The sign made me do it!

We got a new Barnes & Noble where there used to be a Forever 21! They didn‘t have what I was looking for but I still managed to bring 2 books home (The pretty sprayed edges were calling my name!).
Our new school librarian told me she almost loved the A Court of Thorns and Roses series more than Harry Potter so I finally caved and got a copy (Night Court Edition 😍🖤).

I read this with @BarkingMadRead and the #losersclub last month.
I would classify this as a thriller but I feel it was a stronger overarching political commentary on gun laws and possibly eminent domain. In the early 1970s Bert and his wife lose their house to fair market value and a highway.
Read if you like a slow descent into madness & bad choices.
⚠️🚧⚠️🚧

🤡 Taken with the newest addition to my King collection - It duck from Five Below!

📚 I finished 13 books between the last day of school and the last day of the library summer reading game.
I read:
🏠 Roadwork
🐩 Travels with Charley
⏰ Recursion
👠 tagged
🚚 Full Throttle
🐢 The Beach House
👰🏻 Four Aunties & a Wedding
📝 The Friend
🍎 North Woods
📕 The Invisible Hour
Not pictured:
🧜🏻‍♀️ The Sea of Lost Girls by Carol Goodman
🍏 Because I Had a Teacher by Kobi Yamada
🔮 Labyrinth: Coronation Vol. 1 by Simon Spurier

#summer

Finally got my August TBR picture ready!

Currently reading
👨🏻‍🚒 The Fireman at home
(Instagram group read for August and September)
🦖 The Last Days of the Dinosaurs by Riley Black in my purse
(for the #naturalitsy group)

Up next
🗣️ Language City by Ross Perlin for my book club

🌵 Taken with our Prickly Pear

#tbr #AugustTBR

Here‘s another page from my #WeekInTheLife project. I documented my plane read and adult beverage which mean I‘m officially on vacation. 😊
(Photos from June) I used stamps, stickers, and the cell phone is punched out of a catalogue.

Thanks again @Catsandbooks !

#ShowAndTellTuesday #LitsyCrafters

Last Saturday we watched Happy Gilmore 2 and loved it! There were so many good cameos including this one with The Shining. 😆

I had a great reading month - I got a BINGO in Book Soin Bingo, read 2 books with my sister, and read 3 books for buddy reads!

#bookly #booklyapp

BINGO!
I got my
#BookSpin The Book of Magic by Alice Hoffman
#DoubleSpin The Friend by Sigrid Nunez
AND
#BookSpinBingo this month!
I finished my last book at 11pm last night! 😅

🙌 Thank you for the challenge @TheAromaofBooks !

I read this for my book club and we met today to discuss. I wasn‘t a fan of this one but someone else liked it. To me it felt very literary and disjointed. I was hoping for more dog and less focus on writing.
😔 After I finished reading it I spied a copy in this “Sad Girl Summer” display at Bookman‘s Phoenix. I see others that, to me, tackled sadness better: Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, The Bell Jar, and A Walk to Remember.
🐕‍🦺🐕‍🦺

This is another bookish page from my #WeekInTheLife project. I used my #booklyapp to summarize my reading week for my scrapbook. I got the Litsy sticker from the LibraryThing store. I also used stamps and label stickers.

#ShowandTellTuesday #LitsyCrafters

Thank you @Catsandbooks !

It‘s good to have you and #LitsyCrafters back @Catsandbooks !

This is a page from my #WeekInTheLife project. I read in my car on my lunch break. 📚🤓🚙 Made with stamps and stickers. I cut out my donut photograph.

#ShowandTellTuesday

After struggling to read my book club book (6 days to read 212 pages), I flew through the first half of The Invisible Hour today (139 pages in less than 4 hours)!

🐕 Nova helped!

#DogsOfLitsy

I took a box of books to trade in at Bookman‘s: Mesa.
They took 10 of my books and I took 1 of theirs (with time to admire their Jaws display in between).

🚤🦈🏊🏼‍♀️🦈💙🦈📘

Jaws (the movie) turned 50 this year!

We had some time to kill in Atlanta, Georgia last month so we went to the Margaret Mitchell Museum.
I loved reading this book on our honeymoon 26 years ago, but there are problematic parts. I was worried the museum would whitewash information about her or the story, but they really took her to task & talk about how her book (and the movie) contributed to upholding racist stereotypes of Black people. We are asked now to enjoy the story as FICTION.

“…but it was women who dealt in magic who were best known for donning red shoes, and the idea of a scarlet woman who did as she pleased made wearing red shoes an act of defiance; they might just take the wearer places she would not otherwise go.”
p. 80

I was inspired by my book to wear my red shoes to the dentist yesterday. 😅❤️👠

Here‘s my #BookSpinBingo card for July!
I‘m currently reading my #bookspin book, The Book of Magic by Alice Hoffman, and I‘m loving it.

