Litsy

The Book of Alchemy: A Creative Practice for an Inspired Life | Suleika Jaouad

#WondrousWednesday @Eggs (😍 for the tag!)

1. Tagged: THE BOOK OF ALCHEMY; it just came out. I learned about the author from an intriguing article in the NYT and just had to have it.
2. I keep two records of books I've read: #1: a journal where I write down favorite quotes that will hopefully help me remember the story and #2: a Litsy review. I love the required shortness of words; you have to really choose your words wisely.
You're all tagged!

Suet624 I agree with you about enjoying having to be brief in reviews. 3h

dabbe @Suet624 What an exercise to try to teach my students! Write a literary analysis in less that 150 words! They're like 😳! Succinct word choice is so important! 🤩😍🤣 3h

Suet624 What a great teaching opportunity. 3h

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shortsarahrose I loved Suleika‘s first book (tagged) and have followed her newsletter for a couple years. Her new one is on my TBR, but I haven‘t gotten it yet!

Between Two Kingdoms: A Memoir of a Life Interrupted

peaKnit The author is incredible and married to John Batiste, hello, power couple of amazing humans. 2h

BooksandCoffee4Me @dabbe Love this! Oh, if I was still teaching. 😊 2h

dabbe @Suet624 🎯🩵🎯 2h

BooksandCoffee4Me My husband and I each have kept chapbooks of quotes. In fact,, I made a Pinterest “chapbook” board for digital reading quotes. 2h

dabbe @shortsarahrose Ooh, thanks for this! #stacked 2h

dabbe @peaKnit How did I not know this? Love even more! 😍🤩😍 2h

dabbe @BooksandCoffee4Me 🎯🩵🎯 I'm not either, and I miss this kind of teaching most! Grading essays and ornery parents? #notsomuch 🤣 2h

dabbe @BooksandCoffee4Me I'd love to see it if you wouldn't mind sharing the link! 😍 2h

BooksandCoffee4Me @dabbe I refer to it on Pinterest as a Commonplace book - similar purpose: https://www.pinterest.com/?boardId=126663876958866610 2h

dabbe @BooksandCoffee4Me LOVE it! Thanks for sharing! 💜💚💜 16m

24 likes14 comments

underground_bks

Hemlock & Silver | T. Kingfisher

pick

T. Kingfisher‘s spellbinding dark fairy tales never miss! Hemlock & Silver is a mysterious, surprising, and satisfying twist on the classic fairy tale of Snow White, in an immersive world all its own, starring a mid-30s spinster poison expert, a gruff bodyguard, the scientific method, and the most unsettling magic mirror you‘ll ever face! I loved this one and think it will please fans of Nettle & Bone like me! 🍎🪞🤢

BookmarkTavern Oh yes please! #Stacked 2w

29 likes4 stack adds1 comment

dabbe

The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans | Arthur Conan Doyle

#NoPlaceLikeHolmes @Cuilin
#BrucePartingtonPlans

Thoughts, Sherlockians?

Daisey, erzascarletbookgasm, CogsOfEncouragement, AnneCecilie, Born.A.Reader, Aimeesue, Larkken, Librarybelle, mom2bugnbee, Chrissyreadit, Read4life, StayCurious, CatLass007, Mollyanna, curiouserandcurioser, eeclayton, dabbe, IndoorDame, kelli7990, TheAromaofBooks, 5feet.of.fury, Tineke, Fr3NcHtOaSt, Blackink_WhitePaper, RayHallucinogen, Pageturner1, PageShifter, AnnR, kimrenee, aroyse, CrystalE02

Bookwomble I like this story, despite Doyle's typical slapdash approach to certain details. As a storyteller, he's more concerned with atmosphere than accuracy, and what would we have to talk about were it otherwise? 😁 2mo

Daisey I enjoyed this one! 2mo

Librarybelle This was a good one! 2mo

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dabbe @Bookwomble Oh, I think atmosphere is so much fun to talk about! In this one, what about the dense fog? Its yellow oils dripping on the window! And would we even have this mystery without it? To me, it was the main character! 🤩 2mo

dabbe @Daisey @Librarybelle Yay! I did, too! The body on the train scene reminded me of the film noir from the 40s, DOUBLE INDEMNITY. If you like those kind of movies, you should see it. It's INCREDIBLE! 🤩 2mo

Read4life I agree that this was a good one. I could “feel” the fog not just “see” it. 2mo

Bookwomble The yellowness and oily quality of the fog tells us that it was actually smog, a poisonous brew of hydrocarbon fumes from millions of coal fires and steam-powered engines supported by a global empire that provided some with great affluence, but which fueled the international conflicts of which espionage was an aspect. No empire, no global war, no military-industrial complex, no submarine plans, no murder, no case for Holmes to investigate. 👇 2mo

Bookwomble The smog is a metaphor for the rot at the heart of empire, though I'm certain Doyle didn't intend it as such. 2mo

eeclayton I enjoyed this story and agree that the fog added an eerie and sinister atmosphere. 2mo

dabbe @Bookwomble Why are you so certain? Inquiring minds are dying to know! 1mo

dabbe @eeclayton The atmosphere totally reminded me of DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE, too! 1mo

