Weekly Forecast

Chipping away at 3 Musketeers.
Determined to read Dancer by McCann (the oldest book on my TBR
And getting into the October spirit with Nettle & Bone and The Center

This is a book for language lovers. Yes there are characters, there is a semblance of a plot, Harvey talks about space, and earth and not so subtly about climate change, but it is all background to her gorgeous prose.
This is definitely a pick, and a great book for the Booker short list. I am in a bit of a slump so this book that would normally take me a day to read room me 2 weeks, not a reflection of the book but of my current struggles.

I have fallen into a bit of a reading slump. Hoping finishing up the reading room with a fresh coat of paint and a new velvet chair pulls me out of it!

Ready to go for October!

September Reading Roundup

The Wedding People was my favorite of the month, I think it just hit me right at the right time. Murderbot is always a fun time, and Playing the Enemy was great I learned a lot from it.

Overall an okay month, I wish I had read more books I jived with. But on we go.

Powell's book haul!

I went in last night to pick up the tagged and Olga Tokarczuk's The Empusium then kept going...
I want to read Jesus and John Wayne during Nonfiction November and they had a used copy - score! And then I found a sale edition of Wells' #7 Murderbot (now need 5&6 🤣)
I have been collecting these pretty paper mill press classics and Emma and Persuasion were half price, so had to grab them!

#bookspin

This is the month I finish all of the books on my GR TBR from 2021! LOL I have been trying all year without much success, I have the tagged left, then I want to read at least 4 from my 2022 TBR. I keep getting distracted by shiny new things.

A good chunk of this list this month is libary books. I am not participating in any haunted things this month, not really feeling the spirit, but there are a couple on here that are a bit spooky

#bookspin #bookspinbingo @thearomaofbooks

I read both of my bookspin and double spin, and got 2 bingos!

Pretty good month, though I had 2 books that are the oldest on my TBR and I didn't pick either of them up which I am annoyed at myself over.

October here we are!

I am not sure what happened here. It sounded like a book that would be right up my alley - there is even a cat on the cover! But I was ...bored? I switched to audio for entertainment while I painted my office but I just didn't care and ended up watching Criminal Minds instead.
The concept is good, but either the execution or translation was not.

#BookedInTime @dabbe @Cuilin
South African apartheid

This is a very interesting read about the end of Apartheid. I learned so much. Mandela was a visionary. He took a revolution and expertly molded it with the goal to limit violence, ironically by using one of the most violent sports. It is hard to believe what Mandela was able to do, it honestly is such a movie moment
I enjoyed this book the writing was easy to digest

Thank you so much @underground_bks for the rec! This book got me through last night's insomnia. I am so glad that I started it without looking at the Goodreads reviews, I can't imagine why they are so low, I found this so charming. The ending is a bit over the top - unrealistic but overall it was all good fun which is just how I like my romance books. I do not read a ton & mostly only read Gay ones so this was a fun change!

Woke up.this morning really needing a change so I decided to paint my office/library green.

Listening to the tagged #Bookspin on audio while I work!

*Rugby was the opium of apartheid "

As someone in the US who has really gotten into rugby the last 2 years, and who quickly became a huge Springbok fan, this book has been super interesting.

One of the most popular Springbok player is a white man named Fif de Klerk I had to look up if he was related to the president who transferred power to Mandela (he is not).

I do wish there was more rugby talk in this first half, but I am learning so much

Tired, by Langston Hughes

It has been a hard week in the US, for those of us who believe the Death Penalty should be abolished. 5 state executions in 7 days.
I am sad, I am tired.

If you have not read the tagged by Angela Davis or The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander I really encourage you to even if you do not live in the states.

What a wild list. Mostly kids picture books. I hate book bans and nothing makes me race for a book fast than it getting on one of these lists. I think the most surprising one to see here is Where's Waldo?? What freaks.

Here are 3 I am adding to my TBR

Always Running - Rodriguez
Flowers for Algernon
Kaffir Boy

Anyone else notice the The New Joys of Sex is on the list 2x?

#tlt #threelistthursday
@dabbe

"Maybe it's hard to shift from thinking your planet is safe at the centre of it all to knowing in fact it's a planet of normalish size and normalish mass rotating about an average star in a solar system of average everything in a galaxy of innumerable many, and that the whole thing is going to explode or collapse."

