✅ Mid-December check in: 475 points

🐉 Go #HolidayBookDragons!

🎉 Hooray #WinterGames2024 and @LiseWorks !

🌵 Photo taken xmas shopping at Changing Hands today. It was so busy, I don‘t know how I got this picture without someone in it!

📕 I was sick yesterday so I‘m getting a late start, but you can now count me in for the #MidDecemberReadathon for #WinterGames24!

🤖 My goal is to finish Take Us to Your Chief. I‘m currently on page 9/153.

🎄Thank you for the push to read in this busy season @LiseWorks and @StayCurious !

📕 My #Jolabokaflod package got mailed today and my receipt says it will be there on Monday.

🍫 Thank you for hosting us @MaleficentBookDragon !

❄️❄️❄️

#JolabokaflodSwap2024

This is my 3rd by TJR and, wow, I love her writing! Very creative, and very exciting stories! I didn‘t think a parallel universe romance could be so rich and complex. I loved the friendship, multiple timelines, and the dog.
Read if you like Dark Matter by Blake Crouch, TJR, quantum mechanics science fiction, or found family.
🐶🐶🐶🐶🐶

🐈 Picture taken Friday while waiting for takeout

My sister and I are buddy reading this book and she‘s a faster reader than me. She texted me a few days ago and said Let me know when you get to p. 200! and yesterday while in line at the post office I did. I think I guffawed. I know I choked back laughter and had tears streaming down my face! I had to get a picture to let her know I got there in the most inconvenient place! (It‘s R-rated!) 😆

The joys of a good buddy read!

💙ing the book btw.

I‘ve been meaning to post this since my trip last month…

📗 Old Venus (signed) from George R. R. Martin‘s bookstore, Beastly Books

📕 The Painter, set in Santa Fe, found used in op.cit. books

Even though there are only 2 books, they‘re hardcover and they would only fit in my carry-on so I still feel this fits the definition of “haul.” 😅

I keep forgetting to share my November reading wrap up! I haven‘t read 4 books in one month in awhile so yay! But I hope I can top that this month.

#bookly #booklyapp

My 3 favorites from this list:
🎄 Home Alone (and Home Alone 2 - not on the list)
🧝 Elf
💩 Christmas Vacation

3 favorites that didn‘t make the list:
🎅🏼 Fred Claus
🦸🏻 Jingle All the Way
🧤 Serendipity

🎄 Thanks for asking @dabbe !
#threelistthursday #tlt

My #NaturaLitsyWinterCardSwap cards for American Littens were mailed today!

❄️💌📬🐌

Yay! I met my #20in4 goal to finish When Two Feathers Fell from the Sky!
It was a slow start for me but picked up as it went along.
🦬🦬🦬🦬

Thank you @Andrew65 for the Readathon Relaunch!

#bookly #booklyapp

🤩 I rearranged and dusted one of my bedroom bookshelves on Friday. That felt good, and ooh, I think I see a few open spaces on there now!
🔝 This is just the top. There are 4 more shelves on the bottom.

#shelfie #shelfiesunday

My #TBR to get #winterGames2024 #EarlyBirdPoints for Team #HolidayBookDragons !

I need to read 14 more books to reach my goal of 48.

In progress:
Atlas of the Heart
How to Keep a Sketchbook Journal
When 2 Feathers Fell from the Sky
Island Wisdom
She Had Some Horses

Challenges:
Crave
Take Us to Your Chief
The Wizard of Sun City
Meet Me Under the Mistletoe
Maybe in Another Life

+
While We Were Dating
The Boy, the Mole, the Fox & the Horse
Tagged

It‘s nice to have you back again @Andrew65 ! Keeping in tradition I‘m late to sign up for the #20in4 Readathon Relaunch Event. But I‘m here!

My goal is to read 243 pages and finish the tagged book. So far today I read 7!

