#5JoysFriday

1. When 4 year old dress themselves. Mermaid swim suit over clothes, topped with a Wonder Woman crown = ready for school!

2. We had a surprise visit from a wild baby bunny. I told the kids to just sit and watch, but he started hopping all over them!

3. A nice bottle of cold, crisp rose.

4. Our fruit trees were in full blossom 🌸

5. Mothers Day show in the kindie classroom! Songs, poems, and cupcakes!

@DebinHawaii

The literary world lost a giant yesterday. Thank you, Alice, for enriching the lives of all your readers.

CBC has been republishing some great articles about Munro's life and work today.

92 things to know about Alice Munro:
https://www.cbc.ca/amp/1.4088507

11 books Alice Munro loves and you will too:
https://www.cbc.ca/books/11-books-alice-munro-loves-and-you-will-too-1.4088869

Worst song in the world? Christell - Dubidubidu

IYKYK 🤦‍♀️

https://youtu.be/68YK_d4VyfU?si=ThpfxQuUBytU9vDn

#TuesdayTunes @TieDyeDude

Witty, thoughtful, introspective coming of age story set in Italy. Vero is an unreliable narrator, viewing the world around her and the lives of her family, friends, and self with a level of detachment that adds humour and at times heart ache. She freely admits to adjusting reality to fit into a narrative that proves more interesting for herself, and the result is a delightful, quick read where not much happens but it doesn't really matter.

With a dedication like this, I already love this book!

I loved the start of this book. The set up was excellent and cute and sweet and all the things you could want. But then it fell off for me. It dragged on a bit too long, and got too trope-y for me with some of the miscommunication and problems created that really didn't have to be problems.

Altogether, I felt it was alright but will likely fade from memory quickly.

"All I wanted was to get out of that room. Be done with all the other last chances awaiting me. Miss trains, not seize moments, burn bridges and the candle at both ends, wallow in a sea of the irreversible."

(Every time I sit down with this book, I'm scribbling down new quotes.)

...and now I want an omelette!

1. Tag a favourite mystery you've read
Tagged! A fun YA mystery series that is very Veronica Mars-esque (only gender swapped and written from the perspective of the “Wallace“)

2. What is your favourite way to prepare eggs?
Two egg rolled omelette with cheese (especially with kraft singles!)

#nationaleggmonthchallenge
@wildalaskabibliophile

I enjoyed this, but not as much as I wanted to. I think it's a victim of high expectations. A fun concept, with some delightful moments. But it gets a bit repetitive, and I'm not totally sold on the ending. I wanted more growth, more introspection maybe? A low pick.

“She'd been a widow for years, since before I was born, but she clung to her mourning with the tenacity of a die-hard soccer fan. She reserved for all other widows the scorn diehards felt for bandwagon fans.“

“It was the first real goodbye in my life. To be perfectly honest, I'd been building up to that moment in my mind since the day we started going out. In fact, I think that was exactly why I'd started dating him in the first place: so we could leave each other. The thought that he'd be leaving the country soon ensured me a misery I could enjoy without the hassle of having to go out and find one myself.“

I love the idea of this book, and Henley is an engaging writer and narrator, but I just couldn't get past the very privileged POV. While she talks a lot about financial struggles, she is still in a comfortable enough position with the connections and lack of dependents to step back in this way. It just failed to connect. Maybe later in the book she touches on this disconnect, but after 30% I just didn't want to listen anymore.

I'm not a huge basketball fan. I loved it when Toronto first got a team, loved it when that team won the championship, but other than that I could take it or leave it. But now I have a favourite basketball player! Watch this, it's so sweet (and I promise, it's Litsy relevant!):

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/UgaxVeKa2xuPWwxK/?mibextid=0VwfS7

Lovely, engaging, cozy sci-fi populated with wonderful characters. The ending was less than satisfying, but spending time with the staff and guests of the Grand Abeona was well worth the time.

@squirrelbrain Thank you so much! I'm so excited for this one, I've heard nothing but good things. I so appreciate you 😀❤️

Fantastic listen. Should be required reading.
Ritchie is an Enviro Scientist and Data Analyst with a passion for writing. She combines her skills to deliver a clear eyed state of the climate that cuts through sensationalist headlines and sits in the facts with a fresh, hopeful perspective. She never sugar coats things, where the situation is bad she tells you just how bad it is, but she also shows how we can, and often are, making things better.

