4) Lonely Castle in the Mirror—⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ My second favorite book of the year.
5) The God and the Gumiho—⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Read this (late) for a reading group here on Litsy. Would not have finished it otherwise because I didn‘t like the main characters at the beginning. By the end, however, I really loved both of them and was a weepy mess (well, as much as I can be without being able to cry). I really ended up loving this story.

#12Booksof2025

#hyggehourreadathon

Last one of the year.

3) Yeah, this was likely my fave of the year. Tripped over the series at the library and am dying for the next book. I love the theme of found family. It is my favorite “trope” if you want to call it a trope.

#12booksof2025

#dnf Life is too short to read books you don‘t like. Unless you‘re in school, then you have no choice.

1) The Trial of Anna Thalberg—⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Maybe not a book for everyone, but I felt the writing style added intensity and feeling to the horrors of the story.

2) The Book That Held Her Heart—⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ .5 I originally gave it four stars, but time has made me reconsider. The final book felt rushed and was really all over the place. A death from the end of book 2 that was so gut wrenching doesn‘t even receive a mention in this book.

#12booksof2025

This was my haul. Some Dodgers books and magazines and a B&N gift card. 📚 So some nice book stuff. And my long longed for Craftsman toolbox. 🧰

Happy holidays everyone. I hope you all got a lot of bookish gifts. :)

#hyggehourreadathon

It‘s not my favorite book ever, but it seems I like it enough to try to finish all 500 pages. 🤨 🤷

1) Reading about tea—library magazines & books
2) This fantastic tree decor I saw online. It‘s probably not this nice. I‘m guessing it‘s ai. But it made me smile.😊
3 & 4) went to a meeting for the Peace & Freedom Socialist Party last night. I‘ll be going out to work with them this weekend.
5) Finally, my final exam for my Spanish for Librarians class.

#5joysfriday

So, I seem to have started this at the end. Not sure if I‘ll go back and read the beginning. It‘s OK, but ridiculously gory. That‘s not my thing. I‘m fully aware that if you gut someone there‘s blood everywhere, my imagination works just fine, I don‘t need someone telling me what to think. ;)

Well, this was splendid. I picked it up at a moment when I could deal with the poetry style. Loved the journey of self-discovery from childhood into university. It gave me some things to think about that I hadn‘t before.

My StoryGraph is @ books_baseball

Painful. Especially since it‘s all worse now. So far it‘s a hindsight roadmap of how we got to where we are.

A fairly thorough account of the events leading up to, around, and after of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. I think it would be easier to follow if reading a physical copy just because there are so many people involved and it was difficult to follow each thread because so much happened. ⬇️

Finishing The Black Flamingo and hopefully Midnight in Chernobyl this weekend. MC is pretty hefty and I have things to do this weekend that—horrors—don‘t include reading.

#weekendreads

I fell for the B&N marketing ploy and got this for $5. The last time I did this, I wasn‘t disappointed.

Introduced my daughter to this series. That was a mistake. Because I cried, even though I knew what happened. Or, maybe, because I‘ve already read the second book? Not sure. It reminded me of the quote from the movie Romancing the Stone; when Joan takes her new book to her editor she says, “Read it and weep, I always do.” 😂 😭

Reading while my kids celebrate the end of finals.

Uplifting Christmas tale about the vast generosity of humanity and… No, just kidding. The Soviet Politburo sounds like MAGA. Loyalty is rewarded, knowledge is silenced and ignored. Lies spread en masse, and bullying to ensure the compliance of the people. Inevitably, all is lost. The future of all authoritarianism.

I found the folk singer Mon Rovîa the way I find all music these days, through YouTube shorts. ?

#tuesdaytunes

A lot of great information and insight. Hopeful, but not saccharine. A deep dive into how creatures evolved over time to survive the harshest conditions and how many of them are fighting for survival against the onslaught of climate change. Good if you like biology or science books. Not too technical.

#weekendreads

Just started for my weekend read.

#weekendreads

It‘s apparently been one of those years. 😳 😆

#tuesdaytunes

A few of the books I‘m working on this week. The God and the Gumiho is a repeat. I‘m reading it with my daughter.

#readinglists

#bookquote
#poetry

#hyggehourreadathon

My son went to Seattle and brought me home a souvenir sticker. When he first went last year, I was studying SPL‘s strategic plan for my Master‘s program. His hotel just happened to be next door. And his room happened to have a lovely view of SPLC. It was a happy coincidence that now has him enjoying this library every time he visits the city. #supportpubliclibraries

It‘s been very difficult for me to concentrate on reading for long lately. Lots of stress, been sick, etc. I picked this book up hoping it would hold my interest. Unfortunately, it is yet another bouncing timeline book. I do not usually complain about that, but when you can barely concentrate for 15 minutes, a story that‘s all over the place is worthless. :( I think I‘ll go read some picture books to my kid. Probably better. 😔 #hyggehourreadathon

Went with my son to his favorite gluten free bakery and had some great coffee and read a little.

