It‘s raining outside, I‘ve got hot chocolate, the blanket right out of the dryer, and a lovely book. It‘s a perfect afternoon.
Do I have 10 different rain related words saved in my notes app? No comment.
#WeirdWordWednesday #WeirdWords @CBee
so-soThe story of the highs and lows of the four March daughters: Meg, Beth, Jo, and Amy.
I‘m still not sure how I made it out of an English degree without reading this, but I‘m kind of glad I came to it later. I don‘t think I would have appreciated the relationships between the sisters, or what we see of the March parents as much. There‘s a bit too much moralizing & women‘s duty is marriage/babies/emotional labor, but it is of it‘s time.🌕🌕🌕🌗🌑
pickIn her efforts to escape a controlling uncle, Emilie accidentally stows away on a ship traveling through aetheric currents to the Hollow World. The discoveries made there will change everything.
2 novels, both wonderful reads! Emilie is an engaging protagonist & realistically young, & I love her growth especially in book 2. The side characters were fun, & the world building was fantastic. Very similar vibes to the movie Treasure Planet.🌕🌕🌕🌕🌗
pickWhat happens when a miserable farm wife gains access to a wizard‘s books of magics & thinks “why not”? Chaos. & then add a sassy familiar, the goblin market getting introduced to capitalism, & a talking plant.
Such fun! You can tell this is a writer raised on Terry Pratchett. There‘s humor & a moving story of a woman deciding what she‘s worth. I wish the side characters hadn‘t been so 1 dimensional, & too many threads left unresolved. 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑
#WeeklyForecast
I‘ve enjoyed everything I‘ve read by Robin Sloan so far, so I can‘t wait to start Moonbound!
#BookReport
I had completely forgotten about my preorder of For Whom the Belle Tolls, so of course I had to start it as soon as I could! 😆
I am loving Mrs March in the tagged book! She‘s so gentle with her daughters, but firm when she needs to be!
#SundayFunday Hope you all have a wonderful day, and don‘t forget to tag me!
pickFiction and non fiction collected from Marina Keegan‘s published works after her untimely death.
This was lovely. Her nonfiction essays were stronger for me, and I desperately wish more of her poetry was included. Her voice is compassionate and attentive. And I wish we could have seen what she would have done. 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑
pickWhat would you do if you knew how much time you have left?
This is less a time management self help book, and more of a philosophical examination of how we prioritize our time, and how we‘ll never actually achieve perfection so it‘s okay to let some things go. Lots of good advice, and I will be buying a copy to mark up, but it didn‘t need to be as long as it was. 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌗
Thanks for the tag @TheSpineView !
1. Finished two arcs this week!
2. Got a new preorder book I can‘t wait to start!
3. Bought tickets to Hadestown for when I visit London this summer!
4. I discovered my badass magical powers as a cleric in our DnD campaign!
5. Got the nibling for the evening, so it‘s time for cookies and reading!
#5JoysFriday @DebinHawaii
I‘ve been a fan of Jaysea‘s Hells Belles TikTok series for years, so you can bet I preordered this as soon as she announced it! #TikTokFind
pickDanika has a lot on her plate between doing tarot readings & working for her mother‘s detective agency. She finally gets to use her skills when a classmate disappears, & she gets to lead her 1st case.
Such fun! A strong narrative voice for Danika, pacing was mostly good (if a bit slow in the middle), & I loved all the characters. The final reveal didn‘t feel as set up as I wanted, but would definitely read a whole series of Danika! 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑
pickAfter Yeva kills her 1st dragon, she is sent to the capital of the Empire to train as a guildknight. Eventually, the Emperor commands her to a nearby country w/ rumors of dragons. But the rumors, & the country itself, are not what they seem.
Yang‘s world building always captivates me. & the queer normative cultures are amazing. This is a lovely, quick tale of finding where one belongs, discovering what duty really means, & finding love.🌕🌕🌕🌕🌗
so-soIntent on finding the group responsible for the creation of the wraiths, thread cutter Io partners w/ an unlikely ally to hunt down this conspiracy & stop them from killing any more.
I liked this one a bit better. Better pacing, fascinating & even more expansive world building, & less focus on the destined romance. But I really wish we could have seen more into the relationship of the 3 sisters, & the ending really disappointed me. 🌕🌕🌕🌗🌑
#WeeklyForecast
Up next I‘ve got a book about one of my favorite indie bookstores! The King‘s English in Salt Lake City, Utah!
