I read some stories from this delightful (and spooky) anthology to my family on Christmas Eve 🎄🎁🤶🦌⛄🥂

It's been too long since I've posted! I've been posting so much over on my Instagram. I'll try to catch up! Here's a past blog post of mine... This one is for queen Alice Hoffman and her classic, Practical Magic.
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I love this book, I love this movie. They are quite different from each other, but the same spirit and feeling is in both.
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Read my full thoughts here: http://jocelyniswrong.com/highlights/

This felt like Practical Magic lite. I enjoyed it, but it wasn't terribly compelling.

This book was beautiful and brutal and very true! I have felt what Millie has felt. I have been stuck in a depressive holding pattern, thinking if I just buy the right clothes, deep clean my apartment, start doing yoga, then everything will change for me! I'll have a more meaningful and fulfilling life! I luckily broke out of the painful cycle eventually, and j think Millie does too, but it's about finding satisfaction in your true self.

👻☠️📖🕯️🖤 Everything I love: horror, sci-fi, comedy, history, occult, road trips! It follows a core cast of characters in the 1950s. Two Black families in Chicago get wrapped up in occult nonsense precipitated by a group of racist white ppl. The characters are masterfully crafted by Ruff. It's smart, funny, spooky, honest, & packed w/adventure. I learned through it too, as a white woman who wasn't taught much abt Jim Crow. Excited for the show!

I enjoyed the world of this book, but the end feels a bit like the end of the Matrix Revolutions. And the characters bugged me. There was a lot of whiplash concerning how one character felt about another, and that was frustrating. We also got really granular and mundane details concerning the plot but never really got anything satisfying when it came to the over story or themes. It was a fascinating read, but I could have used a few more answers.

This is a MUST READ! Our info-seeking habits are almost exclusively focused on internet tools like Google & Yelp, but many of us don't know how these platforms work. Dr. Noble does an amazing job examining & exposing the predatory ways these companies colonize, monetize, restrict, manipulate, & distribute info. Digital media literacy is so important cuz we are effectively lied to by tech every day. We need more regulation & more librarians!

This was a fascinating approach to examining the alien/UFO obsession in the US 👽🛸 Pasulka talks about the connection between religion, the rise in UFO sightings, and modern technology and media. It was also pretty much a bummer to me as a librarian who teaching digital media literacy because Pasulka basically argues that we're living in a Matrix of our own making and no one cares GREAT 🙃

This was a cute summer read! And if you're obsessed with Dirty Dancing Havana Nights you'll def enjoy this book 💃🕺💖

This was a well crafted, well written, thrilling and exciting ride!! It was impressive to see Cronin make an overdone trope like vampire/zombies fresh. The character development was wonderful, and I'm definitely attached which I'm sure is a problem because I don't think those folks come back in future books 😬 But I loved it and am excited to grab the next in the series.

A good day for reading a spooky book 📖💀 on my stoop, and making it very clear to my neighbors that I'm the one to go to in the event of a possession 👻 or alien invasion 👽🛸 I got them 💪
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#PGHReads #SunnyDay #SpookyReads #Bookstagram #Litsburgh

I would give this the devil horns but I can't get over what she did to the dog...normally I love books with "unlikable" women like Eileen, but something about Lucy just made me frustrated. I wanted her to have more agency over herself.

Almost done listening to the Southern Reach trilogy!! I think I prefer reading this one to listening. It's easier to follow along that way. I really enjoyed/am enjoying this trilogy! I love how weird and nonlinear each book is, and I've really been eating up the exploration of Area X! We're reading it for one of my book clubs and some don't like the lack of explanation but I find that fun. I'm excited to read more of VanderMeer's work!

This was a beautiful book. I really enjoyed the slow pace, nonlinear narrative, and close examination of one small community during a very intense time in history. I listened to the audiobook and if you like lovely Irish accents I completely recommend listening!

Most #bookish people have like a tbr shelf or cart where they line up the books they most want to read next. I have a weird amount of wicker baskets that I've inherited, so I decided to clean one up and use that to line up the books I want to read this month 😍📖🧜
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#Bookstagram #MountTBR #Litsburgh #PGHReads #TBR #SpringReads #BookWork #BookBasket #Pisces #PiscesSeason

I love this series so much! My fiance has been gone for a week on a business trip and won't be back for another week and I woke up with a bad cold this morning 🤧...this was the comfort read (and comfort kitty 🐈) I needed!

I had a really fun girls night this week where we went to hear Ottessa Moshfegh speak and got some books signed! It was a blast!

Oh man, this was amazing!! She is so inspiring and lovely! Just reading this motivated me to do the best that I can in all situations. The audiobook is really great as well. I'm so thankful to Michelle Obama 💖👏👏👏

Got my new books and tshirt from Mystery Lovers Book Shop here in Pittsburgh 🤗📚💖

Aaannnddd I did it. Bought myself new books from my local bookstore 💖📚❄️📖☕ Got some delicious pastries at the bakery next to the bookstore as well 🤗

The university link I work at is closed due to cold temperatures for the second day in a row ❄️☃️ So I'm enjoying my coffee and books ☕📖 and if I'm feeling brave I might venture out to my local book store for a treat 😏

Woke up sick today 🤧🤒 so it's been pretty much just the couch and some comfort Austen for me. My beautiful kitty Dr. Scully was my cuddle buddy all day 🐈💖

When you make vegan chocolate chip 🍪🍪🍪 for your Harry Potter book club and realize you're in trouble because there are still like 5 hours before book club and here you are with all these delicious cookies in your face 🤤💖
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#BookClub #BookWorm #PGHReads

Wow, this short story collection is incredible! I knew very little about it when I picked it up, but I felt like I struck gold with these speculative/magical realism stories! They were masterfully crafted, wonderfully entertaining, and also carried strong messages about justice and equality. This might be my favorite book of 2019 so far!

