Home Feed
Home
Search
Search
Add Review, Blurb, Quote
Add
Activity
Activity
Profile
Profile
#LiteraryCrew
blurb
mcctrish
post image

It doesn‘t look like much but I have gardened like a maniac all afternoon. I weeded, edged a giant swath of garden and planted all my new for the backyard plants. Thank heavens for audio books 🙏🏻❤️ I was so engrossed in this story I didn‘t care that I was exhausted and I have to work tomorrow 🤣🤣 this book was a “Top 5 Books With Buzz”on an Amazon list I saw and my library had it 🎉 it‘s interesting to pair with Wolf Hall #literarycrew

Librarybelle What a great recommendation! It‘s going to read a lot different than Wolf Hall 😂 6h
mcctrish @Librarybelle it is SO DIFFERENT 😆😱 5h
PurpleyPumpkin Great job on the gardening! I still have a lot of garden cleanup to do. 😅 As this book is next on my list, maybe I‘ll follow your lead and start listening to it while digging in the dirt this weekend!👍🏽 5h
See All 18 Comments
dabbe 🤩🤩🤩 5h
mcctrish @PurpleyPumpkin I am afraid the gardening will never be done 🤣🤣 I still have another side to edge and weed ( not as bad as the 2 I did today) plus plant the plants still waiting to go in one of my front gardens that I ripped a dead burning bush out of a few weeks ago THEN I need to get my veggie garden up and running 5h
mcctrish @Librarybelle and it‘s the May read 🤦🏻‍♀️ 5h
Librarybelle 😁 I just got my copy from the library! 5h
mcctrish @Librarybelle it‘s 17 hours on audio so it must be a chunkster! I love it even if I‘m screaming inside at how women and children are treated 5h
Librarybelle The edition I got from the library, paperback, is a little over 400 pages. 5h
Suet624 Nice work on the garden. I need to do this and I‘m dreading it. 4h
mcctrish @Librarybelle obviously I‘m not a good job of text to audio 🤣🤣 4h
mcctrish @Suet624 the start of the season is WORK 4h
Librarybelle I wouldn‘t say that. I think a lot depends too on the reader‘s speed and the language used. I didn‘t look at the print size, either, so it may be small. In comparison, the Outlander series - which is at least 800 pages for most of them - is 40-48 hours long. So, I think you‘re fine in your estimation! Also, cozy mysteries are about 300 pages, and some of these are read in about 8 hours…it‘s fun to figure these things out! 4h
PurpleyPumpkin Wow that‘s a lot of gardening! 😳 And then when you finally complete it, you‘ll probably have to go back to the beginning and start weeding all over again! At least that‘s what I end up doing. You‘re right, it never really ends. 😜 4h
Tamra Despite the work, it looks lovely! I am so envious you can have such a pretty garden. We have too many deer & rabbits …… chomp chomp….. 2h
mcctrish @PurpleyPumpkin oh absolutely!! There‘s a lot of rainy days in the forecast for the next week so the weeds will be popping as fast as I pull them 😫 2h
Ruthiella It looks beautiful. I spent four hours last Sunday attacking the backyard with a weed eater and made sure to take a before and after picture because it doesn‘t look that great until you compare it to how it looked before! 😆 2h
mcctrish @Ruthiella before and after pics are important for mental health 🤣🤣 2h
35 likes1 stack add18 comments
review
BarbaraJean
Wolf Hall | Hilary Mantel
post image
Pickpick

This was worthwhile, but it was also quite a slog. The first section was immediately engaging, but once the narrative shifted to grown-up Thomas, the tone shifted and the pace slowed way down. Mantel had a couple of writing quirks that didn‘t help: she almost always referred to Cromwell just as “he,” which often made it difficult to follow dialogue or internal thoughts vs. spoken words. That said, I admired Mantel‘s recreation of the Tudor era ⤵️

BarbaraJean (Cont‘d) …and did find this rewarding in the end. Detailed and dense, it was a slow read—but also a fascinating character study of Thomas Cromwell. This has been on my shelf for several years, so I‘m glad to have had the motivation to read it thanks to the #LiteraryCrew #BuddyRead. I have the next book on deck, and I hear the pace picks up a bit there, so hopefully that will prompt me to pick it up sooner rather than later! 5d
Librarybelle Thanks for joining us!! I‘m still making my way through! 5d
mcctrish OMG with the hes it‘s making me mad 🤪 5h
BarbaraJean @mcctrish It‘s so confusing, and such an odd narrative choice to make. I‘m not sure what the author intended for it to add to the book! 2h
56 likes4 comments
blurb
TheAromaofBooks
post image

Good morning, everyone! The moment you have all been waiting for!! Our official #BookSpin number is EIGHTEEN! Our official #DoubleSpin number is FOUR!! I have thoroughly enjoyed looking at everyone‘s lists & am really looking forward to seeing your reviews!!