#BookReport
I‘m already halfway through my #QueerBC book for this month!
Literally any of the feasts in the Redwall series. Jacques always manages to make everything sound so delicious I feel like if I take a deep enough breath I could smell everything.
#SundayFunday Have a safe and happy day, and don‘t forget to tag me in your posts!
pickStasia has spent her whole life warning the people around her that she‘s an alien & that an invasion is coming. & then the first signal is received. Everyone will have to believe her now.
So interesting! Grant does such an amazing job making me love characters, even the advance spy of a race coming to destroy humanity. There were a couple pacing issues, but the horror was so well done, & the ending took me completely by surprise!🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑
I was ready for spring, not over 80 degrees heat. 😂 #BookSpinBingo #BingoBoard
#BookSpin Wonderland, #DoubleSpin Tale of Kore
#Roll100 The Opposite of Loneliness, The King‘s English, Rising Strong
#OokBOokClub Men at Arms
#BobWhiteBuddies Mystery on Cobbett‘s Island
#BeyondTheYellowBrickRoad The Emerald City of Oz
#QueerBC Brighter Than Scale, Swifter Than Flame
#ThematicCozies A Botanist‘s Guide to Rituals and Revenge
So many great and fun books this month! And I actually did pretty well keeping up with my NetGalley ARCs! #MonthlyRoundup
Happy Dracula Day everybody! Anybody else participating in #DraculaDaily this year?
Newsletter here: https://draculadaily.substack.com/
Audio dramatization here: https://pod.link/1679833472
so-soW/ old friends coming for a visit, Trixie & the other BobWhites get swept up in the glamour of NYC, a strange statue, & a mysterious poem hinting at a great treasure.
Much bigger stakes in this one, & Trixie‘s recklessness reaches a new high. I really liked how integral Dan was at the end. Loved the intro of Dr Joe, & poor Ms Trask having to corral a bunch of headstrong kids while dealing w/ her own problems.🌕🌕🌕🌗🌑
Goat cheese, arugula, and heirloom tomatoes oh my! #DinnerByTheBook
I definitely need to work on my pie dough! 😂
panPhilip of France & Richard the Lionheart discover a mutual spark of attraction @ the same time Phillip is establishing his reign & Richard is dealing w/ a controlling father & an imprisoned mother.
Interesting characters & good scene setting, but 2 problems for me. I wasn‘t invested in the romance, & I‘m not usually into books that reimagine established historical figures so much. W/ a different background, I would have liked it better.🌕🌕🌑🌑🌑
Out running errands and showing support to my #LocalLibrary ! ❤️❤️❤️
A Ghanaian concept, the word is expanded into the proverb “se wo were fi na wosankofa a yenkyi.”
Sankofa is the understanding that only by knowing your (personal, cultural, national) history can you know your current self, and know how to become better.
The concept feels particularly relevant right now.
#WeirdWordWednesday #WeirdWords
pickWilla‘s peace is interrupted when her ex-fiancée & his new partner move into town & open a business near hers. Things get worse when he becomes the prime suspect when a journalist is murdered.
Enjoyed this 1 better than the last! Plenty of suspects, a clever twist, Willa‘s investigating w/ her Team Cheese, & a bunch of recipes that I want to try! Moss does such a great job making all the suspects valid. & Willa‘s friendships are so fun!?????
so-soDorothy again finds herself traveling through fairy lands & meets a variety of characters on her way to Princess Ozma‘s birthday party.
Baum has such a way with creating unique, beautifully absurd characters. We get to meet Polychrome, Button Bright, & the Shaggy Man! & one of my favorites Johnny Dooit. Button Bright may be silly, but it strikes me that if more people were willing to admit they didn‘t know something, we‘d be better off.🌕🌕🌕🌗🌑
#BookReport
I‘ve deleted most of my social media related apps off my phone, and if I get the urge to log into something and doom scroll, I‘ve opened up my kindle app instead. Which is resulting in more ebooks getting finished! 😂
so-soA series of short stories examining loss, grief, & queer existence.
Such an interesting collection! A variety of genres, all ranging in tone from a slight edge of unease to outright horror. Olguín has a remarkable ability to make me feel on edge throughout each story. There were a couple that felt too unresolved. And a couple I didn‘t like. But the last two stories were remarkable. Would make a great audiobook.?????
