This is a dark story, and although I appreciated it, it did not have the same impact on me as the other Zola novels I‘ve read. In this story of lust and guilt, there were strong feelings of dread, but I didn‘t really have any sympathy for the characters due to their choices.

#1001books #audiobook

This was often a tough book to read, about a 13 year old Nepali girl sold into prostitution in India. McCormick does an amazing job of describing how horribly Lakshmi is treated while also refraining from being excessively explicit. Lakshmi faces these circumstances with her mother‘s words that to endure is to triumph and never fully gives up hope.

#YA #FoodAndLit #Nepal #India

I finished Canto V this afternoon, and thankfully I knew this was a very incomplete poem when we started. It feels to me like the story is really just getting started when Tolkien‘s work in progress ends. I would have loved to have read more of the story in this poetic style. Onto the essays tomorrow.

#FellowshipOfTolkien #MedievalTolkien

💛 I spent a day with my family cutting up pork and making sausage.
💛 I canned pork, pork broth, and peach BBQ sauce.
💛 One of the jars of pork didn‘t seal, so I got to try it in a carnitas taco.
💛 My math classroom door is decorated for February.
💛 The pets, of course

#5JoysFriday #DaiseysJoys

I enjoyed this story of a JH aged competitive girls‘ soccer team. The relationship between the sisters who rely on each other when Mom is busy or distracted by a new boyfriend was fantastic, and the team relationships felt very relatable as well. I did feel like things wrapped up a bit too easily at the end without as much detail as I would have liked, but that‘s my adult opinion.

#MiddleGrade #GirlsInSports #audiobook #TRS2024

I read Canto II today and found it took a bit more effort to read than the first one.

The way Tolkien describes Guinevere in this section reminds me of Luthien fleeing from her house in the tree and out of the forest of Doriath.

#FellowshipOfTolkien #MedievalTolkien

I enjoyed this creepy story that starts out with a brother and sister going to live with their grandparents after their mom is injured in a car wreck. Things are a little suspicious to begin with and become increasingly creepy and worrisome as time goes on. I especially enjoyed the sibling relationship.

#audiobook

Happy Sunday! My goal this week is to read a canto daily, but I‘m not sure I‘ll manage it consistently. Whether or not I get to post during the week, I‘m happy to be back to some Sunday mornings with Tolkien. I don‘t consider myself much of a poetry fan, but I love this alliterative style of narrative poem. The language is beautiful.

#FellowshipOfTolkien #MedievalTolkien #BreakfastWithTolkien #BookAndBreakfast

It‘s been a full day with family, so I‘m just now getting a chance to post about reading the foreword of The Fall of Arthur. It includes some interesting introductory information, and I‘m looking forward to staring the poem tomorrow! I‘ve enjoyed other poetry by Tolkien using an alliterative style, so I‘m intrigued to see what I think of this one. Anyone else gotten started already?

#FellowshipOfTolkien #MedievalTolkien

January 2025 #BookSpinBingo
Cold, snowy weather gave me lots of reading time! I completed several MG books for the Truman preliminary list as well as several other books. I think my favorite was our #LitsyBookClub pick The Book of Doors. I‘ve also continued our long #NoPlaceLikeHolmes read and started a couple new long reads for this year. I‘m thoroughly enjoying A Tree a Day for #NaturaLitsy.

#ReadingStats #MonthlyStats #DaiseysReadingSummary

I finished this, but other than the story of the water buffalo and the boy who left and then returned home, don‘t ask me to tell you any details. I struggled to stay focused during several sections. I see how it addressed important points about colonialism, but I also expected more about the actual coffee business.

