If you haven‘t read this series, you‘re really missing something. I don‘t want to give anything away, but book III continues the life of Tara who is stuck on November 18th and can‘t get to the 19th. How she thinks, what she does, how her life evolves as she faces the same day every day, all good questions with unlimited opportunities to try to figure them out. The thought processes themselves are amazing.

Thanks so much Rebecca for all this fun stuff! I love the #JolabokaflodSwap. Looking forward to reading the book and hunkering down surrounded by all the chocolate! A great way to start my day. Happiest holidays 🩷

@Branwen @MaleficentBookDragon

Hmmm…body parts start showing up in boxes at the front door of Gwen‘s apartment. Could it have something to do with the fact that she‘s the daughter of a famous serial killer? She‘s changed her name but someone knows who she is. The story was kind of convoluted, and the ending, not too exciting. Almost bailed several times and in retrospect I should have.

Totally forgot to post my #jolabokaflod when it arrived. I‘ve been looking at it for ages counting down the days.

@MaleficentBookDragon @Branwen

Really liked this story about two little old ladies living only in the kitchen and garden of a decaying house. They‘re alone and have been for years, until a boy comes to live with them from somewhere out in the world. We gradually find out how they came to this existence and wow is that interesting. Thanks @sarahbarnes for the recommendation. Very memorable book!

Once again, how has no one reviewed this book? Narrated by a husband whose dying wife decides she wants to spend whatever time she has left in the company of her two best girlfriends, not him. Entirely told through his point of view, we feel his pain, his questions, his desire for answers that are not coming. This is the third book I‘ve read lately about someone dying, and each one has brought me closer to thinking about end of life.

A small powerful book narrated by a woman who looks back on her life with and without her father. In flashbacks and present day she continues to seek his love and approval which she can never quite attain to the degree that she desires. She‘s a mother now which gives her a different perspective about love and ways to show it. In the end, we all choose the life we lead. Thanks for recommending!

How has no one reviewed this book? I couldn‘t put this one down, the narrator speaking in beautifully written descriptions of his trip to Venice. Upon marrying an ultra rich woman in 1900 London, they take a belated honeymoon to Venice, where she promptly disappears. And he immediately falls under the spell of another woman. Kept me wondering right up until the end, who were all these characters? The ending was slightly meh, so a soft pick.

We do not care that Nordstrom was out of my size in the cute top I wanted. We do not care that we found it online at another store for less money. We do not care that we ordered it only to get an email later that said they didn‘t have my size due to an “inventory discrepancy.” We do not care that Nordstrom online had it in my size and it was even less money. We are waiting with bated breath to see if it actually appears.

#WDNCW

@dabbe

Wow this one packs a punch! Only 100 pages but very powerful. A penal colony is in the middle of nowhere with a warden who hunts the prisoners for sport. Different perspectives from the guard and the prisoners and the official who‘s sent there to close the place up. Will be thinking about this one for a long time. Thanks to all who recommended it and there are a lot of you!

Through the 1940s, 50s, 60s and more, this story traces the lives of Cal, Becky, Felix and Margaret, as their lives connect and come apart and connect again. Richly drawn multi-generational characters, secrets and love bring these four people to life. Taking place in small town Ohio, I felt as though I lived in that town, observing all the action as a bystander. Beautifully written, not one false note.

Jolabokaflodswap is on the way tomorrow!

#jolabokaflodswap2025
@MaleficentBookDragon @catiewithac

Here‘s my list from @Sapphire Thanks Amanda! I‘ve only read three of these so very excited to check out the others. Been wanting to read The Names so that will be first. #AuldLangSpine @monalyisha

This is a fun one, light reading, several mysteries. Three small town people, each with their own secrets, each trying to solve a big problem. And those problems keep compounding all the way to the end. What will it take to solve them? A light pick and a good time.

We do not care that we got a letter from our medical group stating that they are implementing a $400 charge per person in 2026 to see their doctors. We are not talking concierge services or any services at all. We are talking contacting the wonderful doctor who took care of my mother and him agreeing to taking me on even tho he‘s not taking new patients. Happy ending and happy Thanksgiving to everyone who‘s reading this!

@dabbe #WDNCW

Didn‘t love this one about a couple in modern day Japan who hires a down-on-her-luck woman to be a surrogate mother. One unlikeable character after another plus not much plot. A total meh for me.

My favorite week of the year! NYT puzzle section (extra copy for my daughter), Thanksgiving, football and my birthday. So happy!!😀 😀😀

This is a love story, husband and wife, father and daughter, mother and daughter, grandfather and granddaughter. Mostly narrated by the wife, we follow her family relationships throughout the years, followed by narration by her daughter, and then a short section by her husband. Can these relationships stand the strain of the secrets? I loved a line about mothers always being there, like the moon during the day.

