so-soI fear this book is the victim of my expectations based off Murderbot which I absolutely adore. Wells' use of world building, her use of gender and fluidity is all done so well. But this felt a bit too slow and I found myself really struggling to pay attention which then caused me to lose track of who everyone was (it felt like a lot of characters)
Overall this was just okay for me.
pickWell. This was just lovely. I wish it had a different cover, I think I would have picked it up sooner.
The Berry's and The Marsh's couple of years living next door to each other their lives so intertwined and yet not at all. This book is about the power of a chosen family. I loved how each POV reveals a different look at all of their lives and the slow unraveling of how everyone got to where they are. I really loved the language Elliott uses.
#Bookspin = At swim, two boys
#DoubleSpin = Henry Hamlet's Heart
So excited! They both look excellent in different ways and have been on my bookcase for over a year
@TheAromaofBooks
I am almost finished with the tagged. That and WDS need to go back to the library next weekend so those are priorities - after Giovanni's Room
Happy Place I grabbed on audio and is part of my #25in25 & #14in14 so want to ✅ that off. It will be my first Henry.
Marsha - this looks incredible and I am looking forward to it, trying to read one NF a week this Pride
And then A Gentleman's Gentleman for pure fun!
It's PRIDE month!!
Here are 5 classic books I think everyone should read at least once.
Chorus of Witches was recently found and re-published. It is the first known book about Drag Queens. Written in 1959 by British author Paul Buckland, it is set against the backdrop of a traveling drag show, and a set of parents that don't know what their son is getting up to.
The secondary characters banter and behind the scenes scenes are the best!
I am so excited Aardvark has Nicola Dinan's new book!! I was able to read an ARC of it, and absolutely loved it. She is fast becoming an auto buy author of mine.
Also thrilled that Nnedi Okorafor's book is still in stock so that I can grab it for #CampLitsy25
#AardvarkBookBox
I read my #doublespin but didn't get to my #bookspin... will get to it this summer though. I am determined.
5 Bingos!
#Bookspinbingo @thearomaofbooks
May reading (I have about 60 pages left of Flamingo so I am counting it for May)
It was a lot of good not amazing books.
4.5 ⭐
By The Fire We Carry
4 ⭐
A House For Miss Pauline
Hula
Conversations w/Friends
Flamingo
3.75 ⭐
A Master of Djinn
Deep Water
I Think They Love You
Some Desperate Glory
3.5 ⭐
A Leopard-Skin Hat
Colored Television
The Dark Maestro
The Phantom of the Opera
The Chromatic Fantasy
3 ⭐
Crazy Rich Asians
By the Book
Oh. Oh no .. 😂.
June TBR bookcase I have a few library books I need to get through, but mostly my focus is the books up top. Pride Month🌈
I have been reading Giovanni's Room in June for the last couple of years so wrapping up what I am reading now and then starting that. I hear Matt Bomer reads the audio if you have not read the book and would like to do it on audio!
The stack on the back left is my #14in14 which I am 1.5 books into!
#bookspin
#bookspinbingo
@thearomaofbooks
It is Pride month!! I have thrown in a few of my #25in25 and #14booksin14weeks that are not LGBTQ to keep up my momentum but for the most part everything I read in June is always all Gay.
"He is cross-legged on the floor of the public library, deep in cookery, holding a book of old recipes, gripping it tight, his tears tapping out the code of how lost he is on its sun-bleached cover "
#FirstLineFriday
I am starting my weekend early and this is the vibe (except Saturday when I am volunteering most of the day for a city evening parade)
Books: Flamingo & Witch King
Drink water with lemon
Cat shown: Serene
Candle as always Voluspa Mokara
20! #TLT @Dabbe
So glad to see some Black authors finally!
I think I need to read a Dorothy Sayers?
Favorites
The Razor's Edge
Rebecca
Native Son
#WonderousWednesday @Eggs
1) I always wanted a name people know how to spell. Like Jane. Easy Peasy.
2) My first pet a dog named Frisco I was 5 and named him after my favorite General Hospital soap opera character 🤣
3) I always loved the name Phryne Fisher from Miss Fishers Murder mystery
Always fun to see how many I checked off in the month!
I need to remove Anne of Green Gables, even though I didn't get to it it was my booksping this month, so it is hovering on my TBR and I will get to it soon!
pickA gothic thriller on this hint of summer day? Yes please. I really liked the pacing of this, you keep moving quickly forward. The mystery is interesting, but I felt the characters were far away I didn't feel connected or informed about any of them. Overall it is a pick, a quick read for a classic (1910) it kept my attention but I cannot imagine ever reading it again.
