#WondrousWednesday

1. I have a back and front yard, but I am not much of a gardener - only plants which thrive upon neglect survive. 🌺

2. If I ever decide to get into proper gardening, I‘d love to grow both vegetables and flowers. 🌺

3. The Secret Garden by Frances Hodges Burnett. 🌺

Thanks for the tag @Eggs 😊

What can I add to what my #FurrowedMiddlebrowClub friends have already posted so astutely about this book? 😃

Nesbit was primarily known for her children‘s books and while this was aimed at adults, it definitely also has a smidge of a fairytale to it. Set just after WWI Jane and Lucy leave school, only to discover their guardian has squandered their inheritance. Undaunted, they look on the bright side and forge a new (and more exciting) future.

Now that I‘ve finally read ‘em all, I can post my #Booked2022 Winter edition summary:

1. About a cult or religion-Cultish
2. Title repeats-The Sea, the Sea
3. Set in China-Do Not Say We Have Nothing
4. Weather term in title-Cloud Cuckoo Land
5. From Black owned publishers-Maud Martha
6. Non-patriarchal society-Outlawed

Now on to the rest!

What do Scientology and Soulcycle have in common? A targeted use of language to create community, ritual, meaning and a common sense of purpose. This book was fascinating and thought provoking. My biggest take away is the concept of “thought terminating cliches”. I‘ve been subject to them but also guilty of using them myself! 😱

#Booked2022 - Winter edition - About a cult or religion.

My readathon goal is to finish all three of the books I‘m in the middle of at the moment. 🤞

#MarvellousMay

I used The Millions “most anticipated” book list and whittled it down to these for the Tournament of Books Summer Camp 2022. I don‘t read a lot of front list books, so it was a bit of a struggle to choose but now I‘m totally excited to see what makes the cut! 🐓

#CampToB2022 #SummerCampSuggestions2022

Read for #Booked2022 Spring - Written by a Journalist. It was interesting to see how the disparate threads would match up in this nonfiction account of an abduction and subsequent murder in N. Ireland in 1972 backgrounded by the rise of the Provisional IRA. It was a difficult book to digest at times because it‘s a complicated situation which has morphed now, decades later into an all too fragile peace. I thought it was excellent, tragic & honest.

1. I dream about characters or plots from books I am reading all the time!

2. I‘ve read Jane Eyre and Pride and Prejudice three times each.

3. My priority for May is reaching and enjoying Memorial Day weekend! I took Friday off work too.

#WondrousWednesday

Thanks for the tag @Eggs

Happy May Day reading friends! This is a reminder that our #FurrowedMiddlebrowClub pick for May is The Lark by E. Nesbit, called “A novel for grown-up children” in the Dean Street Press edition introduction by Charlotte Moore.

The rough plan is to read and post any thoughts and/or reviews starting mid-month, though really any time is fine. We aren‘t fussy. 😊

Wanna be tagged or removed from the tag? Let me know!

A little late getting started for this #20in4 May Day readathon. I so wish the US had a national holiday o May 1, like so much of the rest of the world. 😢

I finished the Claire Keegan novella today. It‘s only 70 pages long-lovely but sad. I‘m only a quarter of the way through the other two books. Doubt I‘ll finish ‘em by Monday but hopefully will read 50-100 pages in each by Sunday.

I‘m using this title for the #Booked2022 category Real or Fictional Royalty.

The Fool isn‘t royal (that I know 🤔) but his partner, Fitz is a royal bastard and the plot centers around their mission to rescue Prince Dutiful from...well, we‘re not sure whom at the start. This is the 1st in the Tawny Man trilogy and it was fantastic. Picks up 15 years after the Farseerer trilogy; pacing was excellent and the adventure melancholy but satisfying. 👍

This short video is hilarious (and often accurate IMO) 😂 One of my favorite booktubers.

https://youtu.be/NvxggbbG_RM

1. I have only participated in various online group reads which I‘ve really enjoyed. Getting other readers‘ insights is fantastic.

2. I especially like it when a challenge gets me to read books I already own!

3. Current read is tagged. I‘m slowly making my way through the Realm of the Elderlings books by Robin Hobb.

#WondrousWednesday

Thanks for the tag @Eggs 😊

#AwesomeApril I completed The Hobbit for the readathon. This is the third time I‘ve read it but the last time was over 20 years ago and I‘d never seen the film(s) so there was a lot I‘d forgotten. Lovely story and unlike many readers, I really love the songs! I read ‘em out loud to best appreciate them. 🐉

#Thinkpositivebepositive

Actually I first saw this on Litsy a couple of years ago and screenshot it because I loved the sentiment. I‘m don‘t remember which Litten made the original post. If it was you, please give yourself credit in the comments!

Thanks for the tag @WJCintron 😊

1. I don‘t celebrate Easter
2. I am having a good reading month so far
3. I am grateful for having this Friday off

#WondrousWednesday

Thanks for the tag @Eggs 😊

I had a (for me) a super busy weekend and only managed to read 5 chapters each in my two current books. The Hobbit is a spontaneous re-read. Looks like the theme of this readathon is Fantasy for me!