#Two4Tuesday

1. Wow, you really had to come at us like that @TheSpineView ! 😅 If I have to pick just one, Nature Boy performed by Nat King Cole. “The greatest thing you‘ll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return.”

2. I‘m only 50 pages into the tagged book, so for now I would say Adventure of a Lifetime by Coldplay.

👉 Tag, you‘re it.

📘 Last week I read #invisible by the late #PaulAuster . I like this book. It‘s told in first, second, and third person, and there are 3 narrators. The style is very creative and purposeful.
📘 Read if you like college age coming-of-age, stories set in the 1960s, or stories about families coping with tragedy.
🗡️🗡️🗡️🗡️
🌙 This is my second by #Auster - I loved Moon Palace too.
📸 Photo taken 2 Sundays ago at White Sands National Park

I‘m ready to start #wintergames2024 by scoring some #earlybirdpoints for Team #HolidayBookDragons!

☕️ Hot Chocolate
🎁 Open 1 Xmas Eve, the rest on Xmas
🌟 Star (we have a Chihuahua with a star)
🥡 Turkey, but Chinese food is a close 2nd
🎄 Stay at home with the dogs…elves

🐕🐕 Nova Candy and Bombadil last Christmas - they keep saying they know Santa. ??

#dogsoflitsy

"For the sad fact remains: there is far more poetry in the world than justice.”

? Taken at sunset in White Sands National Park last Saturday night.

If you haven‘t signed up yet, this swap closes this afternoon.

https://forms.gle/sVGxyNA5aQzFfdZA7

#JolabokaflodSwap
@MaleficentBookDragon

Part art book/part memoir, this beautiful little book shows us Santa Fe as it was 100 years ago, and laments how it‘s changed in the following 60 years. A lovely little time machine.
🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️

📸 Taken in the lobby of the Best Western Plus Inn of Santa Fe on Friday

While in Santa Fe, New Mexico yesterday my husband & I discovered George R. R. Martin owns a bookstore there, Beastly Books. We had to stop by! Too bad he wasn‘t there, but he had been in recently and signed a bunch of books. So I was going to be good, but I had to have a signed copy of Old Venus, right?!
Cute little store decorated with Game of Thrones fan art, movie/show props, friendly staff, & lots of banned book support.
🐉🐉🐉🐉🐉

Today I got to visit op. cit. books for the 2nd time. This is the bookstore for people who love the thrill of the hunt & don‘t mind doing some digging. Some of it is organized, but a lot of it is a giant book stack maze. If there‘s something you‘re looking for & you‘re in a hurry, the owner has a keen memory for where things are.
Today I took my husband for the first time & he said This is what our house would look like without me. 😂
📚📚📚📚

I finished my book on a plane ride to New Mexico last night. I thought this was the last book in the series so I was bummed by the ending, but then I read online that there‘s another one coming out in 2025 (Strange Maven)!
I love this series - very feminist, very light romance, amateur sleuthing, and progressively more supernatural as the series continues.
👻👻👻👻

#serieslove2024

Finally got around to my November dream stack - again I have a week off and somehow believe I‘ll be able to accomplish 2 months worth of reading in that time. 😅
🌙 Currently reading Strange Tricks
🐴 When Two Feathers Fell from the Sky - book club
📚 Invisible and Maybe in Another Life for the #keywordreadingchallenge
🌧️ The Wizard of Sun City for #wian2024
🌶️ Remembering Santa Fe - going to New Mexico next weekend for my nephew‘s wedding!

My first check in total for #hauntedshelf was 718.
In the second half of the month I got 1,266 points.

My final total for Team #Flerken is 1,984.

Thank you @PuddleJumper for hosting, helping, and cheering us on!

🌙 Weekend plans: books, bed, and Bombadil!

