1. Fish feeder at salmon farm 17 yr. Don‘t eat farmed salmon to this day. Became a life long wild salmon advocate. Salmon farms do great harm to estuaries and spread disease to imperiled wild salmon. 2. Not ones I‘ve been paid for, other than the occasional stint as an assistant in commercial river trips. 3. Burned out spectacularly in an advocacy career. Climbing out of the ashes and balance is my main priority! @Eggs #wonderouswednesday

A soft pick for me. Beautiful prose. Loved the structure. Love her poems. Just so much focus on bitter divorce and mothering and that‘s not my favorite cup of tea.

My boat book for the weekend. I‘ve been waiting for DJD‘s next novel for more than 20 years. Brothers K is one of my favorite all time novels. The River Why was the first literary fiction set in the landscape where I grew up and made a big impression on me at 22. Twenty years later is was hell of a lot of fun to end up working with David on efforts to remove 4 large dams to restore Columbia-Snake salmon & steelhead runs. Yay! He finished it!!

My #BookspinBingo list for September! Trying to finish some buddy reads that are half or two-thirds done! I will commit to finishing or officially DNFing Villette and Middlemarch! I have some chunksters on this board so not expecting a Bingo but who knows! @TheAromaofBooks

Oh I think I judge my mysteries too harshly. But again this #Doublespin was a so-so soft pick. I really enjoyed the plot and Sweden setting. A cop and his son who follows in his footsteps are wrapped into story of unsolved rapes/murders. But oh, so overwritten. This is debut novel. The author was just trying to be too….deep? Literary? There are many hilarious sentences . Get over yourself. Focus on the story!

My #Doublespin. I appreciated the read after spending a week in Iceland this month. But a so-so-so. I liked the MC, a female detective. I didn‘t like how many mistakes the author had her make. And I sure as hell didn‘t like the “twist” at the end. Think I‘m donr with Nordic noir for awhile and will pick up some Tana French again.

Looking forward to diving into this one! Sitting on the boat watching ospreys fish and woodpeckers peck.

A really great overview of Le Guin and her novels and other writings. I need to read more of her! https://www.nytimes.com/article/ursula-k-leguin-best-books.html?smid=url-share

Mary O‘Malley poem in Galway Bay, Ireland. #poetrymatters

Had a grand day in Dublin. Started an appropriate book AND did the Dublin Literary Pub Crawl tour hosted by actors Kevin and Frank. All the love. Afterwards visiting over whisky I told them I might cajole some fellow literary lovers into a Joyce readalong. Ulysses, anyone?

Thanks for the tag @The_Penniless_Author ! I don‘t have kids so I don‘t pay close,attention but I think first week of,September? Hmmm….Normal People by Sally Rooney. @TheSpineView

Traveling for an extended period and different situations so no room to pick up books. But I thoroughly enjoyed my hour in this lovely Galway Ireland bookshop. One takeaway: I am obsessed with American writer Percival Everett. He gets so little attention in my American city, and so few book lovers I know are familiar with him (although that is changing). Two of his novels were predominately displayed here: The Trees and Dr. No. WTF America?

My Icelandic read! Gorgeous waterfall in the West Fjords. This mystery is set on a nearby Island, Flatey in the 1960s. Two deaths occur associated with a book of Icelandic sagas connected to the island and a riddle based on the book—the Flatey Enigma. Read this not for the mystery, but for the window into the isolated, Iceland island living circa 1960. Loved the descriptions, the characters. They survived on potatoes, seal, fish and puffins.

I‘m traveling a month in a different part of the world, so not participating in #foodandlit but wanted to give a shout out to Lizano sauce, which I filled my suitcase with. Required ingredient for the national Costa Rica dish Gallo Pinto. Here is one of my Gallo Pinto breakfasts at a small motel in the Cloud Forest. He took me into the kitchen to show me how to make it. The manager https://www.fusioncraftiness.com/lizano-sauce-from-costa-rica/

Traveling Ireland. Appreciating tagged history. Chatted a long time w/ fellow book lover Glen (in the middle) over Irish whiskey at the Hole in The Wall in Kilkenny. We talked about our love of Steinbeck, Kesey, tagged book and Richard Powers‘ The Overstory. He forgave me for not liking Kerouac. An Irish forester who‘d lived in Montana, we talked long on forest conservation. And why Americans voted for a fascist like Trump. #bookscanuniteus

1. It‘s a rare day I don‘t read or listen to a book. 2. I read to explore and understand the world and also to escape it when I need to. People who read, grow up reading have larger brain centers supporting empathy studies show. Thanks @Eggs #wondrouswednesday

