#trappedinaspookyhouse

The tone was a little bit sillier than your usual haunted house tale. The MC has accepted the presence of a slew of ghosts (mostly murdered children, mostly harmless) as the price of living in her dream house. When her husband goes missing, her daughter shows up to investigate, throwing all her careful routines for coexisting with the ghosts into chaos. But … why isn‘t she more curious about her husband‘s whereabouts?

#5joysFriday #fivejoysfriday

📚Finished two books that were both pretty good
💻 Book club meeting for Ordinary Grace
🎸 Nada Surf concert at the Troubadour!
🧬 My latest Nature Biotechnology article came out
🎃 Fall weather is here

#firstlinefridays @ShyBookOwl
“An old woman sits on the beach, a cushion strapped to her bottom, sorting algae that‘s washed ashore.”

It‘s autumn outside but it‘s the heat of July in my book. Blazing through this compelling story of the events of summer 1961 in New Bremen, Minnesota. A mystery, a coming of age tale, a historical fiction - whatever it is, I want to see where it‘s going. #hyggehourreadathon

#weekendreads Finished Things in Jars for #trappedinaspookyhouse (and September #bookspin). It took me a bit to get into the authors style and the Victorian setting, but by the end I was really impressed with how the plot threads wove together and events played out. It wasn‘t much of a “mystery” - the reader knows exactly what happened from page one - but that doesn‘t detract from the suspense. 4⭐️

Starting Ordinary Grace for my live book club …

Tonight for #tuesdaytunes I‘m checking out the new album from Good Looks, an Austin-based indie band. It‘s my first time listening to them and - they‘re really good! The new album is called “Lived Here for a While.”

https://open.spotify.com/artist/0ba3O2a1JNxb3oXbF74KcG?si=5YQml4WmS6y8Z85zOte7uQ

Another solid thriller from SA Cosby. If you‘ve read his other books, you know what to expect: this one is equally violent, dark, well-plotted, and evocative as his previous novels. This one follows a small-town sheriff trying to track down a serial killer found operating out of his town. Sheriff Crown must simultaneously navigate racial tensions in his town and demons from his personal and professional past as he circles closer to the killer. 3⭐️

My #trappedinaspookyhouse starts NOW! This epigram gives me that feeling like the moment when the roller coaster starts up the hill … I know I‘m in for something terrifying!

Pretty good month.
To Say Nothing of the Dog - 5 ⭐️
Normal People #bookspin (August) - 4⭐️
The Man Who Died Twice - 4⭐️
The Woman Who Wouldn‘t Die - 4⭐️
The Husband‘s Secret - 3.75 ⭐️
Night Bird - 3⭐️

#ReadingBracket2024 #BookBracket2024

Connie Willis can be a little wordy, I admit, and there are times that what starts as running gag can start to feel a little dragged-out. But these are minor complaints in an overall well-written, cleverly plotted, ingeniously imagined scifi/historical fiction/romance/humor - let‘s just say, GENRE DEFYING - novel.

#humor #memes #funny #bookclub

#trappedinaspookyhouse
@Texreader @PuddleJumper

Your spooky house awaits … oooOooO …

Ok @Texreader here is my list to choose from:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/2351262?shelf=trapped-in-a-spooky-house&so...

Let me know if you have any problem viewing it and I‘ll see if I can share it another way. And send me your list when it‘s ready!

@TieDyeDude #TuesdayTunes

I‘ve been binging the new Nada Surf album, “Moon Mirror,” since it came out Friday. It‘s so good! Here‘s how good it is: after one listen, I went online to see their tour schedule & bought tickets to see them in October.

“There were five of us—Carruthers and the new recruit and myself, and Mr. Spivens and the verger.”

#firstlinefridays @ShyBookOwl

#whereintheworld
#whereareyouMonday
@Cupcake12

Cheating a bit because I‘m reading my nonfiction (The Anxious Generation) right now with breakfast, but it‘s not really set in a particular locale, except broadly the USA. So I‘m going with my fiction selection, which is set in and around Oxford UK.

