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Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values (Quill)
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values (Quill) | Robert M Persig, Robert M Pirsig
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review
keepingupwiththepenguins
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Mehso-so

Zen And The Art Of Motorcycle Maintenance is a book I‘d recommend to privileged white men who take themselves too seriously. For me? It was fine, but not one I‘ll be re-reading. Full review: https://keepingupwiththepenguins.com/zen-and-the-art-of-motorcycle-maintenance-r...

Texreader Love your description of this book!! 6mo
Jari-chan Me too 😁 6mo
TheBookHippie 🎯 6mo
42 likes1 stack add3 comments
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Andrew65
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Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks Perfect 💛📚 1y
Eggs Excellent choice 👏🏻👏🏻 1y
66 likes1 stack add2 comments
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CSeydel
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Got my work cut out for me!
#bookspin
#doublespin

TheAromaofBooks Woohoo!!! 2y
40 likes1 comment
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LeaKell
Bailedbailed

Life is too short to read books you can‘t get in to. I tried with this book, like 150 pages of trying, but dang..I bailed and I never bail on books! Not for me.

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mobill76

I don't consider Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance to be fiction. But it could've been and it wouldn't have mattered. It just rocked my world. The whole Quality thing. The concept of actually thinking in a different way. Even Pirsig's narrative of how that concept was rediscovered by a post shock-therapy motorcycle rider on a cross-country trip with his estranged son.

5 likes1 stack add
review
QBub
Mehso-so

I read an interesting story of Pirsig‘s cross country motorcycle trip, accompanied by his son and 2 friends. I‘m certain that there are much deeper themes here than I extracted. I guess I‘m just not that deep a thinker.

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ladygrey
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This book belongs to my partner and was recommended to him by his boss. It's been on our shelf for awhile so I'm gonna give it a try! Sounds like a good read for this point in my life. Any thoughts on this one? 🏍

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ONH
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Listened to this while on a road trip of my own ... and wow. So many interesting ideas! It was definitely not easy to get through since I don‘t know much about philosophy in the first place, but it provided me with some new lenses through which to view my own life and work.

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Curiouser_and_curiouser
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And yes, I had another book buying spree at my favorite op shop a little while ago.... this is half of it.
But when will I find the time???
Hoping work will die down a little to give me a breather and some reading time. I need some down time!

MrsMalaprop Hope you get some reading time soon. 4y
Ruthiella I really liked The Persian Boy. I need to read more from Renault! 😀 4y
Curiouser_and_curiouser @MrsMalaprop Thank you! Me too! Looking forward to it. I have set aside 2 hours for myself this morning before Easter clean up and preparations begin, then work again tonight. 4y
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Curiouser_and_curiouser Thanks for your comment @Ruthiella I love hearing of others recommendations and TBR's. Gets me very excited to read the books I own. I really like to have a ground or a backstory or purpose for reading a book, it creates more meaning for me. Thanks so much x 4y
umbrellagirl That Ann Patchett was fabulous. It is worth making the time! 4y
Curiouser_and_curiouser @umbrellagirl sure is! I had some time today so I'm feeling almost normal again 😉 And yes, The Dutch House is a fantastic one, I have read it but it was an ebook read on my phone. So happy to have my own copy now. I'd like to read a couple of others of hers I have in my collection too. I've heard great things! 4y
57 likes1 stack add6 comments
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sarahlandis
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Panpan

So I really tried to like this book. But after some reflection, I think I really just detest all books written by white men before the 2000‘s, traveling, and writing about all their big ideas and existential crises. He tried to write about Greek philosophy, Buddhism and zen, plus narrating his complicated relationships on a cross country motorcycle trip. I‘m sure he meant to write about all these things in a way that subtly tied them all together

sarahlandis but it just turned into a messy jarble of writing about all those things terribly. I‘m not sure why I had several people (white men) tell me this was “one of my favorite books”, but I definitely understand now why someone (not a white man) said this was a “god awful” book. 4y
magyklyXdelish That doesn‘t sound like a good book at all. However that food looks delicious. What is it, if I may ask? 4y
sarahlandis @magyklyXdelish an omelet with onion and hot peppers on top of a plate full of spaghetti haha 4y
magyklyXdelish That sounds amazing, not gonna lie. 4y
6 likes4 comments
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LowCountryKnight

Reading this book helped me do the work for my History program even though I was in a wholly unpragmatic mindset. It seems to be a good example of straight thinking, concentrated, that just sticks with the mentality required to understand its own assumptions. The notion of 'Quality' is a bit misguided perhaps, but so are the best philosophies of all time and he really seems to believe what he says, seeing a logic in it somehow. Force your actions.

KCofKaysville I read it in college and liked it! 4y
3 likes1 comment
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AdamCaron
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Pickpick

Not at all what I expected and highly pleased with that. This book gets very deep and some points I had a hard time following. But love the overall meaning and learned a lot about me in this book.

