The “Mteam” (M for management because everything seems to be a shortcut with tech bros) allow Mark to win Settlers of Cataan.

When author asks him if he wants to win this way, his response, “I‘m not winning that way.”

Author adds, “He genuinely doesn‘t see it. Seems perplexed by my outburst.”

🤮

Quote is from the Prologue, which sets the tone nicely.

On page 70 as I sit down this morning for more. This book already reaffirms my decision to delete FB and Instagram along with a slew of other social media.

Haymitch‘s backstory gripped me just as hard as when I read Katniss exclaim, “I volunteer as Tribute.” Loved stepping into Panem again. Seeing characters in earlier years and knowing where they end up was bittersweet. Quite a satisfying emotional rollercoaster. If Collins has more of these kinds of backstories in her pocket, I‘m here for them!

The witchcraft wasn‘t nearly as horrific as the way these pregnant girls were treated. I was getting 🤬 mad a few times listening to how they were dismissed, condescended to, preyed upon, and abused. Solid audiobook narrator. Some of the spell chanting got intense, but I liked listening to the performance. Much more atmospheric than me skimming over or past those parts if I read them on the page.

1. Yes. I‘ve always been a lover of books and a reader. I don‘t read as fast as I‘d like. With lots of interests, my days also run away from me, and I have to be purposeful with when I read.

2. Griz from the tagged book. May not have had great access to books in that post-apocalyptic world, but Griz read everything they did have or could find.

@TheSpineView And thanks for the tag @Sace

The gangs back together for another clean up job that has them trotting all over the globe. Some fantastic flashbacks that give even more backstory for the 4 MCs. I wasn‘t laughing out loud with this one as much as I did with the original, but I still thoroughly enjoyed reading every one of their escapades. Seriously wouldn‘t mind reading a third installment.

Loved how the book started. Intriguing premise. Once author Grady gets to the island, though, the plot introduces these wonky details that descend into a giant convoluted hot mess. Didn‘t really care for any character except the dog Columbo, who thankfully remained unharmed even though Grady really needed to leash him or watch out for him in several precarious situations. Audiobook performance was good.

Meh. Plot seemed slow. And stretched. Gives off too much “the world revolves around Kay” vibes. And then the character wonders why some people despise her.

Plus the audiobook narrator was not great. She did fine with the voice of Kay, but Lucy sounded like Eyore and I don‘t know what accent she thought she was afflicting Marino with, but it sure wasn‘t a Jersey one, and that‘s a critique from someone who grew up in Jersey.

☘️💚 Lizzie wishes everyone a belated Happy St. Patrick‘s Day. She was very busy yesterday on her 8th birthday kicking her mommy back into gear. I‘ve been in a funk for a week-ish. Probably watching too much news. I‘m resetting, though, and making sure Lizzie got some agility practice fun on her special day definitely helped.

Photo Cred goes to April, our fabulous Fear-Free Certified Groomer

#ranttime 🤬 but Tim Barker‘s response is priceless!

Husband interrupted my quiet reading time this morning to share this story of dog abuser Kristi Noem visiting this unique library that sits on the Quebec-VT border. What the actual F🤬? I can‘t find any video online, probably because library patrons/employees don‘t default to cell phone recording. I‘m holding out hope that there‘s maybe security video since the library does sit on border🤞🏼

I love these graphics from TSG. I may try to log daily reading progress for March. The hard part will be remembering 😂

📚 My March list for #ReadYourEbooks and #ReadYourKobo

@CBee

Read 3 of my #ReadYourEbooks picks for February. Even if my Ms. Marvel book slot for March isn‘t selected, I suspect I‘ll be continuing with her journey.

@CBee

Favorite book in this series so far. Some emotional punches in this 6th installment that are actually pretty serious in terms of emotional depth, but then slugs start seeping out of Carl, so right back to the humor I‘ve come to love. Will be interesting to see how Dinniman manages the funny versus the serious as the human crawlers continue to dwindle. Carl keeps repeating, “You will not break me” so I think things may get emotionally real.

Covers many years in 99 pages. Lots of typos, though, which was distracting and annoying. Served its purpose to give me a bird‘s eye overview of Canadian history. Definitely piqued my curiosity about certain events and people for future reading.

Keeping some picks for older prompts from some Reading Challenges on my #bookspinbingo list for March. As an emotional reader, who knows what I‘ll end up choosing😂

@TheAromaofBooks

Loved Ms. Marvel, issues 1-5

I think editor Sana Ananat wrote it best when describing this comic and its readers:

“–it was clear that you guys got it. By now you should have realized that this book isn‘t a marketing ploy, nor does it come with political agendas. It‘s just a story about a young girl maneuvering her way to adulthood, who also happens to reflect the changing face of America.”

