A simple cozy with a hallmark feel to it. Set in an Italian village so Italian Christmas foods, traditions, festivals lend a festive feel to the read. #christmascozy #kindleunlimited

A simple cozy with a hallmark feel to it. Set in an Italian village so Italian Christmas foods, traditions, festivals lend a festive feel to the read. #christmascozy #kindleunlimited

#jolabokaflodswap #lmpbc
Off to the post office today!

#werklyreport

Finished A Mystery Before Christmas #hallmarkholiday #cozy #Italianvillage
Death Among Rubies- on ch 24 #audio #historicalmystery #suffragettes
Shadow and Light- Daily readings #advent
Silent Nights- reading 1 short story per night #Christmasmysteries
The 12 days of Christmas- starting today. #sundaybuddyread

My ambitious December stack! 🎄🧑🏻‍🎄

#20in4 #readathon
I read and read over Thanksgiving so I surprised myself at what I accomplished.
Finished:A Magical Christmas in NY;St. Benet‘s;Tokyo Ever After;Of Irish Blood;The Lost Apothecary.
Started:Shadow and Light;Silent Nights.
Continued:Death Among Rubies
#fiction #lmpbc #policeprocederal #historicalfiction #audio #ajourneyintoadvent #chritmasmysteries

For far too many nights during the last 22 years we have witnessed tragic school shootings that there are no words in my vocabulary to describe. Lighting a candle tonight for all those lives lost and those still struggling to survive. #teachersoflitsy

#cozy

Starting this cozy Christmas mystery tonight.📚🎄

#gratefulharvest #porch

Oh to have a home with a porch by the ocean!!!

#weeklyreport #weeklyforecast

Finished all but Death Among Rubies & Silent Nights. Read my way through Thanksgiving!!!

5 lines, thirty-one syllables, a waka,a Japanese poem. The Princess communicated with both her father,Crown Prince of Japan, and her personal guard, Akio in this poetic form.

A modern fairy tale, not quite rags to riches but close enough- yet also has themes of identity, specifically Asian American identity, loss, love,connection,family.
#LMPBC #groupI

Mailing to Christine tomorrow. I hope you all enjoy it as I did! #YA

“The real Christmas gift, for which Advent is the process, is learning to hum hope,learning to dance the divine.”—Joan Chittister

#humhope #dancethedivine

Finishing last night‘s short story-I fell asleep in the middle of it. Last of the Thanksgiving apple pie. #coffeeandbooks #pieforbreakfast

#bedtime #christmasmysteries #festivefeel #britishlibrarycrimeclassics

One last short holiday mystery before bed. 🧑🏻‍🎄🎄📚

#Lpmbc #groupI #YA #AGG #AsianGirlGang #lostbutterfly #princess

Enjoying this! Plan to finish tomorrow and mail Monday.
#20in4 #readathon

This police procedural,set in the beautiful Norfolk Broads,is not for the faint of heart.A psychotic serial killer is on the loose,whose murders involve medieval style torture & retribution(which the murderer seems to enjoy).What saves these nauseating & hard to stomach murders,are the two complicated,well drawn investigators & their testy boss.Diabolical evil,hooded monks,devil worship,the anti Christ & Catholicism in the mix.Not my usual read.

I read this into the night,spellbound by the 1791 story of Nella & Eliza & the secret Apothecary,whose clientele is exclusively women.Forward to present day, & Caroline Parcewell arrives alone in London for what was supposed to be a 10th anniversary celebration.She wants something different,but what that is eludes her until she she discovers an apothecary vial while she impulsively joins a river “mudlarking” group. Her life is forever changed.

#20in4 #readathon #November
Finished both St.Benet‘s #policeprocedural and The Lost Apothecary. #historicalfiction On pg. 61 of Tokyo Ever After #YA #groupI #LPMBC and on ch.3,Death Among Rubies #audio
Both St.B & TLA concern serial killers of a sort

“ for many of these women,”Nella whispered,”this may be the only place their names are recorded.The only place they will be remembered.”

Much of this book is set at the NewYork Plaza Hotel, all dressed up for Christmas.Although I have only visited its lobby,this plush setting did lend its magic to the read. Other streets & neighborhoods are familiar to me, especially when Sabrina shops at an outdoor Christmas bazaar,the last thing my family did in the City in 2019. So this book worked its magic on me- I visited NYC vicariously for Christmas in 2021. Romance,the spirit of giving.

#november #24in4 #readathon

Finished Of Irish Blood today, reading about 4 hours. Continuing with A Magical New York Christmas. Started listening to Death Among Rubies. Hoping to start St. Benet‘s. My goals for the next 2 days.

#saynothing #whateveryousaysaynothing #poetrywithinanovel #seamusheaney #patrickraddenkeefe #nonfiction #historicalfiction #poetry

So many literary figures, allusions in this novel. If possible, I wanted to find the source of “ say nothing.

#November #20in4 #readathon
Joining in. Went from 40% of book read to 89% read today so far.

#coffeeandbooks #coffeebreak #literarycrew
Rainy day, making it feel colder than the 41 degrees it is. Happy to be home with family, sipping coffee, snacking on ginger cooks,and reading about the Irish. I have spent so much time looking up/researching various people and , events - learning sooo much about the Irish. My father‘s grandfather came over to CT during the Great Starvation/Potato Famine. My mother‘s family came in through NewFoundland.

