Yet another strong collection of poetry. This selection was excellent. This is my last one of these anthologies that I‘ve checked out from the library. The next one I read will be one of the stack of eight that I purchased online. I highly recommend this series if you love poetry. I‘ve discovered so many new to me poets in this series. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️!! #poetry

I. Focus. Sometimes I feel so fragmented.
II. Self doubt and unhelpful criticism.
III. I‘m not sure I would describe it as a “win”, but leaving my abusive ex while fighting for and then managing to keep full custody of our sons is probably the thing I‘m proudest of doing.

Anyone else want to play? Consider yourself tagged! 🌺

#WondrousWednesday @Eggs

I wasn‘t really sure how to rate this. Like some of the other reviewers, I too feel like it was too short. The narration felt a little less polished than I would‘ve preferred. That said, it was a feel good quick story to listen to while I was prepping dinner tonight, so I‘m giving it a soft pick. #romantsy

I enjoyed this one. It was a nice & easy read, chock full of poems with interesting characters and stories. I read it in one sitting. It kinda reminded me of some of the poems that Billy Collins has written. #poetry

This made me think and reconsider a bit. I‘ve spent so many years trying to escape my upbringing, but maybe there‘s something there that I could come home to, even if it‘s not so much my biological family as it could be perhaps the food or the plants and land or something along those lines. Definitely something to think about. I did really enjoy this cookbook. While I won‘t purchase it, it was really nice to read about the author‘s life.

For me, this is a #borrownotbuy. That said, it looks like it has some incredibly interesting spice/seasoning ideas in it, several of which I plan on trying. I hadn‘t thought of putting a spicy blend on a fruit salad, for example, but I think it sounds like a great idea. I picked this up from the library because of the author‘s recipe for peanut butter noodles, but that recipe isn‘t actually in this book. I loved the stories he shared throughout.

The pictured page is the page I‘m most excited about. I love when cookbooks teach you how to create your own recipes, rather than just teaching you how to make theirs. Overall, this book was a #borrownotbuy for me. I loved the snippets of stories included with each recipe. I loved the photos too. However, most of the recipes were too far out of my comfort zone, so there were few I think I‘d actually make. Still, this was a solid book. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️!

1. Nothing exciting for me. My coworker‘s daughter, however, is having her baby this week, so it‘s likely that I‘ll cover one of her shifts so she can be at the birth.
2. The view of the oak tree in my front yard. It‘s a couple weeks into growing its leaves for the season, and it‘s beautiful.
3. I‘m in the US, and it‘s supposed to 83 here today. (28 C)
4. Tagged one of them.

#motivationalMonday @Cupcake12

I just started both of these today. So far, they‘re both great! I‘m really enjoying them. #weekendreads @rachelsbrittain

This cookbook is so inspiring! There‘s a great section on pantry items to keep on hand, another section on what tools to consider investing in and then there‘s this page: the author‘s favorite albums to listen to while cooking. On the previous page there is even a QR code that takes you to the author‘s Spotify account, where she makes a playlist for cooking most months. This is such a cool book!

I couldn‘t help making a grid collage of some of the images in this cookbook. The photographer did an amazing job! This cookbook is a joy to flip through! 🥰 #cookbooks #saladlove #salads

#LitsyHumor 🤣

#DeweysReadathon is today! I‘m off today, so it‘s perfect timing. To anyone who‘s participating, have fun!! 📚📚📚

#readathon

I finished this just before I had to start getting ready for work this morning. While I really liked it, it did seem to wrap up a bit too neatly to be believable. However, let‘s face it: if I wanted a believable story line, I‘m not sure that I‘d go with a Maas book. That said, I really enjoyed this series, even at the same time that I‘d kinda like to mock parts of it with someone else who‘s read it and enjoyed it too. What can I say? A mixed bag.

I love this. #quotes #librariansrock #Ilovelibraries 📚❤️

1. The Princess Bride
2. When Harry Met Sally
3. Kiki‘s Delivery Service

This was tough! I could‘ve listed so many more!
#TLT @dabbe

It‘s funny, because it‘s true!

