Litsy

In the Company of Books: Literature and Its "classes" in Nineteenth-century America | Sarah Wadsworth, Associate Professor of English Sarah Wadsworth

Found out my daughter‘s field hockey practice is only a half mile walk from a used bookstore. Good thing this is the last practice. Couldn‘t resist this cozy with the unhinged cover.

MonicaLoves2Read Your book Roads to Quoz will fill a space on the #ISPYBINGO board this month😊 1d

Bookwormjillk @MonicaLoves2Read what‘s the prompt? I loved his other book

Blue Highways: A Journey Into America

MonicaLoves2Read @Bookwormjillk look under the #ISPYBINGO or look at @TheAromaofBooks or @DieARead They host it every month 1d

TheAromaofBooks Yes, I do the I Spy Bingo challenge, it's just a bingo board of stuff to try and find on book covers each month - here is June's board if you're interested - https://www.litsy.com/web/post/2870423 - and that post has the links to the other boards and the “rules“ ...which are pretty loosey-goosey, per my usual style 😂 1d

50 likes4 comments

Lauredhel

Rainbow Boy and the Pride Parade | Taylor Rouanzion

And I just realised that with the rainbow on the cover, this book also gives me a finished grid for June!

I now have nineteen unfilled prompts for the year.

#ISpyBingo #ISpy @TheAromaOfBooks

TheAromaofBooks Wow, you're doing amazing!!! 1d

32 likes1 comment

LitsyEvents

I, Spy: a Bletchley Park mystery | Rhian Tracey

Repost for @TheAromaofBooks

Sorry, gang, totally spaced on posting June's #ISpyBingo board!!

As always, if you want to track on Storygraph, the challenge is here - https://app.thestorygraph.com/reading_challenges/85a6eb78-a914-4e84-a200-9073f75...

And if you would like to see ALL the 2025 boards in once place the link to the Canva document is on their page

All are welcome to play!!

TheAromaofBooks Thank you for reposting!! 4d

23 likes1 comment

TheAromaofBooks

I Spy Treasure Hunt: A Book of Picture Riddles | Jean Marzollo

Sorry, gang, totally spaced on posting June's #ISpyBingo board!!

As always, if you want to track on Storygraph, the challenge is here - https://app.thestorygraph.com/reading_challenges/85a6eb78-a914-4e84-a200-9073f75...

And if you would like to see ALL the 2025 boards in once place (especially since I can't seem to remember to post them in a timely manner 😂) the link to the Canva document is in the comment below!!

All are welcome to play!!

TheAromaofBooks Canva document with all the 2025 boards: https://www.canva.com/design/DAGVO4NctsY/-lGsmflP3sUW9FsAung8hg/view?utm_content... 4d

TheAromaofBooks If you want to be added/removed from the tag list, just let me know!!

@BarbaraBB @Deblovestoread @Faranae @julieclair @lauredhel @LiseWorks @LitsyEvents @MatchlessMarie @Read4life @peanutnine @PuddleJumper @willaful @Sarahreadstoomuch @OriginalCyn620 @Julies_Bookshelf_Adventures @cewilf @mom2bugnbee 4d

Lkempf This looks like a great game. Please add me to the tag. 4d

BarbaraBB Still loving this! 4d

TheAromaofBooks @Lkempf - Absolutely!! You are welcome to do one month at a time, or do all of the 2025 boards at the same time, or whatever combo of those methods work for you! 😁 4d

48 likes5 comments

willaful

I Spy Something Wicked (I Spy, #2) | Josh Lanyon

I got two last minute bingos thanks to @MatchlessMarie today. :-) I really tried to find a book with a straw on the cover but there was just nothing that grabbed me. Still four bingos doesn't suck.

TheAromaofBooks

MatchlessMarie Yeah!!! 😄 5d

LiseWorks @TheAromaofBooks do we have June #iSpyBingo 5d

TheAromaofBooks Woohoo!! Looking great!!! @LiseWorks - I just posted it today! You guys gotta remind me earlier in the month 😂 4d

27 likes3 comments

sebrittainclark

Bed and Breakup: A Novel | Susie Dumond

I managed a bingo this month!

#ispybingo @thearomaofbooks

Ruthiella Nice! 👍 5d

TheAromaofBooks Woohoo!! Looking great!!! 4d

35 likes2 comments

TheAromaofBooks

The Hound of Florence | Felix Salten

pan

I actually really love the book Bambi and have read it and its sequel (Bambi's Children) several times. So I was excited to randomly come across another reprint of one of Salten's works. I had never heard of this one, although by reading GR reviews I discovered that it was apparently the (incredibly loose) inspiration for DIsney's The Shaggy Dog. Sadly, this book was a huge disappointment. First off, it's plain boring. Set during the Renaissance ⬇

