Welcome to Litsy!

Watching the Christmas Eve Carol service from Westminster Cathedral while reading this memoir of an amazing singer.

I‘ve considered doing a US presidents reading project for a while, but it felt like too much of an undertaking… however, I can‘t resist a Litsy challenge! I put the Chernow bio on hold and it came in just in time for all county libraries to close due to the current heavy rainstorm. 😆 It‘ll wait for me till NYE, which is perfect. (Although I may later regret my over-zealousness in choosing the 900-page Chernow bio…) #USPresidents

A second #wordoftheday

“Olimpia begged the pope to replace Cardinal Chigi as secretary of state with that bright, handsome, young Cardinal Azzolini. But here she was stymied. Cardinal Pallavicino noted, “Those who were intimately informed were aware that the pope did not want to lose Cardinal Chigi; with his sterling reputation he could not be removed without great vituperation, and without great justification.””

#wordoftheday

“Camillo performed comedies with his servants almost every evening. … Camillo “takes the lead of the young lover,” Giacinto Gigli wrote with disdain. This was seen as ridiculous in a thirty-one-year-old. It is likely that Camillo‘s wife and mother finally agreed on one thing—that Camillo was adept at making a fool of himself.”

#wordoftheday

“When the pope encouraged Chigi to be nicer to Olimpia, the cardinal would duly “visit her on rare occasions which the law of common etiquette required…and then talk to her with serious words, and leave after a short time without having discussed any state business with her, and without giving a single instance of adulation to that idol of the court.

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Just in case you thought unusual names were a modern trend…

Wow! Amazing story!

I‘m ready for Jan. 1! I‘ve accumulated my stack of books for the following challenges:

#chunksterchallenge2026: “Mark Twain”
#auldlangspine: “The Story of a Heart”
#USPresidents: “George Washington”
IRL Library book club: “In the Garden of Beasts”

#firstlinefridays

Holy #chunkster, Batman! This was a gift today from a very kind coworker. It sounds fascinating but I think it will take some planning to actually read. 😂