#WhereAreYouMonday

This Monday I find myself back in the bizarrely comforting Discworld, upheld on the backs of four elephants riding on the back of a spacefaring turtle 🐢 . Specifically at Ahnk-Moorpork and the Unseen University. Only 50 pages in but loving being back “home”.

😹😻😹😻😹😻😹😻😹😻😹😻😹😻😹😻😹

“I meant,” said Ipslore, bitterly, “what is there in this world that makes living worthwhile?”

Death thought about it.

CATS, he said eventually, CATS ARE NICE.

😻😹😻😹😻😹😻😹😻😹😻😹😻😹😻😹😻

Be free my little friends!

Oh Jimjams. I had flashbacks to Mr. Jones in “Murder While You Work” 😱🐶💔

Quiet, middle aged Miss MacFarren takes in a lodger to make ends meet. Mrs. Banks comes with great references…but something‘s not right. Should have listened to your gut instinct Elinor MacFarren! This is a kind of domestic horror (the housekeeping kind-no blood or guts) with a little romance & film satire tossed in.

#FurrowedMiddlebrowClub

Well fellow sleuths! How did you fare this time with the latest #EBBR? I missed “The Case of the Hungry Hitchhiker”. 🤭

I also cracked up in the first story when I read “He wore a face longer than the last day of school.” 😂

I have a real mystery to solve. Does anyone know what happened to @ bthegood? Her page and handle have disappeared. I hope it‘s just a Litsy glitch and she will make her way back. 🤞❤️

#WhereAreYouMonday

I‘m somewhere on the high seas between Rotterdam and NYC with Nancy and co. Weirdly, there‘s no explanation for the trip. How long were Nancy, Bess and George in Europe? Were they in The Netherlands 🇳🇱 only? Inquiring minds want to know! 😅

#OffMyShelf. “Poetry”

This was a collection of some of Marquis‘ writings (including poems) from his newspaper columns between 1916 and 1922 featuring Archy, a cockroach who is the reincarnation of a free verse poet. Less frequent but nonetheless memorable are entries from the alley cat Mehitabel (toujours gai!).

Way more entertaining than I expected and also a fantastic time machine back to a time when newspapers were ubiquitous.

#WhereAreYouMonday

While the characters will move from Georgia to other parts of Europe as part of their journeys through the 20th and 21st centuries, this epic novel is centered in and about a Georgian multigenerational family. The story‘s heart and soul is in Georgia.

This is my #Roll100 stack for March. All library books which is thwarting my efforts to read what I already own in 2025. 😬

However, the Pratchett works for #SeriesLove2025 and will be an easy read anyway. I think Mr. Lover man will also be achievable if Girl, Woman, Other was any indication. Let‘s see about the other two. 🤞

Reading this month‘s #EBBR book, I wondered:

1. Why anyone would trust Bugs Meany or make a bet with him! 😂

2. Why does he wear a “Jughead hat “? Were those real?

So I looked up the hat. From Wikipedia: A whoopee cap is a style of headwear popular among youths in the mid-20th cent. in the US…made from a felt fedora hat with the brim trimmed with a scalloped cut and turned up…often decorated with buttons, badges, or bottle caps.

Who knew? 🤔

#weekendreads

📕Still reading the tagged for the poetry prompt for #OffMyShelf

📗Encyclopedia Brown is this month‘s #EBBR

📘Not at Home is for #FurrowedMiddlebrowClub

📙Das Achte Leben I pulled down on a whim. It‘s gonna take me a few months to finish but it‘ll work for #ChunksterChallenge2025 and #AllergictoChunksters

Th it s is my pretty edition of this month‘s #HashtagBrigade book. Though I‘m probably going to do as much as possible on audio with a Hoopla download from my library.

Looking forward to it. It‘s a re-read for me but a real favorite. I love getting lost in a chunky Victorian novel.