I honestly don't know how Evie Wyld does it. She writes about messy, complicated women with such humanity. And she delves into the horrible ways people can mistreat eachother, especially men's violence towards women, without ever feeling exploitative. She turns the focus to women's resilience and rage, and crafts an engrossing narrative around it.
Note - there is no real ending here, which I LOVE but I know doesn't work for everyone!
cont'd

Recently rediscovered this album from 2010. What a fantastic listen, I just love her voice!

#TuesdayTunes @TieDyeDude

https://open.spotify.com/album/6pqkj2YtzJ99SPqE1mAZM5?si=vy7nlcLaT_SZgTV5xTmGOw

(Also totally worth checking out is her cover of Bad Romance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2EJai-3k2w )

For the first time in a while, I feel fully engaged in and excited about everything I'm reading!

Audio - Not the End of the World by Hannah Ritchie. I feel like this should be required reading. I'm going to need to buy a copy to revisit!

Physical - All the Birds, Singing by Evie Wyld. I don't think there's an author out there who writes such wonderfully messy women. I'm loving it.

Cont'd in comments

#weekendreads @rachelsbrittain

I feel so seen!

#IndependentBookstoreDay Haul - book buying edition!

I set myself a budget and totally stuck to it! (Maybe I should buy another book to celebrate...)

I went in with the plan to get Brotherless Night and to discover some new titles that weren't on my radar, and I succeeded on all counts 👍🎉

Tagging my local indie. They always host a fabulous Independent Bookstore Day celebration and amazing events throughout the year.

#IndependentBookstoreDay Haul - Free books edition!

American Woman was a free ARC with purchase, and the other three were in my grab bag from winning a Facebook mystery book contest. Not bad!

I appreciated this book more than I actually enjoyed it. The magical realism and the setting were effective in creating a beautiful, haunting, dense atmosphere. But the jumping timeline, regularly changing POVs, and shifts between third, second, and first-person perspectives made it difficult to focus and to deeply connect with the characters. The first third was incredibly engaging and effective, but the remainder was inconsistent. Low pick.

#ThreeListThursday #TLT

I'm sure there's tons, but these are the first to spring to mind:
Just Like Heaven - The Cure
I Wanna Dance with Somebody - Whitney Houston
Modern Love/Let's Dance - David Bowie (I can't choose between them!)

@dabbe

Thoughts on the #WomensPrize Shortlist?

I didn't read the whole Longlist, but I'm surprised at Restless Dolly Maunder being here. It was a good read, but nothing superb. I would have liked to see Ordinary Human Failings. And from reviews I've read, In Defense of the Act seemed to be a stand out.

@BarbaraBB @squirrelbrain

Thursday Murder Club casting news!

https://deadline.com/2024/04/helen-mirren-pierce-brosnan-ben-kingsley-thursday-m...

Thoughts? IMO Mirren and Kingsley are great choices, but Brosnan is not AT ALL how I picture Ron.

I've been lucky enough to volunteer at some great book events recently, so I've met some wonderful authors: Fredrik Backman, Ann-Marie MacDonald, David Robertson, Michael Crummey, Alissa York, CS Richardson. All were lovely to meet!

I'd love to meet Margaret Atwood, Kazuo Ishiguro, Eden Robinson, the list goes on and on!

Holy shirt, what did I just read? A short, fast read; the writing is sharp and impactful, the story bold and unrelentingly brutal. Purposefully horrifying, I can't say it was a book I liked or would easily recommend, but it has shaken me and will stay with me for a long time.

"In those places where blood mixes with soil and water, it's difficult to make any sort of distinction between man and animal."

Fun, light read about the girls who run a record store, and a vigilante fight club on the side. Issues #1-4.
Heavy 90s vibes, very Josie and the Pussycats meets Empire Records, as run by the Scooby Gang.

I don't know what it was that brought this song back into my mind recently, but DAMN these ladies can sing. It's been on regular play this week!

https://open.spotify.com/track/71EHOyEOhNx1SzTebRRyng?si=RhL0zZ9AQECin4hAf5SdNA

#TuesdayTunes
SWV - Weak
@TieDyeDude

🎯

Heart wrenching and emotional, with moments of beauty, joy, and love. It's a wonderful debut, engaging crafted, filled with genuinely human characters at their best and worst.

Be prepared, there is no real resolution in the ending. Personally, I loved that, but I know that doesn't work for everyone! I found that lack of finality echoed the balance of heartbreak with just the slightest light of hope that Ibeh walks so beautifully.

