I‘m continuing with my 2025 #bookspin plan to just post sections of my shelves, with a February theme of pink and red. Plus my bookclub book. Ready for Bookspin day @TheAromaofBooks ! 🙂📚🩶

Sietje got up and left when I tried to get the photo, so you just get her toys today.

I came to really care about these characters and some tears were shed. I think we all know what this is about, it‘s pretty hyped, and I felt like it brought up interesting questions. The main one of course- would you open your box? If I knew what it contained I would not.

I enjoyed this Amy, thank you!

I had not heard of this 111 page book Roxane Gay coauthored last year, but it just showed up in my kindle deal email for 2.99. If you don‘t have a plan yet for #AuthorAMonth in February maybe this is what you‘ve been waiting for?

The link Amazon gave me is too long for a Litsy post, but if you search the book from your account or kindle store you should find it. Enjoy!

(I will add that Hunger is my favorite book by Gay)

I loved the Arc of the Scythe series, so of course I wanted to read this volume of short stories that Neal Shusterman and a few other authors wrote taking place in the Scythe world.

I was surprised that the other authors just co-wrote with Neal, I was hoping for some completely different voices. They all have the feel of the trilogy. But they were mostly enjoyable. The only one I didn‘t like was Perchance to Glean, about dreams.
#doublespin

We‘re halfway through January already #AuthorAMonth readers. I hope you‘re enjoying your time with Dorothy L Sayers.

If you want to start thinking about February you may want to put a hold or order in for your Roxane Gay books. I highly recommend watching some of her interviews at various author events on YouTube as well. I‘ll post links to one or two in February. Happy Reading! 📚🙂❤️

@wanderinglynn Thank you for hosting a birthday giveaway! Happy happy early birthday! The tagged book is on my TBR. 📚🎁🎉 #49bdaygiveaway

We‘re having a snow day in Western North Carolina, and Sietje is rocking her new hoodie.

I‘ve mostly been staying bundled up indoors and reading this latest Wayward Children book. It‘s a stand alone about a water world and Nadya, a Russian orphan who was adopted by an American couple and never felt quite like she had control of her own life until she fell through a pond into another world. SMcG delivers another great novella.

I‘ve got my first book hangover of the year thanks to Idlewild. Once I started it I really never wanted to put it down. The passion and yearning of high school/ teen life, even when you aren‘t sure what the huge yearning feeling is for exactly, combined with such deeply considered characters.

While the ending felt right and very realistic, I did hope for something slightly different.

Best book of the year so far 😆. I did love this.
(Pic-Igor)

I‘m only 3/4 through, but I can feel this one is likely to make my best of list for the year. It‘s kind of exciting to say that this early in January!

I‘ve heard great things about this book. Two folks in my bookclub rated it 5⭐️. Thank you @BookwormAHN ! I loved the festive unicorn paper, and I look forward to enjoying some PB Santa chocolate and reading this Romeo and Juliet reimagining. Great swap package!

Thank you @bookish_wookish for hosting, I love stretching out the holidays like this. 📚❤️😁

What a fun book to start off my reading year! At the grand opening of a new all inclusive resort in the Bahamas, Dan and Mara are horrified when the sun explodes. Not what they expected on their vacation!

There were some twists I definitely didn‘t expect, and it‘s been quite a while since I‘ve read most of a book in one day. It was a good way to pass a cold winter day.

#AuthorAMonth announcement time! Are you ready?!
📣 😁📚

We had a total of 49 participants in #AuthorAMonth in 2024. Wow! We read 295 books. The most read author was Jane Austen. There were 50 readings of her books. Second place was Lauren Groff and Third was Emily St John Mandell.

🥁 And the WINNERS are: 🥁

MOST READ goes to @Eyelit with 30 books read! Congratulations!
⬇️⬇️⬇️

I‘m pleased with this month‘s #bookspin picks 🙂📚. Thanks @TheAromaofBooks !

I know I read this as a kid but I didn‘t really remember it. It was published in the 60s and the language really feels like it. One character‘s favorite line is “oh baloney!” 😆

It‘s a cute middle grade read, low pick for me. I looked up to see if there was a movie made, and there was in the 70s, called The Hideaways.

