Alison Bechdel and Harry Bliss, both Vermont cartoonists, interview each other in our local independent newspaper.

https://www.sevendaysvt.com/arts-culture/cartoonist-interview-alison-bechdel-and...

On the left, the book jacket. On the right, the book. The story is as creative as the book design. A novel I only read because of #CampLitsy25 and one I‘m so glad I didn‘t miss out on. Immersive, page turning, and layered.

I remember borrowing this book from the library but I never had the chance to read it. I‘d forgotten all about it until this prompt came up!

@Jas16 interested in participating?

#tagyourit

Yesterday I drove about 6 hours round trip to hit up two more bookstores in order to try to complete my Vermont Independent Bookstore Passport. I visited two stores: one in the beautiful tourist town of Woodstock and the other in Ludlow, home to Okemo Mountain. The Book Nook in Ludlow was definitely a little nook but it had so many of my obscure favorites-ones I thought no one read anymore-that I felt truly seen. Three more stores to go!

Thanks to @BarbaraBB for recommending this book and thanks to Evans for writing it. A story told through letters is always a pleasure to read and the main character is a pleasure to meet. We meet her in her early 70‘s. We experience her frustration as her eyesight begins to fail, we root her on when several men seem interested in her, and we share her sadness as she writes of some past events. I really enjoyed this.

If you know of Tiffany then you‘ll appreciate her recounting of her experience being a drug addict and navigating life in and out of prison.

(Photo from a nearby river on my walk where I tried to wrap my head around the cruelty of the country I live in. I‘m devastated.)

My first Oates. I did not expect to be reading what I‘m reading right now. Are her books always so creepy? The sinister undercurrent of this teacher who seeks out 12-year-olds to seduce is pretty overwhelming. At 87 years of age, she sure can still write.

I read this so you don‘t have to. The author does absolutely ridiculous things to gain the professional attention & affection of her bosses at Facebook, including answering emails while she‘s supposed to be pushing her baby out into the world. Mark Zuckerburg is an absolute nut job and increasingly a dangerous nut job. And Sheryl Sandberg! Good Lord. Lean In means abuse the underlings. The book is eye opening but not a surprise.

A story of a father and his three children have been living on an island that is being overwhelmed by the rising waters of climate change. Their way of life, their mission to save the seeds, their relations with each other are all being affected. A woman washes ashore and she brings a mystery and a thriller aspect to the novel. The nature writing was specific and inclusive. This was a page turner for me. #camplitsy25

I‘ve been going through a crappy reading phase. None of the books I‘m picking up are keeping my attention. Leave it to McConaghy to reinvigorate my love for reading.

Stopped reading at the midpoint so I can stick with the #CampLitsy25 schedule. @squirrelbrain @BarbaraBB @Megabooks

Kristin, Erlend, Lavrans, Rangfrid! This is my third reading of the first book of a trilogy. The descriptions of the scenery & the clothing bring you into the time & place. Blame for wanting to be married to someone other than the one your father has selected is infused throughout. Do we root for a young girl who wants her own way? Do we see Erlend for who he really is? As a 20 year old I read this & supported Kristin. Now I feel for her parents.

1. Lois Boisson. What a fun French Open she had. I loved watching her play.
2. My trip to Northshire Bookstore.
3. Gracie face painted at a school fair that I went to.
4. Spent a day with 2 month old Remy who is really starting to engage with folks.
5. Visited Hildene, the summer home of Robert Lincoln, the President‘s son, in Manchester, VT.

#5JoysFriday

Today I drove 2 1/2 hours each way to Manchester, VT to get another stamp on my independent bookstore passport. Northshire Bookstore is a premium store in a very wealthy town and they are much loved. I have 6 stores yet to go to and the ones listed on the right are far away. Boo. But Vermont is lovely so that makes up for it. I‘m now ready for my July CampLitsy25 read.

#CampLitsy25

1. A rainbow at the end of an outdoor food truck/music/vendor event that my two sons organize every Thursday through Saturday.
2. Two grandkids exploring Oregon and reporting back on the joy they‘ve experienced.
3. Two year old Charley on the first sunny warm day in ages.
4. My garden.
5. Watching tennis with a book in hand.

#5JoysFriday
@DebinHawaii

This was an insert that the Book of the Month Club included when they published their special printing of this book (I‘m still trying to figure out when they published it.) I think it‘s helpful to read this if you‘re struggling at the beginning of the novel.

@BarbaraJean #KLBR

This was my favorite read in May. A story of four generations of women in Ireland, told in chapters of 500 words each. I loved the language, the lyrical prose, and the characters so much.

I don‘t think I‘ve read anything else by Ryan but I‘ll sure be looking for more of his work.

