It‘s here! Squeee! #Jolabokaflod #JS2024 @MaleficentBookDragon @Laughterhp 😊

My gift was mailed out on Saturday. Can‘t wait for opening day! ⛄️📦💗🍫📚

#JolabokaflodSwap24 #JS2024 @MaleficentBookDragon

#10 in the Chief Inspector Gamache series had me laughing like the others but also crying hard. Crying hard over a duck at that (#iykyk)! The main plot would have seemed inconceivable to me 10 years ago. However,after seeing blatant corruption in the highest levels of our government embraced in the real world, it feels sadly plausible. Another great read by Penny—entertainment with heart that makes you think. 👩‍🍳💋

I finished The Brutal Telling (Gamache book #5) and Bury Your Dead (book #6) this month. Both are fantastic detective novels with so much art, history, compassion, and culture of #Canada incorporated into them. I just can‘t get enough of Chief Inspector Gamache or Three Pines though these two novels took very sad turns.

Also enjoyed the fun Canadian treats from @mcctrish and will need to be finding another Coffee Crisp someday yum! #FoodandLit

I didn‘t fully grasp the switches from first to third person or the nuances of being an influencer in the online sex industry. However, I loved the found family feels of this book featuring a strong protagonist who finds her own path through some tough times.

Election Night in the U.S. is like waiting to get to the final chapter of a book with an unreliable narrator 😬

Beautiful day for an #audiowalk. I 🧡 autumn! 🍂

Hurray! It‘s like Xmas came early! Thank you, @mcctrish for all the Canadian style treats. I will enjoy them while binging Chief Inspector Gamache novels this month as this is the most correct way to celebrate #Canada month for #FoodAndLit I believe😅🍁

@Catsandbooks @Texreader

The village of Three Pines grows more dear with each book! In this one, the mystery that shrouds the whole series deepens as Gamache works to solve a death at a seance at the creepy Hadley Manor.

Book #3 of the Chief Inspector Gamache series is terrific! I listened to the audiobook version because it had a shorter wait. What a voice! Makes me want to try learning French. I guess I‘m in my Three Pines era now. 🌲🌲🌲

Dear Libby, You‘ve been saying “available soon” for 2 whole days. Waiting is torture… 😅

So hard to wait for the next book in the series sometimes! Would it be awful to load up the next 10 in my holds? 😂 Might be asking for trouble if they all come in at once or out of order… 🤔 #BookNerdProblems

So freaking good! This series has been on my #tbr for a while, but the size of the series was daunting… It has so much more depth than I expected. I love Penny‘s take on the bookish detective with Chief Inspector Gamache. Plus the village of Three Pines is swoon worthy! Lives up to the hype!

I think I‘m on a short, strange novel kick for autumn. This one is twisty, timey-whimy with a splash of romance and magic.

The heroine is brave, young, and ready to break her family‘s curse. Are all the Farrow women destined to go mad or is something else at play?

Gothic, campy, strange, and yes, fun. Great, fast read for October.

Vesper has never felt like she fit in and returns to her strange family home to seek some answers. Then things get creepy… and creepier…

Robbie Stumblecheese, pleased to meet you. 😊

I‘ll join my voice to the choir signing this book‘s praises. Fantastic read takes you like a summer blackfly buzzing around hearing family and community secrets when a child‘s disappearance in the same woods years after her brother‘s disappearance sets everyone on edge.

Saw this video posted on an Art Teacher Group for ways to reuse out of use hardcover books as art journals. Beautiful! Link: https://www.facebook.com/reel/1258676978632801?fs=e&mibextid=0NULKw&fs=e&s=TIeQ9...

