I read this book a couple years ago and remember enjoying the road trip aspect and the family dynamic, although I don‘t remember a lot of details. Eleven year old June spends the summer traveling with his adult cousins who are mechanics that restore old Fords.

#MiddleGrade #RoadTrip #MiddleGradeMonday

I‘m enjoying some quiet with a book and an iced coffee in the hammock this morning. I‘ve barely made any time to read this book this month, so I‘m trying to make a bit of progress.

#1001books #HammockReading #BooksOnTheFarm

This is a tough book for me to review, and I‘ve actually waited a few days thinking about it. It has some really interesting aspects in the way it‘s told by the son of a couple who were convicted and executed for conspiring to steal secrets for Russia. Yet, it was also complicated to follow as it jumped back and forth in time. Additionally, I wanted more of the sister‘s story.

#audiobook #1001books #Reading1001 #TBRTakedown July 2024

💛 A storm blew down a large branch in my yard, but thankfully it caused minimal damage.
💛 My pets that I was happy to see again after a few days away.
💛 A visit with another friend from college while she was nearby for a conference.
💛 A lot of “steps” (actual and due to plenty of arm work) because, as Dad likes to remind me, farm work is good exercise.
💛 These fun and delicious Cookie Monster cookies that my niece made.

#5JoysFriday

I saw the prompt yesterday but completely forgot to post any friendship story recommendations.

The Lions of Little Rock is both a wonderful story of friendship and an important historical fiction set in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1958.

The Unteachables is a fun book about a class of students that are considered unteachable, but come together as friends over the course of the story. It‘s also got plenty of humor.

#MiddleGrade #MiddleGradeMonday

I finished listening to James this week while visiting southeast Missouri, including a couple towns right along the Mississippi River, which made it hit just a bit harder. I enjoyed this book, and I also want to read it again after revisiting Huck Finn. I especially appreciated the emphasis on language.

*I received this audiobook through the Libro.fm Educator ALC program.

#CampLitsy24 #audiobook #Librofm #ALC

It‘s been a great week full of many joys!

💛 A day at Worlds of Fun riding roller coasters with my niece
💛 Wonderful family who take care of my pets while I‘m away from home
💛 Time visiting friends from college who I haven‘t seen in a few years
💛 Delicious food on my travels
💛 Exploring beautiful places in Missouri

#5JoysFriday

Today I‘ve got two book recommendations. I couldn‘t immediately think of one, so I asked my niece. She recommends Blended, for which I‘ve heard great reviews but not yet read myself. Isabella is a pianist.

Then, I considered my Goodreads shelf and remembered the tagged book in which Melly is a drummer and goes to a music summer camp.

#MiddleGrade #MiddleGradeMonday

I think I can appreciate this first book more on a reread because I know how the character of Shardlake continues to develop through the series. I also really enjoy the variety of unique characters. I knew about Henry VIII‘s break with the pope to form the Church of England, but it wasn‘t until I read this series that I better understood the conflict this created. I thoroughly enjoyed this reread and am looking forward to continuing the series.

Somehow I took few photos this week and completely lost track of Friday with the holiday.

💛 Always Luthien and the other pets! She had some goods days to run while I was home.
💛 Homemade sourdough tortillas and fresh garden vegetables for chicken fajitas & quesadillas
💛 Movie night with my nephew 🎥 🍿
💛 More time to read print books than I‘ve had recently 📖
💛 The beauty of the creek after a summer rain

#5JoysFriday

I managed to get on the hold list for this as soon as my library said they would be getting a copy, so I listened to it early. I enjoyed the descriptive writing, but I just kept waiting for Sam to give people more of a chance or more to happen until close to the end.

📷: I listened to part of this as I took a walk along the creek with Luthien this morning.

#audiobook #CampLitsy24

I enjoyed a little hammock reading with the pets this evening and looked up a few words from this book as I did. I really like the sound and meaning of this one.

susurration: (noun) whispering or rustling

#WeirdWords #WeirdWordWednesday #ShardlakeBR #ShardlakeSeriesBR #HammockReading

It‘s been a while since I read these, but I do remember really enjoying them. Someday I should reread them and finish the series.

