so-soMeh. 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 😂
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
pickFavorite 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.
pickCovers 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
pickLoved 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.
so-soMeh. 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
pickSlow 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 🤞🏼🤞🏼🤞🏼
pickThe 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.
pickPowerful 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?
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
pickTotally 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
so-soMeh. 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
pickPerfect for people learning to cook for 1-2 people. I switched to a WFPB diet, so I‘ve been cooking more. Frequently I have leftover veggies that go to waste. Now I‘ve got a much better sense of what I can freeze & how for my next dish, especially soups. Beautiful color photos. Recipes are pretty basic staples. About 1/2 the recipes I can‘t use because they use animal products, but others look yummy.
pickCreepy👀 I‘m already conscientious about locking doors at night, but this short story takes any form of vigilance to the next level.
As Mrs. Grayson continued to follow her nightly ritual of locking her doors and windows, I wondered if her obsession was more a sign of her growing short-term memory loss. Was there really a thing outside trying to get in?
I could see how the conclusion could be interpreted more than one way. Made this story a hit!
Learned something new about my aging self. I prefer reading ebooks over MMPB. For the past 5 or 6 mornings, I cracked open my MMPB copy of Mistborn and didn‘t even finish the prologue😮💨 I kept having to reread. Decided to buy the trilogy as an ebook set last night. This morning in less than an hour, I‘ve read the prologue and I‘m into chapter 2 of the first part.
Font size really matters. #CosmereBuddyRead
Today‘s project: Swapping books from one set of bookcases to another. The husband keeps buying NF books, especially on history and politics. The man hasn‘t met a book on the fall of democracy that he can resist. I‘ve already run out of room for his stacks. Plus I want the board games in the same room as the table. So the work is totally justified.
pickHow an apocalypse could really happen. When the electricity goes out, Rice doesn‘t focus on chaos in cities. His indigenous characters live in far northern Ontario with some knowing how to live off the land. This community responds to the crisis collectively, staying true to their culture, even when outsiders appear to threaten them. A slow beautiful burn of a book with complex & flawed characters. #FictionalTraveler #SomeplaceCold
@julieclair
My Kobo tells me I‘m 86% into this hauntingly realistic apocalyptic story. Finishing it this morning with help from Lizzie who has claimed the ottoman and my legs as her snuggle territory 😂
The male indigenous MC‘s thoughts about his daughter💙
This book is a slow burn, but a captivating slow burn. It‘s depicting how I think an apocalyptic event might occur.
![[tagged book]](https://image.librarything.com/pics/litsy_webpics/icon_taggedBook@3x.png){kind=icon}