We know their dream; enough
To know they dreamed and are dead;
And what if excess of love
Bewildered them till they died?
I write it out in a verse—
MacDonagh and MacBride
And Connolly and Pearse
Now and in time to be,
Wherever green is worn,
Are changed, changed utterly:
A terrible beauty is born.
——William Butler Yeats, Easter,1916

Yeats as a character, along with his poetry are featured in
this novel. #literarycrew

Happy Thanksgiving to all Littens! Sending love for those spending the day alone. Thinking of all you Littens & so grateful for all the books, reviews, challenges, etc. but of course, I am deeply grateful for all of you & the difference you & this site has made in my life. It is much richer because of you!

#gratefulharvest #enchanted
This Christmas romance is set in NYC. Sabrina,a soon to be penniless free lance journalist, has taken a job to ghost write a wealthy elderly man‘s memoirs. It is Christmas week and the Plaza where her boss is staying & has booked a suite for Sabrina too, is dressed up for Christmas, which adds to its otherworldly magic. Sabrina is #enchanted.

#gratefulharvest #chilly.
Chilly night in T‘ville.

Chose this book to begin my 2021 Christmas reading. Usually we take the train to NYC before Christmas, but Covid has gotten in the way- our last visit was 12/21/2019. So I will be visiting the City vicariously while I read. 🚉🏙💖

Books with maps!!!!❤️

Now that I finished Miss Marple‘s short stories, I have turned to this big tome. It too will be beside my bed for occasional night time reading for several months! It covers 150 years of such mystery stories.

#gratefulharvest #scarf

A little ahead of myself- Thanksgiving will appear Thursday.

#coffeebreak

Still no clue whodunit but characterization of so many so well done- through imagery, dialogue, thoughts, actions.

#coffeeandbooks #sundaymorning #quiettime

Everyone still in bed. Love this time. Love this book.

#bookreport #weeklyforecast

Read some all of these this past week- finished Miss Marple.
Continuing with the other 3 this week.

Huss strives to take her psychological healing & feelings of helplessness into her own hands.She had been at the mercy of the drug dealers,had been knocked unconscious,disarmed,degraded & pissed on.When she caught a hand grenade that was tossed into the window & threw it back outside,she suffered from the explosion but saved not only her own life, but her unconscious partner‘s life as well.

#GiffordPrize
2 days late posting this.Thrilled beyond measure that this author/book won this prestigious UK Gifford Prize.Incredible journalism & writing. Non fiction that captivated me, enthralled me, infuriated me, educated me- so much for my husband & I to talk about- I listened on audio, while husband read the book. #familyread

#Swedishpoliceprocedural #walkingwhilewaiting #autumncolors #autumnleaves #blueskies #sunshine #mykindofday

Walked over a mile while waiting for my husband‘s day surgery to end. Brought a picnic-it was 69 degrees! Then lounged in the lobby with tagged book. Perfect wait! Cannot be with him due to Covid restrictions so spending my time this way was the next best thing. Got the call that all is well. He is in recovery. 😀💚

Finished this over a several months just reading 2 stories a few times a week. I sped my reading up for the #novelnovember readathon. Began this week on p.248, finished the book, reading 150 pages. It was fun to be in Miss Marple‘s village world. Seemed as if her words were sparse, as well as her images. I could picture her characters, places, landscapes, etc. perfectly with her imagery.

#thoughtfulthursday

📚such a narrator can be confusing, but once I know I can have a better handle on things. Don‘t really enjoy such a narrator.
📚bookmarks, bookish apps on my phone
📚 a Louise Penny fan since Still Life was published & I discovered it in a bookstore. Wait every year for her next installment.

#wondrouswednesday

🍁photo of me with two sisters taken last Saturday. My 3rd sister is taking the photo. First time all 4 of us have bern together since Covid. We are in front of one of Simsbury‘s 1876 Probate Court, appropriately, as my older sister is a lawyer.
🍁 one sister came from Nebraska- wonderful!!!!
🍁grateful for this sister time, for a job I love, for taking a personal day today, for family!

#gratefulharvest #snuggle #catsoflitsy

Emmy snuggling me. She loves my fleece pjs.

From “The Isolation Journals”

#booksandjournals
Suleika Jaouad‘s”Isolation Journal”was in my mailbox today.It is beautiful.The middle journal I bought at the Hartford Atheneum‘s exhibit,”By Her Hand”featuring Artemisia Gentileschi and Women Artists in Italy 1500-1800.The moon & star notebook:🌙⭐️
Both books pictured are mesmerizing.Between Two Kingdom‘s for its raw beauty as it chronicles SJ‘sjourney, & By My Hand for its details & photos regarding these women & their art.

#catsoflitsy
Trying to read myself to sleep but Poe says “No! Pet me!”

#novelnovember #readathon
Today read 80+ pages of Inspector Irene Huss, 2 Miss Marple short stories, started ch 5 of Murder at the Royal Botanical Gardens. #audio

#weeklyforecast
Finished 2 books: audio of The Thursday Murder Club & The Seagull
Continuing with OIB(39% read)
DIRW- hope to start if finish something else
TLSOML- hope to return to-
MATRBG- continue listening
TAR- one essay
IH - read up to p.100
TAM- read w/student
#literarycrew #sundaybuddyread #essays #JohnGreen
#swedishpiceprocedural #passporttocrime #booksmith

#gratefulharvest #orange

Only got in an hour of listening to my current audio book(tagged) while doing dishes last night. My day was largely spent with family: my sisters from CT, MA NE,( taking photo) & one CT brother, hubby, 2 brothers in law (CT, NE). A day of crazy weather: white fog,sun,hail, wind bursts, sheets of rain. Such a happy day! #novelnovember #readathon

Reaction of Superintendent Sven Andersson when told by his Police Commissioner he would “appreciate“ regular updates on this case, the murder of a nationally know wealthy financier, when the norm is one partial & one final report on an investigation. #upperclassprivledge
#Swedishpoliceprocedural #passporttocrime