It‘s here! Now the question is, will I read it “soon” (in the next 2-5 years?) or “right away” (within the next 12 months)? 🤔😜

My first completed book for #20in4 ! I never read it as a kid, though I do recall seeing the cover in school library. I‘m really glad to finally have read this children‘s classic. It made me laugh out loud more than once. I see why kids and adults love it and why it has stood the test of time. Very punny! Very clever.

This is my copy of Northanger Abbey, but though I will probably also download a copy to my e reader from Project Gutenberg and borrow an audio version from the library. It‘s a re-read for me but only my second time.

#Pemberlittens

I‘ve barely read anything today and I‘m dead-tired, but these six books are my current reads and I hope to finish at least two by the end of this #20in4 Readathon. Tomorrow‘s another day!

#FurrowedMiddlebrowClub

I splurged and got physical copies for the next two rounds. The covers are so pretty! 😍

Thanks for the tag @EadieB ☺️

#LittensWantToKnow

I would love to see the Amelia Peabody series done right in a TV adaptation. My biggest concern about book to screen is, however, that they won‘t be faithful enough to the original material.

💰Only $1 each at the library. 💰

I‘m pretty sure the tagged book was never read. Still had the receipt in it as well as a bookmark from the store (Wellesley Books in Wesllesly, MA) plus a pristine postcard of Boston.

Thank you for the tag @PageShifter !☺️

1. Generally any reading for pleasure is a retreat for me. However, I do particularly like long classics to immerse myself in-Dickens or Trollope, for example.

2. I occasionally re-read Agatha Christie when I‘m very stressed.

3. Any Agatha Christie Miss Marple or Poirot mystery. Or if I want to laugh, Wooster and Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse.

#ThoughtfulThursday

Was this a novel? Or memoir? Ruth Adam really did move from London at the end of WWII with her family and friends to a 33 room manor in the English countryside. As seen on the alternate cover shown, the tone was similar to Jean Kerr‘s Please Don‘t Eat the Daisies- a lightly fictionalized real life experience, with eccentric characters, humorous escapades and comic disasters. Largely plotless, I liked it for its snapshot of England in transition.

Here‘s my wrap-up of #Booked2022 Summer Edition:

🥘 Includes a recipe- Wahala

🇨🇦 Set in a Canadian Province - The Stone Angel

🧭 Involves an exploration - Four Cities

👯‍♀️ About sisters - Cassandra at the Wedding

👶 New in 2022 - Sleepwalk

🏨 Set in an inn or hotel - Nobody, Somebody, Anybody

My last title for the Summer edition of #Booked2022 Set in a Canadian Province

Spanning the late 1800s to the middle of the 20th century, this is the story of an uncompromising and bitter woman. The story at times felt almost biblical in how Hagar Currie Shipley is unable to love or appreciate those who love her most. It was frustrating to read at times - Hagar is often her own worst enemy- but it always felt real.

Hi Reading Friends! This is to remind you of the #FurrowedMiddlebrowClub pick for September. Read along at your own pace and comment and review as you choose. This is a very low pressure buddy read!

I‘m tagging @Sparklemn who expressed interest in joining in July. If anyone else wants to be tagged, let me know! All are welcome. 😃

Thanks for the tag @TheSpineView ☺️

#Two4Tuesday

1. I read a lot of good books this month, so I will arbitrarily pick Wahala by Nikki May.

2. It was a good mix of plot and interesting (if sometimes unlikable) characters. This was May‘s debut and I‘m excited and curious to read what she comes up with next.

It was a tad long, but then I‘d be hard pressed to know what to cut. I can see the comparisons to David Mitchell‘s Ghostwritten. This book is a puzzle for the reader to put together with its time jumps and seemingly unconnected storylines. A supernatural tale of revenge set in modern day Vietnam with flashbacks to its colonial history, it also reminded me favorably of Hari Kunzru‘s White Tears.

1st completed #20in4 End Of Summer book

📕Because I am curious/nosy

📘Probably my mom. She‘s a reader and she took us kids to the library regularly.