I read a number of good books in May, several of which I haven‘t reviewed yet on Litsy. The one I‘m going to say was my favorite is a dark horse, coming in from out of nowhere. It‘s The Queen of Dirt Island by Donal Ryan. Sadly, I won‘t remember the name of it in a month or so. 😊

2. I‘m looking forward to reading the tagged book for #CampLitsy25

@TheSpineView

It seems appropriate that I would finish this book on Memorial Day. A book of sacrifice, of thousands of boys fighting in World War I. And a love story of two young boys who head into the fray. The novel spends a good deal of time providing the specifics of fighting in a war so if that‘s not where you want to spend your time, be aware. But the story is rich and detailed and well worth the effort.

I‘d be happy with any of these.

#bookspin

@TheAromaofBooks

During the rains today I decided to visit Craftsbury VT, 30 minutes away. I‘d never spent time there but there was a plant sale at the library (bottom right -imagine it with rain). While there, they told me about another library 10 minutes away in East Craftsbury. This town of 1,300 people has 2 libraries! I fell in love with the Simpson Memorial Library (top photo)-104 years old, fantastic new and old fiction, mementos from the Simpson family. 🔽

1. The Burlington Waterfront Park, all purply
2. My son snoozing with his daughter
3. The image on a building on a side street in Montpelier, VT
4. Flowers to plant if… (5)
5. … If it ever stops raining. At least it‘s making the fields a deep, deep green.

#5JoysFriday
@DebinHawaii

I enjoyed this story of the life of a midwife in the 1700‘s. It definitely held my attention. The story includes details of experiences of delivering babies but primarily focuses on Martha Ballard‘s pursuit of justice through the newly created legal system for a woman who was raped as well as working to hold a murderer (and all around bad guy) accountable for his deeds. This story was inspired by the journal written by Martha during that time.

Finished this a while back & forgot to post about it. I read Knott‘s first book and loved it. This one took me quite some time to engage with but by the second half I was locked in. Knott lost her matriarchs - her mother and grandmother - within a short period of time and she writes of her unexpressed grief and displacement. This was a soft pick.

Thanks to @Riveted_Reader_Melissa and #SheSaid for the opportunity to read this.

Demon is someone you root for as you move through his life experiences. I had to renew this audio from Libby three times to get through the whole story. It's definitely a pick for me but the story seemed a bit long. ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

Was on my way with plants in hand to start my gardening when suddenly my ankle collapsed on me. I‘ve broken my ankles and wrists so many times. Thankfully, this is a bad sprain, not a break. So on this bright sunny day when I‘d rather be outside I‘m lying on the couch, leg elevated, starting this book. This event could have been so much worse so I‘m trying to be mature about it and not grumble too much.

I‘ve read this trilogy every twenty years. I give my copies away and then randomly over the years find them at secondhand bookstores and purchase them again. I can‘t wait to start reading this again with the #KLBR group beginning in June.

Just an FYI: Willa Cather and Sigrid Undset were friends. My mother was Cather‘s niece and she talked about Undset‘s writing and this trilogy in particular.

A woman wakes up exhausted every morning, limbs aching, with unexplained bruising. She eventually finds out that she‘s sleepwalking. Strange things are happening - cats start to run away from her - and she tries to ascertain what is happening. It‘s a short read, a bit creepy, and one that keeps you hooked. The ending? Yeah, who knows what happened but I have several theories and I‘m okay with that. #offtheshelf #bookspin

The author goes into great detail about the history of NASA, government contractors, and astronauts. While the book is about the Challenger you learn a lot about the workings of getting all space shuttles into orbit. Once again we find out that greed and not listening to the experts is the thing that will doom a project every time. What a tragedy. Great work writing a riveting book that was never a slog to get through despite all the detail.

It seemed for a time that everyone on Litsy was reading this book. I‘m finally getting to it. Such a sweet read. The NY author begins writing to a bookstore in England in order to find rare secondhand books at a good price. She ends up becoming very fond of the employees, sending them packages of food that are unavailable to them during wartime and staying in touch with the employees and their families for years. It‘s a quick and touching read.

Every year for 25 years at least 15 members of the family-my kids, aunts, uncles, grandbabies-spend a week at the ocean in the same funky house. So much of this book reminded me of the type of stays that we have. (Although I have to admit that we have some grumpy times which this author did not replicate.) I break my days down the same way she does. (Monday I‘m so relieved that we have so much time and by Wednesday I start to get sad.) 🔽

Is there anything better than opening up your mailbox and finding that the only things in it are books?!!!

Thank you to @Karisa for forwarding the tagged book to me so that I could read the #SheSaid selection and thanks to @Riveted_Reader_Melissa for organizing the transfer.

