#5JoysFriday

1) Hit 3 bookstores today & bought more books than are in this bag because I have no self control
2) Son‘s 19th birthday (pictured years ago on a trip in England to see the Harry Potter Warner Brothers studio)
3) Daughter‘s Convocation for Phi Beta Kappa
4) Close friend Elise flew down from Massachusetts to accept another award for her magnificent book & I got to attend
5) Recorded a decent reading month

Thanks for the tag!

I read these books ages ago and I still remember and love them and they are in place of prominence on my favorites bookshelf. All 3 Ebooks on sale now.

I sure wish we get an English version of this graphic novel!! Heck I‘d buy the French just to look at the graphics!

Anyone else looking forward to this book about Stonehenge? Me me me!!

More here:

https://www.instagram.com/p/DG0fqd1MKV1/?igsh=MTNkaHBpdTlueTNmYg==

Finally reporting my books read for March. This was a long-book month, and I was only 2 days away from finishing Cashelmara, which will show up in my April books read. I tagged my favorite book this month. Challenge update:

#foodandlit #Nepal (from last month) 2 (Katmandú Killers & Eight Mountains)
#foodandlit #Ireland 3+ most of Cashelmara
#foodandlit #Italy #Jubilee 1 (Eight Mountains)
#authoramonth (Bardugo) 2+ 1/2 of Wonder Woman

This is definitely me.

Borrowed from Instagram

Some trivia, true or not?

#authoramonth @Soubhiville

More Moby Dick and more book-related Mom memes here:

https://www.instagram.com/p/DH0VIqSMKH5/?img_index=1&igsh=cHYydzFkdWVxazBm

More great book memes here:

https://www.instagram.com/p/DH9QjJQR4ap/?igsh=MTBob2t1dmdqemRiNQ==

60-year-old Englishman Edward DeSalis marries 18-yo Marguerite, an American girl he meets during a trip to the states just prior to the civil war. He owns several homes but the one she likes the least is Cashelmara, a great estate in Ireland. The story begins with Edward then Marguerite and continues to be told by their descendants and their significant others. This is an epic story (700+ pages) of the DeSalis family that suffers some tragic ⬇️

Here‘s the map showing the Roman names of places in Great Britain. #authoramonth #litsyatoz #letterY @Soubhiville

This will be my first book for #authoramonth (Kate Quinn wrote Part 6) and #litsyatoz #letterY. @Soubhiville

A rogue group of Yale students and a cop find a way to and descend into hell. The attempt results in the expulsion of Alex and Dawes from Lethe, but that doesn‘t stop them from trying again. Meanwhile cop Turner asks for Alex‘s help with 2 murders on campus, and she‘s running side hustles for Eitan, the drug boss from LA. Fast moving and loads of mysteries, it‘s an excellent second book in the trilogy. The cover? Not so much. #authoramonth

New mini story:

https://www.instagram.com/p/DH1MHtBgLD4/?igsh=MXd5MmRubWVyejA1bg==

We‘re watching the movie again tonight #Italy #Nepal #foodandlit @Catsandbooks

I‘ve been listening to Celtic music all month for #Ireland #foodandlit except when listening to this book. 11+ hours to go. @Catsandbooks

#5joysFriday Hard hard week at work so I‘ve got to think really hard on this one.

1) attending a friend‘s award ceremony for her book
2) even though I‘m 57, Mom @Doll8455 still checks up on me 🥰
3) going to my daughter‘s induction into Phi Beta Kappa Honor Society this morning
4) it‘s close to only 1 month before son comes home from college for the summer
5) I may be close to hiring a new paralegal (my previous one retired)

@DebinHawaii

I was very fortunate to attend the award luncheon for my good friend (& former paralegal) Elise Urrutia. She won an award from the San Antonio Conservation Society for writing one of the top ten books in the last three years about Texas history! That‘s such a big deal (But maybe not quite the caliber of the international award she also has won).

I got to meet her illustrator, whose drawings are so beautiful partly because she‘s also an architect

#two4Tuesday Thanks @TheSpineView for the tag!

1) paper crafts, pet my cat, go to museums, picnics, memorable trips, thoughtful gifts, when someone else cooks, watch movies, listen to music, Litsy, play dominoes with my parents (I used to take long walks but my back pain won‘t let me)

2) tagged: the feel good book of 2024

She‘s one smart cookie!!