#AwesomeApril

I picked it up for the #Pemberlittens group read last month, but didn‘t get to it in time. This edition was finished in 1975 by “another lady” and I must say, it was delightful! The plotting and characterization were great and the romance very sweet. Who knows how Austen would have continued it? But the other lady did an excellent job.

Counts also for
#Booked2022 (TV adaptation)
#Roaringwolf (April-Pastel cover)

Thanks for the tag @Eggs 😀
#WondrousWednesday

1. California Poppy
2. Agatha Christie
3. ...worth cultivating

A quick read. Only 119 pages and many are illustrated, though the illustrations had seemingly nothing to do with the story? This is a reworking of Sleeping Beauty narrated by a modern woman who is terminally ill and not likely to live past her 21st birthday who accidentally gets sucked into a multiverses of briar rose et al stories and has to circumvent the established boundaries of the fairytale... Not my usual fare.

#Booked2022 Myth retelling

An alternate history with a feminist slant. What if an epidemic wiped out most of the population in the US mid-19th century and the became primarily fundamentalist Christian with an emphasis on bearing children and shunning women who were unable to conceive? Ada‘s mother is a respected midwife, but she cannot protect her when Ada is run out of town as a witch. But Ada finds refuge in an unlikely place.

#Booked2022 Non-patriarchal society.

Thanks for the tag @EadieB 😀

1. I play Wordsmith (scrabble basically) on my phone with a couple of friends and Wordle.

2. Spring is the best time for enjoying the outdoors. Not too hot, not too cold.

3. Do Not Say We Have Nothing, The Sea, The Sea and Cloud Cuckoo Land.

#WondrousWednesday

A tribute to libraries and storytelling. Much of this book is so very sad, I found it very hard going at times. Also not a fan of the super short chapters. But a pick on the whole. The narration flits across centuries from 15th century Constantinople to 200 years from now. In between there is much suffering but the story and our human need for storytelling abides.

#Booked2022 Weather in title
My 2nd completed #20in4 book

A powerful, tragic and immersive read. Marie has grown up in Canada, unaware of her father‘s previous life in China. After her father‘s death, a kind of relative comes to live with her and her mom in Vancouver. Marie‘s friendship with Ai-Ming begins her journey into their families‘ intersecting pasts, culminating in the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989.

#Booked2022 Set in China ✅
First book finished for #20in4 ✅

Definitely taking part in the #20in4 Readathon over the next four days, hosted by @Andrew65 . I‘m about halfway through all three books, though two are quite long. All three are for #Booked2022 Winter Edition. My goal is to finish one and at a stretch two! 🤞

I think the consensus among members of #FurrowedMiddlebrowClub is this was a sweet yet occasionally sharp page turner about the life of a woman from the late 18th century to the 1930s. Separated into four parts and featuring (sort of) each garden in her life as she falls in love, marries and raises children.

Fun Fact: Margery Sharp wrote the children‘s books on which the Disney film The Rescuers was based. I LOVED those films and Miss Bianca. ❤️

Known for her poetry (1st African-American to win the Pulitzer for poetry in 1950) Brooks also wrote this slim novel. Told in vignettes, in often in a poetic style, we get the story of Maud Martha from girlhood to marriage and her first child in early to mid century Chicago. Evocative and occasionally heartbreaking, this glimpse into Maud Martha‘s hopes and disappointments.

#Booked2022 Black owned imprint https://thirdworldpressfoundation.org/

For the #MarvelousMarch readathon hosted by @Andrew65 I hope to finish (a)The Other Bennett Sister for #Pemberlittens, (b) Four Gardens for #FurrowedMiddlebrowClub and (c) Maud Martha for #Booked2022 and get stuck into Cloud Cuckoo Land. Maybe a little ambitious,but we‘ll see!🤞

Thanks for the tag @RaeLovesToRead ! 😊

1. Yes! I read a LOT of classic novels

2. Hundreds! This year I am hoping to read The Law and the Lady by Wilkie Collins and La Curee/The Kill by Zola, among others.

Feel like sharing @Graywacke @batsy @Leftcoastzen ? You all read lots of classics too, I know.

Murdoch will never become a favorite with me, but I think I now better appreciate her farcical plots and awful yet compelling characters. The book is narrated by Charles Arrowby, a retired theatre director and general self-absorbed asshat. He may no longer be on the stage, but won‘t stop trying to manipulate everyone around him. When he runs into his first love in a remote seaside town, he loses his grip on reality...

#Booked2022 Title Repeats

Hey reading friends! It‘s March and that means it‘s time to pick up our copies of Margery Sharp‘s title “Four Gardens”. Comment and share your thoughts as you go, if you are so inclined.😃 Anyone not tagged but would like to be, let me know. We‘d love to have you! The group is informal and we only read a title every two months.

