#12Booksof2024 August
I read or heard an interview with Arden somewhere that this book came about when she started thinking about how this time period changed so many of our perceptions of the world and she decided to write about how it might have changed our perception of the devil. I deal with WWII a lot for work and the idea of this - the devil finding a new calling in WWI France - really spoke to me.

#top24of2024 roughly arranged from top to bottom and left to right in grids of six 🙃 I always enjoy seeing the overlap/lack thereof depending on how I try to decide on my fav book of the year! #top24of24

#12Booksof2024 I had 4 (!!!) five star reads in July, but one was James (James needs no hype from me) and I may rave about one or more of the others some other month, so instead I'm picking the first in this weird, cozy sff/mystery mashup about a woman who appears to attract murders. It was much more fun than it had any right to be, and I went looking for the sequel immediately.

June #12Booksof2024

#12Booksof2024 May favorite

So... This was actually a really fun exercise 😈
Some months had few misses, and there's a mix here of bails/not for me rn vs things I legit think aren't great.
Tagged I am celebrating because it is the first in a series that I think i will likely continue anyway 🤪🎉 - I think books after this one won't have the things that bugged me, mainly the way the male MC treats the female, and the whole cw portion mid book is one of my trigger topics.

#12Booksof2024 April was a great reading month for me and contributed a few books to my best-of-2024 list. My fav non-fiction came from this month (and from #naturalitsy : 8 Bears), but ultimately I guess I'm just a sucker for Acevedo. Plus, this novel did such an expert job exploring the diversity of women's experiences in an immigrant family that I was enthralled.

#12Booksof2024 March is for #tob2024 - here are the books from last year's shortlist that stuck with me - though I'm not sure they are all universal favorites and may be another sign that my reading trended to the surreal this year...

I'm tardy for #12Booksof2024 but I love seeing and participating in this event, thanks for hosting again, @Andrew65 🤗
Since I'm playing catchup, here's Jan and Feb - Bourdain for Jan for his sheer charm humor and swagger and Friday Black bc the 2024 #auldlangspine list from vivastory (did they change sn? I can't tag them) really set a mood for the whole year in thoughtful sff.
PS the story arc about Black Friday is even seasonally appropriate! 😆

I really liked this, thanks #tob2025 longlist! I was avoiding it based on the blurb, which made it sound like Rainy is pursuing a runaway wife through a dystopian landscape both twee and surreal. This is misleading, as Rainy‘s wife dies 80 pages in, and the surreal elements are mainly due to the unknown and therefore somewhat terrifying motives of others and not to an anthropomorphized Lake Superior.

I really wanted to like this, but it was like the author couldn‘t find enough information about the 35 (!!!) women that worked in the Curie lab to make their stories engaging, and so relied on MSC‘s life (which is perhaps better told elsewhere?) and on snippets of chemistry to fill in the gaps. Lack of focus, and the verbatim retellings of slanderous and misogynistic letters/newspaper articles/etc were a bit triggering, too, as a scientist.

Well, well! Looks like I have some excellent horror to look forward to next January thanks to this lovely and chilling #auldlangspine spine list from @Lin3han 🤗 I always love Kingfisher, and The Graveyard Book is a fav, so I'm sure I'll get on well with you and your books! I'm intrigued by the Crown of Nyaxia books but sometimes YA does not agree with me... Is the series very angsty?
Thanks for the thoughtful as ever pairing @monalyisha 🥰

Recently found quote in my camera roll ❤️

I loved this, it was brilliant, but then maybe it is something only another Classicist would love? I have beef with the blurb calling it a comedy, it is def a tragedy, if a madcap one, and it is about POWs being forced to perform in order to eat, so rather brutal for even dark comedy. But there were still some flashes of beauty, and I appreciate the decisions the author made in plot and execution. #tob25 #tob25longlist

An innovative take on vampires and a very enjoyable audiobook. I loved the fact that the pov is that of a single mom, and heartily recommend sticking around for the conversation after the book ends in the audiobook between the author and the narrator about themes that could be read into the book: including ableism, neurodivergence, single motherhood, etc (both women identify as autistic and the narrator identifies as deaf among other things).

Oh no. I did an audit on my spending, and here are all the books I bought this year and promptly forgot about. Thoughts on which I should prioritize for the end of the year?

I did it! Look at the size of that chunkster. I am so used to kindle books that the mechanics of reading a book this heavy were really hard 😆 and I read it in small chunks because it is also super dark - dark magic/occult, dark Argentine history, genocide and colonialism and torture - but I was fascinated by the undercurrent of class critique and the dark magic itself. A challenging read but ultimately rewarding, tho the end left me wanting.