Had to share a picture, because I love all the extra artwork shared throughout this trilogy!
#SundayFunday
“To the gremlin girls,
I would like to tell you something inspiring,
but the truth is,
when life closes a door for us,
it doesn‘t always open a window.
The good news is:
that‘s what bricks are for.”
Little Thieves by Margaret Owen
Margaret Owen is quickly making herself an auto buy author for me!
#SundayFunday Happy last Sunday of April, and don‘t forget to tag me in your posts!
Had to work today, but did my due diligence for #IndieBookstoreDay by placing an order for a couple preorders! 💸
#IndependentBookstoreDay
pickA group believes that Ankh-Morpork would be better w/ a king in charge. & how do you get a king? Summon a dragon to be heroically defeated by a “lost heir” of course. Only, nothing about this goes the way you‘d think.
God I love Lady Sybil so much! I want to be her when I grow up. This one is more focused on poking fun at the tropes of high fantasy at the time, & it does it so well, while giving me some of my favorite characters.🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑
I‘m going to use an ARC for May‘s #ThematicCozies theme of Flowers and Plants!
This is a cute series and I can‘t wait to dive into the next one!
so-soWhitney‘s construction company takes on the job of remodeling an old boarding school into a retirement community. But the old headmaster‘s house had a murder suicide long ago that she finds impossible to ignore.
A very twisty mystery, but overly tell & descriptive of actions that I was getting a bit bored. & I still don‘t get the point of the cat‘s POV chapters. But I really liked the characters, & I loved the architecture details. 🌕🌕🌕🌑🌑
pickA powerful collection of poetry following Vuong‘s journey of grief after the loss of his mother.
Incisive and sometimes brutal, this is a wonderful collection. But for me, Dear Rose was the strongest poem, by far, and actually brought me to tears & ended up with me texting my mother to let her know I love her. 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑
so-soAfter her brother‘s death, Frances decides to join the Army & serve as a nurse in the Vietnam war. She discovers a camaraderie w/ the other nurses that she needs when they return from war.
I get the hype, but it didn‘t land completely for me. Frankie‘s struggles are real, & the stories of service members returning from war to a lack of support or outright hatred need to be told. But I think this would have been stronger as a multi POV. 🌕🌕🌕🌗🌑
My lilacs are blooming, my hydrangeas are up. And the roses are budding! I am so ready for spring.
This word also has a chemistry related definition, used to describe the process of a substance loosing moisture and turning into a fine powder, but I like the first one better.
#WeirdWordWednesday #WeirdWords
I just did my best impression of a tea kettle just now. I was so sure I wasn‘t going to get this, but I did! #NetGalley #ARC
This was so wonderful to see after the day I‘ve had.
so-soMegan‘s got a job as an extra in a movie about rock climbing. Things get complicated when the star of the movie is found dead at the base of the rock wall. At first, it seems like an accident. & then the second body is found.
Fun. It got a little overly technical w/ rock climbing details, & there were way too many characters to keep track of. But it did keep me guessing, & I liked all of the characters & the friendships involved. 🌕🌕🌕🌑🌑
so-soFour dissimilar women come together for a holiday in a small castle in Italy. And find they have a lot more in common than they thought.
Very, very slow story, & very character focused. Not a lot happens, but the way the setting was described was so gorgeous I just had to keep reading. Very much of its time, but I appreciated how changing their surroundings helped each woman reevaluate their lives. 🌕🌕🌕🌑🌑
#WeeklyForecast
I‘m so excited to get to start the next Discworld book this week!
#BookReport
I had forgotten how much I enjoy the Incryptid series. I can‘t wait to dive in again.
pickAfter the death of her parents, Fern continues her father‘s work of studying & raising magical plants. Her next job is complicated by the fact that the mysterious vine is carnivorous & magically connected to a rare dragon.
Lovely! I adored almost all the characters, the magic was interesting, & I loved the discussion of the power of stories & what makes a life have worth. A bit predictable & the world building could have been deeper. 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑
A buddy read I‘m doing with a friend of mine!
I don‘t care too much for most of the characters, but the perfectly lyrical way Von Armin is describing the blooming of the flowers, the scent of the ocean on the wind, makes me want to book a flight to Italy immediately. 💖
#SundayFunday If you celebrate Easter, I hope it‘s a happy one! And everybody else have a wonderful day and don‘t forget to tag me!
