This is the copy I will be reading from for the October #Pemberlittens #HashtagBrigade group read. It‘s used from Thriftbooks. Normally I‘d invest in a Penguin black spine classic edition, but I‘m pretty sure I‘m not going to want to keep this one. In fact, I think I will want to throw it across the room, from what I know already about the plot. 😬

This is what I‘m reading for the #20in4 readathon this weekend. I had a handyman come repair a bathroom door this morning, so my house is actually pretty clean! Never want the repair guy passing judgement on my housekeeping. 😂 More time for reading this weekend as a result.

#TLT

Thank you for the tag @Bklover 😊

⭐️ Keanu Reeves
⭐️ Sandra Bullock
⭐️ Hugh Jackman

Because they all appear to be kind and down to earth people in real life.

#Two4Tuesday

🍁1. The tagged book was one of the most enjoyable books I read in September.

🍁 2. I‘m looking forward to tackling Tess of the D‘Urbervilles this October for #Pemberlittens #Hashtagbrigade I‘ve never read any Hardy before.

Feel like playing? Consider yourself tagged! 😃

#Weekendreads

🇮🇳Still plugging away at A Passage to India for #Pemberlittens #Hashtagbrigade

🇺🇸 The Turquoise Shop must be finished by Sunday morning for the #GoldenAgeCrimeClub pick.

🇷🇺 I hope to at least get a chapter or two in from City of Thieves in between.

Making progress on my planned #SummerEndReadathon books, with a only a small diversion when I read A Pale View of Hills. Four more books to go and nine days left! Can I read the remaining four books? 😬

Thanks for the tag @Eggs 😊. #TLT

I‘ll limit my responses to books…you might notice a commonality. 😂

1. Mr. Murdstone from David Copperfield
2. Mr. Tulkinghorn from Bleak House
3. Bradley Headstone from Our Mutual Friend

Thanks for the tag @The_Penniless_Author 😊

1. I had a paper route when I was 12-13.

2. No. When I lived in Germany, I tried to teach English on the side but I wasn‘t very good at it and my 9-5 job exhausted me already.

3. I think so, but I don‘t think corporate employers really support it. They just mouth the words.

#WondrousWednesday

Thanks for the tag @Bklover ! 😊

1. While I skip it often, breakfast is my favorite meal.

2. Wahala by Nikki May had mouth watering descriptions of Nigerian food. 😋 Sweetbitter by Stephanie Dandler was, in my opinion, an accurate depiction of the stress and the euphoria of restaurant work.

#Two4Tuesday

#TBRTarot. A book with five words in the title

I‘ve long wanted to read Ishiguro‘s back catalogue. This was his debut novel. Enigmatic and haunting. A Japanese woman looks back on her life and the choices she made shortly after WWII in Nagasaki. There‘s a lot of room for interpretation here, a lot which is left unexplained. Interesting to see some “typical” Ishiguro themes have been since the beginning.

Really great discussion on the podcast Backlisted on Vonnegut and the novel Galapagos, if you‘re interested. https://www.backlisted.fm/ and haven‘t already listened. The guest is author Shehan Karunatilaka whose Booker Prize winning novel I admired more than I loved, but I love him here as he declares his love for Vonnegut (and the band The Police). Very satisfying for Kurt Vonnegut fans.

#FurrowedMiddlebrowClub

This was fun. 😃 It took a bit for the story to get set up but once it did, it was full speed ahead. A kindly GP financially aids one of his elderly patients and she insists on his taking a chest of old paintings in exchange. Is it a bunch of junk, as his daughter insists? Or could it be priceless Renaissance art as the local librarian suspects? Plots and counter plots ensue, with a little romance thrown in to the mix.

I was no fan of A Confederacy of Dunces, but I also read it 30 years ago. I‘m not the same person I was then. At first this book annoyed me because like Ignatius J. Reilly, the narrator is a self absorbed sociopath. But it‘s a short book, I persevered and I was able to enjoy it, weird as it is. I laughed out loud a few times. A woman adopts Treasure Island as a self help book and proceeds to alienate everyone around her. TW for animal neglect.

This is what I have on deck this weekend! 😃 One for #PemberLittens #HashtagBrigade one for #FurrowedMiddlebrowClub and one library pick.

