“A Well-Trained Wife” is Tia Levings‘ memoir about narrowly surviving abuse at the hands of her husband and under the leadership of the fundamentalist church. For nearly 15 years, she hides her longing to “awaken as ONE Tia, a woman with a name.” With this book, she‘s made a name for herself, which is no small thing.

While timely and illuminating, the narrative is relentless. 👇🏻

Last year, I began the tradition of birthday bibliomancy using Mary Oliver‘s “Devotions.”

I sit somewhere peaceful, gently ruffle the pages with my eyes closed, and stop flipping when it feels right. This morning, I sat by a stream leading to the ocean at dawn. I landed on “Where Does the Temple Begin, Where Does It End?” The following words, which I found on page 186 (coincidentally, my birth month and year) will guide my year, 👇🏻

When I picked this up, I didn‘t even realize it was blurbed by AJ Jacobs and partially inspired by his book, “The Year of Living Biblically,” which is my *favorite.*

I can‘t express how much this is all resonating. ✨

Currently reading in a coastal cabin while wind, rain, and waves rage in the darkest night outside my door. Getting the sparkly star-shaped ceiling light; fresh, aromatic wood; and the animal skull in the shot just felt right.

A self-portrait.

“Penetrating eyes. Of course, moi can reads minds but frankly I prefer sexy gnovels.”

I‘ve had this follow-up to 84 Charing Cross Road on my bookshelf for years. It was just waiting for its moment. January 2025 has been exactly that moment. In a month of too much, it‘s blessedly mundane. It‘s a little book, wherein the author recounts living her dream to finally visit London (and its surrounding countryside). A blurb on the back promises that you‘ll “delight in the Englishness of England and the friendship of new friends.” True.

I cannot tell you how much I loved American Gods & The Ocean at the End of the Lane. I very nearly had my love tattooed on my body (in the form of forget-me-nots done in a chain around my left wrist, like the goddess Easter).

This developing story continues to be so sad, upsetting, & disappointing. While Pavlovich is not the “perfect victim,” I think it‘s undeniable that he has continually & harmfully misused his power.

https://archive.ph/2n1F6

Happy birthday, Lynn!

Your birthday giveaway closes on my birthday. That‘s fun! 🌊🐐🧁

The book I‘m most desirous of is tagged & in the number one position on the following list. Since I‘ve found it a bit tricky to find a copy, I‘ve added back-ups. Your pick!

1. Hagstone (Sinead Gleeson)
2. Rapture (Emily Maguire)
3. The Night Swimmers (Roisin Maguire)
4. The Summer Book (Tove Jansson)
5. Lolly Willowes (Sylvia Townsend Warner)

#49bdaygiveaway

My cute little niece & I share a birthday month. At her party yesterday, *she* gave *me* a gift. It‘s a (rather wide and) spectacular bookmark. I especially enjoy the taco dog being overseen by two googly-eyed sour gummy worms.

Reading The Duchess of Bloomsbury, which I found on my shelves when searching for something to add a little levity to my January. So far, it‘s just what I needed.

Despite being raised by a Native man and accepted fully into his family by the tender age of 2, Charles must leave the Rez the moment he comes of age because he does not have Native blood. When he fathers a child with a Penobscot woman he‘s been friends with since childhood, she leaves him and begs him to keep his parentage a secret — “for their daughter.” This secret turns his own life to ash and burns through the lives of others. 👇🏻

“Louise,” I said. “Do you know where you are?”
She looked at me again. “Where I am?” she repeated.
“Yes,” I said. “Do you know where you are?”
Never before had I heard such certainty in a voice. “I‘m in my bones,” she said, and she rolled back onto her side.

#AuldLangSpine @Christine

Sometimes, I have these dreams where I just wake up with a word in my head or a conviction. Last night, I had both. The word was “bachata.” After a quick Instagram video dive, I determined that learning bachata is not my destiny. 😅💃 The unrelated conviction, however, is that I‘m meant to explore literary magazines. Right now, I read none. So…

Which cool literary magazines am I sleeping on?

This was my first Sanderson. The takeaway? WHAT A NERD. 😅 Fortunately, I don‘t think that‘s necessarily a bad thing…

Sometimes, he takes too many doofy risks for humor‘s sake, like when he writes, “The more she learned, the less afraid she had become. It is that way with most topics…👇🏻

It‘s important to model behavior for your children. If they see you reading, they‘re far more likely to become readers themselves.

