This book brought up a lot of feelings, questions, and painful memories for me. I was raised in a fundamentalist household. I was groomed to be what is called today, a Christian Nationalist. I left all this behind a long time ago. Today, I‘m atheist with friends of different faiths, and none at all. I subscribe to John‘s podcast and follow his socials. I can count on one hand how may people I know who practice their faith like John⬇️

A lot of people were reading this book and looking to it for guidance earlier this year, with LA on fire, billionaires taking over with their insatiable wendigo greed, and a fascist back in power. Olivia saw these events coming and she wrote about it in 1993. Earthseed is an idea, but it‘s also a world that we can bring into being. It is community, it is love, it is service to others. We are witnessing frightening times and each day, we are ⬇️

I had no idea what this book was about until the author was featured on a podcast I subscribe to: Feminist Buzzkills. I knew I had to read it! Here we have a story of young girls being forced to carry out pregnancies, hidden away from the rest of the world. When they meet the mobile librarian, things begin to change drastically with a single book. Though I did find parts of this book to be cheesy, I still enjoyed it. It reminded me a lot⬇️

I hope people who read Parable of the Sower will think about where we seem to be heading—we the United States, even we the human species. Where are we going? What sort of future are we creating? Is it the kind of future you want to live in? If it isn‘t, what can we do to create a better future? Individually and in groups, what can we do?

—Octavia E. Butler
Pasadena, CA
May 1999

She‘d tried everything to fix this. She‘d searched for Humphrey‘s 11 but couldn‘t find it anywhere. She‘d bought a bottle of castor oil and drunk the whole thing, but it only gave her the runs. She‘d jumped off her dad‘s worktable in the basement over and over until her legs gave out, lifted the dictionary above her head until her arms cramped; she‘d even drunk turpentine, but she barely managed a capful before throwing up. She‘d closed her⬇️

President Joe Biden chose the first Black Woman to sit on the highest bench in America: Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson. This memoir tells the story of all that came before this extraordinary moment. She shares with us the story of her grandparents, parents, her education, her marriage, her children, her values; what it means for her to sit on this bench and all that it took for her to get there.

A (Goose Creek Goose) Hogwarts student 🤣 (of course this is at a library )

Damn it! The library got me sidetracked again! I was out, and of course had my current read with me. But I needed somewhere to go for about an hour and a half. So, my husband said, go to the bookstore! Or go to the library you haven‘t been in yet! And that, dear friends, is what got me. There were so many I wanted to check out. So many! The anxiety I feel to get through the now stack of 8, so I can get back to my shelves…🤓🤯📖📚

I have heard a lot of chatter about this book in the last few months. Local indie bookstores never had a copy. I wasn‘t going to read the graphic novel adaptation first, but I couldn‘t resist. I wasn‘t prepared for how devastating, dark, and violent the story would be. I can only imagine what the actual book will be like. There is a small bit of hope in the end of the story. Themes: end stage capitalism, billionaires, climate change. 🌎🔥

This was a gut punch of a book. Told in different time frames by three different women, each is connected by invisible threads. People tend to think that those who choose to parent and those who choose abortion are different people. But they aren‘t…they are the same people, at different points in their lives. This book shows this and takes place in Canada, before and after abortion was legal there. A powerful story. A reminder of ⬇️

This is a special book. Filled with stunning art, it is a history told by a grandmother to her granddaughter. Black History did not begin on the shores of America; it began long before. It continued on The White Lion, and it continues today. As books are banned, history whitewashed and erased, it is now more vital than ever that we continue to tell these stories. A must read.

This was really cute. Two young travelers are visiting Japan, and end up with a camera they are told is very special: it can photograph yokai that are invisible to human eyes. So the journey begins!
This book is a reminder of how wonderful Japan is, how fascinating the culture is. I hope to travel there one day! 🇯🇵

Seen on FB! 🤣
🤡🎈☔️

I found a series of episodes from different podcasts about these horrible Fundamentalist Christian ‘comics‘ that were passed around like candy when I was a kid. They were scary even though I don‘t think I believed the content. They were and still are, traumatizing. When and if I find them these days😩, I throw them away quickly. Link to listen: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/our-curious-past/id1619531814?i=1000578134...

Margaret Atwood fires back in the latest rounds of attacks on books.

Now listening.
Book Bans are a problem everywhere. American bullshit has infected the lives of Canadians. Canada: WE ARE SO SORRY. So many of us don‘t want this!!!
Link to listen: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/front-burner/id1439621628?i=1000724951628

My holds came in today! Just waiting on one more. After this last stack, I‘m going back to my own shelves again to read and donate to die kleine kostenlos Bibliothek.

(Litsy doesn‘t have the full volume/compendium in its database, and that is what I read). Gou Tanabe has a talent for bringing Lovecraftian horrors to life; his art brings the nightmares to life on the pages. Known mostly for his Cthulhu Mythos, that is the heart of this short story. After reading it, you‘ll know why this frozen landscape is called ‘the mountains of madness‘. Wonderful manga style adaptation, recommend for all Lovecraft fans.

