“Hours passed, like a kidney stone.“
Ruthiella 🤣🤣🤣 3d
PuddleJumper 🤣🤣 3d
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“Hours passed, like a kidney stone.“
The moments of wit or interest aren't nearly enough to make up for the curmudgeonly feel of the book overall, to say nothing of the casual racism, homophobia and transphobia. I originally DNF'd this and I wish I'd stuck with that decision, since I used to love this author.
#DoubleSpin
The narrator was excellent, with a charming Australian accent, and it seemed like a book that should be made for me -- boys falling in love! Online friendship! MUSICAL THEATER! --but I just found the story so dull. And kind of depressing, with the main character being bullied so much.
I've hung out with quite a few romance authors, though I don't know if anyone would have heard of them. (Erin Satie, Olivia Dade, Cecelia Grant, Megan Frampton.)
Got to meet Lois Bujold at a signing and have her sign a book for my mother-in-law, for her 80th birthday. Possibly her oldest fan, though who knows?
The author kept going to this well for far too long, IMO. I may read the second book though, just because it's narrated by Will Watt and I suspect he can make anything interesting.
Short comic about lockdown experiences, particularly for queer folk. Some are too true to be funny.
“And there ain't nothing y'all fear like hearing
the holy truth
pouring out of the mouth of some dumb hillbilly.“
pickThis first seemed too similar to the first book in the series, but then the plot veered and I wound up liking it much more. The characters are very relatable: both Russ and Rory have serious issues with their parents, but he's responded by trying not to attract any attention, and she's responded by acting out for negative attention. Working at summer camp together, they learn to trust and rely on one another.
“I don't trust poetry. You think you're reading about an intense love story, but then you find out it's actually about a shoe.“
Not a huge pick for me, but I liked it more than I expected to. Yay for sex positivity in New Adult romance. Main criticisms are breaking the fourth wall a little too much and a ridiculously perfect happy ending.
Can't remember all my justifications, d'oh!
Crochet ballet: 1950s housewifery complicated by the installation of a new kitchen. Knitting is involved.
Solar troller: Just the perfect book for this prompt. She calls him at the break of dawn and dispenses snarky insults.
Floral laurel: characters named after flowers.
Lupine goldmine: fields of yellow flowers.
Mortal portral: Yup!
Retail Greyscale: Shop with a very weird, creepy museum.
I made my card really easy this month, because I'm traveling. Considered just passing entirely for April, but where's the fun in that?
Well, this month was just sad. I read two books featuring professional skiers -- was there one ski hill cover? NOPE.
I got Big Fab Bingo!
Yesterday
Still Missing/Beth Gutcheon Loss, wistfulness, trying to hold onto the past
Get Back
Role Playing/Cathy Yardley Two people crushed by circumstances finding themselves again
Ticket to Ride
A First Time for Everything/Dan Santat Travel
My Guitar
I Must Be Dreaming/Roz Chast Surreal
Norwegian Wood
Til There Was You/Kathleen Eagle
Main character is a forest ranger and most of the book is set at his station.
#BookSpinBingo Another good month. Making a lot of inroads on my TBR. Of course, I'm also adding to it daily. 🤷🏻♀️
Friends, I am going to New York City! Any lesser known delights I should be sure to catch? We're going to see the eclipse and then my husband has business meetings, so I'll be on my own some of the time.
Starting off the #TransRightsReadathon with this short follow up to I Wish You All The Best.
Argh! I just downloaded the ebook of this to check something and discovered it has AUTHOR ANNOTATIONS which weren't included in the audiobook! So now I have to read the whole thing again! 😂
“The Manhattan Phone Book (Abridged)“ by John Varley (found in the collection Blue Champagne.)
“Best Seller“ by P.G. Wodehouse (From Mulliner Nights IIRC)
“Unknown Number” by Blue Neustifter (originally posted on Twitter.)
I'm trying to get the Litsy app for my android phone because I'm going to be away, and it's not findable in the play store and the link on the Litsy home page doesn't work. Anyone know what's up?
19. different source. library-> owned
20. more letters than Last Book's title. 12->14
21. set in a different region of that country. Small town -> London.
22. same genre. historical romance
23. title are the opposite color. gold/blue
24. at least five years newer. 2017->2024
25.set in a different country or world . US->UK
26. shorter. 384p->283 p
27. has a higher GoodReads or StoryGraph rating than Last Book. 3.91 -> 3.94 (cut it fine!)
A soft or maybe mixed pick. This story is like a very slow and looooong train wreck. It's got a weird structure, an enormous cast, and a lot of nervous anticipation. But it's also got intriguing family dynamics and characterizations, and very strong depictions of love, addiction and grief. I don't regret the 6 or 7 hours I put into it.
#BookSpin #DoubleSpin
#MiddleGradeMarch
I honestly don't know what to think of this. Perhaps I'm too old for it or maybe -- since it was recommended by my mom -- not old enough.
This is the second time I've been surprised to realize Maynard is more than 10 years older than me, because her depictions of life during the time I was growing up are so authentic. This is a suspense story, loosely based on real murders in Marin county, but also a vivid and fascinating look at unsupervised adolescence. The family relationships are loving, flawed and sometimes deeply sad.
