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#wordoftheday
“Amos reached down and locked forearms with him. Fearless gripped back, his thumb pressing a tattoo of a caduceus.”
#wordoftheday
“Amos reached down and locked forearms with him. Fearless gripped back, his thumb pressing a tattoo of a caduceus.”
“Rhombuses of gold along the street announced beer gardens, around which motodops congregated like geckos.”
#foodandlit #Cambodia @Butterfinger @Kelly_the_Bookish_Sidekick
pickGreed drives Cordelia‘s mother to find wealthy men for each to marry. But her cruel extreme-helicoptering of Cordelia has made her meek and naive, lacking almost all understanding of the world, even the fact that dear mom is a powerful sorceress. So when Mom latches on to a squire, Cordelia enters into the world of the wealthy—servants and the circle of elderly friends of the squire‘s sister. For the first time, she has friends and privacy. ⬇️
Second #wordoftheday
“Rainbow soap bubbles made an orrery around the children as they lathered themselves into creatures of white foam, then sloshed and rinsed till they were glistening brown seals.”
#foodandlit #Cambodia @Butterfinger @Kelly_the_Bookish_Sidekick
#wordoftheday
“A little farther: the fraying edge of a royal blue sampot.”
#foodandlit #Cambodia @Butterfinger @Kelly_the_Bookish_Sidekick
pickEven though you know how the plot is supposed to end, it still takes you by surprise! Princess Marra, now almost a nun, sets out to save her sister married to a brutal prince. She completes magical tasks and hooks up with an insane entourage—all of whom bring something special to the group, and yet in no way could possibly pull off their plan. And they meet up with some creepy characters along the way, too. Other than Marra‘s excessive ⬇️
Fourth book finished for the year. Review to come.
Great author of magical tales! So glad for #authoramonth introducing me to her!
@Soubhiville
#litsyAtoZ #letterN
pickWhen her closest friend Finn becomes a monk, Aleys pours all her love into God. Not wanting to be a nun, but seeking a life of pure devotion, she decided to be the female version of a Franciscan friar. For lack of an appropriate place for her, she‘s forced against her will to live with the beguines, who had an awful reputation in Brugges. These lay women devoted their lives to somewhat monastic life but much freer than nuns. When she begins ⬇️
Gen X: I learned to make salisbury steak as a teen, and the family still loves it to this day! I loved chocolate Carnation breakfast bars. They were my breakfast in high school. Sadly no longer around. When I was really little, my go-to cereal was Sugar Smacks! I would love having those again. Mom would pour a bunch in an empty glass mayonnaise jar for long car trips to eat dry as snacks. Mmm mmm good!
@Doll8455 What foods did you love as a kid?
Last #wordoftheday
Squeezing all these in before my library loan automatically returns my book!
“In the future, from Rome, he will wonder at what happened next. Robed men will ask him. He won‘t be sure, and the doubt will puncture his days and tatter his nights. For what he saw is not what others saw, and the paths that diverge from that moment are antipodal, inconceivable, cannot be held together. He saw what he saw. Others saw more.”
Fourth #wordoftheday
This is a lovely use of the word:
“Cecilia tries to coax some vigor from the desultory fire with the hand bellows.”
Third #wordoftheday
“He draws in a breath and holds it like a discipline. His discernment, his judgment, his duty to protect his order from charlatans are all held in this breath.”
Second #wordoftheday
“He was mesmerized by the geometric patterns of those tiles—an infinity of tessellated shapes and stipples.”
#foodandlit #Cambodia @Butterfinger @Kelly_the_Bookish_Sidekick
#wordoftheday
“Fearless felt a sense of pride observing Alyosha working his way through the well-wishers. Avuncular yet stern, understanding what each of them needed: an arm around the shoulder, a clip on the ear, a glance, a wink, a back-slapping embrace.”
#foodandlit #Cambodia @Butterfinger @Kelly_the_Bookish_Sidekick
Translating again:
“You mean you‘re in love too?” “Well. Maybe.”
Alyosha placed his hand over Fearless‘s and squeezed. “Lyubov zla, polyubish i kozla, as we are saying.”
#foodandlit #Cambodia @Butterfinger @Kelly_the_Bookish_Sidekick
Another #wordoftheday
“Every pane of glass in every building was obliterated. Heading directly into the sulfurous cloud above the ruins, he stumbled on a moraine of smoldering rubble, bruising his knees and searing his hands. Through the haze, three soot-covered ghosts emerged in front of him, each heaving the limb of a body bathed in vermilion.”
#foodandlit #Cambodia @Butterfinger @Kelly_the_Bookish_Sidekick
“She has the Siemens washing machine she is always dreaming of. Come—you know what Khrushchev said. About the wet hen.”
It appears I‘ll be looking up lots of references in this book. I‘m glad it‘s an ebook!!
#foodandlit #Cambodia @Butterfinger @Kelly_the_Bookish_Sidekick
pickMona has a singular magic—baking. She animates gingerbread men and sourdough. Then one day one of the cookies becomes sentient and something like her familiar. The timing is prescient because soon a body is found in the bakery and Mona is accused of the murder. Setting out to prove her innocence, she befriends a street urchin Spindle and together they find corruption and magic genocide. Only knowing baking magic, Mona feels incapable of ⬇️
Second #wordoftheday
“Gray slabs of cloud and pearl begin to scrape against each other like layers of ocean current, moving out from the square, forming branching roads in five directions. The air flickers. Some will say it was a sudden haze, others remember a halcyon clarity. People look to the sky; people look to the ground.”
