Thanks to everyone who sent me well wishes on the Winter Camp thread! I think @barbarabb @squirrelbrain and @hooked_on_books will do a great job, and I plan to follow along. I'll be back as a counselor this summer!

2025 has been a bit of a shit year for me. Dad had the massive stroke in January and is permanently in a care facility now. Fortunately, it is close and nice. I posted here that I had surgery back in September (con't)

Made this yesterday before the draw!! Going to look now and update after. #bookspin

I‘ve had a huge #bookhaul recently! Many library holds as well as the middle ones I picked up at a deep discount.

The only one I‘ve finished is the King (tagged). I desperately wanted to LOVE it, but the last section‘s emotional manipulation felt fake to me, which was disappointing after such a strong start. I‘m still in a rough recovery so YMMV. Still worth reading though! (It was 4⭐️ instead of 5⭐️.) Personal update ⬇️

Rainy day outside, but both book club boxes were delivered today!

Super excited for the @AardvarkBookClub exclusive anthology One Bad Night! #aardvark

I‘m also really looking forward to The Book of Guilt and trying #botm‘s Volume 0!

Stocking up for November and December when I can‘t go anywhere because of poinsettias!

I have a soft spot for MG graphic novels, and I really enjoyed this one available on hoopla.

10 yo Maggie loves animals and has been promised a puppy for her birthday, but at the shelter she has an allergic reaction and finds out she can‘t have anything with fur or feathers!! She learns to live with this while adjusting to a new sibling and a new school. Great coming of age for the kids!

Gilbert is one of those memoirists that I want to roll my eyes at half the time but the other half I want to hug her for getting at such universal truths about human nature. I did enjoy this look at the death of her long-time friend turned partner Reyya Elias and the insight it gave her into her own problems with sex and love addiction. It‘s a #borrownotbuy for me.

Mary continues to be the most delightful pop sci author I‘ve read! In this one, she takes a look at the people and technology around replacement or adapted body parts. She talks to experts in hair transplants and how they might provide a window in to developing other autologous organs. She looks at the challenges of 3D printing tissues. And hangs out with ostomy patients and folks with prostheses to learn more about how those affect their lives.

So I went with an all-horror box this time from @AardvarkBookClub ! If you had told me I‘d be reading 2-3 horror books every month 5 or 6 years ago, I wouldn‘t have believed you! 😂

Still having trouble recovering from my spay. There were issues that happened in pre-op and with anesthesia that went awry that I tried to prevent and correct, and it‘s just incredibly frustrating. I did see my dad for the first time in over 2 weeks yesterday, ⬇️

First! Thank you to everyone who checked in and wished me well post surgery!! Healing has been slower than I hoped - possibly due to my MCAS and some anesthesia issues.

I‘m hoping Ten Year Affair gives Sliding Doors! Flat Earth is a risk based on reviews I‘ve read, but why not? Has anyone tried the Volume 0? I liked the authors in this one, so I thought I‘d give it a shot. 🤷🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️

I‘m 8 days post (human) spay, and I‘m doing pretty well! I‘m still not quite well enough to drive, but I‘m off pain meds and taking it easy.

I treated myself to 3 books - the BN exclusive of We Love You Bunny, which I just started, plus a signed Lockwood and the new Kim Hooper.

I‘m just now able to concentrate well on reading. I‘ve reread a couple of favorites on audio, but started my first new listen with Mary Roach‘s latest! ⬇️

Squee!!! Yay!!! New mid-month #botm add-on from the author of Pet!!! Definitely in my box next month 😁💜👍🎉

Perhaps without the hype I would‘ve enjoyed this one more. Lots of anachronisms, which drives me bananas. I liked the start with the parents, but when it got to their kids‘ lives it devolved into trite, well trod boomer lit fic. The narrator was great, which was good because it was almost 16 hours!!

Another of my #botm picks this month. Totally fun and quick for over 400 pages. Loved these boarding school kids inspired by Elin‘s daughter‘s years there. The adults were kind of a mess, too, which made it fun. And it looks like there will be another installment. Count me in!!

Halle Butler but make it Spanish (Catalonian?) in Madrid. Lots of millennial workplace ennui. Slow in the beginning but sticks the landing big time!

I like that #botm is experimenting with translated lit.

Took a break because my relationship ended and then I have surgery next week (of course). 🤦🏻‍♀️ I‘ll be in and out, but hopefully more in this fall!

Hoping for a winner with this book over the holiday weekend. 🤞🏻 Guard dog on overdrive, too, so I know I‘ll be safe!

Another book that really underwhelmed me. I swear I still read books I like!! This is written in a similar vein as Jenny Offill or Rachel Cusk. The narrator explores the one-two punch of the end of her marriage and a breast cancer diagnosis. In a book where the MC experiences such terrible things, I would expect to feel sympathy, but she reads so detached from her own feelings and situation, I felt nothing. That was disappointing.

I am a fan of essay collections that are part memoir and part cultural criticism, and this is a v good one.

