My family birthday celebration tonight. Rigatoni, salad, wine, yellow cake with vanilla buttercream frosting & a middle layer of raspberry mouse-how decadent! (made by a local breakfast/lunch bakery).🍝🥗🎂🍷📚🎁

My #weekendreads

The fruits of my visit to a local Indie bookstore for my birthday. Had to have those sticky notes! The tagged book is my newly published pre-order book. 🎉📚🎂

Treated myself to a visit to my local Indie bookstore for my birthday( tomorrow). It‘s 12 miles away, so I enjoyed listening to my current audiobook. Peaceful backroads. My mission was to pick up my pre-ordered book (I choose recently published book monthly as a member of this bookclub), and of course, treat myself to 2 more books! 📚 🎂🎉🎁

Started this book this morning-so far, I am enjoying it. #literarycrew #historicalfiction #Salem #NathanialHawthorn #TheScarletLetter

We are “fractured like stars”
I hope you all feel hope today.

#5JoysFriday
It felt like such a long week…just started the pictured book -loving its language…sunset on my street..Litsy for the community I so needed this week-thank you!My District spec ed department-one of our staff suffered unbearable tragedy-her 5 month pregnant daughter died suddenly of an aneurysm, leaving behind a grieving husband & 3 young children-we all wept & supported each while making plans to support her- finally,4 inches of snow.

#25Alive #gratitude

I am finally reading this book-I grew up going to the Connecticut shores in summer like my Dad before me, while my mom was born at the shore in Saybrook CT- then we discovered Cape Cod when I was 11 & never went back-I feel strongly, almost genetically, that I am the sea & the sea is in me- it is the place where I feel totally connected & at peace with the world. #naturalitsy

These are such fun! Thanks Denise #TLT #ThreeListThursday
My 3 books(hard to choose)
~ Angle of Repose
~Brown Girl Brownstones
~Cold Mountain

“But a life spent reading — that is a good life.”

From:
https://www.themarginalian.org/2013/06/07/annie-dillard-the-writing-life-1/
#thinkpositivebepositive

Starting this tonight. A “new” library book so I have to return it soon to the next person on the hold list.

1946,London.Vivid details of this cities‘period,post WWII,which contrasts the posh neighborhoods of the wealthy with the gray,drab,mean streets of the less fortunate.Sparks & Gwen,are two women trying to carve out an business for themselves:The Right Sort Marriage Bureau.What follows is a tale of deception, betrayal,murder,warring gangs,& kidnapping against this backdrop.Issues of patriarchy,sexism,racism,& imperialism are explored.#serieslove2025

The cold & new snow made for the slowly simmering Marcella Hazan‘s Bolognese sauce for dinner. ❤️🍝🥗

#resistance #poetry

I am reading this book slowly. There is an overwhelming amount of information that requires thoughtful processing.

#weeklyforecast
Row 1: #sundaybuddyread #nunlit #nunlitquarterly #naturalitsy
Row 2: #readyourkindle #ThematicCozies #animal #serieslove2025 #EGHSbuddyread #readyourkindle #Libby
Row 3: #fictionaltraveler #APlaceYouLove #CapeCod

#hyggehourreadathon #midwintersolace #litsolace #naturalitsy#ASparksandBainbridgeMystery
Two women own & run a business,The Right Sort of Marriage Bureau, matching men & women for a meet up & if both so inclined, more.So far Bainbridge is taking self-defense lessons, trying to reclaim custody of her child, & at home,encountering the evils of mining in Africa. Meanwhile, Sparks is facing old demons, & involved in their business.

Reading my library book after dinner. Love this cover.
#ASparksandBainbridgeMystery

#sundaybuddyread
Our friend, Varian Fry,(The Flight Portfolio) mentioned in relation to Arendt‘s ability to leave Europe for the USA. Life‘s intersections at work.
#bookconnections #adventuresinphilosophy #HannahArdent

#bookreport #January12to18 #2025#
Row1: Buddy reads: #sundaybuddyread #nunlit #nunlitquarterly #Naturalitsy
Row 2: #ThematicCozies #January #animal #EGHSbuddyread #readyourkindle #libby
Row 3: #ALafyDarbyMystery #libraryfind -Finished
#serieslove2025 #Jumpstart2025

Keira,her husband,Sebastian,& infant daughter,Emma, join Lord Gage,Sebastian‘s father,on an unexpected journey to the Cornish coast.After 50 years of no contact, Lord Gage has been summoned by his estranged family to uncover the murderer of his uncle.When they arrive,they discover they‘ve been tricked into coming, & that there is no one to trust among this family of smugglers & thieves.Mystified,they struggle to uncover what purpose they serve.

I love that most chapters begin with a pertinent epigraph from Jane Austin‘s Pride & Prejudice!
Rosalyn Thorne,a “most useful woman”of discretion & societal connections,is hired by Bethany Douglas,an old school friend,ostensively to find her stolen pearl necklace.Bethany‘s multi-generational family,who reside with her, harbor many secrets.Rosalind,with the help of Dec. Adam, has to wade through questions of fraud, blackmail, forgery,& murder.