It's not you it's me!!!

This is fully YA. I think this would be an excellent book for teens especially Western ones who need to see Asian influence. The writing is good, I just am not in the mood for YA, I have had this from the library for three weeks and keep getting drawn to other things, I hit about 1/3 in, there is nothing wrong with the book it is all my problem. Removing it from my TBR as I try to clear pre 2022 books.

This was a gem!
The first known published UK novel centering Drag Queens. While most of the book is actually about the 2 men that are enamored by Colin you get a lot of behind the scenes of the drag show, some very catty and dramatic queens (a bit characterized but still fun)
The writing is a product of its time (1959) but easy to read. Colin is slated as the heartless love interest but I strongly disagree! I liked & understood him.

So much novel to screen news today!!

Looks like I will need to re-up my Apple subscription 😲

Big book to screen news!!

What a fantastic cast!

Weekly Forecast

I am still listening to the tagged on audio, it hasn't really drawn me in and I am gravitating to music more
Starting 3 Musketeers for #RandomClassics Before The Coffee Gets Cold is my #Bookspin for the month and Playing the Enemy is for #BookedinTime
Nothing like waiting for the last week to tackle all the book club/challenge books!

The when all your holds come in at once Haul

Orbital is making all the book award lists and I have been feeling a bit space like lately so I might start there.
The Lagos Wife has been on my list of hopefuls for the Women's Prize list
The Center and The Ghosts of Rose Hill sound like perfect spooky October reads so might save them for the calendar switch up.
Interesting Facts About Space and Station Eternity both sound like a good time.

This feels like the perfect book to read for an hour while doing a foot and an eye mask!

The first Drag novel ever published in the UK, this book was put out in 1959 and hold up pretty well (TW for black face/minstrel acts)

I think I scared a woman at my coffee shop yesterday 😂 I was walking in and she was pulling out this book and I just started gushing at her!! I loved this book so much, and how much it has to say about women and relationships. By the end I had her totally excited and now I am afraid I raised her expectations too high!

Do you talk to people you see reading books you loved??

**photo from website Tess Talks Books

I am between So-so and pan on this. I just do not understand the hype and rave reviews. This really didn't work for me. 1 petty complaint- Lavender, Saffron, Juniper, Rose, then move on to Sunshine, Blue, & Harmony. The names Kukafka picked for this was insanely distracting. I can't get past it and I hated it.
1 big yuck I didn't like how the author tried to tag in how Black and Brown people have it worst in the prison system, when she put this👇

This is a very interesting and unique book.
Ella has a "Thing" she has many different abilities, her brother Kev - born during the 1992 LA riots - is in Rikers. Their mom is a single mom working as a nurse.
This is a little sci-fi, a little magical realism, a bit dystopian, and a whole lot of Black America. I love how he tackled Black women healthcare and systematic oppression. It came together and totally worked.

Listening to Notes on an Execution

I have a fairly uncommon name and it is incredibly jarring to hear it in a book, especially as a character that I would never be. I am anti-prison and the guard here who seems to want to help a psychopath escape has my name.

People named a super common name probably do not notice when characters have their names, since so many around them also do, but who is in the uncommon name group stumbling on characters?

#weeklyforecast

I am listening to the tagged on audio. Dancer by McCann has been on my TBR the longest of anything so I want to get that wiped out! Reading 2 books about Apartheid - the beginning and the beginning of the end for #bookedintime

This surprised me, I went in thinking I wasn't going to like this but it was a propulsive read. A bit contrived and predictable but I flew through the pages. I was drastically more interested in Claire's story, which is always the way of duel timeline books - always there is one character that is more engaging, more my speed. But overall this was a good escape read.
4✨

It's Agatha Christie's birthday!!

What is your favorite book or fact about this amazing woman?

My favorite book is tagged, and I am always in awe remembering that she was a huge fan (and one of the first women!) of surfing 🏄‍♀️

4.5✨
A great look at how having a disability impacts the authors life. Taussig tackles a variety of different subjects from the #metoo movement to housing to strangers on the street.
She is honest if a bit too cheerful, but you can feel her frustration at points.
An important read if you like me do not have mobility issues yet.