Enjoy a new mini story

https://www.instagram.com/p/DHjUq29RQUy/?igsh=MTVmaHVlZXAxdmFxZg==

I‘m mostly better from the stomach bug—it knocked me out for two days (ugh!). So we took son out for his last night in town before flying back to college tomorrow (😞). We went to our local Irish place and I had Guinness beef stew and soda bread. I was nervous about my stomach so I ate only some of it. But it was delicious. And I love soda bread. I‘m going to have to figure out how to make it or find a bakery where I can buy it regularly. ⬇️

1-2) Visiting Mom & Dad (& playing dominoes) & seeing all the birds visiting them
3) Buying loads of books from 4 bookstores in Houston
4) Eating at the astronauts‘ fave restaurant Frenchie‘s with son & husband
5) Going to the NASA Space Center and seeing the Saturn rocket again—an amazing sight to behold

Sadly I caught a stomach bug and have been really sick since last night. 😞

Thanks @DebinHawaii for the tag! #5joysFriday

The Libby Awards

https://www.libbylife.com/2025-02-25-the-winners-of-the-2025-libby-book-awards?u...

My final purchase yesterday from Good Books in the Woods in The Woodlands north of Houston.

Another purchase yesterday from Good Books in the Woods, a fantastic bookstore in The Woodlands north of Houston.

I bought this book at Good Books in the Woods yesterday. I loved this bookstore housed in a house! Very maze-like (they give you a map) with a gazillion used books. I could have stayed much longer. But we were in The Woodlands, a suburb north of Houston and we had to drive through downtown (yikes!) to two bookstores there, then a long drive to Clear Lake, a suburb south of Houston. Like @Graywacke I highly recommend this store!

From Insta

This book was my last purchase from Murder by the Book in Houston. I loved Kwei Quartey‘s Emma Djian series, so I‘m ready to start the Inspector Darko Dawson series, also set in Ghana.

We are back home now but I have a lot more books to share from our bookstore crawl in Houston yesterday. 😊

Not book related—we are at Johnson Space Center today. Book shopping yesterday in Houston and NASA today. A very nice short spring break trip. Four hour drive back home to San Antonio later.

Two more books, books 23 & 24 of the series, from the Houston bookstore Murder by the Book. I now only need three books to complete the series

Two of several books I bought at Murder by the Book in Houston.

My purchase from Brazos Bookstore in Houston yesterday

Taking suggestions from @cassareada and @Graywacke we visited four bookstores (the last was Half Price Books near NASA), and NASA astronauts‘ favorite Italian place nearby, Frenchie‘s and it is absolutely authentic. Son ate here when he presented his high school rocket flight plan at NASA and told us we had to come try it. The walls are covered with the signed astronaut photos. It‘s wonderful—the little old Italian men running the place ♥️!

Interesting fact about Belfast. #foodandlit #Ireland @Catsandbooks

Look what arrived as I was writing my review for book one. So I‘m putting Bardugo‘s Wonder Woman book on hold so I can read this one! #authoramonth @Soubhiville

Btw, I hate this cover.

Magic at Yale! Alex, a druggie who barely survived a murderous rampage, is recruited to go to Yale so that during her spare time she can go undercover at the Ninth House—Lethe. Not because she‘s brilliant but because of her unique ability to see ghosts. Lethe helps the other 8 houses during their ritual magic ceremonies by keeping ghosts at bay, from interfering with the magic. But Alex is a girl from the streets so she approaches her job quite ⬇️

This is the story about a miserable excuse of a man and the man he‘s been coerced to murder, an Englishman who lived in #Ireland, during their escape aboard ship to NYC from the famine. But a lot of folks have reasons to commit the murder, and does he really “deserve” to die? There are a lot of side stories that all tie back to these two characters. I wasn‘t terribly keen on the writer‘s style but it was a good, interesting read. #bookedintime ⬇️

I‘m Kind O‘Lucky! Tell me yours!

Forgive me for filling up your feed with all the St Patrick‘s Day memes! I can‘t help myself!!

A little Texas-Irish interesting fact. #foodandlit #Ireland @Catsandbooks

🤣🤣🤣💚💚💚

I‘ve always thought the Irish were among the smartest people on the planet! Right @Cuilin and @GingerAntics ?

Fam is going to Houston Wednesday and Thursday and will be checking out some bookstores, particularly the awesome Half Price Books near NASA (we‘re also going to the Johnson Space Center Museum where daughter and I got to spend the night when she was in Girl Scouts—AMAZING!).

Hey Houstonians! Any recommended bookstores down that way or on the way back to San Antonio?

And I can attest this quote is so darned true about Houston!

You know you married the right guy when he surprises you with a book he ordered that he knew you‘d love.