#FeelinTheLove Day 10: This one is Ludwig Van Beethoven‘s letter to his Immortal Beloved – who this is remains a mystery until now. This is a fascinating book that contains amorous and heartfelt #Loveletters of famous people: from Vita Sackville-West and Viriginia Woolf to Franz Kafka‘s letter to Felice Bauer. More here: https://wp.me/pDlzr-7hF
#FeelinTheLove Day 9: #Chocolate chip cookie in a hot skillet with vanilla ice cream paired with an edited book where my chapter co-authored with an Emirati colleague is found, specifically: “From Mahmoud Darwish to Shakespeare, Naruto to Tintin Comics: Reading Preferences and Identities of Emirati Adolescents from the UAE.” Came out last month! 💕💕💕
#FeelinTheLove Day 8: Would much rather be #Loveless than be in any sort of relationship with the protagonist‘s husband who, for lack of a better word, is a world-class jerk. A #ToB25 play-in title, which I finished reading last week. Review is forthcoming. Still need to read The Wedding People.
pick#FeelinTheLove Day 6: Set in Lima, Peru, the author introduces us to young Marito who fell in love with an older woman, a 30-something divorceé, who found Marito‘s teenybopper infatuation amusing until she herself became enamoured by the innocent and untoward and forbidden romance of it all. #SteamyLove with the Mrs Robinson vibe. More here: https://wp.me/pDlzr-dt9
pick#FeelinTheLove Day 5: #WeirdLove - The story opens with the beginning of the “weird” world, reminiscent of Nordic/Greek myths of gods and goddesses. All the men in this story are philandering, too full of themselves, and thoroughly self-serving. They are also threatened by women‘s intelligence or crippled by their burning love for them. My review: https://wp.me/pDlzr-hkG
#FeelinTheLove Day 3: There are #LoveIsBlind elements here between Daniel and Susannah as I find the latter insufferable at 200 pages in. I finished two other titles for the #ToB25 while reading this and I haven‘t even reached a third of the book - does it get better and is it worth slogging through? The characterization is on point but not in love yet with any of the characters.
#FeelinTheLove Day 2: My #FaveLiteraryLove is Estelle‘s “affair” - unconsummated though it may be - with her neighbor as they exchange books with their own personal scribblings/markings in them. Imagine an illicit love wrapped up in book exchanges, so pure and so beautiful.
pick#25Alive! Day 29: There was much #Laughter as college kid and I read this aloud in our book club of two during the December holidays. As noted in my review: There is a tenderness to his writing that feels almost like a hug – but more perhaps like clinging to a liferaft, the act of writing the words his way of preventing himself from sinking – that he holds on to the reader – in beauty, in supplication, in wonder. More here: https://wp.me/pDlzr-qZ0
#25Alive! Day 26: My #GuiltyPleasure that I have not even started reading yet since practically all of the young people I know have been raving about #Acotar. Is it really worth all the hype, fellow readers?
#25Alive! Day 25: A sense of deep #Gratitude washes over me as I read this book. Had to discontinue though for awhile as I go through the #ToB25 titles.
#PoetryMatters Day 24: #Wake - this was one of the poems I asked family members to read during my mother‘s cremation service and my college kid read it aloud again during the December break when we finally released mother‘s ashes into the Persian Gulf. Found the poem in the exquisite tagged book that gave me comfort during my time of grief.
#25Alive! Day 24: A great deal of #Positivity all around as my co-authored book chapter is finally published in this important edited book by good friend and former colleague from Singapore. Received a physical copy from the publisher yesterday. How amazing that our 2025 professional development text is listed here on Litsy! Awesome!
#25Alive! Day 22: Each day we find ourselves breathing is a reason to #Celebrate. I adore Maria Popova‘s bird divinations - unfortunately they don‘t ship here in the Emirates. So sad. 😭
#25Alive! Day 20: My #FvWinterDrink is peppermint rum chata - but this one is a close second. Thoroughly enjoyed our final book for the #EuropaCollective. Scheduled my post at GatheringBooks in two weeks‘ time. 💕
#25Alive! Day 19: #AuthorYouLove is tagged and found in my new reading corner and working space - picturebooks now neatly categorized and shelved in this new space where our giant Christmas tree used to be.
#25Alive! Day 18: #SnowyCover(ed) mountains in Mjelle Beach, Bodo Norway where husband and I went to visit middle of last year.
#25Alive! Day 17: My #1stBk25 #FirstBook25 is a reread of tagged book - as college kid and I read it for our book club of two this December break. It lends itself well to reading aloud, and I find it even more hilarious and soul-filling in my second reading. Finished it one day before our college kid flew back to Seattle. Full review is forthcoming.
#25Alive! Day 16: #FaveBk24 or my #Top24Of2024 - how about you? Here‘s my post: https://wp.me/pDlzr-qU9
#25Alive! Day 15: I am sure there must be #LastingLove somewhere here with this kind of title. Starting this #ToB25 title today because man it is a chunkster!
#25Alive! Day 13: #Possibility - still from Maria Popova‘s labor of love - deck of illuminated cards inspired by Audobon‘s art - too bad the full deck of cards doesn‘t ship all the way here to the Middle East - will just have to see glimpses of what she shares through Brainpickings.
#PoetryMatters Day 12: This poem is from Mary Oliver‘s first ever book, No #Voyage, apparently published in 1963 when she was only 28. Found this gem in an IG account with the handle YearWithMary - I could do with a year of Mary Oliver - http://bit.ly/4gaFXJv
#25Alive! Day 12: Here is my #BookHaul for the #ToB25 - and this is just half of what had already been delivered - plus a few more titles besides. I blame @BarbaraBB for tagging me. Lols.
#25Alive! Day 11: Belle‘s #TakeCharge attitude when it comes to JP Morgan‘s collections totally impressed the brilliant man - and the rest is history. Review is forthcoming. Finished reading the book and absolutely loved it. #ReadTheWorld2025: France (translated from French) - although setting is mostly US based. #EuropaCollective
