Walking down a lonely road, @PuddleJumper spies a gorgeous old house set back from the road and you decide to take a closer look. The first thing you notice as you amble up the walk is that There‘s Something Wrong With The Cats. From time to time you catch a faint but horrible sound, like When Devils Sing. You begin to suspect A Darker Shade of Magic may be at work here, but you continue inside. Hmm… smells like someone is Brewing Up Bedlam.

Hello and welcome to team #GrimReaders for #HauntedShelf !

I'm Carrie, your team lead for this adventure, here to answer questions, post information and challenges, and cheer you on!

I'll tag all team members in every team-related post, but because notifications can be funny, it‘s good if you follow me at least while the event is running.

I'm looking forward to seeing everyone's haunted reads!

Decided I had to commit to a book for August … I‘m going with John Green purely because I enjoyed it more than I expected to.

The ghosts of my still-unread Bookspin picks are haunting my shelf … ooooOOOoooo … let‘s see if we can exorcise them during this year‘s #hauntedshelf event!

#HauntedShelf is back for another year!

This October reading challenge will let you earn points for books read, hours spent reading, and readathons!

Join me! Sign up: https://forms.gle/wmcY27wyx6awp3EfA

#September #bookspin #doublespin selections, queued up and ready to go!

#august #bookreport

All good books this month. No one stood out as a clear favorite, though.

Coming up next month - Adam Bede already a strong contender for September. It‘s so good!

My #bookspin roster for September. Spin away!

The two books I‘m reading this weekend. Tonight it‘s the Wheel of Time. #summersend #summersendreadathon

Both #autumncomfortswap boxes expected to arrive on Tuesday

Sorry for the delay!

@CrowCAH your #autumncomfortswap gift arrived today! 🍂 Thank you so much! 😍
Putting it in a safe place until Sept 22 😇

A tight race this month between Real Americans (fiction) by Rachel Khong and The Ghost Map (nonfiction) by Steven Johnson.

Happy to have pulled two relatively short books for my #bookspin this month, considering that I‘m a few months behind on my previous selections … maybe this will be the month I get caught up! Or at least don‘t fall further behind.

#July

❤️: The Ghost Map; Real Americans

👍: Free; Scandalize My Name; The Shadow Rising

😒: The Quarry Girls

Hackeneyed. Dull. Repetitious. I made it to 50% before I couldn‘t take anymore and flipped to the end to see who the bad guys were.

This should have been right up my alley — the 70s, middle America, a possible serial killer, a town full of secrets, loads of suspense — but it just wasn‘t hitting. Partly I think it was the pacing; the suspense was too contrived, it felt forced rather than intriguing.

#bookspin #august

Oh, yuck. #spotify #audio #audiobooks #robotoverlords

Wow!!!! What a fun surprise 😁😁😁 My #autumncomfortswap parcel has arrived already!!!

Thank you @Meshell1313 I will put it in a safe place so I‘m not too tempted to open it before opening day 👀

Hey my #autumncomfortswap people! I‘m having a time trying to shop for my swap partners. How about a “This or That” to help a gal out?

Repost with your preferences! And don‘t forget to share where we can find your wish list of books you don‘t yet own 😄

@Bookwormjillk @BookwormAHN @CSeydel @Gissy @maich @pyjamaviking @Meshell1313 @KadaGul @kspenmoll @ShelleyBooksie @CrowCAH @catiewithac @TheDaysGoBy @Daisey

Hope to get to all of these next month, plus catch up on a few I‘ve missed in previous months

#bookspin

Finally jumped on the Murderbot bandwagon. Enjoying all my current reads although I‘m progressing slowly

Just one week left to sign up for #autumncomfortswap #litsyevents

Go forth, choose your own adventure, bring some comfort to someone near or far! Gently used books and homemade items. I signed up—who‘s with me?

Open internationally. Hosted by @thebacklistbook
Sign ups close June 30.
https://forms.gle/ZYqsJ7MAtbVd9MVh8

May wrap up!

👍🏻:
The Wedding People
My Friends
Olive Kitteridge
Birds, Beasts and Relatives
Greta & Valdin
Tom Lake
The Stardust Grail

👎🏻:
The Lost Apothecary
All Fours

Way behind on reviews, but I did decide to make a June BINGO card 😂

My June #bookspin picks! I‘ve had the Horowitz on my shelf for, oh, 20, 25 years now. I was quite the little college Republican. I suppose it may seem dated now, but I‘ll give it a try - if I can‘t get into it, then I‘ll make myself let it go. And Horowitz just passed away this year, so it‘s as good a time as any to revisit his writing.

Bag of Bones was my gift in a Halloween swap a couple of years ago and I‘ve somehow not yet read it. Let‘s go!

For my #hyggehour tonight I‘m cozying up with my bluebonnet mug, a murder mystery, and a slice of divine sourdough from Long Beach Bread Lab 🍞☕️📚

It really was a tough call this month between Fredrik Backman‘s MY FRIENDS and Alison Espach‘s THE WEDDING PEOPLE. I went with WP basically because it was the first book I‘ve read by this author, whereas I‘ve read several Backmans so I sort of knew what to expect.

