I almost forgot about this! As per usual, Nancy risks bodily harm to investigate a mystery that magically falls in her lap. Our plucky girl detective won‘t be deterred from her quest by anything! I enjoyed this more than I expected, but I wish we‘d had a little more Bess and George. Ned does get a bit more time on page, but now I have to look up 1930s/1960s football rules. Were QBs also kickers back then? 🤔 #nancydrewbr #enquiringminds

This is the third book in what is turning out to be a really cute middle grade series. It‘s a little heavy-handed with the lessons on facing fear, but it‘s still a fun read.

Another cute story where Megabat learns about how love grows when family members are added. Maybe not quite as fun as the first book, but still sweet and lighthearted.

I won book 5 in a LibraryThing giveaway and thought I‘d catch up on the series while I wait for my copy. This was an adorable quick read about a boy that moves to a new city, discovers a fruit bat in his bedroom, and makes friends with his neighbors. Oh, and then there‘s the pigeon. 😂

This is a beautiful ode to Palestine and her family‘s home in Jerusalem from which they were expelled during the Nakba in 1948. It details daily life as told to Hannah and her sisters as bedtime stories by their father. The illustrations, while not my favorite style, are lovely. As a side note, Hannah‘s father owns and operates an independent press, Interlink Books, which publishes a lot of translated Arabic fiction and nonfiction.

June‘s #bookspinbingo board. I love when free spins land in convenient places. 🥳 #bookspin is just a category (yay!): historical fiction and #doublespin is Lilith: Dark Feminine Archetype, which is for a class. Park Road Books still hasn‘t posted the June reading challenge selection, so that‘s still TBA on the board.

Thanks to using categories instead of just titles, I was able to count all of the things I read and even got a #bookspinbingo! I bailed on my #bookspin, but read and mostly enjoyed my #doublespin. Looking forward to another good month in June.

This is a pick with reservations. It‘s the first book in a series and ends on a kind of cliffhanger. This vexes me. Set in the 1950s, the plot feels cinematic, with a The Thomas Crown Affair vibe. Jerome Curtis is an insurance inspector, sent to Cannes when an infamous jewelry thief strikes at Cannes. It‘s an entertaining, albeit predictable, heist novel, and not a bad way to spend an afternoon.

On one hand, using categories instead of titles feels like cheating. On the other the other hand, May was my most successful #bookspin month, so I‘m going to take the win and repeat the formula. 🥳 I‘ve left any titles I didn‘t get to in May and updated book club/challenge titles for June. #bookspin #doublespin #bookspinbingo

I would never have picked this up if not for #CampLitsy24. It is a quiet novel, and yet, at least emotionally, it‘s as tempestuous as the North Sea. I didn‘t mind the ending, but honestly I would have been happier with something different. I can‘t say more without spoilers. Looking forward to discussing the book with others who‘ve read it. I‘m pleasantly surprised by how much I liked it.

Happy Sunday, Littens! I hope everyone is having the day they desire. I‘m still struggling to pick a book and stick to it. I restarted the tagged ARC because it‘s my only LibraryThing Early Reviewers book I still haven‘t reviewed and after reading the first story I don‘t want to read any more of it. 😭😭 So, I‘m going to start the first book for #CampLitsy24. Fingers crossed for this one!

This was a Tailored Book Recommendation book from 2020. I could smack myself for taking so long to read it. Huang‘s writing is gorgeous. This is a lovely blending of Chinese and European folklore, a unique reimagining with characters from multiple stories. It‘s a tale of vengeance, guilt, family, and second chances. I was not ready for it to be over.

I love Heart and Brain. So relatable and even the panels that are sad are beautiful. Onward.

This is a lovely companion to the Legendary Ladies Oracle deck and features 50 goddesses from a wide variety of cultures. It gives a very surface-level summary of each goddess‘s mythology, which is a good jumping off point for further study. I really like the diversity and I adore the illustrations.

And just like that, I‘m caught up again.

Larry‘s cousin comes to visit and brings something unexpected with him. It goes about as well as you‘d expect. Gross, violent, and vibrantly illustrated.

A biopic about Gert? What could possibly go wrong? Once again, delightfully disgusting and fluffing marvelous.

Three Billy Goats Gruff - I Hate Fairyland edition. 🤣🤣 The usual review applies - bubblegum gore that I should be ashamed to enjoy so much, but I‘m not. It‘s fluffing brilliant. Gross and hysterical.

