I ordered this book and now I have it in my possession. So...I guess there aren‘t any more excuses. I just need to get on with it. Gosh, look at all of those pages! I‘m filled with apprehension and possibly dread! I‘m trying desperately to hold on to the encouragement given from you, my dearest Littens, but those words are fading fast in the presence of this phenomenal encounter.

#QuotsyOct19 - Curious: Curiosity - how we learn, how we discover, how we create...how we evolve! I believe that every reader has a curious nature. We want to know...the outcome of a story, a history, a tall tale, a detailed fiction, a truth...whatever it is, we are curious and we want to know!

#PoetryMatters - Minute: Eventually just about everything in life relates to poetic words written by T. S. Eliot.

Photo Credit: Extra Newsfeed

#PoetryMatters - Dark: I enjoy the photo challenges on Litsy, because they reacquaint me with some books/poems/authors that I haven‘t read in many years. The challenges necessitate a good look at your books owned or borrowed and other reading materials. I‘ve been spending time with poetry anthologies purchased years ago while I was in school and it‘s joyous to be amongst their pages again and to have validation of why I never got rid of them!😁

#QuotsyOct19 - Shiver: Shiver was my most deft performance on Guitar Hero so I always think of Coldplay when I see or hear this word, but in the month of October, Nirvana eclipses Coldplay because of the melancholy of this song.

I was reminded of this book today here on Litsy! Suddenly I remembered the pressing urgency I had to read it. I am saddened by how often I say, “ I always wanted to read that book. It‘s been a Want-To-Read book for a very long time. Maybe one day soon now. I‘m moving it up on my reading list!” What are we to do as readers with so much good literature to get to & the weight of not enough time in every day? Sometimes I hate to think about it.👇🏽

#Spooktober - Great Pumpkin: How does this happen? A pumpkin the same size as a Mini Cooper? Wasn‘t there a children‘s book where the family lived inside a hollowed pumpkin shell? The only question...okay, two questions that really need answering are, ‘Are these edible? and How many pumpkin pies could I make from a pumpkin like this?‘🎃🥧🧡 Hmmm...imagine the quantity of pumpkin seeds!😉
Photo Credit: The Internet

#FallIsBooked - Bonfire: I have fond memories of going to bonfire parties while in college. We had them in large clearings in backyard fields. I always thought it would be cool to be at one on a beach with the ocean right behind it.
Photo Credit: Getty Images / iStockPhoto
Poem Source: AllPoetry.com (selected verse use in post)

#Spooktober - Breast Cancer Awareness Month: Like so many families, my family has a cancer story as of two years ago. I watched my sister-in-law “fight like a girl,” and it was one of the bravest and most courageous battles that I have ever seen. A survivor‘s story is always that as are many illness encounters even when the battle is lost. Here‘s to raising awareness, encouraging hope and always praying for a cure!💗

#ScreamathonPhotoChallenge - Ghost: Still waiting for its turn! I believe this is a ghost story or a haunting of some type. Several reviews state that Shirley Jackson is a master of horror and mystery writing and her stories and books involving supernatural events are widely-acclaimed. I‘ve read The Lottery by her...that‘s it so far!

#FallIsBooked - Orange Cover: I like the orange Penguin Classics...possibly called the Vintage Popular Orange Penguin Classics. I don‘t know what they are actually called. The one thing that I know is that I can‘t order them so when The Penguin Orange Collection came out I was overjoyed. The collection is small - twelve books. These are the titles that I have so far! I still yearn for the plain orange editions, but not at such high intensity!🙃

#QuotsyOct19 - Fog: I was hesitant to post this as these are supposedly the last words of one of my favorite poets, Emily Dickinson. I don‘t know if this statement is a simple observation of an occurrence of nature or something more profound. She was an inventive yet subtle poet. The challenge of her words to the intellect or sensitivity of the reader was often masked by things familiar and common thus we get her drift.👇🏽

#ScreamathonPhotoChallenge - Spooky TBR: This is as close as my book club is willing to get to a scary book - a mystery novel. So no horrors, no frightening circumstances, no eerie scenes, no terror-filled jitters, no deranged clowns, no feelings of dread or repulsion and definitely no elements of anything less than natural, unnatural or supernatural. This is the book selection for October, and strangely enough there has been some tense moments.

