First in a series. Set in later 19th century India a former military Captain is hired by a family to find out how their daughters really died was it murder? The story feels like it gets off track at times and there are added events that feel like they could have been cut out. The writing wasn‘t bad. The narrator got a little annoying at times. Mostly the story dragged at times.
3.5⭐️ somewhere between cozy mystery and suspense

Started this yesterday. It is the second book in the series. I have a weird obsession with the 1893 World‘s Fair in Chicago and it has nothing to do with the H.H. Holmes connection.
This story has nothing to do with Holmes either.
So far not too bad. At times the narrator is a bit annoying and the story feels a bit long at times.

Born and raised in The Children of God Faith‘s story is both infuriating and hopeful. She is the granddaughter of “the prophet” and founder of the cult. The focus of the cult is love and that idea is twisted and mutated is ways that will make you sick.
Faith fights against the status quo and gets an education and eventually breaks from the cult (not a spoiler, the book wouldn‘t be if she was still a member).
4⭐️ if you like strong women.

I have only seen 21 out of 100
1. Young Frankenstein (I quote this movie frequently)
2. Grease
3. The Godfather
#threelistthursday #tlt
@dabbe

Started this today. It‘s interesting. ‘The Family‘ known as the Children of God was/is one hell of a cult 😯 If I remember correctly this is the same cult the River and Joaquin Phoenix grew up in.
Faith is the granddaughter of the founder of the cult.

I thought this would be a fun and interesting look at history in the US. It was going ok and then the author started to wax poetic about minstrel shows and black face. Talking about how it was for envy of the freedoms that slaves had with their bodies and dancing. Uh … WTF!?
No ⭐️ not recommend.

I have just a bit more to go on this one. It‘s interesting. The author has cover tea/coffee in the Revolutionary War and in China and India, tobacco, the opium wars, opium use in Vietnam which turns to heroin use, cocaine is where I am currently at in the book.
I might finish this while I‘m out and about today. I‘m going to need something to keep calm it will be my second day out and about in public lol.

Originally published in 2003, the edition I listened to was 2017. All of the topics are still relevant and of importance, however the discussion around them has changed. Much of the discussion/essay topic was the war in Iraq and the time between 9/11 and the invasion of Iraq.
All of the essays were about finding that bright spot, that moment even if it was a failure. Everyone could use a bit of that.
3.8 ⭐️ only because it‘s a little dated.

I was super interested in this book and then Jesus and God. I have no issue with either of those or people that believe. My issue and reason for DNF-ing was that in the description I saw nothing about religion being an aspect and seeming to be large aspect. Also there are other ways to break free of the hustle culture that don‘t involve religion. If that‘s your way fine and I support you in the way you find that balance.

Arguments are clear and reached. There are valid points made. I can agree to a point with some of them. I whole heartedly disagree with factory farming and industrial farming has its serious downsides. I don‘t believe the author has a solid feasible solution however. His ideas are great, small food producers, less chemicals, less chemical modifications. To achieve that in the US the entirety of everything would have to change.
More 👇🏼

Absolutely! Books that I love or ones that I feel I could absorb more from.
#sundayfunday
@BookmarkTavern

Started this one today. So far not bad

Still have a few book left from my last #bedsidestack from 7 months ago 😬
Decided I needed a few more to add to that #bedsidestack

Let‘s see …
❤️Time off this week to watch the Boy Child play baseball.
❤️Miss Izzy always brings me joy.
❤️got to see the Aurora Borealis for the first time ever
❤️my pupper boys
❤️coming home from my girls weekend Sunday to a clean house and a new plant curtesy of Boy Child.
#5joysfriday
@DebinHawaii

Well written, good story. I can see why it won awards.
I liked the glimpse into Baghdad during the regime change upheaval. I liked most of the characters and the building of the story.
I may have enjoyed this more than the original Frankenstein.
4⭐️ recommend if you enjoy a good retelling

Listened again to this and got lost in the same spot. He starts talking about vanilla and it morphs into talking about ice cream and how it relates to vanilla, but also then Thomas Jefferson‘s 12 steps to make ice cream. I could have done without a list of every meat dish served at a medieval king‘s coronation or a list of several flavors of Oreo.
3⭐️ if you have a passing interest in food trivia or history. More food trivia.
More 👇🏼

I actually finished this one today, but I listened while working and got distracted and missed things. It was interesting. I love my food history. I‘m going to listen to it again tomorrow so hopefully I can absorb more of the information.

