Without offering any easy fixes, this book offers well thought out, rational explanations. Published in 2020, after COVID but prior to Trump 2.0, Applebaum offers in the end two diverging futures and a hope in our young people worldwide. But also, should the worse option happen (as it seems to be at the moment) the heartening thought that this has happened before and will happen again. History is circular. A bit of book synchronicity 👇🏻

Not what I expected, and nothing like this cover. The anachronisms weren‘t too bad but there were enough small ones to annoy. And while Eden has been compared to Mary Stewart, she falls short Stewart‘s skill, telling more often than showing. But a fast light read, which I needed yesterday. #readyourkobo @CBee

The last A. S. Byatt I read (tagged in the comments) was said to be autobiographical regarding her relationship with her sister, Margaret Drabble. So of course I now need to read at least one of her books. I found this at Alleyway Books in Apex.

This volume is largely about Constantine and the rise of Christianity. It sets the stage for a lot of European history to come, including unfortunately the rise of antisemitism. But it also explains the origin of various legal and clerical organizations and practices which carried down through the centuries. I am finding it interesting how a historian in the mid 1700s viewed Ancient Rome. #bookspin @TheAromaofBooks

Proust on why we read fiction. #proust2026 @TheBookHippie

Referring to the death of Constantine, who was a deeply contradictory person. I had no idea that the officials acted like he was still alive for some time after his death. Not hiding his death, but actually going before his body “at the appointed hours” and “offering homage” What the F*?!?

Learning how to use this little gadget my husband put in my stocking this year. I‘m thinking it will come in handy with larger books like this.

Since this seems to be StoryGraph Day, you can find me there with the same handle.

I finished the crap leadership book I had to read, an am rewarding myself by starting my January #bookspin. @TheAromaofBooks

So before I can read what I _want_ to read, I must read this for work. I hate this sort of stuff but we‘re having a Senior Leadership retreat on it next Thursday and Friday, so I better get busy. 🙄

My January #bookspin is volume 2 of this 8 volume set of Gibbons. #declineandfall is off to a good start! And my #doublespin will bleed over into February with the #whartonbuddyread.crew.

The description of this book doesn‘t sound like something that would work, but it does. At 622 pages it‘s a MiniChunkster ( @Amiable ) yet I finished it in 4 days, one of which was mostly spent visiting relatives. It‘s hard to say which of the three stories I was most engaged with - they were all engrossing- but I think Zeno was my favorite character. Best book of 2026. 😂

A blame it on Edith Wharton book arrived in today‘s mail. My reading plate is full for January, but maybe I‘ll get to this in February. #whartonbuddyread @Graywacke

Year-end stays from StoryGraph show me that having a pages read goal works better for me than a number of books goal. And that I‘m reading more nonfiction these days. Not surprisingly, my top authors were Wharton and Dickens. 😀

My first #readyourebook list for 2026. @CBee

I have loved our morning routine of listening to a piece of music over breakfast. My husband and I are both classically trained musicians and yet still found new things to think about. Sometimes it was a new-to-us piece; more often a new bit of information about a composer. But it was such a grounding way to start the day. (Much better than doom-scrolling the news!) We had a hard time finding her second volume from a source that would ship 👇🏻

Volume 1 is a reread for me. I started this with a group here in 2020, but found pandemic stress did not allow for the concentration required to complete all the volumes. May 2026 be easier on us all. #proust2026

Take a family, mix in every issue you can think of, bake in a deep tragedy for a few decades, serve with holiday angst. That‘s this book as a recipe. It‘s my irl book club pick for January and I‘m not looking forward to the discussion. 😂

Gladwell‘s Tipping Point has entered the Overstory (to use his term) but this book, which explores its relationship to dark things, like epidemics and the Opioid crisis, is well worth your time. I‘ll be thinking about the questions he poses for a long time.

My January #bookspin is full of books I want to read next month, but will I get to even half of them? @TheAromaofBooks

Last month I read volume one of this set and really enjoyed it. I want to read the other seven this year, so I set myself a goal to read them in 2026. If anyone wants to join me let me know and I‘ll start a tag list for #declineandfall. Very casual, very low-key, read at your own pace kind of challenge. @LitsyEvents

Merry Christmas to all who celebrate. And may everyone be as calm and happy as my cat Amélie.

Watching the Christmas Eve Carol service from Westminster Cathedral while reading this memoir of an amazing singer.