This feels like a story that could happen soon if the tech bros and the government want it to happen. Technology is used to determine if they can stop crime from occurring by tapping into your dreams & thoughts. If you are determined to be a threat, off you go to a facility and at that point you best hope you can get out of there. This book was freaky, unsettling, frustrating and had me hurrying through chores in order to pick it up to finish it.

A random collection of books I purchased from the four independent bookstores over the weekend. Happy to find two books by Sigrid Undset.

This was the coolest thing ever. The town next to me had massive flooding several years in a row. They decided to move the library to higher ground. The route they had to take, the corners they had to turn, the bridge they had to go over….and they did it. Check out this video of the move.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DJByUSBCkeq/?igsh=YmdtaWx5aGpnMjRp

Well it‘s snowing where I live in northern Vermont today so I‘ll be reading about the Challenger, dipping into the New Yorker, watching the Red Sox play baseball and the Celtics play in the playoffs. Except for the snow, it sounds like a great day!

This video is a Vermont news segment touting Independent Bookstore day and the Tour that I‘m in the midst of doing. I‘ve been to 14 out of the 20 Vermont independent bookstores on the tour. There are so many indie book stores that aren‘t even part of this tour - someday I‘ll get to them all.

https://www.wcax.com/2025/04/25/saturday-tour-celebrates-vermonts-indie-book-sto...

As long as you go into this knowing that you‘ll have to slow your reading way down, you‘ll be fine. Williams‘ writing is dense & beautiful, with descriptions that bring you so close to the reality of the person, place & thing that you‘ll come out of the story feeling as if you were there. The child in question doesn‘t appear until halfway through the story and by then you‘ve become thoroughly acquainted with the characters of Faha & their lives.

I loved this book primarily because I love Marina Abramovic. It tells the true story of Marina‘s art, so singular & intriguing, focusing on her time sitting at MOMA for months staring into people‘s eyes & the long lines of people waiting for the opportunity to sit before her. It covers a wide range of her events. I appreciated hearing about her parents. Through it all there is the fictional story being told of several attendees of the MOMA event.

“My parents were married when they had me, just to different people.”

#FirstlineFridays

The author reads this book & it adds an extra element of connection for me to the story. His voice & accent sound like any of my next-door neighbors or friends who might be down on their luck. Tom, a man who has struggled since he‘s lost his wife and construction company due to a fall off a roof, is in constant pain and yet tries to help his neighbors while staying off opioids. Tom was definitely someone I rooted for and felt close to.

1. We had snow and my granddaughter Charley (from my previous post) made snow angels.
2, 3 and 4. Pictures of one of my son‘s new red haired baby. So tiny. Her name is Remy.
5. Montpelier, VT, the state capital during a recent protest.

#5JoysFriday
@DebinHawaii

I‘ve posted some hard things recently so I thought I‘d throw this photo on Litsy: my 2 year old granddaughter who is definitely in my personal museum of modern love.

Well this quote caught my attention….

Today it‘s snowing. A year ago Vermonters were joyous because there was actually sunshine in our state for the solar eclipse. I miss that day. It was spectacular. So today I‘ll see if I can buy an iPhone from a local store before the prices increase (I hate you know who) and I‘ll read this book that I can‘t get enough of.

There was something off about this book for me. While it covered some very serious matters - rehabbing ISIS brides, the bureaucratic waste of large agencies (UN in this case), the good intentions of those who choose to help, and how to mend broken relationships with mothers/families - I found the humor not as funny as suggested and some of the characters very annoying. Expected more from a Women‘s Prize shortlist novel. A very low pick for me.

I don‘t do this very often - just sit in a coffee shop taking up space and reading - but this Vermont gray weather requires that I do this today.

Gordon returns to his hometown after spending 25 years in prison. He returns to a neighborhood that is riddled with crime, an elderly neighbor who is afraid of him, a teenager in desperate straits, a brother who has resented him for years, and a lonely woman who has visited him while he was in prison and hopes to have a relationship with Gordon. It‘s a lot for a guy who just wants to lay low and stay out of trouble. I couldn‘t stop reading it.

Thank you to Jennifer for sending this story my way. This novel offers a short history lesson of the coup that took place in Chile through the eyes of teenagers, one of them being the son of a CIA informer. The son leaves friends and a girlfriend behind as he is taken back to the U.S. The story then moves to years later as the son and others associated with him live with the memory and guilt of what took place in the country he left behind. 🔽

The question is: how many depressing books do I need to read before I give up on reading depressing books? This may have been the one to tip me over the edge. Or I need to up my dosage of Sam-e. 🥴😂 it‘s a terrific character study of a cranky alcoholic woman with no hope. Yes, there are reasons for this and yet even I had trouble rooting for her. Very readable though. Unfortunately. It would have been easier for me to stop reading it otherwise.

Truth.