#europacollective

I wasn‘t quite prepared at first for the precocious adolescent narrator, and it took me a little while to really get into the story. Once I gave it a chance, I really enjoyed the slice-of-life picture of growing up in 1940s England. I especially appreciated seeing the class differences through Jessica‘s eyes. Beautifully written and vividly imagined. Many of the issues Jessica grapples with map well onto 2020s adolescence. 4⭐️

#hyggehour
#hyggehourreadathon

Not feeling very “hygge” this weekend as we are coming up on our fourth day in a row of 100+ temps. It‘s hard to get cozy (or sleep) when it‘s still 85F at 11:00 pm!

But I AM enjoying traveling back to 1880s Oxford with Connie Willis. Bonus graphic of The National Parks album which I‘ve been binging all week!

My fiction and nonfiction reads this long weekend

#weekendreads

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️Slash and Burn by Colin Cotterill

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ A Long Way from Verona by Jane Gardam

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Dark Places by Gillian Flynn

⭐️⭐️ L.A. Weather by Maria Amparo Escandon

⭐️⭐️ Hestia Strikes a Match by Christine Grillo

#readingbracket2024 #readingbracket #BookBracket

Slash and Burn is the 8th book in the Dr Siri Paiboun series, and I just love these books. This one had the main characters all together on an away mission, working with a group of Americans, which was a fun change of pace. The humor is right up my alley, the mystical element adds a certain eerie flair, and I always enjoy the 1970s Laos setting. Highly recommend!

I was disappointed by this one. The tone of the story never really gelled into anything coherent - based on the events of the plot, it seemed like a telenovela, but it lacked the wacky, over-the-top feel that would be needed to carry such an absurd collection of events. Instead everything was taken more or less straight, which felt jarring as characters repeatedly made stupid decisions. Also, the theme of “men are awful” got tiresome quickly.

Another well-crafted, highly satisfying thriller from Gillian Flynn. I devoured it! The characters were incredibly frustrating, but I enjoyed following the twists and reveals as Libby reluctantly investigates the horrific murders that shaped her life. Naturally, the plot relies on some wild coincidences, but everything feels at least remotely plausible, and the psychology of the characters lands solidly. 4 stars!

My #bookspin from APRIL, lol

September #bookspin list. Summer is flying by!!

#Top25of21

My top 25 books of the 21st century so far. I had to leave so many great books off the list that I‘m probably going to make this “part 1” and do a Top 50…

#HyggeHour #HyggeHourReadathon

“It doesn‘t matter who remembers what, I guess, as long as somebody remembers something.”

I enjoyed this one but it didn‘t grab me in the feels quite as much as Evelyn Hugo or Malibu Rising. The interview format worked really well since there were so many characters. I think the weakness came from not being able to hear and feel the music; so much of the plot revolved around the songwriting, and the songs were integral to the emotional study of Daisy in particular, but Billy as well. I just felt a step removed from the emotion.

My August #bookspin list

You‘ve heard of CSI:Miami. You‘ve heard of NCIS:New Orleans. This book is OMITB:Austin

Seriously, it would make a great show. There are some absolutely laugh-out-loud scenes - Tintera has a great sense of comic timing. The writing overall was a bit pedestrian, but the suspense was well-crafted. The book lurched this way and that as various characters fell under suspicion, and it seemed like the twist might be something truly original, but…

“A podcaster has decided to ruin my life, so I‘m buying a chicken.”
#firstlinefridays @ShyBookOwl

“Her incisors were flat. Isn‘t that funny? Everyone‘s incisors are pointed. But hers were kind of flat.”

Excuse me? Who the heck has pointed incisors? Besides Dee Snyder? I‘ve never seen pointed incisors on a person unless they intentionally filed them that way.