Hello #FurrowedMiddlebrowClub reading friends! Our 2nd group read of 2025 kicks off in March. This‘ll be the 3rd title from Moore that we‘ve read together. IMO her books aren‘t particularly cosy - they definitely have a few sharp edges. Let‘s see how this one turns out. 🤔

Read at your own pace and be sure to tag the group when you post.

Any one is welcome to join us. Please let me know if you‘d like to be added or removed from the tag list.

#OffMyShelf “Published in last 2 years”

I generally don‘t care for short stories, but I love Atkinson - her writing style, her sense of humor and her pessimism about human nature. These stories are mainly interconnected and it was fun to find the links. They are also often slightly speculative and fantastical in nature.

A couple of questions for any who have finished this month‘s #ClassicLSFBC pick.

If anyone would like to be added or removed from the tag list, let me know.

🐈‍⬛ Eet had more personality than the humans (“just so”) in the book. What did you think of Eet as a character and his relationship with Murdoc?

A couple of questions for any who have finished this month‘s #ClassicLSFBC pick.

If anyone would like to be added or removed from the tag list, let me know.

🐈‍⬛ This was full-on adventure SciFi with little to no underlying meaning or hidden agenda. I could totally see it published in a pulp serial of the past. Did you enjoy the plot?

#OffMyShelf “Banned book”

In 2022 A Tennessee school district banned this Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic memoir about the Holocaust due to “inappropriate language” and an illustration of a nude woman.

Spiegelman‘s parents were both survivors of Auschwitz. This memoir is his father‘s story and also coming to terms with their relationship; a child of survivors. I‘m not a fan of graphic novels, I find them hard to parse. But this was powerful.

#WhereAreYouMonday

I‘m still in 1920s New York City, but now in the world of dark corners, crumbs on the floor, spiders and rats and the perspective of a poet reincarnated as a cockroach. It‘s oddly adorable.

Bingo! #OffMyShelf “By a BIPOC author”

Possibly next to “Tar Baby”, the least trauma inducing novel from Morrison so far. Yes, bad things happen, but I also found this book to be a celebration. It‘s about a love triangle gone wrong and a murder, the historical wounds of those involved, but also about hope and love; a love note to New York City and the flowering of Black American culture in the mid 20th century.

#OffMyShelf “By a celebrity”

I‘d heard this wasn‘t that good but curiosity got the best of me. He is arrogant, but not undeservedly. Kilmer is an incredible actor. But this memoir doesn‘t go very deep. He comes across as very smart but kind of a kook. I was surprised (why?) to find out what a devoted Christian Scientist he is.

#EBBR

Hello reading friends! This is a gentle reminder to get your hands on a copy of the tagged second Encyclopedia Brown book for March.

This buddy read is open to all. If anyone wants to be tagged, please let me know! 😃

@LitsyEvents

#WhereAreYouMonday

Today I find myself in 1920s New York City. Optimism is in the air. The war to end all wars is over and Black Americans have more opportunity than ever in the North.

#weekendreads

I‘m enjoying juggling only two books this Valentine‘s weekend.

“The Bell Jar” for #HashtagBrigade

“The Zero Stone” for #LitsySFBC

#OffMyShelf “Over 400 pages”

I think I‘d‘ve enjoyed this more 10 years ago (when I bought it likely)!

This is a fantastical story of a man who lives in the shadow of his criminal father and genius grandparents and who is pulled against his will into a clockwork conspiracy and a villain who hopes to obtain god-like powers that threaten the fabric of the entire world.

Clever, intricate but honestly I could‘ve done without much of the detail.

Hey #EBBR reading friends! I hope you all had fun solving cases with Leroy “Encyclopedia” Brown. I freely admit, one stumped me (The Civil War Sword) and one I got only b/c I remembered the solution (The Happy Nephew). As an adult, I do think some of Encyclopedia‘s deductions would not hold up in court 😂

1. Did any particular case stand out to you over another?

2. Are you interested in continuing reading the next books with me on Litsy?

#OffMyShelf “Cover Buy”

A little stretch to make this fit the category. I bought it knowing nothing about it because of the EDITION rather than the cover. It matches my other books by Fitzgerald …

Fitzgerald‘s novels are short but challenging/perplexing. I enjoy the work but it takes a while to finish. This is about a run down theater school for children in London. It‘s sad in a shabby, melancholy way. The end was open, but rather chilling.

