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LeafingThroughLife

LeafingThroughLife

Joined August 2016

Http://leafingthroughlife.blogspot.com
review
LeafingThroughLife
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Bailedbailed

I really thought that I would enjoy this fictionalized account of Beryl Markham‘s life in colonized Kenya, but I read 100 pages and found myself surprisingly…bored? Even in first person narration, she‘s not really coming to life for me here. Might be a case of bad timing, but I‘m ready to move on from this one. My July #DoubleSpin

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LeafingThroughLife
Lock and Key | Sarah Dessen
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Sarah Dessen has a formula: lost, vulnerable female narrators learning how to love and be loved. The formula works so well on me. When Ruby‘s mom disappears, she finds herself living with the sister she thought had abandoned her. As she tries to settle into private school, new friendships, and an idyllic life with her sister and brother-in-law, she can‘t help but feel out of place and as if her new life is only temporary. (1/2)

LeafingThroughLife As her walls start to come down, she begins to realize that she‘s not the only one who needs some help and for at least one of her new friends, she is the only one equipped to give it. As always, Dessen‘s full cast of characters is well-drawn and relatable, and Ruby‘s journey from abandonment to belonging has the perfectly satisfying emotional arc I‘ve come to expect from Sarah Dessen at her best. ❤️ (2/2) 6d
22 likes1 comment
blurb
LeafingThroughLife
Untitled | Unknown
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Didn‘t forget my July #BookSpin list!

TheAromaofBooks Woohoo!!! 2w
14 likes1 comment
review
LeafingThroughLife
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Pickpick

Somehow I ended up with copies of this book in 3 different formats but ultimately went with audio. Gabra Zackman‘s narration adds feeling and nuance to this dual timeline story of Augusta, a pharmacist who had her heart broken by her father‘s delivery boy during her youth in 1920s Brooklyn only to rediscover him when she moves into a Florida retirement community many decades later. (1/2)

LeafingThroughLife This was a little too saccharine and filled with coincidence for me, but Loigman‘s characters are lovable, particularly Augusta‘s perceptive Aunt Esther, who brings wisdom and a touch of magic to her healing. Loigman also brings to life both 1920s Brooklyn, Augusta‘s lively retirement community, and a whole cast of vivid characters that populate each, so ultimately it‘s a soft pick for me. (2/2) 2w
20 likes1 stack add1 comment
review
LeafingThroughLife
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Bailedbailed

I‘m bailing out of this one. The premise of the adult granddaughter of Arab immigrants finding her own voice in stand-up comedy sounded great. Unfortunately the comedy isn‘t particularly funny, she‘s got a cringey schoolgirl crush on her boss, and, when trying to learn more about her history, her grandmother gives her a journal to read that is written in third person omniscient. 🤔 Might end up fine but I‘m just not vibing with it. June #bookspin

TheAromaofBooks I'm not sure why I get more disappointed when the book I don't vibe with has a fabulous cover. Lovely covers should always equal books I love!! 😂 3w
25 likes2 comments
review
LeafingThroughLife
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Pickpick

I recommended this book to my book group because I loved it so much the first time I read it. I then reread it, petrified that I wouldn‘t love it as much as the first time. I need not have worried, I loved it *more.* This story about American missionaries in China in the early 20th century pouring out their lives in sacrifice to heal the bodies and souls of strangers on the other side of the world is balm for my own soul. (1/2)

LeafingThroughLife In a world where mainstream-published books about missionaries are most likely to depict dangerous, exploitative kooks and many American Christians seem to have traded Jesus for…something else, this book about Christians walking the walk in humility and gentleness is what I needed to read. These are the Christians I want to read about. These are the Christians I want there to *be.* (2/2) 3w
21 likes1 stack add1 comment
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LeafingThroughLife
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Pickpick

This is a fantastic dual timeline historical fiction debut that follows the history of a family of women with the ability to reproduce the memory of things written by their pencil company‘s pencils. Amidst the turmoil of WWII and the following Chinese civil war, cousins Yun and Meng are forced to reckon with their unique power and its dangerous repercussions. (1/3)

LeafingThroughLife As Yun‘s memory fades, her granddaughter, a budding computer developer, uses her professor‘s new application EMBRS to connect with a fellow student who may hold the key to her grandmother‘s unspoken history. This ambitious debut artfully weaves magical realism with the realities of war and tender romances with difficult questions about connection, privacy, and who deserves to know our stories. (2/3) 1mo
LeafingThroughLife Complex and immersive and filled with heart, this is an accomplished debut. I‘ll definitely be keeping an eye out for more from Allison King in the future! (3/3)