A good story about the five children who survived a cult, four of whom have spent 15 years trying to make sense of it. Chapters from the past and chapters from the present culminate in the discovery of what really happened all those years ago. I had to suspend my sense of disbelief to get to the end of this one. A soft pick as the characters didn‘t really resonate with me, yet the mystery kept my attention.

Anyone who‘s a mom knows what it‘s like to have a baby, then a toddler, then a small child. This short book is narrated by a mom going through all the stages of childhood, married to a guy who doesn‘t pitch in. Plus the child is a handful. But of course those impossible moments are balanced with beautiful memorable moments. I don‘t remember my kids as causing the anxiety and whining this woman seems to live with. A soft pick.

We‘re in dirt poor Kolkata, where we follow the parallel lives of Ma, her father and daughter who are trying to get to America to join her husband. And also Boomba, a thief who is trying to support himself and bring his family to him. This is a very tough read. Will Ma get to America? Will Boomba survive? A heart-wrenching slice of life of people constantly living on the verge. One can only imagine being this poor and hungry all the time.

#EuropaCollective

How about it??

Thanks to all who recommended this book. Translated from Swedish it‘s the story of a man at the end of his life, his wife with dementia, his best friend, his son and his dog who he loves very much. If this sounds incredibly sad, it is. Just about every page ripped my heart out. So worthwhile, but be prepared, it‘s very realistic.

I think Elizabeth George is the best mystery writer around today. I‘ve read all her Inspector Lynley books, all 23. Even though they‘re stand alone stories, the characters carry over, so best to read them in order. Who killed Michael Lobb, the owner of a metal jewelry business? His much younger wife, his Lothario of a brother, one of his two employees, ex-wife or her boyfriend, one of his children, one of his employee‘s children, the list is👇

Interesting look into the lives of two couples who are neighbors in the English countryside, a farmer, a doctor and their two wives. So many secrets, some of which come to life over the course of a winter snowstorm and its aftermath. Longlisted for the Booker, these four people and their lives come to feel as if you‘ve known them forever, very real and very sad, as they just try to get through the days.

#EuropaCollective

Hi everyone! We hope you‘ve had time to read Mona‘s Eyes and are ready to discuss. We‘ve only tagged everyone once so scroll down to see all the discussion questions and feel free to ask your own. We hope you‘ll join the discussion even if you‘re only partially through the book. Stay tuned for info about the January read!

#EuropaCollective

#EuropaCollective

#EuropaCollective

#EuropaCollective

Hope everyone had time to read this book for #EuropaCollective! Just a reminder that we‘ll be discussing the book next Saturday, November 1st. We‘ll have lots of provocative questions to get things going and can‘t wait to hear all your thoughts. Special thanks to everyone who posted about this book during the month. Feel free to add your name or request to be dropped from the tagged list. See you Saturday!

Couldn‘t put this one down, the story of three triplet boys who live in an old deserted mansion in 1979 England, with only three shifts of caregivers to take care of them. Who are these boys I wondered as shades of Ishiguro‘s Never Let Me Go kept running through my thoughts. This one‘s really unforgettable, as was that one. I found myself so invested in all the characters, even the minor ones, a sign of a terrific book.

Another incredible book in the Road to Dalton series. If you haven‘t read these three books about a group of average people living in small town Maine, put them on your TBR list. They are so beautifully written, the descriptions of the characters‘ thoughts and feelings magical. Just ordinary people, living their lives, dealing with the hands they‘ve been dealt. These books ring so true. #EuropaCollective actually led me to the first one!

We do not care that our Wordle streak was broken although we complained about it to anyone who would listen. We might have complained about it to strangers if we‘d run into any. We don‘t care that our new streak says a pathetic “1” instead of a nice long number. We now know how many words end with “ound”, way too many. We know Denise feels our pain.

#WDNCW. @dabbe

A beach read in October! One day and night in a famous old residential building in New York, think The Dakota. Everyone‘s rich, everyone‘s feeling protected and anything can happen. We follow three main characters, Chicky the doorman, Emily the ultra rich wife in the penthouse, and Julian, an art dealer whose life appears to be collapsing, every aspect of it. It‘s a gripper, well written and moves along at a fast pace.

I wasn‘t that crazy about this book to begin with. Not much of a story, not that great on character development. But then I started to love this story about a 10 year old girl who might be going blind and her grandfather who takes her once a week to see one piece of art in a Paris museum. Each short chapter discusses a piece of art with grandpa describing its artist and history and Mona describing her feelings about it. ⬇️

This author can really write! I love her stories, the secrets and surprises seep out of the pages and the meanings are never crystal clear. In this book, the narrator lives her quiet, routine life with her family until she starts receiving pages from her diary of 20 years ago, pages she hasn‘t thought about in all this time. It‘s a mystery and a character study, each of equal importance.

