pickThis sequel to The Dire Days of Willowweep Manor was just as ridiculous and just as much fun. Smashing together the Gothic romance atmosphere of Willowweep Manor with Golden Age murder mystery vibes worked for me. While I do think the first book was better, this was still a good read—especially if you enjoy hilarious literary chaos.
pickPopovic was part of the movement (Otpor) that ousted Milosevic from power in Serbia, and this book is a handbook of sorts—taking principles from Otpor and discussing how those principles could be applied in a variety of contexts, using nonviolent activism and resistance to effect change. The wealth of examples he offers are inspiring and often hilarious. I can‘t help but wonder if the Portland Frog was inspired by this book… ⤵️
“It‘s the sheep are the problem,” said Gwyn. “Mostyn Lewis-Jones breeds them with short left legs, and Gareth Pugh breeds short right legs… Mostyn's sheep eat from right to left, and Gareth's from left to right across the slope. When they reach the fence they have to walk backwards and then start again.”
😂😂😂
pickThis broke me wide open in the best ways. Trommer explores themes of grief and loss, beauty and love, with the sacred woven throughout.
My spiritual director introduced me to Rosemary Wahtola Trommer‘s poetry, and I subsequently signed up to receive her daily poems—they‘re a daily gift. I‘d highly recommend both this collection of poems as well as her blog at https://ahundredfallingveils.com.
pickThis is yet another book that‘s been on my shelf forever… so long that I can‘t pin down the recommendation that originally prompted me to buy it. I wish I could remember, because that might offer me some direction on why I wanted to read it and what I might have gotten out of it!
This was beautifully written, the characters are richly drawn, and it left me cold. I actually kind of wanted to throw the book across the room at the end. ⤵️
pickThis served as a delightful unicorn chaser while I was reading Newitz‘ The Future of Another Timeline. I‘ve wanted to read Tamora Pierce for a long time—and I‘m glad I chose this as my 1983 pick for #192025. A lot of the plot felt unrealistic to me—Alanna‘s path isn‘t easy by any means, but she‘s a little too readily accepted & fits in as one of the boys far too quickly. But honestly, I didn‘t mind. I needed a lighter take on female empowerment ⤵️
#KindredSpiritsBuddyRead #LMMReread
Just a little check-in here halfway through Blue Castle… (although I know some of you couldn‘t resist finishing it already!)
What edition are you reading?
How is your reading going?
What have you enjoyed the most in the first half of the book?
What favorite scenes, quotes, or other elements stand out to you?
rubyslippersreads, DrSabrinaMoldenReads, JenlovesJT47, lauraisntwilder, TheAromaofBooks, Sparklemn, julieclair
Realizing there are ten weeks left in the year is ridiculous, and I can‘t resist #10beforetheend. I have 10 books left for the #192025 challenge, so that‘s my list! For some of the years I‘m still debating between a couple options, so that‘s why there‘s more than one book cover in several slots. Fingers crossed I can get all of these read by the end of 2025!
pickI‘ve had the Jeeves & Wooster books on my list for so long! I finally read this one as my 1923 pick for #192025… and I think my expectations were too high 😆
Don‘t get me wrong—I enjoyed it. It made me laugh, and the banter and the ridiculous situations were great fun. But it‘s more loosely-connected short stories than it is a novel, and so it felt scattered. I kept waiting for an overarching plot rather than isolated episodes. ⤵️
so-soThis was really not for me. It was a friend‘s pick for my IRL book group, and it really should have come with ALL the trigger warnings: graphic violence, sexual assault, abuse, murder, and abortion: this one‘s got it all.
Trigger-heavy content aside, the writing itself is engaging and propulsive, and I found its musings on history and time travel philosophy interesting. But honestly, I think Newitz was trying to do too much here. She juggles ⤵️
pickThis was a delight! It‘s been on my shelves for years, and a #blameitonLitsy trifecta prompted me to read it: I put it in my #192025 lineup for 1972, @TheAromaofBooks spotted it on my #BookSpin list & suggested a casual buddy read, then it landed as my August #BookSpin…clearly, it was meant to be!
Herriot‘s descriptions of the Yorkshire countryside make me long for England (admittedly, it doesn‘t take much to trigger that longing in me!). ⤵️
so-soI read this for my spiritual direction class, and came into it very skeptical—dream work has always seemed a little too woo-woo for me, to be honest. However, I came away from the book with my skepticism assuaged a bit… its idea of dream work as “peeking over the shoulder” of the unconscious drew me in and helped me move past some of my skepticism. While I don‘t see myself engaging with dreams and active imagination ⤵️
"Lot of cowards, the Klatchians," said Colon. "The moment they taste a bit of cold steel they're legging it away over the sand."