April #bookspin #netgalley
1mo
TheAromaofBooks Woohoo!! Lovely review, and that cover is fabulous! 1mo
29 likes3 stack adds3 comments
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LeafingThroughLife
River Sing Me Home | Eleanor Shearer
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Golden sky orb is giving light again today! This book is the story of an enslaved woman in Barbados escaping her “apprenticeship” to go on a quest to find her children who had all been sold away. Tragic but also hopeful, this immersive story captures the varied experiences of Rachel and her children in the islands and in South America, a historical time, place, and subject I have not had much opportunity to read about before. Excellent! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

LeafingThroughLife This is a #bookspin or #doublespin from… ::gestures vaguely:: some month since I am such a review slacker. 🤪 1mo
TheAromaofBooks Woohoo!! 1mo
23 likes2 comments
blurb
LeafingThroughLife
Untitled | Unknown
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Almost time for June #BookSpin 🙂📚

TheAromaofBooks Woohoo!!! 2mo
21 likes1 comment
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LeafingThroughLife
The Shore | Sara Taylor
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The mysterious golden sky orb appeared, so today we‘ve got a picture of one of these here old timey paper books. This book surprised me. It‘s a set of interconnected short stories set on the islands of the VA shore, a remote place full of people living hardscrabble lives. The stories are vivid but dark, bringing their setting to life. Well-written but unremarkable, the last few took an interesting turn which made for a better than expected read.

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LeafingThroughLife
I Am the Messenger | Markus Zusak
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After hapless, unmotivated Ed Kennedy interrupts a bank robbery in process, he finds his simple life interrupted by a series of cryptic messages anonymously delivered via playing cards that he must decode and deliver to strangers and friends alike. In the process his small life expands exponentially. This is a sweet story about making a difference with an unexpected end. I struggled a bit with its believability but enjoyed it regardless!

21 likes2 comments
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LeafingThroughLife
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Natasha Boyd reimagines the life of Eliza Lucas, left behind by her father at 16 to manage his 3 indebted plantations. Imagining a way out of debt and out of marriage, Eliza gambles everything on a new crop, indigo. A good historical story and an easy read but Boyd‘s prose is so elementary at times that when she includes excerpts of the real Eliza‘s letters the divide between the real person and the character becomes a little too wide.

blurb
LeafingThroughLife
Untitled | Unknown
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Changing it up and actually remembering to post my #bookspin list before the spin. Watch out, world. 🤪

TheAromaofBooks Woohoo!!! 2mo
17 likes1 comment
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LeafingThroughLife
The Safekeep | Yael van der Wouden
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Well-written with beautiful depictions of idyllic Dutch countryside, its deeply unlikable characters, paranoid staid Isabel and artificial encroaching Eva, made this book initially hard to get into. I saw the first “twist” coming but it‘s the second one that takes this book from the ordinary to the extraordinary. Passion, paranoia, and revenge intermingle in this story of the long shadow of history. Well done.

AmyG Wonderful book. 3mo
32 likes1 comment
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LeafingThroughLife
Crown of Midnight | Sarah J. Maas
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Now we‘re talking. Everybody seems to rave about this series, but I read book one and was underwhelmed. In book two, it really seems to hit its stride, though. The three leads get fleshed out here into richer characters, and we get to see the fierce assassin the first book promises but doesn‘t quite deliver. I won‘t say more for fear of spoilers for any other late adopters like me, but I‘m definitely looking forward to the next book! #DoubleSpin

julesG Love the plant humour.😁 3mo
TheAromaofBooks Woohoo!! 3mo
LeafingThroughLife @julesG Thanks! Poor plant has been hanging in with me and my not-quite-black thumb for more than a year now. It‘s definitely not thriving (it‘s supposed to have flowers…. 🤦‍♀️🤣), so just surviving is definitely what it‘s doing. 3mo
20 likes3 comments
blurb
LeafingThroughLife
Untitled | Unknown
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Well, I just finished my #DoubleSpin so no time like the present to belatedly post my April #BookSpin list. In keeping with doing things kind of backwards and out of order, I think I‘ll start my actual #BookSpin book now. 🤣

TheAromaofBooks Gotta make the system work for you 😂 3mo
19 likes1 comment
review
LeafingThroughLife
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Pickpick

I don‘t read many thrillers anymore but every once in a while one captured me. Redemption Road is a dark, multi-layered slow-burn mystery featuring a rich North Carolina setting and a cast of complex characters seeking justice, revenge, and redemption in their own ways. Hart successfully balances multiple mysteries, ask the hard questions about justice and revenge, and keeps the suspense up to the very end. Excellent!