Nurse Julie started her career in ICU. After some painful experiences she observed with other patients, she knew she wanted to take another approach to care: the most important care we so often don‘t talk about: care for the dying. So began her work in hospice! I follow her socials and recommend it as it is very educational. As a hospice volunteer, I was already familiar with many things in this book, but, there is always more to learn, ⬇️

I have never read the book, but I know it‘s banned. I checked out this graphic novel version to see what it was all about—the story is a bit confusing to me, but there are themes of time travel, sci-fi, and trauma stemming from Camp Dresden in WW2. Interesting read, but the alien thing threw me off.

Litsy doesn‘t have this book in its database. It‘s a manga adaptation of Lovecraft‘s The Call of Cthulhu, by Gou Tanabe. It is very well done…I‘d forgotten how scary the story was, it‘s been a while since I read it. Gorgeous, terrifying art. As good as it is, it would never be enough for the tastes of Great Cthulu…
🌊🐙🌌

I loved this comic memoir. Somehow, with the illustrations, it felt more raw. As a cis woman, I can never understand what it‘s like to be trans. One of my closest friends is a trans woman, and I saw so much of her in this book—so many of our conversations were on these pages. These stories, these lives, are so important to uplift. 🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍🌈

Ed Gein was one of the most twisted and disturbed killers in the 20th century. The abuse he endured at home set the violent path he would take, shocking the world with his crimes. TW/CW for this graphic novel.

The old pagan traditions and lore of the winter solstice are a lot like Halloween, and I love them! I never do well with anthologies—I only ever end up liking a few stories in the collection. There were a few good ones here. Sadly, Krampus is not in the book. My favorite was ‘Cold‘ by Cassandra Khaw.

This is a cute and very morbid collection of illustrations the author put together not only of some of his fears, but fears of fans who wrote to him. Loved it! Now following the author on his socials!

Looking forward to these Lovecraft graphic novels. Those silver edged pages🙀

Current library checkout stack…

This book came out in 2023 and it needs a new, updated edition…this is a colorful and fun but very depressing guide to historical and current dictatorships. It shows step by step how democracies fall, how fascist power is consolidated, and how it stays in power. We are in real trouble in the U.S. Some very dark days are ahead….Generational damage has been done in a very short time that we may not ever come back from. Democracy is a fragile⬇️

Consumption has always fascinated me. ‘The Poet‘s Disease…The Romantic Disease‘. It is ancient, deadly, and still evolving to outsmart humans and kill them more efficiently. This book is short but packs a punch about the history of TB, discussing famous victims (and survivors), diagnosis, treatment, and all its intersections today (clean water, food, healthcare, housing, living wages…). TB may be millions of years old and evolving, but it⬇️

As soon as I saw this book spine, I knew what it was about, and I knew I wanted to read it. Set in the 1960s, a group of girls with no knowledge of how bodies work, no contraceptives, and no choices end up in the ‘home for unwed mothers/wayward girls‘. Such places still exist and are on the rise, now that abortion is widely illegal and inaccessible. They are ripe with misogyny and abuse. And too often, we don‘t speak about the harms of⬇️

Before the germ theory of disease, we did not know that around half the cells in my body do not, in fact, belong to my body—they are bacteria and other microscopic organisms colonizing me. And to one degree or another, these microorganisms can also control the body—shaping the body‘s contours by making it gain or lose weight, sickening the body, killing the body. There‘s even emerging evidence that one‘s microbiome may have a relationship ⬇️

We cannot address TB only with vaccines and medications. We cannot address it only with comprehensive STP programs. We must also address the root cause of tuberculosis, which is injustice. In a world where everyone can eat, and access healthcare, and be treated humanely, tuberculosis has no chance. Ultimately, we are the cause. We must also be the cure.

What an infernal microbe it is!…How absurd that we who can kill the tiger should be defied by this venomous little atom.

—Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

I love API food and am always looking to try new things. This book is very similar to ‘Let‘s Cook Ramen‘, and ‘Noodles, Rice, and Everything Spice‘. Full of colorful and cute illustrations, this book is a guide to basic Korean cooking with a little humor and history sprinkled in. It has me wanting some! Shown: There is a local Korean Corndog truck I discovered last year, and I love it. Corn dogs (half & half style, with: ramen, sriracha, ⬇️

If you‘re into medical horror and thrillers, this book is for you. A newly minted doctor, fresh out of med school realizes something is very wrong about the string of recent comas taking place in the hospital she works at.
—I saw the 1978 movie and thought it was pretty disturbing—I‘d love to watch the new mini-series. Have you seen it?

I could almost see myself being in this book because I love cemeteries and graveyards so much, and I see ‘ghosts‘ too, though they are nothing like the ones in this book. When our main character is asked to help with a case due to her profession, she finds herself breaking all the rules her father taught her and must decide if it is worth finding answers she and others seek.