#DogsOfLitsy
#weekendreads

Feliz Dia de los Muertos to those celebrating! This was taken at the Scottsdale Public Library a few weeks ago - a beautiful shrine to authors and illustrators.
It took me 3 photos to get the entire offrenda, just to give you an idea of the size! 🕯️💀🧂🚰

Thank you @PuddleJumper , Team #Flerken, #HauntedShelf, #Spookoween, and @TheSpineView for encouraging more reading in a busy month!
I didn‘t reach my lofty goal of 6 books, but I got 1 book read that‘s been on my shelf for awhile, 1 book read for book club, & took a big bite out of Harry Potter & the Order of the Phoenix. I read enough of an ARC to write a review, & enjoyed an essay related to an art exhibit seen this month. +2 new authors to 🧡!

Turns out having 4 days of stomach flu is good for 1 thing: finally finishing some books for Team #Flerken!
I started this earlier in the month when I got my book tattoo. It was so good 4 hours of needles on my skin went fast. I ironically had to put it aside to read a book for book club. Maybe fortunately bc it is also a nice distraction for stomach flu. This book had me flipping pages fast and shouting No! F*c&! And Aah!
📕🧛🏻‍♂️📕🧛🏻‍♂️📕

1. I teach first grade so yes! I‘m thinking of going as a bat like Stellaluna.

2. Currently reading The Southern Book Club‘s Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix and it‘s pretty darn good so far!

Thanks for asking @TheSpineView !
#Two4Tuesday

Hey Team #Flerken, I finally finished a book this month!
This was my first by Ann Patchett and I‘ll definitely be reading more by her. This was an excellent story of grief, hope, resilience, love, and MAGIC. The characters seem so real to me. I even feel like I‘ve held the rabbit.
Read if you like unconventional relationships, found family, the American dream, and women uplifting women.
🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇

#HauntedShelf

🎩 I started this yesterday for my book club on Saturday. That‘s the 5th book I‘ve read part of this month, and I have finished 0 for various reasons.
🪚 Sorry team #Flerken! If there were points for starting a book, reading part of a book, dnfing a book…I would be killing it! 😅
🐇 Enjoying this one so far anyway!
🪄 Taken today in line at a new-to-me vegan bakery that was very cute but medium yum.
#hauntedshelf #alwaysbringabook

📚This week I‘ve been trying to finish up the first quarter of the book for a book chat with friends on Sunday. Some of the stories are like wow, women. 💪🏼(P.S. This book is 812 pages so my arms are going to look like 💪🏼 when I‘m done.)
📕 This is not my copy of the book or my bookshelf! I first learned of Phyllis Rose when we rented her house last summer. Without realizing it was hers or who she was we got her house with her amazing library!

🐴 hay ride
🎃 carve pumpkins
🍁 nature walk
👻 haunted house
📖 curl up with a book
🍏 caramel apple
🫘 chili & cornbread
🎃 pumpkin spice

Thanks for asking @Eggs ! #wondrouswednesday
👀 Read this book to my class today, team #Flerken!

Team #Flerken Point Check-In for #HauntedShelf!

I either have 328 or 518.
I read for 1 readathon #Spookoween, and it says 10 points per Readathon.
If that means I read for 1 readathon, 10 points, I have 328 total so far.
If that means for each hour read in a readathon, 20 x 10, I have 518.

Thank you @PuddleJumper !

Went to the Scottsdale Civic Center Library for the 1st time today. Loved this display for National Hispanic Heritage Month!

🏳️‍🌈 Happy National Coming Out Day!
Today I read an essay from this book to celebrate! I became aware of this artist when I went to see the Barbie exhibit at Phoenix Art Museum. Barbie was awesome, but Laura Aguilar is the one I‘ve thought of most since then.
📸 Arizona friends - I urge you to go see Nudes in Nature before November 17th when the exhibit ends. Chicana lesbian photography at its finest.

I watched playoff baseball and read Harry Potter like everyone else in America tonight. 🤩 Had some KC family at the game so I bet you know who I was rooting for! 💙

🔎 I found the word Veil on this page for the #HauntedShelf word search.