#FurrowedMiddlebrowClub

“Say to them, say to the down-keepers, the sun-slappers, the self-soilers, the harmony-hushers, "Even if you are not ready for day it cannot always be night." You will be right. For that is the hard home-run. Live not for battles won. Live not for the-end-of-the-song. Live in the along.”

#ThinkPositiveBePositive

My #Roll100 picks for March 2022. So far I‘ve only managed to read 50% , which is kinda what I expected...😬 Still, the year is young! 🤞

The Amelia Peabody series by Elizabeth Peters is about as close to romance as I can get. 😂 I‘m using this title for the “Hearts and Flowers” prompts for the February #RoaringWolf Reading Challenge, since it did contain a sweet romance amid the murder, adventure and comedy. The Emersons are back in Luxor and the specter of The Master Criminal (not so dead after all maybe?) arises to haunt the family and their archeological adventures.

The February 2022 #20in4 hosted by @Andrew65 has already started! 🥳

My goal is to finish the Amelia Peabody mystery by Monday which is one of my #Roll100 books and I‘m hoping to use it for the February #RoaringWolf challenge as well. 👍

The other two titles I need to get started for #Booked2022 Winter Edition. 🤞

One of my favorite literary sub-genres: the disaster woman narrative. Amy is so lonely, she reads her landlord‘s mail and thinks she has a special relationship with the woman behind the deli counter at the supermarket. Her self delusion is cringeworthy. Just why she had to leave college and is avoiding contact with her family is slowly revealed. Meets #Booked2022 prompt “Set in a hotel” since she works as a chambermaid at a yacht club.

Now that I‘ve completed my two planned #FabulousFebruary books, I‘m jumping into #WeekendReading with four books at once...my usual chaos. 😆

The Elizabeth Peters title is for #Roll100, but the other three are slightly random. I‘m particularly curious about the Betsy Tacy books. I did not encounter them as a child.

I finished my 2nd planned book for #FabulousFebruary . This rare complete text from the 2nd century BCE had an important influence on later writers like Cervantes, Shakespeare, Dickens, etc. and I read it more for its foundational importance in Western lit more than for enjoyment. The stories are often crude and bawdy. Also interesting for its depiction of life under Roman rule and its last chapter about the redemptive powers of the goddess Isis.

#Litsyhumor

Not a great photo but the cover palette reminded me of the bird of paradise. My first completed book for #FabulousFebruary . This was an excellent psychological portrait of an unhappy young woman. When her twin becomes engaged, this separation is a real blow to Cassandra and her sense of self. Published in 1962, it has a timeless quality to it. Only 226 pages, but it packs a lot in and I had to read slowly and carefully.

My #WeekendReading is set!

Only one more day until the week long #FabulousFebruary readathon hosted by @Andrew65 kicks off! I‘m still enjoying Sense & Sensibility with the #PemberLittens and I hope to finish Cassandra at the Wedding by Dorothy Baker and The Golden Ass by Apuleius. Join the fun and let everyone know what you‘ll be reading if you join in!

My FINAL TOB shortlisted book! 🥳 I‘m now officially a completist. Told largely in puns and word play, the book was clever and the translator from the original French deserves all the applause for making it work in English. That said, this was kind of a gimmicky book whose gimmick wore thin for me early on. It reminded me of Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn which is based on a different gimmick which I enjoyed more.

#ToB #Tob2022

I found this pristine 1997 hardcover in a free little library while walking my dog this evening. I‘ve added it to my tiny, rather beat up Vonnegut collection.

I loved this odd book. It‘s a mashup of fact & fiction featuring real life 20th century mathematicians, chemists and physicists and imagining their brush with or full on free fall into madness as a result of trying to access the key of all things; the rules of the universe. The folly of trying to understand the divine leads to disastrous consequences and gives humans access to power they don‘t really understand. I‘m not sure I 100% got it all. 🤯

Like Vinod in this novel, I‘m just glad it is over. 7 adults and a child shelter in place at compound somewhere in the Tri-State area. Hijinks ensue amid the 2020 pandemic with love triangles, parenting woes, nostalgia for the ‘90s and lost youth, the US immigrant experience in the late 20th century, betrayal and affirmation of friendships and commitment, fears about right wing movements... I found it effing exhausting to read. #Tob #Tob2022

These are my two #Roll100 books for February 2022. I‘m fairly sure I will manage the Elizabeth Peters‘ title. Crossing my fingers I can also swing the NK Jemisin. 🤞😬

“Keep your face always toward the sunshine - and shadows will fall behind you.” Walt Whitman

#ThinkPositiveBePositive

Starting off my #20in4 Readathon today rather feebly. I read one chapter in the Shteyngart title and that‘s it. I have a busy Saturday ahead as well, but hopefully will have time on Sunday to read lots! 🤞

A very timely novel which deals in part with George Floyd‘s murder and its aftermath and the early days of the COVID19 pandemic. But more than that, this is Tookie‘s story, just told in a nonlinear fashion. Why is she being haunted by a recently deceased patron of the bookstore where she works? Why can Tookie not relax and accept the love and support offered by those who surround her? That is the mystery at the heart of this novel. #TOB #ToB2022