The #BookSpin fates are whispering “read your challenge books.” My BookSpin will fulfill 1953 for the #192025 challenge AND # 15 (BIPOC author I‘ve meant to read) for my #50x50 birthday challenge (which I‘ve neglected in favor of finishing 192025 😆) My #DoubleSpin is any #50x50 book. I‘m debating between the three on the right: Last Unicorn (classic children‘s fantasy), Mabinogion (Arthurian), and Hungering Dark (published before I turned 10).

I pulled this off my shelf tonight to plan my #whattheDickens reading & discovered a bookmark from Hay on Wye—where I purchased this copy.😍 It was helpfully tucked in between Curiosity Shop and Child‘s History, so I only had to flip back a few pages to determine how many chapters are in Curiosity Shop. However, the last chapter is helpfully titled “Chapter the Last,” meaning I had to flip back a few more pages to find an actual numbered chapter🤪

“I notice Alicia has kept her choice to virgins only,” said Missy, whose stitch had been bothering her ever since the 7-mile walk from Missalonghi, and now was growing worse. To leave the room was impossible but nor could she sit still and silent a moment longer; to keep her mind off the pain, she started to talk. “Very orthodox of her,” she continued, “but I‘m *definitely* a virgin, and I didn‘t get picked.”

#KindredSpiritsBuddyRead #LMMAdjacent

“‘Darling, you look absolutely splendid! In a paddy, are we?‘

Missy took a couple of deep breaths to calm down. ‘Oh, just my cousin James Hurlingford. I told him to go bite his bum.‘

‘Good for you! Time someone told him.‘ Una giggled. ‘Though I imagine he‘d much rather someone else bit it for him—preferably someone masculine.‘

This sailed straight over Missy‘s head…”

👀🤣
#KindredSpiritsBuddyRead #LMMAdjacent

Just a quick check-in partway through Ladies of Missalonghi!

How are you enjoying the book so far?
What are your first impressions?
How many plagiarism-like similarities have you found so far between this and Blue Castle?!

#KindredSpiritsBuddyRead #LMMAdjacent

This book was a bit of a mixed bag for me. While I‘m open to learning from faith traditions other than my own, some of the language around suffering felt a lot like spiritual bypassing. Peerman‘s definition of and subsequent approach to suffering seemed to actively exclude harm imposed by others (abuse, oppression, structural inequalities, etc.)—which often made his approach feel overly simplistic, privileged, and potentially damaging. ⤵️

#5JoysFriday

❄️ Grand-niece‘s preschool Halloween parade (she was Elsa and her bestie was Moana 🥹)
🎹 Sunday jazz with some new original tunes
🎷Spooky jazz concert last night (setlist included “Candyman,” Bing Crosby‘s Headless Horseman, “You Put a Spell on Me,” and the theme from Beetlejuice, among others!)
🎃 Frog & Toad and Pumpkin Cottage (by India Rose Crawford)
🙏🏼 Two fantastic, encouraging meetings with my spiritual director and mentor

#BookSpinBingo for October yielded no bingos, but FOUR almost-bingos 😆 I planned to grab a bingo by reading Midnight Is a Place as my 1984 pick for #192025…then discovered I made a typo on the pub year—it was published in 1974 🤦🏻‍♀️

I DID finish both #BookSpin & #DoubleSpin, though—and am now caught up on all but one past spins! Also, some great reads this month. Favorites:
Remains of the Day
The Blue Castle (re-read)
Mr. McFadden‘s Halloween

November #BookSpin list! I‘ve got a few for #NonfictionNovember, my remaining #192025 books which are also my remaining #10beforetheend books, and various challenges, book groups, and buddy reads!

This is a creepy little tale set in West Wales, with connections to the Mabinogion (which I now want to re-read! Maybe it‘s time to pull out that Charlotte Guest translation I‘ve always meant to read). The focus is on three children and their discovery of a set of old plates in the attic—a discovery that pulls them into embodying the same legend that has played out generation after generation. ⤵️

Oof. This was rough—from injustice and political corruption to violence. The title doesn‘t so much describe a season of good things, but rather comments on the impermanence of good things.

I read this based on the strength of Adebayo‘s first book, Stay with Me—which was SO GOOD. This didn‘t quite measure up. It follows two characters from vastly different circumstances: 16-year-old Eniola (“a boy who looks like a man”), whose family struggles ⤵️

I loved so many things about this: irrepressible Selina, her pony named Haggis, the food descriptions, the Scottish setting, and a goose named Big Wullie! The basic plot: Selina befriends a crusty old farmer when her pony keeps “planting” himself in said farmer‘s turnip field.