I didn't mean to sound like I hadn't found new things to read in the #tob2025 longlist! Above the line are books that have been on and off my monthly tbr stacks all year and which I'll now try harder to fit in, and below the line are books newly on my radar 🥰 I can't believe I missed the newest Rivers Solomon!

Happy #tob2025 longlist week! I've not read a ton of them (no surprise given my comfort genres); what I have read is primarily thanks to litsy suggestions (😘 #camplitsy24). Not much that was a surprise tho -lots of repeat authors?- and James in particular seems like an obvious choice. But it was fantastic so... 🤷🏻‍♀️
My list by enjoyment in the reading is above fwiw! Highlighting the tagged bc James gets plenty love wo my help 😜

It‘s sooo squishy!!! Thanks for the thoughtful package @KaylasReadingNook I love it 😻 I‘ve not read this Stephen King yet, and I‘m looking forward to enjoying everything. I‘m pretty sure that puppy is nefarious, too. Right?
#allhallowsreadswap #ahrs
Thanks for organizing @MaleficentBookDragon

@BethM I‘m enchanted! 🤩 the candy fits me perfect, how did you know? And I can‘t wait to try the bath bomb! Thank you for the thoughtful #hhs #hhs24 and thanks for organizing @wanderinglynn

Forgive the excess of stickers, just wanted to do a quick post while I was thinking about it that my #ahrs and #hhs packages arrived! I‘m very excited to open them 🤗

I almost forgot to post that I sent my #ahrs #allhallowsreadswap #ahrs2024 today! Should be there by the end of the week. My dates were off thanks to the Monday holiday so just under the wire lol @MaleficentBookDragon

Audiobooks 3-6 for #hauntedshelf :
I enjoyed them all except The Horoscope Writer. Tagged was a nice palate cleanser fantasy satire told from the pov of a reluctant dark wizard. However I enjoyed the claustrophobic space-spelunking horror vibes from The Luminous Dead and the confirmation I got from How to Sell a Haunted House that puppets are indeed more creepy than dolls, and I'm ready for more spine-tingles for the week ahead! #flerken

A pic of #HHS package taken as I left the house - it‘s away now, should arrive by the end of the week! #hhs2024 @wanderinglynn

Well, that‘s an “ugh, my rival” glare if I‘ve ever seen one! #catsanddogs #dogsoflitsy #readathon #hauntedshelf #flerken

There were actually MORE eyes than expected. As advertised? But still. Ew.
#hauntedshelf #flerken book 2!

Book one of October /#hauntedshelf is this memoir. It is, apparently, super-controversial and polarizing, but in general I found it to be a very engaging read that is informative on the subject of how everyone may not process or engage with emotions in the same way. I dunno if there‘s as much science as I wanted, and I dunno if I believe everything happened in this book as stated, but I also dunno if that matters as to its enjoyment value.

#hauntedshelf recs, clockwise from tagged:
1. For the tame, my fav middle grade horror series
2. For those that don't mind body horror and find ikea to be slightly creepy to start with
3. For the monster lovers
4. For the lover of women-centered retellings
5. For the slasher lovers
6. For paranormal romance
In case you needed more spooky-season inspo! #flerken @PuddleJumper

Finally catching up on this quiet little novel for #ClassicLSFBC @RamsFan1963
Y‘all‘s callbacks to Star Trek felt apt - this was about as cozy as SciFi can be. Reminded me of the Ilona Andrews series a bit too 😂(⬇️)
I didn‘t love the literal hand of god ending but liked that it seemed like Enoch would get the chance to reenter humanity and alleviate his loneliness. Do you think he‘ll let himself start aging again?

#flerken #hauntedshelf
1. I think this changes daily 🫣 currently I‘m leaning to the tagged bc of the miniseries
2. My partner and I try to carve pumpkins every year, and we love to decorate
3. Pumpkin beer - and did you know TJs has pumpkin spice Irish cream? Omg
Or piping fresh off the frier apple cider donuts!
4. Bingo boards!

My #hauntedshelf team #flerken tbr has options and bingo boards built-in😜
October's #Bookspin is all about buddy reads and ongoing challenges, and I've created 2 lists for #readyourebooks / #readyourkindle in honor of all the spooky books I've collected in years past. #castthedie is for library loans. Overambitious? Yes. Overexcited? Oh, yes. But man do I like both making lists and having options for mood reading.

This sapphic regency romance with gods and fairies is a low pick. The second half kind of dragged, but the framing was fun and I had some laugh out loud moments.