We do not care that we saw a very interesting cookie recipe in NYT called Gochujang Caramel Cookies and we rushed out to the Korean grocery store and bought a container of gochujang, only to read the comments section of the recipe where bakers had mentioned not to get the gochujang with onions and garlic, which naturally the one we bought had. Rushed back out to Trader Joe, problem solved.

#WDNCW @dabbe

I‘m about 2/3 of the way through the October read for #EuropaCollective. Each chapter takes only a few minutes to read but I‘m calling up each painting or sculpture to see a big picture of it so I can follow along with the description. This is a story of a young girl who is possibly going blind, and goes each week with her grandfather to see an important piece of art. Grandpa seems to know a lot about art! We started in the Louvre ⬇️

This is book 3 in the Hyperion series, book 1 having won the Hugo back in the 90s. Books 1 & 2 go together, as do books 3 & 4. Such a good story! A young girl, a guy and an android race through space and portals, never sure where they‘re going, but headed somewhere. Lots of bad guys are chasing them from world to world as they make their way. Really terrific sci-fi series! @RamsFan1963 Have you read this series?

Hope everyone had a great summer! We‘re excited to get #EuropaCollective up and running again with Mona‘s Eyes as our October read. Just a reminder to get a copy, feel free to comment anytime, and we‘ll have the general discussion on Saturday, November 1st. Happy reading!

1. Santa Fe-Margarita swirled with sangria at Tomasita‘s, goat cheese, figs and honey drizzled crepes at Mille bakery
2. Los Alamos-Bradbury Science Center
3. Cerillos-Origami in the Garden. This one‘s rock, scissors, paper
4. Taos-Rio Grande Gorge Bridge and Taos Pueblo.
5. Santa Fe-puppets at Museum of International Folk Art
6. Painted Desert in Arizona, truly magnificent!

#5JoysFriday

We do not care that the bed in our hotel *suite* in Santa Fe is pushed up against the wall so one person (not me) has to climb out of there and of course wakes up the other person (me). Or that the one umbrella at the pool that provides shade is broken. Or that the Georgia O‘Keeffe museum took a total of 7 minutes to see. We have made the executive decision to leave early and head for The Petrified Forest and Painted Desert.

@dabbe #WDNCW

Having read these four novellas already, I felt like rereading them all at one time to keep the thread of characters clearly in my mind. This is by far the best way to read these stories, Water, Earth, Fire and Air. Four terrific stand alone stories, stories of childhood traumas, survival, hope. Don‘t miss this book if you haven‘t read the novellas already.

Bailed on both of these books, although I gave Nesting about 75 pages. Flesh did not speak to me in the slightest, and after I read the mediocre reviews on Litsy I quickly gave up. I‘m all for women getting away from abusive husbands, but I‘ve read a lot better books on the subject than Nesting. Off to pick up The Elements so I can read the fourth book in that series.

My very favorite snack with a so very sad book. Ash narrates this story of her best friend‘s last weeks in hospice, surrounded by everyone who loves both of them, “my people” as she refers to them. I‘ve always loved that phrase “my people” because it‘s a phrase that everyone gets instinctively. Lots of humor and love in this book, not one false note. A lot to reflect on.

Read this in one day, couldn‘t put it down. Glad I had already finished my extremely difficult Klimt puzzle (pieces were cut in hard way to match up!) It‘s a mystery, woman claims to have gotten pregnant with no male involved. Is it possible? Nobody really thinks so but one woman at a newspaper is willing to follow this lead. As she gets more and more involved with this woman‘s family, her life is dramatically altered. Unexpected ending! ⬇️

Months ago I filled out a questionnaire in the New York Times that would pick out a perfect book for me and this is the one I got. It‘s a short story collection, interconnected in odd ways, telling a futuristic story about mankind, AI, cloning and survival. I really liked the way the stories tied together at the end, hopeful and thought-provoking.

Almost bailed on this book after pages and pages of the narrator whining about infertility. But then a stunner. And then a nice little love story. Lots of annoying mouthy characters, a cute little boy, a mother from France, a narrator with a sense of humor, a main character who you want to constantly strangle. A soft pick.

This one‘s a gripper! Who‘s responsible for the car accident that killed two people? The teenager who was driving? The dad in the passenger seat who narrates the book? The automatic driving system that was running the car? As the details of the accident unfold, we come closer to grasping the details of what happened along with the secrets that keep this family rolling along. Family dynamics play a big part here all the way to the end.