👊🏾👊🏽👊🏼

🙄🙄🙄

Might get that feeling? That the rich exploit their employees?

😬😬😬

I wish more companies were like Dr. Bronner‘s. They implement a salary cap. The highest paid employee‘s salary is limited to 5x that of the lowest paid employee. Imagine if all companies adopted this model. What a difference that would make in everyone‘s quality of life.

😮‍💨😮‍💨😮‍💨

Authors list several characteristics of millionaires. I laughed when I read this one. The good old days of pension plans. Even when I was teaching and money was deducted from my paycheck for state pension, I never relied on them managing that money well.

Meh. Most recent research was from mid-90s to early 2000s, so examples are outdated. In 2025 the authors & the millionaires come across to this Gen Xer as out-of-touch Boomers. Basic concept is live below your means. Stealth wealth. Lots of pages on car buying habits and how to raise kids to become wealthy w/o relying on cash infusions from parents. Nothing really new here. Some of the anecdotes were amusing. #ReadYourEbooks

I just followed Reading Faerie‘s instructions on how to use Calibre + DeDRM plugin to strip my Kindle books of Amazon‘s proprietary DRM & convert them to KePubs, but you can choose other formats too. She even explains how to set the KePub up so your Kobo will give you their cool reading stats. Pretty easy to follow instructions:

https://youtu.be/YcBirwJJycg?si=NALGjwVkYs58y9ws

Slow burn that picks up the plotting pace about 1/2way through. After climate change, and disease, wipe out The World as it Was, Nonie and her family must survive in the World as it Is. A superstorm hits, so the characters must leave behind the shelter they knew, for higher ground and the chance at living on a farm. The journey is dark, but not as hellish as The Road. Thoughtful commentary throughout on how we build community.

#ReadYourKindle #ReadYourKobo #ReadYourEbooks folks might be interested in this development:

https://www.theverge.com/news/612898/amazon-removing-kindle-book-download-transf...

After switching to Kobo, I‘ve been researching if I could switch my Kindle books to Kobo. Can be done by stripping the DRM w/ Calibre, but 1st step is downloading your Kindle books to your desktop. Hence Amazon cracking down on the ability to download books😡

#MentalHealthMonday a bit late🫣 @Kerrbearlib

1. Overwhelmed with projects of my own making🙄
2. Eating right, working out, Calm app, news diet, focusing on things I can control/improve in my life
3. Asking Littens for book recommendations for specific mental health topics

If you‘re reading, I hope you‘re doing well. Consider yourself tagged😊 even though it‘s Tuesday. Just do the time warp again!

The characters in this book take refuge from floods/tidal waves in their former place of employment, the American Museum of Natural History. One recalls the curators from Leningrad who hid in the Hermitage during WWII to preserve the art. Staying hidden in the museum doesn‘t seem like a long-term strategy in this story, though😬

New release library hold is my next read on my Kobo. Hearing lots of mixed reviews on this one, so 🤞🏼🤞🏼🤞🏼

The gothic mansion was literally slipping off the cliff as MC care person tried to figure out who really killed 3 people decades earlier in the same house, and possibly her predecessor. Bananas! That‘s the word to describe the twists and turns. Totally fun popcorn thriller. If you‘re not down with the completely implausible, then you should skip this one.

#SundayFunday @BookmarkTavern

To Kill a Mockingbird. As a former MS English teacher, I‘ve taught this book multiple times. Each year, I‘d find cool connections between characters, new hints of foreshadowing, and details I hadn‘t seen before. I taught many books, but this one is the one that I think surprised me with revelations every year.

It‘s here! #BookMail and #BlameItOnLitsy selection I saw @TheAromaofBooks post about. I peeked inside at various pages and it‘s gorgeous. May just read in small bites. I‘m not painting any time soon, so I can savor the advice here.

Studying for my 🇨🇦 citizenship test. This book seemed like a good place to start for a timeline overview.

Lots of typos, most of which are incorrect dates. So the Hudson Bay Company didn‘t receive a royal charter in 1970, probably 1670, but who‘s counting?😂

#5JoysFriday @DebinHawaii

1. Separation anxiety training is going well. They‘re resting here on their beds before we head out.
2. Daily reading in my cozy chair
3. 5 episodes left in Castle. Perfect timing for Yellow Jackets premiere next Friday!
4. Got our Peloton set up; 6 rides so far!
5. Daily Calm

I feel like this observation is old school. Thinking about self-important men these days, I see them beating their chests.

