September #botm pick! I‘m getting my spooky fall books ready!

My own elementary librarian came to visit me in my library and brought me this lovely gift! 🥰

Check out the back!

My newest Vonnegut acquisition: a first edition collection of short stories. This collection is no longer printed because most of the stories also appear in Welcome to the Monkey House, which is still in print. It is in excellent condition for a 1961 paperback, and that cover illustration is fascinating.

This is one of the books we got at Brattle Book Shop. It even has a Happy Father‘s Day inscription inside. Sorry to Jon, Leah, Maya, and Eli—Papa didn‘t have that book very long. I hope it‘s because he just wasn‘t into it, and not because he‘s no longer around.

I got an edition of Look at the Birdie that I didn‘t have yet at Commonwealth Books in Boston. This was the only Vonnegut they had, and Brattle didn‘t have any. I would have bought way more if they had. Finding different editions of Vonnegut is always at the top of my list at used bookstores.

Of course we had to get some used books at Brattle Book Shop when we were in Boston. Their alley full of books is so fun to browse.

When we went to Boston this summer, one of the things I was most excited about was going to independent bookstores because we don‘t have any very close to us. Brookline Booksmith has always been one of my favorites since we lived there (13 years ago). These were my and my husband‘s choices, which were staff picks. The kids went with books from some series they like.

Isn‘t this journal beautiful? A colleague asked me for a summer reading list of about 5 or 6 books. I‘ve been having fun working on it, but I have 9 books on it so far! 😁😳

My daughter and I just read the first two books in this series and loved them. We are excited to see on the author‘s social media that he‘s working on the third!
Bea meets Cad, a Galdurian (whose race was supposedly extinct), and he helps her on a quest to find her grandfather, the PigWizard. Their mission becomes so much more when they realize there is a villain who wants to tamper with the artificial suns that keep Irpa in perpetual light.

This reminded me of the scene in The Good Place when Michael is interviewing Eleanor about bad things she did on earth.

I love Steve Martin, so I enjoyed the memoir aspect to the book. I also liked the comics, but together everything felt disjointed.

A middle grade graphic novel retelling of Beowulf?! This looks delightful. I saw someone post about it on Instagram and immediately requested it on NetGalley and got it. #arc #NetGalley

This was a “sliding doors” type of dual story that splits when Hannah has just moved back to LA and decides to stay at a bar and hang out with her ex or not. The way it all splits and comes together is very interesting.
#AuthoraMonth @Soubhiville

This seems exactly in my wheelhouse. I have an unnatural attraction towards thrillers set in a snowy secluded place. Add in a contest for a publishing deal and this seems like an amazing winter read.
February 2023 #botm

I love how a haunted bookshop, a modern Native American experience, and the pandemic come together so well in this story. Tookie forms strong friendships as she makes her way through a difficult few years.

#AuthoraMonth @Soubhiville

I watched Harry and Meghan between Christmas and New Years Eve, and then read this a couple days after it came out. I listened to the audiobook in just a few days. It was so interesting, and I‘ve never been someone who follows the royals‘ stories. He‘s my age, which makes it feel all the more surreal to me.

I had my first book fair as a school librarian in September. It was a huge success and also so exhausting!

I haven‘t been posting much, but I‘m going to try to more often. I just started as a school librarian this school year, and it‘s been a lot of work and so fun. The first big change I made was painting a mural on the back wall. It just had a white wall with a book quote before and I wanted to add color. This picture is from back in August. #schoollibrary

Even superheroes need self care.

I wanted to do some Batgirl reading, so I got these.

❤️ That epigraph!

After not getting any #botm for a while, and reading a lot of my previous choices that I hadn‘t got to yet, I actually got 3 this month.

I met Jason Reynolds for the second time on Sunday and got this beautiful book signed. It‘s an illustrated poem full of emotion, and the artwork and design are amazing, in an art journal style. I know I‘ll be reading this one and enjoying the art over and over.

#AuthoraMonth
@Soubhiville

The lives of several families and individuals in the same area of Connecticut are intertwined, told in various points of view. In each chapter, the emotional pendulum would swing between despair and hope. At times, it felt like too much, but it was carefully paced to drop all the pieces together by the end.

This picture book about Ada Lovelace, widely regarded as the first computer programmer, explains how she got interested in math and science, and how she came to write programs to expand the possibilities for Charles Babbage‘s Analytical Engine.

This was a cute contemporary romance with a fake dating trope, set in science academia. I liked how it addressed how women are underrepresented in science, and how the characters became friends through their fake dating as they inevitably got feelings. Of course, Olive denies her feelings for most of the book—overall a light and predictable read.

