Happy Sunday! These are a couple of books I‘m very much looking forward to for May.

I‘m going to listen to Rilla on audio since I‘ve yet to start, and after yesterday‘s posts compare passages to my print copy.

As for Lamentation, I read most of Heartstone in ebook, and I may have to do the same for this one so I can fit pages in when and where I can without carrying this hardback around.

#KindredSpiritsBuddyRead #LMMReread #ShardlakeBR

This story starts with a mother evacuating Florida with her college age stepson and two younger children as a massive hurricane heads for Miami. Suddenly their well to do family is separated, has lost access to all cash & credit, and is being bused to a camp for displaced people in Oklahoma. It‘s often a tough story and considers various perspectives as we deal with more extreme weather.

#audiobook

📷: Luthien exploring this morning

💛 More morel mushrooms!
💛 Completing a very busy week of school
💛 Teacher appreciation events at school
💛 Bacon & tomato sandwich
💛 The pets

#5JoysFriday #DaiseysJoys

April 2025 #BookSpinBingo
April was a busy month, but I completed these 7 books, including the long listen of Sherlock Holmes stories narrated by Stephen Fry. Heartstone & The Colour were top reads this month.

#MonthlyStats #ReadingStats #DaiseysReadingSummary

I realized as I joined the discussion of this book that I had forgotten to review it. I felt this one started slowly (which was partially impacted by my lack of reading time), but once it got going I really enjoyed it. There were a lot of things going on in this one, but I also love those layers of complexity and history. I also really appreciate that we get to know characters more in the series, but the mysteries are unique.

#ShardlakeBR

💛 A long Easter weekend with my family
💛 Luthien & Gracie (my sister‘s dog)
💛 Mushroom hunting with my dad & my niece
💛 Easter nests
💛 Fresh asparagus

#5JoysFriday #DaiseysJoys

Sometimes I just need a light and fun romance for a change of pace. The reader knows from page one where this story is going as it starts with the reveal of the big secret and then flashes back to the beginning. It was quite an insta-love story, and the best parts were the bookish aspects and Fabio the cat.

I think most readers can relate to this quote.

#quote #KindleQuotes

Much of this book is set in Tokyo‘s book district which sounds like a fascinating place, and it had an interesting cast of characters. It was a fairly quiet and enjoyable read, but I don‘t think it‘s one that will stick with me.

#audiobook #LitsyBookClub #ReadTheWorld #ReadingTheWorld #Japan #translated

💛 I planted a couple broccoli and an early tomato plant.
💛 My strawberries are blooming & violets are popping up all over my yard.
💛 The tulips are beautiful! 🌷
💛 The pets! Luthien ran for miles yesterday, and LaGata got some snuggle time.
💛 It‘s Easter weekend and our spring break for school.

#5JoysFriday #DaiseysJoys

I‘ve finished listening to over 70 hours of Sherlock Holmes stories narrated by Stephen Fry! This is a wonderful audio collection. I‘m not really sure what my plan is now for finishing the rest of the stories as I‘ve gotten so used to my weekly listen.

#NoPlaceLikeHolmes #Sherlocked #audiobook

This is a story of a family dealing with some big things which come out slowly over the course of story. It‘s told in alternating chapters from the perspective of Ernest, one of the boys in the family who loves words, and Olivetti, the family‘s typewriter. The typewriter makes for an interesting point of view, and the story includes a wonderful group of characters.

#MiddleGrade #audiobook

📷: my tulips! 🌷

I had a hard time with this book. It did not hold my attention well through long sections, then something rather bizarre or violent would happen and I‘d get caught up in the story again for a while. It also took a long time to get the characters straight.

When I finished, I did listen to a podcast episode that discussed a few aspects and gave me a bit more to think about. (Link in comments)

#audiobook #LMMAdjacent #1001books

This year I‘m listening to an audio devotional leading up to Easter. It‘s a good length most mornings to pair with a news podcast on my drive to school. Today I completed the Lent portion before church and moved on to the first for Holy Week.

#Christian #audiobook

It‘s been a good but busy week and weekend.

#DaiseysJoys #5JoysFriday Sunday Edition

I‘m a bit late starting, but I got caught up listening to the first few chapters of The Mill on the Floss while taking a walk with Luthien today. I‘m not sure what I think of these two siblings yet, but I‘m looking forward to seeing where this goes.

