Take a family, mix in every issue you can think of, bake in a deep tragedy for a few decades, serve with holiday angst. That‘s this book as a recipe. It‘s my irl book club pick for January and I‘m not looking forward to the discussion. 😂

Gladwell‘s Tipping Point has entered the Overstory (to use his term) but this book, which explores its relationship to dark things, like epidemics and the Opioid crisis, is well worth your time. I‘ll be thinking about the questions he poses for a long time.

My January #bookspin is full of books I want to read next month, but will I get to even half of them? @TheAromaofBooks

Last month I read volume one of this set and really enjoyed it. I want to read the other seven this year, so I set myself a goal to read them in 2026. If anyone wants to join me let me know and I‘ll start a tag list for #declineandfall. Very casual, very low-key, read at your own pace kind of challenge. @LitsyEvents

Merry Christmas to all who celebrate. And may everyone be as calm and happy as my cat Amélie.

Watching the Christmas Eve Carol service from Westminster Cathedral while reading this memoir of an amazing singer.

Dryly academic in style, this work proposes some interesting ideas. But like the cartoon above, there were many places where Singley leaps from a supported point to an assumed conclusion that isn‘t convincingly argued, in my opinion. It took way too long to read (and I almost bailed several times) but it did make me think about the novels we‘ve read. #whartonbuddyread @Graywacke

Cute, light, easy enough I could probably have read it in French, but just what I needed right now, given how crazy work is right now (not to mention the rest of the world!) King Loc is my favorite and a great role model.

I needed something light this time of year, so I started this at lunch. It‘s charming.

Woke up to this. And midwesterners, don‘t judge me. Here in the south 18 is “extremely low” here!

A classic from Classic FM. Once you‘ve seen it, you can‘t unsee it. 😂

I found the (40 page!) introduction a bit dry and academic, so I‘m not sure if I‘ll make it through this or not. But it‘s an intriguing look at Wharton‘s work through a lens of spiritual seeking (rather than “manners”) We‘ll see if I make it. #whartonbuddyread @Graywacke

It‘s difficult to explain why this book is so engaging, not gratuitous or emotionally manipulative. But quiet, reflective, and yes, at times, funny. #bookspin @TheAromaofBooks

Probably better on stage than on the page, this was a farcical romp that would be better-liked if Shakespeare hadn‘t done it better. But the hero gets the girl, the villains get tricked, and it ends with the above philosophy. #readyourkobo @CBee

We got our tree up early this year. Listening to Kings College Choir and enjoying the lights.

Started my #bookspin book this morning. It sounds like an awful topic, but so far it‘s quite lovely.

The first part worked better for me than the end, which felt both rushed and a bit too easy. But I would read this author again. She shows promise.

My December list for #readyourKobo @CBee

Most are a variety of “just-so” stories of the Cherokee people, with some history thrown in (Trail of Tears, Wounded Knee) and beautifully illustrated by Elizabeth Ellison. I picked this up in Cherokee, NC last summer. It‘s a quick read, and full of gentle humor.

My final #bookspin of 2025! @TheAromaofBooks

According to the introduction it‘s slightly autobiographical in terms of how the mother treated the daughter in order to seem younger, but I‘m not sure I can follow the author all the way to feeling sorry for the mother and excusing her crime. I finished it not sure how I feel about it. But I‘ve read my October #doublespin now, so there‘s that. @TheAromaofBooks

I loved Suite Française, and Entre le Chien et le Loup so I‘m hoping this lives up to those!

My #doublespin for November was this biography of a woman who could have been Elizabeth I‘s heir, was raised to consider herself in that light, used as a pawn, and then, when she finally chose a husband for herself without James I‘s permission, was thrown in the Tower of London. A bit of a chatty style but obviously well researched. I enjoyed it. Portraits of her as a toddler, teenager (in white) and adult. @TheAromaofBooks

New treadmill book this morning!

While I learned a lot, and went on internet dives to find all the pictures, there were a few things that took it down to a soft pick for me. The writing became so repetitive at the last few chapters that I at first thought my playback had jumped back to a previous chapter. The narrator spoke good French most of the time, but there were moments of mispronunciation (Mai pronounced “mah-ee”) and cadence (reading “independently wealthy and beautiful”

Queen Elizabeth I ‘s court was ruthless! 😂 (And yes, I‘m immature enough to laugh out loud at this!)

This book of poems gathered in protest over Bush‘s war took me a long time to finish. It wasn‘t an easy read given how much worse things are now and how I could see how what he did lead us to where we are. But an excellent collection nonetheless.

