I don‘t read many celebrity memoirs. Dowloaded during an insomnia bout and got hooked. I‘m a huge Somebody Somewhere fan. Hiller‘s memoir is sweet and funny, and a riff on celebrity memoirs. A nice contrast to all the dark books I‘ve been reading.

New book for this week. A hundred pages and I‘m sucked in. For my IRL book club! Set in Nazi Germany.

A day late…2025 was a terrible reading year for me. That said, what I did read I loved. My top 3 were 1. Playground by Richard Powers. Absolutely loved. 2. Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles. So beautiful and heartbreaking too. 3. Last of the year. Ut not least: Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones. Oof. All 3 will stick with me for a long time. And also,have to mention I finally read Lonesome Dove. Loved. Will read more McMurtry!

This chunkster is a soft pick. Powerful generational story of a predominately Black family with Native American and white ancestors woven in. Storyline of the early family members is incredible, as is the modern day one. But dang, this beautiful, heartbreaking and hopeful novel needed an editor! Too many details, words, on the less than interesting love life of one of the young modern female characters. #chunksterchallenge2026. #bookspin

Last 2025 read. A violent, deeply uncomfortable 5 star read. Not a regular horror reader but love SGJ. Set in present day, late 1800s, early 1900s. Men are being skinned in Blackfeet country. A strange Indian begins showing up to tell his story to a pastor and to ultimately force a confession from the pastor. The Blackfeet is a vampire out to bring justice to the white men who slaughtered his people and the buffalo. Who is the real monster?

So psyched to see so many Littens joining Storygraph! My handle is the same as my Litsy handle.

I‘m back on active #BookspinBingo. Here is my board. My #Bookspin is The Love Songs of W.E.B. Dubois and #Doublespin is Kevin Young‘s poems Night Watch. I‘m gonna get a bingo this month. That rarely happens! @TheAromaofBooks

Finished cleaning a freezer out and am now getting some downtime. Oh SGJ, I will read just about anything you write. About 2/3 through and feel on the edge of my seat, making audible exclamations at the pub. This is his best since The Only Good Indians. And I‘m not even a horror aficiando.

I went into a rabbit hole on Hudson Super-Sixes, the car that the Joads convert. It was an early version, probably a 1926, pictured here intact and not turned into a truck! They used a 1926 in the movie. #hashtagebrigade @BarkingMadRead

Finished in the camper. These short stories are a lot to take in and devastating in many ways. My favorite, the longest of the stories, is Negosios. Most of the stories are clearly autobiographical. All are about the Dominican immigrant experience. Negocios is tdd from the POV of a son whose father left for the U.S. planning (or claims) to bring his family after earning money. He starts a second family. Diaz pulls no punches. #doublespin

I finished it on the banks of the Kern River after coming through the Sequoia Monument and National Forest. I didn‘t like it as much as The Boy in a Suitcase, which was such a twisty ride. But I loved the window into Roma culture in Hungary, the discrimination and challenges they have long faced. And the window into the immigrant backlash in Scandinavia. Will read the whole series!

My #bookspin and #doublespin books for November. Maybe a bingo is in my future. Already started Invisible Murder.

This spooky cloud reminded me of a Ku Klux out of the fabulous novella Ring Shout. Happy Halloween!

This spooky cloud reminded me of a Ku Klux out of the fabulous novella Ring Shout. Happy Halloween!

Absolutely love this collection. More than I expected. Traveling for 6 weeks with my nearly 14 year old border collie. Despite have significantly slowed down he still loves a road trip! I liked that the poems were not saccharine. And the pen and ink drawing throughout are wonderful.

On the road for two more weeks-6 weeks total!- so must resort to my terrible handwriting. Many of the longer books on the list are half-read, have been languishing on my TBR during the worst reading slump in a decade. I‘ve gotten my mojo back on this trip!! @TheAromaofBooks #bookspinbingo

The best book of the the year for me.
Made me cry a few times. I love Richard Powers. Themes of human and animal consciousness, peril and possibilities of AI, protecting culture, friendship and betrayal, and beauty of the ocean. Will be thinking on this one for days. As a kid who grew up near the ocean and would have been a marine biologist had I been better at math, this novel really resonated with me.