#Weekendreads

I really enjoyed this coming-of-age novel set in Cork during the 2008 recession. It‘s narrated by the Rachel of the title, looking back on her college years and is about navigating adult life, the callousness of youth, abortion rights in Ireland and as an underlying plot point, the power of friendship. The enduring friendship between James and Rachel was for me the core of the novel.

I‘m using this for #Booked2023 “About Reproductive Rights”

#Top10Summer2023Reads

Thanks for the tag @CSeydel and @BarbaraBB ! 😊

Two re-reads, one Victorian chunkster, two coming of age, two that could be classified as ROMANCE 😱, which I say I normally dislike…😂 A mixed bag but still the highlights of my summer reading.

Feel like joining in? Consider yourself tagged! Inquiring minds want to know.

This is my TBR for the September monthlong #SummerEndReadathon . Five are for Group Reads…I may have overcommitted 😬😂. Two are left over from #14Books14Weeks2023 . Two are library books that just need to be read.

Hey reading friends! Tomorrow is September 1 and time for us to start our bi-monthly #FurrowedMiddlebrowClub read. I‘m curious about it because our previous read from Moore in 2021, “My Caravaggio Style” was more farcical and less cosy than I anticipated. She‘s an interesting author. What will this new novel bring? 🤔

As usual, we aim to finish mid month, but feel free to post as is convenient. If anyone not tagged wants to join in, please do!

Well, I managed to read 13 of the planned #14Books14Weeks2023 between Memorial Day and Labor Day. I‘ll read the 14th and my back up 15th hopefully by the end of this year if not next month. 🤞😬 Thank you @TheHeartlandBookFairy for making this fun challenge. It‘s one of my favorites!

It‘s still Tuesday here (barely)!😂 Better late than never. Thanks for the tag @TheSpineView . 😊

1. The tagged book was probably my favorite book read this month.

2. I love a good “coming of age” novel and I particularly appreciated the female perspective from a country and culture not my own.

#Two4Tuesday

2ond to last for #14Books14Weeks2023 and a #RememberingJenny pick as well. I recall Jenny‘s high praise on her podcast. This book blew me away. I often dislike novels told from multiple perspectives but this one was amazingly good. And it‘s a debut ?!?! 🤯 Teenagers Mae and Edie are sent to NYC to stay with their estranged father they‘ve not seen since childhood. Their mother is in a mental hospital. The story is raw, complicated and triggering.

The weekend starts now! I appreciate ebooks but a stack of physical books definitely makes for a more satisfying visual. 😂 These are what I‘d love to finish by Monday for this August round of #20in4 hosted by @Andrew65 . 🤞😬

I‘ve been reading Tombland for three weeks now. Time to hunker down and finish it! Watson‘s Choice is for Sunday‘s #GoldenAgeCrimeClub. The Apekina title is for #14Books14Weeks2023 and was recommended by @ReadingEnvy . ❤️

One more #14Books14Weeks2023 book read. Someone on Goodreads wrote that this book was like a Lifetime movie set in Ghana, and I don‘t disagree. Sometimes a Lifetime movie hits the spot for me. Afi is married by proxy to a man she barely knows. A would be Cinderella story as she comes from a humble background and Eli, her husband, is crazy rich. But is Eli‘s family just trying to manipulate Afi so Eli will leave his girlfriend his family hates?

Thanks for the tag @Enchanted_Bibliophile 😊

#WondrousWednesday

1. Clueless, When Harry Met Sally, Romy and Michelle‘s High School Reunion are probably the top three that I rewatch.

2. I re-watched Some Like It Hot on Kanopy a couple of months ago.

3. I‘m always wishing to win the lottery, but I actually rarely buy a ticket.

1. I barely have any coin much less bitcoin. 💰

2. Doesn‘t Pippi have a pot of gold? 🐒

Thanks for the tag @Bklover

#Two4Tuesday

Book 11 from my #14Books14Weeks2023 stack.

Melancholy (though a cheerful book about the US Civil War would be weird) and written in a sparse somewhat cryptic style. Constance Thompson dresses as a man and marches off to fight for the Union, while her husband stays on their farm in Indiana. The comparisons to Cold Mountain are apt, along with the loose allusions to the Odyssey. A slow read, despite its low page count.