Thanks for hosting @TheAromaofBooks !

The Book of Magic is my #BookSpin this month.
The Friend is my #DoubleSpin and my book club‘s next pick!

I hope you got some good ones too @TheAromaofBooks !

Here‘s my #BookSpinBingo card for June.
I got the #bookspin book read at least!
And I had fun!

Thanks again @TheAromaofBooks !

Here‘s my #BookSpinBingo stack for July!
It‘s a lot like my June stack because I only read 3, but I also swapped a couple out to help with my local independent bookstore‘s summer bingo.

See any you liked?

Thanks for hosting #bookspin @TheAromaofBooks !

*Edited because I forgot to put Roadwork in the stack!

It‘s always a good reading month when I get to read on the beach!
I read my #bookspin book but didn‘t get a bingo. Hopefully in July I‘ll finish more books.

#bookly #booklyapp

This is a travelogue with commentary about America in the 1960s and a poodle sidekick. I sensed the goal was to find something profound through the people met and adventures had on the way, but I think his search was unsuccessful. It was still an interesting trip with some glimpses of what he was looking for. And the dog doesn‘t die at the end so I‘m just thankful Steinbeck didn‘t wreck me with another one of his stories.
🐩🐩🐩🐩

This science fiction story takes place in the United States and Nigeria.
4/10 countries for #ReadTheWorld2025

Thank you @GatheringBooks !

#Nigeria

I haven‘t been keeping up with sharing my progress on #ReadTheWorld2025 !
This nonfiction book takes place in and around the Cambridgeshire Fens in England.
3/10 countries

Thank you @GatheringBooks !

#England

Here‘s my haul from my trip to Bookish - 1 new copy of Fledgling and 1 used copy of Jackal. And I love their Bookish owl logo so I had to get some stickers too!
🦉📚

Taken on top of my souvenir pile from Orange Beach to Atlanta. I mostly get stickers and post cards because I like to scrapbook. ✂️

I read this last month and forgot to post my review. I came across it at the library and thought a graphic novel telling Jareth‘s origin story would be fun. There are 2 more parts and I hope the library has them too!
🔮🔮🔮🔮

🏠 I love how Mary Alice Monroe weaves a friendly let‘s-take-care-of-our-environment message into her stories. This one has a great parallel between loggerhead sea turtles and mother/daughter relationships. And there‘s a beach house! With a dose of girl power and a pinch of romance the story felt well-rounded. I think I‘ll be continuing the series!
🐢🐢🐢🐢

🌴 Taken at our beach house rental in Floribama

We had some time to kill in Atlanta, Georgia so why not book shopping?
Bookish was close and independent. This little store has a lot packed in, and made good use of all the space. I found 2 books and a bunch of stickers to come home with me.
“Lesbian-owned. Woman-led.”
❤️🧡💛💙💜

Currently reading The Beach House in Orange Beach, Alabama. My husband and I are renting a beach house here with my family from Kansas. Today while I was reading by the beach my niece brought me a pina colada so, yes, it was a good day! 🏖️📖🍹💙

Here‘s my #BookSpinBingo card for June!
My #Bookspin book Is Travels with Charley and
my #doublespin book is The Cliffs by J. Courtney Sullivan.
I made my board by stamping on a printed Bingo card, and writing with Zebra Clickart markers.
Thank you @TheAromaofBooks !

📚 I read 2 new favorite books this month, Death of the Author and North Woods.

🔮 Labyrinth: Coronation is the first library book I‘ve read in awhile!

🍏 Because I Had a Teacher was a gift from a special student.

📚 Good reading month!

#bookly #bokklyapp

Summer break means time for #BookSpinBingo for me! Thank you for keeping it going @TheAromaofBooks !

This is basically my summer stack -
books for challenges, group reads, books my sister wants to read with me, or series to continue.

Isn‘t it funny though - I grabbed 20 books, sorted them by color into 2 stacks, and they‘re the same size?! Sorcery!

#summertbr #tbr #naturalitsy

I loved reading a story where the main character is the house! This was my first book by Daniel Mason and it won‘t be my last. North Woods will be on my favorites list for the year.
Read if you like nature, stories spanning time, various pov, or themes about humanity.
🍏🪓🍏🪓🍏

Thank you for leading the #NaturaLitsy buddy reads @AllDebooks !

On Monday I finished The Sea of Lost Girls. I love her mysteries! This one was not my favorite of hers but it was still a good escape. I did not connect with the main character who repeatedly frustrated me. I didn‘t figure out who dunnit though so that was fun!
❤️❤️❤️

#jumpstartsummer @TheSpineView

I am loving North Woods so much! Bombadil can‘t wait to see how it ends.