The "Opera Ghost" keeps signing his letters OG which has a whole new meaning 100+ years (and American audience) on
Every time I see it I giggle. Ghost is causing havoc like a real O. G. ?
I have no idea why but I started this book (my first time reading it) and I had a visceral memory of my mom watching this Beauty and the Beast show when I was a kid. The show ran from 1987-90 and I remember it being unhinged. Does anyone else remember this show??
pickA low pick mostly from the unbelievable standpoint of some of the story. I just don't buy the idea of party planners being these media darlings, it was all a bit much. I also HATE that Braylon comes back from 4 yrs in London with an accent (I tried the audio of this and couldn't do it) and the competition. BUT even with all that I enjoyed the bones of this second chance + fake dating romance. Denz is a believable and sympathetic character. 👇
Unhinged rom-com thought
Do NOT reward a person who went on a couple years exchanged to a foreign country and came back with an accent by sleeping with them.
😂
This plot point is the most randomly annoying 🤣
pick3.75/5
I enjoyed this. The world building is exceptional. The characters are likable and well drawn. I love the idea of djinn just living and abiding by rules in our world.
The mystery and reveal were well thought out and I really love how strong Clark has made the women in the book, it is not often men can write such strong self assured and believable women.
I love this cover. The details and steampunk vibes are gorgeous 😍
#Weeklyforecast
I have this week off work so I am hoping to make a dent in my TBR. My library checkouts have gotten out of hand so pausing everything and trying to get things back.
I am a little over half into the tagged and I read 100 pgs of I Think They Love You yesterday then will move onto Phantom and Flamingo before tackling #CampLitsy25 2nd book and Witch King is high on my list b/c I have early access to the sequel.
This is SO not my normal genre but if you like a little romance with a bit of magic I just flew through this fun series. Violet, Rose, and Olive are triplets, there gran is head witch of NYC, and they are surrounded by supernatural people. Their best friends are a succubus and a guardian angel, and their hookups are people they don't see coming. Each book in the series focuses on 1 sister. I really had a fantastic time with these
Photo: B&N IG
so-so"Was it true? Was she making it up? It doesn't matter."
Small but mighty. This is not a tiny book you can race through. The language is gorgeous but incredibly dense, I often had to reread entire pages, I would get to the end and not remember what I had read. Possibly this was too smart for me.
But I still enjoyed it, the mystery of the relationships, the aspects of mental illness were done well, also love the cover.
3.75/5⭐
Had a blast today at Queers and Quills book convention!
There is always stress about how organized things are and how good the attendees will be. But not only did a bunch of attendees give volunteers presents (goodie bags, bookmarks, candy), but everyone was just lovely 😍.
Not a big ❤️ reader I didn't know most of the authors but everyone today was so nice, and we were packed! I am excited to help out again next year!! What a success.
Portlands first annual Queers and Quills.
Super excited to be behind the scenes and helping out!
Super proud of our organizers especially after the disaster we saw with the Million Lives event 😂.
We are sold out booked and busy with over 100 queer authors
https://www.queersandquills.com/
I was looking at this chart and I am mad that Gaiman is my second most read author. Well annoyed at myself I guess. I do not want a creep that high up!!
Problem is I like to be wide read and I love lit, those authors don't tend to write dozens of books.
I am going to push myself to read more diverse authors who have more than 12 books. For the rest of this year I am working on getting my Patricia Highsmith number up (currently at 3) 👇
#TLT @dabbe
21! So many I have never heard of!
3 favorites:
We (tagged)
The Forsyth Saga (book and show both sooo good)
Of Human Bandage
3 on TBR
Edith Wharton
Ford Maddox Ford
Chrome Yellow by Huxley (I had not heard of this!)
pickI picked this up from the library and it is due back this weekend so getting a jumpstart on #CampLitsy25 I think this is going to be an interesting discussion. Fans of Mona Awad are going to like this. I enjoyed it, especially the later half, but I really like fever dream type books, those books you have to just keep reading and have faith something will flush out, even if that something is great language, which this definitely has.
“Always to be seen, in those days it was almost an end in itself, because it was in being seen that I could say for certain that I existed, that my limbs were real as I touched them, that my being was intact as it peered out into the world. A stay against the turbulence within me—that was, perhaps, the purpose of all this.”
#CampLitsy25
“More and more often, I was surprised by the person in the mirror, it was not the lines at my mouth or the hollowness around my eyes, it was the lag in recognition that was the most troubling, the brief moment when I looked in the mirror and did not know who I was.”