To add to that, I started ACOTAR a year or two ago. I read the first book with the intention of reading the others. Now, I‘m almost finished the third book in the Crescent City series, and I‘m considering picking up ACOTAR and continuing where I left off. The only thing is that I can‘t remember the characters or the plot. The struggle is real! lol

#Litsyhumor

My holds came in at the library today! So excited! 😊 📚💕

#LitsyHumor 🤣

I really like this. #quotes

This was a strong collection. I‘ve now read several of these anthologies, and I highly recommend them. I‘m loving them so much that I purchased eight different years of these anthologies on eBay, because my library only had a few of them, and I‘ve checked them all out now. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️!!

#poetry

lol #LitsyHumor 🤣

I really enjoyed most of this book. I felt like it dragged a bit in the middle, but I kept at it. Overall, I give it a solid 4⭐️. I think, if I didn‘t already have the 3rd book in the series, I‘d have been irritated at it ending in a cliffhanger. So, if you‘re invested in the story, get the 3rd book too, because you won‘t want to stop reading here.

The pic is of some of my crystal collection. Totally unrelated, but still cool! 💕

1. Get X-rays done on my foot & go to the grocery store. Both done today!

2. There is no average for me on this one, since I‘m quite a moody reader. Some days, hours. Other days, ten minutes. It really would be difficult to average.

3. Poetry or nonfiction.

#MotivationalMonday

“The song I still am looking for
is a song without words my favorite
kind lately not because words
are precious and not because I live
already in them even though
they are and I do”

Mark Bibbins

This is a strong poem/collection of poems. It‘s a loose collection of segments that combine to make a larger poem. The theme is the AIDS crisis in the US and the author‘s loss of a close friend/lover. Some of what I chose to view as humor was very dark. I‘m still not sure if I was supposed to laugh in those instances or not. TW for death and some graphic stuff relating to dying of AIDS. Overall, I highly recommend this one. It was very well done.

Inspired by my current read, I painted my nails in Quinlan today. The color is this beautiful hot pink. This might be my new favorite nail polish color. #bookadjacent #inspiredbyabook

I liked this one. It‘s been really slow at work today, so I was able to finish it while here. Normally that‘s not an option, but it was a pretty cool perk today. I wish I‘d brought two books with me, because I‘ve still got hours to go! #poetry

Most of my favorite bookmarks over the years have been found. Receipts, scraps of leftover card stock, postcards, etc. This is a pic of this week‘s bookmark. It‘s my favorite right now. #FoundBookmarks #bookmarks

I don‘t really think this was a strong collection of poems. Her later books are much stronger. I flew through this one. It was only 69 pages, and the lines were all fairly short, but I can‘t say I really enjoyed the experience. Definitely a so-so and a #borrownotbuy. #poetry

I liked this, but it was a soft pick for me, and I don‘t think I will ever seek it out to reread it. If I‘d read this one of her books first, I wouldn‘t have been so quick to purchase five others. Ultimately, I don‘t think it was memorable. It‘s not a bad book of poems. It‘s not that. It‘s just that her other books were stronger. #poetry

I loved this selection of poems! Excellently curated and my favorite of the series so far. These came out after 45 was elected, and the criticism of him is strong in all of the political pieces. I loved every word of them. They were well thought out pieces that challenged readers to actually stop and think. I‘m definitely going to check out Major Jackson‘s poems, as his selection in this issue was amazing!
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️!! #poetry

I liked it. I didn‘t love it. There were some poems that were joys for me to read, but there were others where I didn‘t see the point in reading them. To me, the selection was uneven, but maybe that‘s because I have certain types of poems I enjoy reading, and some of these poems felt outside of my preferences. As it is, I‘m glad I checked it out from the library, as it was through this book that I discovered Elaine Equi. Recommended! ⭐️⭐️⭐️!!

My copy of this book was chewed up during package processing on its way to me. Thankfully, the pages were all still intact, and this gouge just adds character! Haha as for the book itself, I really enjoyed these poems. I‘d never heard of Elaine Equi until I picked up a copy of The Best American Poetry where she was the guest editor. I‘ve now read three of her books and loved them all. Her lines are often short, but she says so much in them. 5⭐️!!

I enjoyed this book. It had some really interesting information about Japanese culture. I liked learning more about traditional Japanese values and their way of life. I‘m also going to try several of the recipes included in it. That said, I don‘t think I‘d like to own a copy of this. For me, it‘s a #borrownotbuy. I‘m glad I got it from the library.