#wordoftheday
“The acquisitiveness he would have sneered at in any Western friend he forgave in someone who had lived through Brezhnev‘s gody zastoya. Alyosha had queued for toilet roll in subzero temperatures. Supermarkets, salami, and chewing gum were magical to him.”
#foodandlit #Cambodia @Butterfinger @Kelly_the_Bookish_Sidekick
The quote below makes more sense with the translation. I remember seeing the video of massive lines in the USSR and Brezhnev‘s bushy eyebrows when my parents watched the news in the 1970s
“The acquisitiveness he would have sneered at in any Western friend he forgave in someone who had lived through Brezhnev‘s gody zastoya. Alyosha had queued for toilet roll in subzero temperatures. Supermarkets, salami, and chewing gum were magical to him.”
My first #foodandlit book for #Cambodia
@Butterfinger @Kelly_the_Bookish_Sidekick
Third book of 2026 completed. #auldlangspine #litsyatoz #letterS @LeafingThroughLife @monalyisha
Review to come. Breathtaking.
Second book of 2026 completed. #authoramonth #litsyatoz #letterS @Soubhiville
Review to come. Another winner!
Aleys has just explained that Lot‘s wife disobeyed God when she turned around to see the destruction of Sodom, where two of her daughters still remained. Marte, you are correct, a man wrote this story—would God really punish a mother for looking back full of love for the loss of her children?
#wordoftheday
“He can‘t speak of the fiends that crouch in the corners of the friary; how they whisper to each other in susurrus and go quiet when he looks at them. In the darkness, they slide between the cots, always toward him, toward him.”
I signed up! Reposting for @TheBookHippie
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On the first three reads I thought the miter was falling off Christ‘s head. I think an editor could have used pronouns better here. I was even shocked the bishop was ruffling Jesus‘s hair. Well… glad I read it one more time.
First book of 2026 completed. #authoramonth #litsyatoz #letterW @Soubhiville
Review to come. But I loved it.
#wordoftheday
““Did you hear?” Through alleys, the words eddy and swirl, and the people look up. Zephyrs of wonder dust steeples and sills.”
This first edition from 1928! We have a new used bookstore near us that has unbelievable rare finds. #whattheDickens @Cuilin
I met my StoryGraph goal of 120 books but just barely and in the nick of time.
#5joysFriday
1) Awesome box of goodies from @Gissy
2) Book-shopping at a used bookstore with son today and splitting the cost of books with him (set on the far right from 1897) and shop owner gave us a massive discount because they have found a good home
3) Husband finished building me a raised garden box (to be put in place tomorrow) ♥️♥️
4) Reached my 2025 reading goal
5) And hosting Litsy challenges again this year!
December wrap up, 12 books read:
3 Nora Roberts books for #authoramonth
1 chunkster for #foodandlit #Italy #Jubilee
2 books for #whattheDickens
1 for the #LitsyIrregulars
1 last book to finish #litsyatoz #letterV
1 book narrated by our very own @ImperfectCJ
Best book of the month tagged.
Audio coloring tonight, ironically listening to the creation of gingerbread warriors while coloring gingerbread earrings
#authoramonth @Soubhiville
Looking for a very short overview of Dickens‘ life, this is the book for you. I learned a lot, particularly about his unhappy marriage. Not condoning his turning his wife out quite the way he did and cheating on her, but it wasn‘t the happy marriage it‘s been made out to be. His wife suffered severe depression most of her life, badly affecting him and the children. There were sadly few options in those days. Good to have a clearer picture of ⬇️
Jonathan Winters is an astounding talent; his vastly different voices for so many characters are truly remarkable. He tells the story so well. Unfortunately, this is an abridged version of an already short story that leaves out so much of what makes the story meaningful and also fun. Recommended for Winters‘ voices but not the story. Listen to the whole story instead; it‘s worth it. #whattheDickens @Cuilin
pick“Entertaining and quite cute,” per my Manga-loving son. When I told him how much I loved this book, he said he‘d read it, too. A few story lines were meh, but for the most part they were cute, funny, hilarious, always entertaining. There are some brilliant story lines: e.g., when the cat saves our MC from a vampire!
@LibrarianRyan introduced me to this series during an exchange last year and husband gifted it to me for Christmas. I adore it.
pickEvil witch ghost Dobbs murdered and stole wedding rings from 7 brides across generations to seal her curse to be mistress of Poole Manor. Sonya and her cohorts must go back in time to retrieve the rings and return them to their respective owners to bring peace to the haunted mansion. Relationships with both the living and dead continue to develop in this final book of the trilogy, and that‘s the best part of it. A cozy, paranormal mystery, the ⬇️
pickI wanted to learn all I could about Alzheimer‘s given my dad‘s diagnosis. This is not that book. Absent that, I could learn day-to-day hints on how to help. Not that either. This book is written for caregivers of folks with early onset of the disease; someone who lives in the city and an active personal and social life. It excels in that respect. Not so much for an elderly man in a remote rural community and most friends and family have ⬇️
pickOlimpia Maidalchini‘s father, lacking assets to pay a dowry worth his class, tried to put her in a convent. She ran away and never looked back. After a sketchy few years, she married and widowed into vast wealth—enough to fund the papacy for her second husband‘s brother, Pope Innocent X. Was she brash, manipulative, free-thinking? Heck yea when the alternative is meek silent acceptance of her lot in life. An otherwise boring tale is never that. ⬇️