A note about Lula Dean & dogs. Miller reinforces the bad rap given to pit bulls, which I wish she‘d skipped:

“Isaac…was naturally cautious. As a boy, he‘d never stopped his brother from reveling in life, but he was always there, waiting to step in, if necessary. When Elijah danced too close to a campfire…👇🏻

It‘s so sweet that Miller wrote this book as a “loving tribute” to her childhood friend who died in 2021, and who “fought like hell” to have the Confederate statue in their hometown removed.

The level of hope encapsulated in this novel is almost painful. It doesn‘t feel real. But…it also feels cathartic to believe, for the span of its pages, that one book (or, even more remarkably, one conversation for Mitch Sweeney)…👇🏻

It‘s my 8-Year Litsyversary!

Happy, happy! 🥳

Whoops! I never finished my Book Bracket!

Olga Dies Dreaming won top billing in November. Aside from Young Hawkes, the dreamboat of a vicar in The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion, Matteo was the first character I found in a long time worthy of the title of Book Boyfriend!

Margo swept the latter part of the board, possibly because I just finished it and the love is brand-new.

But nothing beats the offbeat & lonely charm of Turtle Diary. 🐢

*About Me*

1. Overthinker. Seems the best way to start a list like this since I always deliberate too intensely about what should come first (& what that says about me).

2. I read mostly contemporary fiction, genre fiction, memoirs, nature writing, & romance.

3. I work as a Children‘s Librarian in an historical library with actual gargoyles (or, technically grotesques — of the stone sculpture variety, not just a mean name for my coworkers).👇🏻

We took the pup for a New Year‘s Day beach walk and stumbled upon a rowdy group of kids & adults braving the waters for a Polar Plunge! Maybe we‘ll join next year? We also found (real) bedraggled roses tossed amongst the seaweed. 🥀🌊📚

Here‘s my official #AuldLangSpine stack from @Christine (in addition to a couple of audiobooks I‘ve got queued up)!

Happy reading, everyone!

This is not the first review of the New Year you seek [insert Jedi Mind trick here].

I finished my final book of 2024 just after midnight. Shh. 🤐 It counts. It‘s also an unabashed pick. I learned so much about the lands, animals, plants, and peoples of the American West. Though an occasional essay seemed to strike an odd tone (like “Four Letters to My Father,” which I found too composed, or “Boom! Erosion of Belief”, which I found gimmicky)…👇🏻

Terry Tempest Williams, quoting Simone Weil,

“A truth that goes almost unrecognized today, is that looking is what saves us.”

Terry Tempest Williams, reflecting,

“We have made a cult of busyness and in so doing we have forgotten the simple truth of paying attention to the view before us, between us, in a word, a cultivation of intimacy.”

I think my word for 2025 might be “intimate.” It feels kind-of perfect.

Do you have a Word of the Year?

I woke up early, before the dog even (though he‘s up now), and have been reading these essays steadily, in an effort to finish before the New Year.

In some ways, it‘s been a peaceful morning, full of a quiet I rarely get to luxuriate in. But each essay has made me cry. TTW writes of the establishment of Bears Ears National Monument, “It was about America looking into the deep future rather than into the narrow exhaust pipe of today.” 👇🏻

This short novel is a disruption — in 1982 & now. It‘s about the sorrow of domestic life. It‘s about the way that people crave a “home” and how sometimes, despite your best efforts, you‘re never quite able to make one (or keep it).

At first, I thought reading Shark Heart in the same year as this would dull its novelty but it‘s a different beast (not just taxonomically but tonally). Too bleak to become a favorite but it feels poignant & memorable.

@5feet.of.fury posted about her least favorite books of the year, which I thought was a fun exercise! Here are my Bottom 5. Top 5 Flipped?

