This was a nice surprise! These Libby holds came in on the same day, & neither was supposed to for weeks! 😁 Diving in!

"Good-bye, Jane Stuart. May you never drink out of an empty cup."

How lovely.

I blame @britt_brooke & #NashvilleLittens for this one! ? Still wrapping my brain around "language that is cultish" versus "the language of cults".

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An extra day helped 😉 - 13 hours this weekend! I've been in a HUGE slump, so this definitely helped. Thanks, @Andrew65!

Hey, Littens! It's been a crazy season, & I've hardly read at all this month, but this and @DeweysReadathon is just what I need on a not-terribly-busy weekend to get back into the groove! @Andrew65

Well, this was just delightful. ☺

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What a nice surprise! A skip-the-line loan from Libby! Love these!

Still wrapping my head around this gift from @BookNAround. What a heart-wrenching story. Extra special that the author got her MFA from Boston U, where my daughter attends!

Also, this is a perfect cover.

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As good as advertised! What a sweet, yet heart-wrenching, book! I love epistolary novels.
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A quick flight = a short book! Been looking forward to this one for a while, & this was my #jolobokaflodswap present from @BookNAround !

Up next: my Christmas present from my 19yo daughter. She knows me well. ☺

Have to admit that there WERE places in this book that made me sigh in delight. I love sweeping, multi-generational family epics. This one just didn't grab me like, say, Pachinko did. I continue to love that #Authoramonth2022 is introducing me to unknown-to-me authors. @Soubhiville

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After a ridiculously long reading slump, I think I might be coming out of it. ☺

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Grading midterms is more enjoyable with a good cup of coffee in an awesome mug from a more awesome friend! Thank you, @HeatherBookNerd ! #NashvilleLittens

*sigh* Unpopular opinion coming. I didn't love this like I wanted to. I'm not against reading difficult memoirs - I've read many that I've given higher star ratings. This just wasn't for me. I do, however, understand & appreciate what Maya Angelou has meant to literature & particularly POC, especially in 1969, when such things were rarely written.

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Finally. Thanks to #Authoramonth2022 & @Soubhiville for "forcing" me to read her.

And, no, I am NOT increasing the speed of the audiobook.

I just adore Veronica Speedwell.

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#Booked2022 - real/fictional Royal

His was the only poster hanging on my wall as a teenager. He was my first - and, truly, my only - celebrity crush. I remember the devastation of the early Parkinson's diagnosis announcement. What an amazing outlook on life. I always love to listen to memoirs read by the author - this one was a bit tough at times, because you could hear the struggle. But what a story. Thanks to @Cinfhen for putting it on my radar!

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Snow/sleet/slush in the south = shutdown = Sunday full of football, reading, & cuddling cats. ☺ #catsofLitsy

@Soubhiville, thank you so much for your generous gifts for #Authoramonth2022! I'm so excited to get to these when the time comes. And look at that cute #LitsyBookMail sticker! 😁 Thank you again for your kindness! ♥

My first Barbara Kingsolver. Won't be my last. Honestly, didn't love her as a narrator, but audio was what my library had available - will read others in print.

As always, thanks to #Authoramonth2022 & @Soubhiville for introducing me to a new-to-me author!

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"Willa decided that she was done with motherhood for the night, if not for the remainder of her allotted years." - Barbara Kingsolver

If you're a parent/guardian/primary caregiver & claim to have never felt this way, you're lying through your teeth. ?

@BookNAround FINALLY after a two-week vacation & a week of family illness, I opened my #jolobokaflodswap package. I was so delighted with your choices! I can't wait to devour everything here! Thank you for the extra book from your shelves & for your amazing choice of chocolates - I've never had any of these and they sound scrumptious. Although I was weeks late opening this, it was so worth the wait! ♥ @MaleficentBookDragon

"A mother is only as happy as her unhappiest child."

Wow, Barbara Kingsolver. Wow. #truth

Up first for #Authoramonth! @Soubhiville

Also excited to start this buddy read tomorrow. I've never read WH! Come join us!

@Crinoline_Laphroaig #WanderingThroughWutheringHeights
#Pemberlittens

This just came in the mail today, & I'm excited to dive in with other #Pemberlittens! @jenniferw88

2021 was a rough reading year for me. Like many, I found it difficult to focus.