😅 Might have gone on an EH binge this summer in lieu of actually getting an island vacation. Sigh, maybe someday I‘ll make it to St. James or Nantucket… 🏖️

Love these characters! GUP (Gay Uncle Patrick) is back dispensing wisdom to his niece and nephew when they are uncertain about a new stepmom. I liked the original most, but it was fun to see what happens years later in book 2. The beginning has them traveling through Europe-fun! The middle of lagged but the ending made it worth the read. Just a sweet, warm fuzzies book about love, family, and letting more people in. 😊

Took my phone out of my pocket and somehow Kindle had selected this font. Fits the book‘s creepy tone perfectly! 😅

Fun to see what they selected as the “best” and definitely some more good books added to my TBR. 😅

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/books/best-books-21st-century.html

Saw this video in an Art Teacher group post and thought of #SundayBuddyRead 💗😂

Pablo Picasso Song: https://www.facebook.com/reel/786171760326795?fs=e&mibextid=0VwfS7&fs=e&s=TIeQ9V

Wow! Just finished this powerful book recapturing the voices of women of The Iliad, The Odyssey, and even a few from The Aeneid. I listened to the audio version since that‘s what Libby had available and am so glad I did. It‘s read beautifully by the author and her passion for these women‘s stories comes through in every sentence. The ending had me in tears. Just gorgeous!

It‘s Cosmo‘s first birthday today. He‘s happy to be a #PrideMonth puppy! 🌈 Littermates reunion is tomorrow—can‘t wait! @slategreyskies

Just finished the audiobook read by Russ Bain. Fantastic voice, fantastic read set in a time I had not read of before, the Scottish clearances of the 1840s. The three main characters pulled me right in to this distant world. I would have loved even more of Mary and that ending—whoa. It‘ll be a great #CampLitsy discussion!

All my #weekendreads are inspired by Litsy and span genres from Historical Fiction to YA to Nonfiction!

*A Scatter of Light (#SundayBuddyRead #PrideMonth)
*Clear (#CampLitsy)
*Doppelganger (#SheSaid —I‘m late to the party 😂)

#rachelsbritton

Pros: Learned of some cool women from the 1920s like Winifred Lenihan, Margaret Leech, and Jane Grant. Always love dissecting books with #SundayBuddyRead 💗

Cons: The author took way too much liberty with these real lives. Too much fiction to be historical fiction for me. Almost slandered Dorothy Parker whose work I love. Disappointing!

Wow! Learned this from #SundayBuddyRead video link from @TheBookHippie today. I didn‘t realize just how cool Dorothy Parker was before! https://youtu.be/ud3-3-SPW-A?si=xHDMJ_2FUWfJiF8F

Waiting to hear RuPaul at Book Fest. So excited! 😊

This one took a bit to get going but is such an intriguing premise that it‘s a pick for me. It‘s set on a remote reservation in Canada. Even their small links (power, cell service) to the outside world start faltering and the group realizes they need to depend on each other and might have to return to the old ways to survive. There‘s such a pervasive sense of dread throughout the second half that now I really need to read the next book. 😅

What a wonderful bounty of beauty to wake up to this morning after traveling! Thank you, @TheBookHippie ! Every page is an art piece in this Rumi collection and the Whitman feels like a bible (cover is so soft)! Dark chocolate too and it all fits perfectly in the tote—I‘m ready to take some great books in it on my next adventure! You know me well!

Sorry, @KateReadsYA for the late post! Airport fun had me home past 1am. 😊 #LitsyFoundFamilySwap

On our DC 8th grade trip and one of the students posted this photo to the group chat. She wrote: “Out of all the amazing pictures I took today, I'm posting this one in honor of World War 2 and Women's history month. The name of the woman who spoke this quote was Colonel Oveta Culp Hobby. . .

The quote from our school's bulletin this morning. God, I love my school! 💗

Thought provoking read that was as much social commentary as it was story. It features 5 young women in Seoul working and reflecting on life. The societal pressures to be “perfect women” are high. Fascinating and insightful.

For my Korean food, I‘m using it as an excuse to go get some Somi Somi AhBoong down the street. I‘m sure my daughter will be wanting BonChon next week to while on spring break too.🍦

#FoodandLit #SouthKorea @Catsandbooks

*I have to read every night before sleep in bed
*Smart, helpful, magical Hermoine Granger. Maybe she‘d take pity on me and magically organize my house and garage 😂
*House on the Cerulean Sea and American Gods
*Foster (tagged), Kindred, Handmaid‘s Tale…
*I need reading glasses but am always losing them🤓

#LItsyFoundFamilySwap @KateReadsYA

On its way to you, @TheBookHippie ! So excited for #LitsyFoundFamilySwap opening day! Thanks, @KateReadsYA 😊

LA Festival of Books schedule is released 😊 https://events.latimes.com/festivalofbooks/schedule/

Any others out there planning on attending?