This last finished novel of Dickens has the playfulness of (and hints at breaking the 4th wall like) Pickwick, but shows a maturity of purpose in exposing wrongs and a changed (for the better) view of Jewish people since Oliver Twist. I think it deserves to be better loved and more often read than it is and can only suppose it is its length that keeps it from being so. Myself, I thoroughly enjoyed it. #readyourkobo @CBee

I loved this. It was not what I expected, but that may be a good thing. Billy was my favorite, of course, but all the characters had their moments. And the prose was memorable. (Map in the background does not include the Lincoln Highway, but it‘s what I had in the house. 🤷🏻‍♀️) #bookspin @TheAromaofBooks

Started my #bookspin this morning. Only one chapter in, but I‘m hooked.

I bought this 2nd hand, and look what I found inside! November book for my irl book club.

This is just the 1st of 8 volumes. I went in expecting to learn a lot (and I did) but not expecting the humor and the quality of the prose. I‘m not jumping right in to volume 2, but I do hope to finish the whole thing by the end of 2026. Pic is the map on the endpapers of my edition.

And the relevance to our current situation keeps coming. Sigh.

I have a hard time taking these names seriously. 😀

Gibbon‘s prejudices are always on display, and sometimes humorous. 🍺

My November list for #readyourkobo is heavily weighted towards my current Dickens. 😀 @CBee

My November #bookspin contains two of my current (but LARGE) reads, but also some I‘m hoping to get to soon. @TheAromaofBooks

Let‘s hope it‘s not irrevocable. And this was written in 1776. Do we never learn?

I always thought of this as something I “should” read, but didn‘t look forward to it (so it languished on my shelves for decades) but he‘s actually amusing. Just barely into Chapter 2 and I‘ve read at least four quotes out to my ever-suffering husband.

I kept to a chapter a day until last weekend and then I just had to finish it. But if I‘m counting correctly we should be finishing about now. I fell in love with Tom Pinch and his sister, and laughed with Mark, and despised Pecksniff. The ending was satisfying, except for poor Tom. Be sure to read the end note Dickens insisted be included in every edition - knowing how much of his $ was made in the US made me 🙄 #whatthedickens

“In these times of ours, though concerning the exact year there is no need to be precise, a boat of dirty and disreputable appearance, with two figures in it, floated on the Thames, between Southwark bridge which is of iron, and London Bridge which is of stone, as an autumn evening was closing in.”#firstlineFridays @ShyBookOwl

Here‘s my Dickens shelf. L to R: Little Dorrit, Barnaby Rudge, Hard Times, Dombey & Son, Bleak House, Pickwick Papers, David Copperfield, Oliver Twist, Great Expectations, and A Tale of two Cities. My Martin Chuzzlewitt doesn‘t match either of these sets, and his Christmas books are on another shelf. Plus I have most of his novels on my Kobo. But I love these old boxed editions. @Texreader #whatthedickens

Not my normal genre, so maybe I‘m not the best judge, but this fell flat to me. Too many obvious red herrings, too much repetition, and the characters development didn‘t feel organic. 🤷🏻‍♀️

The premise drew me in and made me want to read this, but in the end I was disappointed. The villains were cardboard cut-outs, and the deception (and its uncovering) too easy to be believable. It could have explored the tension between the husband and his best friend, tasked with watching out for the pregnant wife and then resented for getting to experience what the MC missed by being in Korea. Instead it focused on how evil his parents were.👇🏻

Exactly the book I needed right now. Light enough not to require “work”; interesting female characters with problems that were not solved by meeting the right man; and a pace that felt like the speed of a narrow boat on a summer canal. I loved the exploration of female friendship and the open-ended conclusions about their paths forward.

This light novel is perfect for my post-meniscus surgery distraction. (Don‘t be alarmed by all the drugs on display - so far Tylenol and Ibuprofen are sufficient.) We discovered narrow boat vlogs a few years ago and it‘s fun to be able to picture the boat & the locks as I read.

I needed something fluffy right now, and this is fitting the bill.

I found this, while full of information, to be dated both in ways of identifying other cultures and in cooking methods. It‘s from 1962 and boiling for hours is his preferred cooking method! I‘m glad I read it, but I think I need photographs and maybe a mentor before I get into foraging. #bookspin @TheAromaofBooks

I lived out west for 22 years and never heard about the 1910 fires. But I watched year after year as Yellowstone evolved after the fires of 1988. Egan brings it to life along with its heroic and cowardly moments. The subtitle is a bit misleading as it is Gifford Pinchot more than Teddy who is the policy focus. But the real interest for me lay not in the DC politics, but in the efforts of underfunded unappreciated forest rangers.

My roommate freshman year played this all year. All.the.time. It‘s been 45 years, so maybe I‘m ready to hear it again. 😀 @kspenmoll @AnnCecilie