It‘s a real shame; the bottom right has one of *the* best covers! 🐚

This rivals Book 6 as my favorite in the series. I‘m an unabashed Hawkes admirer. I don‘t know if he‘s right for Emma (or *more* right than anyone else) but he‘s right for me. The part where he soothes her after her fortune and it feels as if he‘s pressed a star into her hand is nothing short of swoon-worthy. It was also lovely to see her (and all of them) in their freest form, let loose from societal constraints. I need my own Stonecrop. ✨

If Rufi Thorpe was trying to get me to fall in love with her a little bit, she‘s succeeded. I‘m hungry for more of her writing! It felt casual yet crafted. The characters are complicated and dimensional. The meta nature of the text added a sense of self-conscious play. I hope Arby‘s has given Thorpe a stake in their company because I can pretty much guarantee that readers everywhere are now craving at least one item from their menu. 👇🏻

I love that the holidays bring far-flung friends home. These girls have been my pals for over 20 years. The one on the right moved to Detroit with the Jesuit Peace Corps right after college. New England misses her dearly! She received a life-saving heart transplant this year. I am so grateful for her continued existence. I told them both to read Margo‘s Got Money Troubles. They were sold by the detail about Pokémon dick pic comparisons. ??

“The sadness from the morning didn‘t exactly go away; it dried on me and slowly crumbled, leaving me covered in little flakes, like if you eat a glazed donut in a black shirt. That was how it was being a grown-up. We were all moving through the world like that…”

Such a kind novel. More than halfway through, one of the side characters speaks, briefly, about “building infrastructures of kindness” and I would hazard a guess that this is exactly what Ann Napolitano might thrive on: building an infrastructure of kindness within her readers. The lessons in this book about how we grow together and apart; how we hurt and how we heal; and, most importantly, about how we love and how we forgive are “beautiful.”👇🏻

How long until I‘m asleep like this lazy bones? 🐶

Puppy‘s first snow. ❄️😜

While there are some beautiful details in this morally complicated novel, Glendy Vanderah‘s writing is absolutely NOT for me. Her dialogue does not even come close to approximating the way that people actually speak to one another.

I appreciated the author‘s respect for nature, her underlying message about climate change, and the “magic” of Riley‘s family (vintage dresses, fossils, clock gears, art, the moon, moths, and secular prayer).

My husband played a Presidents of the United States of America cover set tonight to benefit Amos House (homelessness & poverty) & Riot RI (a non-profit using music creation, critical thinking & collaborative relationships to foster collective empowerment & the development of healthy identities in girls, women, trans, & gender-expansive youth & adults). When I say that listening to the tagged beforehand was the right choice, I REALLY mean it. 👇🏻

Speaking of ONE in a Milennial, this is the ONE and only time I‘ve ever had to slow down an audiobook‘s playback speed — and I, too, came of age alongside Rory Gilmore! I‘m only a year older than Kennedy, so this was obviously nostalgic for me. She‘s great with wordplay but sometimes *too* verbose (which…pot, kettle). The AIM chapter was my fave. Would not recommend to folks outside of our generation (I think a lot of it would be unintelligible!).

Inspired by #TuesdayTunes:

My Spotify Wrapped revealed that this was my year for rediscovering early Jewel. She was the artist featured in my Soundcheck. Honestly, I really just had “Jupiter” and “I‘m Sensitive” on repeat…I‘m not ashamed. 💎

Some other (old news) songs that I discovered this year were: Let the Mystery Be by Iris DeMent; You‘re Dead by Norma Tanega; and (the actually new-ish) Dumb in Love by Whitmer Thomas (2020).

The subtitle for this trio of vignettes is “stories of women and men.” Specifically, they are stories about denial, desire, and threat. Claire Keegan never misplaces a word. No detail can be overlooked. Take, for instance, this sentence in “Antarctica,” a twisted tale about the quest for simple pleasure: “The cat was watching her, his eyes as dark as apple seeds.”

Perfectly unsettling, all.

Content. 💞

Our tree is under the employ of Santa.

Naughty? Nice? Tree‘ll be the judge of that…

And, to make it Litsy-related:
“BooOooOok!!!” 📕👁️🔮🎄

This time around, making the collage for my most beloved nonfic reads in 2024 meant adding a title that wasn‘t a *true* favorite. 🙈 Otherwise, the sizing got weird! And I can‘t have that!!!

So, congrats, Wolfish, you‘ve been granted Honorable Mention amongst the Best of the Best.

I made a little graphic (one for fic & one for nonfic) to share my favorite books of the year with friends on Instagram.