A lovely week on a road trip. Things that brought me joy:

1. My dog Jackson. Even nearly 14 he loves a road trip.
2. Hanging on a Lake Tahoe beach on a warm sunny October day.
3. Seeming to have kicked my reading slump that had gone on for months.
4. A camp fire.
5. Morning coffee in the trailer.
Lucky to be able to do a trip like this. #5JoysFriday @DebinHawaii

As usual, I loved the latest novel from our hometown author. Jess knows this topic and country. He grew up near where he sets Kinnick‘s cabin. And he was one of the reporters on the ground who covered Randy Weaver and Ruby Ridge. He wrote a book called Every Knee Shall Bow. He worked at the Spokesman-Review, along with my ex-husband who was the North Idaho political reporter and had to cover the Aryan Nation craziness in the late 90s.

Trailer. Dog. Ball. Fire. And Mary Oliver‘s Dog Songs. My Jackson loves road trips and fires. Doing damn good for being nearly 14! Listening to coyotes not far from camp. At Washoe State Campground near Carson City NV. So quiet and peaceful. Only an hour‘s drive to Lake Tahoe. Highly recommend at least in the shoulder season! And if you are a dog person, highly recommend Dog Songs!

I love Towles‘ writing and imagery. Loved this novel and the characters. However, 4 stars rather than 5….the ending didn‘t completely land for me. As I am on a month long road trip, it was a good choice! And one of those novels I started this year and hadn‘t finished, only because of my epic reading slump.

My #weekendreads and #hyggehour. On a meandering road trip, currently outside of Reno.
Last night was at Feather River Hotsprings. Getting back to a half-read Lincoln Highway which I‘m absolutely loving. Loving Mary Oliver‘s Upstream as my quiet book. And could not put down The Boy in the Suitcase. Enjoying Invisible Murder, 2nd in the series. Enjoying the backdrop of life for Hungarian Romas.

A 5 star mystery for me! Kept me guessing, great characters and backdrop. And a window into the trafficking of Eastern Europeans. Perfect book for traveling shotgun when there is great scenery and then less great scenery…short chapters! On to the next in this 4 book series!

A nice view to enjoy while diving into Mary Oliver‘s essays. Staying near Mt Lassen National Park. Enjoying so far!

#5JoysFriday. So much gratitude. Love seeing even mild northern lights from our North Idaho houseboat. Love my 13 year old border collie still rocking it. Had great neighbors over for a salmon dinner. Watched a mother Robin hunker down on her nest and protect her babies from a raucous windstorm. Reconnected with Litsy. @DebinHawaii

Loving hometown author Jess Walter‘s newest novel. Set in country he knows well and I know well. Retired newspaper reporter works to save his grandkids and daughter from a right wing religious militia group. Funny, sad and well drawn characters.

I‘ve been canning, roasting and processing tomatoes and peppers the past couple of days so am behind! Here is my list: such a close call since reading SHJ‘s Mongrels!! But still vampires, Thriller! Salted caramel. Scary costume. Pumpkin Patch. Sweaters and fuzzy socks go together! Both! Corn Maze. Hallloween Party. #deadserious @TheAromaofBooks @AmandaBlaze

My October #bookspin Bingo list is focused on books I started but I‘d not finish me some mysteries. Let‘s tackle TBR! Also for #Hauntedshelf. Looking forward to joining #DeadSerious! @TheAromaofBooks @OriginalCyn620

I enjoy castaway survival stories. And I love Grann‘s writing. This did not disappoint.

First time read for me. Loving it. Steinbeck vibes.

Looking forward to diving into some Mary Oliver and finishing up my history on Robert the Bruce! Still reading Scottish history from my last vacation. #bookspin #doublespin #bookspinbingo @TheAromaofBooks

Really getting into this gripping account of shipwreck, mutiny, murder and castaways. The perfect book to take along on our first adventure on a lake with our new houseboat! 😂😂😬😬😬😳

A reread for me and loved it has much as the first time. I grew up in a timber town really ravaged by Weyerhaeuser and other companies. Clearcut watersheds, doused with 2,4 D, unsustainable logging and then the layoffs and unemployment, and all the social ills that come with that. I knew first hand many of the incidents and people that inspired actions and characters in the book. And damn, I just love trees! Such a poetic book.

