Sarah, thank you so much for my #FallingforFallSwap #FFFS box! The candles smell so good and the socks are gorgeous! And my cat is already eyeing the adorable felt pumpkins. 😄 I love that you reached deep into my TBR to find a few narrative nonfiction picks —that‘s totally my jam! Happy October to you. 🙂

Another #Clarissa letter, another entry for #weirdwords.

“Caitiff: a contemptible or cowardly person.”

This book is good for something, at least. 😀

@cbee

Completely charmed by my evening with Jacques Pepin at an event hosted by RJ Julia Booksellers in Madison, CT.

Got my #FFF #FallingforFall swap package today, @TheAromaofBooks !

Excellent account of the thalidomide crisis in the late ‘50s - early ‘60s. The “official” story: the drug was used overseas, but the FDA stopped it from distribution in the US before any babies were harmed. But this is not completely true. It‘s the story of shoddy clinical trials and drug company coverups, doctors who lied to their patients, and a government that turned its back on scores of Americans who were indeed affected.

#Nonfiction2023

Since my husband is glued to the couch now that football season has arrived, I treated myself to an outing at The Book Barn —more than 500,000 used books from which to choose. 🥰 (I only brought home 5. 😀) Then I got a pina colada smoothie. I think this football thing is going swimmingly. For me, anyway. 🙂

When autumn is knocking on the door and you‘re mentally preparing for winter in New England, you take advantage of every opportunity to stockpile as much Vitamin D and beach vibes as you can.

Now that we‘re only about 170 pages from the end, of course I just found this! Did any of my fellow #Clarissa reading buddies know this challenge was happening on TikTok this year? I don‘t use that social app so it escaped my attention.

Link to article in the Washington Post: https://wapo.st/3RmDqD2

I‘ve been saving this from my “Clarissa” reading for #weirdwordswednesday : “Megrim.” An old-fashioned word for depression or migraine.

Which, come to think of it, is a perfect word to use to describe the #Clarissa reading… 🧐😀

Who doesn‘t love a good library book sale? I was there when the doors opened—and picked up 10 books for a total of $30. 🙌🏼 Even though I had to fight my way through the crowd of used book dealers. Wow! It got a bit elbow-y in there for a minute. 😳

Thanks @CBee for your recent rave review that put this book front of mind —I was able to snag it at a local library book sale for only $3! Score! ☝🏼💃🏻🕺

1. Movie: “Blazing Saddles” = “Excuse me while I whip this out…”

2. TV show: “Seinfeld” = “The sea was angry that day, my friends… like an old man trying to send back soup in a deli.”

3. Book: “Let‘s Pretend This Never Happened” by Jenny Lawson. You‘ll laugh, you‘ll cry, you‘ll run out to buy a 6‘ metal chicken and name it Beyonce.

#TLT
Thanks for the tag, @dabbe ! Sorry it‘s Friday now. 😀

Here's my #Top10Summer2023Reads. I've had a really good summer with nonfiction picks.
Thanks for the tag, @youneverarrived !

Saw this list yesterday and thought it would be perfect for #weirdwordwednesday. I particularly love the word “crapulence.” 😄

It‘s a gorgeous night on the back patio for some melancholy, overwrought 18th-century literature. #Clarissa

Ok, I‘m finally ready to dive in! I‘ve had this book in my pile since last year.

A thriller set in Ireland about a missing girl and the secrets that her friends have kept for 20 years? I wanted to like this book. But it seemed like nothing much happened for the first 175 pages—and then when it finally picked up, the plot lines were unnecessarily convoluted and all over the place. Glad I borrowed this one from the library.

My NONFICTION bracket was a tough one because I read some really good nonfiction in August. My top pick was the tagged book about a group of students who dug a tunnel under the Berlin Wall from West to East Berlin to help people escape. It reads like a thriller —and it‘s all true. It almost moved on, but I had to award the slot to July‘s pick because I do so love a good biography where I learn new things about a person.

My FICTION bracket for August: The tagged book was my pick for the month. The author did a fabulous job with multiple perspectives of the women in the life of a serial killer as he counts down the hours to his execution. In the end, though, I had to give the edge to July‘s book to move on. My reading heart has belonged to Dennis Lehane for a long time now.