Yu is a former pin up model and early MySpace influencer, and she discusses that in relation to various Asian stereotypes like the (fake) “geisha”, dragon lady, submissive virgin, etc. She brings in books, TV, and movies as well as other Asian feminists‘ thoughts. She also discusses the effect of objectification by older white men. TW ⬇️

For me, this super buzzy (award nominations, President Obama‘s summer reading list) nonfiction was fine. The narration was fine. The story was fine. I just wasn‘t wowed by it nor was it bad. You would think a story of a couple caught at sea would be more exciting, but I found it blah. The sections on the rest of their lives were dull. Idk. I don‘t get the hype. 🤷🏻‍♀️

This didn‘t work for me like at all… I am not one to try to figure out twists but hers are so obvious, it‘s not fun from that perspective. Plus, purposeful cruelty is the worst trait a person can have for me, and there was over 50 pages of outright cruelty and emotional manipulation that made it a very difficult and unsatisfying read for me. Some books just don‘t work for some readers. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Okay y‘all, hear me out - at nearly 18 hours this audiobook is an investment, but for me, it paid dividends. Anderson weaves together the story of the fall of the Shaw, the obliviousness the American government, and the rise of Khomeini. Like I can‘t believe the Americans did not translate a single one of Khomeini‘s sermons. Almost no one in the *embassy* spoke Farsi or talked to any everyday people. I mean ffs y‘all!!

I chose to go on a date with the guy I‘m building a relationship with rather than see Kathy at Parnassus, and I don‘t regret the decision, but this book was fantastic!! The characters are exquisitely drawn. They felt incredibly lifelike. I would‘ve liked to ask Wang about creating them. Fell just short of perfect. 4.75⭐️ Read it!!

This was a fantastic audiobook. Very well reported. Walter looks at the extremely profitable world of rehab in the US. She examines lax regulations across the country and how they lead to harm. She wrote about a doctor that was an early and prolific prescriber of the MAT (medication assisted treatment) tool Suboxone and the trouble BIPOC people have accessing resources compare to white people.

I had a really good time at the BN 50% off sale today!

BOTM was a bust for me, so I felt free to fill my #aardvark box! What did everyone else get?

What Hunger and Moderation were already on my radar, but The Hounding sounded really interesting, too!

FYI, if you missed it on Insta, looks like the new Chuck Tingle, Lucky Day, will be a pick for September! 🎉🎉🎉

This was the tightest vote in a while - certainly tighter than my month last year (James/All Fours 😂) - but Woodworking won 25-18. In the end, I'm really pleased we had a month with great discussions about two books a lot of us enjoyed! Thank you all so much for participating and making this a fun month to lead! #CampLitsy25 @barbarabb @squirrelbrain

It is that time of the month! #CampLitsy25 readers please vote for your favorite book from July! It seems like many of us liked both books, so I'm curious to see which will come out on top. 🤔 Vote simply by putting the name of the book in your comment.

I hope all of you will be back for August! I think we may need to install AC first, though! (The corn sweat is killing us around here.)

@barbarabb @squirrelbrain

****THIS DISCUSSION WILL CONTAIN MAJOR SPOILERS**** Please be mindful of this if you choose to read it.

Brooke was certainly one of the most surprising and confounding characters in this book! I'm dying to know what y'all think! #CampLitsy25

@barbarabb @squirrelbrain

Last week we talked about Abigail as Erica's “trans mom,“ which rightfully made a lot of readers uncomfortable with the teacher/student and adult/teen dynamics already present. Abigail is a kid, and she definitely needed a mom herself. Two women stepped up to fill that void in this book. What do you think of Jennifer and Brooke and mother-figure to Abigail? #CampLitsy25

@barbarabb @squirrelbrain

This book had such fantastic characters, and I'm glad so many of you enjoyed it, too! Tomorrow, I'll make the post to vote for your favorite book of July. I have truly enjoyed leading these discussions for the 4th year, and thanks to all of you who make #CampLitsy25 so wonderful and enlightening!

I'll pass the mic to @barbarabb for August, which starts with Tilt by Emma Pattee next weekend. Hope to see you there! @squirrelbrain

Welcome to our first discussion of Woodworking! Don't forget there are two additional questions.

Helen, Barbara, and I all have busy Saturday's, but we will do the best we can to be present for the discussion.

I'm truly happy this book has seen such as positive response, and I hope everyone enjoys today's questions! #CampLitsy25

Helen Swee's quixotic campaign is a big part of the first half and a catalyst for Megan and Abigail's friendship. What do you think of Helen's campaign? #CampLitsy25

In addition to wondering about their friendship and Abigail's role as Erica's trans mom, there is the teacher/student dynamic at play, too. I think there's also something to question whether the nature of their relationship as appropriate for a teacher and student.

That's all for this week. Hope to see you back next week when we'll talk about the whole book! #CampLitsy25

Thank you to everyone who joined us for the #CampLitsy25 discussions about Death of the Author. They were better than I'd even hoped they'd be!

Next we'll turn to Woodworking by Emily St. James. I loved this book, and I hope everyone else enjoys it, too. And even if you don't, please join in the discussion!

July 19 we'll discuss through page 175, and then the reading for July 26 will start with “Abigail October 22“ on page 176.

Welcome to the final week discussing Death of the Author! Please feel free to discuss these questions in light of the whole book. I have enjoyed leading the discussion on this book and hope you've found it as enlightening as I have! I will post the page breaks for our second July book, Woodworking by Emily St. James, later this weekend.

Everyone will only be tagged in this post, but there are two additional questions. #CampLitsy25

We got into discussions about identity last week, and I hope you will all enjoy going deeper into Zelu's character and how Okorafor tackled identity in the book. #CampLitsy25

IMPORTANT NOTE - This discussion contains **MAJOR SPOILERS** so please be warned if you choose to read it before finishing the book.

Thank you all for joining us and continuing to make this experience fun! Next week we will start discussing the first half of Woodworking by Emily St. James. I will post page breaks later this weekend. Can't wait to see you back at camp next Saturday! Bring a fan because it‘s hot! #CampLitsy25