I loved this book. It is the best I‘ve ever read about dogs, with narrative by a dog. Enzo gives us his entire life story: his relationships with humans, his desires, what he loves, and everything he feels. Tissues needed. *The screen adaptation stays 95% true to the book. Watch it—you know you want to!

I have been going through my books at home, reading and donating, deciding which to keep…I‘ve stayed focused and committed! BUT…Thursday while waiting for my reserved room to be available at the library, I had no choice but to be surrounded by the shelves, and therefore my eyes wandered (away from the book I had) to the spines, leaving me no choice. I tried to resist but alas, I could not. Then, the branch manager and I had a chat about all⬇️

The author has written many books about her time in the Middle East; this book is only 118 pages of her memories. She wanted an exciting career, wanted to experience culture, and was curious about the hidden lives of Saudi women. She got all of those things. This short memoir focuses on her introduction to Saudi women, her views and thoughts from under the veil, the friendships she made, and her attempts to help them gain more rights and ⬇️

What if Hitler appeared today—alive, confused, and pissed off? In the times we are living in, I fear he might receive more welcome than disgust. This book is satire, but it‘s also a warning. Fascism is on the rise all over the world. It needs no Hitler, because it has new ways and voices that allow it to spread and thrive. This book asks how we respond when it shows up. Shown: Nazis in Indianapolis.

I had no idea what this mysterious book was about, but I wanted to know about the dog. When the main character‘s wife dies in a fall from an unusually tall apple tree, only the family dog, Lorelei, is witness…right? He becomes obsessed with teaching Lorelei to talk, revealing the truth of his wife‘s death. Themes: death, grief and all the ways we navigate it, bodily autonomy (choice!), and mental health. TW/CW.

Dare I say that parts of this memoir were a little…boring? I was expecting something a little different from a final ‘lecture‘, but I‘ll read just about anything from someone who is dying, because I think there‘s a unique perspective and story for each individual experience. (Therefore, I don‘t regret reading it). I‘ve known two other people with this diagnosis and each life was very different. In reading this, I honor their memory.

This little book reminds us of all the joy that books bring. We buy them and neglect them. We read them, touch them, turn their pages while letting our eyes glance at the fonts. We share them, we recommend them. Some, ban them, and are willingly deprived of these joys. Filled with quotes and memories, the author shares their love affair with books and makes us feel that familiar magic on every page. Shown: a true story mentioned in the book!⬇️

I always thought these books were satire. There is some good advice, but most of us won‘t retain the information, or do the training. Hopefully, we won‘t find ourselves in these situations either. The quicksand scene from The Never-Ending Story was one of the traumas of my childhood. I don‘t plan on having to follow directions for an escape in the first chapter 🤞🏻

I‘ve always had a fondness of wild, unkept English gardens with stone walls. There are some beautiful passages in this book about the human condition that are expressed in the language of wild, growing things. The main character leaves a hollowing London and finds herself in such a garden, tasked with growing food for wartime. The garden meets her with mystery surprise, and ghosts, leading her to go deeper into her relationship with the ⬇️

The thing about gardens is that everyone thinks they go on growing, that in winter they sleep and in spring they rise. But it‘s more that they die and return, die and return. They lose themselves. They haunt themselves. Every story is a story about death. But perhaps, if we are lucky, our story about death is also a story about love. And this is what I have remembered of love.

The language of roses shifts like sand under our feet. It blows in and out like the wind. It carries the fragrance of the flower and then it is gone. Rugosa. Canina. Arvensis. It is how we learn to speak about something that is disappearing as we say its name. It is a trick, a false comfort. Humilis. It is what we think we need to know and how we think it needs to be known. Involuta. It is where we want to go, this name, and stay⬇️

Sometimes our passion is our ruin. The thing with roses is that they were just too unmanageable for Ellen Willmott—indeed, for any single person—to pin down and categorize, to fix on the page. They kept fluctuating, changing their names and associations, refusing to lie still. The roses kept growing, even on paper. They were a living language. And Ellen Willmott couldn‘t hope to contain them. What I love about The Genus Rosa is that it⬇️

The Garden of Loss blooms in May. It is a simpler construction than the Garden of Longing. It contains fewer species, but more plants. The middle of the three gardens, it begins with a great, breaking wave of peonies. The blooms are white and pale pink, grow upright for now, giant buttons of brilliance festooning green leafy tunics. But soon their heads will become too heavy for the thin, weed-like stalks on which they rise with such⬇️

The plant not yet in bloom is lavender. I love lavender. What is more potent than to have that scent on your fingers as you leave the garden? To rub your hands over the leaves, so that all day, as you do your duties, the dying smell will remind you, will make you feel longing all over again. Dead flowers keep their fragrance. And with lavender on them, it is as though your hands become dead flowers themselves, losing the living scent little⬇️