#5joysfriday
1. The weather is approaching fall vibes - my favorite 🍁🍂
2. Caught one of the nights the zoo was open late 🐅
3. Tried an online nail wrap store and they‘re really cute + the store owners sent a hand written thank you note with my order - aw
4. This weird tomato bouquet I made is thriving so well I may have to plant it? 😆
5. Going to a coworker‘s wedding reception tonight! Party time!

*Less than a week until #Hauntedshelf but there‘s still time to join! See link below to sign up or @PuddleJumper for more details.
True story, I‘m here for the bingos. And the vibes.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe7g2cbAys_w6B9G5HHloV6kRr1yQvXVOptseGn...

#castthedie is taken up entirely by books I‘ve wanted to read from the library but never quite gotten around to - or just excited about. Tagged is my “lucky” pick. So excited for the new Osman!

I wish this book about art was more about the very geeky subject of how and why we appreciate art and less of the author‘s personal journey. Pictures would have helped. The pic above is from Julie Curtiss‘s website (an artist the author spends a great deal of time with) and which I find very arresting. More of that, pls!

I think it might be more fun to develop your own eye than to listen to anyone else develop theirs 🤷🏻‍♀️

Super emotional read with lots of tough subjects including but not limited to genocide, residential schools, loss of parents, addiction, drug abuse, and a mass shooting. I loved the epistolary feel and sometimes-epistolary format and how the book therefore often felt like it was talking directly to me. The writing was lovely and the narration fantastic but this was a bit of a tough book to chill with due to subject matter.

#5joysfriday
1. I cannot currently telework and my office chair was a problem for my sciatic nerve, so I bought a new chair and it is delightful
2. I've kept up well with pre-work walks with my ridiculous pup
3. We made it to two delicious restaurants for restaurant week 🤤
4. Started a new crochet project
5. Plotting and planning my October reading!!
Hope it was a good week for you all!

My Halloween aesthetic is pretty much where you could stick me in an Edward Gorey set for Dracula and I‘d be happy as a clam. Intricate library? ✔️ gothic arches? ✔️ goofy/creepy faces poking out in the background? ✔️
Maybe add in Nightmare before Christmas‘s movie-in-background or at least the music and some mad scientist-ness, and I‘m there!
#hhs #hhs24

StoryGraph tells me I'm tracking 21, which is downright embarrassing. I think I'm only active on 8... Which probably means I need to make a few dnf decisions, plus be better about remembering when library borrows are going to magically disappear from my devices 🙄🤦
#sundayfunday

This was a #blamelitsy read but hilariously was something a coworker was reading at the same time and so has now become an office by-word. I liked it! Dual narrators, good banter, fresh premise. Did I mention the male narrator has an Irish accent in the audiobook? 😂

About serial killers who kill other serial killers and fall in love via a serial-killing-competition, so consider for your October reading pleasure if you need some raunch.

Love this idea for #tlt #ListThreeThursday @dabbe 🎃🖤
I had a lot of fun reading Diavola this year - think family vacation from Hell in the Italian countryside, and I recommend Arden's middle grade horror quartet all the time, even to those squeamish about horror. However, Mira Grant/Seanan McGuire's creature feature novel was the first book to spring to mind for the prompt, so it gets the tag!

I wanted the satire sharper and the humor funnier in this new novel about Iranian-American food heiresses who want to be the next Kardashians but the pandemic gets in the way. Great cover though.

I wasn't paying attention and the tagged returned to the library with 1 hr to go. My September #bookspin plans are already derailed!

/1 hour!!!!/

The latest Mercy Thompson installment felt short while reading it and afterwards almost feels like a reset? Or maybe a deep breath before the big battle book. Anyways, I‘ve now read it twice (once with my beloved Lorelei King narration of course) and enjoyed it. A solid entry - and maybe feels like Briggs is dipping her toe into fantasy mystery??

This cookbook full of mezes from the eastern Mediterranean made me miss the camaraderie of enjoying a slow evening with good friends and small dishes soooo muccchh. I don‘t know if I can try the recipes without being emotional, but I‘m sure I‘ll try because they sound delicious and who doesn‘t love mezes?

This was a great #Netgalley find! Great world building, and the best commitment to gritty dark fantasy as a backdrop for overarching class and poverty struggles that I've seen in a while. The cover is a vibe clash for me - too light airy and pretty.

#bookspin but make it super late 🙄
We were without power for four days or so, though, so if that's all I'm behind on I call it a win!
I've already been reading off it esp for #AuthorAMonth and have to say that the Dickens vibe in the tagged choice isnt really jiving with me. Does anyone have a different favorite Waters novel I have to try? Maybe one that is more contemporary?
@thearomaofbooks @soubhiville