I listened to this as an audiobook and it was a pretty heavy topic for that format. It‘s also very long, because it covers a lot! I didn‘t know anything about this uprising before reading. Thompson covers what led to the uprising, the violent retaking of the prison, the legal cases that followed, and the coverup of what really happened. I read this because it was on The Stacks podcast and it was my #doublespin for November #BookspinBingo

This isn‘t the greatest novel but it kept me turning the pages, which is really all I ask of a thriller. Like Girl on the Train, this one has unreliable narrators (basically EVERYONE is unreliable and most are also suspicious). There‘s a thing with a dog and a tragedy related to a child, so this is pretty dark.

While this graphic nonfiction work was written prior to the pandemic, it feels especially relevant now. In it, she covers the issue of loneliness in American society, including how loneliness, “rugged individualism,” and being alone is represented and experienced in U.S. culture. There‘s a fascinating section on research into attachment and love. She also includes her own efforts at connection. It‘s a pretty deep work to be this concise.

This was our #SheSaid book for November. It‘s written in a dry, academic style and is a little rambling, but I learned about so many women in history who weren‘t familiar to me, and learned more about more well-known figures like Sojourner Truth & Rosa Parks. One of my favorite parts focused on three women who were present when LBJ signed the Civil Rights Act. They were to the side of Martin Luther King, Jr., and the other more prominent men.

This was the November pick for my book club at work. I am really enjoying graphic memoirs/nonfiction, and this one was a combination of both. It is about Hall‘s academic work and research as she struggles to find information in historic documents about enslaved women involved in revolts. The panel in the photo captures her frustration and the challenge she faced since these women were mostly ignored in these records.

One of my favorites of the year! Clint Smith is a poet, and you can see that in his writing in this book, in which he visits historic sites, including a plantation, a notorious prison, and a confederate cemetery, to see how the story of slavery is told. Very well done, with a mix of his own experience with the public history of these sites. Five stars #NonfictionNovember

This memoir as my introduction to Joy Harjo, the first Native American poet laureate. I really enjoyed how she wove poetry into this story of her early life. She has a second memoir that I‘m definitely reading. #nonfictionnovember

A kissing bug sounds like something that would be cute, but is in fact a bug that can cause serious illness. This book covers the author‘s aunt‘s illness from this bug and the research (and lack of understanding) of this bug. She weaves her personal story with the science. It‘s really good! #NonfictionNovember

Catching up my November reviews! I enjoyed this thriller even though I‘m not sure how I feel about its resolution. I have read a couple others by Lisa Jewell and they‘re entertaining. I listened to the audiobook, narrated by Joanne Froggatt (Anna on Downton Abbey). She is a great narrator — especially with dialogue— and she elevated the story.

Saving our #SheSaid schedule so I can remember where I‘m supposed to stop! I‘ve had this one on my TBR forever.

My #BookSpinBingo card — close but no Bingo this time, but I read a lot of good books. Some library due dates meant I couldn‘t get to the last one I needed to finish a row.

13 books finished
5 mysteries/thrillers
8 nonfiction (2 graphic memoirs)
2.5 audiobooks (I read and listened to parts of How the Word is Passed)

I still need to do reviews of all these. I was too busy reading!

After realizing the book I just finished would work for my last square, I‘ve finished my #Nonfiction2021 bingo card! Thanks to @Riveted_Reader_Melissa for hosting this challenge every year. It really pushed me to read a wide range of nonfiction, which is becoming one of my top genres. I‘m starting to think of books for next year‘s prompts.

I had a great #NonfictionNovember with eight books finished, and I‘m in the midst of a reread of The Warmth of Other Suns with a #BuddyRead here on Litsy. I need to do reviews of all of these but they were all worth reading. The tagged book is one of my top books of 2021.

Wake and Seek You are graphic memoirs/nonfiction and I‘m really beginning to enjoy nonfiction in that format.

My December #BookSpin list! I‘m giving myself the chance with 18-20 to mood read a few from my bookshelf now that the end of the year is here.

#Two4Tuesday

1. Just hoping for some focused reading time to catch up on all the books I‘ve been juggling.
2. Sweet potato casserole

Happy Thanksgiving to all who celebrate!

@TheSpineView

I‘m excited to start reading from the #NewYearWhoDis list from my match @Cinfhen (though I‘m not in a hurry for January bc I need my holiday break!). The ones on the top are my priority, especially the first two bc I own them already. The rest on the collage I‘ll read once they are available at my library, and I‘m sure I‘ll read others from this list in 2022.

I‘ve read Z already and liked it a lot. Thanks for this match @monalyisha

I was drawn to this cover and started without reading the description or even the subtitle, so I didn‘t know what it was about. It follows Suleika through her cancer diagnosis and treatment and then her road trip after. She‘s a good writer who has a compelling story that she tell in an honest way. Its interesting without trying to be inspirational. I hope she writes more.

