I decided at the start of this year to read slower and to savor books more. And success! Halfway through January and here is all that I‘ve finished- much fewer than this time last year 😉 fav so far is tagged…
However, I am reminded of why I was a little more amped up in pace when I realized I also have 7 other books in progress and most of those are back on library hold 🤦🏻‍♀️

#pemberlittens
I am /very/ behind 😂 suffice to say, I was using Serial but didn‘t realize it doesn‘t always deliver whole chapters to read!
As I caught up with Ch 4, I was struck by this sentence from Mr. Brooke and rabbitholed (while evocative I didn‘t know what an “irregular solid” is) only to discover Sofja Kowalewskaja, a Russian mathematician who developed an equation to describe any irregular body revolving around a fixed point - and she ⬇️

Hooray for the new year! Hope it‘s off to a great start for all, and that we all have luck with our respective #bookspin and #doublespin lists. Not listed are a few read-slows that I‘m trying in order to chill out my reading (like the tagged for #pemberlittens 🥰). I did not get much reading done these holidays, so we‘ll see how much of a dent I make in the new year‘s challenges…
#aam #ToB23 #RH23 #Pop23 #roll100 #SeriesLove2023 #ALSpine

I love the StoryGraph stats! I like that I can separate out my yearly goals between pages read and overall books finished, since I go through audiobooks pretty quick when I‘m at work. And it looks like I had a pretty great reading year 🥰
Next year I think I‘d actually like to read less, and do more savoring, but I‘m still impressed at the number of pages i devoured this time around!
Last read of the year tagged (💙 MurderBot, but it was just ok)

Here are some series that have been on my tbr for a while - looking forward to #serieslove2023 to try them next year!

There are also a bunch of series where I‘ve read all but one or two books that would be good to finish up… we‘ll see how far I get 📚

Well, I‘ve not been online enough for the more traditional #12booksof2022 - too many lovely other things going on with family! - & I couldn‘t narrow my faves down to 12 😅 but I do love a good list, so here‘s my favs in 2022.

Top 5:
1. Vita Nostra (here grouped w/ another great cerebral fantasy, Babel)
2. The Sentence
3. The Thursday Murder Club series
4. The Argonauts
5. A Memory Called Empire

(W/ Bunny + Our Wives Under the Sea close behind!)

#tob crew, I am ambling through the current and former brackets and need help understanding the zombie picks 😫
How are these chosen? I see it is a poll… does everyone who participates in the poll pick their favorite from among the shortlist, and the two with the highest votes that were also eliminated in previous rounds make a comeback in the quarterfinals?
I don‘t remember those who tob, so consider yourself tagged if you like, and thanks!

I've not been on Litsy much lately... Now that the Read Harder Challenge has been released, I've been happily plotting and planning for next year. I'm planning to do #AuthorAMonth, #Booked23, #Pop23, #RH23, #52Book, #NoShame, #AuldLangSpine, and #roll100 so far, and I'll also try to do my local library yearly reading challenge 😅 Or at least, I'll spreadsheet the f* out of them 😂 Any of the rest of you getting ambitious?

Lovely to meet you, @jhod ! I've just spent the evening most enjoyably exploring your #auldlangspine list since they are almost all completely new to me and very intriguing 😁 the five indicated are the books that struck me the most so I'll start there - the tagged looks especially fun!

I'm looking forward to getting to know you a little better @jhod - thanks for the match, @monalyisha 💖

This year I discovered the bittersweet fiction by Bryan Washington, whose stories are filled with queer, diverse, and intensely human characters. They made me feel all the things - not least of which was how much I miss Houston, TX.

His books also fit the #booked2022 prompt: main character has AIDS. So, worth a consideration for any last-minute challenge scrambling!

#adventrecommends @emilyrose_x

#adventrecommends day 1

This book was probably my favorite read in January. It lifted me out of a reading slump (I had 2 bails in January! And I almost never bail!!) AND I wouldn‘t have picked it up if it hadn‘t been for #aam. So this post is as much a rec for the #aam challenge as it is for the book 🥰!