#ARC

*happy sigh* I love the TBR explosion that is #CampLitsy24 nomination time! So many interesting options. Here are my nominees:

The Alternatives - Caoilinn Hughes (tagged)
There's Always This Year - Haniq Abdurraqib (tagged in comments)
The Cemetery of Untold Stories - Julia Alvarez (tagged in comments)
The Husbands - Holly Gramazio (tagged in comments)

@squirrelbrain @Megabooks @BarbaraBB

As a child of the 80s, there is zero chance of keeping this to a list of three!

Back to the Future
Batman
Beetlejuice
The Big Chill
The Breakfast Club
Can't Buy Me Love
Clue
Ferris Bueller's Day Off
The Goonies
Labyrinth
Lean on Me
The Lost Boys
The Neverending Story
Once Upon a Giant
The Princess Bride
Stand By Me
Steel Magnolias
This is Spinal Tap
When Harry Met Sally

@dabbe #ThreeListThursday #TLT #NineteenListThursday

“I read it carefully, trying to glean clues from what the doctors discovered inside. Trying to understand why a heart “attacks.“ I place my palm over my heart and feel it beat. Will it turn against me too?“

#BookwormProblems

Chidgey masterfully crafts an atmosphere of growing unease. Coming of age, with all its preteen anxieties, is compounded by a glamorous, manipulative teacher. Interwoven into the narrative are issues of groupthink, religious ferver, body image, loneliness, and grief. An unsettling read with an explosive climax that will not soon be forgotten.

Engaging, entertaining, & thoughtful. Small town drug dealer Cillian English has pissed off his suppliers, they retaliate by snatching his teenage brother Doll and hiding him away in a country house. The story is elevated by Barrett's choice to frame the telling through the eyes of Nicky, Doll's girlfriend, and Dev, the owner of the house. Both really just want to get through this & be left alone. They give the story a unique and memorable heart.

#TLT #ThreeListThursday

1. Field of Dreams
2. Killing Eve (TV show, but SO much better than the book)
3. The Notebook

@dabbe

Two VERY different #TuesdayTunes I keep returning to these days:

Rise - The Frames https://open.spotify.com/track/4mHLZO8iKoHQSkxRVavhC1?si=HCGuoB2URoOMvSbCGwQ5CA

Sorry, Not Sorry - Demi Lovato https://open.spotify.com/track/0yvPEnB032fojLfVluFjUv?si=LYWybnkARFWBNJpJtn3nOg

@TieDyeDude

(Tagged is my current read!)

I JUST decided two days ago that I was going to chill out with the pre-orders. Today I found out that Caoilinn Hughes has a new book coming out this year.

So, that didn't last long!

If you haven't read The Wild Laughter yet, I can't recommend it enough. And this one looks like it's going to be just as special.

"Tea is the one medication that has no side effects."

#InternationalBooker

Ultimately a pick, because I didn't want to stop reading. We are presented with the story of an enigmatic, intelligent, resourceful, resilient woman and her life in North and South Korea throughout the 20th century. At turns playful and cruel, beautiful and heart breaking, the narrative jumps through time like the titular Trickster, teasing the reader and questioning truth.

Cont'd in comments

Went to pick up my son's pre-order of The Scarlet Shedder (anyone else have Pilkey obsessed kiddos?), and was drawn to the tagged for myself. Partially because of the fantastic cover, and partially because the review quote on the back says it's for "those who feel Barbara Pym-ish on some days and Stephen King-ish on others." Who could resist that combo?!

An excellent, engaging read.

1990. A young girl is found dead on a council estate in London. Another child is suspected of causing her death. An exploitative journalist hides the family away in a hotel in hopes of wringing a story out of them.

I couldn't turn away, and found myself sneaking time to listen during a busy March Break. Highly recommend! I usually can't do fiction on audio, but Jessica Regan's narration was superb.

#WomensPrize

A solid historical fiction read about a complicated woman in early 20th century Australia, trying to find a way to live within the narrow confines of society. Grenville's author notes and connection to Dolly add extra interest.

It was a good read, but as a #WomensPrize nominee, it wouldn't make my Shortlist. I enjoyed it, but nothing felt new or exceptional to make it Prize worthy.

#TLT #ThreeListThursday @dabbe

1. Middlesex - Jeffrey Eugenides
2. Never Let Me Go - Kazuo Ishiguro
3. Black Swan Green - David Mitchell

Gotta love some gorgeous end papers! 😍

Honestly, I don't know what I can add to the rave reviews from the #EuropaCollective for this book. If you have been wondering if it really is that good, just know that it is.