Cloudia in the real world and an entire issue that‘s basically a 30 page running fart joke. What‘s not to love? Hilarious, gross, and brilliantly illustrated, as usual.

This was an informative look at the history and mythology surrounding Aphrodite/Venus - from her ancient Mesopotamian ancestor Ishtar, to Inanna and Astarte, and finally her Greek and Roman forms. While a little academically dry in tone, which caused me to switch to audiobook, it is a fascinating history of a goddess who is so much more than modern patriarchy gives her credit for being.

I almost hate to do it, but I‘m bailing on my #bookspin for this month. I loved Legends & Lattes, but I am not enjoying this prequel at all. I don‘t know if it‘s the pacing or something else, but it doesn‘t seem to have the same heart as the first book. It‘s not that I‘m bored so much as I just don‘t care about the characters. Even Viv feels less Viv-like.

Henry Kissinger came to power as Secretary of State and National Security Advisor under Nixon. He was a war criminal without conscience, responsible for heinous US foreign policy. He had no government experience, didn‘t care about procedure, and instead, set up national security structures for maximum power with little accountability. The US is still the monster he personifies. This book details that depravity, region by region.

The title is the rallying cry for a people‘s revolution, sparked in part by the vicious murder of Mahsa Amini on September 16, 2022 by Iran‘s Morality Police for wearing her veil improperly. It illustrates current events in Iran, history of the existing regime, and widespread government corruption. It‘s timely lesson, inspiration, and call to action. Some of the art was not to my taste and the cursive-style font was difficult to read.

The 2024 CWA Dagger awards shortlists come out late this week, I think. Considering how many Dagger awards categories there are and the likelihood that 50% aren‘t available in the US yet, the odds of me reading them before the awards are announced in July are slim. So, I opted to try to read all of the 2023 winners I could get my hands on. Today‘s #libraryhaul are the ones my library system has, plus the 1st in Bishop‘s series. Better get reading!

I‘m still salty about the Death card, but this was a decent mystery novel with a supernatural twist. I thought it would be lighter, but it is just this side of serious to be a Hallmark Mystery Cozy. Still, it‘s a nice change from gory, high-stakes thrillers, and I really liked the characters. It also sets up nicely for a series or at least a sequel.

For the love of Spirit, Death is not a horror movie card. 🤦🏻‍♀️ If I wasn‘t so curious about where this book is going, I‘d quit right now. As it is, I may have to walk away for a minute or two.
#TarotReaderTantrum

I honestly think this may be my favorite to date. It definitely made for a fun couple of hours reading on a rainy Saturday. No #NNK, but plenty of snooping, meddling, and a proper introduction to Ned. ❤️
#nancydrewbr

I‘m going to have to start counting the number of times Nancy is accused of snooping or meddling. It‘s cracking me up. #ScoobyDooOrNamcyDrew?

#nancydrewbr

This is another solid entry in the Sebastian St Cyr series. It‘s one of my favorite series for a reason. Harris does an excellent job of blending historical events, such as the Allied Sovereigns‘ visit to London, and historical entities like the evil East India Company, with her fictional characters and murders. There‘s also a fair amount of social commentary that sadly applies to modern day life and politics.

#unpopularopinion I just can‘t get into this one. The personal lives of the detectives feel like needless distractions. I don‘t care about the case. I know it can‘t be as easy a solve as the current set up, so there has to be a big twist coming, but I find that I simple don‘t care. Plus, I almost cried when I saw how much of the book I had left to listen to. That‘s never a good sign.

My TBR for my birthday month. I know I will not get to all of these, but it‘s a nice combination of buddy/bookclub reads, 2023 CWA Dagger award winners, and a couple of random library books, plus everything from April that I‘m still working my way through. 🎶 Happy Birthday to me 🎶 🥳🥳

May‘s #bookspinbingo board. Bookshops and Bonedust is my #bookspin and An Enchanting Case of Spirits is my #doublespin. It‘s nice to have some light reads as my selections for my birthday month!

Twelve books finished for April. Who Slays the Wicked was my favorite. There were a lot of fun reads and a couple of disappointments. I‘m on staycation until next Tuesday so I‘m hoping to get a good start on May‘s TBR.

April wrap-up #bookspinbingo edition: Once again, I used all the free spaces, but I did finish 3 of the specified list and bailed on 1 other. My #doublespin is dry, but I should finish this month. I don‘t know what my problem is with the #bookspin. This is the second time I tried to start it and just can‘t seem to get anywhere. I hate to totally give up because I devoured the short stories in this world. I‘ll try audio to see if that helps.

