#wondrouswednesday Thanks @Eggs for the tag!
Obviously my immediate family for 1 & 2, but also:
1) My Grandpa Parker who made me feel special
2) My paralegal Elise who is ready to retire but is going to keep working very part time to help me transition to finding someone to replace her. She can‘t be replaced. 😢
3) Found family: the Sigma Force team in James Rollins‘ books or the Department Q team in Jussi Adler Olsen‘s books
I adored this book of short stories (review to come). But this book marks my completion of the #readingOceania challenge!! I do plan to keep reading for the challenge because I found so many good books I want to read. @Librarybelle @BarbaraBB
Free ebook right now. Last time it was free was 2 years ago
About the author and the book
#Venezuela #foodandlit @Catsandbooks
#two4Tuesday
1) All 3 I think: I live in a little city completely within the city limits of San Antonio and very near downtown SA. So I‘m a city girl. We have a house at the lake, a little less than an hour north of here, the suburbs, and I enjoy time at my parents‘ farm where they moved when they retired, and where I spent a good part of my childhood with my grandparents when they were still alive
2) Love the tagged book!
I‘m just going to say this may be one of the best short stories I‘ve ever read—Darwin in Heaven
#Tonga #readingOceania @Librarybelle @BarbaraBB
This book of short stories (not all of them are about #Tonga) are particularly well written. But this opening sentence is definitely one of the best I‘ve ever read.
#readingOceania @Librarybelle @BarbaraBB
#motivationalmonday Thanks @TheSpineView for the tag!
1) crafting this weekend with girlfriends ❤️🩷💙
2) my little love
3) I love cats and bees (an animal?) but I think I‘d either want to be a songbird or a clumsy panda (because I have “clumsy” down already)
4) tagged
#sundayfunday a wee bit late
Husband used to edit a sci fi newsletter and I met a number of sci fi authors when we attended some conferences. The most memorable was James Hogan mainly because I read some of his books. Skipping the super technical stuff, his stories were amazing (like the tagged). Also met Gregory Benford and Brad Lineaweaver. Probably more but this was in the 1990s and my memory fades
I‘d like to meet Lisa See & James Rollins
pickWhen Simon‘s ancient aunt sells her valuable Simón Bolívar painting to a distant cousin, Simon accompanies the cousin on a boat to #Venezuela, where the cousin plans to return it to its original owner. His aunt raised him, and he very much lives in the past—a boy from the wrong era. On the boat a lot happens: he befriends 2 children accompanying their scientist father, the painting is stolen, and there‘s a murder. Arriving at the Port of ⬇️
Oh my goodness! A museum that brings to life book settings! How awesome is this?
https://www.instagram.com/p/C6B9O7nSH6L/?igsh=OXZneHJmMmd2cHQ2
E-trilogy on sale today only.
It was the summer before first grade and I caught my son sitting on the floor reading the tagged book with his nightlight. He was itty bitty and so cute. I had to make him go to bed but how do you punish a kid just starting to read with his nightllight? Loved this comic for that reason
My next audiobook for #Venezuela #foodandlit @Catsandbooks
If you need a book for #Tonga for #readingOceania, the ebook is only 75 cents! @Librarybelle @BarbaraBB
My next ebook for #Tonga, my last country to complete the #readingOceania challenge @Librarybelle @BarbaraBB although I do plan to continue reading books for the challenge
pickWritten by a #Venezuelan author who was an economic minister there, his first fiction book has an extraordinary air of accuracy—even if the love stories feel less than realistic. The book covers the defeat of President Perez by Hugo Chávez, and his rein of socialism that destroyed the vibrant country. He cozied up to Fidel Castro, and Cuba and the USA‘s spies are busy at work there. So much is going on, it‘s a slow read but very interesting. ⬇️
My reading companion for the evening as I listen to the tagged book
For me, everyday is National Cat Lady Day
#Venezuela #foodandlit @Catsandbooks
pickLike all Allende‘s books I‘ve read, Eva Luna is a winding tale starting with her mother, as a baby with blazing red hair, crawling out of a Latin American jungle knowing nothing of her parents. Eva‘s own story is full of unique characters and loves, including her mother‘s unusual father figure, multiple mother-like guardians, a revolutionary, a colorful transsexual, a child survivor of WWII, and more in a world coming undone in a dictatorship. ⬇️
#tlt #threelistthursday Thanks @TheSpineView for the tag!
1) Ingrid Bergman (isn‘t Casablanca the best??)