#FoodAndLit #Netherlands #Indonesia #ReadTheWorld #ReadingTheWorld #audiobook #translated #1001books

Considering my joys at the end of the week always adds a little extra joy to my Friday. This week they included:

💛 A new and delicious chicken soup recipe
💛 The pets
💛 Flowers in the middle of winter
💛 A fun and successful math activity with one of my classes
💛 A fresh loaf of homemade bread

#5JoysFriday #DaiseysJoys

It‘s the final week of January and I finally chose a book by a Dutch author from the 1001 list. Yesterday, I thought to check LibriVox and started the tagged book. I also made hopjesvla, and this morning I had coffee custard that tastes much like a caramel latte for breakfast.

#FoodAndLit #ReadTheWorld #ReadingTheWorld #Netherlands #translated #audiobook #1001books

I finished chapter 24 of Revelation tonight, but now I don‘t want to stop. I might be a bit further by the discussion next week.

#ShardlakeBR

This book is one of the shorter ones by Dickens, and I enjoyed listening to the entire story within a month. I appreciated the stories of the different characters and the growth of Louisa and her father. I‘m looking forward to the discussion for this one.

#WhatTheDickens #audiobook #1001books

#5JoysFriday #DaiseysJoys

I had planned to try to read & cook more for #FoodAndLit this year than last year, but I‘m struggling to find books or recipes that fit my mood this month. Then I saw a recipe posted by @Texreader along with her adaptation and decided to give it a try myself. I had some smoked sausage & sauerkraut made by my family that I used to make a slightly modified version of this broodje rookworst on toasted bread.

#Netherlands

January class library recommendation display

#MsDsLibrary #MiddleGrade

#FellowshipOfTolkien Readers, here‘s our plan for The Fall of Arthur! I would like to finish reading it in February, but I also think this book may require some slow, close reading. Remember our schedule is always a very loose guideline and feel free to post your thoughts at any time. I hope to make time to post each weekend if not during the week.

#MedievalTolkien #JRRTolkien #ReadingSchedule

This is a story told through alternating timelines including Matthew in the U.S. in 2020 and 3 cousins in Soviet Ukraine and the U.S. in the 1930s. Mila has grown up never knowing want and believing the party propaganda, Nadiya‘s family has starved in the Holdomor but she manages to show up at Mila‘s door to ask for help, and Helen‘s family has immigrated to the U.S. but is still in touch with Nadiya.

#MiddleGrade #audiobook #Ukraine #TRS2024

I didn‘t take many photos this week, but there were several joys!

💛 Watching my niece play in a volleyball tournament
💛 My niece and sister spent the evening at my house
💛 A full week back at school
💛 Starting practice for quiz bowl
💛 The pets

#5JoysFriday #DaiseysJoys

Hazel wants to be a detective and start her own podcast. One night she follows her older brother when he goes to the cemetery for a game of hide and seek. Then things get very creepy in the cemetery and her brother‘s best friend Everett disappears. She starts to investigate, but it seems like a ghost is now following her and her brother. How will they find Everett and help the ghost find peace?

#audiobook #MiddleGrade #TRS2024

Tiffany has felt cursed for the last few years and tries to mostly avoid everyone her own age, but after seeing meteors collide, things change. Suddenly, she can “borrow” a person‘s talent or skill after touching a relevant item. Now, she has to decide how to use this power to help her dad and also whether or not to use it to take down her bullies. She learns life lessons and makes great friends in the process.

#MiddleGrade #audiobook #TRS2024

Pretty much all of my joys this week revolve around a snowy week.

💛 The beauty of snow! ❄️
💛 A cozy house during this cold weather
💛 Several long walks with Luthien when I had snow days from school
💛 Quiet days at home with lots of reading and project time
💛 Cat snuggles

#5JoysFriday #DaiseysJoys

This was a fascinating story with magic, time travel, and some great characters.

#audiobook #LitsyBookClub

Tolkien readers, I‘m waiting on my copy to arrive in order to plan a timeline, but our next read will be The Fall of Arthur. @JazzFeathers and I hope to start at the beginning of February, but we can push it back if needed for interested readers to find copies.