Now that Kingsolver is on my radar - does anyone have any favorites I shouldn‘t miss?

Finally committed to a final tbr #bookspin list for 2022 / gave up on getting through my November list 😂😉

(I already started the tagged book! 🤫)

I know I‘m late to the party, but I still really liked this Jadzia Dax / Aztecs / Byzantine Empire mashup. Excited to read book 2!

Plus, I finished my #bookspin and #doublespin for November, read one book for #aam, did some damage to my backlog from challenges, and got a bingo. Surprising for a month where I said I‘d be doing more “relaxed” reading!

This book about the early 20th archaeological explorations by Britts under the city of Jerusalem is a mess. Which is too bad, because it actually does a great job with the archaeology itself! I couldn‘t stand the organization, the fictionalized conversations and internal monologues, and how it jumped around in time and among minor characters‘ povs. Read at your own risk I guess.

I love Moreno-Garcia‘s references, so I was excited for this month‘s #aam - but tho I think this book is solid, I didn‘t connect with it as much as I wanted to and I think that is because the author didn‘t lean in to the noir aspects as much as she could have. Things I liked: hearing more about living in Mexico City during the student riots, the references to another country‘s cultural touchstones like their noir and graphic novel traditions.

I am excited about #auldlangspine and just registered! I was so intrigued by this last year and looking forward to finally giving it a try! Thanks for organizing @monalyisha ! I hope the winter hibernation is going as well as can be expected. I‘ll go make sure my Litsy stacks are updated at least through the last year now… haha 😅😬

Oof, I just can‘t with all the mom-judgements and piling-on, even if it is done with satire in mind. I bumped this back onto my radar with all the end of year hype and the fact it made the #toblonglist but I felt like I was being buried in bad news and inescapable horridness while reading this. TOD 20%

Oh man, I‘m so pleased with my book haul this week! Especially with the illustrated Neverwhere, to tide me over from the disappointment of not having an autographed Gaiman 😉
I did less well finding the gifts I went there for… but oh well, I guess!

After the very fun, and very fast-paced (for me) #scarathlon, I need a little bit of a reset! I have a bunch of partly-started books to clear off my list, some challenges to clean up (so many #roll100! eep!)... and in general, I'd like to try slowing down and savoring my eyeball-reading a little more. Free spaces reserved for the audiobooks that I blast through during data entry ;)
#bookspin #doublespin #bookspinbingo @thearomaofbooks

#scarathlon Week 4 = 9926 for #teamslaughter
What a fun month-o-reading! Hope y‘all had as good a time as did I!
As you can see, I did a bunch of bingo boards 😅 (and got tired of fighting with the collage app.. but nm)
Otherwise… I read 5/10 for #trappedonanisland, 2 #aam novels, got stuck in the maze, 22/31 for #31by31, 5 books about witches… & I still have to figure out how I did for the #autumnatoz. Stay tuned!
Tagged is favorite from week 4!

I thought this might be a nice little psychological thriller for #scarathlon, but I‘m at 34% and the Otessa Moshfegh-ness is getting to me. I get that she‘s written as an unlikable character, but it‘s getting hard to care. I like looking up spoilers for books like these, to see if they ever resolve anything or if you end up not sure what‘s just in the MC‘s head, and everyone is being very circumspect 😡 help? I need to know if I should finish!

Week 3 #scarathlon total for #teamslaughter = 9250
🎉🥳🎃
This week, I read 4 books including our buddy read, which was light and fluffy and fun, if not terribly believable. And loook, I found a Hallmark movie for it! Maybe I‘ll have to watch it 🤔 #spookoween

Oh my! Hendrix sure likes to use rats in his horror stories 😳 I also have a thing about snot - when little, people blowing their noses used to make me gag - so let me tell you, there is a certain scene in this book that was A Problem lol.
Anyway, good setting, entertaining integration of the increasingly disturbing ikea-like product descriptions, but I could do without the body horror 🤢
Read for #aam and #scarathlon

I was perusing Libby for my next #scarathlon audiobook and IT is listed as being 45 hours long! How can this be? I feel bad for the narrator, if it‘s not a glitch. Can anyone confirm that this book is this much of a tome?!