#BacklistReadathon
1. I chose my own name! My birth name started to feel childish to me and had other associations I didn't like. I chose Willa for a number of associations but one is in honor of my theater teacher, whose name is Wilma. Though I utterly hate when anyone calls me Wilma. 😁
2. IIRC, I read the tagged book on my 40th birthday, and it put the name “Willa“ into my mind.
This could be considered cheating for the #BacklistReadathon, since I have read the original novella before, but this new edition is three times as long, including a second novella and an epilogue for both. It's two touching stories about Edwin and Marius, long time lovers who weren't able to stay together but go on to form meaningful, healing relationship with others. Lots of drama, especially in Marius' story, because he is ornery AF. 😂
“How are you so smart?“ I asked, suddenly confronting myself with the fact that a cat was typing and understood theories of class and labor. “No offense, but your brain is the size of a walnut.“
HOW ARE SO MANY HUMANS SO UNINTELLIGENT? Hera typed back. THEY HAVE BRAINS THE SIZE OF SEVERAL WALNUTS.
Again, I'm so glad #BookSpin got me to read this; as someone who's in both autistic spaces and parent spaces, it was just the book I needed. The authors, with commentary by other autistic advocates, demonstrate how to build bridges between two communities that often feel very at odds, but have the same basic goal: the well being of autistic people.
This was... pleasant. Despite the title and general look, it's low-conflict, and I mainly kept reading because there wasn't any particular reason to stop. A couple of plot points irritated me towards the end, but if you just want something that goes down easy, and isn't embarrassing to read in public 😆 it's in Prime reading right now.
A combo of memoir and comic pieces, largely about the internal conflicts of being gay and growing up Evangelical in the South. I think my favorite bit may have been about God creating the world while working for a ruthlessly capitalistic heaven, but many parts had me laughing out loud or close to tears.
Do get the audio if you can; I suspect his work loses something on the page.
Really enjoyed this geeky and queer romance between two middle-aged introverts just trying to be themselves, which read kind of like the inverse of the standard small town romance.
And I somehow -- okay, many graphic novels -- filled my #BookSpinBingo board during this short and exceptionally grueling month!
#BacklistReadathon : enjoyed Between Georgia by Joshilyn Jackson, DNF'd Tell the Wind and Fire by Sarah Rees Brennan
A soft pick, for fans only. I didn't care for the lack of structure here; it's just interviews pieced together, some read by the people who actually said them and some not. I found it a bit confusing, and I wasn't that interested in the parts that weren't directly concerned with the making of “Airplane.“ But once into that, it was very interesting and often funny. Plus, #ISpyBingo 😁
Happy to have finished both my #BookSpin and #DoubleSpin for February! So far this year I've read five of my original books and DNF'd 3. Take that, TBR!
(Don't ask me how many I've added...)
I gave myself a choice for #15 because I really didn't want to take The Encyclopedia of Fairies off my list, but my library hold may not come in in time.
Fun graphic novel revenge fantasy, taking a sly swipe at literary men.
#BookChain
“search Instagram and you'll find more than sixty million posts tagged with #SelfCare. They run the gamut from beachside yoga to triumphant mommy blogs to 'curative' smoothie recipes. If we use social media as our guide, self-care appears to be... anything that looks good in a photo?“
I'm glad #BookSpin finally got me to read this; it's suspenseful and surprising, and I loved the authentic look at online bonds.
Interestingly both of my spins for this month featured true conscious AI, and both are very positive portrayals. I wonder what ART and AI/CatNet would think about the regurgitated nonsense posing as AI now.
“I felt HostileSecUnit1 go into shutdown mode. It wasn't dead, it was just catostrophically damaged. (I know, who isn't?)“
#DoubleSpin After thoroughly enjoying my reread of Network Effect, I had trouble getting into this. The premise, Murderbot with PTSD, is fantastic, but nothing about the story compelled me to keep reading. Soft pick, though fans definitely won't want to skip it.
This is easy, because every time I dance to “Titanium“ I think of Murderbot, and it's especially relevant to this book, in which it is suffering from PTSD. The lyrics of the song are very empowered, but the music reveals the underlying vulnerability that the words are trying to hide.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uX1sirWd23E
#BookNotes
I vaguely remember dreaming about the #BookChain challenge last night. 😂 I was reading and something extremely 80s happened -- wish I could remember what -- and I realized, oh no, it's the same decade as my last book and I can't use it! 🙀
(Which was actually my last prompt and already done but brains are weird.)
Some very complicated themes about love, family, and decisions in a very readable story.
#BacklistReadathon I've still got quite a lot of this author's backlist to cover and I may do it all in audio; she often narrates herself and does a great job.
An excruciating read, on so many levels. And I'm left full of questions. Looking forward to the #PersephoneClub discussion.
quietjenn, Caryl, sisilia, CarolynM, daena, LeahBergen, elkeOriginal, Gissy, Aimeesue, Tamra, andrew61, Cathythoughts, jlhammar, Bookbuyingaddict, julieclair
Say what?! Really makes me wonder how they came up with that 4%...
![[tagged book]](https://image.librarything.com/pics/litsy_webpics/icon_taggedBook@3x.png){kind=icon}
