Litsy

Murderland: Crime and Bloodlust in the Time of Serial Killers | Caroline Fraser

When you‘re at the airport and you already have a loaded iPad and a paperback in your bag, but you can‘t resist picking up one of the books that made NPR‘s list of best nonfiction reads for summer 2025.

AmyG I just fot this one. I can‘t wait to read it. Safe travels and Happy Reading! (edited) 3d

Amiable @AmyG I didn‘t even realize until I bought it that it‘s the same author who wrote “Prairie Fires” —so now I‘m more excited! It‘s bound to be very well written. Even though that book made me dislike Rose Wilder immensely. 😖 3d

AmyG Oh, I didn‘t know it was the same author. Now more excited for this! 3d

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squirrelbrain I just bought this one too! @AmyG 3d

peaKnit Ooh looks good! Have a great trip! 3d

dabbe And ... it's #stacked! 🤩 1d

57 likes5 stack adds6 comments

dabbe

Lamentation | C.J. Sansom

#ShardlakeBR

Thoughts, Shardlakians?

Daisey, Cuilin, Amiable, PurpleyPumpkin, Texreader, AnneCecilie, Gissy, Centique, OutsmartYourShelf, jenniferw88, Deblovestoread, Librarybelle, batsy, Chrissyreadit, kwmg40, Mollyanna, curiouserandcurioser, dabbe, Fr3NcHtOaSt, RaeLovesToRead, bthegood, lil1inblue, PageShifter, LiseWorks, The_Book_Ninja, Karisimo, BookWrym

lil1inblue Catherine Parr's story is truly fascinating. It is a bit tragic, because it seems like she was unable to say no to the king's proposal (and may have wanted to), and had to make the best of her plight. 3d

AnneCecilie I felt truly sorry for her. She seemed like one of the good ones. It also shows how little power a woman had, even the widow after a king. 3d

LiseWorks I was sad that she was betrayed by her last husband. It was probably vwey common for woman dying in child birth when being over 30 3d

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dabbe @lil1inblue I always wondered how she must have felt, KNOWING he had two previous wives' heads cut off! And what if she had said no; he probably would have had her in the Tower for treason as well. 3d

dabbe @AnneCecilie So true! 3d

dabbe @LiseWorks He's the jerk that was in the books, too! Thomas Seymour: UGH! And he came on to Princess Elizabeth while married to Catherine while she was pregnant with his child! #douchebag 3d

dabbe I found Barak's story arc to be heartbreaking. Once a vibrant, street-smart ally, now he is left physically diminished. I hated seeing him relegated to a more minor role--Guy, too. And poor Shardlake! He ends the novel more isolated than ever. His unrequited love for Catherine Parr remains unresolved, his friendship with Guy Malton is strained further by working for Parr, and Barak‘s accident leaves him without his closest confidant, 3d

Deblovestoread I don‘t think she could‘ve have said no, nor did she probably sleep well at night wondering if she did anything wrong. And to have to be married to Henry at that time of his life…yuck! 3d

dabbe @Deblovestoread So disgustingly true! #majorickfactor 3d

OutsmartYourShelf Sorry if I‘ve mentioned it before, but there‘s a great nonfiction account of Catherine Parr‘s last marriage & subsequent death in ‘The Mysterious Death of Catherine Parr‘ by June Woolerton. 3d

dabbe @OutsmartYourShelf #stacked! And thanks for the rec! 😍 3d

Bookish_Thoughts I couldn‘t believe Barak‘s story arc. 😢 And poor Catherine Parr. I think Henry VIII was her third husband? She was widowed twice before marrying him. If I remember right. I can‘t imagine living knowing your survival depended on political winds. 😨 3d

dabbe @Bookish_Thoughts Yeah, we think we have it bad now with the state of affairs in this world, but man, not even being able to practice your own religion for fear of being hanged ... whoah! 😳 2d

35 likes13 comments

dabbe

Untitled | Untitled

#poetrymatters
@TheSpineView

#wellspring

TheSpineView Love Rash's poems. He is a local author. ❤️ 2mo

dabbe @TheSpineView Well, how cool is that? I have never read any of his books. Have you? 😍 2mo

TheSpineView @dabbe Yes, I have read them all. My favorite is

Saints at the River: A Novel

2mo

dabbe @TheSpineView #stacked! 2mo

36 likes4 comments

dabbe

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. 2mo

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! 🤩😍🤣 2mo

Suet624 What a great teaching opportunity. 2mo

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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

2mo

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

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

dabbe @Suet624 🎯🩵🎯 2mo

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

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

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

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

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

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

dabbe @BooksandCoffee4Me LOVE it! Thanks for sharing! 💜💚💜 2mo

Eggs Thanks for joining in 💛🧡💛 2mo

dabbe @Eggs 💛🩷💛 2mo

48 likes16 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 2mo

30 likes4 stack adds1 comment

dabbe

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

#NoPlaceLikeHolmes @Cuilin
#BrucePartingtonPlans

Thoughts, Sherlockians?

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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? 😁 3mo

Daisey I enjoyed this one! 3mo

Librarybelle This was a good one! 3mo

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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! 🤩 3mo

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! 🤩 3mo

Read4life I agree that this was a good one. I could “feel” the fog not just “see” it. 3mo

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. 👇 3mo

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. 3mo

eeclayton I enjoyed this story and agree that the fog added an eerie and sinister atmosphere. 3mo

dabbe @Bookwomble Why are you so certain? Inquiring minds are dying to know! 3mo

dabbe @eeclayton The atmosphere totally reminded me of DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE, too! 3mo

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 👇 3mo

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. 3mo

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

3mo

dabbe @Bookwomble #stacked! Thanks for sharing this info! 3mo

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 4mo

Bookwomble #NoPlaceLikeHolmes #Sherlocked 4mo

dabbe #stacked #sherlocked 🤩 4mo

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! 🤩 5mo

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 6mo

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!! 6mo

36 likes2 stack adds2 comments

Laughterhp

The Crescent Moon Tearoom: A Novel | Stacy Sivinski

pick

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 6mo

54 likes2 stack adds1 comment

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