on things that might look different in the context of the overarching story, so I need to keep reading. Well played, Connelly.

Some of the suggestions are misses for me, but most are valuable, and several resonate strongly. I read the original book (Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Adults) several years ago and learned about this one on a podcast recently. It's an excellent source of practical next steps after reading the original book. A little self-helpy but not annoyingly so.

The reveal in this one is quite effective! I'm enjoying Mickey Haller more than I had been, and I'm glad Connelly is letting him evolve, but I'll still be glad to get back to Bosch.

Except for the oddly cliffhangerish ending, I enjoyed this one. It's mostly courtroom drama, which isn't really my thing, but there were enough compelling characters and variations on the basic courtroom theme to keep my interest.

The electricity is out at home for four hours for some scheduled maintenance, so we tagged along to class with the elder child so my son could do his online classes at the college library. I did some work, wrote some #litsylove, and now it's time to read.

It's an admittedly convoluted story, and since I started reading out of order, I knew some of what was going to happen, but I enjoyed this novel. The ending is weak, but it ties up some things and sets the stage for others, so it works, in a way. Plus it's always delightfully quaint the way state-of-the-art-at-the-time tech is described. The novel also re-confirmed my desire to fly first class next time I travel internationally.

I'm not sure if it's the "reporter pretending to be a detective" theme or the main characters having a job then not having a job then having a job again (maybe) or if it's just the large number of flights to and from different places that I find tiring. It's not a bad story, and the data security piece is interesting enough, but how everything unfolds feels a little tedious.

Most of the suggestions aren't new to me, but the authors lay them out in an organized fashion that helps me see where I have blind spots in my decision-making processes (and that my natural defensive-pessimism style of decision making is already pretty aligned with their recommended process). The book is almost ten years old but the suggestions still feel relevant (even if some of the references are a dated).

Today's modest library haul and a question:

As do most of you, I'm betting, I read a lot and enjoy engaging with ideas and the ways that stories/fiction can help us work through situations and emotions that are hard to get our heads around in real life. Books are a huge part of my life, and yet when I talk to most people, I rarely mention books/reading, and when I do, I feel almost embarrassed. I don't know why this is.

Does anyone else do this?

Very fun questions today!
1. I almost always have multiple books going in multiple formats.
2. The Sentence and The Water Cure were both favorites from this year. I DNFed several (life's too short), but I think my only pan was Survive the Night.
@Eggs #WondrousWednesday

The biggest thing that stands out to me about this collection is how varied the stories are. There's fantasy/sci-fi, alternate history, crime drama, Old West, and sometimes all of that mixed together. Listening to this on audiobook, I sometimes had to backtrack when a new story began so I could get my bearings, especially on the alternate histories. Favorites are probably the title story, "State Change," "Good Hunting," and "All the Flavors."

First #litsylove going out in what feels like a million years. I'm starting back slowly, but I'm starting back.

Wow, so I really like this short story collection. Wilson has a way of eliciting an unreasonable hopefulness from lives that are, viewed reasonably, hopeless. There are several stories that I think are going to stick with me, including Wildfire Johnny, with its time travel with a harsh price, and Scroll Through the Weapons, which describes a home life that is a little too close to what I grew up with.

Fun, a little silly, with a scene so reminiscent of old Scooby-Doo cartoons, I almost laughed out loud. It's not great literature, but I really do enjoy this series (or these series, as I guess it's sort of more than one interwoven). Connelly does write interesting characters.

This one was quick for me to figure out. I have the feeling that this isn't the first time Connelly has used this basic storyline, but I might be thinking of a book by someone else or maybe it's just a side effect of reading some of the later books first. I felt like Bosch might have turned a corner during the previous Bosch book, but he seems back to his old self again in this one. Still, it was nice to be back in Connelly's LA.

It was difficult not to picture the actors from Clue while listening to this one. I know that I read it in 7th grade (as Ten Little Indians), but I retained very little from that reading and what I do remember is mixed up with a farcical radio play we wrote as a reading project. This might be the darkest Christie I've read so far. Despite mixed feelings about the epilogues and cringey feelings about the title's history, I quite like this mystery.

A little horror, a little sci-fi, a little emotional family drama, this is an interesting novel that falls short of being great primarily because it tries to do too much. The middle, especially, feels bogged down and meandering, like Wendig tried to write his way out of plot uncertainties, which is a fine process but could have used some caring editorial excision. Still, it has good bones and some indelible imagery.

