I decided to go for a quick light book for a change right now. And I need a #letterY book for #litsyatoz
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I decided to go for a quick light book for a change right now. And I need a #letterY book for #litsyatoz
I‘ve really slowed down reading for the month of April with only 8 books finished. Six were for #foodandlit #Venezuela, 1 for #authoramonth (I wasn‘t inclined to read more by this author), and 1 for #readingOceania #Tonga (and completing that challenge for the year). I‘ve tagged my favorite book this month, oddly a book of short stories that I normally don‘t care for, but these were exceptional.
pickI‘ve come to love nonfiction works from authors who‘ve trekked the world thanks to the #readingthecontinents challenges. So I couldn‘t miss this book written about the author‘s journey through #Venezuela from 1798-1804. He was a naturalist so he includes many in-depth descriptions of plants and animals, landscapes and people. He was obviously extremely knowledgeable and tough to deal with the harsh terrains of all sorts. He was sensitive to the ⬇️
Ugh! He described the mosquitos being so thick he couldn‘t see the horizon to take location measurements. Their faces and hands would swell from the biting and poking insects. Just miserable.
#Venezuela #foodandlit @Catsandbooks
pick#Venezuela is a very bad place to be for Americans, if this book is to be believed. Based on my other readings about the country, sadly I do believe it. Once a thriving country, rich because of its oil and a thriving economy, it is now a solid dictatorship rife with corruption and crime. So, Caracas is the perfect place for an AWOL‘d soldier escaping the Taliban to be found. But what is his real motive and what is America‘s for Venezuela? CID ⬇️
My first book for May‘s country #Spain #foodandlit @Catsandbooks
My first book for May‘s #authoramonth @Soubhiville
pickSuperb short stories, the first being the title of this book. The giant tortoise named Tu'i Malila was captured by Captain Cook stuck in the ship‘s hold without food and water for a year, to be fresh meat if the crew needed. When he got to #Tonga he gifted her to the queen. The tortoise lives like royalty but never forgets the pain of that year. 😭 Each story is unique and I felt the author did an amazing amount of research. One is hilarious: ⬇️
Such a sweet and relatable mini story
https://www.instagram.com/p/C6UBEl7oIvM/?igsh=MW1rZWl1cmw5M2ZrbA==
In praise of chocolate
#Venezuela #foodandlit @Catsandbooks
In the early 1800s this author/naturalist was trying to tell the world to beware!
#Venezuela #foodandlit @Catsandbooks
Written in the early 1800s, I appreciate that the author was sensitive to the slaves‘ plight in #Venezuela.
#foodandlit @Catsandbooks
#5joysofFriday
1) Husband came home safe and sound from hiking/camping 40 miles of the Appalachian Trail
2) I‘m spending today and this weekend crafting with friends
3) I‘m reliving my trip to Italy from last year by scrapbooking—pictured here is Piazza Navona
4) Planning for our trip this summer to England/Ireland is underway
5) It‘s Fiesta here in San Antonio, a huge city-wide 1+ week party—I don‘t partake anymore but it‘s a happy time
#tlt #threelistThursday
1) Norwegian band Aha‘s Take On Me
2) Toto‘s Africa
3) U2‘s With or Without You
I was married in 1988 and the first two songs were prescient: I‘d marry a guy from Norway who spent half his life growing up in Zambia, Africa. When we met, U2‘s song was at the top of the charts and we both loved it so it‘s always been “our song.” Especially when he had to go back home to Norway after we met. So much ❤️ for these 🎶
#wondrouswednesday Thanks @Eggs for the tag!
Obviously my immediate family for 1 & 2, but also:
1) My Grandpa Parker who made me feel special
2) My paralegal Elise who is ready to retire but is going to keep working very part time to help me transition to finding someone to replace her. She can‘t be replaced. 😢
3) Found family: the Sigma Force team in James Rollins‘ books or the Department Q team in Jussi Adler Olsen‘s books
I adored this book of short stories (review to come). But this book marks my completion of the #readingOceania challenge!! I do plan to keep reading for the challenge because I found so many good books I want to read. @Librarybelle @BarbaraBB
Free ebook right now. Last time it was free was 2 years ago
About the author and the book
#Venezuela #foodandlit @Catsandbooks
#two4Tuesday
1) All 3 I think: I live in a little city completely within the city limits of San Antonio and very near downtown SA. So I‘m a city girl. We have a house at the lake, a little less than an hour north of here, the suburbs, and I enjoy time at my parents‘ farm where they moved when they retired, and where I spent a good part of my childhood with my grandparents when they were still alive
2) Love the tagged book!
