The chores must be done... but they can be done while listening with a cup of tea! I‘ve got this audio version from my Library, but I‘m intrigued to hear that Audible has Kenneth Branaugh reading it on an upcoming version. I might need to own that...

That feeling when you don't have a bookstore within an hour's drive, so you can't just "run out and grab the book." But the combination of Rebecca Schinsky's description on #AllTheBooksPodcast & Twitter yelling about this book with all the feelings makes me want it NOW. So. Do I settle for the Kindle edition, so I can satisfy the "NOW," or do I wait for a week to satisfy the desire to hold-it-in-my-hands?

This is how the second-born and Hubs are riding out the storm! They started reading the Harry Potter series together several months ago, and are on Book 4 now.

This one came in from my library holds just in time! Riding out Hurricane Irma with a cup of coffee, a book described as "the delicious love child of Jane Austen, Patrick O'Brian, and Jules Verne," and some choo choos (of course; that's the only way to get a little reading time with a 2 year old ?)!

How to survive a massive personal/professional disappointment (besides the half pan of brownies and red wine I consumed last night)? I recommend witty banter a la Veronica Mars (thanks @bookriot !) and snuggling madly purring 6 week old kitten. It doesn't fix everything, but it definitely helps!

I can't get enough of Chet and Bernie! I enjoyed this mystery even more than the first. They are always entertaining, but also have a surprising amount of heart (and feels). A great escapist listen! My library does not have Book 3 on audio, so I've got it on hold in print. I'm interested to see if the series holds up for me in that format.

I finished this delightful book over the weekend. The pacing was a little all over the place, but I loved these characters and this story so much, I didn't mind! What a sweet, charming, funny book, that also manages to take on some surprisingly serious topics. I loved this book SO much

Apparently I'm on a YA romance kick... honestly, it seems like the best self-care given national and personal stresses!

I am loving this sweet little book. @bookriot for the win again with this recommendation!

This slim little book is one of the most beautiful and true things I've read in a long time. Nouwen's humble, gentle, and joyful writing defies words. I'll be thinking about this one for a very long time.

This book! It was so charming, and so much better than I thought it would be. Imagine a hard boiled PI story, narrated by... the dog. It's like Raymond Chandler by way of Veronica Mars, with a splash of Kevin Hearne's Iron Druid Chronicles (because of the pitch perfect dog narration)! What a delight! Just downloaded Book 2 from my library!

What can I say? I LOVE Gail Carriger! I loved her Finishing School series, and am just as delighted by this, the first in her Parasol Protectorate series. It was everything I go to her for: witty, supernatural, steampunk, serious about fun and world-building but doesn't take itself too seriously. For those wondering: the main difference from her technically YA series and this is the steam in the romance and the scare factor in the action.

Downloaded this from my library immediately after reading a Book Riot article about lovely YA romances "For When Real Life Is Scary Enough." (Link below) It was as billed: sweet, entertaining, enough drama to keep me interested, but nothing that would stress me out. Truly delightful, and the sort of thing I'd recommend to my daughters when they're a smidge older! http://bookriot.com/2017/06/16/5-ya-romances-for-when-real-life-is-scary-enough/

This week is super stressful; casting my mind back to this time last week, when things were decidedly more chill! (PS - Got the whole Parasol Protectorate boxed set for my birthday! Gail Carriger is my jam these days!)

I forgot I even put a hold on this at the library, but it came on a week I really needed it! It was the perfect book to devour over 2 days of traveling by car with 3 littles up and down the east coast (when it wasn't my turn to drive, of course 😉). The premise is adoptable; I laughed out loud, and had unexpected heart-warmed feels. All the best things for a romance, really!

For those of you who read on a Kindle, Amazon has some great deals today! "IQ" was featured on @bookriot All The Books podcast recently, and "Startup" was also recommended there a couple months back! Pretty sure the deal on Vol. 1 of Paper Girls is still active as well, though I bought it a couple weeks back.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/browse.html/ref=pe_170810_242295140_pe_row1_ptr/?node=...

On a Saturday when both I and the littlest little had a cold, there's not much for it but to snuggle in the bed with goldfish (for him) and a good book and tea (for me). And what a book! I loved every second of it. It kept me guessing, and I was so sad to reach the end. Can. Not. Wait. For the next one!!!