#HashtagBrigade #audiobook #1001books

Parts of this book were bleak and I was almost constantly listening with a slight feeling of dread about what might be about to happen, but I also enjoyed it. It actually ended on a more hopeful note than I expected through most of the story. I felt it described the setting of 1860s New Zealand and the gold rush very well.

#ReadTheWorld #ReadingTheWorld #NewZealand #audiobook #1001books #TBRTakedown

A day late this week, but still worth acknowledging

💛 A weekend with my family
💛 Helping Dad clean up a field and burn brush piles
💛 Plants continuing to green up and bloom for spring, even if it‘s turned cooler again
💛 Fixing my dishwasher
💛 Pets, of course

#5JoysFriday #DaiseysJoys

March 2025 #BookSpinBingo

March was a busy month, so I only finished a few books. I‘m also currently in the middle of several reads.

#MonthlyStats #ReadingStats #DaiseysReadingSummary

💛 Pets!
💛 Our HS quiz bowl team placed second in their conference tournament.
💛 My daffodils are blooming!
💛 Wild ramps are coming up.
💛 A weekend with my family

#5JoysFriday #DaiseysJoys

I finished this over the weekend, and then I almost forgot to review it. I found some parts interesting, but overall I‘m just ambivalent about the whole thing. I will be curious to see if our book club discussion gives me any greater appreciation for it.

#LitsyBookClub #audiobook

lissom: thin, supple, and graceful (adjective)

#WeirdWords #WeirdWordWednesday #FellowshipOfTolkien

Happy Tolkien Reading Day! After recently reading Tolkien‘s work on The Fall of Arthur I decided to revisit a bit more of his poetry today in the tagged book with supper tonight. I love the story of Beren and Luthien, and the parts that were written as poetry are especially wonderful.

Anyone else reading a little extra Tolkien today?

#TolkienReadingDay #JRRTolkien #FellowshipOfTolkien #ReadAndEat

Saturday night #BooksAndBooze

I‘ve reached the part of this book where I just don‘t want to stop, but I also don‘t want to get too far ahead of the chapters on the schedule for March.

#ShardlakeBR

#5JoysFriday #DaiseysJoys

This one reads slower than the previous one to me, but I‘m still thoroughly intrigued.

#ShardlakeBR

For the most part I really enjoyed this one. There were so many interesting characters, and I enjoyed seeing Nicholas grow. I also appreciated how the different storylines came together for both him and his uncle in the end.

#WhatTheDickens #1001books #audiobook

I have personal copies of books I will only loan out selectively, but for the most part if someone borrows a book and doesn‘t return it, I‘ve learned to let it go. Having a middle school class library has taught me to be much more relaxed about this. The tagged series tends to come back in the worst shape or sometimes not at all, but it‘s also a series that gets more reluctant readers reading and that‘s the real goal.

#SundayFunday

#5JoysFriday #DaiseysJoys

Chiasmus: a figure of speech in which the grammar of two parallel phrases is inverted

#WeirdWordWednesday #WeirdWords #FellowshipOfTolkien #MedievalTolkien

I‘ve been listening to a lot of other things lately and realized this weekend that I really should try to wrap up this audiobook before I start The Last of the Mohicans. I listened this afternoon as I enjoyed the beautiful weather and passed the halfway mark. Spending several hours with the story this weekend also helped me become more invested in some of the characters than when I listen to shorter sections at a time.

#WhatTheDickens #audiobook

From “Speech and Silence in The Lord of the Rings: Medieval Romance and the Transitions of Eowyn”

#FellowshipOfTolkien #MedievalTolkien

After finishing The Fall of Arthur this morning, I pulled this book from my shelf this evening. In the introduction, the description of this essay relating Eowyn to a female medieval knight seemed a perfect complement to my earlier reading. It‘s a truly interesting analysis of Eowyn‘s character development from court lady to acting lord of Rohan to shield maiden and finally to wife and healer.

#FellowshipOfTolkien #MedievalTolkien

I finished this book with breakfast this morning. As with many of these incomplete works by Tolkien, it‘s a combination of fascinating and frustrating. They always leaving you wanting to know and be able to read more. I‘m so grateful to Christopher for putting the work into sharing this, but I only recommend it to serious fans of Tolkien‘s writing process or readers interested in various versions and retellings of the King Arthur legend.

I thought this quote about how Tolkien viewed language and the change in it over time interesting.