NatalieR I love John Hart‘s books. This is a great read. ❤️ 3mo
23 likes1 comment
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LeafingThroughLife
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Mehso-so

This book overtly states from the beginning that it is not one of those transcendent “kid dying of cancer” books, and it isn‘t. Main character Greg is a hopelessly awkward not quite lovable goofball who finds his social strategy of being universally forgettable destroyed when forced by his mom to re-befriend Rachel, a girl fighting leukemia. The book is funny, honest, but also so unsentimental that the driving tragedy of it seems hollow.

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LeafingThroughLife
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Honestly this book was a bit insane, and I loved it. Romance author Jenn Lanaro finds herself at loose ends when her marriage fails. She absconds with her screen addicted children to the beach town where she grew up, determined to “win points” in the divorce. Chaos unfolds as her childhood best friend emerges from the waves and sea monsters good and bad arrive on scene. Jane does a beautiful job of marrying the honest and the absurd. ⬇️

LeafingThroughLife Jenn‘s grief over her deceased mother, her anger at her soon to be ex-husband, and her confusion about how to be the “grown-up” so she can do the right thing about both the mundane and bizarre things that are happening somehow cozy up perfectly with the unlikely battle to save the island from sea monsters. At its heart, this is a wild story about childhood, growing up, and how, no matter how old you get, you‘re never too old to need your mom. ⬇️ 4mo
LeafingThroughLife And one final hat tip to Emily Jane, an author who, when seeking to honor her own recently passed mother, conjures up a species of junk food-addicted, clairvoyant time-traveling squid who love jam band music and can save the world. 10/10, no notes. ❤️ 4mo
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blurb
LeafingThroughLife
Untitled | Unknown
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Wrote my list weeks ago, numbers were drawn last week. Guess there‘s no time like the present to remember to actually *post* my March #bookspin list! 😆

TheAromaofBooks Yay!! Never too late to BookSpin!! 😁 4mo
gconnolly10 Love the idea of the BookSpin! May have to try it out next month! 4mo
LeafingThroughLife @gconnolly10 Yeah! You should definitely give it a try. It‘s a fun way to tackle your TBR while keeping some randomness in your life. I look forward to the spin every month. 😁 4mo
20 likes3 comments
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LeafingThroughLife
Small Great Things | Jodi Picoult
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This is a challenging read about racism, bias, and ethics featuring Ruth, an L&D nurse who, caught between her white supremacist patient‘s wishes for her not to care for their son and the baby‘s urgent need for treatment, finds herself accused in the face of the baby‘s death. Picoult explores the perspectives of Ruth, her white public defender, and the baby‘s hateful father. ⬇️

LeafingThroughLife The story is compelling and doesn‘t shy away from analyzing racism, both implicit and overt. This was difficult but important to read during a time when some of the abhorrent views of white supremacists seem to be practically getting mainstreamed. I appreciated Picoult‘s author‘s note and her careful handling of the subject. 4mo
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LeafingThroughLife
Astray | Emma Donoghue
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I‘m hit or miss with short stories, but I enjoyed this collection. Donoghue imagines and brings to life moments in the lives of real people from actual historical accounts. The stories were excellent and being given a window into the historical inspiration for each made them even better. Paperback shown here but I actually enjoyed the audiobook which featured different narrators for the different stories to great effect.

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LeafingThroughLife
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Pickpick

This is a sweet cozy fantasy about 3 seer sisters who run a tearoom where they read tea leaves for their customers. Positive the tearoom and home is their future, all 3 are surprised to find themselves called to different pursuits just when it seems they most need to be united to the job of helping elder witches find their life tasks. Leans hard on the “failure to communicate” trope but is ultimately a satisfying story about finding your own path.