Like many of you, Claire Keegan is fast becoming an auto-read author for me. Small Things like These manages to be powerful and descriptive while also being able to be read in about an hour. It takes on a big topic such as the mistreatment of unwed young women in Ireland in such a thought-provoking way too. Just brilliant.

Important and beautifully organized. This powerful book has a lot to say about our justice system and how we treat our prisoners today despite being set in the future. I found it tough to read at many points but I‘m glad to have done so—almost feels like bearing witness to a tragedy. Hamara, Loretta, and Sunset are so fully rendered and the footnotes pack a real punch… Just amazing

Tough but important fiction. Set in the near future, prisoners are given a chance at freedom—Hunger Games style. It is filled with footnotes giving insight into our prison system which is clearly its own blunt weapon disproportionately hurting people of color. This book does not let up the intensity. Whew!

Feels like a classic! Beautiful slim novel following a shipwrecked robot just trying to make sense of the world and make friends. Thanks for the recommendations here on Litsy, and I‘ll be sure to recommend this to my middle schoolers. 💗🤖🪿🌲

#LitsyFoubdFamily

This swap sounds like so much fun and perfect for many of us on Litsy! The theme is Found Family 💗Check it out on @KateReadsYA for more details. Link to sign up: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSemAWZtg0XYwqHIs2PvW_MQxyUlJZixHegQF0Nd...

Wowza! Only 25% into this book, but I don‘t think there‘s ever been a main character I‘ve needed to yell at more! This book comes in fast and packs a punch! Almost scared to read what June will do next… 😵‍💫

Fun adventure that‘s part folktale and part historical detective novel. One of the pov characters is a fox female who is straight out of a storybook. The other is an aging detective with a magical gift. It was enlightening to learn more about foxes (both feared and worshipped in some parts of Asia). Added bonus of this on audiobook is that it is read by the author—beautiful voice!

Special thanks to NetGally and MacMillan audio for early access.

Just started this audiobook on NetGalley and loving her voice! It‘s read by the author and is a cool mixture of folktale/detective novel. Delicious!

Imagine a life of tremendous fame and unparalleled singing talent. Diva shows the life of Maria Callas vividly. Filled with celebrities and abuse, her life was like a soap opera. I went into this book not knowing much about her but feel like I have a better appreciation for her strength. The audiobook is well performed by Lorelei King who took on a challenge bringing so many famous voices to life (Onassis, Monroe. . .).

#FactfromFiction
The famous opera singer Maria Callas actually was using a stage last name (real name Kalogeropoulos) and was pregnant at one point with Aristotle Onassis‘ child while he was still married to a lady named Tina. 🫣

Her life seems like a soap opera according to this historical fiction book! @ShyBookOwl

Missing the views but not the responsibility of being in charge on the sixth grade camp trip last week! Had some time to finish a couple of books though while sleeping little. 😂 One book completed there was Throne of Glass. Typical but solid YA fantasy—I enjoyed it. Tough, strong, smart protagonist gathering her allies while kicking butt. Celaena is a convicted assassin with a chance at freedom via an evil King‘s competition.

A fun blend of historical fiction and fantasy in the vein of Mary Stewart and Simone St. James. This novel follows Laura Iven, an injured Canadian WWI nurse, who longs to find her younger brother, Freddie, a missing soldier. She finds help in unexpected places. Reality blurs with some characters facing an impossible choice: to rejoin the harsh, fast-changing real world or hide in an enticing fantasy world.

Hey Litsy! What‘s a great picture book for fifth graders who are about to be in middle school? I‘ve been invited to read aloud at a school and want something good, inspiring, fun, etc!