It‘s only appropriate that my #Bookspin would be the tagged Icelandic noir while I‘m traveling Iceland. Photo is of the farthest western point in Europe in the West Fjords that also hosts the largest bird colony in Europe. Puffins are damn cute! #doublespin is a Swedish noir Blaze Me a Sun. @TheAromaofBooks

A bar/bookstore with live music across from our Airbnb in Reykjavik. Love it! And enjoying the tagged noir mystery set in the islands off the West Fjords where we are headed next. Set in the 1960s, a cryptographer studying one of the original saga books is found dead. Another dead body is found with a Viking symbol carved in its back. A young lawyer from Reykjavík is sent up to help solve the crimes. Moody, slow-paced, descriptive story.

I would probably not have gotten around to reading this had it not been for #camplitsy. While I enjoyed Rodham, I thought there would be other novels I‘d rather be reading. I enjoyed this so much more than I expected. Fun, funny great audiobook to listen to while doing chores and running errands in preparation for a long vacation. I laughed out loud so many times. Main character writes for SNL show connects with musician guest starring.

Traveling. Here‘s my quick #Bookspin #BookspingBingo list. Will be traveling and sightseeing more thank reading but hope to finish a couple books focused on Iceland and Ireland while on my adventure! @TheAromaofBooks

Thoughtful memoir from a queer Muslim writing about navigating being queer and Muslim, the assumptions and judgements from all sides. I‘ve avoided organized religion all my life because for me personally, it did not feel worth the energy to try and carve out a feminist space in a patriarchal structure and tradition. But I do admire women who manage to do so. Much to discuss. I wonder where the author‘s journey will take them. #camplitsy

Forgot to post a review. A soft pick for me. I enjoyed parts of it but the first half didn‘t keep my attention and it took forever for me to finish. Not entirely sure why. Perhaps I couldn‘t get invested in some of the characters. But glad to read it with the #camplitsy crew.

What the hell did I just read? I love a novel where I don‘t know where the hell it‘s taking me. All the love for this western themed story with elements of horror. About family secrets, acceptance, being different, surviving. For readers who loved Percival Everett‘s The Trees, this might be your jam. OOf. I will be thinking about this one for awhile.

It feels appropriate to be starting this new novel while driving through Montana landscape. Looking forward to this one! You know where I‘m headed @marleed !! 🎶🎤🎸🎺🎻🥁🎹

Finished awhile ago, late to post a review. This #naturalitsy choice was one that had been on my TBR list for a long time. It was far more poetic and thought-provoking than I expected. I enjoyed the breadth of “abandoned“ places she includes, from Chernoybl, volcanic landscapes, mining sites, a New Jersey industrial site.

Will save my comments for #camplitsy discussion on Saturday, but I loved this dark satire of the writing world, publishing industry and cancel culture. Who has the right to tell what story, whose story?

Reading Iceland Noir before my trip later this month! And enjoying a warm day on a lake.

My least favorite read of the year. In my view, this could have been a fun and interesting short story, maybe novella. A fun premise but it couldn‘t carry a 400 page book. I sped read the last 150 pages just because it was a for a book club. Only reason it wasn‘t a DNF for me.

Really wonderful feature in NYT with several queer writers, including Roxanne Gay, reflecting on, commenting on, the most influential queer writers of the last several decades. Some writers I had not heard of. And some phenomenal portraits and photographs included in this feature. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/22/t-magazine/queer-postwar-books-plays-poems.ht...

Interesting NYT article on the changes in the publishing industry, and how Cormac McCarthy would not have a shot at a successful career in today's world. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/19/opinion/cormac-mccarthy-publishing.html

On impulse my husband and I just bought a houseboat on Priest Lake, Idaho. A unique oppportunity…we canoes by and 3 days later…we have a houseboat! Perfect place to catch up on my #naturalitsy read! We‘ve named the boat Latibulum. #BlameitonLitsy #weirdwords. A word that came too my attention thanks to @CBee The noun for verb latibulate, meaning to hide from cares, worries, responsibilities, say in a corner of a room. Or on a houseboat!