My barely legible #bookspin list. Back on the bandwagon. @TheAromaofBooks

Loved exploring this used bookshop in Pitlochry. We picked up an old history book on the Inner Hebrides. We absolutely loved exploring these magical islands.

Headed to Edinburgh today from Pitlochry Scotland. Recommendations in Edinburgh for a bookish person? Photo is of the ruins of the nunnery on the Isle of Iona. What a beautiful and special place to visit.

An interesting read about the development of Herceptin, one of the newer cutting edge immunotherapy cancer drugs for women like me who have HER-2 positive breast cancer. I was struck how ego, aggressive competition can spur scientific breakthroughs. Nonetheless I declined chemo and Herceptin 2 plus years ago. Did surgery and radiation which went really well. I remain in remission but know I have a high likelihood of it returning. ⬇️

One of the best memoirs I‘ve read in a long time. Sinclair tells her story of growing up in Jamaica under an increasingly abusive Rastafarian father and difficult circumstances. Her tenacity, poetry, writing and her mother forged her escape. I knew nothing of the founding and tenets of the Rasta religion before reading this memoir.

Exploring Loreto Baja and visited this lovely little bookstore, Caballo Blanco. Planning to sit in the nextdoor coffee shop and catch up on tagged book! And noting it‘s time to reread Steinbeck‘s Log of the Sea of Cortez, his funny, descriptive and moving journal of traveling by boat with his good friend Ed Rickets from San Fran, down Baja coast and up the Sea of Cortez in the mid-40s.

One of my #weekendreads. Hmmm…not sure about this one yet. My read on the plane to Baja! @rachelsbrittain

Did not immediately grab me, but loved the latter part of the book and it is staying withe me. Beautiful writing. Almost like a group of short stories collected around a place and a house from Puritan times to modern day. I wrote my college senior thesis on perceptions/views of wilderness in early colonized America. Synopsis: don‘t believe everything the 2nd generation Puritans wrote, and Roderick Nash got some things wrong. 👇

Getting some quiet time with this collection before meeting up with people. Oh, Cherie Dimalene, I didn‘t need a horror story about ticks this week. We are having a bad tick year where I live and pulled 4 off my dog. And I‘ve had Lymes! But I am enjoying this collection! Just be lucky there is no tick Emoji! 😳😬😳😬

A soft pick for me. Brilliant in its structure with the story of a tycoon and his wife told from 4 different perspectives. Just so…much…..finance.

My messily written Boobspin list. #Bookspin @TheAromaofBooks

Hmmm….I need to think about this one more. Soft pick but might grow on me more. Very ambiguous ending. About grief, anger, feeling on the outside because of economic background, cultural background, temperment, and evil evil Alexa-like devices. I did take several Mexican-Indigenous/American authors with me on vacation, and enjoying the overlaps. Vampires of El Norte and tagged both feature cucuys, the Spanish/Mexican boogeyman.

Thanks for the tag @AnnR ! Gardening and watching Star Trek with my Dad. Baking with my mom. And traveling with both of the . I hope I‘m remembered for contributing to river and fisheries restoration efforts. Just started tagged yesterday….is it a take on the Sackler family? Intrigued. @Eggs #wondrouswednesday

I suspect this won‘t be everyone‘s cup of tea as a slow-paced novel. I have a serious book hangover though. Beautiful writing. 5 stars for me. A servant girl flees the colony Jamestown in the 1600s and makes her way through the land. A contemplation on survival and death, and strangely uplifting.

Loving this pyschological horror book. Beware of Alexa! And how lovely to read a horror book with the daily vulture who comes to the pool at our Mexican rental house. We‘ve had black vultures, turkey vultures, tropical king birds and a snake all come for a drink.

I love Roz Chast and her off-the-wall humorous New Yorker cartoons. This collection was just okay for me, mostly because I‘m not particularly fond of listening to descriptions of dreams. But some funny ones for sure.

I loved the setting: 1840s northern Mexico (current south Texas), Rancheros defending their land, cattle and lives from the Yanquis working to take over. And vampires! And insight into the class hierarchies and treatment of women. And deep love between a working vaquero and a daughter of a Patron. But I don‘t read romances and these veered too much that way for me. So me, not the book.