Listening to the tagged while putting together my new Propagation Station! So much pretty going on over here.

I got a hold of Susanna Clark's newest. Out October 22, 2024 this slim short is rather more of a one scene play. At 60 pages there isn't much to it. It is a fairytale, one written almost for children. I honestly wasn't too impressed (I need shorts this short to be hit me on the head amazing). The most interesting part is at the end talk about her influences it was interesting to read how much Kate Bush and Jorge Luis Borges shaped her writing

It looks like they are releasing this Blake Crouch from 2011. I am a fair weather Crouch fan. I will pick up his books but feel a bit middle of the road about him. This is my 4th book of his. I enjoy them while I read them, I was happy to keep picking this up but looking deeper at it, the characters are not well drawn (the main character is a philosophy prof, but no philosophy is talked about and you get no feelings of teacher from him) 👇

About half in I had to pull out the audio to help speed things along. I don't think I would have gotten through the book by physical alone. The meandering paths he takes while they can be interesting were totally unnecessary (unnecessary in the length and details) which pulled the whole book down.
Overall I enjoyed this but thought it was way too long for what it is. No matter how solid the writing not all characters need a 600+ book epic
3/5

I love how the book has fold out pages so you can see the full piece and also a closer look at the damage time and wear has had. This Charles James dress from 1955 is holding up pretty well but tulle is a very fragile textile.

These dresses photograph beautifully for the book.

The dress on the left is my absolute favorite dress in history and the main pull for me fly to NYC to see this exhibit. It is colloquially called the Dior "petal dress" but was named the Junon when it was made in 1949.

There are a few very famous dresses in the book (all pieces in the book were in the exhibit) like this Alexander McQueen butterfly dress you might know if you have seen a certain book turned to film.

The book takes you directly through how the exhibit was laid out, and it gives not only full photos of the pieces but close-ups so you can see the incredible detail.

This is a French gown style called Robe & l'anglaise (meaning in the English way) from circa 1780

I went to The Met a couple of weeks ago to see this exhibit and this book was much too big to lug home so I had to put in an order for them to ship it to me and wow was it worth it!! This book is gorgeous. Filled with lush photos and tons of information not only about the exhibit but about the fashions and preservation attempts.
If you are into fashion I highly recommend this, even if you were unable to see the exhibit in person.

Two enthusiastic thumbs up!! I really enjoyed this. TW for suicidal thoughts, miscarriages, failed IVF, cheating husbands, divorce and wedding drama. Phoebe is going to kill herself. She has flown all the way to her dream vacation hotel to do it. Only problem is Lila.. No one is going to ruin Lila's million dollar wedding. This book is darkly funny, sweet, and filled with reflection on life. You get pulled along with a mess of characters who all

'"Your husband is not going to take care of you the way you think,” Phoebe says. “Nobody can take care of you the way you need to take care of yourself. It's your job to take care of yourself like that'

Such hard truths, one I also learned after a divorce. You have to take care of you first and foremost. Maybe a little depressing but also in the end completely empowering.

Also look at this dog!!! Stuck at construction while listening.

Murderbot #4. This was going to be her last, but luckily for all of us she kept going! I really enjoyed how Wells wrapped up this book. The whole series is exceptional, a high powered action packed adventure that covers for a deep look of what is it to be human. Murderbot is an amazing character who I love spending time with.

@Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks has inspired me to share a #CatsofLitsy photo of one of mine this is Calamity blocking my shot of my #tbr

I am half in and looking for encouragement to keep going. I am reading the race reviews but what us with all the tangents? Do I like them? Elizabeth's family's story was interesting, much too long and should have been another book.
I am having a real like hate relationship with this book.

Love it! Read #BannedBooks

This gave me a chuckle. I love Philomena, and if you don't know her but think this is funny check out Cunk on Earth. I think it should still be on Netflix in the US.

#Cunk

I read some really great books in August, Rules of Civility was a reread and it held up just as great 10 yrs on, I really love this book.

Honorable mentions to Annie Bot, Mad Women's Ball, and Evil Eye but my most liked book this month was Talented Mr Ripley and I was so excited to learn it is a series (I have ordered the next 2!)

Overall a solid reading month.

I love this way of tackling my TBR. Every book has its time.