Rest in Peace, Cormac. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/13/books/cormac-mccarthy-dead.html

Wow. Elizabeth Gilbert is pulling back publication indefinitely of a novel she's finished, set in Russia. Because of backlash from people upset that she set a novel in Russia while Russia is at war with Ukraine. IMHO that is bonkers, and terrible precendent. And the book follows a family who flees to Siberia to avoid Soviet control. Other thoughts? https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/12/books/elizabeth-gilbert-book-russia.html

My June #BookspinBingo board. My #Bookspin is #camplitsy read The Bandits, which I‘m thoroughly enjoying. #Doublespin #Naturalitsy read is Islands of Abandonment, a book I‘ve been meaning to get to for awhile. Looking forward to the month! @TheAromaofBooks

My #BookspinBingo recap! Got a Bingo! Read my #Bookspin and #Doublespin. So many great reads. Ada Limon‘s poetry collection The Hurting Kind—great. Telephone by Percival Everett— poignant, very different from The Trees. Matrix, Ducks fantastic. Love Finding the Mother Tree. Written in 1925, Manhattan Transfer is so ahead of its time, snapshots of NYC and people struggling to live and thrive. Greenwood a disappointment. @TheAromaofBooks

I thought this would be a 5 star read for me. A generational story set from 1908 and 2038 in Canada, focused on timber, trees & forests. A family‘s relationship to them as timber barons, forest protection activists, carpenters. Beautiful writing, some characters I loved. But a little too much telling than showing. Some actions by characters not believable. Some forest science totally off the mark. Did he not read Finding the Mother Tree?

I thought this would be a 5 star read for me. A generational story set from 1908 and 2038 in Canada, focused on timber, trees & forests. A family‘s relationship to them as timber barons, forest protection activists, carpenters. Beautiful writing, some characters I loved. But a little too much telling than showing. Some actions by characters not believable. Some forest science totally off the mark. Did he not read Finding the Mother Tree?

Interested in diving into this one after hearing an interview with the author on Fresh Air. About how the electricity of cells affects our health and mental acuity. As a person in remission from breast cancer ( but likely to return) I‘m especially interested in the research showing cancer cells have different electrical pulses than normal cells, and what research is looking like for cancer therapy. Fascinating.

My #BookspinBingo for June. Looking forward to some great books. #Bookspin #Doublespin. @TheAromaofBooks

Everyone else is still asleep. I‘m enjoying this novel that I just started. Watching the sparrows and hummingbirds while my border collie Action Jackson stands guard at the end of the driveway to thwart squirrel interlopers on the bird feeder. My sweet dog who requires no fence or leash.

Contemplating Matrix while watching my ladies take a group dust bath. It is their absolute bliss. An all female order ruled by Gilda, the black and white in the middle. For those who have read Michael Twitty‘s book, she is a Dominque. Heritage breed that came over to America with the Pilgrims. And such a sweet girl. She comes to the kitchen door to ask for cheese treats. I oblige.

Oof. A book about power, women claiming power, wielding power. Set in a 13th century abbey. Marie is a badass. Let‘s raise a hand to the Maries of the world. First book completed for #20in4. @Andrew65

Oof. A book about power, women claiming power, wielding power. Set in a 13th century abbey. Marie is a badass. Let‘s raise a hand to the Maries of the world. First book completed for #20in4. @Andrew65

So last readathon I didn‘t make 20 hours. It was 20 minutes. Seriously. 🙄. Hoping for better stats this time.
Goals are to finish Matrix and Greenwood, catch up on some New Yorker short stories. And whatever I choose after that! @Andrew65 #20in4 #readathon

Waiting for a friend, enjoying a quiet moment in one of my favorite bars with a book Im enjoying more than I expected. Nice end to a rough day.

Exceptional graphic memoir. Nova Scotia native Kate Beaton worked in the Alberta tar sands for 2 years to pay off college loans. She explores the effect environmental destruction, dangerous working conditions, isolation & lack of social structure has on workers, how many men there become the worst versions of themselves, and the impacts on women working there. It‘s both a sledgehammer of a book and also a very thoughtful, nuanced memoir.

So different than The Trees. A professor struggles to come to terms with a young daughter dying of a progressive dementia disease. Ends up heading to New Mexico to save some Mexican women imprisoned in a sweat shop. It‘s about falling short for our loved ones, perhaps doing the best we can, are equipped to do. And looking for redemption. Everett‘s novels seem so wildly different from one another. I look forward to reading more.

“People, and by people I mean them, never look for truth, they look for satisfaction. There is nothing worse, certain painful and deadly diseases not withstanding, than an unsatisfactory, piss-poor truth, whereas a satisfactory lie is all too easy to accept, even embrace, get cozy with, is a bit of all right.” Loving my next Percival Everett novel! #Firstlinefridays

I love Ada Limon. A beautiful collection of poems, as usual.

Good NYT article on Gaiman's adult books. I still haven't read anything by him! https://www.nytimes.com/article/neil-gaiman-books.html