The book about book banning that became a banned book due to a book banned in the book. 😖

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 1/2

#classic #bannedbook #mustread #dystopian #latejumpingonthebannedwagon 📚🔥👨‍🚒

‘Maybe You Should Talk to Someone‘ 5⭐️
‘Burnout‘ 3 1/2⭐️
‘The Mothers‘ 3 1/2⭐️
‘The Female Persuasion‘ 3 1/2 ⭐️
‘Men Without Women‘ 4⭐️

Looks like I was drawn to bright colors this month! #WrapUp #SeptemberWrapUp

I saw this on Twitter this morning and thought it was funny enough to share.

It‘s that time of year when I crave creepy suspense thrillers! What should I read first? 😱 #suspense #thriller #bookhaul

My local library at night. Isn‘t it beautiful? 📚❤️ #librarylove

#librarylove

1. Maybe You Should Talk to Someone 📖
2. Pumpkin Spice 🎃
3. “I have a secret.” 🤫

#weekendreads @rachelsbrittain

1. The sexism is what did it.
2. Schitt‘s Creek
3. Bitches Brew Coffee
4. PST
5. Blue Maybe

@howjessreads #FRIYAYINTRO

Morning book & coffee — I‘m really enjoying this one! fascinating 📖☕️

I didn‘t read nearly as much as I planned to this month but at least I checked these off my long term tbr. I‘m not sure if it was a coincidence or my subconscious at work but these authors were all part of the ‘Beat Generation‘. I feel a bit like I‘ve been living in an era just before I was born. #augustwrapup #summerreading #august #wrapup

‘Breakfast of Champions‘ 3 1/2⭐️
‘The Dharma Bums‘ 3 1/2⭐️
‘Franny and Zooey‘ 3 ⭐️

I‘m not exactly hitchhiking with a rucksack, but vacations definitely put me in a dharma bum frame of mind.

Bauman Rare Books in Las Vegas is a fantastic stop for book lovers. The gentleman working there was so nice and incredibly knowledgeable — even our teenager was fascinated! The book pictured in the upper left corner has existed since the 1500‘s.

I love a thriller with a surprise ending — but that ending has to make sense in retrospect. I want say ‘Aha!‘ not ‘Huh?‘ For me this book was a ‘Huh?‘ I think it would have worked better if certain clues/elements had been introduced earlier.

📸 killirae on Instagram
✍️ I like writing letters & occasionally trade them with a cousin since she‘s off the grid
📚 Photography, cooking, playing with my dog & reading
🖼 painting, piano, another language...
👭 @bromeliad @Kaila-ann

#hellothursday @wanderinglynn

#julywrapup #summerreading #julyreads #wrapup

‘Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine‘ 3 ⭐️
‘Joyland‘ 3 ⭐️
‘The Fixer‘ 4 ⭐️
‘A Collector of Photographs‘ 1 ⭐️
‘Purple Hibiscus‘ 2 1/2 ⭐️
‘Behind Her Eyes‘ 2 ⭐️

A murder mystery with a view...my happy place. 📖 ☀️ 🌊

“There‘s something cursed, it seems to me, about a country where men have owned other men as property. The stink of that corruption never escapes the soul, and it is the stink of future evil.” 😞

The setting of this novel is Kiev, 1911 but the story is relevant today. #nationalbookaward #pulitzerprize

The retro-pulp cover art on this paperback is fab but maybe a little misleading. While it was fun to be whisked away into the world of a 1970‘s coastal carnival and the light mystery/crime/horror elements, the central story is of a young man coming of age and the kinds of love and loss people really face.🤴❤️

The publisher would have you think Eleanor Oliphant is quirky in the way of Bridget Jones. Not so. Eleanor suffers from PTSD, depression, mental illness, loneliness, substance abuse, facial scarring, Aspergers and more. Despite all this, the mood feels implausibly rom-com. It‘s ‘The Bell Jar‘ territory with ‘The Rosie Project‘ attitude. That said, I did enjoy the characters and wanted to see what would happen next.