This YA romance was so emotional. Evie has been down since her parents‘ divorce. After she donated her former favorite romance books, she starts having visions about other people‘s relationships. She decides to try some new things to determine why the visions are happening, and ends up taking ballroom dance lessons. As she gets to know her dance partner X, her perspective on love and life begins to change, and she gives her dad another chance too.

I love both the main characters in this friends-to-lovers contemporary romance. Poppy meets Alex in college, and they start a summer vacation tradition to their friendship. They face professional goals and relationship challenges, but they can always depend on one another and their summer trips. It alternates between present and moving forward through their past trips, which adds a lot of suspense to the “will they?” trope.

This is my favorite of Lucy Foley‘s books I‘ve read. After some trouble at her job in England, Jess goes to stay for a while with her brother in Paris. He says he will wait up for her, but when she arrives, he isn‘t at his apartment. The others living in the building are all suspicious characters. She understands limited French and knows no one there, so she has to decide who to trust as she tries to find out what happened.

Based on the title, you can probably guess what happens to his spot. This one has Klassen‘s offbeat sense of humor, with the turtle‘s steadfast devotion to his spot.

I love the cut paper and watercolor illustrations with colorful trees in this one. The fox simply walks through the forest, observing the changes since the snowfall. There isn‘t a story, just walking through looking at the animals and nature, so it would be good for talking to kids about forest animals and changing seasons.

This beautiful picture book has a family grieving the loss of their dog. The girl used to always explore the wooded island nearby with her dog, but opens up to adventure on her own one day, befriending a bear whose emotions often mirror her own.

This wordless picture book features a child sent to bed without dinner and a stuffed bear that becomes life-size in the night (in a dream?) when the child leaves to explore. It was reminiscent of Where the Wild Things Are, but with forest animals instead of make-believe creatures.

What a beautiful and heartbreaking sentiment.

Mr. Popper adopts a couple penguins and ends up with a whole troupe of performers. This is very cute, even if it had a few parts that were unbelievable moments for the characters. My 7yo had several uncontrollable fits of laughter, so we had fun taking turns reading it to each other.

Keiko Furukura has never felt like she fit in, except in her job as a convenience store worker. In the store, she knows the cues and feels the rhythm. In all other aspects of life, she just does what she thinks people expect of her. This is a quick read that makes human interaction into a satire.

It took me a long time to finish this one because it just didn‘t keep my attention well enough to devote much time to it at once. I am glad I continued reading it; the ending tied up a lot of loose ends and was satisfying. It‘s told in alternating timelines, past and present, about the trial that changed all the characters‘ lives. The past sections switch between all the jurors, and the present focuses on Maya, the juror who influenced the others.

This very short graphic novel is a story about loneliness, bravery, and friendship. The illustrations really tell most of the story, and they are full of emotion and detail.

Willow argues with her sister and retreats to the woods near her house, where she meets Pilu, a little magnolia tree spirit who has also run away from home. Willow learns, as she helps Pilu, that tough emotions don‘t go away just because you ignore them.

Sara lives in the “free zone” in France during World War II, but her life changes quickly when all Jews in the country are being rounded up. Her classsmate‘s family keeps her safe, and she never forgets their kindness. This historical fiction graphic novel gives a great perspective for learning more about Nazi occupation in WWII.

I finished my 12th year of teaching, and next school year I will finally get my chance to be a school librarian. It‘s been a long road. I will miss my school for the past 9 years, and it will be weird not to be a classroom teacher anymore, but I‘m excited to teach in the library next year. Top pics are my classroom set up at the beginning of last school year and bottom are it cleared out for summer. #teachersoflitsy

I never shared my other books from my #bookstorebookhaul at #Malaprops. In addition to my blind date book, I got a beautiful sticker book and a Kiki‘s Delivery Service journal. These are so lovely!

Graphic novel #libraryhaul

Anybody else waiting for the June #botm drop, hoping some of these will be included? I‘ve skipped a lot of months lately, so I‘m hoping this will be a good one!

This twisty thriller about an author who is hired to finish a series for another author had me considering what was true in every chapter. I loved the alternating between past and present.

I recently listened to this audiobook. Julia Whelan is always a great narrator. This is a rivals to lovers type of romance that includes lots of cliches in a tongue-in-cheek way. The publishing world, city setting and independent bookstore, small town setting give book lovers all they could want in a light read for the beginning of summer.

#Currentlylistening

Blind date book from #Malaprops Bookstore in Asheville, NC…any guesses?

Edited to add: Answer now in comments (tagged in spoiler)

I‘m so glad I bought this. I would have sooner if I had known what it was like: a children‘s picture book written in free verse, about the birth of Christ. This is the story as only Vonnegut could do it—matter of fact and whimsical at the same time. I love it.