#readingispolitical #overcomingevilempires #antifabookclub #IndependenceDay

It‘s almost midnight. Going to clear my head with a a little Langston Hughes poetry before bed.

#DCIBanks #literarypoliceprocedural #serieslove2025
This series has constant allusions, mentioning of novels, poetry, eclectic music which has led me to new discoveries. It‘s an added bonus to the understanding/enjoyment of DCI Banks, his moods, his emotional/spiritual life, his connections to his sense of” home”. Helen Keller is an enduring gift to us all. Hoping to start this tonight.

Sipping a Sam Adams Summer Ale, listening to “ Carry On” playlist in this broken world, preparing to charcoal grill cheeseburgers on this 4th of July afternoon. ❤️🤍💙🇺🇸🌎✌🏻🍔🍺🎶

#JohnMaddenMystery #6 A closed room,post WWII mystery.Retired DCI.Angus Sinclair,who is feeling his age, is prominently featured.Due to varying circumstances, several people,including Sinclair,are snowed in an English country villa for days when a blizzard hits the countryside.The villa is a residence of the risk taking,high spirited, wheelchair bound,ex-world renowned skier,Julia.1 person goes missing,then another.When Madden braves the snow ⬇️

#staycationintimeswap #staycation #Ireland
Thank you so much Anne Landgraf for your generosity! The care & thought you put into my box is so evident! Apologies- I lost your Litsy handle. Maybe @Chrissyreadit or @DinoMom can tag you for me?

#5JoysFriday
1) double rainbows in sky last night.
2) my porch
3) NYC, Anne Frank exhibit & Pride parade/rally
4) my garden
5) drinking coffee out of teacups in honor of my Mom
Any Litten please join in if you wish to. I love doing this- helps my mindset & fills me with gratitude.💕💕

#JulyJazz #StarsandStripes #porchlife
Happy July 4th everyone!
After spending 5 hours( could have worse! Of course I had a book with me)in the ER late last night with my husband, I am happy to be home.He was diagnosed with facial cellulitis. His pain level had become increasingly worse daily.Now with the right diagnosis & meds, he should start healing.We are barbecuing today & enjoying the cool breezes that are keeping the heat at bay.

Went to pick up my library holds, that of course came in all at once. July‘s Book Page was available- featuring “Sleuths of Every Sort”. What fun I had perusing its pages! 🫆🕵🏻‍♀️🔎📝

#coffeeandbooks
Have a wonderful Thursday!

#Naturalitsy This will take me more than this month to read, but that‘s ok. Fascinated!

Such a soothing listen to start my day.

https://youtu.be/2WfaotSK3mI

Starting my #July cozy for #ThematicCozies2025 #festival

#JuneStats
Read: 25 books: 16 mysteries (surprise!!!!😂); 7 fiction, of the 7, 2 Historical Fiction; 1 Poetry; 1 Non-Fiction of memoir type-family history.
I got out of work for the summer on 6/17. Reading marathon, especially in the HEAT!

I am just reading the Preface & this pertinent quote popped out at me. #foodforthought #14books14weeks

Received my #staycation box today! @Chrissyreadit or @DinoMom can you send me Anne‘s litsy handle? Thanks!

Last book mail of June 2025. On a perfectly sunny day, no less. #bookmail #blameitonlitsy

#bookreport
Top 2 shelves: currently reading. #adventuresinphilosophy #14books14weeks #audiobook #DeadlySeries #
Last row: Finished books. #readyourkindle #DCILoganMystery #Camplitsy25

Just finished viewing this mesmerizing PBS documentary- if you have access to PBS it‘s well-worth viewing! Parallels to our existing executive branch are glaring. #adventuresinphilosophy

Mid-morning coffee. Slept in late; rare for me! #coffeeandbooks

1) reading Mark Twain with my family
2) My porch!
3) Now that I am experiencing leisurely mornings,I am using my tea cups-memories of tea or coffee with my Mom
4) Survived 98+ degree day last weekend at our Hartford City Football game was worth it!! We won 4-nil.
5) My library is giving out all kinds of bookmarks & historical buttons for Pride month. Love them!!!
Here‘s a song to reflect my feelings as I post this:
https://youtu.be/uTUJjHwMn6E

This morning‘s bird song, courtesy of Merlin Bird ID.

Coffee & my kindle book this morning after an invigorating walk. It‘s peaceful at this hour, the only “noise”is bird song, interrupted by an occasional car going by. #coffeeandbooks #birdsong #porchlife

Finished my early morning walk with my neighbor, so now it‘s coffee time! #morningwalks #booksandcoffee #porchlife
I can enjoy my porch again now that temp has cooled down! I have birds singing & an occasional rooster crow.

We do not care that we went to a bookstore & lunch in shorts with unshaven, hairy legs. But as @Amiable said “as woman of a certain age we are basically invisible.”

We do not care that our one air conditioned room is now full of STUFF after camping out in it for 3 days.

#WDNCW #WeDoNotCareWednesday

Climate change is wreaking havoc on Shearwater Island,near the coast of Antarctica.Only a family of 4 are left, living in the island‘s Light House.The island is another character in itself, along with its flora,fauna, & marine mammals. One of the family‘s jobs is to protect an underground seed bank from melting,surging waters.Orly,the 7 yr old son,keeps track of the seeds, giving voice to their purposes.Their lives are turned upside down side ⬇️

#DrJuliaMcLewisMystety #2 #serieslove2025 #readyourkindle
Victorian England, London, 1887. When “Lady painters” complain to Scotland Yard of studio break-ins, they are ignored. Then their sitters start vanishing, a suicide occurs, & a much sought after model is murdered.Dr. Lewis, in her role as medical examiner, joins Insp.Tennant in investigating the cases. As they unravel the tangled threads, they discover layers of vice, deviance, & murders.