#MiddleGradeMonday #MiddleGrade

My YA reads of All My Rage and Red Rising were clear favorites this month. I‘m also thoroughly enjoying my slow listen of the Complete Sherlock Holmes for #NoPlaceLikeHolmes.

#DoubleSpin 6 - Nada by Carmen Laforet

#BookSpinBingo #ReadingStats #MonthlyStats #DaiseysReadingSummary

This is one of those books that I finished because it was for Camp Litsy and also because I read to experience different world views from my own. I could appreciate pieces of it, such as open sourcing discussion about aspects of life that are seldom talked about, but overall it was not the book for me.

#audiobook #CampLitsy24

Sunday morning book & breakfast is Dissolution. I‘ve been so busy through June that I just got to read chapter 1 last night. I‘m so looking forward to rereading the early books and finishing the series.

#BookAndBreakfast #Reread #ShardlakeSeriesBR #ShardlakeBR

There has not been enough hammock time this summer, but today I finally got a bit with Gandalf for company. I found this book an interesting examination of character and commentary on aging alone, but it was a rather slow and melancholy read for me. I was glad that it ended with a bit of hopefulness.

#Reading1001 #TBRTakedown June 2024
#1001books #HammockReading

💛 My dad adopted a dumped dog that we‘ve named Gwen, and she‘s a sweetheart.
💛 Luthien‘s joy in getting to run and explore also gives me joy.
💛 We‘ve baled over 9,000 square bales of hay & straw. The barns are full!
💛 I picked fresh blackberries this week!
💛 I spent some time with my niece & helped her move cows.

#5JoysFriday

I read a few more pages of Quartet in Autumn today while filling the overhead bin (upper right photo) and found this unfamiliar word. Apparently, Marcia is having a tin of sardines originally for the cat.

pilchard: a small, edible, commercially valuable marine fish of the herring family

#WeirdWords #WeirdWordWednesday #BooksOnTheFarm

I read this book at the request of my teenage nephew, as it‘s his current favorite series. The story was good but also very violent. I liked the character of Darrow and some of the others, but the first person point of view means you only get to know the other characters from Darrow‘s perspective. I‘ll probably continue the series at some point for my nephew, but I don‘t feel compelled to immediately know what happens next.

#YA

This week I‘m choosing the Hometown Hunters series. These are short middle grade novels, each set in a fairly rural area with a focus on a hunting story. This also frequently means some outdoor adventure. They‘ve been great for some of my more reluctant readers who struggle to connect with many popular novels. I‘ve read some of this series and also have a fishing series by the same author.

#MiddleGrade #MiddleGradeMonday #MsDsLibrary

💛 I had fresh cucumbers from the garden.
💛 There are beautiful flowers this summer.
💛 The house is cool thanks to air conditioning when I come home from long days spent outside.
💛 A few things that could have become bad situations worked out without any catastrophes.
💛 We completed wheat harvest and have already put up a good amount of straw.

#5JoysFriday

This was an incredibly well told story of two Pakistani American teens and their families. Although the main story is when they‘re high school seniors, we learn a lot of family history for both. I felt many emotions while experiencing the lives of both Salahudin and Noor. They face some very difficult situations but come through with hope in the end.

#LitsyBookClub #YA #audiobook

I completely forgot to post yesterday, but here are this week‘s joys!

💛 The creek is beautiful and the trees green after a rain.
💛 Luthien & my sister‘s dog Gracie get along well and love to play together.
💛 I made trail mix for easy snacking during long, busy farm days.
💛 I had some free time yesterday and picked up loaded teas for my nephew, niece, and myself.
💛 I love the peaceful morning view of the cows in the pasture.

#5JoysFriday

I‘m giving this one a pick, but it‘s not an enthusiastic one. I really enjoyed the food aspects and the narrator‘s growth over the course of the story, but I wasn‘t really satisfied with the murder mystery aspect. I‘ll be curious to see the Camp Litsy discussion.