”May we think of freedom, not as the right to do as we please, but as the opportunity to do what is right.”
— Peter Marshall

‘Rules of Civility‘ 4 ⭐️
‘The Girl Who Fell From the Sky‘ 3 ⭐️
‘Diary of an Amateur Photographer: A Mystery‘ 3 ⭐️
‘Fortune Smiles‘ 4 1/2 ⭐️
‘Siddhartha ‘ 3 ⭐️

#JuneWrapUp #WrapUp #SummerReading

I can‘t choose today, so here‘s two of everything!

1. Peonies & Hydrangeas
2. ‘Rules of Civility‘ & ‘Fortune Smiles‘
3. ‘Dead To Me‘ (starring Christina Applegate on Netflix) & ‘Barry‘ (starring Bill Hader on HBO)
4. T.S. Eliot & Maya Angelou

@DebbieGrillo @MinDea #HumpDayPost

A brilliant collection of stories that are hard to put down, even when they make you uncomfortable. Characters here deal with the trauma caused by loss— of country, health, innocence, love, identity, or self. A few stories are among the best I‘ve ever read, others not quite as strong but still well worth reading. #shortstories

I don‘t know how I came to own this book. Was it a gift? It‘s as if it‘s always been on my bookshelf. In any case, I finally read it! I found it extremely creative and pretty funny. If you have a weird sense of humor and can appreciate experimental fiction meets graphic novel/collage art, this might be for you. Of course it‘s a mystery — but you will be way ahead of the (pervy, sick minded) narrator.

☀️Trips to Grand Canyon National Park, Las Vegas and the Oregon coast
🎵 If you like Janis Joplin try Jade Bird, if you like The Cranberries try Hatchie, if you like Blondie try Bleached
😭 In high school I wanted my long hair cut shoulder length for summer, but the stylist cut it all the way up to my ears. My boyfriend broke up with me.
🤓 Hanging out with my nerdy family!
🐶 My little buddy, Winston 💕

#HumpDayPost @DebbieGrillo @MinDea

1 part ‘The Great Gatsby‘
1 part ‘Sex and the City‘
1 part old Hollywood movie
1 part 1938 NYC

It‘s not, ‘A Gentleman in Moscow‘ but it is very well written and if you enjoy the above ingredients you‘ll likely eat up every word, as I did! ❤️

1. ‘A Gentleman in Moscow‘ by Amor Towles ❤️

2. ‘Whiskey, Words and a Shovel II‘ — I know it‘s a popular book, but these poems weren‘t for me 🤷🏻‍♀️

3. ‘The Dutch House‘ by Ann Patchett and ‘The Butterfly Girl‘ by Rene Denfeld — both due out this fall 🍁

4. I always set a 50 book goal, so far I‘ve read 26 📚

5. @laurenslibrary #thursdaysurvey 🙂

A civilized book & breakfast — I‘m loving both! #humpday #reading

May reading — not as many as most Littens but I started and set down half a dozen other books (that I WILL pick up again soon)! 😂

‘Lake Success‘ 3⭐️
Entertaining but I wish I had cared a little more about the characters.

‘This Is the Story of a Happy Marriage‘ 4⭐️
Reading these articles and essays are a must for Patchett fans.

‘Why Not Me?‘ 3 1/2⭐️
Light, fun and so easy to imagine being friends with her.

#MayWrapUp #MoodReader

‘The Doll‘ 4 ⭐️
‘Norwegian Wood‘ 3 1/2 ⭐️
‘The One and Only Ivan‘ 4 ⭐️
‘Killers of the Flower Moon‘ 3 1/2 ⭐️
‘Whiskey Words and a Shovel‘ 2 ⭐️
‘Serving the Servant‘ 4 ⭐️

#AprilWrapUp #WrapUp

Use the shovel to bury this one. I‘m joking of course! I know it‘s an unpopular opinion, but this book of poetry wasn‘t for me — I found many of these poems to be condescending, repetitive and full of platitudes. That said, there were a few in there that elevated this review from a pan to so-so. 🤷🏻‍♀️

U.S. history, true crime, mystery and suspense all in one important, gut wrenching book. Why didn‘t I learn about any of this in school? My only issue is that it did feel a bit too drawn out. I think this *might* be that rare book that will work even better as a movie. I am excited that Scorsese & DiCaprio are in production with it — every U.S. citizen should know this story. #nonfiction #history #crime