📙 Weekdays in the evening after work-Weekends mornings, noon and night!

Thanks for the tag @Eggs . Feel like sharing @Klou @quietjenn @ShyBookOwl @CarolynM @Cathythoughts ?

#littenswanttoknow.

My weekend has officially started! 🥳 The goal for me in the End of Summer #20in4 readathon is to finish at least two of the four books I‘ve currently got going! The White and Kuppersmith are from the library, so probably I‘ll concentrate on them.

Chapter 9: I Have A Memorable Birthday

The pic is from Wuthering Heights but it was the best I could find. David will forever remember turning 10 because that‘s the day he loses his mother. I think Dickens is suggesting she may have died from a lack of kindness. Mr. Murdstone seems actually cut up, but is that because he lost his son too? Or is he lamenting the fact he no longer has someone to psychologically abuse?

#readalong #buddyread

1. Tagged!

2. Lot of favorites! Wahala, The Light Years, You Sexy Thing, The Change…it‘s been a good reading month!

3. Düsseldorf ??, Bern ??, Ohio ??

#WondrousWednesday

#Two4Tuesday. Thanks for the tag @EadieB 🙏

1. Probably back when I used email more frequently. Now I‘m more inclined to take a picture or screenshot on my phone. I‘m sure some Littens will recall the dark ages of the last century when you had to write these things ON PAPER. 😱😂

2. Hard to say! It depends some on library hold and timing. One sure thing, however, is the next #Pemberlittens book A Secret Sisterhood.

📕 Case Histories by Kate Atkinson

✏️ Agatha Christie

🎥 Clueless

🎤 The Clash

🎼 Candy by Iggy Pop

#manicmonday #LetterC Thanks for the tag @eeclayton 😊

Chapter 5: I Am Sent Away From Home.

David is sent away to school because he bit his stepfather (in self defense!). Peggotty manages to at least give him an affectionate farewell and gains a suitor in the process. After an arduous journey, for an 8 yr old, David arrives, the other boys are still on vacation, but David is made to wear a humiliating sign on his back as punishment. He worries what the other boys will think and do when they see it.

#Booked2022 Involves an Exploration

An introductory look at four pre-modern age cities. Newitz makes a great point that cities and civilizations are never “lost”, but rather they morph into something different as human needs/desires change. The author also does a great job trying to emphasize the lives of the common folks in each city. This was interesting if cursory. But a great starting point for anyone curious about archeology/anthropology.

David Copperfield, Chapter 3: I Have A Change.

David returns from the best vacation in his short life (what kid wouldn‘t get a kick out of living in a beached boat?) only to discover his beloved mamma has married the controlling Mr. Murdstone. We‘re introduced to Peggotty‘s adorable family-particularly doomed little Em‘ly.

Despite foreshadowing, this was a mostly humorous chapter. I often forget how funny Dickens is!

#buddyread #readalong

And now for the latest round impossible questions for #Two4Tuesday ! 😆

☀️Reading would be no fun for me if I could only read one genre! But if forced to choose, I‘ll take lit fic.

☀️☀️The second half, because I have to know how it ends!

Feel like playing? Consider yourself tagged! Let other Littens know your choices!

This was a fun, gossipy , “oh no! She didn‘t!” kind of read about three British-Nigerian women living in London whose close friendship is severely tested by the arrival of Isobel, also mixed race, but as one character put it, “the worst kind of Nigerian - entitled, pretentious, vulgar…” The end took me by surprise 😳! Nigerian cuisine is often featured and because there are three recipes at the end, I‘m using it for #Booked2022 - contains recipes.