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Exbrarian
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#7books7days Day 4. Books that changed me or left an impression.

36 likes1 stack add
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SheReadsAndWrites
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I always feel like somebody's watching me.... ❤️🐶😂🤓

Fdvgf Aww-dorable!!!🥰 5y
Tanisha_A Think I am going to start reading this one as well 5y
SheReadsAndWrites Thank you! 😊 @Fdvgf 5y
SheReadsAndWrites I'm only like 5 chapters in but I'm liking it more than I thought I would so far. @Tanisha_A 5y
43 likes4 comments
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Tanisha_A
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sudi Love this one ❤ 5y
Soubhiville This is a great one! 5y
Leftcoastzen Wow! 5y
JennyM Cool 😎 5y
Tanisha_A @sudi @Soubhiville @Leftcoastzen @JennyM It's striking! I am yet to read the book though. 😶 5y
62 likes5 comments
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Nine

The real cycle you're working on is a cycle called yourself. The machine that appears to be "out there" and the person that appears to be "in here" are not two separate things. They grow toward Quality or fall away from Quality together.

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Nine

Anxiety [...] is sort of the opposite of ego. You're so sure you'll do everything wrong you're afraid to do anything at all. Often this, rather than "laziness" is the real reason you find it hard to get started.

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Nine

When one isn't dominated by feelings of separateness from what he's working on, then one can be said to "care" about what he's doing. That is what caring really is, a feeling of identification with what one's doing. When one has this feeling then he also see the inverse side of caring, Quality itself.

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Nine

The past cannot remember the past. The future can't generate the future. The cutting edge of this instant right here and now is always nothing less than the totality of everything there is.

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Nine

I think it's important to tie care to Quality by pointing out that care and Quality are internal and external aspects of the same thing. A person who sees Quality and feels it as he works is a person who cares. A person who cares about what he sees and does is a person who's bound to have some characteristics of Quality.

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Nine

sophistry - n. - a subtle, tricky, superficially plausible, but generally fallacious method of reasoning, false argument

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Nine

casuistry - n. - specious, deceptive, or oversubtle reasoning, especially in questions of morality; fallacious or dishonest application of general principles; sophistry

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Nine

Little children were trained not to do "just what they liked" but... but what?... Of course! What others liked. And which others? Parents, teachers, supervisors, policemen, judges, officials, kings, dictators. All authorities. When you are trained to despise "just what you like" then, of course, you become a much more obedient servant of others - a good slave. When you learn not to do "just what you like" then the System loves you.

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Nine

When you try to climb a mountain to prove how big you are, you almost never make it. And even if you do, it's a hollow victory. In order to sustain the victory you have to prove yourself again and again in some other way, and again and again and again, driven forever to fill a false image, haunted by the fear that the image is not true and someone will find out.

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Nine

You look at where you're going and where you are and it never makes sense, but then you look back at where you've been and a pattern seems to emerge. And if you project forward from that pattern, then sometimes you can come up with something.

Leftcoastzen 👏👏👏❤️ 5y
2 likes1 comment
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Nine

One does it and the other talks about how it's done and the talk about how it's done never seems to match how one does it.

Leftcoastzen 👍❤️ 5y
3 likes1 comment
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Nine

"How do you know all that?" he said.
"It's obvious."
"Well then, why didn't I see it?"
"You have to have some familiarity."
"Then it's not obvious, is it?"

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Nine

What is the truth and how do you know it when you have it?... How do we really know anything? Is there an "I", a "soul", which knows, or is this soul merely cells coordinating senses?... Is reality basically changing, or is it fixed and permanent?... When it's said that something means something, what is meant by that?

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Nine

They had made the mistake of thinking of a personality as some sort of possession, like a suit of clothes, which a person wears. But apart from a personality what is there? Some bones and flesh. A collection of legal statistics, perhaps, but surely no person. The bones and flesh and legal statistics are the garments worn by the personality, not the other way around.

1 like1 stack add
review
Howard_L
Bailedbailed

The title sucked me in. The juxtaposition of Zen and motorcycle maintenance was intriguing. There ended my enjoyment of this book. The author‘s psychosis and descent toward insanity was miserable. His pompous theory of everything was painful. I quit reading books that I disdain much sooner and more easily than I once did (Ayn Rand). Apparently some people (and folks) enjoyed this. May God, or the higher power of their choosing, bless them.