I‘d encourage parents and teachers to check out this beautifully written children‘s book, inspired by a real gorilla that lived in a Tacoma, Washington shopping mall for 27 years. Although at times the story is very sad (gently but honestly dealing with the death, neglect and abuse of animals) it is a wonderful and ultimately triumphant tale of compassion and love for all creatures. #childrensliterature #awardwinning #newberrymedal

I liked some elements of this book a lot, but because it was so highly rated I expected...more. You can tell that Murakami is a gifted writer but also that it‘s an earlier work, not yet reaching the heights he‘s capable of. I‘d say it‘s a pick for Murakami fans.

It was a shock to realize that last week marked the 25th anniversary of Kurt Cobain‘s death. I drove past his childhood home (feeling too old to be doing something like that) and wondered how much sadness was for the loss of a person I never knew, how much for the loss of his music and how much for the loss of that time in my life.

In any case, here is a new book about Kurt, and a book recommended by Kurt. Think I‘ll read them both. #kurtcobain

Thirteen short, suspenseful stories dealing with failed love — many with a tragic, gothic feel. Fans of the Brontë sisters, Shirley Jackson, Flannery O‘Connor and of course Daphne du Maurier will most likely love it. I immediately had to read ‘The Happy Valley‘, ‘And His Letters Grew Colder‘ and ‘The Doll‘ again. #shortstories #literature #gothic

I found the perfect cozy reading nook in a possibly haunted hotel. I think Daphne du Maurier would approve.

‘Fox 8‘ 4 ⭐️
‘Barrel Fever‘ 4 ⭐️
‘Hope Never Dies‘ 2 1/2 ⭐️
‘Notes on a Nervous Planet‘ 4 ⭐️
‘The Remains of the Day‘ 5 ⭐️
‘The Book of Joy‘ 4 ⭐️

#MarchWrapUp #WrapUp

Great question! I‘ve read quite a few outstanding books so far, but I think my favorite has to be ‘A Gentleman in Moscow‘ with ‘The Remains of the Day‘ coming in as a close second.

#bestbooksofar2019 @megnews

A proper English butler, Mr Stevens, at one time achieved the highest ranks in his field, but at what cost? Over the course of a driving trip, Stevens reflects on his life and career as the reader discovers a man who completely sublimated human feeling to an unwavering standard of professional duty. Ishiguro is a masterful story teller who allows us to understand more than what we are told by our narrator. An incredibly moving novel.

We‘re finishing Sunday out like this.... 🐶📖❤️

Sunday morning book & breakfast. I think someone was doing a six hour reading challenge today? If it involves reading whatever strikes me throughout the day — I‘m in! Let hour one begin! 😊📚🍀

Happy St. Patrick‘s Day, Littens! 📚🍀📚🍀📚🍀

I love how relatable and open the author is about anxiety, life in the 21st century and his own personal experiences. The book is organized into insightful, bite sized chapters that are easy to read — even for a highly distracted person. #selfhelp #nonfiction

Unpopular opinion: for a guilty pleasure book, I‘m not getting much pleasure. It‘s a rock n‘ roll novel told completely in interview format. I feel like I‘d rather read a real interview with a band that I care about.

“Compassion is a feature of strength, not weakness.”

I‘ve now read everything Mr. Sedaris has to offer at least once. This is an early work of his short stories and essays. I think they‘re brilliant. Full disclosure, I‘ve always felt as if I could have been part of the Sedaris clan, a later in life, surprise baby no. 7, younger sister to David and Amy, etc. Anywho, if you‘re reading this, Mr. Sedaris, please stop and get back to work on your next book! P.S. I ❤️ you!

A fast read with a ridiculous premise and questionable characterizations...in a word, it‘s absurd. But fun. With that in mind, I wrote my review to the tune of ‘Escape‘ (the Piña Colada song):

“If you like Barack Obama, and suspense with a train
If you‘re re not into George Bush, if you think Trump is insane
If you like a bromance with Joe Biden, and some silly scrapes
I´m the book that you´ve looked for, check out me, and escape" ?