#QuotsyOct19 - Midnight: It is such a different experience to read this book after watching film adaptations none of which I have seen come anywhere close to the author‘s vision - the contemplation of creation, the relentless pursuit and use of knowledge for purposes both good and evil.
Photo Credit: art.com

I had a lot of fun with #SelfImprovementSept (Today - Mindfulness and Self-Reflection). Thank you both, @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks and @OriginalCyn620 , for a very thoughtful photo challenge. It was definitely a feel-good month with that much self-reflection, self-affirmation, self-love and mindfulness.😉 I‘m floating high from this long look in the mirror and saturation of self-awareness, the world around me and my footprint 👣 in it!💕

#SelfImprovementSept - Journal: I don‘t know why it started or really when it started. At one time it was #2 pencils and notebook paper stapled together...then it was still #2 pencils, but a more sophisticated composition notebook...now I like gel pens and actual journals that I argue with myself are worth their high price. I like the intimacy of sharing my quiet thoughts with myself and thinking that someone might read them one day...MAYBE!

#SelfImprovementSept - Self-Help Book: We we‘re sitting around the dinner table and the conversation turned to “who is amongst the boisterous extroverted representatives of our family and friends?” Why are eyes gazing in my direction? You cannot imagine the shock and the dismay when I realized that my own family and close friends do not get me. I am purely 💯 an introvert on all levels.👇🏽

I picked it up. I put it back. I picked it up. I put it back. I picked it up again. I know that you, my dear fellow Litten, think that I purchased it, but alas, I put it back AGAIN! Woe is me! I‘ve been thinking about it obsessively ever since. So...tomorrow I‘m going straight to the bookstore after work. I‘ll offer my apologies and then bring my Precious home where she belongs!

#SelfImprovementSept - Friends: This is a favorite book from my childhood. Rosa Guy was a favorite author because she put stories in front of me that had a sense of familiarity. She wrote about African-American children in African-American neighborhoods and communities. She filled them with Afrocentric culture. Most importantly and significant she put beautiful brown-skinned faces in all their lovely hues on the front cover!👇🏽

#SelfImprovementSept - Gratitude: Motherhood has taught me the true definition of gratitude. For him I exist in a constant state of appreciation and I am filled with an endless desire to return kindness, consideration and thoughtfulness. He has humbled me. He has grown me. He has taught me. He has strengthened me. He has given a child‘s pure and innocent love to me. Gratitude emanates from every part of me because of him!

Saturday afternoon. Last minute stop by B&N. I had planned to purchase The Water Dancer, but I guess that was the plan for many folks because the display was empty. That was my cue to leave, but these sparkling blue books caught my attention. Alice Hoffman- always a contender. Aaron Burr had a secret wife? Ok! But the book that guaranteed that money would be spent is the memoir of Chanel Miller - the courage it must have taken to tell this story!

#SelfImprovementSept - Music: This is my iPod. A materialistic thing that I cherish, because it connects me to a primal love - music. Music - something so fundamentally intrinsic to my well-being that I never go anywhere without it! This iPod still travels well! 🎶

#SelfImprovementSept - Inspiration: Truth! I obviously need to hang out MORE with Neil Gaiman.
Enough said!

Image Credit: The Internet

#SelfImprovementSept - Favorite Reading Spot: I like to read in bed, but now I read here a lot at least on the weekends. This is my Dad‘s chair. He doesn‘t get to sit here that often due to some recent health challenges. It‘s peculiar to see this chair empty so I sit here on Saturday or Sunday afternoons for my Dad to keep his chair company. There is a sliding glass patio door to the right so sunshine streams in all day long. My new favorite spot!

