Thanks to Tor Audio and Libro.fm for the ALC of this book.

This book has the makings of a great story: a complicated protagonist, action, adventure, a historical setting. But, I cannot get into it. The protagonist is too complicated. The action is flat. The adventure is forced. The historical setting is blah. It reminds me of the Barker and Llewelyn books, but without the heart. #bookspinbingo

My exposure to helping people is relatively small and very much on a person to person scale. I‘ve never considered all the politicking that needs to be done on a person to large group scale. This is absolutely fascinating and equally heartrending. (Kitten investigation for cute tax)

NOLA book haul! Crescent City Books was one of my favorite stops of my trip. It‘s not a large spot, but so cool!

I‘ve been putting this aside until I really needed it and lo and behold: the time has come! This is a lovely and relaxing book. Some stuff happens, but not a lot and that‘s quite alright. #bookspinbingo

You‘ve maybe heard the hype about this book, how it‘s quiet and cozy. The hype is accurate! I‘m on my way home and logistics always freak me out. Legends and Lattes is so chill and so calming!

I love D20, so I wanted to read the source material for Starstruck Odyssey. Friends, I just can‘t get into it. It‘s very 80‘s and 90‘s comics and that‘s not my jam. I‘ve tried twice. I couldn‘t force myself even on a plane. #noteverybookusforeverybody #dnf #bookspinbingo

“Ladies‘ stockings and exotic bean water. Gods help us.” The best line so far!

Thanks to Bloomsbury Publishing and Libro.fm for the ALC!This was a beautiful, if sad, story of two women separated by centuries but whose lives were incredibly similar. The women were both so autistically coded that it was painful at times. This didn‘t detract from the narrative, but I had to put the book down occasionally. This was also the story of a peat bog. I felt like I could almost smell it at times throughout the story. #bookspinbingo

Thank you to the Tantor Media and Libro.fm for the ALC of this book!

Strata combines the deep past of the earth, human history of the places the author travels to, the lives of the people she meets, and just a bit of the author‘s own life. Instead of being one person‘s struggle, we see how the past is understood through the present and how the present can be understood through the past. #bookspinbingo

There was a bunny on the porch last night! Also, it‘s apparently going to snow every day this winter.

I have a large to do list before my vacation but I‘m learning about Snowball Earth and starting a new project. I‘m sure it‘ll be fine. Probably.

Month 2 of #bookspinbingo calling me out! Thanks @TheAromaofBooks for creating this challenge!

I got a double bingo on my first #bookspinbingo ! Woo! Gamifying really helped this month. #bookspin #doublespin

I have forced myself into shoveling after our first snow of the season. And now is the time for my mantra, “ we don‘t have hurricanes. We don‘t have alligators. The mosquitoes go back to hell where they belong.”

This sounds like a fun premise but I just can‘t get into it. Mr. Collins is immediately introduced, Lizzie is trying to be a barrister, Charlotte is a secretary. Meh. #bookspinbingo

Thanks to the publisher and Libro.fm for an ALC of this title!This was a charming look into cartography and had an interesting voice. Mostly that really helped as you felt you were discovering along with the author, but occasionally, it defied my suspension of disbelief. There is of course, Nazis and the patriarchy buried not far down. It felt like the author was a little surprised to find them. You won‘t be. #bookspinbingo

This was mostly exposition, but once it got going it was okay. The two main characters of the series, Diana and Matthew, are some of the least interesting. I don‘t care about their love story as that was handled in the first three books. I want to hear about the other folks; except for the kids. They are creepy. #bookspinbingo

Happy Thanksgiving fellow Americans and happy Thursday everyone else! Audio was definitely the way to get me into The Black Bird Oracle. I haven‘t argued with the characters quite so much. Ysabeau has arrived in the story as well, which always improves things. (Gwen the Goblin pictured here)

I have discovered that I cannot read this… blessed… book with my eyes. Maybe I can listen to it without wanting to throw it across the room. Fingers crossed. Side note: there is immediate Felicity Merriman slander. Bah.

Ooooooof. I‘ve been chipping at this extremely small book for the majority of the year. I‘d read a section, get depressed, put it aside, pick it up two months later. It‘s very powerful. It‘s very important. #bookspinbingo

“… dealing with the present is a huge problem.” Now this is referring to the loss of map libraries in Britain, but it can also forcefully describe, well, everything. Sigh.

Thanks to the publisher and Libro.fm for the ALC of this book! There is so much to love about this: BIPOC characters, realness of characters, the dreamy quality to the first chunk of book- I was really into it. However, I am VERY susceptible to second hand embarrassment and fear. I‘ve read the myths. I know what happens. I‘m sick to my stomach for Medusa and I can‘t go on with this right now. This is a me problem and not an I, Medusa problem.

This was such a rich and fun book. What a fascinating and important life Mr. Cooper has led. I think he‘s done just about everything and has punctuated those moments with birdsong.