I need this early morning philosophy in this hot,war torn world. #adventuresinphosophy #philosophyforsocialjustice

I am only on p. 40 between underlining,note taking,stickies. 🐢🐢

Hunkered down in air conditioning with Em & Poe, reading my kindle (tagged book) drinking Virgil‘s Vanilla Cream soda for dessert!

#bookmail #Thriftbooks

Found these treasures on my porch!

When we registered to hear the author of the tagged book, Ron Chernow,speak at The Mark Twain House in Hartford, we each received our own signed copy of his biography of Twain.We plan to read it together,round robin by paragraph,all 1040 pages.It may take us a year! We started today,finishing up the Prelude.Even Poe joined in! 🐈📖

#JuneSpecials #day23 #pink

Espionage is at its best in this dual time line novel (1944; 1962). Celia (1962) lives in Southwark, a district in Central London.The specter of Nuclear annihilation & war is a political reality,one she & a friend attend rallies in protest. She works at to her,a dead end job at a nearby Antiquarian bookstore. She yearns for more: an education,a real career, a flat of her own.One day she meets an American at the shop who works at the UK Embassy ⬇️

#weeklyforecast
#camplitsy25 #adventuresinphilosophy #14books14weeks #readyourkindle #DeadlyTwentiesMystery

Top row: currently reading.
Middle & Last row: finished books
My first week of summer vacation -tons of reading time!
#camplitsy25 #readyourkindle #adventuresinphilosophy #14books14weeks #memoir #ColdWarNovel #DCILoganMystery #preordetedbookclubchallange #audiobooks #serieslove2025

Early morning coffee and tagged book.
Recovering from a soccer game yesterday afternoon in a heat index of 98. Hydrated continuously. It was worth it - we scored 2 goals in the last quarter for a win of 2-nil. As we are under a heat warning (temps high 90s -100) I can recover indoors in our air conditioned living area.
Hope everyone is staying cool today.
Coffee cup is a gift from our library for joining their summer reading program.I love it!

Thank you for all the beautiful cards, poetry, stickers, bookmarks,activity sheets! Makes my heart warm with joy!
@TheBookHippie @BookwormAHN @dabbe @BkClubCare @Cheryl_Russell @CrowCAH I feel like I left some people out, not knowing their litsy handle. Jenny is one. Apologies to all! Special thanks to Christine for organizing this swap.

What a gut punch of an ending-my mind is still reeling- all cliches but I truly am speechless, taken totally by surprise!

Another early morning walk before the heat arrives. Then coffee & birds. I think I saw a woodpecker pecking at a ridge in the driveway. Have to check. #coffeeandbooks
Yup,a male Downy Woodpecker.

#bookmail #bookgift
Joyce Carol Oates‘s book is from my son; the others I ordered. Oates was at the Mark Twain House yesterday. The event was sold out when I looked into tickets. He is so thoughtful!

This book is an epistolary novel,containing a letter exchange between young adults Kate from Seattle & Frida from CA,but living in Paris.The letters reveal their search for identity & purpose in life.They chronicle their growth & maturity,their loves & losses, & overtime,reveal their meaning to each other.Ultimately,despite life‘s darkness(Frida goes to Bosnia during its”hidden”war & genocide in the 1990s),they take actions out of love & hope.

This book is part author‘s memoir,intermingled with discussions & interviews with her grandmother,Helga, archival material from Nazi &Jewish organizations,family mementos,letters,files,& journals her father kept.She writes,”For…Helga, remembering has become a sport– race against oblivion”(21).The author‘s great grandparents & one son perished in a concentration camp.The other son Hans,hides in plain site with his later adopted grandfather,Pepi.⬇️

Early morning coffee & a book. I did not stay on the porch long. The male house wren was clearly agitated at my presence & sang/chattered, screamed- like in rapid succession. Obviously he was protecting his partner‘s nest which is in one of what I thought of as pretend birdhouses. I stand corrected. I left him in peace. Apparently, I cannot be out there until the babies are born.#porchlife #birdsong #coffeeandbooks

#camplitsy25 #adventuresinphilosophy #philosophyfightssocialinjustice #familymemoir #ColdWarNovel

Just got back from a local street pride rally- mostly positive honks & waves from cars- a few denigrating shouts. Stopped in to pick up a hold at the library & they had a bug display of books, pins, flags for Pride month. #pride #indivisible

Poe seems to want my attention….#catsoflitsy

#5JoysFriday
1) last day of school/work was Monday! Yay!!!
2) Early morning walk-was lovely/ breezy,sunny with puff clouds-the river glistened
3) won Hartford City Football game game, 4-nil!!!
4) coffee, a book & bird song on my porch
5) Em, who never ever climbs, climbed from the floor to a stack of books in my office. I was utterly transfixed watching her progress!

Tagging any Litten who wants to play.

My tiny house wren chirped at a rapid high volume when I sat on the porch with my book and coffee. Mom flew out of her birdhouse but I think they are getting use to my quiet presence- Mom is back & dad‘s chirp is now normal.

There is a wonderful cool breeze today which I want to enjoy out here because extremely hot humid weather is coming. #porchlife #birdsong

This book is full of love & hope amidst heartbreak.
#14books14weeks #week4

#ScottishDetectiveMystery #DCILoganCrimeThrillers #readyourkindle
A mutilated body washes up near the shores of Loch Ness. Logan with a new team,investigates this grizzly murder.A woman publishes pictures of the area which creates a “the Loch Ness monster did it!” frenzy. Questions arise of possible occult,& organized crime involvement. Again, another unforeseen (to me) ending that is twisted & dark. #serieslove2025