This may have been a poor choice of audiobook to walk while listening to… two younger guys looked like they were about to cross the street and called out to talk to me - bad idea! I am sure they are just LDS or some such, but someone should tell them to lay off accosting women going for a walk by themselves, and that‘s not just the book talking! If you want to creep yourself out during walks outside, I can recommend this true crime… #scarathlon 😜

Week 2 total for #scarathlon2022 #teamslaughter
=
16496

Good week, with 216 words for the weekly game, five books read, and a few bingo lines, including this one for #bookspinbingo woohoo! The tagged book was the final book in a quick and easy and very creepy middle grade series. If anyone needs scary clowns in their life or bingo boards, this will work for you!

Week 1 #scarathlon2022 points for #teamslaughter = 8885!
I read 4 books and watched 2 movies and 6 spooky episodes and tallied up a bunch of readathon points - no bingos yet! Favorite book so far this month is The Golden Enclaves (but not very spooky season-y!) and the tagged book was the last one I finished, and was a low pick. Should have been higher bc of all the Poe refs, but I just struggle with YA lately. This was my #bookspin this month.

I enjoyed this isolated location thriller/mystery in a creepy old house a little more than Sten‘s previously translated work (The Lost Village). Good #scarathlon2022 #teamslaughter fodder!

Guess I‘ll rack up some points for #teamslaughter on my flight! This is my first movie of spooky season, and Morticia is definitely #feministgoals for me. Who doesn‘t want to have it all AND pledge themselves to the power of darkness? #scarathlon2022

@Nessavamusic :
Welcome to the island! It‘s a spooky one. I found this box of books for you to read, hope you like it 🥰😉 I tried to put a variety of genres in there. And happy #scarathlon, if you are practicing!
#trappedonanisland:
Battle Royale
Uzumaki
Other Birds
Soul Taken
The Inheritance of Orquidea Divina
The Hike
The Hollow Places
The Nature of Witches
Clown in a Cornfield
Small Favors

Thanks for organizing, @aperfectmjk !

September was a pretty good reading month for me with two bingos on my #bookspinbingo board! I also finished the #bookspin pick, Jackpot for #aam, and a few chunksters including Babel! Favorite book of the month is tagged.

I‘m joining the multiple bingo boards party again with two lists for #bookspinbingo! This is mostly to keep me honest, I swear 😅
I‘m planning to use the “main” list for the usual #bookspin and #doublespin choices. Thanks as always, @TheAromaofBooks and happy #scarathlon to all players! 🍁🎃🧛🏻‍♀️

Finished this lovely-written epistolary memoir on audiobook while on vacation. The themes are fairly dark, if ultimately hopeful, and I found myself growing impatient with the author at times. Since the book consists of a series of letters, each is very much a snapshot of the author‘s state of mind at certain points - preping for a book tour, after a breakup, after surgeries, etc - which was nice in that it encapsulated change… but also ⬇️

My bucketlist for #scarathlon has 25 things on it - you know what that means! There‘s a bingo in my future! (I totally #blameLitsy for making me into a bingo fiend!)

Less than one week, #teamslaughter! #gofall

While I love horror books, I am a big wimp when it comes to scary movies 😬 and pretty much the only recurrent Halloween-esque movie I watch is The nightmare Before Christmas! For this year‘s #scarathlon, I promise to try and keep one eye cracked for the #teamslaughter buddy watches of Scream. I can try! @Clwojick
Early bird posts complete!

Low pick. I can‘t help but feel that if the author wanted to write a book about the actual native people who were/are active in exploration culture, they should have done so instead of writing yet another glowing biography of Burton & shoehorning Bombay into the afterword.

Photo from https://www.rgs.org/CMSPages/GetFile.aspx?nodeguid=fafd5305-a83d-4083-90e0-3d456... (Royal Geographic Society) where there is a small bio of Bombay.