Aims42 Right there with ya on this 👍🏻 5y
BethM Welcome to the family! @LitsyWelcomeWagon 5y
KathyWheeler I started reading it in the 1980s and never finished it. I think I know why now. 5y
See All 7 Comments
keepingupwiththepenguins You know, this book holds the world record for being the most-often rejected best seller 😅 Pirsig copped 121 rejections before he sold it. So, it sounds like you weren't alone in your thoughts on this one! 😜 ❤ 5y
Howard_L That makes me like it just a little bit more!!! 5y
Megabooks I bailed on this as well! 5y
Bookwomble I really liked this book, and its follow up, Lila 🙂 5y
33 likes2 stack adds7 comments
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Rachel.Rencher
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You guys, I have a problem. I went to go donate books after cleaning off my shelves, and I bought almost as many as I donated. Oops...

Side note: If you're bored, you can play Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego on Google Earth. 😂

BarbaraJean 🤣It‘s a vicious cycle!! But those are some really good books there! Everything I Never Told You is AMAZING. 5y
Buechersuechtling Wonderful suitcase – if it is one – where the books are on. 💗 Yes, @BarbaraJean is right, “Everything I never told you” is a page turner. “The English patient” was just okay for me. I prefer the film. But anyway: Happy reading. – And if you took home only “almost” as many books as you donated the destination route is completely fine, isn‘t it❓😉 5y
Rachel.Rencher @BarbaraJean I'm super excited for that one! 😊 5y
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Rachel.Rencher @Buechersuechtling I love the way you think! 😁 Plus I'm helping the environment and getting new reading material, so all is well. 😉📚 5y
Rachel.Rencher @Buechersuechtling And thank you! It's a steamer trunk that I bought from a friend when she moved to California. It's been passed around quite a lot and I love it. 😊 5y
Buechersuechtling @Rachel.Rencher Had to look up “steamer trunk” in a dictionary. But I love the picture language of the term. It‘s more imaginative than the German “suitcase for travels going overseas”. Steamer trunk makes me see steam boats 🚢 (uhm, not very ecofriendly), blue skies, sunshine and old-fashioned dressed ladies with hats 👒 conquering the new world. 5y
Buechersuechtling @Rachel.Rencher You‘re way of seeing it ain‘t bad either. I especially like the concept of sustainability. It‘s not only an easy excuse, it‘s an incontrovertible truth at the same time. 5y
readordierachel I love that edition of The Wonder 😍 5y
96 likes1 stack add8 comments
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julesG
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I'm jumping in halfway through the month. I think I've eventually got rid of my cold. Only took seven weeks. 😵

#fixyou

#anglophilapril
@Cinfhen @Reviewsbylola @emilyhaldi @Mdargusch

julesG #anglophileapril - - - Autocorrect is drunk, again. 6y
Cinfhen Ha!!! 6y
Mdargusch Glad you‘re feeling better! My husband had a 7 week cold in January and February. 😱 6y
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Reviewsbylola I‘m glad you‘re finally feeling better! 6y
julesG @Mdargusch @Reviewsbylola Thanks! Felt like a little old lady for ages. Now to build up strength and immune resilience again. 6y
GingerAntics So glad you‘re feeling better. Sheesh, 7 weeks to kick a cold. That sucks. 6y
emilyhaldi Oof. The worst kind of cold!! 6y
77 likes1 stack add7 comments
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sissynrg

Listening to the audiobook and reading it at the same time. The narrator is getting on my nerves. The sound of the guys‘ voice....GRRRR

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Christinak
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In front of it are high barbed-wire fences, locked gates, signs saying No TRESPASSING, and beyond, through sooty air, you see ugly #strange shapes of metal and brick whose purpose is unknown, and whose masters you will never see. What it‘s for you don‘t know, and why it‘s there, there‘s no one to tell, and so all you can feel is alienated, estranged, as though you didn‘t belong there. #QuotsyJan19

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RamsFan1963
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1. Tagged
2. Roger Zelazny (Lord of Light is one of the best books ever!!)
3. Zardoz (cult classic with Sean Connery, so bad, it's a laugh riot)
4. Zero..I can only think of zucchini, and I despise zucchini.

#manicmonday #letterZ @joscho

JoScho 😊🖤 6y
tournevis Zardoz!!!! Yesssss! Where the penis is evil! Why did I not think of that? I went with an actually great movie, but far less enjoyable. Zardoz! Thanks for reminding me of it. I need to watch it again. 6y
40 likes2 comments
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Leftcoastzen
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📚Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance
✍️Emil Zola
🎥Zack and Miri make a Porno
Zwieback toast
#manicmonday #letterZ
@JoScho thank you for hosting this , it‘s been fun!

Andronicus I had never heard of Zwieback toast! Thanks for continuing my culinary education. 😃 6y
JoScho Thank you for playing! 😊🖤 6y
Leftcoastzen @Andronicus Nabisco used to make it ! I had a great uncle who loved it, thought it was good for his digestion.I was a kid and curious why a grown man would eat crackers with a baby on the box. Mom said the things are so hard ,it‘s good for a teething baby.I went back and researched its European history much later.Guess I could have used Zu Zu snaps ,a no longer made Nabisco Ginger Snap.😁 6y
30 likes3 comments
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dariazeoli
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That‘s a wrap! I finished the tagged book this morning, completing #litsyclassics. I started the year with Jane Eyre, and that remains my favorite of the bunch. Heart of Darkness ranks lowest.