Some titles are missing due to collage-making constraints (most notably the cozy fantasies, like Legends & Lattes and The Spellshop, which fell lower down on my list) — but I love seeing the covers all together like this, as if they‘re friends!

I‘m not convinced the Norendy Tales are for children nor am I unconvinced. I could see them being just as soon discarded for being confusing (and sad) as I could see them being treasured despite the confusion (and perhaps because they are a little melancholy). Regardless, they are for me. This installment reminds me of Leonard Cohen‘s Anthem: “Ring the bells that still can ring /Forget your perfect offering/ There is a crack…👇🏻

Puppets begins with a shockingly sad ending. And it ends with a predictably light-filled beginning (predictable if you know Kate DiCamillo). At first, I thought, “I can‘t imagine a single child I would give this to.” By the time I finished the story and read the words on the back cover, “This is a story that‘s perfect for savoring alone or *for reading aloud and sharing with those you love* [emphasis mine],” I vehemently agreed.

“AIM…was a place that allowed me to transcend my social awkwardness in pursuing friendships and flirting with boys, where I could wow people with what I knew to be my strength even at a young age: words.”

…Also, just putting this out there: I loved this Ben Harper song way too much for someone who was afraid to smoke pot. 😅

“With America Online…you were forced to withstand…the [unique] sound of dial-up: after nearly five minutes of listening to combinations of beeping, screeching, & scratching, it began to sound like two machines in a cat fight. I don‘t know how to best describe it other than what I assume it would sound like if a melody of insanity sampled a smoke detector that desperately needed its batteries replaced & then hurled itself into a garbage disposal.”

In praise(song) of @Christine for giving me such a wealth of titles to choose from!

Pictured above are the books I‘m most eager to read. I knew when I saw Sigh, Gone & God of the Woods on your list that we had similar taste (both of which I‘ve read & was instantly enamored with).

Praisesong‘s a little outside of my comfort zone. I don‘t cook. But it looks fascinating and maybe it‘ll help me stretch (in & out of the kitchen).

#AuldLangSpine

Here‘s my excellent #AuldLangSpine list, compliments of @Christine.

She said she was nervous about submitting so much nonfiction but that‘s part of what drew me in! It‘s been roughly a decade since I made my fated New Year‘s resolution to “read more nonfic.” Now, I reach for it naturally, no resolution required. There are a handful of fiction titles, too, which seem right up my alley.

Follow-up collage post to come (with my intended reads)!

The sun sets on another year of frenzied matchmaking.

ALL #AuldLangSpine match emails have been sent! Check your inboxes & remember to respond to confirm that you‘ve received your list.

I‘ll be over here, bathed in the golden glow of a job (hopefully) well done. I truly love this next part! Can‘t wait to see everyone‘s posts about their lists, what they‘re hoping to read, etc.

Enjoy! ✨

📸: David Taberner
Instagram: @ decent_nature_photography

I spent hours out in the cold and snow today filling our library‘s new StoryWalk with the tagged book for the town‘s Holiday Festival this Saturday.

It‘s one of my favorite seasonal picture books. It briefly references “Christmastime” but it‘s otherwise just a nature-filled gem of a story (with dreamy, textured pages).

I guess it was worth the frozen fingers. And nose. And toes. 🥶

I‘ll sleep when I‘m dead. Just kidding. I‘ll sleep now. 🙃 The next wave of match emails have gone out. I should be finishing up by the end of day tomorrow!

#AuldLangSpine
#AuldLangSpine2025
#ALSpine2025

📸: David Taberner
Instagram: @ decent_nature_photography

Match emails are triiiiiickling out. So slowly, it barely bears mentioning.

I‘m headed to work soon, so if you haven‘t already received something from me (and only five pairs have), no need to keep checking your inbox.

I‘ll be back at it later tonight!

#AuldLangSpine
#AuldLangSpine2025
#ALSpine2025

📸: David Taberner
Instagram: @ decent_nature_photography

But wait…there‘s (one) more! Congratulations, @BennettBookworm & @Itchyfeetreader ! You‘ve been matched! 🥳

Your official reading list will be winging its way to you via email within the next 48 hours.

You can start tracking those books down so soon!

Please note:
All reading for this event should begin on January 1st, 2025.

Thanks for participating!

📸: David Taberner (aka my bff)
Instagram: @ decent_nature_photography

#AuldLangSpine