In the hopes of being able to check off more than just the free spaces, I‘ve given myself some genre prompts (in italics) instead of specific titles. Also, Park Road Books hasn‘t announced May‘s challenge title, so that‘s listed as TBA. #bookspin

It‘s Independent Bookstore Day! I left Park Road Books with full arms and a full heart. I love my indie booksellers so much and it‘s been ages since I‘ve been in there. 💖 Lots of cozy fantasy and mythology retelling recommendations today.

I found this receipt tucked into the book I‘m starting today. I was confused by shipping charges from my local indie. I order online from them a lot but I drive the short distance to pick up my order when it‘s ready. Then I checked the date: April 12, 2020. It must have been one of the first orders I placed during lockdown once they were allowed to have one or two employees at a time working to keep their business afloat.

I fell behind on this series. I wish I hadn‘t, but this was the perfect book to break a slump. I love Harris‘s writing style, and it‘s great to be back in her version of Regency England with Sebastian and friends. The ending felt a bit rushed and too neat, but I can overlook that in favor of the joy I get from reading the rest. Too dark to be considered a cozy, but not so graphic as to be unbearably traumatizing. TW in comments.

Cute MG mystery with the dog as narrator. I would probably have really enjoyed this when I was 8-10. As an adult, I found the canine narrator rather annoying. 🤷🏻‍♀️

I love this series and was so happy to have it selected for #bakerstreetirregulars. I have read the whole series in print and on audio multiple times. It does require accepting the racist, colonialist, sexist, and classist viewpoints as belonging to the historical setting. That aside, it‘s a fun romp through late 19th century Egypt, with entertaining characters, mystery, adventure, and a touch of romance.

I have no business reviewing poetry. I rarely enjoy it and I am even less likely to understand or “get” it. So, I won‘t rate this based on whether or not I liked it. I‘m honestly not sure. I will say that I liked the mixed formats of the collection, especially the poems supposedly written with predictive text. Those were clever. There are two other poems written with footnotes and I loved those. That format was unique and fun.

I saw this on a lot of #auldlangspine lists, so I decided to finally give it a try. This is a delightful cozy fantasy. Compelling writing, interesting characters, and all the good stuff - adventure, danger, shadowy characters, plus coffee and baked goods. 😂

I‘m dying with these books, y‘all. All the meddling and snooping and ADVERBS. So. Many. Adverbs.

As always, there‘s plenty of danger, suspicious looking characters, and as noted in the quotes in the photo, meddling and snooping. I enjoyed this one more than the last, though. I definitely rolled my eyes a lot less.
#nancydrewbr

This is probably my least favorite of the series. The plot dragged, and I have so many questions left unanswered. As always, I love the dynamic between Will, Faith, and Amanda. I just expected more - I still feel like I need a shower after reading it, but the overall reading experience fell flat.

This is a wonderful picture book for helping kids understand and cope with anxiety. It even has a section of tips at the back. I love the illustrations and the writing.

I absolutely love the Narwhal and Jelly books, so I thought I would try out another Clanton series. While still a pick, it‘s filled with spudtacular puns, after all, it just doesn‘t have the same magic for me as Narwhal and Jelly. I think it‘s because Snot is such a grump. This just feels a little less joyous.

It‘s been a rough day, so I checked this out from library and read it to Bailey who likes to chase bees. She didn‘t seem impressed, but I found it delightful. 🤣🤣🐝🐝

Made my #bookspinbingo board at lunch. My #bookspin is A Master of Djinn which has been on my TBR for ages and #doublespin is When God Was a Woman.

If the Bookly app did a calendar graphic like Bookmory, I feel like you‘d have the perfect reading app. Until then, I will either make my own calendar in Canva (unlikely), or just stare enviously at others‘ calendar graphics. 😂 It was another slow reading month with a lot of bails. Children‘s books saved my stats, and Karin Slaughter‘s book, while definitely NOT for kids, was my favorite read of the month.

There are lots of big emotions all handled with delicacy, kindness, love, and grace in this final book. The whole trilogy is so soft and warm.

A soft, gentle hug of a book - the illustrations are beautiful, the story is inclusive and kind. There‘s compassion, empathy, and joy. It makes for a lovely break from my typical, darker reads.