A great sequel to The God and the Gumiho. Good humor, good tension, good mystery—though, this time I figured it out more quickly than in the first. The only thing I didn‘t care for was the smut. A virgin isn‘t going to do certain things for very physical reasons. 🙄 4/5 ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

I pulled out a Fall food magazine to look for some seasonal veggie recipes, and I found this photo from 2016. My daughter, then 9, and I attended her school's family movie night, where they were showing Coco. My son, then 7, refused to go with us because he hates sad movies. I should have heeded his warning. I'm still crying. 😭 😉

I loved the first book, so I‘ve been hesitant to start the second. I was afraid the author would just rehash the first, due to the way it ended. Fortunately, that‘s not the case. Very good, so far.

This was originally for #riseupreads but we got started late. So glad we went ahead and read it though. Great book. My youngest son really enjoyed it and it‘s usually difficult for him to enjoy books without visuals. I liked a story about the importance of being who you really are. And also having a trans character as the main character.

At park day today. Decided to finally go to an Autism Society event. Nice thing about this is, unlike the park events we‘ve attended with LGBT and city groups, they limit the number of people. Everyone can spread out when they need to.

We are the champions!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! #dodgers #worldserieschamps

It‘s always kinda weird to read a book and the day‘s date pops up. 😆 🎃

Re: the candy. We hope there are people who bring their kids around here. In our last place there weren‘t very many kids. But it‘s already nearly 6:30 here and no one yet. 😞

Go Dodgers. 😊

#screamteam #hauntedshelf

My kids picked out some interesting pumpkins this year. They wanted to try something new. So we have a pumpkins twins on the left and a white kitty on the right. :)

The whole “kid who can talk to animals” has been done a ton of times, but I usually enjoy it. This time, though, the animals sounded more like the kid‘s thoughts. And the animals behaved more like plot devices in the kid‘s story about himself. I couldn‘t make it past the second chapter.

My daughter had a Dr appointment with her new doc in DTLA, so, since it was only 2 blocks away, we visited the LA Library. I have wanted to go for a long time. It‘s one of the few libraries on my bucket list that was realistic. I‘ll definitely be going back because I only had time to look through about 1/10th of it.

For a stand alone, this story is certainly taking it‘s sweet time getting going. Good, but I expected more by nearly halfway through.

A cute couple of books in this B&N exclusive found at a Friends of the Library store. Both feature characters with relatable difficulties and how they overcome them. As for the baseball book, it‘s a coffee table book that has a two page spread for each year. Pretty hefty. Very brief overviews. But it‘s baseball, so it‘s good. :)

Another great installment. :)

Good Monday morning. Game 7 of the 1960s World Series. Pirates v Yankees. And reading during the commercials. Last week was a rough one here, so I‘m hoping starting things right will help things along. 😊
#baseball
#reading
#bestnerdstuff

Spent a fun half hour with the TK class, reading and singing songs. *sigh* One day maybe I can do this every day.

A book we requested from ILLead has arrived at the library and this is how my phone transcribed the voice mail. Should I alert someone and have them send in a team? 😂

I enjoyed most of the books I read last week, but this was a fun one, so I'm picking it because I need more fun in my life. 😄

#weeklyfavorites

It‘s been a very long time since I stayed up to finish a book. I‘m too old to think it won‘t bother me in the morning or even say it was worth it, but it what I needed to do. 😆 I will definitely go look for the next book.

#onedrinktorulethemall
#pumpkinchailatte

I couldn‘t sleep last night and ventured over to my nook app. I was surprised to see a free book there. I haven‘t seen a free book in a long time at nook (not that I look often). It says weekend read so I hope it doesn‘t expire tomorrow. It‘s definitely better than most of the free reads they used to offer. Also maybe spooky because she talks to the dead—sort of.

Normally, I wouldn't pick a book with these colors on the cover, but it's for one of the reading groups here on Litsy. Also, normally, I wouldn't read anything someone considers cozy. Not because I have a problem with them, but they don't usually seem to end up in my TBR. Glad I read this one. I recommend it if you need a light read with what are actually heavy themes. And, especially so if you work or have a child in elementary school.😄

#weekendreads