I‘m mostly better from the stomach bug—it knocked me out for two days (ugh!). So we took son out for his last night in town before flying back to college tomorrow (😞). We went to our local Irish place and I had Guinness beef stew and soda bread. I was nervous about my stomach so I ate only some of it. But it was delicious. And I love soda bread. I‘m going to have to figure out how to make it or find a bakery where I can buy it regularly. ⬇️

1-2) Visiting Mom & Dad (& playing dominoes) & seeing all the birds visiting them
3) Buying loads of books from 4 bookstores in Houston
4) Eating at the astronauts‘ fave restaurant Frenchie‘s with son & husband
5) Going to the NASA Space Center and seeing the Saturn rocket again—an amazing sight to behold

Sadly I caught a stomach bug and have been really sick since last night. 😞

Thanks @DebinHawaii for the tag! #5joysFriday

The Libby Awards

https://www.libbylife.com/2025-02-25-the-winners-of-the-2025-libby-book-awards?u...

My final purchase yesterday from Good Books in the Woods in The Woodlands north of Houston.

Another purchase yesterday from Good Books in the Woods, a fantastic bookstore in The Woodlands north of Houston.

I bought this book at Good Books in the Woods yesterday. I loved this bookstore housed in a house! Very maze-like (they give you a map) with a gazillion used books. I could have stayed much longer. But we were in The Woodlands, a suburb north of Houston and we had to drive through downtown (yikes!) to two bookstores there, then a long drive to Clear Lake, a suburb south of Houston. Like @Graywacke I highly recommend this store!

From Insta

This book was my last purchase from Murder by the Book in Houston. I loved Kwei Quartey‘s Emma Djian series, so I‘m ready to start the Inspector Darko Dawson series, also set in Ghana.

We are back home now but I have a lot more books to share from our bookstore crawl in Houston yesterday. 😊

Not book related—we are at Johnson Space Center today. Book shopping yesterday in Houston and NASA today. A very nice short spring break trip. Four hour drive back home to San Antonio later.

Two more books, books 23 & 24 of the series, from the Houston bookstore Murder by the Book. I now only need three books to complete the series

Two of several books I bought at Murder by the Book in Houston.

My purchase from Brazos Bookstore in Houston yesterday

Taking suggestions from @cassareada and @Graywacke we visited four bookstores (the last was Half Price Books near NASA), and NASA astronauts‘ favorite Italian place nearby, Frenchie‘s and it is absolutely authentic. Son ate here when he presented his high school rocket flight plan at NASA and told us we had to come try it. The walls are covered with the signed astronaut photos. It‘s wonderful—the little old Italian men running the place ♥️!

Interesting fact about Belfast. #foodandlit #Ireland @Catsandbooks

Look what arrived as I was writing my review for book one. So I‘m putting Bardugo‘s Wonder Woman book on hold so I can read this one! #authoramonth @Soubhiville

Btw, I hate this cover.

Magic at Yale! Alex, a druggie who barely survived a murderous rampage, is recruited to go to Yale so that during her spare time she can go undercover at the Ninth House—Lethe. Not because she‘s brilliant but because of her unique ability to see ghosts. Lethe helps the other 8 houses during their ritual magic ceremonies by keeping ghosts at bay, from interfering with the magic. But Alex is a girl from the streets so she approaches her job quite ⬇️

This is the story about a miserable excuse of a man and the man he‘s been coerced to murder, an Englishman who lived in #Ireland, during their escape aboard ship to NYC from the famine. But a lot of folks have reasons to commit the murder, and does he really “deserve” to die? There are a lot of side stories that all tie back to these two characters. I wasn‘t terribly keen on the writer‘s style but it was a good, interesting read. #bookedintime ⬇️

I‘m Kind O‘Lucky! Tell me yours!

Forgive me for filling up your feed with all the St Patrick‘s Day memes! I can‘t help myself!!

A little Texas-Irish interesting fact. #foodandlit #Ireland @Catsandbooks

🤣🤣🤣💚💚💚

I‘ve always thought the Irish were among the smartest people on the planet! Right @Cuilin and @GingerAntics ?

Fam is going to Houston Wednesday and Thursday and will be checking out some bookstores, particularly the awesome Half Price Books near NASA (we‘re also going to the Johnson Space Center Museum where daughter and I got to spend the night when she was in Girl Scouts—AMAZING!).

Hey Houstonians! Any recommended bookstores down that way or on the way back to San Antonio?