#WhereAteYouMonday

Today I‘m in 1960s London in the theater world and The Temple Stage School run by the larger than life Ms. Freddie Wentworth. The school feeds the local theaters‘ need for child actors while nominally educating and training them and remaining barely solvent. This is Penelope Fitzgerald, so there‘s a lot required of the reader to catch nuance.

@bookandbedandtea I was willing to let Nancy slide visiting someone‘s home at 9:00 PM in The Haunted Bridge. And I recall in The Mystery of the Ivory Charm, she interrupted someone‘s dinner at a restaurant. BUT calling on the phone after 11:00 PM? 😱 No No No No! I think we found the one thing that Nancy is NOT perfect at! 😂

#NancyDrewBR

#Hashtagbrigade

This is the edition I will be reading. Looking forward to this re-read to see if it still holds up for me. I first read it when I was in my twenties, not much older than the protagonist.

#weekendreads Currently reading these four books:

📕 Angelmaker and At Freddie‘s are two from my #Roll100 picks for February.

📗The Clue of the Tapping Heels is for #NancyDrewBR .

📘I Kissed Shara Wheeler is my #TBRTarot choice for the month.

Thank you @BarkingMadRead for leading the #Hashtagbrigade in this group read. Unlike some of the group‘s co-readers, I very much enjoyed this gentle, disjointed and plotless look at rural life in late 19th century England, which was based on the author‘s own experience. For me, the slow pace of the book really suited the chapter a day approach. 😃

This is also my first completed book for
#ChunksterChallenge2025
#AllergictoChunksters 👍👍

#SeriesLove2025 #WhereareyouMonday

I‘m pleased to be back on board and in the early 19th century with Captain Jack Aubrey and Dr. Stephen Maturin as they sail to what was then known as New Holland (Australia) and the Spice Islands (Indonesia). This is book five in the 20 book Aubrey-Maturin series.

I sneakily read my February #Roll100 book already. 🤭 At just 152 pages, it‘s fits the “Shortest on TBR” #OffMyShelf prompt.

I prefer the Wayfarer books but Martha Wells is correct with her blurb here, “An optimistic vision of a lush, beautiful world.” Not a lot of plot or tension. Sibling Dex and Mosscap visit the settlements on Panga before they approach The City. Such a positive view of what humanity is capable of.

#OffMyShelf “Anthology/Essays”

I picked this up at a library sale a few years ago. I‘ve only read three novels by Oates, but am always curious about her work, due to her prodigious output. This was fine. A soft pick - short stories aren‘t really my thing. I need more. They were all suitably disturbing and unsettling. My favorites were “The Model” and “The Premonition”.

#WhereAreYouMonday

I‘ve started one of my February #Roll100 books early and find myself in 1930s Alexandria, Egypt among the various residents, religions, and expatriates all coexisting together. Durrell‘s writing is difficult to wade through at times, but I‘m doing better since can anticipate it.

🎶Another one bites the dust 🎵 #OffMyShelf “About Books”

A soft pick. It was for me quite superficial. Kakutani didn‘t necessarily convince me to read anything I wasn‘t already interested in except maybe moving Delillo‘s Underworld up a bit higher on my list. She also makes a lot of anti-Trump commentary, which I don‘t disagree with, but it will date the book in the long run. It was overall entertaining but I‘d prefer fewer books & more depth.

Welcome to 2025 and our first book of the year.

A couple of questions for any who have finished this month‘s #ClassicLSFBC pick. If anyone would like to be added or removed from the tag list, let me know.

🚀In many of the stories, Bradbury addresses a real-world issue such as colonialism, racism, or censorship. How successful were these stories for you? Do you have any favorites?

Welcome to 2025 and our first book of the year.

A couple of questions for any who have finished this month‘s #ClassicLSFBC pick. If anyone would like to be added or removed from the tag list, let me know.