#BannedBooksWeek #BannedBooks - The Color Purple has been a frequently challenged curricular reading assignment in many high schools since 1984. Reasons: rough language, sexual explicitness, troubling ideas about race relations, rape, incest, violence, homosexuality, man‘s relationship to God, descriptions of drug abuse, inappropriate conduct and the book‘s negative image of black men. It has offended and outraged many thinking minds.👇🏽

#SelfImprovementSept - Letters/Epistolary Novel: The Color Purple - This story works as an epistolary novel because it is important to stay in Celie‘s head - to hear this story from her perspective only - to keep the narrative young and with a child‘s wonder, innocence and incomprehension of disturbing and harrowing circumstances.👇🏽

#SelfImprovementSept - Book That Is Out of Your Comfort Zone: I suppose there is a book out there somewhere that fits this prompt, but we have not been introduced at this time. So I chose a TYPE of book that I have yet to read, Graphic Novels. They are well-loved here on Litsy, and I feel that I am missing out on a special kind of reading experience. That needs to be corrected!

#SelfImprovementSept - Positivity: The practice of being positive or optimistic in attitude - a difficult task at times, but I think that focusing on positive thoughts and use of positive words can help to reshape everything, rewire thought patterns, redirect actions, rechannel energy and uplift feelings...an employable skill to work on daily.☀️

Photo Credit: The Internet

#SelfImprovementSept - What Makes You Smile: This might be a starry-eyed, dreamy and syrupy admission, but this truly makes me smile: I love to see people holding hands as they stroll along....especially elderly couples. Old people, old hands...looking like they‘re holding on for dear life...presenting the reminder of affection and constant reassurance of support...cementing a lifetime of love that will never falter. A simple lovely thing!

#SelfImprovementSept - Laugh: I laugh easy & hard because I love laughter. Maybe it doesn‘t take much for me to consider something humorous, BUT Kevin Hart doesn‘t even have to open his mouth to make me laugh. His facial expressions & mannerisms are funny on their own...then the words that escape between his lips...OMG! I‘m rollin‘ on the floor!😂🤣
I hope that we all get to experience laughter every day. It really is it‘s own kind of medicine!

#SelfImprovementSept - What You Love: I love Her! She exists in my world because of Him, but you would never know that. Yeah, we got Her because of Him. He said “Let‘s get a dog.” I said, “Okay.” He claims the joy of Her everyday, BUT simple truth: She‘s mine! He loves Her, but I love Her MORE!💯
...oh, just encase you‘re wondering, I love Him, too!

#SelfImprovementSept - Good Habit: Water is my favorite beverage, but I don‘t drink nearly enough. So I put a Water Reminder App on my phone. Every hour I watch the little body figure fill up with water after I record how much I have drank.💧COOL💧
Drinking more water is a habit now...a good habit!

Photo Credit: EyeEm Background Pictures

#SelfImprovementSept - Favorite Food: Sushi. It‘s a new discovery for me. I cannot believe that I had been missing out on such a delicious food taste that is so popular, and it was my son who ‘clued‘ me in. He went out to eat with one of his friend‘s family whom I guess has a Mom who is much more hipper than me. I lost all kinds of cool points for not being in-the-know about sushi & swanky places called Sushi Bars. I know all the right spots now!

#CoverCrush #7Covers7Days

One Week RECAP!
I enjoyed that the post required no explanation...just a photo of whatever it is that you like - what appeals to you for book jacket art. I liked seeing all of your posts far more than posting myself. There were so many amazing book covers. Who knew that there were so many various ones for the exact same book!

Thank you @Leftcoastzen for the invite to play. I had so much fun with this challenge.💕

#SelfImprovementSept - Flowers: Backyard along the fence line. Most years I am surprised if I get to enjoy blooming flowers in late summer, because of the many crazy hailstorms that we have throughout the season. Usually there is extensive damage in the wake of these storms. This year was a good year. The lower right photo is from my sister-in-law‘s garden. She is an amazing flower-whisperer. My success is totally luck-based!😳

#CoverCrush #7Covers7Days

Would you like to show us some of your favorite book covers @MrT ? No explanation needed. Post a photo of that moving cover art and tag one Litten each day for the week. Can‘t wait to see what you got! Have fun!!💕

Day Seven:
The Infinite Blacktop by Sara Gran
Cover Design by Alex Merto

#SelfImprovementSept - Hobby: At one time in my life, before laundry piles became mountains peaks to scale and the kitchen became its own definition of a 24-hour diner with a personal live-in cook, I spent every Saturday morning driving around in my Dad‘s beat up Subaru with music blasting and my trusty Canon camera in the passenger seat. I never left home without that camera, a 70-200mm zoom lens and film. Gosh, I miss those days!📷🎞❤️