We finally got some 🌨️❄️☃️! Enjoying vol. 4 of Paper Girls with my coffee this morning while I decide how I want to spend my snowy day...continue the never ending task of making centerpieces for my wedding or the never ending task of cleaning 🤔 Not the best options to pick from lol 💖📖☕

I'll absolutely LOVED this book!! The characters were so rich and interesting, and whole reimagining of Pride & Prejudice worked really well. My sister used to live in Bushwick and I always enjoyed visiting because of how vibrant it is and how strong the community felt. But much like my own neighborhood in Pittsburgh, gentrification is really changing a lot. We need to make sure it's sustainable and responsible, supporting growth not displacement.

Just ordered myself some goodies from a local bookstore here in Pittsburgh! They have FREE SHIPPING 🤩🤩 I got myself some fun mysteries and thrillers, but also a historical horror and historical fiction. They can order and ship whatever you want, the online ordering is amazing, again...FREE SHIPPING. Instead of helping Amazon achieve world domination I'm helping a local business thrive. Feel free to shop there too https://www.mysterylovers.com

This collection was amazing!! I especially loved the last story because I'm a sucker for magical realism Katrina stories. The audiobook was excellent, but I think I'd like to own this one in hard copy and read it that way next time. I feel like I missed some stuff.

I think I can say that I liked this collection. Some of the stories really grabbed me while others I didn't feel too many ways about. But the longer I sit with it the more I think I enjoyed it. For me, all these stories had something to say about our humanity and our relationship to it. I'm definitely going to be rereading this in my future!

I LOVE when I'm minding my own business, read or hear about an amazing book and think 🤔 that sounds familiar, and it turns out I actually bought that book 2 years ago and it's sitting on my shelf and I can start reading it RIGHT AWAY!!! Maybe that is actually embarrassing...

This book was everything I was hoping for: one woman's brutally honest account of pregnancy, birth, and new motherhood. I'm truly grateful it exists!

This is a very fun, smart, adorable, exciting, and sexy book! The sex scenes are super hot, the characters are great, and the plot will suck you in right away! I loved it and recommend it to anyone who likes romance or is looking to get into it! The audiobook narration was 👌👍 as well!

"Every week she looks forward to Sunday afternoon because that is when the man will go for a long ride on his bicycle. She will have the house to herself then, and she will be able to work. Nobody will creep up on her, nobody will call out to her, nobody will want to read aloud to her passages from a book or a newspaper article." Wow, do I identify with this!

This book is smart, funny, rich, and a fascinating look at the deep murderous connection between two sisters who suffered severe trauma as children. I loved reading it and look forward to anything Braithwaite writes in the future!

Funny story, I recently signed up for Bookriot's TBR recommendation service where you fill out a survey, give them your Goodreads account, and they give you 3 book recs. There are different levels to the service which is nice. Anyway, Liberty Hardy was my recommender and she suggested this book for me. I actually already owned it but it was buried in one of my stacks, unread. So glad she prompted me to pick it up! It's spooky and amazing!

Coming to the end of my #HarryPotter reread with my book club! We'll be doing a dramatic group reading of Cursed Child when this is done 😂😂😂

So many fun new books from the #library!! Has anyone read any of these yet? #libraryhaul #bookhaul #librarybooks #newreleases

Omg, do not listen to a creepy audiobook early in the morning when it's still dark and you're tired...you will scare yourself silly!!! ☠️⚰️👻🖤

This book was not exactly what I was expecting. The writing is beautiful, but the pacing was very methodical and the plot wasn't as amped up as I thought it would be. But the world building was awesome and the characters were great!

When you're witchy and you just can't stop witching 🕯️🖤🔮 So far, so cute!

"A grown woman is like a coyote -- she can get by on very little. Men are more like house cats. Leave them alone too long and they'll die of sadness." ??? I see truth here lol

So excited 🤗

This was a decent read/listen, but I think I was expecting a bit more. The hype was so intense lol If you like mystery thrillers you would probably enjoy this one.

Sometimes a lazy rainy day is just what is needed.

I'm rereading (listening) to the series to get ready for Lethal White!! So excited!!

I got these for super cheap at Barnes and Noble! Has anyone read either?? Thoughts??

This books was so much fun! So many twists and turns throughout the entire thing, the pacing was so fast and exciting, and it was the perfect late summer thriller mystery read!

I'm helping* Mark while he works a beer fest at the Pirate's game and enjoying this INSANELY good book about our culture and media's obsession with the dead girl trope. It's fucking awesome. READ THIS!!!

*Helping (v): sitting awkwardly alone at a super crowded beer fest reading a book while hundreds of ppl get wasted around me and my fiance is working his ass off and also fills my cup when needed aka best life 📚🍺

This book was ok. I love twisted mysteries, and everyone was telling me I should read this book, and while I thought it was a good story and definitely pulled at some emotions, it really wasn't what I was expecting. I would have LOVED this book in middle/high school! But the writing felt very YA, as did the plot, and I am apparently an old person now lol
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#Libby #Audiobook #LibraryBook #YA #Mystery

This book was inspired by my hometown murders so I'm pretty interested in seeing how this goes.