🚀It‘s an interesting discussion point to debate if Bradbury is even a “science fiction” writer. Certainly, his writing style is special - quite poetic at times. Would you classify him as SciFi or literary fiction or something else?

#OffMyShelf Nonfiction

Why I bought this book 18 years ago? 😂 I think I must have read a review, probably in EW? Glad this challenge finally made me pick it up. I too rarely read nonfiction - this was about Mary Shelly‘s half-sister‘s short life. Quite sad but I found it interesting. How Fanny‘s might have been different had her mother lived. Since little is known about Fanny Wollstonecraft, a lot of the book is more about her famous family.

#EBBR
Encyclopedia Brown Buddy Read

Tagging those who expressed interest in revisiting or discovering this children‘s detective classic by reading the first book in the series in February. I‘ll check in with you all around mid month to see how we fared matching wits with the boy detective!

All are welcome. 😊 If you are interested and would like to be added to the tag list, let me know.

Three #Roll100 picks for February are quite short which bodes well for me completing all four, though Durrell is a struggle for me at any length.

📙6 Angelmaker by Nick Harkaway

📘60 At Freddie‘s by Penelope Fitzgerald

📗42 A Prayer for the Crown Shy by Becky Chambers

📕 82 Balthazar by Lawrence Durrell

#WhereAreYouMonday

This Monday finds me on the Planet Mars. It‘s only the second time I‘ve visited here in books, I think, having only previously read Andy Weir.

Super short, provocative book about a man‘s attempt to erase himself and his entitlement as a white, middle class American man. What‘s he running from? What is his agenda? Definitely a book that made me think. It also made me a little paranoid. Thanks for the recommendation @Lesliereadsalot

I had to look up the etiquette of calling cards. So complicated!

#HashtagBrigade

#weekendreads

📕Continuing with Indian Horse for #OhCanada .

📗Started Sugar Street based on @Lesliereadsalot ‘s intriguing review.

📘The Best of All Possible Worlds is my last #Roll100 for January and I don‘t like it at all.

📙Continuing on with Lark Rise a chapter a day for #HashtagBrigade

Another #OffMyShelf book. “book with a map” Also #SeriesLove2025

This was excellent. The family relationships were lovely and it was often quite funny. Peters made a good call when she decided to “resurrect” the Master Criminal.

Due to the dangers of travel during WWI, the Emerson‘s opt to remain in Luxor indefinitely. Ramses becomes embroiled with the secret service again and the whole family travels incognito to Turkish occupied Palestine.

#49bdaygiveaway

Thank you Lynn for this generous opportunity. 😊 I hope your day was fantastic! 🥳 I wish you many happy returns. 🎂 The tagged book is the first in mystery series I‘ve been eyeing for a while.

#WhereAreYouMonday

I find myself in Canada today. I‘ve just started the inaugural #OhCanada read. New author for me and the first couple chapters are promising, though I know it‘s also going to make me sad.

#OffMyShelf “hardback”

This book disappointed me. It‘s not quite memoir nor is it a proper history of jigsaw puzzles or of children‘s games. It‘s a hodgepodge and, IMO, it didn‘t always hang together. Some will find the hodgepodge charming, no doubt. Still, Drabble is a good writer, so it wasn‘t always a slog and I did learn the occasional fact, which hopefully I will remember. Like the Temple of Mithras in London.

#weekendreads

As is often the case, I have too much on the go. The Golden One for #SeriesLove2025 and is on audio. The #NancyDrewBR will go fast. I‘m enjoying the slow pace of my #HashtagBrigade book Lark Rise to Candleforth. Girl, Interrupted is a whim read and I‘m almost done. Quite different from the movie. Haunted is for #Roll100 and not my cup of tea-short stories. The Pattern in the Carpet is just ok but will work for #OffMyShelf.

#ThreeListThursday #TLT

This list was a little Moomim Troll heavy? And of the 27 I‘ve read, 12 I only read as an adult.

In any case, these are three of my childhood favorites.