#bookbracket #ReadingBracket
#ReadingBracket2025

The books I have lined up for #jumpstartsummer holiday weekend

What do you do when you have more books piled up than you can possibly read in a month, and suddenly your library acquires the new Fredrik Backman book and you‘re the first in line for it? I think you all know the answer to that.

#5JoysFriday

This week:
1. My amazing gift box from @Meshell1313
2. Bimonthly book club met last night; fun to catch up with those friends
3. My cactus is blooming!
4. Fun snack from TJs 😋🔥
5. Board game group meets tomorrow

My #100kpages giveaway prize arrived today — @Meshell1313 this is too much!! Thank you, I love everything. The journal is perfect! I was just thinking I wanted to start keeping a physical journal instead of only online, but I was just using a blank spiral notebook. This is way better! And the stickers are simply delectable! And chocolates, and Jane Austen mints - I feel so spoiled! I can‘t wait to read the book, I‘ve heard it‘s terrific!

Had to wait to post this until after our book club meeting tonight so I could include the July book. But here are my #14books14weeks

I had a lot of issues with this book but as you can see I also marked a LOT of sentences/passages for future reference. I ran out of book darts and had to start using Post-it flags! I‘m still not completely sure this wasn‘t satire - the MC was so comically pretentious and self-absorbed that I think she may have been intended as a sly parody of a certain type of artsy hipster grappling with middle age. In that light it almost worked.
#shelfsweeper

#whereareyoumonday

Still in Monrovia with the sociopath narrator of this tedious nonsense

#haikuaday #paulsimon

Far too hot for a warm beverage tonight, and I had ice cream earlier, so I‘m just kicking back without refreshments for tonight‘s #HyggeHourReadathon

#5JoysFriday

1. I‘m at the soccer game right now with my lovelies
2. Got a cool garden spinner on clearance. Been wanting one of these!
3. Made a mango strawberry smoothie for lunch
4. Going to Orla Gartland at the Fonda tomorrow with my daughter
5. Tagged book is hilarious! I couldn‘t sleep last night and I was reading it, but I laughed so hard I thought I‘d wake my husband 😂

If love was available, one chose it, or didn‘t choose it. And if her platter had been full with the goodness of Henry and she had found it burdensome, had flicked it off crumbs at a time, it was because she had not known what one should know: that day after day was unconsciously squandered.

I did not care for this one, unfortunately. Not the worst thing ever, but shallow and unremarkable.

#ShelfSweeper

I‘ve got a bad feeling about this…

So I know this book is polarizing. I went in expecting shock, expecting transgressive attitudes about sex, gender, and aging, expecting discomfort in the name of probing implicit attitudes and assumptions about propriety and morality. But so far it‘s just exhausting. It‘s like listening to your most neurotic friend monologue about her chaotic and obsessive thoughts, which are entirely self-oriented

From LitHub:

https://lithub.com/did-the-pulitzer-board-just-overrule-the-jury-to-give-perciva...

#WhereareyouMonday

Well I‘m still in London innit

Just trying to plough through the last few chapters so I can be done with this silly book. The scenes that are supposed to be tense and exciting had me either rolling with laughter or shaking my head in disbelief.

It‘s contrived, is what I‘m trying to say.

Ok for my #hyggehourreadathon I … I watched a movie. I watched Star Wars on May the fourth because my daughter asked if we could. And I loved it just as much as I loved it the first 347 times I saw it.

Mostly listened to this on audio. It was masterfully written - Patchett is unparalleled in that regard. The story—I didn‘t really connect with the story. Partly I was rankled by the MC/narrator, Lara‘s, rosy wistfulness about the COVID lockdown. It‘s one of my pet peeves (partly because my family did not have a cozy, bread-baking, ‘growing closer free from the distractions of hectic life‘ experience). But partly I just felt a bit detached 👇

Finished up Tom Lake, which I mostly listened to on audio (Meryl Streep did an outstanding job). Forcing myself to read The Lost Apothecary for my book club next Saturday. Sneaking chapters of Rilla when I can…

#weekendreads

Um … yeah

#tfw the book YOU selected for book club is … not good 😬

Anybody else read this one? I‘m on chapter 2 and so far it‘s pure cringe. Does it get easier to ignore the hackish writing I‘ve the plot starts? Please say yes.

Bonus points for the audiobook narrator pronouncing “Northanger” as rhyming with “danger” 🙄

Never did read these but somehow managed to keep them safe for 35 years (and 6 moves!) #kindredspiritsbuddyread going to give me that push

1. The rose my husband planted for me is blooming like crazy! So many flowers!
2. I bought some fabric on Etsy and finally made a valance for my bedroom window
3. Got tickets to see Head & the Heart at the Greek in September
4. Spontaneous library haul
5. Angel City beat Washington 4-3 tonight! Crazy game!

#5joysFriday

#bookspin and #doublespin

I probably (ok, DEFINITELY) won‘t finish both of these in May since I still have my April pick, The Ghost Map, to read. But they‘re in the queue!