54 books out of my Goodreads goal of 80 - setting my goal for 80 again this year. 8/12 #Authoramonth & 16/24 #Booked2021. Doing both of these challenges in 2022 - they definitely pushed me to find new authors!

So, here's to a better 2022! 🥂

@Soubhiville @Cinfhen @4thhouseontheleft @BarbaraTheBibliophage

@BookNAround My family & I are on vacation at Walt Disney World, & I think that I forgot to pack your #jolobokaflodswap package. 😭 😭 So sorry, but please know that I'll thoroughly enjoy a late treat in the new year! Merry Christmas Eve, everyone!

@MaleficentBookDragon

Last night, fully vaccinated #NashvilleLittens gathered in @ferskner's home for the first time in nearly two years! (#stupidvirus) We typically meet up 4x/year, but COVID had obviously derailed that for a bit. Good food, GREAT conversation, being spoiled by our Secret Santas, & the same dinosaur erotica book being gifted by two different people. 😂 This was SO good for my soul - Zoom meetings weren't the same. I have missed my book people!

Thank you @BookNAround ! Can't wait til 12/24!

#jolobokaflodswap @MaleficentBookDragon

Anthony Horowitz. Enough said. ☺

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It's on its way, @Chelleo ! 😁 ETA 12/11.

Thanks, as always, for organizing @MaleficentBookDragon! #jolobokaflodswap

I have a theatre friend with whom I share a reading Venn diagram, & our overlap is science fiction. At a rehearsal last week, he plopped down next to me & said "please tell me you've read Project Hail Mary, because I HAVE to discuss it with someone." 5 minutes later, it was purchased from Audible. I don't always have good luck with fiction on audio but WOW. Ray Porter's performance was fantastic, & I will be reading more Weir.

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December is going to be even crazier than normal. 🤪 Three weekends of playing Mrs. Cratchit opposite my husband (and with my real daughter as my stage daughter, pictured here), & then two weeks in Florida, FINALLY taking my c/o 2020 grad's graduation trip to Disney & Universal. I'll likely read very little, but know that I'll be back in full force in January! Happy Holidays & Happy Reading!

Update: I still don't love Dickens.
Update the second: Tim Curry can do no wrong.

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Got this as an Audible freebie years ago & never listened to it. Since I'm preparing to play Mrs. Fezziwig & Mrs. Cratchit opposite my husband in a community theater in a few weeks, thought this was as good a time as any to listen. And, hello, it's Tim Curry! 😍

Now up to date with Enola! ☺ Really hoping Millie Bobby Brown makes more of these movies!

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I adore Enola Holmes & didn't realize I was two books behind! 😁 What a nice surprise!

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"A secret's worth depends on the people from whom it must be kept."

Can't explain why I love that quote as much as I do.

I meant to open a different book on my Kindle. 10 pages in, I realized my mistake, but I couldn't put it down. Gotta love books that make you laugh *and* cry out loud.

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Yay! My favorite swap of the year!

Head to @MaleficentBookDragon 's page to sign up for #jolobokaflodswap!

October was busy, and as a result small in number, but BIG in quality! Pleased to say that Addie LaRue lived up to the hype. ☺

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REALLY gonna try this one, since we have a fairly non-busy weekend. Work has been eating away at my reading time lately! How dare it! 😂

#Halloween #20in4 #readathon @Andrew65

I'm terrible at setting goals during readathons - just gonna try to get as much reading done as possible! Will be out of pocket for a good bit of next weekend, as we're traveling to see our daughter for her university's Parents Weekend - but I'll have the time on the plane! 😁

Thanks, @Andrew65! #OutstandingOctober

Forgot to review this one after I read it! It was strange to read about life after the pandemic that we are currently living through (though it wasn't mentioned by name), but it was fantastic, as always. And what a cover!

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TJR has yet to disappoint me. ☺ I'm a sucker for dysfunctional family stories.

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The Drama Book Shop is a requirement for any NYC trip for my to-be musical theatre major! Such a wonderful store.

If you don't take a picture in The Strand, did you even go? 😉 Weekend in NYC with my 16yo, & this was on the must-do list. As was my next post...

Just started the newest Louise Penny. Here's the first page. This is my first time reading a book that references COVID. What new books have you read that have done the same? I'm sure this will be par for the course soon, just like 9/11 is.