LeafingThroughLife Looks like this has a sequel coming out this year that I might just add to my TBR! February #doublespin #netgalley 4mo
TheAromaofBooks Woohoo!!! 4mo
20 likes2 comments
review
LeafingThroughLife
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Pickpick

Eddie is an African immigrant in London who has written a tour de force of a play about the immigrant experience but can‘t get in the door at any agencies. Hugo is a white guy feeling stifled by his future in law. When the two strike up a friendship that has Hugo posing as the playwright, will it be a success or will it spin out of control? The answer is…yes. ⬇️

LeafingThroughLife If you‘re looking for likeable characters, look elsewhere. If you‘re looking for thoughtful satire about bias and using the man to stick it to the man, this is worth a read. A soft pick for me. #netgalley 5mo
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review
LeafingThroughLife
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Mehso-so

Cressida, a fashion designer; her spoiled niece Violet; and Grace, the vicar‘s daughter are thrown together when Cressida‘s home and fashion house are bombed in the Blitz. The three come together with other local women to repair wedding dresses to be shared by women impacted by rations. It‘s a sweet story with a strong message of choosing to live the life you want but the focus on romance made it a bit too twee and predictable for my tastes.

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LeafingThroughLife
The Changeling | Victor LaValle
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My neglected Kindle got a turn with January‘s #doublespin - I thought this got off to a great start, a pitch perfect modern urban fairytale. Then it became a more pedestrian story of the early days of parenthood. Just when I thought it was about to lose me, the dark fairytale came back with a vengeance. LaValle peels back modern day New York to reveal timeless evil with a few plot twists I wasn‘t expecting. Glad I persevered for this unique read!

TheAromaofBooks Woohoo!! 5mo
27 likes1 comment
blurb
LeafingThroughLife
Untitled | Unknown
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Almost forgot my February #BookSpin list!

TheAromaofBooks Woohoo!!! 5mo
21 likes1 comment
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LeafingThroughLife
Throne of Glass | Sarah J. Maas
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Finally, my first SJM! I liked it but I didn‘t love it as much as everyone seems to. In the first 300 pages, despite mysterious killings in the castle and death defying tests for Celaena to become the king‘s champion, there seems to be no narrative urgency. Not to mention the idiosyncrasies of mentioning our heroine causing her door hinges to squeak as protection but then being surprised by everyone stopping in unannounced for pages afterward. ⬇️

LeafingThroughLife That said, it did pick up at the end, and I was invested in Celaena‘s story and the romance, so I‘ll probably continue with the series. I think it has room to grow. I‘ll probably get to Heir of Fire - the actual title from my #auldlangspine list - later this year. Thanks to @thebacklistbook and @monalyisha for helping me start my reading year out right! 5mo
monalyisha I totally get feeling like the only person who‘s not on the SJM train! I still haven‘t read any of her books, either. Lonelier and lonelier out here. 😅 Glad this worked for you enough to consider pursuing the next book in the series. Thanks for participating! 🥳 5mo
thebacklistbook I think it matters what mindset one has while reading these. I first read them while in college and it was torture to wait for the next one to come out. Coming back to them now, I felt less invested but comfortable reading it. It picks up in future books. @LeafingThroughLife 5mo
LeafingThroughLife @monalyisha SJM will get you eventually! You can‘t hide forever! 😆 5mo
LeafingThroughLife @thebacklistbook I think I‘ll like it more now that I feel like I know what to expect. Thanks for getting me started on the series. I enjoyed reading from your list! 😀 5mo
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LeafingThroughLife
Annie Bot | Sierra Greer
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Was not expecting this to be my favorite book of the month so far. This story about an autodidactic Cuddle Bunny robot bought by the mercurial Doug for his pleasure made my skin crawl from the start. Annie is intelligent but childlike as she learns, and Doug‘s jealousy and self-loathing make him casually abusive. Exploring dynamics of AI, ownership, and humanity, this book could have gone a lot of ways but I‘m glad ultimately went the way it did.

LeafingThroughLife My second #auldlangspine read and another winner! 6mo
thebacklistbook Glad you liked it. 5mo
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LeafingThroughLife
Shit, Actually | Lindy West
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Listening to Lindy West roast the hit movies of my young adulthood was hilarious. I often found myself cackling, regardless of whether I‘d actually seen the movie in question or not. 100% recommend listening to the audiobook. West narrates and it‘s that much funnier for it. My first read for #auldlangspine - thanks @thebacklistbook 🙂

monalyisha She‘s so great. 💛 6mo
thebacklistbook Glad you enjoyed it. 6mo
20 likes2 comments
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LeafingThroughLife
The Damned | Rene Ahdieh
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Bailedbailed

Got off to a rolling start with #bookspin for the year by bailing out of this book (and so also the series) after only 60 pages. So much multi POV angst and so little action. I read YA because it tends to hook me sooner and read faster but this was not doing the job. I‘m sad the second book didn‘t live up to the promise of The Beautiful, but other than that, I think I‘m good with moving on from this series.