Sergeant Colon had had a broad education. He'd been to the School of My Dad Always Said, the College of It Stands to Reason, and was now a postgraduate student at the University of What Some Bloke In the Pub Told Me.
…
"And of course they're all mad for fighting," said Colon…. ⤵️
“It was so much easier to blame it on Them. It was bleakly depressing to think that They were Us. If it was Them, then nothing was anyone's fault. If it was Us, what did that make Me? After all, I'm one of Us. I must be. I've certainly never thought of myself as one of Them. *No one* ever thinks of themselves as one of Them. We‘re always one of Us. It's Them that do the bad things.”
pickAnother sweet, wistful story from Kate DiCamillo‘s Norendy Tales—I loved it. Tiny Evangeline is found as a baby inside the toe of a boot, by a shoemaker who adopts her as his own. The shoemaker‘s long-abandoned dreams of the sea are reawakened, and he and Evangeline dream together, until… (always “until”)
My only complaint is that this wasn‘t longer… and also that this is the “finale” to the Norendy Tales. I want more!
pickA low pick on this much-belated review (the #KindredSpiritsBuddyRead read it in July!)—although this is mostly pulled from my comments in our discussions, I still wanted to finally get a review posted!
I read this solely because L.M. Montgomery references it multiple times in her journals & her comments about it piqued my curiosity. And while there was a lot about the book that was frustrating, I‘m glad I read it because of the LMM connection.⤵️
“…she opened the window and hurled the jar of potpourri over into the next lot. It smashed gloriously against the schoolgirl complexion on the old carriage-shop. ‘I‘m sick of the fragrance of dead things,‘ said Valancy.”
💙💙💙
Oh, I love this book so much. Here we go! #KindredSpiritsBuddyRead #LMMReread
rubyslippersreads, DrSabrinaMoldenReads, JenlovesJT47, lauraisntwilder, TheAromaofBooks, Sparklemn, julieclair
“The cover design of the Swedish Green Gables has always been one of the joys of my life. Anne is depicted as an exceedingly weird creature, carrying an enormous carpet bag with hair of a literal scarlet—not red or auburn or carrot but a bright glaring scarlet.”
—Nov. 21, 1926
#KindredSpiritsBuddyRead #LMMJournals
I tracked down the Swedish cover LMM describes. Its rendition of Anne is indeed “exceedingly weird”—but for me the weirdness is ⤵️
#5JoysFriday:
1. My sister & niece visiting
2. My sweet grand-niece hanging out with my dad and showing off how she can count to ten
3. This amazing granola I made: https://www.seriouseats.com/eleven-madison-park-granola-salty-recipe
4. Listening to this pre-release album: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/andrewpeterson/andrew-peterson-presents-the...
5. Beauty from Veronica in the Fens and autumn vibes from Frog & Toad
I‘m starting to read my used copy of Volume 6 of LMM‘s complete journals today, and I found this on the title page! Is it just me, or does it strike anyone else as odd for the editor to sign a book of someone else‘s collected journals?! #LMMJournals #KindredSpiritsBuddyRead
Hello, Kindred Spirits! Here‘s our schedule for the next month or so! We‘re starting Volume SIX of the Complete Journals this week. Next week we begin The Blue Castle, followed by The Ladies of Missalonghi. I‘m tagging my “announcement/schedule” list, then in the comments I‘ll tag specific lists for each book. All are welcome—comment if there‘s a tag list you‘d like to be added to!
rubyslippersreads, Daisey, LeahBergen, JenlovesJT47, CogsOfEncouragement, lauraisntwilder, kwmg40, TheAromaofBooks, Roary47, LitsyEvents, julieclair
#KindredSpiritsBuddyRead #LMMAdjacent - Alhambra discussion 3/3
LMM references Tales of the Alhambra in Emily Climbs, as well as in Vol. 2 of her journals.
What do you think it was about the book that captivated LMM?
Did you feel a similar enchantment, or were its charms not quite as potent for you?
Is there anything else you‘d like to discuss about Tales from the Alhambra?
#KindredSpiritsBuddyRead #LMMAdjacent - Alhambra discussion 2/3
What did you think of Irving as a narrator?
