1. Tagged book that I picked up from someone in my free cycle group.

2. I stumbled on a series of Hamilton reaction videos. Very thorough and insightful.

3. Tom and Lorenzo‘s podcast gives me joy most weeks, especially the last episode.

4. 2025 author a month list.

5. Vietnamese coffee, where have you been all my life?

#5joysfriday

My in-laws from Baltimore are asking: Where‘s the sauerkraut, hon? For proper pronunciation, you‘ll have to catch me in person. 😉

I‘ve had 49/73 items that are actually on the list. Here are some of my favorites.
1. Mashed potatoes
2. Roasted acorn squash
3. Glazed carrots
No thank you to giblets!

Here‘s the link if you want to take the survey: https://shorturl.at/RSOqi

#TLT

1. I‘m a planner, but definitely not to the last degree.
2. In the tagged book, Kinsey ends up going undercover in an auto insurance fraud ring. She‘s all set to meet with her contact and get all the inside information, but that meeting never happens. Instead she gets thrown into the situation prematurely and has to “wing it” not just to succeed but to survive.
#two4tuesday

I like to read a mix of both. Like @BookmarkTavern I don‘t especially like cliffhangers.

I like books that are part of a series but can also be read on their own. The tagged book is an example. It‘s part of an entertaining series, but the action skipped forward from the 1870s to the 1930s. You don‘t need to know all the details of the earlier books to enjoy this one.

#sundayfunday #hyggehourreadathon

#daysdevotedto #hiking

https://connect.clickandpledge.com/w/Form/a5d60e56-25e3-4754-b4f0-96c514fe2954?6...

1. Soup season
2. Dinner with ballpark friends
3. Good day at Antietam capped off by a screening of the new visitors center movie
4. MD-06 and VA-07 stayed blue
5. Fiddling around with Bluesky
#5joysFriday

This pizza looks amazing! #indiebookstores

I‘m not sure what I was expecting, but this wasn‘t it. Still, I liked it and was happy to read it at last for #authoramonth after having it on my TBR for a while. Interesting family story with a bit of magical realism.

I was tagged again, so here are some more favorites. Because I‘m such a hobbit! There were probably not bananas in the Shire, but they would love it if they tried banana bread! These are ones they‘d more likely make:
1. Cherry pie
2. Carrot cake
3. Peach cobbler
#TLT take two

Desserts! I did much better with this topic! 68/100

My favorites from this list:
1 churros
2 key lime pie
3 Waldorf salad (which will always remind me of Fawlty Towers)
#TLT
I would love to try cranberry sorbet but NOT sweet potato ice cream.

Here‘s the link if you want to take the survey: https://www.listchallenges.com/thanksgiving-dessert-table

To say my reading has fallen off the past several days would be an accurate statement. 😳

Be that as it may, I‘m pivoting to Horse today ahead of tonight‘s book club meeting. It‘s good so far!

I bailed on Starling House. It just wasn‘t working for me. With seven weeks left in the year, I do expect to finish the rest of these plus some others. My Goodreads goal is 80 and I‘ve read 74 to date.

#TenBeforeTheEnd

1. Stripes. I should wear them more I think.
2. I don‘t have any physical books from the library at the moment, but I have the tagged book and a couple others from Libby.
#two4Tuesday on Wednesday

Thanks for the tag

Professional organizers will tell you not to keep single socks. I learned the hard way that as soon as you throw out a mateless sock, you will find the missing mate. I also like to make pairs #oddsocks if they‘re a similar weight. #daysdevotedto

I‘m not feeling especially hygge right now, but I‘m eating spaghetti and reading the tagged book. Meanwhile, I also have the football game on the TV. Those eye searing red uniforms aren‘t very hygge either. #hyggehourreadathon

May it be an evening star shines down upon you
May it be when darkness falls your heart will be true…

https://youtu.be/nt3Ggo1CE3g

Even if the part of the movie that includes this song is actually part of the next book 😉

#sundayfunday

This was fun and a nice distraction from … all this.

