Welcome to Litsy!

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

A long time since a read a book of short stories. These were great and nice to break it up a bit

Another so-so. I‘m not having outstanding audio listens lately. 😐 The MC in this one is difficult to like, though she has her reasons, and it felt like there were one too many threads in the storyline.

Just one NONFICTION book completed in September—but it likely would have been the winner anyway. This is the kind of narrative nonfiction that really grabs me.
#2024ReadingBrackets

THIS is what narrative nonfiction should be. David Simon‘s classic account of a year in the Baltimore Police Dept.‘s homicide unit, it became the basis for the award-winning TV series “Homicide: Life in the Streets” and “The Wire.” It‘s dark, it‘s dreary, it‘s gritty —and it‘s incredibly compelling. I am in awe of Simon‘s prose —he has a gift for putting words together.

An excellent take on vampire lore by gothic extraordinaire Mike Mignola. Lord Baltimore travels Europe on the hunt for the vampire that killed his family; the vampire he awakened during a battle at the height of WWI. Fueled by guilt and revenge, Baltimore's hunt is complicated by the rising of ancient evil throughout the continent.

When you try to sneak in reading anywhere and any time you can. Including at physical therapy for post-op knee rehab. 😄

This book is not #basedontruestory but “inspired” by one that was very much in the news when I was a kid. As I was first reading it, there were developments in the IRL story after a long dormant period. That was too strange for me, so I paused my reading. I recently picked it up again to finish and realized I wasn‘t interested in it anymore. Thus one of my reading goals for the year has been fulfilled. ⬇️
#aboutabook

A villain I love to hate isn‘t from a book but from a TV series. Luther Mahoney was a neighborhood drug kingpin who was always one step ahead of the Baltimore police force…until he wasn‘t. He only appeared in a handful of episodes but cast a long shadow. Great acting by Erik Dellums.

Meanwhile, I was out being social for much of the evening and only got in a little bit of reading so no #hyggehourreadathon this week.

#sundayfunday

This was perfect for the kind of summer reading I need right now. Murdery and twisty with a good cast of characters that were easy to follow. The main character wasn‘t particularly likable but she was interesting!