My next post will be the #BookSpinBingo card. I am NOT tagging anyone on that post!! If you want to bingo, please just check my profile for the card. This saves me having to double tag ⬇

TheAromaofBooks (cont‘d) everyone/keep track of who wants to bingo and who doesn‘t!!

I use the same tag list for the entire year, so if you would like to be added or removed, please just let me know. It takes me a while to tag everyone (there are over 200 of you!!!) so I will add “FINISHED” to the last tag batch so you know whether or not I missed you. If I did, it was completely inadvertent. Sometimes I just spell someone‘s username wrong. ⬇
1w
TheAromaofBooks (cont'd) As always, the link to the masterpost about how this challenge works can be found on my profile or here - https://thearomaofbooks.wordpress.com/bookspin-bookspinbingo-litsy-challenge/ - and the link to the Google Form where you can track your reads for the end-of-the-year-giveaway can be found here - https://forms.gle/4kTBMWAsCa9Cvmqs6

Thanks for playing, everyone!! Please know that I read EVERY comment on this post but don't always ⬇
1w
TheAromaofBooks (cont'd) have time to reply to them all!! Thank you all so much for your enthusiasm and for making this challenge SO much fun!!

I'm going to post the Bingo board, and then come back and start the tag list on this post. Happy reading!!!
1w
See All 41 Comments
Bookwormjillk Yay!! 1w
Librarybelle Hooray!!! Mine this month are a library book and Ceremony in Death! 1w
TheAromaofBooks @CoffeeK8 @rachelsbrittain @LaraReads - Finished!! If you weren't tagged and wish you were, just let me know!! 😁 1w
RaeLovesToRead C'mon May! Let's do this!! 😁 1w
CoffeeNBooks Yay! 1w
Soubhiville I‘m excited for my books this month! Thanks Sarah 🩷📚 1w
TheSpineView My BookSpin is an impulse read and my Double Spin is my BOTM. I got this... 6 think😋😆 1w
kelli7990 Yay! 1w
claudiuo Thank you so much! Both my books are TBD, I'll pick them soon. May officially starts now. 😊 1w
CoffeeK8 Thank you! Yay! 1w
BarbaraJean 🎉🎉BookSpin is something from the 1920s-30s for #192025, and DoubleSpin is this month‘s IRL book club pick (tagged)—super helpful that they‘re “required” reading for the month! Now to peruse the bingo board… 1w
Sace So I‘ll be reading another Nancy Drew (4) and something from my kindle (18). Woohoo! 🎉 Thanks for creating such a fun way to pick my next reads! 1w
bookandbedandtea Yay for #BookSpin Day! Thanks Sarah 💜 1w
AmyG Manhattan Girls and Mad Honey! Thanks Sarah!!! 1w
julieclair My BookSpin is The School of Mirrors for #LiteraryCrew, and my DoubleSpin is a book from my #AuldLangSpine choices! Yay! 1w
Eggs Thx 🙏🏻 1w
robinb I‘m excited about my books this round! Play Dead is the next Kim Stone in series, and Miss Moriarty, I Presume? is the next Lady Sherlock for me. I‘m behind on both series so it‘ll be nice to be moving forward. 😊👍 Thanks Sarah! 🩵 1w
TieDyeDude Thanks for organizing! I think I'll be able to catch up on this year's bookspins this month, head strong into summer 😁 🌼 1w
CSeydel Thanks Sarah! 🩷 My bookspin is Tender at the Bone (memoir) by Ruth Reichl & doublespin is Rebecca Wait‘s 1w
willaful My Name is Lucy Barton and I Was Born for This for me! 1w
Clare-Dragonfly Two baking cookbooks. In a month when I‘ll probably be too weak from surgical recovery to bake much 😂😅 1w
staci.reads The tagged is my #Bookspin, and The River We Remember is my #Doublespin! 1w
UwannaPublishme Yay! Best day of the month! 🤗 1w
Bookbuyingaddict Thank you thank you 🙏 I‘m late as Wev been away so I will post my list this weekend much love ❤️ and happy 😃 reading 📖 x x x 7d
Kelly_the_Bookish_Sidekick Two total opposites. My bookspin is Lumberjanes Volume 10, and DoubleSpin is the non-fiction book Come As You Are (and it's not about the band Nirvana). 4d
tokorowilliamwallace I just made my spring list, and one of my draws was BOTM backlist, which is interesting because last night I just started one of my BOTM picks from April. 2d
tokorowilliamwallace @staci.reads Nice nonfiction pick you got; it suits Taurus season, too. 2d
107 likes41 comments
blurb
LitsyEvents
post image

repost for @Librarybelle:

For May‘s #LiteraryCrew #BuddyRead , we will be visiting the court of the French king Louis XV and Versailles.