It is winter in Hallowell,Maine,a community on the Kennebunk River.Beautiful,lyrical writing,historical fiction at its best.A local midwife,Martha Ballard,becomes involved in a rape trial because she treated the battered & bruised woman who was raped by 2 men.Martha remains steadfast & true to her daily medicinal diary observations & her voice,despite some peoples efforts to silence her.Murder,deception, & dissension follow.#auldlangspine

Another fantastic, layered, Swedish mystery featuring Detective Patrick Hedström and his sounding board of a wife, Erica Flack.
A reality TV show is in town. A young woman on its crew is beaten to death. Then a local woman is killed in a car crash under mysterious circumstances.Are these cases linked? Are there other similar unsolved cases across Sweden? #4of11. #serieslove2025

Totally absorbed in Annabel‘s journey. It was so so hard to stop reading & wait for the next section‘s dates!!!! 💖💖💖 #sundaybuddyread

My #weekendreads
#sundaybuddyread #libby #readyourkindle #libraryfind #serieslove2025 #naturalitsy #litsolace #nonfiction

#5JoysFriday #
1) Em-cat
2) COFFEE
3) Libby
4)beef/mushroom Shepards pie for dinner Wednesday
5) #hyggereadathon last Sunday

#librarybook #serieslove2025
#jumpstart2025
Starting this tonight.

Tonight it‘s Nancy and me. 💕 #NancyDrewBR #LittenDetectives

Lynn, Thanks so much for your generosity! The tagged book is my wishlist book, I‘m The lost man of Bombay by Vaseen Khan. #49bdaygiveaway

Plans for my #hyggehour #readathon #litsolace #midwintersolace #naturalitsy
My plans tonight: The book, tea, my reading corner, & my Em on my knees. Bliss.

I just love this image of a meandering mind. 🩵🩵
#auldlangspine

Look what arrived in mail today?! Thank you so much @TheBookHippie for my early birthday gift! I love it & cannot wait to share it at school. 🥰 #bookmailisthebestmail

We are reading The Great Gatsby right now in 11th grade English. It endures, like so many classic books.

I slept in until 10:00 am. Unheard of for me! So apologies to #sundaybuddyread group . I am catching up on reading now. 💖

#bookreport #January5to11
~Buddy reads: #sundaybuddyread section 2; #HannahArdent on p.37; #nunlit -Cloister Walk, p.130
~current reads: read with 10th grade HS students; nightly poetry; #audiobook #UsefulWomanMysterySeries #book1
~Finished: #audiobook #PatrikHedstrom #book4; #AuthorAMonth #DorothySayers #LitsyStoZ #letterU #cozy #bookloversbbmystery #Libby #historicalfiction #Libby
#jumstart2025 #serieslove2025 #read2025 #readyourkindle

Tonight‘s read. #authoramonth #LordPeterWhimsey #LitsyAtoZ #letterU

Libby is dangerous for me- These are added to my kindle library, plus I have 9 books on hold. I have absolutely no self control when books are free at the click of a button!!🤪😱

I did enjoy this novel but gave it a So-So because there were times when Julia Child‘s super human abilities (a boat explosion & she alone survives & swims to unknown shores miles & miles away) was a little too much for me. Julia takes a job with the first US espionage agency to ferret out secrets in China, Ceylon, & India. What I did enjoy is the knowledge I gained as I know next to nothing about the Far East involvement inWorld War II. #Libby

Charlotte,Reed,former high school teacher & widow, inherits Chapters B&B in Beaufort,NC,from a great aunt. Part of the appeal is a library stocked with rare book treasures.She decides to begin her life anew & moves there to run the B & B, & hold book related events. A murder on the premises interrupts a weeklong celebration dedicated to Josephine Tey.She teams up with her older neighbor and others to suss out the killer. #serieslove2025 #cozy #1

I am taking it slow reading this book. How are others doing? This particular passage spoke to me quite loudly. #adventuresinphilosophy #resistance #HannahArendt

A day late!
1) My high school : tested a student this week who is such fun to work with-he exudes joy!
2) my best friend for 50 + years was in town & we soent Sunday together.💖🥰
3) coffee and sickerdoodle wafels -yum! Thanks to #foodandlit & @Bookwormjillk
4)sunset
5) books my son surprised with with a, a biography of Carter & a book by Carter.

I am so enjoying this audiobook, a first in a series of mystery novels inspired by Jane Austen. Each chapter begins with a quote from Pride and Prejudice which suggests just what unfolds. #serieslove2025 #jumpstart2025 #Read2025

Finished 4 books so far this month.
#Read2025 #serieslove2025 #ChristieCapers #AgathaChristieClubR3 #jumpstart2025 #FoodandLit #readyourkindle. @DieAReader Thank you for your graphic template!

#25Alive #ReadingGoal #day8

#25Alive #prosperous #day7

From my nightly read. #poetryandpsalms #nunlit #nunlitquarterly
The author attended the Benedictines‘ chanting of the Divine Office, which often included psalms.This brings to mind Louise Penny‘s book,The Beautiful Mystery.

#AuthorAMonth #2025 #January
Although Square Haunting was a #NFNovember pick, I never finished it. So tonight I read the chapter on Dorothy Sayers as a prelude to starting Unnatural Death. #serieslove2025

Another library visit to return books-like I have nothing to read this month! #librarystack

#25Alive #joy #day6
I read & loved all Betty Smith‘s books as a young teen. 🧡