I‘m just going to say this may be one of the best short stories I‘ve ever read—Darwin in Heaven
#Tonga #readingOceania @Librarybelle @BarbaraBB
This book of short stories (not all of them are about #Tonga) are particularly well written. But this opening sentence is definitely one of the best I‘ve ever read.
#readingOceania @Librarybelle @BarbaraBB
#motivationalmonday Thanks @TheSpineView for the tag!
1) crafting this weekend with girlfriends ❤️🩷💙
2) my little love
3) I love cats and bees (an animal?) but I think I‘d either want to be a songbird or a clumsy panda (because I have “clumsy” down already)
4) tagged
#sundayfunday a wee bit late
Husband used to edit a sci fi newsletter and I met a number of sci fi authors when we attended some conferences. The most memorable was James Hogan mainly because I read some of his books. Skipping the super technical stuff, his stories were amazing (like the tagged). Also met Gregory Benford and Brad Lineaweaver. Probably more but this was in the 1990s and my memory fades
I‘d like to meet Lisa See & James Rollins
pickWhen Simon‘s ancient aunt sells her valuable Simón Bolívar painting to a distant cousin, Simon accompanies the cousin on a boat to #Venezuela, where the cousin plans to return it to its original owner. His aunt raised him, and he very much lives in the past—a boy from the wrong era. On the boat a lot happens: he befriends 2 children accompanying their scientist father, the painting is stolen, and there‘s a murder. Arriving at the Port of ⬇️
Oh my goodness! A museum that brings to life book settings! How awesome is this?
https://www.instagram.com/p/C6B9O7nSH6L/?igsh=OXZneHJmMmd2cHQ2
E-trilogy on sale today only.
It was the summer before first grade and I caught my son sitting on the floor reading the tagged book with his nightlight. He was itty bitty and so cute. I had to make him go to bed but how do you punish a kid just starting to read with his nightllight? Loved this comic for that reason
My next audiobook for #Venezuela #foodandlit @Catsandbooks
If you need a book for #Tonga for #readingOceania, the ebook is only 75 cents! @Librarybelle @BarbaraBB
My next ebook for #Tonga, my last country to complete the #readingOceania challenge @Librarybelle @BarbaraBB although I do plan to continue reading books for the challenge
pickWritten by a #Venezuelan author who was an economic minister there, his first fiction book has an extraordinary air of accuracy—even if the love stories feel less than realistic. The book covers the defeat of President Perez by Hugo Chávez, and his rein of socialism that destroyed the vibrant country. He cozied up to Fidel Castro, and Cuba and the USA‘s spies are busy at work there. So much is going on, it‘s a slow read but very interesting. ⬇️
My reading companion for the evening as I listen to the tagged book
For me, everyday is National Cat Lady Day
#Venezuela #foodandlit @Catsandbooks
pickLike all Allende‘s books I‘ve read, Eva Luna is a winding tale starting with her mother, as a baby with blazing red hair, crawling out of a Latin American jungle knowing nothing of her parents. Eva‘s own story is full of unique characters and loves, including her mother‘s unusual father figure, multiple mother-like guardians, a revolutionary, a colorful transsexual, a child survivor of WWII, and more in a world coming undone in a dictatorship. ⬇️
#tlt #threelistthursday Thanks @TheSpineView for the tag!
1) Ingrid Bergman (isn‘t Casablanca the best??)
2) Maggie Smith (ahhh, Downton Abbey)
3) Elizabeth Taylor (those violet eyes, I loved her in National Velvet; and my grandpa met her when he changed her tire when she had a flat in Marfa, Texas when she was filming Giant. She went on to bigger and better things and Grandpa did, too. He eventually became mayor of Marfa. 😊
https://apple.news/Aoerj8gG6TD-92HJbEezumQ
Reading in the tagged book about Hugo Chavez‘s disastrous years as dictator, it‘s true the more things change the more they stay the same. And having read many books last year for #readingtheAmericas and the USA‘s historical support of South and Latin American dictators 😡, I finally understand and support reviving these sanctions.
I feel a little more knowledgeable thanks to Litsy!
#foodandlit
Here are my nominees for #camplitsy24 @BarbaraBB @squirrelbrain @Megabooks
This makes me think of Hugo Chavez but it would have been his grandmother in the crowd
#Venezuela #foodandlit @Catsandbooks
pickThe author‘s father kept his life in Czechoslovakia secret from her, identifying himself as Venezuelan. When she learned from a complete stranger in college that her name was Jewish, she was shocked. With very few hints from her father, and a box he left her when he died bearing little information, she went on a search for how he came to be in #Venezuela. This book is about her genealogical search, and her father‘s and his family‘s story during ⬇️
![[tagged book]](https://image.librarything.com/pics/litsy_webpics/icon_taggedBook@3x.png){kind=icon}