What did you think of his commentary on Spanish and Moorish culture (both past and present)?
Which of the tales he includes were most interesting to you?
#KindredSpiritsBuddyRead #LMMAdjacent - Alhambra discussion 1/3
As a travelogue, this book goes beyond personal experience or descriptions of the sights & culture of a place. Irving includes story after story from the Alhambra's past, from more straightforward history to tales of myths and legends.
Did you enjoy this way of approaching his subject? What do the myths and legends add to his account—or did they detract from the subject for you?
“…he‘s been a copper longer than anyone in the Watch," said Nobby.
One of the dwarfs said something in Dwarfish. There were a few smiles from the shorter watchmen.
"What was that?" said Nobby.
"Well, roughly translated,” said Stronginthearm, ‘My bum has been a bum for a very long time but I don't have to listen to anything it says.‘”
#OokBOokClub
I haven‘t done #5JoysFriday in a while, and I feel like I really need to look for the joy this week, so here are some joys:
1. Sunday jazz (even with what a friend calls the “aggressive” cross in the background)
2. Finishing All Creatures Great and Small—such a delight to read, and I‘m so sorry I kind of dropped the ball with @TheAromaofBooks for posting about it along the way!!
3. Celebrating the #KindredSpiritsBuddyRead 5th anniversary!!
⤵️
#BookSpinBingo for September!
✔️Both #BookSpin and #DoubleSpin complete
1️⃣ Bingo
2️⃣ Almost-bingos
5️⃣ books read from my owned TBR (never mind that one of those was both purchased & read this month)
Favorites:
🍜Automatic Noodle
🐴All Creatures Great and Small
🖋️Emily Climbs
🪦Our Town
💜Tattoos on the Heart
FIVE years ago today I started the #KindredSpiritsBuddyRead! We began with a chapter-a-day read of the Anne of Green Gables series, then decided we weren‘t done and continued on to read all of LMM‘s published novels + some short stories. There've been a few other iterations since; we‘re currently reading LMM‘s complete journals, interspersed with books LMM mentions in her journals, and re-reads of her books as they‘re mentioned being published. ⤵️
I‘ve gotten behind in my Alhambra reading this week… the Abencerrages chapter was a real slog (I had a really hard time keeping track of who was who!), and I never quite got caught back up. I‘ve been enjoying the stories and legends more than the history!
How‘s your reading going? What stories/sections stand out to you so far?
#KindredSpiritsBuddyRead #LMMAdjacent
“I've been keeping informal track of ‘homie-propisms‘ at all the detention facilities where I celebrate the Eucharist. These are the moments when the homies get up to read and they'll come to an unfamiliar word and will supplant it with one they know rather than what it should be. Sometimes, it's the usual slipup. ‘A reading from the letter of Paul to the Phillipinos.‘ They don't know what a Gentile is… ⤵️
Second #bookhaul of the trip was larger than intended 😆 Light from Uncommon Stars is from Mysterious Galaxy, and the rest are from Verbatim Books. I allowed myself one book purchase at each shop. But: my friend bought Legends and Bonedust at Verbatim in the morning, then found editions she liked better at Mysterious Galaxy in the afternoon. So she justified buying the hardcovers by gifting me the paperbacks she‘d purchased earlier in the day 😂
Second bookstore stop on this week‘s San Diego trip: Verbatim Books. Such a delight!
“I heard you pinch the other waiter's ass," said the bandit, bored. "It's not even that good an ass. Shouldn't you be more discriminating when you harass people?"
"That's so rude," said the waitress indignantly. "Ah Kheng, you don't listen to him! You have a very nice ass!" Ah Kheng had vanished, but his voice drifted out from the kitchen: "Please stop talking about my ass."
"Ah, sorry," said the bandit. He looked mildly embarrassed. ⤵️
Today‘s small #bookhaul from Warwick‘s in La Jolla 💜 Sipsworth is actually from a library sale I passed on the way to Warwick‘s 😆 And I couldn‘t resist the tote bag!!