My weekend plans. Still plugging away at Tombland, which I can use for #SeriesLove2023 since it‘s the last in the Shardlake series. Neverhome and His Only Wife are the last books from my #14Books14Weeks2023 challenge that I will likely finish before Labor Day.

#Weekendreads

#WondrousWesdnesday

Thanks for the tag @Eggs & @TheSpineView 😊

1. The heroine in the tagged book is called Byrony, which apparently isn‘t THAT uncommon, but I‘d never come across it before and found it odd at the time. It means “vine” and is derived from Latin.

2. The title of the tagged book is also a little silly (well, the whole book is silly but it takes itself seriously 😂).

1. Beginning of August, which feels way too early for me. I think it should start in September, when it‘s Fall!

2. The tagged book is the first that came to mind. Set at an elite US university in the northeast, most of the characters are students.

Thanks for the tag @Amiable 😊

#Two4Tuesday

Another one from my #14Books14Weeks2023 pile. I bought this on a whim for $1 at the library, but the investment has exceeded my expectations. I loved this hard hitting coming of age novel set in late 1960s Rhodesia. Tambe is caught between childhood and adulthood, between tradition and progress, between colonialism and independence. As a Black African female, her position, despite her education and her ambition, will always be tenuous and fraught.

#weekendreads

This is what I will be reading in between errands and chores this weekend. Enjoying all three but particularly the tagged book. Fantastic coming of age story in pre-revolutionary Zimbabwe.

Another #14Books14Weeks2023 book done and dusted. I never would have picked this up for myself. My friend who is a pediatrician gave it to me.

The part about her interaction with medical personnel, both good and bad, was interesting to me. But the sciencey parts about the brain, even incredibly simplified here, made me sleepy. And the La La part about accessing the “right brain” to reach a state of peace has been done elsewhere - not a new idea.

Celebrating National Book Lovers Day and the fact that the pictures are BACK! with this snap of my grandpa reading to my brother, my cousin and me circa 1969. ❤️📚

Thanks for the tag @PageShifter 😊

1. Yes, pretty much without fail, even if it is only a page or two.

2. Reading can be a form of physical relaxation, it can stimulate the mind and while it is usually a solitary activity, it can bring people together, like here on Litsy. 😃

#WondrousWednesday

Whittling away at my #14Books14Weeks2023 pile.

My first book by J. California Cooper and definitely not the last. The title is an intentional nod (or maybe eye roll) to Gone With the Wind. The book tells the story of Lifee and Mordecai Freeman and their journey from enslavement to self-sufficiency after the US Civil War. It‘s not easy but they persevere and succeed despite all the forces aligned against them.

This is my Penguin Black Spine Classic edition of Vanity Fair that I will be using! #Pembrtlittens. #Hashtagbrigade

Chipping away at my #14Books14Weeks2023 stack.

What really happened 15 years ago when 10 year old Merrie‘s sister was exorcised by a Catholic priest? Was she possessed or was she schizophrenic? How complicit were her beleaguered parents and the TV production who filmed and broadcast it?

I was occasionally genuinely creeped out by the book and the author did a good job of keeping it on the edge of supernatural vs explainable.

#pop23 Rabbit on Cover

The first rule about Rabbits is that you don‘t talk about Rabbits.

The premise is that there‘s this underground game that is so secretive, you can‘t even be sure you‘re playing it. But if you are playing, you might get killed. A danger which every player ignores.

I found it little too repetitive, though the conspiracy theory/reality altering premise was interesting. I just couldn‘t suspend my disbelief enough to buy in.

1. The tagged book is the first.
2. It took me 9 months to read The Magic Mountain by Thomas Mann and I read Les Misérables over 12 months.
3. Sticking to bookish achievements, I‘m quite proud to have read Der Zauberberg in German. It was difficult but fulfilling.

#WondrousWednesday. Thank you for the tag @Eggs ?

Feel like playing? Considering yourself tagged!