Little by little I‘m working through #serieslove2024 and #tenbeforetheend while I figure out what to read for the rest of the year.

The tagged book is not specifically about the holidays, but it works nicely for #NFNovember and Native American Heritage Month. It also has that quiet and contemplative tone I associate with colder weather and the end of the year.

Here are some Christmas books to round out the list.
1. Letters from Father Christmas- Tolkien
2. A Christmas Carol - Dickens
3. Feliz Navidead - Ann Myers
#TLT

I have a shelf full of #coffee cups but often end up just using the same one over and over. Last Christmas my brother-in-law gave me a mug from a place they had visited in the summer on vacation, and that became my go-to cup.

Sunday night my husband called the VP a rude name.

I left my go-to mug in the car Tuesday, so I think I‘ll switch over to this one for a while.

#daysdevotedto

Some joys from my little blue bubble…
1. Senator-elect Angela Alsobrooks
2. Representative-elect Sarah Elfreth
3. Voting to protect reproductive rights by a margin of nearly 3:1
4. Working at the polls
5. Many hugs among friends at a luncheon on Wednesday

1. Rainy day, comfy chair, purring cat, suitable beverage, maybe some soft music
2. NGL. I‘ve had to set a few things aside because they‘re hitting differently than they did a couple days ago. That‘s why I‘m glad the tagged book came out of its Libby hold for me yesterday. Historical mystery with magic? Yes please!
#wondrouswednesday

1. This time of year, at least, it‘s sunrise.
2. Worst petsitting job (ever)*
* I set aside The Grey Wolf for now for reasons I‘ll describe in the comments.
#two4tuesday on Wednesday

I‘m at dinner with my husband and his friend. While they watch football, I‘ll read my book! And eat a piece of cake! #hyggehourreadathon

I think I‘m going to pounce on this one as soon as I get to the top of the hold list. #sundayfunday

For my joys this week I‘m reprising my trip to the bookstore on Tuesday. I don‘t know what next week will bring, but I‘m at peace…at least for the moment. #5joysfriday

Now that it‘s November, I can stop deferring my hold on this book and just read it already! I wonder what new (and old) #authors we will read next year? #daysdevotedto

It‘s 80F on October 31, and I‘m drinking iced mocha.

It was a pretty good reading month. Impossible Creatures was my favorite, and I also especially enjoyed the latest Tana French.

It looks like Beautyland is the odd book out in terms of the color story. 😄

#wrapup

I actually made a spreadsheet for this list when it was first published! I‘ve read 23 of them including some of my favorites.
1. The Shadow of the Wind
2. Bury Your Dead
3. Blacktop Wasteland
Many more are on my TBR list, including the tagged book.
Here‘s the link to take the survey: https://shorturl.at/KbFsO
#TLT

Bath & Body Works may have already moved on to Christmas, but by my calendar it‘s still Halloween…

Sour
Make
Ghost
Owls
Mummy
Party
Casper
Potion
Cobwebs
Paint
Graveyard

#wondrouswednesday

Thanks for the tags @TheSpineView @julieclair

I was just going to my local indie bookstore to order some Christmas gifts and gossip with the bookseller about some drama with another store in the shopping center… Then I saw the new Louise Penny book sitting on top of a box. I mentioned I was already stalking Libby to see where I was on the hold list, but she made another suggestion. It was “damaged” (a tiny tear in the dust cover), so she sold it to me at a discount. Look at these end papers!

I read one issue of Real Simple this month and don‘t think I‘ll get through any more in the next couple days. Nonetheless , I‘ll keep going until they‘re all gone!

Meanwhile, I finished The Moor at Gladstone‘s and was prepared to bring it home for the newly restored LFL at the local community center. However, my hotel in Bath had an informal lending library, so I left it there.