I love this book SO much! It's full of truly accessible instruction, memoir of Jessamyn's life and experiences with yoga, and step-by-step instructions for practice with headings like "I Need To Feel Balanced" or "I Need To Chill Out." I was so sad when my library loan was up, but hubs has been duly informed that it's at the top of my birthday wish list!

Spent the weekend celebrating my daughter's 8th birthday with a lot of family and a Harry Potter themed skating party. Also spent a lot of time discussing The Goblet of Fire, which she's halfway through. It's so fun to experience these books again through my children's eyes!

I'm having one of those Monday mornings where the list of things I need to accomplish by Wednesday evening seems impossible... to say nothing of what needs to happen by the end of the week. And then I saw I forgot to turn on the dishwasher last night. Having to seriously fight the urge to just give in and read the rest of Waking Gods all day!

I loved Sleeping Giants last year, and was SO excited to start the sequel this morning. I can't put it down! Which is good... because this is my first time using the OneClickDigital app for an epub book from the library, and it's not a great user experience. Anyone else had this experience? Is there a better way to read epubs?

I think I may have technically heard about this first from #BookRiot, but it was the Litsy reactions that convinced me to make it my Book of the Month and read it! #GRABBYHANDS

#THISISTHEEND This was definitely the best book I read last year, and I'm still thinking about it. It was so well-written, and the topic just continues to be more timely.

Love, love, love this book! ❤️ Sherlock Holmes + brilliant women + a smidge of simmering romance ... It was exactly the thing I never knew I wanted, and I can hardly wait for the next one!

Living my best life this Friday evening! It's been a LONG week, and I am celebrating it coming to an end!

That feeling when all your library holds come in at one time! 😂🙌

I guess I'd better clear my plans for the weekend! Frankly, it sounds like the perfect way to recover from the past 8 days during which at least 1 of the 5 of us (usually more than 1) has continually had a stomach virus. This feels like the best way to celebrate its eradication from our home!

If you're a Ms. Marvel fan, a G. Willow Wilson fan, a comics fan, or someone who likes thinking about the intersection of faith and politics, you're going to want to listen to this interview with G. Willow Wilson on The Ezra Klein Show podcast. She's so cool! Off to fangirl and move her "Alif The Unseen" to the top of my TBR! (I've included a link, but you can also find it in your favorite podcatcher) https://overcast.fm/+F_9Et6QKs

They're finally here!!!!!! I love #BOTM Day! I really overdid it this time, but I'm so excited to read all of these!

Finally decided on my BOTM... which is to say, I *didn't* choose. ? I've been kicking myself for a month over not choosing "Exit West" in last month's box, so that one was already resolved. But this month's offerings were all so interesting! In the end, Liberty sold me on "American War" on her All The Books podcast, and I just couldn't pass up David Grann tackling crimes against Indigenous Americans AND "the birth of the FBI." #CantWait

It's been a long couple of days with sick kiddos and extra stress. I'm treating myself to this book which serendipitously arrived from my library holds on Overdrive tonight. So far, it's everything I want from Sherlock Holmes-as-a-lady!

I loved this series so much! This is the 4th and final book, and though I'm sad to see it end, I'm glad there's more by this author in this universe... just picked up the first 3 books in the next series in the "Parasolverse!" Steampunk, kickass ladies, intricate conspiracies, supernaturals, and romance with a healthy dollop of humor. J'adore!

Overall, this book was entertaining, and I enjoyed the main characters. I think it suffers a bit from being the first in a much-beloved series; if they're anything like the Jim Butcher series (and they certainly have the fans to suggest they are), they'll only get better as the series goes on. That said, I wasn't ready for the sexual violence. It's probably fine for most, but Law & Order SVU makes me squirmy; if you're similar, be aware.

The kids are on spring break, and after 3 days of camping, they're off with grandparents. Hubs and I have 48 hrs of reading, basketball, and the new Marvel Iron Fist! This is the first of several books in my own little marathon; it was delightful! #romantsy

What an utterly engaging read! I picked it up on an impulse from the library on the strength of hearing @Liberty discuss it on "All The Books," and I'm so glad I did! I'm not sure what I expected, but it is what it says: "an American history in haunted places" - a look at the places that haunt us and the places we haunt. Colin Dickey's writing makes the book what it is - a mesmerizing look at the way we process history we'd rather not remember.