#flerken

Thank you @BookBoggart for getting me to 1,000 followers! Thank you to everyone who has been following along on my bookish journey!

Chipping away at this book, hoping I can review it in time.
Taken secretly by my dh today while waiting for the food to come.

I‘m trying, team #Flerken!

#HauntedShelf

Getting crazy on a Friday night with my reading buddy, Nova!
We found DARK and NIGHT on these pages, earning 30 points for team #Flerken !

#HauntedShelf #wordsearch #dogsoflitsy

1. Tagged! Last in a series I‘ve loved!

2. Our neighborhood has a Trick or Treat parade every year. We get up to 100 trick or treaters. We love decorating and handing out candy.

3. Pumpkin Candy Corn 🎃

4. Reading and #Flerken Fun!

#HauntedShelf

The Library Book really slowed down my reading speed last month! A lot of interesting information to take in.

#bookly #booklyapp

Here‘s my October TBR for #HauntedShelf and team #Flerken.

Read
🧙🏻 Strange Tricks
🐇 The Magician‘s Assistant for book club
🪰 Maeve Fly
🧛🏻 The Southern Book Club‘s Guide to Slaying Vampires
Finish
💔 Broke Heart Blues - ARC
⚡️ Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Wish me luck!
Do you want to be tagged in everything @PuddleJumper ?
Thank you for leading our team!

Happy Banned Books Week! I got to showcase my banned books shirt collection this week!

Thank you to my husband for being a good sport and taking my picture every day! 🤩

🎈 Here‘s 1 of my King shelves to celebrate!
📚 My favorites so far after 35 years reading him:

11/22/63
Billy Summers
Creepshow
The Dark Tower Series
Different Seasons
Doctor Sleep
Dolores Claiborne
Duma Key
The Eyes of the Dragon
Everything‘s Eventual
Fairy Tale
Full Dark, No Stars
The Green Mile
If It Bleeds
Insomnia
The Institute
Just After Sunset
Later
The Long Walk
Misery
The Outsider
Pet Sematary
Salem‘s Lot
The Shining
Skeleton Crew

🎃 #Spookoween Readathon?! Don‘t mind if I do!

👻 My goal is to read 6 books, and I tagged Strange Tricks because that‘s one I really want to read next month.
🦇 I need to read 19 more books to reach my end of year goal so hopefully this will help push me there!

👯‍♂️ Thanks for hosting @TheSpineView !

1️⃣ Pjs, work clothes, comfy clothes, pjs = 3, 4 if I walk the dogs
Weekends: ~4 depends if we leave the house

2️⃣ I think I‘ve got the right one in the series with the stylist character.
I‘ll tag another in case I‘m wrong.

Thanks for the tag @TheSpineView ! 🙌
#Two4Tuesday

🔥This week I‘m reading about the largest library fire in US history. I should say that‘s what it was about at first, but now it‘s evolved into the history of the Los Angeles public library system. I‘m about halfway through and I‘m still into it.
📚 Taken at Burton Barr Central Library today even though it‘s not a library book

If I‘m judging by August, September is almost over but here‘s my tbr for the month anyway:

📚 currently reading The Library Book with my sister #reesesbookclub
🔺Invisible for the #keywordreadingchallenge
💪🏼 The Norton Book of Women‘s Lives for a buddy read - first quarter done by next month
💔 Broke Heart Blues - #EarlyReviewer
🪄 Harry Potter & the Goblet of Fire Illustrated Edition for #bannedbooksweek

I need a time turner…

🥳

#bookly

#Two4Tuesday

1. I don‘t know if I can pick a favorite, but this year we had a blast at the museum in Gateway Arch National Park.
2. I love this series, and I wish The Essex Witch Museum was a real museum I could visit. I have 2 books left to finish the series, hopefully this year!

Thanks for asking @TheSpineView !