#ThoughtfulThursday

1. I have enjoyed some mysteries with unreliable narrators but I think it has to be done well.
2. Bookmarks and totes
3. I like a lot of mystery series. The tagged is one I‘ve been enjoying lately.

Thanks for the tag @Eggs

1. My cats “sharing” a winter blanket. The cat who is just barely on it usually wins these battles so I‘m glad the other cat got a turn for once.
2. It wasn‘t last week but I finally got my first haircut since the pandemic started. Long over due!
3. Getting my booster shot.

#WonderousWednesday @Eggs

#Two4Tuesday

1. Yes! I finished the PopSugar Challenge and met my Goodreads goal. I have three more prompts to finish my bingo card for #Nonfiction2021.

2. I want to read my buddy read and book club books for this month and December. I also want to read Miss Moriarty I Presume by Sherry Thomas. It‘s the newest Lady Sherlock book.

@TheSpineView

1. I‘m in the middle of several books but I started the tagged one yesterday and can‘t put it down.
2. This is silly, but today a friend send me a TikTok of someone putting a tiara on their cat and the cat‘s face made me LOL. It looked like, of course, I am a queen.
3. My biggest pet peeve is when a book says something like “she let out a breath she didn‘t know she was holding” or “someone was screaming, turns out it was me.”

#ThankfulThursday

I love participating in #NewYearWhoDis every year. It‘s fun to pick books for my “best of” list and then read from my match‘s list. It‘s also not a swap, so it doesn‘t cost money (unless you buy a book for yourself).

Thanks @monalyisha for organizing this every year.

I forgot to do my #Two4Tuesday yesterday! So here‘s a Two 4 Wednesday

1. I need to go to the tagged shop, here in my home state. I haven‘t made it there in person yet despite visiting Asheville a few times.

2. I do not, and sometimes a suddenly draw a blank! Luckily I can open my Litsy TBR and that helps..

@TheSpineView

This is a favorite cozy mystery series. Lana Lee is a great main character, and the author makes the most the setting, an Asian shopping center in Cleveland. Her descriptions make me want to visit those shops, even though the center has had more than its share of murders! I‘m glad I still have a few left to finish before I‘m caught up to the series.

First of all, yes this book is too long. But after I got over that I did enjoy it. I was uncertain about how it would be resolved, which kept me turning the pages. It probably also helped that I like tennis so those details were good to me. The resolution of the mystery required some suspension of disbelief but I did like how she tied it all together and the ending was satisfyingly creepy.

This is such a fun series. Veronica and her grumpy companion Stoker are a very will they or won‘t they couple up to this point. The mystery in this one wasn‘t as interesting to me, or maybe I just missed some of it as I was listening, but by the end I was excited to see what happens in the next book. Luckily it was on the shelf at my library when I picked up other holds! I‘m hoping to make time for it this weekend.

#WonderousWednesday

1. The Ramona books! I loved them, and they were still good when I read them as an adult.
2. Cold rainy days when I have an excuse to just stay in and read without guilt, but really I read in all weather.
3. That I got to see the Atlanta Braves win the World Series! They were my daddy‘s team and I grew up watching them with him. He passed away when I was in college, and watching the series brought back good memories.

#Two4Tuesday

1. Fun
2. Miss Moriarty, I Presume. It‘s the next book in the Lady Sherlock mystery series. I finally caught up on this series and I‘ve been anxious for the new one!

@TheSpineView

My #BookSpinBingo card for October. A great month for reading — 13 books read, I got one bingo, and for once, I read my #bookspin and my #doublespin. Ready to get started on November! Thanks to @TheAromaofBooks for hosting this fun game.

My last read of October, which I finished late last night. I love Wiley Cash and this one didn‘t disappoint. I especially appreciate all the details of its setting in Oak Island, North Carolina, a place I know well. The ending really got to me. No spoilers, but I saw where it was going in the final chapter and I think my heart rate went up.

I don‘t know why I love Sally Rooney but I do. Somehow she makes me care about her (often pretentious and always angsty) characters and their problems. It took getting through a couple of the email chapters to get into this one, but then I really liked that device. I liked digging through Alice and Eileen‘s thoughts on the Bronze Age and recycling to pull out threads on what was happening in the storyline.

I liked this because I like Duran Duran but something about how it was written made it a little flat. I‘m just slightly younger than the original Duran Duran teenage fan base so some of this, especially the very early years, was new to me. I prefer John Taylor‘s autobiography to this one, but it was still fun to read, and then to go back and listen to the songs along the way.