1. Yes. When I closed the coffee shop the night before April Fool‘s Day, I hid most of the coffee pots behind boxes of shipment in the kitchen. My coworker opened the store the following morning and was freaking out when she couldn‘t brew all the pots she was supposed to brew. I made sure that, even though I wasn‘t working, I had another coworker in on the joke. He was instructed to only let her freak out for 10-15 minutes before telling her ⬇️

1. A doctor‘s appointment. I‘m really nervous about it, since doctors scare me. Trying to be chill about it, but it‘s tough.

2. I‘m not really sure. There are so many good ones. I do really love Belle, but I‘m not sure she‘s my favorite.

3. The flowers blooming.

#MotivationalMonday @Cupcake12

This was a wild ride! I‘m in it for the next book! So glad I picked up all three using my stockpile of Audible credits. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️!

This is the second Elaine Equi book I‘ve read this week. I liked the first one so much that I picked up this one as well. I didn‘t love all of them, but I really enjoyed most of them, and I got a lot of ideas for my own work as well as a list of words to try out that I don‘t think I‘ve used in my own work yet. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️!! #poetry

I bought an ex-library copy of this book when my library didn‘t have a copy. I loved it. So good. Highly recommended! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️!! #poetry

This one is a soft pick for me. The main reason I gave it a pick instead of a so-so is that I feel that, by its being almost simplistic at times, it makes me feel like I don‘t have to set the bar so high for myself and my poetry. Sometimes I don‘t even bother trying to write, because I feel like I can‘t possibly measure up. A book like this one makes me feel like it‘s okay to just get it down, in whatever form that takes. Recommended! #poetry

This was a quick book to flip through. It had nice glossy pages and lots of photos for such a slim volume. I enjoyed it to an extent, but I didn‘t really learn anything new. Maybe I need to face the fact that I already know what I need to do. Maybe it‘s time to stop reading about organizing and clutter clearing and actually do it. For me, this was a firm #borrownotbuy, and I‘m glad I checked it out from the library instead of purchasing it. 3⭐️!

I think this book was fairly mediocre. It didn‘t really have much (if any) new information in it, and I can‘t say I enjoyed it. I read it through to the end, but that was more stubbornness on my part than it was enjoyment. I‘m glad I checked it out from the library instead of purchasing it, since it was definitely a #borrownotbuy. Also, why did the author hate the color grey so much? She went on about it at least three times! I love grey! 🩶!!

The more things you crowd into your life, the less life you have room for in your life.

Today‘s library stack. I went in for one book, but what can I say? I was unsupervised in the stacks! 🤣📚❤️ #librarylove

Wow, this is actually really cool. I followed @TheBookHippie and took the quiz after I saw her result. Love this.

I enjoyed this almost as much as Bonfire Opera. Her poetry is gentle and moving and honest. Sometimes, it is also so sad. TW for death of a child. #poetry 🤍

I really enjoyed this book. I loved its slow pace, loved the quirky characters and also the way that the book seemed to meander. It was a really enjoyable low-key read. Apparently, I really enjoy Japanese literature, because this isn‘t the first one I‘ve enjoyed. Do any of you have any Japanese books or authors you‘d recommend? 📚 💕 I give this one ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️!! #52BookClub24

#52BookClub24 #3 More than 40 chapters. @BarbaraBB, @Kristy_K, @LaraReads, @KarenUK, @Hooked_on_books, @BarkingMadRead, @brittanyreads, @Magpiegem, @BookBelle84, @Larkken, @jenniferw88, @Deblovestoread, @MidnightBookGirl, @Librarybelle, @triplem80, @Tove_Reads, @Read4life, @Bluebird, @eeclayton, @hissingpotatoes, @Book_Lover95, @TheAromaofBooks, @Graciouswarriorprincess, @OriginalCyn620, @Crazeedi, @Kelly_the_Bookish_Sidekick, @Branwen, @kwmg40,

I need a NF recommendation for item 39 of the #52BookClub24 challenge. It can be any NF book that you enjoyed or that you think I‘d enjoy. I don‘t read books with violence or triggering subject matter, so no true crime or memoirs with brutal topics, but other than that, anything goes. Have fun with it! Thanks in advance! :)