Hello, Kindred Spirits! We're currently reading Tales of the Alhambra, and in a couple more weeks, we'll start Vol. 6 of the #LMMJournals. Take a look at this schedule & let me know any tag lists you'd like to join! Our #LMMRereads will be The Blue Castle & Emily's Quest, and The Ladies of Missalonghi will be our #LMMAdjacent book (it's widely been called a rip-off of Blue Castle!). Then we'll take December to read LMM's cozy Christmas stories. 🌲
rubyslippersreads, Daisey, LeahBergen, JenlovesJT47, CogsOfEncouragement, lauraisntwilder, kwmg40, TheAromaofBooks, Roary47, julieclair
“That book always makes me feel as if I had opened a little door and stepped straight into fairyland.
How I would love to see the Alhambra!”
—from “Salad Days” in Emily Climbs
How are you enjoying your reading of Tales from the Alhambra this week? Is it taking you to fairyland, as it does Emily? #KindredSpiritsBuddyRead #LMMAdjacent
Hello, Kindred Spirits! We‘ll begin reading Tales of the Alhambra by Washington Irving this week. I‘m looking forward to experiencing this book that LMM loved and that she references both in her journals and in the Emily books. Here‘s the schedule—all are welcome! Let me know if you‘re not tagged and you‘d like to be. #KindredSpiritsBuddyRead #LMMAdjacents
“Of course Emily II isn‘t half as good as New Moon. The second volume of a series, especially if it deals with a very young girl, is the hardest for me to write—because the public and the publisher won‘t allow me to write of a young girl as she really is. One can write of children as they are; so my books of children are always good; but when you come to write of the ‘miss‘ you have to depict a sweet, insipid young thing— ⤵️
#KindredSpiritsBuddyRead #LMMReread
How do you see Emily‘s writing ambitions manifest & grow throughout Emily Climbs?
Where do you see similarities between Emily & LMM?
What do you think of the choice Emily makes at the end? Do you agree with her decision or were you disappointed? What does the decision say about her sense of self? About her writing ambitions?
Are there any other scenes, themes, quotes, or characters you‘d like to discuss?
#KindredSpiritsBuddyRead #LMMReread
Emily‘s relationships with her family naturally change here, and the New Moon family members fade a bit into the background. Still, her family continues to (or tries to!) influence her choices.
Where do you see that family influence most strongly in this book?
How are Emily‘s choices shaped by her family—and where do you see her pushing back on that influence as she matures?
#KindredSpiritsBuddyRead #LMMReread My least-favorite characters here are Dean and Aunt Ruth—for very different reasons.
What do you make of Emily‘s relationship with Dean here? Do you see any redeeming qualities in Dean‘s friendship and influence in Emily‘s life—or is it all just creepy groomer vibes for you?
What (if any) redeeming qualities do you see in Aunt Ruth? For you, does this mitigate the way she treats Emily for most of the novel?
#KindredSpiritsBuddyRead #LMMRereads - Discussion Qs for Emily Climbs coming in very late in the day!
How do Emily‘s friendships with Ilse, Teddy, and Perry change during their years in Shrewsbury? Thinking about LMM‘s other work, do you see parallels or contrasts between Emily & Anne in their changing friendships from childhood?
What do you see as the significance of Emily‘s “second sight”? Do you see connections with her imagination? ⤵️
I started reading All Creatures Great and Small on Friday—I‘m just 8 (short) chapters in and I‘m absolutely loving it. I was a bit fuzzy on the timeframe in which this is set, so I went to GR to check the book description. And… um… what? 😆😂🤣
@TheAromaofBooks
“Emily did not sleep—did not want to sleep. It was too dear a night to go to sleep, she felt. She wanted to lie awake for the pleasure of it and think over a thousand things.
Emily always looked back to that night spent under the stars as a sort of milestone. Everything in it and of it ministered to her. It filled her with its beauty, which she must later give to the world…”
#KindredSpiritsBuddyRead #LMMReread ⤵️
This picture popped up in my FB memories today… my #bookhaul from a Labor Day Fire Sale at this bookstore before they moved to a new location—8 years ago. In those 8 years, I‘ve managed to finish… um… well… three of these books. 😶🙃
I‘ve read Homegoing (excellent), Penderwicks (a delight), and the Scarlett Thomas (eh). Which do you think I should (ostensibly) read sooner rather than later?
“He ought to stay here, and do the best he could.
But . . . history was full of the bones of good men who'd followed bad orders in the hope that they could soften the blow. Oh, yes, there were worse things they could do, but most of them began right where they started following bad orders.”
🎯🎯🎯
#OokBOokClub
“Colon looked awkward, as if the bunched underwear of the past was tangling itself in the crotch of recollection.”
😂🤣
#OokBOokClub
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