Home this Sunday with a sick baby, so digging into part of my Lenten reading. Only 40ish pages in, & it's already challenging and necessary reading discussing the shortfalls of (desirable) reconciliation & need for reparations.
"It is imperative for white Christians today to take seriously Black Power's critique of the civil rights movement, a critique white Protestants rejected at the time and remain largely unaware of or open to today."

Maybe it was Remini's audio narration, or maybe I was just in the wrong mood. In any case, I sent it back to the library.

Y'all, I don't know what I thought this book would be, but it's blowing my mind! Dickey is such a great writer, and his take on the subject is fascinating. Sat down for a moment to see if I wanted to keep this since it's almost due back to the library, and looked up pages later... pardon me while I go renew! 🙌

Help! I'm in a reading slump to end all slumps. Despite the pile of excellent "literary" fiction I have, I think genre is going to be my best bet. So what's next? Still Life (Louise Penny)? Leviathan Wakes (James A. Corey)? The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms (NK Jemisin)? Sabriel (Garth Nix)? The Dark Days Club (Alison Goodman)? Or Sorcerer To The Crown (Zen Cho)? I need engaging characters and good world building.

Honestly, it took me a little while to get into this one. I think part of it was the number of characters that had to be introduced, but frankly, since mid-January, all reading has been difficult. I'm glad I stick with it, though. Reading this delight slowly allowed Chambers' characters to become my friends, and I looked forward to checking in on them. I was sad to tell them goodbye!

FINALLY got this back from the library (I was only 6 chapters from the end when my loan ran out, and there was a hold on it; HORRORS)! What a delightful listen, and just what I needed to distract me from the real world. I enjoyed it even more than the first. Petticoats + good manners + espionage + werewolves + vampire hives + organized crime + landed gentry + airships = MORE PLEASE!

Y'all have probably seen this, but just in case: Kindles Daily Deals include all the Old Man's War series, Fuzzy Nation, Red Shirts, and the oh-so-fabulous Lock In by John Scalzi! I rounded out my Old Man's War collection (LOVED the first 3), and picked up Fuzzy Nation. Seriously, they're ALL great, but if you're hesitant about sci-fi, try Lock In - it's a good, not-so-old-fashioned noir whodunnit. LOVE!!!

Participating in a Twitter read-along (#CivDei) of this chunky book, and finding it to be a compelling, and strikingly current-feeling reading!

I forgot to review this after I finished it a couple weeks ago! I love this adorable series. This one started off a bit shakily, but once it found its footing it was every bit as delightful as the first book. They are delightful treats on audio.

Good book, good (decaf) coffee (too old for caffeine at night, y'all), pjs on, in my bed. Living my best life right now! Saturday night done right!

It's 21 degrees outside. This southern girl is going to stay right here with a book oft-recommended by the #BookRiot crowd!

Y'all, this book! I downloaded it on a whim from my library last night, because lots of bookish internet types have raved over it, and I am HOOKED! I'm listening to it on audio, and I don't love the narrator, and I'm STILL LISTENING because I NEED TO KNOW. This was just the escapism I needed today! #romantsy #audiolove

I've been away from Litsy FAR too long. Advent and the holidays (and all the ensuing travel) were madness. This book is ALSO madness of the best kind. Dystopian future controlled by powerful families protected by powerfully enhanced "family members?" I'm so in! This was my Christmas Eve book from hubs, and it made the first hour of Christmas Day travel fly by! Can't wait to get my hands on the rest! #comics

Fellow #BOTM fans, what on earth are you choosing this month?! They all look AMAZING!!! 🤣

Oh my goodness!!!!! @CoffeeK8 Thank you so much!!!!!!!!!!! Best Secret Santa gift EVER!!! Thank you #SecretSantaGoesPostal @BookishMarginalia Thank YOU so much for organizing!!! #wintersolsticebookswap

I just put my #SecretSantaGoesPostal package in the mail (guaranteed to arrive by 12/20). I'd been waiting on one final piece. I can hardly wait for them to open it!!! 🎄🎅 @BookishMarginalia

Simply delightful. I needed a comedy of manners; this was that with some modern (1930s) sensibilities. I'm a huge fan of Miss Fisher's Mysteries, and this is that if Phrynne Fisher were instead a down at the heels royal (34th in line to throne) who's making her way by her (considerable) wit. It's a treat to read, and perfect for relaxing from the frenetic pace of life at the moment! I just finished it, and immediately downloaded the sequel!