A lot.

Muh-wah-ha-ha-ha-haaaa!

#ReadYourKindle

Powerful novel. Feels like a memoir. Saul was ripped from his Ojibway family & forced into a Residential School, where he tried to escape trauma by playing hockey. His external & internal journey highlight his rage against racism & prejudice, his fight w/ alcoholism, & his healing. I despise sports, but even the hockey sections were so beautifully written, I was eagerly reading. And the conclusion brought me to tears. #OhCanada

@Jess861

#BookMail from yesterday. Not sure when I‘m going to read this one, but I‘m guessing soonish since Shusterman usually delivers such great YA dystopian badness in the best way.

#ReadYourKindle selections for February. I think I can manage these since they all seem like pretty quick reads. Having a thriller as the first pick should motivate me🤞🏼

@CBee

My February #BookSpinBingo board with plenty of spots for my #ReadYourKindle and #ReadYourKobo selections.

📗📘📕📙📒📓

Excited to be posting my first ever #ReadYourKindle and #ReadYourKobo list. Thanks @CBee for hosting this challenge. Definitely looking forward to making a nice dent in my ebooks this year.

Anyone else scroll through your collection and wonder, “Why did I buy this one? What mood was I in that day?”

😂😂😂

Excited for my #BookSpin choice because it coincides with one of the series I want to complete for #SeriesLove2025 🙌🏼 Technically, my #DoubleSpin was for any graphic novel, but I‘ve been itching to read the graphic adaptation of The Road, so I‘m being specific. Not surprising for this Type A human😂

The observations about nature within the first chapters of Indian Horse are beautifully expressed. Enough so, that trying to decide what to share was going to be tough, but then Saul‘s grandmother made this statement. Timely words I‘ll be keeping in the back of my mind. #OhCanada

Love all the stats from the Story Graph. I need to play around with the tags and custom charts.

Anyone else doing anything interesting with your tags there? Do you make any custom charts?

January Wrap Up. Favorite was definitely Mistborn!

February‘s #BookSpinBingo book list. Kept most of the selections the same while moving ahead with some of the challenges I‘m interested in.

Also, I‘ve renewed The Sequel at least 3x with my library. Just got another notification that the due date is coming up. Not sure they‘ll let me renew again. No one has it on hold, but I keep forgetting that I have it on my pile🤦🏻‍♀️

 @TheAromaofBooks

My #BookSpinBingo board for January. No Bingos. I didn‘t read as much as I would have liked, but I really liked or loved 4/5 of my books. I skipped my #bookspin pick since several Littens panned Whose Body? and Sayers is not an author I‘ve had a burning desire to read. Did read my #doublespin and knocked another Kindle book into the read column.

@TheAromaofBooks

Totally blown away by this fantasy. Such a variety of characters. Loved seeing MC Vin transform in several ways as the story progressed. Plus the magic system is impressive. Sanderson explains its complexities well, and clearly leaves room for expansion. I do wonder what happened to the Venture family‘s kandra. I‘m scared it‘s a spy among our group of heroes. Totally up for 19 more stories + the to-be published ones🤓

#CosmereBuddyRead @JacqMac

Meh. Read a few pages each day. For sure, there were some pieces of advice that resonated with me and made me think about how I approach some situations or people.

But there were also many quotes that sounded trite or off, to the point I wondered what was the original problem this monk was replying to. Don‘t feel much calmer after reading, but given the times, maybe remaining just okay is saying a lot.

#MidWinterSolace

Libby is one of the apps that I allow for notifications, so I was super excited to see that one of my libraries obtained this new release. 🙌🏼 Plus the line is short.

The same cannot be said for Beautiful Ugly. I put my hold on that one waaaay too late, so I‘ll be waiting for several months😂

Exploring the Cosmere on this #WhereAreYouMonday

Laundry‘s done. Practiced multiple agility objects with dogs for some indoor exercise. Bread is baking. Black bean burgers are chilling before I bake them. And now I get to escape the second fascist initiation ceremony. Thank you Litten friends for posting positive vibes today and thank you Branden Sanderson and any other authors who help us forget the state of the world, even if just for a while.

From this morning‘s pages out of the #MidWinterSolace book choice.

Really wish 🍑 would internalize this wisdom😮‍💨

🧟‍♀️ I gave a lot of weight to the “plucky” descriptor when I considered which book had characters fighting the machine. If you like zombie stories, I highly recommend Mira Grant‘s entire Newsflesh series. The characters are definitely plucky!

#SundayFunday @BookmarkTavern