#CoverCrush #7Covers7Days

Would you like to show us some of your favorite book covers @bookladyreads ? No explanation needed. Post a photo of that moving cover art and tag one Litten each day for the week. Can‘t wait to see what you got! Have fun!!💕

Day Six:
The Care and Feeding of Ravenously Hungry Girls by Anissa Gray
Cover Art by Alice Lindstrom
Cover Design by Emily Osborne

#CoverCrush #7Covers7Days

Would you like to show us some of your favorite book covers @mandi1082 ? No explanation needed. Post a photo of that moving cover art and tag one Litten each day for the week. Can‘t wait to see what you got! Have fun!!💕

Day Five:
Snow White by The Brothers Grimm
Cover Art Design and Illustrations by Camille Rose Garcia

#SelfImprovementSept - Reading Goals: I believe that I set some some reading goals at the beginning of the year as a part of my New Year‘s Resolutions, but I forgot all of them.🤷🏽‍♀️ So now what? Well, I recently came across a Buddy Reading Challenge on Booktube for The Count of Monte Cristo and I signed up. Yay! Me! I know that I have a goal floating out in the stratosphere somewhere to Read More BIG Books so there we have it...

How did I miss this September Photo Challenge? The photo and the the prompts are calling to me. I know that it is the middle of the month, but is it too late to participate?🥺I sooo want to respond to all of these self-improvement nudges/goals/sweet treats of life!

Repost of #SelfImprovementSept sponsored by @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks and @OriginalCyn620

#CoverCrush #7Covers7Days

Would you like to show us some of your favorite book covers @pariisannja ? No explanation needed. Post a photo of that moving cover art and tag one Litten each day for the week. Can‘t wait to see what you got! Have fun!!💕

Day Four:
The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro
Cover and Book Design by Peter Mendelsund

#CoverCrush #7Covers7Days

Would you like to show us some of your favorite book covers @MoniqueReads305 ? No explanation needed. Post a photo of that moving cover art and tag one Litten each day for the week. Can‘t wait to see what you got! Have fun!!💕

Day Three:
An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon
Cover Design by TG Design

#CoverCrush #7Covers7Days

Would you like to show us some of your favorite book covers @MsLeah8417 ? No explanation needed. Post a photo of that moving cover art and tag one Litten each day for the week. Can‘t wait to see what you got! Have fun!!💕

Day Two:
Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi
Cover Design by Rich Deas

I enjoyed this book. The mystery was a lightweight, but the setting, the characters, the humor and the nuggets of wisdom from Inspector Gamache and Myrna made up for that in every way. I‘ll revisit Three Pines!

#CoverCrush #7Covers7Days
Thanks @Leftcoastzen for the tag. I always want to play!😊

Would you like to show us some of your favorite book covers @Jnnlb ? No explanation needed. Post a photo of that moving cover art and tag one Litten each day for the week. Can‘t wait to see what you got! Have fun!!💕

Day One:
The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo
Cover Design by Erin Fitzsimmon

I was sitting in traffic at a stoplight on my way home. There was a huge billboard sign at the intersection...the kind with changing advertisements. I had never noticed until today that positive statements flash briefly between the ads. These are the three sentences that presented before the light turned to green and I had to move along. As I was driving I thought ‘Wow, that reads like Spine Poetry‘ so I‘m sharing with my fellow Littens!💕WORDS💕

It was discovered on some little obscure table in the back corner of the bookstore, but I think that I need to treat it like a found lost treasure.
This is what I shall read next!

It was discovered on some little obscure table in the back corner of the bookstore, but I think that I need to treat it like a found lost treasure.
This is what I shall read next!

#SummersEndReadathon - EndGame: I didn‘t accomplish any additional reading after last Sunday. I was still sick, but I returned to work on Monday and battled it out for the week. Unfortunately, in the evening after work all I was able to do was chase after sleep. I enjoyed spending time with these 3 books: Agatha Christie never disappoints. Chief Inspector Armand Gamache - what took me so long to make your acquaintance? A Passion for Books - Yes!