I can tell this isn't going to be wildly popular, but I am loving her writing.
bailedI am missing something here. Maybe it is my mood. Maybe this just isn't for me. It was my most anticipated book to read this year but it has taken me a month to get 100 pages in and for the last week I have not been able to force myself to pick it back up. There is a distance she is writing from that is making it hard for me to connect or care about this kid.
I do sort of want people to tell me why they find it devastating? Spoil below!
Anyone else believe that organizing books is a complete hobby in itself?
Putting together my summer reading.
Pictured my physical TBR corner.
Did y'all see this??
AI ruining everything. The Chicago Sun-Times released an article today featuring "new summer books" and almost all of them are fake. Only 5 of 15 are real!!
Article from 404 Media here:
https://www.404media.co/chicago-sun-times-prints-ai-generated-summer-reading-lis...
I think this is so important as we start talking more and more about how AI is not only failing the environment but all of us.
pickThis is perfect for AAPI history month. If you are not familiar with the Hawaiian language I would recommend the audiobook. I am so alternated between audio and physical. It is the story of 3 generations I loved how Hakes explains the history and trauma of Hawai'i and weaves it with Hi'i story. An excellent book to really understand the islands from a native perspective.
4.25⭐
pickLow pick 3.5 ⭐
An adult comic. The book itself is gorgeous. I love the art and the gold sprayed edges. The book started strong but the language got a bit muddled. I liked the idea of the story but not so much the execution. Still it is very pretty.
This gorgeous comic is about a trans boy who has to escape a nunnery, and then becomes a thief.
I love the juxtaposition of the story set in what appears to be medieval times but the artists keeps sneaking in modern things like this page with the cell phone 🤣😍
I am really enjoyed the art in the comic, and also the humor - as they talk about all of the horrors we use to put people through when we didn't know how to "cure"
"I'm preparing the arsenic and rosewater enema as fast as I can!! Should I put lead in it?"
"Maybe we should add cocaine"
?
pickLow pick. This started out so strong before the half way point I had this as the best of Slocumb, but then it took a turn and became a bit too ridiculous. If you are super into Superheroes you might be lored in, but it felt like I was reading 2 separate books. And unfortunately I wanted to stay in the beginning half.
As always I love his focus on Black classic musicians and family. I just wish his editor had resigned in the 2nd half.
so-soA Beauty and the Beast retelling set in modern day publishing land. This was fine. It is my second Guillory book and I think she is fine. The characters are likable, even the tortured artist actor who is the grumpy. It just felt very surface and a bit to formulaic. It kept my interest though so 3⭐
pick3.75⭐. I thought this was great but maybe 50-75 pages too long. I really enjoyed Tesh's writing. I found myself sinking into the story as soon as I picked it up and flying through the pages. The characters were not likable, but they each had believable growth through complex challenges. I have been really craving space reads and this scratched the itch perfectly.
There is a trend going around BookTok about what about a book will immediately cause you to not read a book (keeping in mind there is always exceptions like favorite authors)
It could be anything from page length, topics, style of writing, format.
What are your big turnoffs? Mine in the comments.
#SundayFunday @BookmarkTavern
According to Storygraph I have read 115 book over 500pgs
Over 1000pgs
Jonathan Strange 1006
Gone With The Wind 1037
Don Quixote 1072
War and Peace 1156
I guess I don't really love a chunkster. I would rather read three 350-400pgs than 1 thousand pager. I looked through a GR list of books over 1k the only one that I am even remotely interested in is The Count of Monte Cristo.
The first 2 episodes are available on Apple TV!!
I am pleasantly surprised. I am enjoying it! It seems to be sticking pretty close to the book, and it is very funny (in a very dry/ perfect for me way).
I am actually really excited to continue watching! I had a lot of reservations going in, and new shows off beloved books can be really hard. But so far I am giving this a 1.5 👍
#TLT @Dabbe
I guess I need to read Zola if anyone has a suggestion where to start.
Favorites:
Anna Karenina
The Awakening
Dorian Gray
Books I plan to read this year:
Fathers and Sons
Middlemarch
pickThis book should be read in a club chair while drinking a Manhattan.
This is my 3rd Highsmith. I can see why people do not like this as much as Ripley, it involves more than one toxic person and leaves you wondering who to root for. I think it is very well crafted, a train wreck that is hard to look away from. PH is one of the best at characters that are spiraling, and this is eerily plausible.
⭐3.75/5
pickI have been feeling the need for old book friends and some supernatural sexiness and thought I would reread Soulless my library had this short story, it is all about "That hedgehog incident". Very cute, and just enough to get me thinking yes I do want to reread this series. I do think Maccron felt a bit different here so I am interested to see if I am remembering him well. It has been about 6 years since I read the series
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