Cozy Sunday getting some work done. Corgi is supervising. Coffee needs a refill. Dreaming about what it would be like to work for the Library of Congress as all this tedium in metadata and subject analysis is proving to be quite enjoyable for me.

Went thrifting 🤍📚

Looking forward to this one #iykyk

My mood read rotation for the rest of the weekend 📚

Trying to find a space for relaxation in the midst of all the chaos I'm feeling. 🤍

Cozy bedtime reading 🥱 😴

This book was so cute. It was exactly what I needed for cozy, warm, fall vibes. 🤎

This is my first time reading Frankenstein and I am loving it. It's so well written and suspenseful that I've already read a third of it in one sitting. I plan to curl up and finish the rest before I do anything else today. 💚

We made it through the first quarter of the school year! Time to enjoy a long weekend filled with books. I'm finishing up the tagged book while Lucas enjoys Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree. 🤍📚

I didn't think this book would have me crying before I even got through the prologue. 🥲 Taylor has been such an important part of my life since I was 11 years old and heard Teardrops on My Guitar for the first time. This book captures what it's like to feel supported by music in a way that could only happen once in a lifetime.

This weekend's book haul 😍📚 Which one should I read first?

*read in Hermione Granger's voice*: "I checked this out for a big of light reading". ?
Let another semester of librarian school begin! After this semester, I'll have taken enough credits to officially gain certification as a school media specialist. ?? I can't believe it! The funny thing is, I'm not sure that I'll want to leave the classroom for a few more years, but it'll be there when I'm ready. ??

I wanted a little more from this one. It fell kind of flat for me.
I've come to a realization that, during the school year, I only have enough brain capacity to read young adult books. Not that they don't have literary merit, but they tend to be more fast-paced and hold my attention when I'm over-stimulated in every other sense. That said, I'm going to the library for a big YA haul tomorrow. What should I pick up?

I haven't been posting on here as much because it's taking me a LOT longer to finish each book now that I've gotten into Brandon Sanderson. So here is an interlude (iykyk) of my little reading buddies. Mars Bars has taken up a new habit of taking this donut bed with her everywhere, even on our couch.
Winston refuses to sit next to her when she acts like this, so he curls up in a ball right under my feet.🤍

I loved book 1 so much that I bought book 2 right away...and the rest of this series (including pre-ordering book 5), the rest of Mistborn, the short stories and novellas of the Cosmere, Elantris, Warbreaker, Yumi...I feel so behind in the fandom and I just want to marathon read alllll of it like yesterday. 📚

What books have changed your perspective on a genre? I've never been a big fantasy reader until my husband challenged me to read Brandon Sanderson. I'm over 500 pages into this tome, and I've already ordered book two. This is such a rich book with its descriptions of a made up religion, political framework, and some of the best characters I've ever read. And I've heard it doesn't even really pick up until page 700.

This book is pretty cute so far! It's predictable but maybe it'll surprise me. 🥰

Lucas & I always do one Christmas in July gift. This is what I got for him. 😍📚

I haven't seen my nieces in a while, so when we got together this week I said, "I know I always send you guys books as gifts. You'll have to let me know if you want something different."
They both shouted, "No! Keep sending books! We love your books." ??????

This book was CUTE! If you're a fan of "You've Got Mail", you'll love this one. There's not-so-friendly business competition, an online meet cute, and a community that rallies together in the face of hate crimes.

Side note: Does anyone else's Litsy app completely stop working a few times a day? I went into the app store to update it, but I can't find it anymore. No biggie, just wondering! ??

Next up: a rom-com about a radio host who is helping her family compete with the new halal restaurant in town. Enemies to lovers, dealing with racism, and a strong female lead...I have high hopes for this one! 🤍

Eh, the best part of this book was the cover. I thought it was about 100 pages too long and the author couldn't seem to figure out which storyline she wanted to focus on. I liked the characters well enough until I found out the scheme that they were up to near the end. Idk, I'm just surprised this book has a 100% rating on Litsy. Maybe I'm just in a bad mood or too picky. 😂

I have ONE bookshelf totally styled and set up! 🤣 Lucas and I have lived in our house for an entire year and it took until now to unpack all of the book boxes. My big motivator was that I have plumbers coming in next week and they have to demo the wall where the boxes were stacked. The rest of the shelves are double stacked and there's absolutely 0 organization to them. I'm looking forward to getting more shelves but until then, this is a win! 🥳

The pups shoved my book out of my hands and took up all of the real estate on my lap as soon as the first thunder crack shook our house. It seems we're in for it tonight...the power is flickering and my weather app is blowing up. #ThunderBuddies

Okay but how can you not love a book with an opening line like this:

"Most women did not begin their days by stabbing a man in the scrotum, but Georgia Brown was not most women." ??

I picked this one up solely for the ✨️vibes✨️

My little reading companion 🥺 I promptly reset her ear to factory settings

This was a cute, quick, & witty romcom about a romance screenwriter who uses her divorce as inspiration leading to her big break in Hollywood. There's even a meet cute with the leading actor, who was named sexiest man alive. 😏 It's great if you want something a little cheesy.