Despite my husband‘s many efforts to win me over to it, I‘ve never been a sci-fi/fantasy fan. Is this good sci fi? Is it groundbreaking sci fi? Is it merely meh? Who am I to judge? I won‘t, because I don‘t want to skew the ratings for those who do know this genre. I‘ll just say I‘m glad that #AuthorAMonth forces me to read outside my usual comfort zone. And that this was short. 🙂

Just sent my #FallingforFall #FFFS swap package out and of course I forgot to mark it as such on the box. 😬 I know it‘s supposed to be a surprise, but … @quietjenn — don‘t open this when it arrives on your doorstep next week! Sorry about that. 😖

Excellent narrative nonfiction about a group of university students who decide to dig a tunnel under the Berlin Wall from West Berlin into East Berlin in an attempt to help others escape. Reads like a thriller —and it‘s all true. Lots of interesting history about the wall and the Stasi, East Germany‘s secret police.

#Nonfiction2023
Prompt: Running Up That Hill

Fairly cute and predictable romance with a plot that I won‘t remember a year from now. But I enjoyed it while I was reading it, so I guess that‘s something.

I stumbled across a book called “Haiku U: From Aristotle to Zola, 100 Great Books in 17 Syllables“ by David M. Bader. As promised, the book includes haikus that summarize the plots of 100 classic works (FYI, the one for “The Canterbury Tales“ is hysterical!). This was the haiku for “Clarissa.“ It made me snort. I thought the rest of my #Clarissa reading buddies would also appreciate. 😃

I‘m not a magical realism fan so I wanted to read one of his nonfiction books for #AuthorAMonth, but I‘m not going to finish it by the end of the month. So I picked up this one as well. And now… I‘m still not into magical realism. 😬 😖 It‘s OK. Drags in some parts, fun in others. It gave me strong vibes of “The Phantom Tollbooth” (which is way better, IMO).

Just grabbed this Kindle deal. It doesn‘t exactly fit into what my husband calls my #DiseaseOfTheMonthBookClub (😄) but it‘s medical history so it‘s close enough! 🙂👍🏼

I love Don Winslow. His previous works (“The Cartel,” “The Power of the Dog,” etc)? Masterpieces. This series, his last because he has retired from writing fiction, feels like he‘s kind of phoning it in with the plot and the narrative. This one is a soft pick because there are still flashes of the Winslow brilliance throughout. And I‘ll read the final book when it‘s released next year. Because, well, Don Winslow. 🤷🏻‍♀️

I don‘t have school-aged kids anymore, so I don‘t keep track. Usually it‘s the Wednesday before Labor Day or thereabouts.

I adored the tagged book, which is about the relationships between and among two couples. Both husbands are academics who teach in the English department at a university in Wisconsin. It‘s a beautiful story that explores the mysteries of friendship.

@TheSpineView
#Two4Tuesday
@CBee

Tagging @Ruthiella @AnneCecilie

Carl Bernstein‘s (of Woodward and Bernstein fame) exhaustive (perhaps TOO exhaustive) memoir of his early days in journalism at the now-defunct Washington Star newspaper, where he started working as a copyboy at age 16. Covers the dates between 1960-1964) He has a great memory and/or took superb notes—how else could he remember what someone wore or ate for lunch on a specific Tuesday in 1962? Fun read for former/current news hacks like me.

It‘s weird to say I enjoyed a book about a serial killer, but there you have it. It‘s well written and I really appreciated the perspectives of the women in Ansel‘s life. Thanks to @CBee for putting this on my radar with her review!

She has a point.

Staying at a VRBO rental while visiting family in Port Ludlow, WA. Trying to read but I keep getting distracted by the gorgeous view of Ludlow Bay. 😍

Most people probably wouldn‘t squeal in delight while browsing the medical history section of the used bookstore. But this book about scurvy will fit perfectly into what my husband refers to as my #DiseaseOfTheMonthBookClub. 😄

What can I say? I‘m a weirdo. 🤷🏻‍♀️

From the street, it doesn‘t look like much. But step inside Henderson Books in downtown Bellingham, Washington, and you will be overwhelmed! It‘s a used bookstore that has more than 400,000 titles in all genres. That‘s not a typo. 400,000. I could literally move in and live here.