📷: I listened to quite a bit of this one around the farm and at home, including checking cows a couple days.

#audiobook #CampLitsy24 #BooksOnTheFarm

The Charlie Thorne series is fantastic. Charlie is a genius who works with members of the CIA. These are the first two books, the first includes information related to Albert Einstein and the second to Charles Darwin. The third relates to Cleopatra, and I haven‘t read the newest book yet.

#MiddleGrade #MiddleGradeMonday

Monday morning book & breakfast! My nephew has decided this series is his new favorite, so he said I had to start reading it. This first book has a bit of a slow start, but it‘s getting more interesting now.

#BookAndBreakfast #YA

💛 My greatest joy this week is putting in a full week of work on the family farm, and thanks to the weather I was able to ease into it a bit.
💛 I spent a lot of time working with my dad.
💛 Just look at those views of green with beautiful blue sky!
💛 I had some time with just my sister, which we don‘t get a lot of these days.
💛 As always, pets, both my own and my family‘s.

#5JoysFriday

I‘ve been back to work on the family farm all week, mostly doing maintenance with my dad, and haven‘t listened to an audiobook since last Saturday. Today I did a bit of work around the sheds by myself and listened to “The Adventure of the Yellow Face.” I didn‘t remember this one at all, and appreciated the explanation of a story Sherlock didn‘t solve.

#BooksOnTheFarm #audiobook
#NoPlaceLikeHolmes #Sherlocked

An interesting word from a recent read.

#WeirdWords #WeirdWordWednesday

I‘ve really been enjoying trying more recipes from this cookbook since I got a print copy. Yesterday, I made brioche rolls modified by adding some instant yeast to speed up the process, but I‘ll be making them again as pure sourdough. Then, we used them as sandwich rolls for the smoked BBQ beef made by my brother-in-law & nephew for supper. Absolutely delicious!

#MtCookbook #cookbook #sourdough

Andrea comes to Barcelona to live with family while attending university. Once there, she learns things are not good in her family home and she makes few friends attending class. Yet, she perseveres through a difficult year to finally find her way. The mood of much of this book is dark, but the detail in creating that mood and the hope in the end made it a light pick.

#1001books #translated #Spain #FoodAndLit #ReadTheWorld #ReadingTheWorld

Hammock reading with the pets is one of my favorite things.

#DogsOfLitsy #CatsOfLitsy #HammockReading

I didn‘t particularly like the characters in this short book, but it was a fairly light listen that did give me a few laughs.

#1001books #audiobook

May was a great listening month, and I finished a few print books as well. I‘m happy with the variety of books, and I got multiple bingos! Both The Drover‘s Wife & The Last Ballad were great stories, and I loved Counting by 7s. Of the 16 completed, 4 were #1001books.

#BookSpin 18 The Drover‘s Wife by Leah Purcell
#DoubleSpin 4 Oroonoko by Aphra Behn

#BookSpinBingo #ReadingStats #MonthlyStats #DaiseysReadingSummary

I realized as I was falling asleep last night that I‘d forgotten to share my joys for the week.

💛 My pets travel well together.
💛 I came home to the family farm and helped put up hay, which officially makes it feel like summer.
💛 I spent my first two full days outside doing farm work and managed not to end up sunburnt.
💛 I spent time with my niece and nephew.
💛 These beautiful flowers are in my dad‘s yard.

#5JoysFriday

Overall, I enjoyed this, but it is very much Loretta‘s story from her point of view written at the height of her career and also a specific time in history. I especially enjoyed learning about her young life and how she got started performing. I did find it interesting to read in some reviews/articles that it seems she was a couple years older than she claims when she got married.

#audiobook #memoir #nonfiction

I chose two books set mostly in the Pacific theater of WWII. It‘s been a long time since I read Code Talker, but I remember it being a fantastic book about the Navajo code talkers that served in the U.S. military. Grenade is told from the alternating perspectives of a Japanese teenager and a young U.S. Marine during the Battle of Okinawa.