TheAromaofBooks (cont'd) Lucas, presumably in his late teens, has been left orphaned in Vienna and yearns to get to Florence so he can become an artist. Through a bit of magic/wishing, he ends up being transformed into the dog who belongs to a rich aristocrat who is traveling to Florence. However, he's only the dog every other day. On the other days, he's himself, but the dog just disappears, which literally made no sense to me. In this way he makes his way to ⬇ 2w

TheAromaofBooks (cont'd) Florence in what has to be the most boring road trip to read about ever. On his dog days he's beaten and mistreated. On his human days, he's starving and cold. So it was boring AND depressing. We're told from the beginning how the spell/curse can be broken, but Lucas himself doesn't know and also weirdly doesn't seem to really care or spend a lot of time trying to figure it out. He just goes with the flow. The flow eventually gets him to⬇ 2w

TheAromaofBooks (cont'd) Florence where he becomes an art student (every other day, of course). There, he falls in love with a courtesan. Which brings me to another point - this book is billed as a children's story and it is NOT remotely a children's book. Besides the animal/human cruelty, Lucas has sex a few times and then yes falls in love with a courtesan who is very proud of sleeping with rich and powerful men. In an absolutely BIZARRE scene that had NOTHING⬇ 2w

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TheAromaofBooks (cont'd) to do with the rest of the story, the pimp who “discovered“ the courtesan that Lucas is in love with brings another girl to show off to some men (who are all artists/art students). She's described as “a little girl“ and “a child“ and we're told that she “might have been twelve or thirteen years of age.“ She then proceeds to strip naked and dance for the men while the pimp reminds the men of all the other “Aphrodite's favorites“ he's ⬇ 2w

TheAromaofBooks (cont'd) discovered because he “never descends to common prostitutes.“ He describes her beauties and potential for being an artistic model, including pointing out her “firm little breasts.“ This scene was absolutely appalling and also literally had nothing to do with the rest of the story. I can't imagine handing this book to the middle grader it's supposedly aimed towards!

Lucas never develops as a character and wasn't particularly likable. ⬇ 2w

TheAromaofBooks (cont'd) This book felt like it had no point, purpose, or direction. The ending is bizarre and vague. All in all, incredibly disappointing considering how much I've enjoyed a couple of Salten's other books.

#Roll100 #GottaCatchEmAll - Artist central character @PuddleJumper
#Read2025 - 30/100 TBR books read @DieAReader
#ISpyBingo - &, Author in Blue Letters
#BookSpinBingo 2w

DieAReader 👋🏻👋🏻 #Next 2w

AnnCrystal Horribly horrifying 🥺...great review, I would have believed this was a cozy read by the cover alone. 2w

Clare-Dragonfly Wow!!! I wonder why this book was even reprinted. 2w

59 likes9 comments

TheAromaofBooks

The Big Blue Soldier | Grace Livingston Hill

pick

Now that I'm down to only a handful of years to read to complete the #192025 challenge, I've turned to my shelves to see if I can fill any gaps. This slim story by Grace Livingston Hill checked of 1946, plus got an unread book off my shelf!! It's a perfect pleasant little story - Aunt Marilla is adorable - but too short to really build any kind of tension or actual romance between the two main characters. A soft pick, but one I won't reread.

TheAromaofBooks #192025 - @Librarybelle
#100YearsofBooks
#WickedWords - Car @AsYouWish
#ISpyBingo - Blonde Hair
#GottaCatchEmAll - Book you forgot you owned @PuddleJumper
#Read2025 - 29/100 TBR books @DieAReader 2w

Librarybelle Yay!!! 2w

merelybookish That's exciting! I am also down to a handful of years! 2w

Bookwormjillk Nice!! 2w

DieAReader 🥳🥳🥳 2w

60 likes5 comments

TheAromaofBooks

MiG Pilot: The Final Escape of Lieutenant Belenko | John Barron

pick

Published in 1980, only four years after Belenko's escape from Russia (and well before the fall of the Berlin Wall), this book was quite fascinating. Belenko actually had more or less the ideal situation in Russia as the MiG-25 pilots were highly valued and treated well (by Soviet standards). Reading about his slow recognition of the cognitive dissonance between what he was being taught about his country vs the west and what he could actually ⬇

TheAromaofBooks (cont'd) observe with his own eyes was intriguing. Thoroughly enjoyable and a reminder of what life in the Soviet was actually like.

#MonthlyNonfiction - April (358) @julieclair
#GottaCatchEmAll - Recommended by a friend @PuddleJumper
#Read2025 - 28/100 TBR books @DieAReader
#ISpyBingo - Airplane
#BookSpinBingo 2w

DieAReader 🥳🥳🥳 2w

TieDyeDude I used to read a lot about the Cold War, though admittedly most of my reading had a Western bias. This sounds like it would be a really interesting book! 2w

TheAromaofBooks @TieDyeDude - It's a really quick read (under 300pgs), which is nice but also means that sometimes I wished I could get more details. When I was checking to see what happened to Belenko after 1980, I was surprised to find that he just passed away two years ago! 2w

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