TheAromaofBooks On to better things!! 6mo
28 likes1 comment
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LeafingThroughLife
The Cliffs: A Novel | J. Courtney Sullivan
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Jane Flanagan returns home to Maine to lick her wounds after steamrolling her life and career while under the influence. There she reckons with her mom‘s recent death, her family‘s legacy of alcoholism, and the unexpected history of a house she “adopted” as a teen. There is a lot going on in this book between Jane‘s story, diversions into indigenous history, and first person deep dives into historical characters with connections to the house. ⬇️

LeafingThroughLife Even though I often wondered why I was being lead on a lengthy tangent into local history, I was satisfied with how Sullivan brought everything together in a way that didn‘t feel artificial. Recommended! 6mo
BarbaraBB I just got a copy of this one! 6mo
Cathythoughts Sounds good 👍🏻 Stacking. 6mo
28 likes3 comments
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LeafingThroughLife
Such Kindness | Andre Dubus
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Once a builder and a family man, Tom Lowe Jr finds himself approaching rock bottom after falling from a roof. Unable to work, Tom lost his wife and his son as he spiraled into addiction and has crash landed in subsidized housing feeling angry and useless. When the bottom rises up to meet him, Tom…bounces. With his eyes opened to the people around him, he begins to learn to play the hand he was dealt. ⬇️

LeafingThroughLife All the grace that was missing from House of Sand and Fog is here in spades, almost to the point of being overdone. Dubus draws human pain and hopelessness so realistically that it demands to be tempered. In House of Sand and Fog it wasn‘t, but in this book Dubus gives grace along with humanity to his characters as they learn to care for each other in their own flawed ways. This book and Tom‘s lessons feel important. Glad I gave Dubus another try. 6mo
BarbaraBB Interesting. I loved House of Sand and Fog and I guess you didn‘t. I am now very interested in this one! 6mo
LeafingThroughLife @BarbaraBB I thought House of Sand and Fog was really well written but it was so unrelentingly bleak that my lasting impression of it is of extreme frustration. If it hadn‘t been good, I wouldn‘t have cared enough to be frustrated, but I couldn‘t love it because of that. I think this one did a similarly good job of making me care about struggling characters, but there‘s a little more hope baked in. Would love to hear what you think if you read it! 6mo
BarbaraBB Thanks! I much appreciate your heads up and will stack the book! 6mo
29 likes2 stack adds4 comments
blurb
LeafingThroughLife
Untitled | Unknown
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I got a bookish planner for Christmas that has one perfect blank lined page for each month to use for my #bookspin list. It‘s like it was meant to be. I‘m all listed and ready for January‘s spin!

TheAromaofBooks Woohoo!!! 6mo
LiteraryinPA Love me a bookish list! Enjoy! 6mo
19 likes2 comments
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LeafingThroughLife
Brooklyn | Colm Toibin
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Finished this book on Christmas Eve and it was a good end of year book. It is a gently told story of Irish immigrant Eilis Lacey who seems to passively greet most of the happenings in her life, both good and bad. While she can be frustrating at times, I think that‘s because Toibin draws her so realistically, flaws and all. His writing is utterly absorbing and made Eilis‘s experience very vivid. I think the sequel will find its way onto my TBR!

LeafingThroughLife I think that‘s a wrap on #BookSpin for this year. Happy New Year, all! 6mo
TheAromaofBooks Woohoo!!! 6mo
20 likes2 comments
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LeafingThroughLife
The Sisters Brothers | Patrick DeWitt
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Infamous hitmen Charlie and Eli Sisters have been sent by the Commodore to dispatch one Hermann Kermit Warm, but on the way Eli begins to have an existential crisis. Finding himself with empathy for his bum horse, Tub, and a growing conviction that he might better enjoy life as a shopkeeper, Eli considers retirement. An unexpected final reckoning might make the choice for him. Richly drawn characters and a dose of dark humor make this one shine.