Selina is kind of a misfit—both her mishaps & her soft heart for outsiders are endearing. The exploration of what it means to take care of others, even when you and they ⤵️

Here‘s the next month for #KindredSpiritsBuddyRead! We‘re just starting the tagged book for #LMMAdjacent, then after one more week back in the #LMMJournals, we‘ll return to the Emily books with Emily Climbs for an #LMMReread. Tag lists are in the comments… but all are welcome! Let me know if you‘re not tagged and you‘d like to be!

Valancy strikes me as a particularly subversive heroine, and so many of her actions feel very progressive for her time—yet the ending of The Blue Castle leaves Valancy in a very traditional, conventional role.

How did the ending land with you?
Does it feel conventional? Predictable?

#LMMReread #KindredSpiritsBuddyRead

One of the things I love most about this book is its humor—it‘s filled with hilarious situations, comments, and descriptions. What are some of your favorites?

#LMMReread #KindredSpiritsBuddyRead

The Blue Castle is set in Muskoka, where LMM traveled with her husband & children (and our old friend John Mustard & his wife) in 1922. She recounts this trip in her journal. The above passage made me laugh—hard—given how I feel about “Barney Snaith” as a name for a romantic lead!

What names in The Blue Castle did you find particularly evocative?
What role does naming play in the narrative?

#LMMReread #KindredSpiritsBuddyRead

How does The Blue Castle strike you when read within the chronology of LMM‘s other books?
Did you find it surprising?
What feels similar or different from her earlier books?

#LMMReread #KindredSpiritsBuddyRead

These quotes from LMM‘s journals feel so timely, since reading this felt like an escape and a refuge from the world for me—and both LMM‘s words and my experience of the book feel like a parallel to Valancy‘s Blue Castle.

Do you have a “Blue Castle”? Where are you finding refuge and escape these days?

#LMMReread #LMMJournals #KindredSpiritsBuddyRead

#threelistthursday #tlt

I‘m surprised I got SEVEN on this list, as someone who‘s really not into scary/creepy/horror! The three on the left are favorites from this list (although I was surprised to see Name of the Rose on there!). The three on the right I‘ve read the book and watched one or more movie adaptations. With Dracula and The Dead Zone, I enjoyed the book more, but Hitchcock‘s Rebecca tops both the book & the recent movie version for me!

This was a low pick. It‘s another solid novella in the Singing Hills Cycle, a creepy little tale of famine, hunger, and power. But it ranks lower for me than the others. What I missed here was how the other books play more intricately with ideas of storytelling, making me examine and re-examine the perspectives of both storyteller & audience, and how stories twist & turn and reveal & conceal. Still: I‘m all in and will read the next in the series!

I didn‘t realize that cozy post-apocalyptic sci-fi was a thing, but this is that. And it was the cozy sci-fi found family story I needed! A group of food service bots power back up after a shutdown and decide to rebrand and reopen the restaurant in which they were abandoned. Alternating POVs explore the backstory of each of the bots, offering a surprising amount of depth and character development in this short novella. ⤵️

This sequel to The Dire Days of Willowweep Manor was just as ridiculous and just as much fun. Smashing together the Gothic romance atmosphere of Willowweep Manor with Golden Age murder mystery vibes worked for me. While I do think the first book was better, this was still a good read—especially if you enjoy hilarious literary chaos.

Popovic was part of the movement (Otpor) that ousted Milosevic from power in Serbia, and this book is a handbook of sorts—taking principles from Otpor and discussing how those principles could be applied in a variety of contexts, using nonviolent activism and resistance to effect change. The wealth of examples he offers are inspiring and often hilarious. I can‘t help but wonder if the Portland Frog was inspired by this book… ⤵️

“It‘s the sheep are the problem,” said Gwyn. “Mostyn Lewis-Jones breeds them with short left legs, and Gareth Pugh breeds short right legs… Mostyn's sheep eat from right to left, and Gareth's from left to right across the slope. When they reach the fence they have to walk backwards and then start again.”

😂😂😂

This broke me wide open in the best ways. Trommer explores themes of grief and loss, beauty and love, with the sacred woven throughout.

My spiritual director introduced me to Rosemary Wahtola Trommer‘s poetry, and I subsequently signed up to receive her daily poems—they‘re a daily gift. I‘d highly recommend both this collection of poems as well as her blog at https://ahundredfallingveils.com.

This is yet another book that‘s been on my shelf forever… so long that I can‘t pin down the recommendation that originally prompted me to buy it. I wish I could remember, because that might offer me some direction on why I wanted to read it and what I might have gotten out of it!