Thanks for the tag @Cinfhen 😊

#Two4Tuesday

1. To never tire of rereading them might be too much to ask for, but I find certain classics well worth re-reading: Jane Eyre, Pride & Prejudice, Bleak House, The Hobbit…

2. All About Eve Nigerian style!

With every positive review on Litsy, I grew more curious. Now I‘ve finally read it! I loved this family saga which concentrates on the lives of the upper class Cazalet family in late 1930s England but also gives insight in to the lives of their servants and factotum. Reminiscent of books like The Forseyth Saga yet in a style all its own. 400 plus pages but it reads fast. Tagging those Littens whose reviews encouraged me to pick this up! Thanks! 😊

#WondrousWednesday Thank you for the tag @Areader2 😊

🌸Pretty much! It‘s rare there‘s a day when I don‘t read at least a page or two.
🌼 I don‘t have children and I don‘t watch television. Reading is my main hobby/entertainment.
🌺While I read it infrequently, mystery is my go-to comfort genre-particularly Agatha Christie.

If there‘s a Wayfarers hole in your reading life, this might just be the book (clearly the start of a series) to fill it! Captain Larsen and her ragtag crew are catapulted into adventure when they board the bio ship “You Sexy Thing”. The sentient ship was my favorite character!

I‘m using this as my entry for #Booked2022 Hope Punk novel. Also my second completed book for #20in4. Thanks for the rec @Centique ! It was spot on! 👍🚀

I finished Our Wives under the Sea yesterday evening after work. Now I‘m on to reading new books which will hopefully be more fun! A Jane Austen mystery and Sci-fi recommended by @Centique #20in4

My last #CampLitsy read. A shortish book (228 pages) and yet it dragged for me. Once I finally got to the end, it was quite moving, however. Miri‘s wife comes back from an undersea expedition strangely changed. Interspersed with Miri‘s reminisces of how she and Leah met and fell in love is Leah‘s account of the expedition. I wanted more Vandermeer-like weird horror and less love story. And what was the point of Miri‘s relationship with her mom?

#WondrousWednesday

1. Hardback 📚
2. Inside 🪟
3. Fall 🍁

If anyone feels like playing, consider yourself tagged!

This was Erdrich‘s 1984 debut, a novel in stories and it put her on the literary map. Full of heart and pathos and featuring the lives, loves, and trials of the extended Kashpaw, Pillager, Nanapush and Lamartine families on and around Chippewa reservation in N. Dakota.

#RememberingJenny In 2020 Jenny took part in the Erdrich Medicine Readalong on Instagram. I spent many happy hours in the Reading Envy pub and thought of her while reading this.

A soft pick. Not too much of a mystery since the crime, criminals and their motives are revealed fairly early on. I think this is more an exploration of class in America wrapped up in a fictional “true crime” book. The narrator (who has a bit of an ax to grind) moves back to small town Maine, only to discover that one time lobster fisherman is now rich and a major benefactor…only no one quite knows where the 💰comes from. Read for #JubilantJuly

This is my #JubilantJuly stack while I try to keep cool 🥵. I‘ve got The Midcoast on my kindle at 30% read. The two #PemberLitten titles, Excellent Women and The Completing of the Watsons I‘ll finish this weekend. Next week is super stressful with work and other unfun stuff. But I‘d like to at least get a few chapters into Our Wives Under the Sea for #CampLitsy and Love Medicine for #Roll100 and #RememberingJenny. ❤️

#Litsyhumor 😂😂😂

I‘m counting this for #Booked2022 “New in 2022”.

This is my second read from Chaon and I think he might be a new favorite. His books are creepy and complicated in a way which really appeals to me. This one is about an aging hit man/cleaner/courier who‘s so off the grid, he doesn‘t even have a legal name. When he discoverers he has a daughter, he thinks he‘s being conned…or is he? Set in a believably discomforting near future America.

Unfortunately I couldn‘t get a DSP edition ebook & was too cheap to spring for the paperback so I had no introduction. I thought this was mostly pro-Empire war propaganda (published in 1940) with two weakish romances. Sorry fellow #FurrowedMiddleBrowClub friends 😣. I can‘t fault the book for being of its time, but the rah rah Britain can do no wrong stuck in my craw, knowing the future. Kudos, however, for not painting all German‘s as Nazis.