LeafingThroughLife #Bookspin review catch up from November. Honestly, where does the time go? 7mo
BkClubCare And the movie isn‘t too bad, either 🎥 7mo
TheAromaofBooks Woohoo!!! 7mo
LeafingThroughLife @BkClubCare I was wondering about that. Glad to hear it. I‘ll have to give it a watch! 7mo
26 likes4 comments
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LeafingThroughLife
Sorry | Gail Jones
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Bailedbailed

Made quick work of my December #bookspin pick by…not finishing it. I knew this was headed for the DNF pile when I had to look up 10 words in the first few pages, and the unstable mother displayed a penchant for speaking in Shakespeare quotes. I have nothing against learning new words, but it felt very much like a book that was going to prioritize style over story, and I just don‘t have the energy for that kind of thing right now. Next!

TheAromaofBooks At least it's off the list!! 7mo
TheKidUpstairs In a case of "what works for one reader doesn't work for all" your pan immediately made me stack this one! ? I'm reading one of her others right now and I love how many words I've had to look up (reading digitally makes this easier), and the idea of a character speaking in Shakespeare quotes is immediately intriguing. Different strokes for different folks! 6mo
LeafingThroughLife @TheKidUpstairs Funny how that works! 😆 I feel like I read at such a glacial pace already that having to stop every other sentence to learn a word makes it so I‘ll never finish a book. Hope you like it, if you get a chance to give it a read! 6mo
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LeafingThroughLife
First Lie Wins: A Novel | Ashley Elston
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Evie Porter, professional imposter and con artist finds herself on a job that feels different than those that came before. When it starts to unravel, she has to cook up a scheme not just to save the job but also herself. This is a fun, twisty thriller that weaves around in the time of Evie‘s employ for the shady Mr. Smith and kept me guessing all the while. Recommended!

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LeafingThroughLife
A Town Like Alice | Nevil Shute
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I really enjoyed this book about intrepid Jean Paget who leads a group of imprisoned women around wartime Malaya, comes into some money, and makes a life for herself in Australia. This is a quiet love story, but mostly Jean‘s story, and you can‘t help but root for this practical, can-do character who in building a life for herself also builds a town for her life.

Amiable Oh, a dear friend gave me this book 35 years ago —it was his favorite. He‘s since passed away. I still have the book and I think of him every time I see it. Such a good read. 😍 7mo
25 likes1 comment
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LeafingThroughLife
Untitled | Unknown
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I missed a tag from @Sace last week, so it‘s #SundayFunday today instead. In a brick & mortar store, I‘m definitely a browser. My immediate area is sadly bereft of indie bookstores so whenever I‘m out vacationing in the world, I try to patronize the indies I don‘t have and will pick up whatever sounds good or they recommend. I actually picked up a copy of Orbital from a store rec early this year before it started getting all its award attention!

BookmarkTavern I always try to hit an indie bookstore on my vacations! It‘s always a highlight of every trip. Thanks for posting! 7mo
15 likes1 comment
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LeafingThroughLife
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Excited to be participating in #AuldLangSpine this for the first time. I usually miss the sign ups and then get all jealous of everybody and their fun lists, but I have a fun list of my own this year from @thebacklistbook ! I think this may be the nudge I need to finally start reading the Throne of Glass series. I‘ll have to start with # 1 but hopefully will make my way to # 3 later in 2025! ⬇️

LeafingThroughLife Sh*t, Actually sounds like it will make for a good audio read, so I‘ll probably give that one a listen. Annie Bot is already on my vast TBR, so if I have time, I‘ll try to fit that one in, too! Thanks to @monalyisha for organizing. Looking forward to kicking off a year of great reading with these! 😁 7mo
BookmarkTavern Lindy West is amazing on audio! 👍🏻👍🏻 7mo
monalyisha I love Lindy West! Her writing doesn't always work for me (her style is very colloquial) but when it does, it really does. I love Shrill and I subscribe to her Butt News(letter) and follow her on Instagram. She's so funny and genuine. She did an interview with her husband and their partner about their polyamorous relationship that I found super thoughtful and interesting. I think you should be able to watch it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v 7mo
24 likes3 comments
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LeafingThroughLife
With the Fire on High | Elizabeth Acevedo
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It has definitely been the autumn of the audio YA. I promise I‘ve read some books written for grown-ups, too. 😆 I LOVED this one. Emoni is a strong, well-written character - a single teen mom trying to figure out her future. I loved her voice and her journey of following her dreams, however difficult, and learning how to balance them with her reality. Highly recommended!