I enjoyed this fictionalized telling of Marjorie Post‘s life. Starting with her time in Battle Creek when her father was visiting the Kellogg sanitarium through her marriages, and travels, and family struggles. A tidbit that I was not aware of, there were several, that struck me was she built Mara-Lago 😲
4 ⭐️ recommended you love a strong woman and historical fiction.

Oh my! This was amazing. I followed along with my physical copy as I listened to the audio edition. I think there was something on almost every page that I marked or tagged. So much information, so many points that need reiterating. Well written, concise, precise, thought provoking.
5⭐️ must read for anyone calling themselves a feminist.

Enjoyed ‘The London Seance Society‘ so I went ahead and read this one too, I did the audio edition.
I liked this one a bit more than I did LSS. Strong women, friendship, strong women. If you been around her long enough you know I love a strong female character/bad ass female. Those book had several.
4⭐️ highly recommend.

This was good. I like the writing and enjoyed the story.
The height of spiritualism in Victorian England, murder, love … what more does one need lol
3.5 ⭐️ would recommend.

Started this one today after getting bored and annoyed with my current podcast listen.

Physical up next
Had this on my shelf for a bit.

Most of these were good.
Tagged was funny and fun. Will read more in the series.
1 was ok
2 interesting worth reading
3 loved it! Disliked the Netflix series.
4 ok. Part of a series, helps the story along.
5 I‘m done with this series. 👎🏼
6 this was interesting. Worth it.
7 LOVED this. Need book 2 now lol
8 Larson is good.
9 another in the series. Not bad.

Feel like I read more but can‘t remember lol 😆

It‘s been a minute since I‘ve posted 😬 life I tell ya. Never feel like I have time or energy. I need to fix that this has always been one of my favorite spaces
I‘ve been reading and working and being mom to a now 16 yr old Man Cub!
I‘ve read some good stuff in the last 4 months. I‘m thinking I‘ll post the highlights (probably tomorrow cause it‘s bedtime) or just a run down.
Hope all are doing ok!

Up next from my bedside stack.
I keep thinking I‘ve read this, but I‘m not sure if I‘ve just seen and read enough bits about it that I think I‘ve read it. Oh well we shall see.

Started this one today and will finish it tomorrow. I love that with my job I can listen to a book for 8 hours lol
Lisa Jewell is another go to for me. I figured out most of the twists, they gave themselves away. Still enjoying and want to see how she wraps this one up.

My first finish of 2024. I‘d never read this classic.
I was able to figure out the mystery of the book. It had its flaws based on language of the era. It was fun seeing how Raskin played it out. Can‘t say it was a favorite, good though.
3⭐️ it was fun
Recommend for a light mystery middle grade level read. A bit of a palette cleanser.

This was my last read of 2023.
I enjoy Slaughter. She is a good to for me. I can usually figure out what is going on/what happened but the story is still good. I like her writing and story telling skills.
3.8 ⭐️ only because I figured it out lol
Recommend if you like slightly twisty thriller/mysteries.

I‘ve finished a couple books and started another I haven‘t had the mental capacity to do much after work. From the week of Thanksgiving through probably mid January it‘s ridiculously busy and I have some useless coworkers. I‘ll get my updates soon.
The tagged book was started this week (I think)
Here is my Arlo laying on part of my mom‘s coffee table while we worked on a puzzle during Christmas.

Just finish this one in audio.
I do enjoy Karin Slaughter. I can usually figure it out if I pay enough attention. Slaughter is a great story teller.

Got these from my brother and SIL for Christmas. We decided to do a $15 limit this year, we all got books LOL. All 3 of us a fairly prolific readers.