This was my #BookSpin #DoubleSpin for October

Here‘s my #BookSpin list for November. Some holdovers from October, library books that came in, plus some extra nonfiction for #NonfictionNovember

Though I had read Kindred, this was my first time reading Parable of the Sower. It is disconcerting to read a dystopian novel that is is set in our (now very near) future, and it isn‘t far from a believable possibility. Butler was very prescient in talking about what extreme environmental issues could lead to. The main character, Lauren, is a compelling character. The religious elements were less interesting to me, but they did make a good frame.

I appreciated Mikki Kendall‘s book of essays about how mainstream (white) feminism has not served all women. I especially liked how she argued that feminist issues must go beyond reproductive rights, career issues, and work/life balance.

This was my #BookSpinBingo for October and our #SheSaid selection for the month. @TheAromaofBooks

This was a great change of pace that was not as heavy as Whitehead‘s last two books. I absolutely loved The Nickel Boys but it was a hard read. In this one, the Harlem setting comes alive, and the main character, Carney, is so great. It‘s been described as a heist novel, which I think oversells the action. Carney sells furniture when not involved with less legal activity, and he mentions the furniture everywhere, which is fun once you notice it.

This was perfect for the Halloween season. It is a mystery as well as a ghost story. I thought the setting was used really well, and I liked how she built up the characters in both timelines. I listened to the audiobook and some of it was legitimately scary to me. I‘m probably never going to go to the ice/vending area of a motel alone without worrying about some ghosts.

I‘ve read some of the Lucy Stone mysteries before but I haven‘t read much of the series. I picked this one up at the library because the cover looked so cute. It was just ok (btw, there are no corgis in this book!). I didn‘t think the setting was used to its potential. It was a quick read though.

#OutstandingOctober readathon book two for me

#Two4Tuesday
1. Witches. I don‘t really like wizard books.
2. I went through an Anne Rice phase years ago and remember liking her Mayfair Witches. I remember no details though! I want to read The Witches (nonfiction) by Stacey Schiff.

I finished this yesterday for #OutstandingOctober readathon. It‘s a great thriller that‘s really well paced with good twists. A couple of them I saw coming but others completely surprised me. I have not read Falling, but I‘m anxious to compare them soon. I‘m glad I read this when I have no flights planned!

I‘m making a last minute decision to join the #OutstandingOctober readathon tomorrow. It‘s been so busy lately I‘ve missed participating!

Here are my goals:
* Read one book start to finish this weekend and another next weekend
* Catch up buddy read and book club reading
* Finish two other books (in addition to the weekend reads)

@Andrew65

Almost last minute catching up on this first week‘s section for the #OtherSuns buddy read. This is a reread for me but it‘s been so long since I read it that the stories seem new.

I love watching Vera and Shetland, the TV series based on on Ann Cleeves‘ other books, so I was excited to get to start a new detective series from her. This second book is just as good as the first. I love the setting in Devon, the main character, his husband, and his unusual upbringing. I think these elements are going to make for a great series so I‘m looking forward to the next one. And this is also being made into a TV show for ITV/BritBox!

I love when a book gives me a glimpse into another type of life. This is one workday in the life of an oncology nurse. You meet the patients she‘s got that day and get a brief look into a nurse‘s hard work. She never gets to eat!

I listened to the audiobook which is in the Audible Plus library. It counts for the nurses/doctor prompt on #Nonfiction2021

I‘m still enjoying this cozy mystery series. The TV talent show made a great setting!

I can‘t wait to see the movie adaptation of this book. It‘s short, but a lot happens including an ending that‘s left up to the reader‘s interpretation.

I really enjoy Catherine Steadman‘s thrillers. They‘re easy reads, and good on audio. It‘s especially fun bc she‘s an actress who reads them herself. I think this one was the most fun yet, even though I wanted to shake the main character several times! I‘d be a terrible character in a thriller because I would have left the missing person‘s stuff with someone else at the first opportunity.

Catching up my September reviews! I wasn‘t into this book at first because I don‘t really like fictionalized oral history but I ended up really enjoying it. I think this was better than Daisy Jones & the Six, which it is of course compared to, because the story was deeper. I want to know who inspired these characters. I wish Opal were real.

I‘m so glad I read this book slowly as a buddy read so I could take it in. I can imagine going back to it and reading parts again, almost like an encyclopedia. Because I know there is more I can learn on subsequent readings. It‘s so interesting to see the people and parts of history that were chosen to represent each timeframe. So much of what this book covers echoes in issues the US is still struggling with today. #400Souls

My first completed book of October isn‘t even on my #BookSpin list. (Yay for free spaces). I read this series out of order which made me know more about the storyline about why Cormac doesn‘t fit in with his new police colleagues than I should have if I‘d read this first book first. I did still like the main mystery, and agree that this is a good series for people who enjoy Tana French. The audiobook narrator is great.