Another low pick from me for a Kuang novel. I can‘t put my finger on it, but there‘s something about her style that doesn‘t quite work for me. It happens, eh? We all know what this is about now, cultural appropriation, intentional mismarketing, racism in publishing industry, etc with no sympathetic characters. A satire exposing the underside of publishing and social media. Still, a successful book in all the questions it raises. #CampLitsy23

This was a cute story with the occasional touch of a free thinker. Miss Carter frees an Ifrit (genie) she nicknames Joe and is accordingly able to avail herself of his magical powers. The setting is during WWII and middle aged, unmarried Miss Carter up to now has lived a rather drab and romance-free existence. But of course that‘s all about to change!
The limitations on Joe‘s abilities were interesting. He isn‘t all powerful by any means.

This is my stack for the #JubilantJuly readathon that starts tomorrow on July 15 and runs to next week Sunday. I‘m near to finishing Novel Without a Name and A Room With a View is the #Pemberlittens July pick. I‘ve also read 10% of The Applicant on the Kindle. The Christie title is just a whim. I might finish it before tomorrow. The other three I may or may not pick up…

My sixth completed read for #14Books14Weeks2023 . I‘m definitely going to read more from See in the future, but I didn‘t like the narrative style of this. It was one traumatic event after another buffered by lots of research; it felt overstuffed. Pearl and May are modern upper middle class Shanghai girls in 1937. But their father‘s financial ruin and the invasion by Japan change their lives forever and they end up immigrating to California.

Making progress on my #14Books14Weeks2023 pile. The 2ond Discworld novel and of course I loved it. It‘s a straight sequel to The Color of Magic. A looming red star is threatening the Disc and the key to the solution lies somewhere in Rincewind‘s head. Adventures ensue as many pursue the Disc‘s worst wizard and his companions Twoflower, the Disc‘s first tourist, and The Luggage. 🧳

1. I can‘t pick just one!
2. Nona the Ninth by Tasmin Muir
3. The Applicant by Nazli Koca
4. Dunno?
5. Mercury Pictures Presents by Anthony Marra
6. Manhunt by G. Felker-Martin
7. Jen Beagin
8. Miss Mattie from Cranford and Nona from Nona the Ninth
9. N/A
10. Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell
11. Gollancz edition of The Color of Magic
12. Tess of the D‘Urbervilles, to name just one

Thanks for the tag @Klou & @Bklover 😊
#MidyearBookFreakout

“For Joe had certainly given her a new interest, had stirred things up. Joe, by making things pleasanter, simpler, had left her free to think. For Joe did all the housework. She didn‘t even have to have Mrs‘Oward, the char, once a week. She didn‘t have to prepare meals or wash dishes or dust behind the wireless. She could stay in bed later in the mornings…”

I‘m thinking this book might be a little feminist? 🤔🙊 Maybe too early to say?

This is my stack for the #20in4 readathon hosted by the marvelous @Andrew65 ! I‘m Starting today and going to Tuesday. I do have to work on Monday but Tuesday is a national holiday and I plan on reading as much as I can while others barbecue and set off fireworks.

Still plugging away at Vanity Fair and the Forster is also for #Pemberlittens. Miss Carter is for #FurrowedMiddlebrowClub and the last two are from my #14Books14Weeks2023 pile.

The second book for #CampLitsy23 . A leftist collective in New Zealand becomes entangled with a US capitalist billionaire. Misadventure ensues. What is this really about? Overweening ambition? Left vs Right wing politics? The end of humanity at the hands of humanity? I‘m not sure. Catton is a really smart writer, in my opinion. I think I like her because she is like a 21 version of the Victorian author. So much detail and social commentary.

Hey reading friends! Tomorrow is the first of July, which means it‘s time to start our bi-monthly #FurrowedMiddlebrowClub read. 😃 The general aim is to be finished by mid month, but no pressure if you need longer. Post your thoughts as you read, if you like. Be sure to tag everyone so we can comment.

Any other Littens want to join in, please do! If you want to be tagged for the next title in September, let me know. All are welcome!

Playing catch-up: this was the first book for #CampLitsy23 .

Geeta is alienated by village society because they all think she killed her husband. This reputation suits her fine, even though the truth is, he simply left her. But when another abused woman asks for Geeta‘s help in killing her husband, Geeta has to either fess up or aid and abet. This was a farcical black comedy taking aim at the caste system and women‘s rights in India.