Bookwomble @dabbe Doyle was a supporter of empire, and Holmes's death at Reichenbach was retconned as The Great Hiatus, during which The Great Detective was involved in the Great Game of espionage and political intrigue between the British and Russian empires. Holmes often intervenes on the side of Establishment figures, and at times his respected brother IS the Government, which means he is also the Empire! IRL, Doyle defended British atrocities in the 👇 1mo

Bookwomble ... Boer War, and supported involvement in WWI on political and anti-German grounds. He wasn't above criticising some colonial actions, but I think due to how implemented rather than in objection to the enterprise. 1mo

Bookwomble @Dabbe If you've not read it, I'd recommend Jack London's book, The People of the Abyss as a view into the reality of Holmes's city. He lived in the slums of London for a couple of months to gather materials on the lives of people living in poverty at the heart of empire in 1903. It's a shocking indictment of the then most affluent nation, & so offended the British establishment that London was thrown out of the country and banned from returning.

The People of the Abyss

1mo

dabbe @Bookwomble #stacked! Thanks for sharing this info! 1mo

33 likes15 comments

Bookwomble

The Public Life of Sherlock Holmes | Michael Pointer

pick

I really enjoyed Pointer's knowledgeable critiques and reviews of the Great Detective's appearances off the page and on the boards, the silver screen, the airways, the idiot box, and vinyl.

It could have been a dense info-dump, but Pointer cleverly distilled that into the 80-odd pages of Catalogue at the back of the book, delivering 116 initial pages of deftly handled history and anecdotes.
On the strength of this, I've ordered a copy of his 👇

Bookwomble ... "The Sherlock Holmes Files", which, by the same publisher within a year of the present book, I trust doesn't do much recapping of this material.
David & Charles published a series of Holmesian studies in the early to mid '70s, which all seem to be fairly highly rated. It would be a pleasant thing were some other titles to appear on my shelves ?:
https://www.librarything.com/nseries/389564/David-and-Charles-Holmesian-Studies 2mo

Bookwomble #NoPlaceLikeHolmes #Sherlocked 2mo

dabbe #stacked #sherlocked 🤩 2mo

39 likes1 stack add3 comments

Tkgbjenn1

Merlin's Tour of the Universe: A Skywatcher's Guide to Everything from Mars and Quasars to Comets, Planets, Blue Moons, and Werewolves | Neil de Grasse Tyson

pick

A quick read. Very informative and interesting. A very accessible method of learning the very basics of astronomy and astrophysics.

dabbe #stacked! I adore him! 🤩 3mo

24 likes1 stack add1 comment

OriginalCyn620

Beastie Boys Book | Michael Diamond, Adam Horovitz

pick

A fantastic music memoir! The audiobook is fantastic, but now I‘d like a physical copy too, just to see the photos. Diamond and Horovitz tell their story so well, and it‘s very obvious that they dearly love and miss Yauch, and I‘d say this book is a beautiful tribute to him (RIP).

#bookspinbingo - this is my #doublespin for this month!
#jumpstart2025
#pop25 - book where music plays an integral part of the storyline
#LitsyAtoZ #LetterB

Lizpixie, Texreader, TheAromaofBooks

Lizpixie Definite #stacked 4mo

TheAromaofBooks My husband really enjoyed this book. Loads of photos in the hard copy - it's honestly just a really well-bound book. I love it when nonfiction has its photos scattered throughout the text instead of in random clumps. So I definitely recommend getting a hold of the physical book if you can!! 4mo

36 likes2 stack adds2 comments

Laughterhp

The Crescent Moon Tearoom: A Novel | Stacy Sivinski

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I‘m not sure how this one got on my radar. 3 sisters are witches and run a tea shop telling their customers fortunes. They get enrolled by the head witches to help 3 witches find their task in life. They have to finish their task to not turn into ghosts once they die. The 3 sisters at the same time are following their passions but not sharing it with each other.

#jumpstart2025

Lizpixie

Lizpixie This sounds good #stacked 4mo

54 likes2 stack adds1 comment

MallenNC

Christmas Days: 12 Stories and 12 Feasts for 12 Days | Jeanette Winterson

pick

I really enjoyed this! The Christmas stories included here were often a little supernatural/ghostly. The sections with a recipe also included the author sharing the significance of the food in her own life and holiday experiences. I could see myself revisiting this one!

dabbe #stacked! 🤩 4mo

33 likes1 stack add1 comment

RamsFan1963

Cascade Failure | L. M. Sagas

I had three 5 🌟 reads for March, but by far, the best one was Cascade Failure. I loved everything about it, the found family aspect, the word building, the action and the snarky humor. I highly recommend it, even to those people who claim they're not really fans of science fiction.
#12Booksof 2024 @Andrew65

Deblovestoread Read your blurb and said I need to stack that but had already done so from your original review. Going to the top or topish for 2025. 😀 4mo

Lizpixie #stacked 4mo

Andrew65 Sounds good. Stacked! 4mo

49 likes5 stack adds3 comments

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