Thanks to #trappedonanisland, my #scarathlontbr is more organized than ever! If you're interested, @aperfectmjk is hosting this challenge on her litsy page. See their original post for details, but in brief, add books you're interested in reading for the month to a goodreads shelf for others to peruse 🕷️ mine has all the thrillers and horror novels I've bought and stuck, languishing on my kindle 🧛‍♀️ and some possibles from the library 🎃

Reposting as an official member of #teamslaughter: there‘s still time to sign up for #scarathlon2022! Join us 🎃🕷️🧛‍♀️! @Clwojick @StayCurious

10 pts! 😘

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScrAKF_4P5QR-kJDU9lrhzW7PQata8xPbqkHpE7...

The choices for “books featuring a feline” on my library home page made me laugh today! I guess feline shifters count… 🤔😂

Already finished tagged book! On a roll! Figuratively only, however, as #roll100 choices are postponed until October since 2/3 were spooky books 😂

17 books for August and 2 bingos for #bookspinbingo! Oddly, the books I liked best this month are all in the top bingo row 🤔
Also complete: #doublespin and May‘s #bookspin -eternally playing catch-up, that‘s me! … or prioritizing holds for spooky season 😅

Cold brew🧋keto cupcakes🧁and a nice morning catching up with my latest comfort-read of octogenarian crime solvers! I hope very much to be as much of a battle axe as Elizabeth someday.

Has anyone else seen a movie with a bunch of aging superhero‘s set in a nursing home? I cannot remember the name, but it has similar vibes to TMC. I wonder if osman watched it while writing?

August #bookspin and #doublespin list! Mostly challenges on the list for this month… I‘ve already read a number of this month‘s #aam pick‘s books, but thought a reread via audiobook sounded like a nice start for August 🥰
Good luck, fellow players!

Oh, no. I didn‘t read the trigger warnings, so this is on me; this book is about both modern life being at the mercy of social media, and also about a terminal pregnancy. Be warned, folks, and don‘t read in public!

My kitty and I are listening to this on the back porch and watching the rain. The meta-ness and the feeling like I‘m listening to a series of twitter posts is a bit mind-bending. I‘m impressed by the format but unsure if I have the attention span for so much randomness! It‘s interesting…

Happy #wonderouswednesday everyone @Eggs ! It has been a while since I played 😍

1. 5⭐️ reads this year includes The Sentence, Overground Railroad, the Ballad of Perilous Graves, and the tagged novella with such delightful world building and discussion of the intersection of myth, history, and memory.

2. Enjoy this pic of my sansevieria - I was so surprised when it bloomed!

I hope all are having a good week 🏖

New month, new list! Looking forward to many of this month‘s #bookspin #aam #roll100 and #camplitsy picks 🥰

I found the tagged book on a list of books about fertility struggles, and found it extremely moving. So much so that I was surprised to read mixed reviews about it on goodreads, honestly! Haha 🫣 If anyone has any book recommendations on the topic for me to add to my list, I‘d love to hear them 📚

Two bingos for June!! A few books that I ended up loving snuck in towards the end of the month; tagged is my favorite.

I‘m happy to be working my way slowly through old challenges! Yay for #roll100 #bookspin and #booked for keeping me trying new things. Next to catch up on will be #camplitsy - the library wait lists for these have been bonkers, so I read ahead with Either/Or and will do what I can with the rest 😁

I fear I‘m in a bit of a rut this month! I tried the tagged book for #aam and it did not click with me - there seemed to be two competing storylines and I hated the end - however I also slogged my way through Death in Her Hands by Moshfegh, Notes from a Young Black Chef by Top Chef alum Onwuachi, and The Paradox Hotel by Rob Hart and rated them bleh to middling. I feel like there should have been variety enough there … so maybe I‘m just in a mood?

Oh no, I‘m running behind on June #bookspin already 😅
After figuring out my list, I‘ve plugged it into #bookspinbingo, realized I need to get started on #camplitsy, and discovered at least half of my board is made up of catch-up #roll100 #bookspin or #doublespin picks! Haha, I guess I‘ve got some work ahead of me 😂 silly me reading mostly “free” space books last month!