This was beautifully written, the characters are richly drawn, and it left me cold. I actually kind of wanted to throw the book across the room at the end. ⤵️

This served as a delightful unicorn chaser while I was reading Newitz‘ The Future of Another Timeline. I‘ve wanted to read Tamora Pierce for a long time—and I‘m glad I chose this as my 1983 pick for #192025. A lot of the plot felt unrealistic to me—Alanna‘s path isn‘t easy by any means, but she‘s a little too readily accepted & fits in as one of the boys far too quickly. But honestly, I didn‘t mind. I needed a lighter take on female empowerment ⤵️

#KindredSpiritsBuddyRead #LMMReread

Just a little check-in here halfway through Blue Castle… (although I know some of you couldn‘t resist finishing it already!)

What edition are you reading?
How is your reading going?
What have you enjoyed the most in the first half of the book?
What favorite scenes, quotes, or other elements stand out to you?

Realizing there are ten weeks left in the year is ridiculous, and I can‘t resist #10beforetheend. I have 10 books left for the #192025 challenge, so that‘s my list! For some of the years I‘m still debating between a couple options, so that‘s why there‘s more than one book cover in several slots. Fingers crossed I can get all of these read by the end of 2025!

I‘ve had the Jeeves & Wooster books on my list for so long! I finally read this one as my 1923 pick for #192025… and I think my expectations were too high 😆

Don‘t get me wrong—I enjoyed it. It made me laugh, and the banter and the ridiculous situations were great fun. But it‘s more loosely-connected short stories than it is a novel, and so it felt scattered. I kept waiting for an overarching plot rather than isolated episodes. ⤵️

This was really not for me. It was a friend‘s pick for my IRL book group, and it really should have come with ALL the trigger warnings: graphic violence, sexual assault, abuse, murder, and abortion: this one‘s got it all.

Trigger-heavy content aside, the writing itself is engaging and propulsive, and I found its musings on history and time travel philosophy interesting. But honestly, I think Newitz was trying to do too much here. She juggles ⤵️

This was a delight! It‘s been on my shelves for years, and a #blameitonLitsy trifecta prompted me to read it: I put it in my #192025 lineup for 1972, @TheAromaofBooks spotted it on my #BookSpin list & suggested a casual buddy read, then it landed as my August #BookSpin…clearly, it was meant to be!

Herriot‘s descriptions of the Yorkshire countryside make me long for England (admittedly, it doesn‘t take much to trigger that longing in me!). ⤵️

I read this for my spiritual direction class, and came into it very skeptical—dream work has always seemed a little too woo-woo for me, to be honest. However, I came away from the book with my skepticism assuaged a bit… its idea of dream work as “peeking over the shoulder” of the unconscious drew me in and helped me move past some of my skepticism. While I don‘t see myself engaging with dreams and active imagination ⤵️

"Lot of cowards, the Klatchians," said Colon. "The moment they taste a bit of cold steel they're legging it away over the sand."
Sergeant Colon had had a broad education. He'd been to the School of My Dad Always Said, the College of It Stands to Reason, and was now a postgraduate student at the University of What Some Bloke In the Pub Told Me.
…
"And of course they're all mad for fighting," said Colon…. ⤵️

“It was so much easier to blame it on Them. It was bleakly depressing to think that They were Us. If it was Them, then nothing was anyone's fault. If it was Us, what did that make Me? After all, I'm one of Us. I must be. I've certainly never thought of myself as one of Them. *No one* ever thinks of themselves as one of Them. We‘re always one of Us. It's Them that do the bad things.”

Another sweet, wistful story from Kate DiCamillo‘s Norendy Tales—I loved it. Tiny Evangeline is found as a baby inside the toe of a boot, by a shoemaker who adopts her as his own. The shoemaker‘s long-abandoned dreams of the sea are reawakened, and he and Evangeline dream together, until… (always “until”)

My only complaint is that this wasn‘t longer… and also that this is the “finale” to the Norendy Tales. I want more!

A low pick on this much-belated review (the #KindredSpiritsBuddyRead read it in July!)—although this is mostly pulled from my comments in our discussions, I still wanted to finally get a review posted!

I read this solely because L.M. Montgomery references it multiple times in her journals & her comments about it piqued my curiosity. And while there was a lot about the book that was frustrating, I‘m glad I read it because of the LMM connection.⤵️

“…she opened the window and hurled the jar of potpourri over into the next lot. It smashed gloriously against the schoolgirl complexion on the old carriage-shop. ‘I‘m sick of the fragrance of dead things,‘ said Valancy.”