Although I am tagging my entire Tolkien list today, please comment if you‘re interested in being tagged for this book specifically.

#FellowshipOfTolkien #MedievalTolkien #JRRTolkien

I really enjoyed this contemporary MG novel about a boy running a family greenhouse with his older brother after the death of their parents. His teacher assigns a project in which he must relate events & tasks in his own life to the 12 labors of Hercules. There‘s a lot of mythological information and an amazing setting on Cape Cod alongside a story of the importance of found family (including pets) and community connection.

#TRS2024 #MiddleGrade

I‘m finally settling in to start this next Shardlake novel with supper this evening.

#ShardlakeBR #ReadAndEat

I listened to this middle grade book over the course of the day. It was ok, with plenty of references to Harry Potter (Vivian‘s favorite books), Dungeons & Dragons (the characters play B&B), and some other fantasy stories, but there‘s nothing that really pulled me into this specific world with these characters.

#MiddleGrade #audiobook #TRS2024

📷: After a couple days inside because of the snow, Luthien and I got back out for a good walk today.

This is quite a convoluted and complicated story. There was a lot of explanatory information before the dead body appeared and plenty more detail following. I found most of the descriptions of the bells and how they were used fascinating, but sometimes I struggled to maintain my focus. Overall, it was an interesting mystery that kept me wondering.

#audiobook #1001books #AuthorAMonth

📷: Snowy but sunny day here and a perfect shirt for it!

I‘ve read many Litsy reviews of this book, but I was still expecting more from the hockey player must learn to figure skate plot along with the spicy scenes. It was a fun read, and I loved the team friend group dynamic that frequently had me laughing.

It bothers me somewhat that I borrowed this from a HS girl, but I also appreciate there are some great messages about communication & consent compared to the romance novels I first read as a teen.

This was an interesting story of time travel in which Boomi hopes she can change her dad‘s fate but instead makes other changes and learns to make her own choices. I really liked how it was divided into tracks instead of chapters as her dad‘s boombox from 1986 is the key to the time travel. It also deals with some serious issues of parent death and healthy body perception in relation to ballet.

#MiddleGrade #TRS2024 #audiobook

💛 Litsy! As I compiled book stats this week, I considered again how Litsy has impacted my reading life. Thank you all for your part in this community.
💛 Seeing progress made on long term reading goals and reviewing great reads from the past year
💛 Time for Luthien to run and good weather for me to walk while visiting family
💛 The cats and all their snuggles
💛 Extra time this week for some canning baking projects

#5JoysFriday #DaiseysJoys

Juniper Berry has grown up deep in the wilderness and knows almost nothing of modern conveniences. Instead she knows how to hunt and forage to survive with her family. Then, her brother becomes acutely ill, and the whole family travels to the city. Suddenly, she has to learn a whole new set of rules while living with an uncle she didn‘t even know existed and cousins who don‘t want her there.

#MiddleGrade #TRS2024

My first audiobook of 2025 was a #1001books listen. I liked this one better than the previous book I listened to by this author, but her style is not apparently for me. I felt like this book had somewhat disconnected storylines, left too many things unanswered, and ended rather abruptly. I guess that makes it true to life, but I‘m not sure what I am supposed to take away from it.

#audiobook #Reading1001
#TBRTakedown January 2024

My official reading stats for 2024

As of today, these 12 books are the ones I continue to think about the most. The top row includes #1001books, #LitsyBookClub reads, a #CampLitsy read, and 1 reread for a #ShardlakeBR. I tend to focus on first time reads for my year end list, but rereading the Shardlake series must be included. The bottom row are all fantastic middle grade reads.

#ReadingStats #2024Stats #DaiseysReadingSummary

Some more book stats for 2024

I always find these two graphs of my reading interesting.

#ReadingStats #2024Stats #DaiseysReadingSummary

This year I read 37 books from the #1001books list. I think 2 of those were rereads, so my current Goodreads tally is 289 completed books from the complete list of 1318 books.