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LeafingThroughLife
Untitled | Unknown
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I‘m not sure how this happened, but it appears it‘s already time for the final #bookspin list of the year. I love using this one to get “surprised” by my own TBR pile so it‘s no big shock that I‘ve read most of my picks this year. Hoping for another 2 good ones to wrap up the year. Thanks again to @TheAromaofBooks for hosting! 😀

TheAromaofBooks Woohoo!!! 7mo
15 likes1 comment
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LeafingThroughLife
Breath of the Dragon: Breathmarked | Fonda Lee, Shannon Lee
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Separated from his mother and twin brother in childhood, Li Jun and his father are exiled from a land where martial arts are restricted to a land filled with schools who hope to win glory by training the Guardian of the Scroll, the best martial artist in the country. Jun defies his father to compete and finds himself entangled in power struggles beyond his imagining. This is a good if unevenly paced start to a new series. Hits shelves Jan 2025.

LeafingThroughLife September #bookspin catch up! Also #NetGalley 🙂 7mo
TheAromaofBooks Woohoo!! 7mo
15 likes2 comments
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LeafingThroughLife
Good Me, Bad Me | Ali Land
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Many thanks to @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks for this great little collection of books from her fill a box giveaway! Looking forward to some excellent reading. Thanks so much!! ❤️

Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks You‘re welcome!! 😊❤️ 7mo
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LeafingThroughLife
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Pickpick

Hazel and Ben live in Fairfold where humans and fae live side by side and a mysterious fae boy sleeps in an impenetrable glass coffin. When someone frees the boy, Ben and Hazel and their friend Jack, a changeling, are pulled into a fae battle for power, and the secrets they keep from each other and themselves may prove deadly. Loved the main characters, the rich imagining of a town rich in fae magic, and the new love stories for both characters.

review
LeafingThroughLife
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Pickpick

When Hannah‘s husband Owen disappears, leaving her with her stepdaughter, Bailey, and a cryptic note saying, “Protect her,” Hannah is plunged into the high stakes mystery of husband‘s hidden past. Heavy with suspense and claustrophobic with “who can I trust?” anxiety, Dave has written an engaging thriller with believable protagonists in Hannah and Bailey, who are learning to navigate each other while uncovering the secrets of the past. #BOTM

Aims42 I love your little plant sign 😂 I need a couple of those for mine 8mo
LeafingThroughLife @Aims42 Thanks! “Daisy” has had some close calls with the grave under the care of my, if not black thumb, then definitely…grey. Think if I get her an “I will thrive” sign she‘ll start growing flowers again? 🤣 8mo
Aims42 @LeafingThroughLife Lol! I‘m sure it wouldn‘t hurt 🤣 8mo
Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks Would you mind to email me your address for the “stuff a box” giveaway?! Loverofbooks75@gmail. Com 🎉🎊 8mo
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LeafingThroughLife
Untitled | Unknown
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Almost time for the next #bookspin - here‘s my list!

TheAromaofBooks Woohoo!! 8mo
16 likes1 comment
review
LeafingThroughLife
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Pickpick

Finch Nobles was burned badly as a child and as an adult lives alone as caretaker of her parents‘ graveyard with only the dead for company. But what company they are - oddly lively and vivid, Reynolds‘ dead manage nature while they tell their stories and wait to get light enough to rise. Atmospheric, mysterious, with a unique main character who is prickly but lovable, this short book made for an unexpectedly good spooky season read. #bookspin

TheAromaofBooks Great progress!! 9mo
20 likes1 comment
review
LeafingThroughLife
The Ancients: A Novel | John Larison
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Pickpick

On a planet overwhelmed by climate catastrophe, 3 children search for their aunt after their parents disappear from their dying seaside village. Their mother is stolen into slavery for a society of sun worshippers. A man is forced to abandon scholarship to take on his father‘s legacy of wool production to earn a ticket to escape the drought stricken city. After Whiskey When We‘re Dry, I was hoping for another powerful character study. ⬇️

LeafingThroughLife While the writing is strong, instead of a character study, this book takes the shape of a fable where the characters take a backseat to the message of a people who have forgotten the lessons of a civilization long erased and threaten to mercilessly drain the earth of its resources. Again. I wanted more. More depth of character, stronger threads connecting the book‘s primitive future to our present. Still a soft pick. September #bookspin 9mo
TheAromaofBooks Great review!! 9mo
18 likes2 comments