Audiogardening. I got our avocado plants we started as a pandemic project repotted and set up the raised bed the landlord had sitting unused. I need another bag of potting mix before I can plant the tomatoes and peas my elder child brought home from botany lab, but it's a decent start. I've decided that the growing seasons I know from Utah, North Carolina, and Massachusetts mean nothing in SoCal, so I plant whenever the urge strikes.

Pristine November #bookspinbingo card. I like that #bookspin (The Gilda Stories) and #doublespin (Little Failure) are in the same column.

@TheAromaofBooks

Ready for November #bookspin (after finding alternates for two titles I can't locate at the libraries to which I have access).

#bookspinbingo @TheAromaofBooks

#Scarathlon point totals, after adjusting for theme reads and the second readathon for previous weeks and adding all of my bingos. (I'm so disorganized about points.)
Week 4: 2507
Total: 3932

#TeamSlaughter @Clwojick

This is a pleasant enough little story. Very quick and light, which is perhaps a little disconcerting for a murder mystery (I'm not used to cozies that are quite this...cozy). Not sure I'll continue with the series, but this was a fun diversion. The included recipes make me want to bake, but I'm skeptical about whether they'd actually turn out well or not.

Pretty spot to wait out my teen's field trip and listen to an audiobook. Lots of surfers and shore birds (and flies). Glad I brought my sun hat!

My elder child has a class and field trip for which I'm needed as chauffeur but for which she doesn't know the details. As a result, I know in general where I'm going, I'm just not sure when or for how long, so I'm preparing as best I can: stocked e-reader, print book, headphones for audiobooks, and my journal. That plus water, sun hat, sweater, mask, and a food bar should cover most of what the morning might hold. 🤞

I got really close a lot of times but only ended up with one bingo...unless someone in the book I'm listening to now celebrates Halloween. If that happens, I'll be sure to post an update.

21 points for #TeamSlaughter #scarathlon
#LittenListen

Well, look at that! I've got myself a blackout! I think this only ever happens in October. I had to trade out two titles that I couldn't get from the library in time, but that left a space for a #TeamSlaughter buddy read that I'd forgotten to put on my #bookspin list, so it all worked out!

#bookspinbingo #doublespin @TheAromaofBooks
#scarathlon

This one stretches credulity at several points. The characters are too two-dimensional for me to really get invested in them, and it doesn't help that I'm not generally a fan of courtroom dramas. It's readable, but I doubt I'll retain much if any of this novel.

6 readathon hours, theme read, 76 points for #TeamSlaughter #scarathlon

Several times the characters in this book say, "There's only one thing we can do now," and I think, "Yes, go to the police," and then they proceed to outline and carry out some complicated vigilante plan. The violence, especially against children, is graphic, extreme, and relentless, but there are some redeeming characters here (the veterinarian, the one police officer).

#TeamSlaughter team read, just under the wire! 12 hrs, 171 pts. #scarathlon

Thank you so much for the lovely #HHS swap, @Insightsintobooks ! The books are all new to me, which is exciting, and the Halloween decor looks lovely on my mantel. And the bookmark quote---from one of my favorite movies from childhood---is perfect!

Thank you, @wanderinglynn , for hosting! #HauntedHollowSwap #HHS22

"The motel was a remnant of a period of LA history that had never existed but left its traces everywhere..."

I love this line. I haven't spent much time in LA, but this seems accurate to my experience of SoCal in general. (San Diego is, perhaps, slightly more authentic (Balboa Park notwithstanding) if only because it's only recently ever strived to be more than a beach/military town.)

I do not understand this novel, but I like it. The characters are so flawed but care so much. Winters brilliantly shows how each understands the world as operating by certain rules, and then how they react when these rules are proven false. I love how Winters tells the story and describes LA. Also fun: The novel I read just before said judges hate lawyers with ponytails, and this one has a lawyer with a ponytail whom judges don't like very much.

I'm not a fan of courtroom dramas, but this one is pretty enjoyable. I also wasn't sure what I'd think of Mickey Haller, but I was pleasantly surprised to find he's a fairly likeable character. It was also fun to see another side of some of the smaller stories from Connelly's other books.

7 readathon hours, theme read, 86 points for #TeamSlaughter #scarathlon