Some of the most interesting/memorable included Cloud Atlas, Year of the Hare, Perfume, and Storm of Steel.

#ReadingStats #2024Stats #DaiseysReadingSummary

2024 #BookSpinBingo

124 books completed this year

#DaiseysReadingSummary
#ReadingStats #2024Stats

I finished my final book of 2024, and the only book currently in progress is my long read/listen of the Complete Sherlock Holmes with #NoPlaceLikeHolmes. Now it‘s time to compile all the book stats for the year. First up, I completed 16 books in December thanks to a lot of time to listen to audiobooks and Christmas break. This included a good combination of light reads, mostly holiday related, and more serious ones, including 5 #1001books.

This is my final completed read of the year and it was a great one. Storm of Steel is a straightforward description of trench warfare in WWI from a German soldier who was wounded multiple times and continued to return to the front until the 7th time after 4 years of fighting. He seldom shirks away from the violence and gore of the battle, yet also expresses respect for the skill of the enemy.

#1001books #memoir #nonfiction #WWI #audiobook

Lawrence is having a tough time at his new school, getting into trouble for fighting although he‘s not the one instigating. When he gets expelled, he starts spending a lot of time at the community rec center meeting new people and learning chess.♟️

#TRS2024 #audiobook #MiddleGrade #NorthCarolina

Overall I liked this historical fiction from the point of view of a girl who stows away on the Titanic, but there were a few issues for me as a reader. Hazel sneaks onto the ship and then makes herself way too visible, including spending time in the first class areas. She asks specific questions that provide lots of clear information about the flaws/mistakes that led to the catastrophe, and of course it all works out well for her in the end.

I listened to this yesterday and I‘m still not quite sure what I think. It‘s got some amusing bits and interesting scenes, but for the most part it‘s just a story of a man that‘s not going to stick with me.

#audiobook #1001books

For the past year I‘ve used the same basic #BookSpinBingo list each month. For 2025, I kept it much the same as it‘s worked well for me. I‘ve included #1001books, whatever readalongs or hashtag reads I‘m participating in, MG & YA (or a random children‘s book), as well as owned & nonfiction reads. Plus there are always free spaces. I love this method of tracking my reading, yet it‘s incredibly flexible & not time consuming from month to month.

This was a novel in verse about a girl who is struggling more with her neurodivergence as she gets into middle school. She comes to realize that she‘s on the autism spectrum and other members of her family probably are as well. She becomes an advocate for herself as she learns there are others who feel the same and more about accommodations that can be helpful.

#TRS2024 #NovelInVerse #MiddleGrade

I didn‘t read this word for word because I skimmed through some plants that I didn‘t recognize. Instead I focused on plants I already know how to find. This has many of the same plants as Lisa Rose‘s book on foraging, but it goes into more detail about medicinal uses. It had clear photos and information for using local plants for tinctures and salves.

#nonfiction

When Marian‘s father is murdered she suddenly learns about the magical creatures in the world and her own abilities to communicate with them. As she learns to help them, she also learns about the business of selling and holding them captive. Is this why her father was murdered and how can she truly help these amazing creatures? I loved the mythological aspects of this story, but I was disappointed in the ending.

#TRS2024 #MiddleGrade #YA

💛 Being home with my family for the holiday & spending time on the farm
💛 Wonderful Christmas Eve church services
💛 Beautiful Christmas trees & lights
💛 Delicious food, some games, gifts, & working on a puzzle with family Christmas Day
💛 On these days I spend at my sister‘s house, Luthien gets to spend hours running miles in the woods, and I know where she is and can call her in thanks to her tracking collar.

#5JoysFriday #DaiseysJoys

A book, a mug of boozy cocoa, and a blanket make for a perfect evening.

I‘m finding this story fascinating so far, but I‘m also far enough in that I am ready for some more answers.

#TRS2024 #MiddleGrade #YA