Finished this Tuesday night.
It was interesting, a little repetitive at times. Some of the topics I wish the author would have done a deeper dive on and others a little less.
Over all if it was good enough for Anthony Bourdain to blurb on it then it‘s good enough for me.
4 ⭐️ recommend if you are interested in where/how food is made or the history of everyday things.

Scrolling through Facebook today and came across a post from my local library that they were having a sale today! Fill your own bag for $3 or one of theirs for $6.
8 books for $3, yes please!
#bookhaul

Up next.
This hasn‘t been on my shelf too long (less than 3 years LOL). I believe it was a Dollar Tree find.
#littenkitten

I read the majority of another chapter and I just can‘t. I flipped through and scanned over the rest of the book.
Maybe 5 WOC mentioned (generous on 5).
Every chapter ended with a description of what that geek girl‘s ideal man. - Just no even in 2011 just let women love stuff without men involved.
It was either super current topic (Twilight) or older (Riot Grrl era).
If there is an updated edition of this book cool, it is super dated.
👇🏼

The struggle is real with this. Published in 2011 there is praise for some people that were found to be super problematic. Holy Twilight! I swear by all things if there is more about Twilight I might throw this book.
I‘m leaning hard on DFN- I just skimmed and skipped most of the “Film Geek” chapter because ALL WHITE WOMEN! All the women mentioned white all the characters white. You‘re gonna tell me there isn‘t 1 WOC that could make it in 2011?

My #bedsidestack
I‘m kind of on a nonfiction kick at the moment.
I think I‘m going to start with the tagged book cause it‘s short.
And of course Miss Belly #littenkitten

Audrey Hepburn
Tom Hanks
Julia Roberts
#TLT
@dabbe

I couldn‘t with this book. Maybe a physical edition would be fine, but the audio was a no go. I got less than 30 minutes in and I couldn‘t stand the narrator or the way the story was being told.

Up next.

This was good. There were moments that annoyed me and got to be a bit old and tired. Did it live up to its hype? For me no it didn‘t, still worth the read though.
The writing was good. The story was different in a good way. I would have liked less obscure 80s references. The characters needed some more depth throughout the whole book not just at the end.
3.8⭐️ if you want horror without too much Horror.

The chemist that fought in late 19th and early 20th century for pure food and laws to protect consumers against adulterated foods. Dr Wiley worked for the Ag Dept and what was the early USDA. He was responsible for the 1906 Pure Food Law.
Foods in the early 20th century were nasty, just gross.
There is so much in this book. Well written. Interesting, kept me wanting to read.
4⭐️ recommend if you are interested in food history.

I had a $30 B&an gift card from work (we get Kudo points to buy gift cards, I guess it‘s supposed to make us feel better about our crappy pay and useless raises).
Thankfully there were sales!
I bought the tagged book because I wanted to laugh out loud reading the back synopsis.
Of course I‘m going to get the John Lewis book.
I‘m weirdly into food history after watching the History Channel series ‘The Foods the Built America‘
#bookhaul

1. I‘ve read so many books set in England/Great Britain. It would be nice to see the places I‘ve only read about.
2. Yes, I would highly recommend it.
3. I‘m not sure lol whatever strikes me as I scroll through Libby.

#wonderouswednesday
@Eggs

7 years!
Best social media choice I ever made ☺️
#litsylove #hereforthelonghaul

Damnit Rainbow made me cry!
The man has a way with words and his comedy is right up my alley.
This did feel like a glossing over of big things. Almost like he didn‘t want to scare people off.
4.9 only because of the crying and lack of depth in places.
Highly recommend especially if you are a fan of his.

I love Randy Rainbow!
Up next in Audio

Random Question:
For those that workout/exercise how easy is it for you to stay focused on your workout and listen to a book?
I only recently started working out and have to really focus on the workout to keep my stamina/speed consistent. Not sure if trying to listen to a book would disrupt me.
Dog for attention lol yes he regularly sleeps like that.

1. Unfortunately, I have not. I have signed editions though.
2. Multiple times LOL
3. The world of Breakfast of Champions. I want a martini at the Holiday in and listen to Bunny play the piano.
#wonderouswednesday
@Eggs