Thanks for the tag @Eggs 😊 #ThoughtfulThursday

1. Books by the same author are together and I separate NF from fiction and SFF and mystery from the rest.

2. I have shelves in every room except the kitchen and bath.

3. I read ebooks from the library but rarely buy them. When I buy, it‘s usually because I want to keep it in physical form and when available, I choose hardbacks.

Wanna play? Consider yourself tagged! 😃

Thanks for the tag @Eggs ☺️ #Two4Tuesday

I. My number goal is to read 100 books and I‘m on track for that. There are a couple of challenges where I‘m falling behind, however.

2. Reading what I already own is always a goal and challenge!

If you are reading this and want to play, consider yourself tagged! 😃

Holy ‘90s nostalgia! A time travel novel which is at its heart a love story between a parent and child. Alice was raised in NYC by a single father whose claim to fame is an incredibly popular time travel novel that was also adapted into a successful TV series. On her 40th birthday she travels back to 1996 on a pivotal night.

All the references to other time travel narratives in the book were fun. Sweet story with a good message. #CampLitsy

Here‘s my wrap up for #Booked2022 Spring edition:

👑 Real or fictional royal - Fool‘s Errand

📰 Written by a journalist - Say Nothing

🌍 Author born in Africa - Purple Hibiscus

❓Make your own prompt - The Family Chao

⚓️ Nautical novel- Post Captain

🔪 Murder mystery- Bullet Train

My last book for #Booked2022 Spring edition. Prompt: author born in Africa. This was Adichie‘s debut. I thought it was fantastic. A coming of age story set in late 20th century Nigeria during a military dictatorship and political unrest. Narrated by 15 yr old Kambili, she loves and fears her tyrannical father. When she and her brother Jaja visit their aunt and see a different way to live, their lives are changed forever with tragic consequences.

I‘m glad this book introduced me to the song “Hunger” by Florence and the Machine but otherwise I wasn‘t that impressed. The descriptive writing was fine but the profanity laden dialogue was boring and I never cared about the characters or found them or their fates interesting. Not my kind of book. #CampLitsy

Hello #Furrowedmiddlebrowclub friends! This is a reminder that our July 2022 pick is the tagged title. Read at your own pace and share your thoughts with us as you are inclined.

Any Littens not tagged but want to be, let me know. 😊 All are welcome!

Thanks for the tag @Klou ! 😊 #WondrousWednesday

🐚 It‘s a mix of books I own combined with reading challenges and following book prize shortlists. I try to keep a balance of new releases and backlist/classics.

🐠 I think I am probably too harsh at times. My judgements are purely subjective, mostly based on how a book made me feel.

🐢 Today I am grateful for my friends.

Humor & satire are tricky things in novels. I appreciated the author‘s message and I did chuckle a couple of times, but overall it wasn‘t my thing. I found it too earnest generally. My preferred satire draws blood (Think The Trees by Percival Everett /The Sellout by Paul Beatty). Also, the main character was too unbelievably dense often only to propel the plot. I did like the side characters, however & I‘m glad she ended it realistically.

#20in4

My only goal in this #20in4 Readathon that starts NOW, is to finish Disorientation, which I am not loving 😐. Satire and humor are tricky and this book is missing the mark for me, but maybe I will love the second half? Once I finish it, I have a ton of books I‘m just itching to get to: Sorrow and Bliss, Your Body Made a Fool of Death, This Time Tomorrow and Our Wives under the Sea.

I fell of the #Roll100 wagon but hope to hop back on in July. I‘ve already read Fool‘s Errand 🥳! I definitely want to get to Purple Hibiscus because it will also work for #Booked2022! We‘ll see if I can also squeeze in Love, Medicine among the #CampLitsy books I have to read...it would also work for #RememberingJenny since she had a Louise Erdrich project a couple of years ago. How I miss her!😢

Thanks for the tag @EadieB ! 😊. #WondrousWednesday

1. Excellent question! Maybe Mrs. Danvers from Rebecca? 🤔

2. I can‘t remember the name, but The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell made me sob. 😭

3. Lots of authors are from California, but Kem Nunn and Rachel Khong are from the same corner of Southern California as I am. 🌴