🎉🎂🎁😊

#bookspin @TheAromaofBooks

Adding my #LastTenBooks to the discussion. I couldn‘t finish King Lear when we read it in my college Shakespeare class, so I watched the movie adaptation over Christmas break 😬
I don‘t know that I‘ve ever lost or couldn‘t find a book that I own? My house is … small.

Thanks for posting! Fun.

I almost DNFed this one because it gets pretty weird in places, a little too abstract for me, especially some of the flights of imagery that don‘t ultimately mean anything. But it was worth pushing through for the third act and that poignant final line that sums up the whole character arc.

I also learned that…

#weekendreads #ClassicLSFBC #ExploringLA

I enjoyed every book this month! All good in different ways. It‘s going to be tough to fill in my bracket! Now I just need to catch up on my reviews…

#EuropaCollective #serieslove #bookspin #exploringLA #fromthefrontporchpodcast #audiobooks

I keep gamely playing along even though I‘ve only read TWO of my 10 spins this year. June is going to be pretty busy, so we‘ll see … I‘m kind of expecting July to be the month that I plow through a half-year‘s worth of spin picks 🤣

#bookspin #doublespin

#tuesdaytunes @TieDyeDude asks: What is your favorite radio station?

Thanks to SiriusXM, Spotify premium, and podcasts, I rarely listen to over-the-air radio anymore. But my favorite station is still probably Classical KUSC. I love the hosts‘ blend of musical knowledge and humor, and I enjoy that they include a variety of composers in their rotation, including modern works, movie scores, and video game music as shown in this show promo.

#MayGray

Enjoyed The Trespasser so much that I decided to read more Dublin Murder Squad #serieslove

Forgot to take a photo, but my lovely husband brought me a fresh strawberry pie for Mothers Day, which we all enjoyed after dinner. Now I‘m stretched out on the bed with my murder mystery #HyggeHourReadalong #HyggeHour

“They spent years and years living alongside one another in the same house and yet somehow managed never to have met. What they have instead are the stories they tell about each other.”

For this week‘s #TuesdayTunes I‘m sharing this track that I‘ve had on repeat lately … Whole by Sunny War. She has a gorgeous deep velvety voice and I‘m digging the blues-folk vibe of her music. This track is so powerful in its simplicity:

“Today
Could be the last you know
Happy‘s how you ought to go
No pay
Could ever buy your soul
Could ever make you whole.”

#HyggeHour
#HyggeHourReadathon

My first try at making “brookies” (brownies topped with chocolate chip cookie). Tasted better than they looked.

Finishing my first Tana French book, The Trespasser. It‘s really good! Kept me hooked.

Is it cheating to use the same book for two months? 😂

This book is packed with information and I‘m taking my time and savoring it, trying to absorb the cultural moment that Gould is describing. It requires my full attention (meaning I‘m not reading it in quick hits throughout the week) as it combines history, sociology, psychology, musicology, biography, and cultural analysis. Incredibly written and, at times, hilarious. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

#ReadingBracket2024

I kinda hate the bracket because I don‘t know how to compare books that are both excellent but completely different! Killers of a Certain Age was fun and entertaining and well written; the Man Who Fell to Earth was insightful and thought provoking and, of course, well written. How do I compare them head to head??

Anyway, Man Who Fell is the winner for April! #LitsySciFiBookClub

My #bookspin for May is Ruth Reichl‘s memoir Tender at the Bone: Growing Up at the Table, which has been languishing on my shelf for more than five years. But my #doublespin is the tagged book, which I impulse-purchased a month ago based on how much I loved her book Our Fathers (thanks #europacollective!)

Today I‘m revisiting an old favorite of mine, “Find a Way to My Heart” by Phil Collins, the powerful closing track from his incredible 1989 album “… But Seriously”. #tuesdaytunes

Hello April! Here are my #bookspin and #doublespin picks for this month.