Read at your own pace. I will post periodic checkins, and discussion questions will be posted on May 31st.

All are welcome! If you would also like to be added to the tag list, comment on the original post:
https://www.litsy.com/web/post/2730063

Librarybelle Thanks for reposting! 1w
kspenmoll Just got the book! 4d
25 likes2 comments
blurb
Librarybelle
post image

For May‘s #LiteraryCrew #BuddyRead , we will be visiting the court of the French king Louis XV and Versailles.

Read at your own pace. I will post periodic checkins, and discussion questions will be posted on May 31st.

All are welcome! If you would also like to be added to the tag list, comment below!

mcctrish My hold came in 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 1w
See All 8 Comments
Mollyanna Unfortunately there is only one copy in my library system, and I‘m on a hold list. Hoping it comes in before the end of the month. 1w
Librarybelle Crossing fingers, @Mollyanna ! 1w
Deblovestoread I‘m in for this one! 1w
julieclair Yay! 1w
42 likes8 comments
blurb
Librarybelle
Wolf Hall | Hilary Mantel
post image

#LiteraryCrew , it‘s time for our discussion! This one is dense, complicated, and slowly meanders through the story. But, peeling back the layers shows the complexity of humanity and of history. Thanks to everyone for trying this one - it‘s not an easy read!

9 questions are posted as spoilers. You can find them on my feed, the book feed, or searching the hashtags.

I will post the #BuddyRead graphic for The School of Mirrors tomorrow!

Librarybelle @BookWrym @Singout @Sace - Just in case you would like to jump into this discussion at a later date, I wanted to tag you! I have you on the tag list starting in May! 1w
Mollyanna I‘m a little over halfway through. Hoping to get a big chunk done this weekend. I am enjoying, but as you mention, it is dense. 1w
Librarybelle No worries, @Mollyanna ! It is not a fast read. 1w
See All 8 Comments
julieclair Loving this book! Will jump in when I finish. 😉 1w
PurpleyPumpkin Still working my way through this chunkster!😅 1w
Kristin_Reads Oof… I didn‘t make it through! I‘ll have to try again later. Thank you for hosting! 1w
Librarybelle You‘re welcome, @Kristin_Reads ! 1w
37 likes8 comments
blurb
Librarybelle
Wolf Hall | Hilary Mantel
This post contains spoilers
show me

9. In conjuring Cromwell on the page, what does Mantel create, and what does she re-create from this historical record? Along those lines, how does historical fiction influence the way we look at history? ~from publisher Reading Group Guide #LiteraryCrew #BuddyRead

blurb
Librarybelle
Wolf Hall | Hilary Mantel
This post contains spoilers
show me

8. As the novel ends and Cromwell is at the height of his power, is there anything in his actions that foreshadow his later downfall? Has he become too much like Wolsey? Would the mercurial Henry VIII have been likely sooner or later to turn on Cromwell anyway? ~from publisher Reading Group Guide #LiteraryCrew #BuddyRead

BarbaraJean I saw both Wolsey and More as foreshadowing Cromwell's future. Cromwell was able to pivot and reinvent in ways Wolsey and More could not (or would not), but I do think Henry VIII would have turned on him sooner or later anyway--that seems to be the pattern with Henry! 5d
5 likes1 comment
blurb
Librarybelle
Wolf Hall | Hilary Mantel
This post contains spoilers
show me

7. Later in the novel we see Cromwell come to the realization that his home now is either where there‘s business to be done, or with the king. How is this a personal transformation for him, considering what life was like when his wife and daughters were alive?...Why did he change? Is there something sad about this change in him? ~adapted from publisher Reading Group Guide #LiteraryCrew #BuddyRead

BarbaraJean This was really sad to me. Thinking about question 6/his generosity: a lot of his motivation & satisfaction came from providing for his household--mentoring his son & the others he sees as and provides for as his children. Once he's trained them up, once they move on and basically become self-sufficient, his life lacks that aspect of care for others (well, other than the king!). I wonder how different that would have been if his wife had lived. 5d
5 likes1 comment
blurb
Librarybelle
Wolf Hall | Hilary Mantel
This post contains spoilers
show me

6. What is it that makes Cromwell so driven? Does his ambition stem from a desire to do good, or is it just a survival instinct based on his past? How is Cromwell both personally ambitious and yet generous and unselfish? ~from publisher Reading Group Guide #LiteraryCrew #BuddyRead

BarbaraJean He does have a strong survival instinct, but I don't think that's why he's driven. Rather, his survival skills enable his rise to power. In that way, I saw some of both motivations: he wants to provide generously for his household, AND he wants significance and security. His generosity doesn't exclude his personal ambition. In fact, the ambition enables a lot of his generosity. 5d
5 likes1 comment