And I can attest this quote is so darned true about Houston!

You know you married the right guy when he surprises you with a book he ordered that he knew you‘d love.

More St Patrick‘s Day humor

#foodandlit #Ireland @Catsandbooks

My next book up for #authoramonth @Soubhiville

It‘s almost here! Remember to wear green and celebrate everything Irish tomorrow!! #foodandlit #Ireland @Catsandbooks

I ♥️ all the wonderful things you all said about your Litsy experiences. I agree with you! I drew the Littens to celebrate my reaching 500,000 Litfluence. And they are…drumroll please: @WorldsOkayestStepMom @peanutnine @Read4life and @RosePressedPages

Let me know if your litsy tbr is up-to-date for books you want or send me a list of at least 5 books you want. Email me your contact info at kamonsen at aol.com with Litsy in the subject line. 🎉

A new mini story

https://www.instagram.com/p/DHRKEkLAxV-/?img_index=1&igsh=ZTJlZ2QxYWN4YzNr

We are about halfway through our month of #Ireland and it seems like everyone is really enjoying it! If you haven‘t already, post an update on what you‘re reading and eating for #foodandlit

@Catsandbooks

Fun fact about #Ireland. More photos here:

https://www.instagram.com/p/DHO9i5mx9qE/?igsh=MXZ5NnRmMW50aXNyNQ==

#foodandlit @Catsandbooks

Interesting fact for #Nepal, last month‘s country for #foodandlit @Catsandbooks

A little St Patrick‘s Day humor

#ireland #foodandlit @Catsandbooks

Very fun using one of my bookmarks from #Ireland (from our trip there last summer) for my #foodandlit books this month! @Catsandbooks

I‘m starting this monster chunkster tonight for #Ireland #foodandlit @Catsandbooks

Too early to start enjoying St Patrick‘s Day? #foodandlit #Ireland @Catsandbooks

I‘m coloring all things Irish while I listen to the tagged book #bookedintime @Cuilin

https://apple.news/A_TrSMP_pQFC9m_xQtgRuVA

#foodandlit #Ireland @Catsandbooks

Dickens makes another appearance! I think I know one of the reasons @Cuilin likes this book so much!! 😉

#bookedintime #whattheDickens @Cuilin #foodandlit #Ireland @Catsandbooks

Ha! Aspiring novelist Dixon doesn‘t have a high regard for Dickens!

#bookedintime #whattheDickens @Cuilin #foodandlit #Ireland @Catsandbooks

Another fun fact (if true) about our January #foodandlit country #Netherlands. 🤣🤣🤣

Y‘all! It took almost 8 years but I‘ve finally reached 500,000 Litfluence! Whoohoo! Ok, how about I do a big giveaway! Please post your favorite thing(s) about Litsy (make me smile) and I‘ll enter you into a drawing for a book from your tbr list. Remember to tag me if you make a separate post! I plan to have at least more than one winner. 😁🎉📕❤️♥️📚

FREE EBOOK and/or audiobook with Audible. Perfect this month for #foodandlit #Ireland! Expires in 4 days or less.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08P5DS5JY?_bbid=259602286&_bbtype=email&tag=bookbubem...

@Catsandbooks

A trip to Sam‘s and oops! Three new books! I‘ve been anxiously awaiting the tagged book to come out in paperback

Two boys, Pietro the city boy from Milan and Bruno a country boy, become lifelong friends in the mountains of #Italy. Pietro has a complicated relationship with his father, and as adults Bruno develops a much better relationship with Pietro‘s father, creating an unusual but ultimately a stronger bond between Pietro and Bruno following the father‘s death, even when Pietro moves away to #Nepal. A slow, contemplative book in the shadow of the ⬇️

Almost the entire Irish village of Baltimore was taken captive by pirates in the early 1600s and sold as slaves in #Algeria. With little records about their lives as slaves, the author relies on a number of accounts by other slaves to try to describe what their lives could have been like. The author also posits a hypothesis that the taking was an elaborate plan of an evil mastermind who wanted to rid the coastal town of its inhabitants for his ⬇️

This is a hilarious but informative take on all things Irish, both the Republic (south) and Northern Ireland. A few sections require some knowledge about Ireland so I didn‘t understand them but they were quite short. In fact, the book is very short, less than 100 pages. I can‘t believe I haven‘t found this series before! I love it! #Ireland #foodandlit @Catsandbooks

Happy International Women‘s Day!!

National Proofreading Day!