💙💙💙

Oh, I love this book so much. Here we go! #KindredSpiritsBuddyRead #LMMReread

“The cover design of the Swedish Green Gables has always been one of the joys of my life. Anne is depicted as an exceedingly weird creature, carrying an enormous carpet bag with hair of a literal scarlet—not red or auburn or carrot but a bright glaring scarlet.”
—Nov. 21, 1926

#KindredSpiritsBuddyRead #LMMJournals

I tracked down the Swedish cover LMM describes. Its rendition of Anne is indeed “exceedingly weird”—but for me the weirdness is ⤵️

#5JoysFriday:

1. My sister & niece visiting
2. My sweet grand-niece hanging out with my dad and showing off how she can count to ten
3. This amazing granola I made: https://www.seriouseats.com/eleven-madison-park-granola-salty-recipe
4. Listening to this pre-release album: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/andrewpeterson/andrew-peterson-presents-the...
5. Beauty from Veronica in the Fens and autumn vibes from Frog & Toad

I‘m starting to read my used copy of Volume 6 of LMM‘s complete journals today, and I found this on the title page! Is it just me, or does it strike anyone else as odd for the editor to sign a book of someone else‘s collected journals?! #LMMJournals #KindredSpiritsBuddyRead

Hello, Kindred Spirits! Here‘s our schedule for the next month or so! We‘re starting Volume SIX of the Complete Journals this week. Next week we begin The Blue Castle, followed by The Ladies of Missalonghi. I‘m tagging my “announcement/schedule” list, then in the comments I‘ll tag specific lists for each book. All are welcome—comment if there‘s a tag list you‘d like to be added to!

#KindredSpiritsBuddyRead #LMMAdjacent - Alhambra discussion 3/3

LMM references Tales of the Alhambra in Emily Climbs, as well as in Vol. 2 of her journals.
What do you think it was about the book that captivated LMM?
Did you feel a similar enchantment, or were its charms not quite as potent for you?
Is there anything else you‘d like to discuss about Tales from the Alhambra?

#KindredSpiritsBuddyRead #LMMAdjacent - Alhambra discussion 2/3

What did you think of Irving as a narrator?
What did you think of his commentary on Spanish and Moorish culture (both past and present)?
Which of the tales he includes were most interesting to you?

#KindredSpiritsBuddyRead #LMMAdjacent - Alhambra discussion 1/3

As a travelogue, this book goes beyond personal experience or descriptions of the sights & culture of a place. Irving includes story after story from the Alhambra's past, from more straightforward history to tales of myths and legends.
Did you enjoy this way of approaching his subject? What do the myths and legends add to his account—or did they detract from the subject for you?

“…he‘s been a copper longer than anyone in the Watch," said Nobby.
One of the dwarfs said something in Dwarfish. There were a few smiles from the shorter watchmen.
"What was that?" said Nobby.
"Well, roughly translated,” said Stronginthearm, ‘My bum has been a bum for a very long time but I don't have to listen to anything it says.‘”

#OokBOokClub

I haven‘t done #5JoysFriday in a while, and I feel like I really need to look for the joy this week, so here are some joys:
1. Sunday jazz (even with what a friend calls the “aggressive” cross in the background)
2. Finishing All Creatures Great and Small—such a delight to read, and I‘m so sorry I kind of dropped the ball with @TheAromaofBooks for posting about it along the way!!
3. Celebrating the #KindredSpiritsBuddyRead 5th anniversary!!
⤵️

#BookSpinBingo for September!

✔️Both #BookSpin and #DoubleSpin complete
1️⃣ Bingo
2️⃣ Almost-bingos
5️⃣ books read from my owned TBR (never mind that one of those was both purchased & read this month)

Favorites:
🍜Automatic Noodle
🐴All Creatures Great and Small
🖋️Emily Climbs
🪦Our Town
💜Tattoos on the Heart

FIVE years ago today I started the #KindredSpiritsBuddyRead! We began with a chapter-a-day read of the Anne of Green Gables series, then decided we weren‘t done and continued on to read all of LMM‘s published novels + some short stories. There've been a few other iterations since; we‘re currently reading LMM‘s complete journals, interspersed with books LMM mentions in her journals, and re-reads of her books as they‘re mentioned being published. ⤵️

I‘ve gotten behind in my Alhambra reading this week… the Abencerrages chapter was a real slog (I had a really hard time keeping track of who was who!), and I never quite got caught back up. I‘ve been enjoying the stories and legends more than the history!

How‘s your reading going? What stories/sections stand out to you so far?

#KindredSpiritsBuddyRead #LMMAdjacent