#readordonate #monthlymagazineblitz

I was just going to get this started yesterday and finish it some time this week, but you know what they say about best laid plans! There are some debut-author execution issues, but it‘s a clever idea and cute story. Nine books left to meet my Goodreads goal and eight books left from my #TenBeforeTheEnd list. I have most of these on hand ✳️ or on hold✴️.

I‘m reading a nice paranormal mystery for #hyggehourreadathon tonight. Is it spooky? Maybe! #sundayfunday

1. Puffins from Maine (courtesy of Heather Cox Richardson)
2. A place to walk in the woods that I first started exploring ten years ago this week
3. Lunch with my sister topped by yummy dessert
4. Kamala, Angela, and Sarah
5. Talking about my trip with a man at my church who grew up near the train line
#5joysfriday

This delightful book includes a #potion and a magical quest as well as many impossible creatures both familiar and fantastic. #wickedwhispers

I did better on this one: 39/100. Here are the highlights in no particular order.
1. Rear Window
2. Casablanca
3. 12 Angry Men
Honorable Mention to China Syndrome for Michael Douglas and his spectacular hair.
Here‘s the link if you want to take the survey: https://shorturl.at/4KF8L
#TLT

1. Mango
2. Tagged book…or pretty much any cozy mystery 😋
#two4tuesday

Great setting beautifully described, with clunky dialogue and two dimensional characters. The story was okay. But I finished it with an hour to spare before Libby reclaimed it!

Tomorrow I‘ll start Grim Reaper‘s Guide.

Progress was made on the rest.

Fun readathon!

#birthdaybashreadathon

Tonight I‘m spending #hyggehourreadathon in one of my favorite spots for reading. I‘m lounging on the living room couch, watching/listening to the baseball game, with a belly full of Mexican food. I‘m reading a book that‘s due tomorrow, so I can finish it and start the book I checked out from the library today. I hope I don‘t fall asleep! #sundayfunday

I‘m very late posting my goals for @TheAromaofBooks #birthdaybashreadathon and late wishing her a happy birthday. I won‘t possibly read all of this before tomorrow but I‘m making progress on all.

Life in Ardnakelty, Ireland, has settled into a sort of equilibrium after the events of the first book, until Trey‘s father Johnny returns after many years away. He brings with him a harebrained scheme which eventually leads to a murder and subsequent investigation, but the real story here is how the characters interact to achieve their goal, demonstrated through the author‘s gift for dialogue. #authoramonth #tenbeforetheend

1. Gladstone‘s Library as seen from the front gate after a walk
2. Welsh rarebit in Wales 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿
3. Train ride through the countryside
4. Autumn day in Bath
5. Royal Crescent
#5joysfriday

I‘ve seen 15/100 of these movies. Here are a few standouts in no particular order. Here‘s the link if you want to take the survey: https://shorturl.at/QvVEM
-Smokey and the Bandit
-Wings
-Return of the Jedi
#TLT

Spiced rum with diet ginger beer was a little odd, but it went well with the snacks I had for the train ride from Hawarden to Bath. #skull #wickedwhispers

Final #bookhaul from Gladstone‘s Library!

It was lovely to see some of you again and to meet some of you for the first time!

1. Of course not.
2. Tomorrow‘s plane reading?
#two4tuesday

If you‘re not familiar with this author, I suggest you start somewhere else! But if you know her you might like this one. #dark #slowburn #witch #wickedwhispers #authoramonth

In Wales reading a book set in Ireland. #hyggehourreadathon

My #TenBeforeTheEnd is subject to change at any moment! This captures my current thoughts on the situation. I think the tagged book is up next.

1. I made it to Gladstone‘s Library!
2. I‘m in the same room as I was two years ago.
3. Lovely flowers from the back garden. My phone says they‘re sulphur cosmos.
4. My book stack…so far.
5. A friend of mine got a new kitten!
#5joysfriday

My score is 11/100 and none of them stands out as a particular favorite. Yes, I‘m counting that I watched The Longest Day when I was eight years old, even though I slept through most of it. Perhaps I‘ll revisit it now that I understand the subject matter more! #TLT