#dogsoflitsy

Thank you @TheSpineView for hosting #JumpStartSummer! I made my goal which was to finish The Sea of Lost Girls! I also started North Woods which I am LOVING!

#bookly #booklyapp

📚I made a stack of books that my sister and I are going to try to read together this year.
🐕 Bombadil helped.

🧙🏻The Book of Magic (anyone know if I need to read Magic Lessons first?)
✨ Where the Forest Meets the Stars
🤠 Outlawed
❤️ The Invisible Hour
👻 The Cliffs

#dogsoflitsy #reesesbookclub

This cover is hidden under the dust jacket for Death of the Author. The main character, Zelu, writes a wildly popular sci fi book called Rusted Robots, and we get to read some of it in Death of the Author. It was so good. I would read the entire novel.
🤖 Taken with some of my Star Wars robots that matched the robots in the story 🦿

I‘m joining #JumpStartSummer with @TheSpineView !

My goal is to finish The Sea of Lost Girls. I started with 146/291 pages to go and read 31 pages today.

If I finish in enough time I‘m going to read North Woods by Daniel Mason next.

I finished this book at 1:30 am for my book club Saturday! Death of the Author will be on my favorites list for the story and the story-within-a-story both evolving their plots with complex characters sublimely. I loved the robots & the representation of a disabled main character, Zelu, who is much more than her disability.
Zelu loves her mom‘s Nigerian cooking so we went to a Nigerian restaurant for some joloff rice & puff puff! Yum!
🤖🦿🤖🦿🤖

I will need the power of the force to finish all these books this month!

🧙🏻 Son of a Witch - villain pov for a fairytale challenge on IG
🧜🏻‍♀️ Sea of Lost Girls - #keywordreadingchallenge on IG
🤖 Death of the Author- book club
🏚️ North Woods - with #naturalitsy and @AllDebooks !

🌵 Taken with our backyard prickly pear today

I finished up some books I‘ve been reading for awhile, and had fun with 2 buddy reads. Good going, April.

#bookly #booklyapp

I finished today, only 1 month behind the #NaturaLitsy crew!
I loved all the cool factoids about insects, and I might even be ready to eat one. It‘s a great reminder that when we destroy our environment we destroy systems that support us all.
🐝🦋🪲🐞

🐌 Picture taken earlier this month on a hike. This viewing spot even had a built-in bookshelf, and I just so happened to have a book with me. 😅

💎 I finished Strange Weather today and thoroughly enjoyed all 4 novellas. It was really hard to put down because the stories were stressfully compelling. “Loaded,” the second story, hit me with the realization that Mr. Hill isn‘t here to play. He has something to say about society and it‘s time to wake up.
🌧️🌧️🌧️🌧️🌧️

🌼 Taken at the Desert Botanical Garden earlier this month

My Independent Bookstore Day haul from yesterday!
I went for Death of the Author for my book club, but had to also pick up A Psalm for the Wild-Built from the banned books pop-up.
📚 What did you get?

Happy Poetry Month!

Today I finished this book of poems which I‘ve been reading a bit at a time for 7 months.
Some of them I loved. Some I didn‘t connect with.
It is clear, however, she was our Poet Laureate for a reason! She can use words to paint a picture of what‘s happening in the heart.

🐎🐎🐎

🌵 Taken today at Saguaro National Park

💦 We “checked out” some seeds from the seed library at our public library for the first time!
We got the zinnia seeds and desert wildflowers. Next step is to plant them! 🌱

“You left your typewriter at my apartment
Straight from the tortured poets department.”
- Taylor Swift

Happy National Poetry Month!
My library had a cute display!
Hoping to finish She Had Some Horses by Joy Harjo this month.
Are you currently reading poetry?

📚 We went to the library today to celebrate National Library Week. We checked out books, seeds, and cds, and I also got Deacon King Kong by James McBride for a $1 donation!
📚 Did you celebrate, and how?

#nationallibraryweek

I already have a lot of stuff in my planner for April so I think reading time might be the a little more scarce than usual, but I like making a dream stack anyway.

🪲 Extraordinary Insects and The Land of Little Rain - for #naturalitsy buddy reads
⛰️ When I Sing, Mountains Dance - for the #keywordreadingchallenge
❄️ Strange Weather - for an Instagram buddy read
🍎 Winter - for #serieslove2025

I started this last year with the #naturalitsy group, but decided to go rogue and read it out of order to coincide with the months in my life.
This is a beautiful book - the photography and sketches appeal to my nature-loving self. The writing I didn‘t enjoy quite as much. I applaud the author for sharing her mental health struggles and her attempt to best them with an appreciation of nature, but I was hoping for more focus on nature.
🌼🐝🐦‍⬛