2) Maggie Smith (ahhh, Downton Abbey)
3) Elizabeth Taylor (those violet eyes, I loved her in National Velvet; and my grandpa met her when he changed her tire when she had a flat in Marfa, Texas when she was filming Giant. She went on to bigger and better things and Grandpa did, too. He eventually became mayor of Marfa. 😊
https://apple.news/Aoerj8gG6TD-92HJbEezumQ
Reading in the tagged book about Hugo Chavez‘s disastrous years as dictator, it‘s true the more things change the more they stay the same. And having read many books last year for #readingtheAmericas and the USA‘s historical support of South and Latin American dictators 😡, I finally understand and support reviving these sanctions.
I feel a little more knowledgeable thanks to Litsy!
#foodandlit
Here are my nominees for #camplitsy24 @BarbaraBB @squirrelbrain @Megabooks
This makes me think of Hugo Chavez but it would have been his grandmother in the crowd
#Venezuela #foodandlit @Catsandbooks
pickThe author‘s father kept his life in Czechoslovakia secret from her, identifying himself as Venezuelan. When she learned from a complete stranger in college that her name was Jewish, she was shocked. With very few hints from her father, and a box he left her when he died bearing little information, she went on a search for how he came to be in #Venezuela. This book is about her genealogical search, and her father‘s and his family‘s story during ⬇️
pickRuth, living on an island in Canada, discovers a diary (written by Nau who lives in Japan), letters from WWII, and a watch inside a Hello Kitty lunchbox on the beach. They presumably made the Pacific crossing from Japan‘s massive tsunami. Ruth, who is half Japanese is able to read the diary but not the letters. The diary, though, leads her to believe Nau and her father are intent on committing suicide. Ruth illogically thinks she can save them ⬇️
I just read this book last month for #SouthKorea for #foodandlit, a harsh look at Korea before and after World War II and the relationship of the two Koreas from the eyes of courtesans. The ebook is currently on sale
The opening quote of the tagged book
The book is a fictional take on Stevenson and Fannie and their crazy travels. I‘m looking forward to it!
#Samoa #readingOceania @Librarybelle @BarbaraBB
An excellent review about this book by Litsy‘s own @ChrisBohjalian
https://apple.news/AVHljPo3NRfqIuqaaVpjgQQ
I for one plan to read this one, having had my share of beloved monsters
#5joysFriday Thanks @DebinHawaii for the tag! This is so fun to do and to read everyone‘s responses
1) getting to see part of the eclipse (thru thick clouds)
2-3) my baby bell peppers and cherry tomatoes
4) my son‘s 18th birthday party with a bunch of great guys
5) husband‘s starting his trip today to hike/camp the Appalachian trail—he flew into Atlanta this afternoon
#wondrouswednesday Thanks @TheSpineView for the tag!
1) Chavez wrecks Venezuela
2) I‘ve planned my year of books to read based on my challenges. I have 2 I‘m looking forward to re-reading: The Historian (for the umpteenth time) and The No. 1 Ladies‘ Detective Agency
3) The Historian ❤️🧛♂️ and Bram Stoker‘s Dracula, James Rollins for thriller mysteries most often based on some historical fact, and Bernard Cornwell‘s Last Kingdom series
I‘m struggling to keep up with all the family names in the audiobook so I have checked out the ebook from Libby. Now I have a family tree I think I have to start over. In the meantime, a map!
#Venezuela #foodandlit @Catsandbooks
My next audiobook for #Venezuela #foodandlit @Catsandbooks
#motivationalmonday
1) just clients keeping me very busy this week
2) hot chocolate in the winter, otherwise just ice water to drink; I rarely snack when reading unless there‘s a chocolate bar about
3) bookmarks
4) tagged
Cachitos and tequenos from the Venezuelan restaurant for dinner tonight. Mixed reviews but they were from frozen. #Venezuela #foodandlit @Catsandbooks
Little Free Library trades today
Márquez on Hugo Chavez
#Venezuela #foodandlit @Catsandbooks
I sure hope so!! I do it whenever I see bookshelves!
(Borrowed from insta)
Such a fun visit to Zulia‘s Venezuelan food restaurant. Here are a few items I bought from its little market, the menu, and the decorated refrigerator. #Venezuela #foodandlit @Catsandbooks
And in other news, a Korean restaurant is opening in town just a little too late for last month‘s #foodandlit country!!
Welp. Venezuelan food is now among my favorite ethnic foods. The mashed potato/cheese pastelito (top right) with garlic aioli was out of this world. The brisket arepa was delicious. Fortunately this place is only about 15 minutes from our house. So I anticipate visiting again. And it had a little market so I bought a few more things. #Venezuela #foodandlit @Catsandbooks @suvata
![[tagged book]](https://image.librarything.com/pics/litsy_webpics/icon_taggedBook@3x.png){kind=icon}