A book about a plane hijacking is perhaps not the best pick to read while on a plane, but …🤷🏻‍♀️. A decent thriller that moves quickly. I‘ll probably forget it by tomorrow. But it was short enough that I was able to start and finish it in the time it took to fly between DC and Seattle.

My FICTION bracket for July. This book was set in Boston in 1974 when the city was embroiled in busing to desegregate its public schools. I lived in Boston in the ‘80s, not long after the events depicted in the book. What I love about Dennis Lehane is his ear for realistic dialogue. These characters sound like real people I knew. This book was a wild ride that I could not put down.

My NONFICTION bracket with my July pick. I really enjoyed this biography of Theodor Geisel, the man who became children‘s author Dr. Seuss. Fun fact? Seuss was his middle name —and it was actually pronounced “Soyce.” Who knew we‘ve all been saying it wrong all this time? 🤷🏻‍♀️ Another tidbit: Dr. Seuss invented the word “nerd.” 🤯

This book. Dear God, this book. 💔💔

Hubby and I took a drive up to the northwestern corner of Connecticut today. Stopped at Oblong Books in Millerton, NY (just over the state line). Snagged a few goodies from the sale table!

😕 It‘s a sad day. After 7 years in business, a local independent bookstore closed its doors today. In a heartfelt letter, the owner said: “we‘ve come to realize that determination does not always guarantee success, no matter how great the effort… thin margins, fierce online competition, and increasing costs on nearly all fronts have become insurmountable hurdles for this business .. an unfortunate reality that many independent bookstores face.”

Accurate. 😖
#SittingHereSweatingAndWaitingForFall

Started reading this book to get a jump on August‘s #AuthorAMonth and stumbled upon this line. For Pete‘s sake. I can‘t get away from #Clarissa even when I try. 😖

This book made me feel so …icky. 😖 When I was reading it, I couldn‘t put it down. But when I did stop (mostly because I couldn‘t stand to have June‘s voice in my head anymore), I was not ever in a hurry to pick it up again. I think that‘s a textbook example of Facebook‘s “in a complicated relationship” status. 😬😖 A pick because it‘s the type of book that screams for a book club discussion.

Given the number of sagging bookshelves in my house, I shouldn‘t have this fear. However… 🤷🏻‍♀️

I should have looked at the tags before I picked this up, because “Christian fiction” is so totally not my jam. So that‘s on me. But I still thought this suffered from unrealistic dialogue (the 11-year-old girl talks like she‘s 40) and the writing style was so simplistic and juvenile I actually stopped to check whether it was also tagged as YA. Not for me. 😖 I‘m happy to send to someone who thinks it may be for them, though —let me know!

Taking creative license here (like Dr. Seuss did!) and pronouncing “bass” like the fish because my kids loved “One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish.” This is a engaging biography of Theodor Geisel, the man who became children‘s author Dr. Seuss. I was fascinated to read about his time in the Army writing propaganda films and that he inserted curse words as placeholders in his drafts until he could find the right rhyme. 😄

#Nonfiction2023

My prize for completing the summer reading challenge at the library (“read 10 books between June 1-Sept. 1”). I actually finished it by the end of June but I held onto the entry sheet because I didn‘t want the librarians to feel like they‘d made the challenge too easy. Shh. Don‘t tell them. 😀

A memoir/biography of 4 of the author‘s friends, all graduates of the elite Andover Academy boarding school (including JFK Jr.) All died fairly young under tragic/violent/unusual circumstances. The narratives are well written but do start to sound a bit repetitive by the end. I was most intrigued by the JFK Jr. chapter.

#Nonfiction2023

Holy hell, this was a wild ride. Admittedly, there are some plot points that needed development and the ending felt a bit rushed, but S.A. Cosby is a master at writing believable dialogue for characters who feel like real people and placing them into thrilling edge-of-your-seat scenarios. Read all of his books—each one is just as good as the others.

1. Unsweetened black ice tea is my fave, but I have been known to enjoy an ice-cold Coke Zero from time to time 🙂
2. To paraphrase Dr. Seuss, I‘ll read on a boat or with a goat —take note: I‘ll read anywhere! 😀 Love to sit outside in the shade with a book, or on the couch in the AC when it‘s too humid.

Thanks for the tag, @GinaKButler !
#two4tuesday