Welcome to Litsy!

The move is progressing!! My windowsill books have moved to the piano for now. The bottom picture is an attempt to fit all my crates of books into one picture (unsuccessfully) - ended up with 96 crates of books + a few boxes.

I had read this Agatha Christie mystery before, but as usually couldn't remember the solution 😂 I'm the worst armchair detective ever, but it doesn't reduce my enjoyment of reading and rereading Christie's tales. ⬇

My mom got this as a library discard when I was a kid, and I always loved it growing up. Smalleata is a mouse whose clan moves into the human house across the field when winter comes (and the people leave for the season). There, she falls in love with a house mouse. Lots of adventures, but it's actually pretty intense for a children's book, as some of the mice get eaten! I really enjoyed this reread and still find this a delightful book. And it ⬇

I first read this book back in 2012 and knew it was one I wanted to find and add to my own collection. Lindbergh writes from a seaside cottage where she is on holiday, each chapter looking at a different seashell and using it to reflect on a different aspect of life. Published in 1955, it was an era where woman were still mostly home-focused, but with advancing technology opening up more time and opportunities for them. I found her thoughts on ⬇

I was delighted to pick up this lovely hardcover/library discard edition of this book, which is the sequel to The Alley. Both written and set about 8 years after the original story, the main character is one of the younger siblings of The Alley's characters. This one was a little more implausible, but still a super fun story and one that I would have LOVED as a kid. These are both fabulous read-aloud books and as cute as they can be.

This is an older book of Roberts's (1991), which was mainly illustrated by how many cigarettes the MC smoked 😂 Cilla a night DJ for a Denver radio station who starts getting threatening calls from a listener who says he wants revenge and is going to kill her. You'll be unsurprised to learn that Cilla ends up with a hot, single detective to help her through these trying times. This book definitely had some weak spots in the suspense aspect of ⬇

I first bought, read, and loved this book back in 2020. Now that we're getting ready to move and I have an entire house to update, it seemed like a great time to revisit it. Atwood just does a fantastic job with this book. She gives you the science behind color and our perception of it, then moves into the more emotional aspect of it - somehow, she stays out of woo-woo land by encouraging readers to ground the way they feel about colors with ⬇

I loved this book growing up, and it definitely encouraged my ongoing love affair with alleys 😂 I hadn't read this one in several years, and it was super fun to revisit. Cleery buys a box of magic at a flea market, and accidentally magics a stuffed crow into being alive - and able to talk - but not able to fly. With an enchantment of being able to find something magical in every new alley she visits that summer, she and her best friend set off ⬇

At first, I enjoyed Blair's sassy attitude, but after a while the flirting aka bickering between the two MCs began to get on my nerves. It could be because my husband and I are both super chill so I've never understood the “arguing as foreplay“ concept lol The mystery aspect didn't make a lot of sense either, which meant the entire plot began to drag around 2/3 through. It was an okay read, but one of those that I enjoyed less as I went along.

This one just wasn't for me. I've enjoyed some of Thompson's other writing - he can be brilliantly insightful and cutting, with an ability to call out hypocrisy and hold a mirror right up to your own face - but I struggled with this one, mostly just him and his attorney being out of their minds on drugs. Actually, it was great anti-drug propaganda 😂 I just kept thinking - do people do this for FUN?!😆 Anyway, it was worth the one-off read for me⬇

It's always a pleasure to return to Kate Burkholder's world, and while the 16th installment had some plot twists that stretched believability a bit, it was still enjoyable. Love the characters in this series. Kate is gritty and tough without being obnoxious (actually, she kind of reminds me of Eve Dallas of the In Death series) and Castillo always writes the Amish as real people. It's also always fun to read books set in Ohio and actually know ⬇