#MiddleGrade #WWII #MiddleGradeMonday

For a short time I had a subscription for books with author annotated post-its. This one came up on my #Roll100 list this month, so I checked out a library audio and read the notes alongside. It‘s a historical fiction based on a little known labor strike in North Carolina in 1929. I didn‘t love the switching perspectives, but it was a well told story of the struggle of southern textile mill workers.

#audiobook #NorthCarolina

I‘m not sure I‘ve read this since I first received a print copy as a kid. I enjoyed it then and I enjoyed listening to it now, but it‘s not a favorite. The beginning is great as Rebecca arrives at the home of her aunts and we read the details of that new life, but as the story goes on it moves very quickly and without so much descriptive detail.

#ChildrensClassicRead2024 #KindredSpiritsBuddyRead #LMMAdjacent
#reread #audiobook

There were a few aspects of the way this was written, terminology used by the characters that seemed odd for the time and the switching between perspectives, that sometimes distracted me from the experience of the story. However, the story itself of a woman raising her children on her own in the Australian bush and meeting an aboriginal man on the run was powerful. I was completely caught up in their stories and how those stories came together.

I really enjoyed the history and mystery aspects of this story, but there was too much theological discussion to keep my full attention.

#1001books #audiobook
#Reading1001 Monthly Key Word Challenge

💛 Lots of time home with Luthien, the cats, and the hammock since school‘s out for summer
💛 Strawberries! It‘s strawberry season, and I‘ve enjoyed them fresh, in cake, shakes, pie, etc. 🍓
💛 There are strawberries frozen for the rest of the year.
💛 A quiet evening at home with a fire in the backyard and a lovely sunset
💛 Supper with friends tonight that included fried fish, French fries, fresh broccoli, and more strawberries

#5JoysFriday

I made a breakfast quesadilla this morning to have alongside a few pages of my new book. This is my pick for Spain this month.

#Spain #FoodAndLit #ReadTheWorld #ReadingTheWorld #1001books #BookAndBreakfast

“Miranda Sawyer had a heart, of course, but she had never used it for any other purpose than the pumping and circulating of blood.”

It‘s been a long time since I‘ve read this one, so I‘m fitting in a reread on audio. This quote made me smile as I started listening. It‘s so much better than saying something like a heart of stone.

#LMMAdjacent #KindredSpiritsBuddyRead #ChildrensClassicRead2024
#reread #audiobook #quote

This was a wonderful book about found family, alongside adoption and grief. Willow is a unique and gifted twelve year old girl, and I loved her story.

#MiddleGrade #StudentRecommendation

My 7th graders read this with another teacher and told me it was a great book, so I borrowed it from her to read now that school‘s out. I‘m thoroughly enjoying it, even with the heartbreaking moments.

#MiddleGrade #StudentRecommendation #ReadAndEat

I‘ve read many middle grade books written in verse, and if I were in my classroom today, I might have shared a stack. However, from home, the first one that came to mind that I hadn‘t already seen shared was this one about a girl dealing with a few truly difficult experiences.

My review includes a few examples of the poetic form used in the story. https://litsy.com/p/eG1FQmRpYzdn

#MiddleGrade #MiddleGradeMonday #NovelInVerse

It‘s unusual to read a historical fiction set in ancient Mesopotamia, and I appreciated experiencing that culture. Jomar & Zefa are a brother & sister sent to the city of Ur to find a new life when their family is facing starvation on their farm. Jomar is apprenticed to a goldsmith, and Zefa tries to find her way as a musician.

*I received this #MiddleGrade #audiobook through the #Librofm Educator #ALC program.
Audio duration: 3 hours 34 minutes

Another book finished in the hammock this evening! This book‘s taken me a long time to read, partly because I haven‘t had much print reading time and partly because it wasn‘t that compelling. I enjoyed it but never felt I just had to keep reading. Ben Sippy is a dime novelist from Philadelphia who decides to actually see the Wild West he‘s written about. He befriends the boy who will become Billy the Kid and tells his version of the story.