Lucas bet me I wouldn't read this whole book, so you know what that means...
I know that it's recommended to start with Mistborn, but I don't have it and my library has a waiting list on holds. I've literally never read an epic high fantasy (closest I've come is LotR), so this is an interesting challenge.
I've seen that I just need to trust the author that it will all come together because the start is purposely obtuse since I'm starting here.

This one was SO cute. It's a coming-of-age story told through the perspectives of people (and their kitchens) who are all connected in some way to the main character. It's a foodie dream and so so charming. 🤍

I am such a mood reader that I have to have 5 books ready for when I finish my current read (tagged book). If you couldn't tell, I am LOVING having a laid back summer vacation. It's the first one where I haven't had to move to a new apartment/house or teach summer school, and it's really making the insanity I deal with at school all year worth it.
So, I'm going to go enjoy my 2nd cold brew of the day on my porch and read my little heart out. 🤍📚

Well this one hooked me immediately 🤍🤍 Gonna make some coffee & stay up for a while!

Honestly, I was so back and forth on this book. The story had SO much potential. It was largely character-driven, but I've never hated a character more. I couldn't decide if it was satire or a commentary on mental illness. I stuck with it even though the narrator's voice grated on every nerve because I was hoping for some incredible development, but noooope. There was also some troubling non-chalance toward suicide. 2⭐️

Hi Littens! Question...I ran into a hiccup while working on our built-ins. Our walls are plaster with wood boards and rock behind them, so hanging anything load bearing has been a nightmare as the plaster just crumbles away. We've decided free-standing bookshelves are probably best until we can afford a contractor, but we want something that's like 84" tall and has an open back. (Noooo IKEA). Where have you found shelves that you loved?

Clearly on a Blake Crouch kick lately. This one had a slow start, but I'm about a 3rd of the way in now and I'm really enjoying it. Upgrade explores what might happen if gene editing advances and someone is accidentally infected with a viral package that turns them into a super human. It almost feels like I'm reading a backstory of the Hulk if he also had the brains of Ironman.

I picked this one up at a library sale. I've heard mixed reviews, but I'm goin' in!

We're done painting the living room! I have no idea how to build the bookshelves that I want, but we're going to try to draw up some plans and begin next week. 😁😁
Side note: I vividly remember downloading Litsy when I had just moved to the cheapest apartment in Boise, Idaho where I'd made bookshelves out of scrap wood and cinderblocks, and now we're looking at putting built-ins in our house in Nebraska. Life is crazy. 🤍

This book would've been better off as a short story or a novella. It was an interesting concept, but it dragged and felt super repetitive. Instead of packing an Atwood level punch as promised in the blurbs, it just felt bleak and miserable.

Hi Littens! I need your decorating advice.
On the left is our living room, currently being painted yellow. On the right is a screenshot of bookshelves that will be built over that wall.
My question is...what color should the shelves be? Should we stain the wood, leave it bare, or paint it? I'm tempted to try to match the color of our trim, but idk how close I'll get and I don't want clashing wood tones. Should we go bold and paint it blue? Help!

And the reading marathon continues...🤓

This book should have come with some warnings. There's some pretty explicit descriptions of child sexual abuse in multiple parts throughout the book. I think it makes sense to the character development as it goes back and forth in time to show this woman's relationship with her mom, husband, and another man, but yeah...warning for those of you who haven't read it!

Omgg I can't put this book down! Perfect sunset summer read. 👌

Next up 😍

I'm sailing through this YA romance. It's pretty cute and reminds me of my summers I spent in Maine as a kid, although I didn't have cute neighbor boys to fawn over. 😂

Thank you to everyone for all the well-wishing on the last post. I got a pretty strong dose of Prednisone and a nebulizer. That paired with 4 days of resting & eating clean seemed to curb this lupus flare. I'm learning what it means to manage this one day at a time. 💜

I'm having a hell of a flare up day. Lupus sucks. ☹️ I did yard work for one day and I've had three days of joint pain, insane fatigue, and labored breathing as a result. I woke up today feeling like my hands were on fire and someone was sitting on my chest. I'm going to spend the next two days doing nothing but reading in bed which would normally sound fun, but not when I'm forced to. Sorry for the vent post. 🤍

Today's book 📖🤓

This was a well-written, gritty, and hopeful account of a football player's descent into addiction and back again. On a personal note, it's one of the only books that's helped me understand why rehab has never worked on my sister. I don't say that for sympathy, but instead because I've never read such a truthful account of what it's like to be an addict. Often times it's just romanticized without sharing the rest, and that's not the case here.

This book (sequel to Eggers' The Circle) took me a looong time to finish. It's a dystopian story that imagines a world where Meta and Amazon become this massive tech monopoly and take over surveillance, medicine, consumption, and basically every aspect of one's life. The amount of tech advancements described in the book was a bit overwhelming, but also mirrors reality in a sense. I don't know, I just had a hard time with this one.

This was a very cute, low spice romance about two people from very different worlds. I loved the references to Crazy Rich Asians throughout - it felt like a much more toned down version of the series. Plus, there's a Corgi!