Dryly academic in style, this work proposes some interesting ideas. But like the cartoon above, there were many places where Singley leaps from a supported point to an assumed conclusion that isn‘t convincingly argued, in my opinion. It took way too long to read (and I almost bailed several times) but it did make me think about the novels we‘ve read. #whartonbuddyread @Graywacke

Cute, light, easy enough I could probably have read it in French, but just what I needed right now, given how crazy work is right now (not to mention the rest of the world!) King Loc is my favorite and a great role model.

I needed something light this time of year, so I started this at lunch. It‘s charming.

Woke up to this. And midwesterners, don‘t judge me. Here in the south 18 is “extremely low” here!

A classic from Classic FM. Once you‘ve seen it, you can‘t unsee it. 😂

I found the (40 page!) introduction a bit dry and academic, so I‘m not sure if I‘ll make it through this or not. But it‘s an intriguing look at Wharton‘s work through a lens of spiritual seeking (rather than “manners”) We‘ll see if I make it. #whartonbuddyread @Graywacke

It‘s difficult to explain why this book is so engaging, not gratuitous or emotionally manipulative. But quiet, reflective, and yes, at times, funny. #bookspin @TheAromaofBooks

Probably better on stage than on the page, this was a farcical romp that would be better-liked if Shakespeare hadn‘t done it better. But the hero gets the girl, the villains get tricked, and it ends with the above philosophy. #readyourkobo @CBee

We got our tree up early this year. Listening to Kings College Choir and enjoying the lights.

Started my #bookspin book this morning. It sounds like an awful topic, but so far it‘s quite lovely.

The first part worked better for me than the end, which felt both rushed and a bit too easy. But I would read this author again. She shows promise.

My December list for #readyourKobo @CBee

Most are a variety of “just-so” stories of the Cherokee people, with some history thrown in (Trail of Tears, Wounded Knee) and beautifully illustrated by Elizabeth Ellison. I picked this up in Cherokee, NC last summer. It‘s a quick read, and full of gentle humor.

My final #bookspin of 2025! @TheAromaofBooks

According to the introduction it‘s slightly autobiographical in terms of how the mother treated the daughter in order to seem younger, but I‘m not sure I can follow the author all the way to feeling sorry for the mother and excusing her crime. I finished it not sure how I feel about it. But I‘ve read my October #doublespin now, so there‘s that. @TheAromaofBooks

I loved Suite Française, and Entre le Chien et le Loup so I‘m hoping this lives up to those!

My #doublespin for November was this biography of a woman who could have been Elizabeth I‘s heir, was raised to consider herself in that light, used as a pawn, and then, when she finally chose a husband for herself without James I‘s permission, was thrown in the Tower of London. A bit of a chatty style but obviously well researched. I enjoyed it. Portraits of her as a toddler, teenager (in white) and adult. @TheAromaofBooks

New treadmill book this morning!

While I learned a lot, and went on internet dives to find all the pictures, there were a few things that took it down to a soft pick for me. The writing became so repetitive at the last few chapters that I at first thought my playback had jumped back to a previous chapter. The narrator spoke good French most of the time, but there were moments of mispronunciation (Mai pronounced “mah-ee”) and cadence (reading “independently wealthy and beautiful”

Queen Elizabeth I ‘s court was ruthless! 😂 (And yes, I‘m immature enough to laugh out loud at this!)

This book of poems gathered in protest over Bush‘s war took me a long time to finish. It wasn‘t an easy read given how much worse things are now and how I could see how what he did lead us to where we are. But an excellent collection nonetheless.

This last finished novel of Dickens has the playfulness of (and hints at breaking the 4th wall like) Pickwick, but shows a maturity of purpose in exposing wrongs and a changed (for the better) view of Jewish people since Oliver Twist. I think it deserves to be better loved and more often read than it is and can only suppose it is its length that keeps it from being so. Myself, I thoroughly enjoyed it. #readyourkobo @CBee

I loved this. It was not what I expected, but that may be a good thing. Billy was my favorite, of course, but all the characters had their moments. And the prose was memorable. (Map in the background does not include the Lincoln Highway, but it‘s what I had in the house. 🤷🏻‍♀️) #bookspin @TheAromaofBooks

Started my #bookspin this morning. Only one chapter in, but I‘m hooked.

I bought this 2nd hand, and look what I found inside! November book for my irl book club.

This is just the 1st of 8 volumes. I went in expecting to learn a lot (and I did) but not expecting the humor and the quality of the prose. I‘m not jumping right in to volume 2, but I do hope to finish the whole thing by the end of 2026. Pic is the map on the endpapers of my edition.

And the relevance to our current situation keeps coming. Sigh.