I recommend listening to the audiobook. It is read by the author and uses examples of the bird calls provided by the Cornell Laboratory. #bookspinbingo #doublespin

I have this audiobook as an ALC from Libro.fm and the publisher. I‘ve been itching to read it for months now. I straight up don‘t know if I‘m going to finish it. It‘s a coming of age story. When I say that the second hand fear and embarrassment for the protagonist is strong, friends it‘s powerful. I‘m practically crawling out of my skin. I‘m taking a break from this.

Thanks to the publisher and Libro.fm for an ALC!

I really like the format of this book. It‘s a short, intense, meditation on modern womanhood and the pandemic through the lens of cat ownership(pro). It‘s sweet and heartfelt, close and curious, lovely and melancholy. #bookspinbingo (Pictured Wednesday All-Kitty)

Only my coworkers came to my program tonight but we had fun and ate so much leftover Halloween candy. I‘m going to start Better Living Through Birding to prepare for more programming! #doublespin #bookspinbingo

Thanks to the publisher and Libro.fm for an ALC of this book. This was an entertaining and educational adventure. The author really worked hard to bring an enormous amount of history into every single entry! Did you know, for instance, that LSD came from a dude making an artificial chemical from ergot? Or that the Victorians made jewelry out of castor beans that took out children who sucked on it? You‘ll learn about it in this book! #bookspinbingo

I think I may have narrowed down why I‘ve felt a little overwhelmed. All this clutter is from programs that have just passed or are coming up.

All of the other librarians have read this, loved this, and strongly nudged me to read it. I really thought that it was going to pull a Frederik Bachman and make me ugly cry. I was wrong! It was just sweet! Hooray for not sobbing over this very sweet story. #doublespin #bookspinbingo

I‘m trying to get out of my horrific reading slump with #bookspin and #BookspinBingo. Looks like I‘m starting with Remarkably Bright Creatures. Thanks @TheAromaofBooks !

I‘ve been in the slumpiest of reading slumps so the fluff and I are listening to this.

This was so cute! Funny@and self deprecating with a tiny dash of danger and a fun mystery.

I‘m rereading the Tommy and Tuppence books, and I don‘t think Christie liked Tuppence very much. The other characters are rude to her. She constantly gets bashed about the head. Everyone refers to her as elderly (she‘s mid fifties max). Bah. At least this was funnier than I remember.

I love Vera so much! She‘s cranky and cantankerous and absolutely hilarious. The only caution I would advise would be not to read this when hungry; the items Vera cooks sound amazing.

I love Poirot. I loved the mystery. I loathed all the other characters. Wednesday, my reading buddy, pictured, enjoyed Sunday reading cuddles.

Listen, I‘ve been looking for something that doesn‘t make me want to scream or cry for what feels like months. I‘m an hour in and this is my favorite book I‘ve read in ages.

Jennifer Chiaverini is coming to our library next month! I‘m so excited! However… I haven‘t read any of her books. I started this on my way to spinning this morning and hoo boy! I forgot what an ass Lord Byron was. I do not know how far I‘m going to get with this. It‘s not my genre. At all. Even a little bit. (Tiniest taco truck driver pictured)

This was a gentle quiet read. I would put it in a collection with Soil by Camille Dungy, Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer, and Lab Girl by Hope Jahren: stories of women reflecting their lives and histories in the natural world. But more than that, the natural world is more important than the author at times. Not feel good books, but closer to calls to action than memoirs.

“We are storytelling animals, and for us that indeterminate space is uncomfortable.”
I finished the wee fox and now am on to plans for Citizen Science Month.

I‘m home sick today but twitchy. This is a thoughtful, gentle rumination while I needle felt a prize for a friend.

I tried listening to this on audiobook, but it was too intense, so I‘m trying it another way. Am I a wimp or is it too close to the current political climate? Why not both!

Cute, funny, and diverse novella, and much better than the last novella of the series. TW: to homophobia and police brutality.

This is fun save the bits of period language. Pictured is my fuzzy reading buddy.

Oooof fam, this was bleak. I‘m not saying I didn‘t like it, but I am saying that the author and his family had ROUGH lives. There were so many similarities between my life and his: we grew up in the same area of WI, we both experienced poverty, hell, our mothers died in the same nursing home, just two years apart. But wow the generational trauma really does fuck a person up.

It is February, so it must mean that I‘m frantically trying to finish our Community Read that I have to talk about early next week in my own blessed program. Expect more updates throughout the weekend!

I expected a fun and interesting jaunt into forensic artistry, I got that, but also a scathing review on the dude bro culture of the FBI. This was fascinating and infuriating. (Weeding time pictured!)

TW sexual violence I really enjoyed most of this book but the sexual violence in the middle was both not needed nor handled properly.

Welp fam, this is gonna be a long haul (not the book; it‘s almost a pamphlet.) What do you do when you‘re scared? Read a book. Drink your water. Get some sleep.

It‘s stupid cold. I‘ve made myself finish off a cowl and I‘ll start something else. The Witchstone is fun though. Kinda jaunty with the air of a heist yet to happen.

I can‘t doom scroll anymore, so I‘m finally letting myself read this. So far, Diana‘s daughter is creepy and I can‘t believe that Ysabeau de Clermont would allow her granddaughter to call her “Grammer Ysabeau”. Like, nice try, but no.