“Our language now has become quick-moving (in syllables), and may be very supple and nimble,
but is rather thin in sound and in sense too often diffuse and vague. The language of our forefathers,
especially in verse, was slow, not very nimble, but very sonorous, and was intensely packed and concentrated — or could be in a good poet.”

Reading Tolkien‘s commentary about Old English Verse this morning. I really do enjoy this poetic style.

#FellowshipOfTolkien #MedievalTolkien

💛 Sourdough cheeseburger focaccia
💛 Enjoying a HS conference band concert
💛 My team had 2 mostly successful nights of matches to start their Scholar Bowl/Quiz Bowl season!
💛 The pets, featuring LaGata this week
💛 A Friday night out for supper with friends

#5JoysFriday #DaiseysJoys

This book was a fascinating read. There were times I was a bit confused by the different timelines, but I was always curious to know how they would come together. It has some wonderful descriptions, and I felt so much for these characters. We also had a great book club discussion about it.

#LitsyBookClub #1001books

This was a wonderful short read for today! I‘m very much an introvert and frequently time to myself is my happy place, so I found several aspects of this story very relatable. I also loved some of the things it had to say about happiness and contentment, and I laughed several times over the absurdity.

#quote #KindleQuotes

This is my favorite line so far in this section, “The Evolution of the Poem.” Even after works were published, they weren‘t always safe from further revisions by Tolkien.

“As a rule, indeed, no manuscript of my father‘s could be regarded as ‘final‘ until it had safely left his hands.”

#FellowshipOfTolkien #MedievalTolkien

I haven‘t had a lot of reading time this past week, so my priority was finishing The History of Love. Now that it‘s done, I finally settled in to start “The Evolution of the Poem” this evening with supper. Also, crazy Missouri weather was in the 60s yesterday and back in the 30s today, so it was chili for supper again.

#FellowshipOfTolkien #MedievalTolkien #ReadAndEat

February 2025 #BookSpinBingo
I read some interesting books this month and continued some long reads/listens as well. I finished History of Love and enjoyed it, but I‘m also still thinking about it a bit before reviewing.

#ReadingStats #MonthlyStats #DaiseysReadingSummary

My photos are a bit food centric this week, but there were lots of joyful things.

💛 I went to town for a few groceries and tried a new to me local place for supper, and it was delicious.
💛 I made sourdough oatmeal chocolate chunk cookies to have in the freezer.
💛 Luthien ran for hours and came home happy but muddy.
💛 I made a strawberry cake for a carry-in meal at school.
💛 We had a full week of school!

##5JoysFriday #DaiseysJoys

From the reading for February 22 of A Tree a Day comes this fun but weird word!

epiphyte: a plant that grows upon another for support only, not as a parasite

#WeirdWordWednesday #WeirdWords #NaturaLitsy

Saturday night supper and a book

#ReadAndEat #LitsyBookClub #1001books

I haven‘t used my NetGalley account much lately, but I saw a review of this book & had to look it up. This is a story of a warrior woman bent on vengeance for her husband‘s execution by the king of France. Jeanne de Clisson was a real noblewoman turned pirate during the Hundred Years‘ War. I came to agree with her friend that she followed the course of vengeance too long, but I also loved her story of strength against powerful men of her time.

The section about the unwritten poem and notes were interesting and similar to what I expected. However, I was hoping for more in the connections to The Silmarillion. I think I was looking more for character comparison rather than about sailing into the west. I‘ll be curious to hear what everyone else thinks.

#FellowshipOfTolkien #MedievalTolkien

💛 A long weekend full of pets and books
💛 Baking on cold, snowy days
💛 Getting caught up on grading
💛 Simple snack lunches of sausage, cheese, and crackers
💛 Reliable heat during cold weeks

#5JoysFriday #DaiseysJoys

I recently read and enjoyed Kuyatt‘s Good Different, so when I saw this on NetGalley I had to read it as well. V is artistic and autistic, and she‘s not quite looking forward to spending a summer with her very particular grandma Jojo. Then she realizes there‘s a ghost in the walls and starts to learn secrets about women in her family who weren‘t allowed to be their true selves. Must she also conform or will she break the patterns of the past?

This book has a strange story of a woman marrying a snake, and when he arrives he is escorted by paranymphs. This word makes sense for someone accompanying a bride or groom, but it‘s an unfamiliar one.

#WeirdWordWednesday #WeirdWords