Some other classics read this year that didn‘t make the list: Frankenstein, A Clockwork Orange, The Picture of Dorian Gray, A Wrinkle in Time, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and The Great Gatsby.

Sarah83 So happy you liked it and finished the challenge. 🎉 6y
sprainedbrain I‘m with you on ranking Heart of Darkness lowest. 😖 Congrats on finishing!! 6y
See All 7 Comments
Avanders Awesome! Congrats!!🎉 6y
Liz_M This is a part I wish I could zoom in on the image! Congrats on finishing! 6y
merelybookish Wow! Well done! I only managed to read 14/26. 6y
Daisey Congratulations! 6y
68 likes7 comments
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dariazeoli
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I‘m not sure how calming this book is for me, but I keep trucking!

May the rest of your day include kindness, tea and calming words.

Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks ❤️❤️❤️ 6y
Freespirit Lovely thought! 6y
kspenmoll Thank you for your kind wishes! ❤️ 6y
sprainedbrain ❤️❤️❤️ 6y
75 likes4 comments
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dariazeoli
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I‘ve read so many classics this year - beyond the A to Z of #litsyclassics. Thanks, @Sarah83 for a great challenge!

I‘m halfway thru this chunkster, ending things with Z. It‘s not an easy read, but I hope the journey winds up being worth it!

Suzze I read this when it first came out. Yikes, I‘m old! Honestly, I remember NOTHING about it. 6y
Sarah83 So glad you liked it 😉 6y
Butterfinger I read it this year for a classic. There were many parts that related to me, definitely not taking care of a motorcycle, but paying close attention to what I do on a daily basis. 6y
61 likes2 stack adds3 comments
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Butterfinger
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"The reason why, if he were not more than two thousand years dead, he would have gladly rubbed him out is that he saw him as a prototype for the many millions of self-satisfied and truly ignorant teachers throughout history who have smugly and callously killed the creative spirit of their students with this dumb ritual of analysis, this blind, rote, eternal naming of things." Fascinating to a teacher who has taught for 19 years.

RaimeyGallant Interesting. And welcome to Litsy! #LitsyWelcomeWagon Some of us put together Litsy tips to help new Littens navigate the site. It's the link in my bio on my page in case you need it. Or if you prefer how-to videos, @chelleo put some together at the link in her bio. @LitsyWelcomeWagon 6y
LitsyWelcomeWagon Welcome to Litsy! Here are direct links to #Litsytips: http://bit.ly/litsytips and #LitsyHowTo videos: goo.gl/UrCpoU. There‘s lots of fun things to do: book exchanges, buddy reads, photo challenges and more! Check out @LitsyHappenings for details. 6y
Eggs Welcome to Litsy 😊👋🏻🌸 6y
See All 6 Comments
Wife Welcome to Litsy!🌹 6y
StillLookingForCarmenSanDiego Welcome to Litsy 👍📚 6y
rather_be_reading welcome to litsy!! 📚🎉📚 6y
10 likes6 comments
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wordassassin
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A friend handed this to me and demanded that I read it. Mixed feelings about it so far.

kaysworld1 @wordassassin I'd love to read that book x 6y
4 likes1 stack add1 comment
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Gracemb
Mehso-so

Love the story, not so keen on philosophy side

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Tankgyrl

‘Laws of logic, of mathematics are also human inventions, like ghosts. The whole blessed thing is a human invention, including the idea that it isn‘t a human invention. The world has no existence whatsoever outside the human imagination. It‘s all a ghost, and in antiquity was so recognized as a ghost, the whole blessed world we live in.…Your common sense is nothing more than the voices of thousands and thousands of these ghosts from the past.‘

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sarahbellum
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After a long week of nursing one of my cats back to health, I slept 11 hours last night and am now spending my Saturday reading and relaxing. #catsoflitsy #nowreading

SandyW Glad your kitty is better. 😺 7y
17 likes1 comment
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wen4blu
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#LitsyAtoZ challenge completed!! I only had to actively select books for two letters (X and Z). Hooray!

@BookishMarginalia

Jas16 🙌🏽 7y
Texreader Way to go!!!! 7y
DivineDiana 👏🏻📚👏🏻📚🎉 7y
54 likes1 stack add3 comments
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wen4blu
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Up next, my last book for #LitsyAtoZ. Time for some #audiobaking.

Cathythoughts Oh this brings me back ! An oldie but Goldie ✨✨✨ 7y
54 likes1 stack add1 comment