I feel like it probably inspired A Night at the Museum, but there‘s no magic here, just two kids staying in a museum.

Happy New Year! It‘s time to start our first #AuthorAMonth read of 2025, Dorothy L Sayers. I had actually not heard of her before nominations, so she‘s new to me. Have you chosen your book yet?

Please be sure your 2024 form is complete if you want to be eligible for a prize. I‘ll be announcing winners this Saturday. The link is in a recent post under this book title.

As always let me know if you‘d like to be added to my tag list for 2025.

I embraced #HailTheBail this year, andI plan to continue to do so in 2025. StoryGraph makes it easy to see what I dropped this year, so here are the 📚 that didn‘t work for me.

North Woods took the Best of the Year for me, and here are the rest of my #top24of2024 in no particular order. 😁📚❤️

Hubert Bird moved from Jamaica to England in his early 20‘s, met the girl of his dreams, and started a family. Now in his 80s and living alone, he struggles to make himself leave the house. A young neighbor pulls him out of his shell, and together they decide to address loneliness as a societal issue in their town.

Reminiscent of Ove, beautiful and sad and sweet, with issues such as addiction, estrangement, and loss of family members. Loved it!

Another year of #AuthorAMonth has almost ended. I can‘t believe it. 2025 will be our 7th year of reading authors nominated by and voted on by the Litsy community, celebrating and discovering new authors together!

Please be sure to go edit your AAM google form. I need everyone to do this, because I just looked at the spreadsheet and realized I forgot to ask for your Litsy names! 🤦

https://forms.gle/r6EydHX3GmrfYenA8. ⬇️

This book may change your understanding of what plants are. They can communicate with each other. They can change their chemical makeup to dissuade predators. Some change their appearance to blend in with their neighbors better.

I learned many things, definitely recommend if science and plants and nature are interesting to you.

My January #bookspin list is ready! This year I‘m going to snap photos of different sections of my TBR shelves without picking and choosing. The first 9 here are my Christmas gift books, Obitchuary is my bookclub‘s pick, and the bottom left is my “hardcover multi colored spine” section. 🙂📚❤️ can‘t wait to see what numbers get drawn @TheAromaofBooks

I think I heard about this cozy fantasy on a book riot list. It‘s not quite as good as Legends & Lattes for me, but it‘s a sweet light story. It‘s obviously influenced by The Great British Bake-off, but with Elves, Dwarves, and Magic.

Not something that will stick with me, but a nice light read. There are a few recipes at the end. Might make you crave sweets! 😋

My top read of 2024 was North Woods. It stands out as a one of a kind book.

It‘s been a good reading year. Looking forward to the books 2025 will bring.

Thank you for the bracket graphic @CSeydel 😊📚

I‘ve been dipping into this fascinating book over the last several months, and now I‘m hoping to finish it before the end of the year. Joining you to #ReadOutTheOld @TheAromaofBooks 📚📚📚

#AuthorAMonth readers, we have come to the final week of 2024. Our final week of Terry Pratchett. I hope you‘ve found something you enjoyed by him.

With the New Year we will move on to our January author, Dorothy L Sayers. I‘ll be seeing what my library has by her, how about you?

It‘s also time to finalize your #AAM google form. I will be looking at results and drawing and announcing winners on January 4th. All the rules are on the form ⬇️

This is a case of wanting to start all of these books right now, thank you Holly! I love that they are all from small publishers, and the oddities one doesn‘t even have any Litsy reviews yet so it‘ll be fun posting the first. I‘ll enjoy coloring the tea towels, what a cool project. And the bag did make me laugh, I used to love the little miss books from school book fairs. Pretty sure she was never featured 😆. Merry Christmas! 💚❤️💚

This looks like a cozy end of year read, thank you @Mitch ! What a great card, it definitely made me smile! I‘ll add the patch to one of my book totes. I hope you‘ve had a perfectly peaceful holiday. ❤️💚

What a great holiday collection Amy, thank you so much! I‘m excited for all of these books, and the notepad is really cute. As you can see Venkman was quite interested in the hot chocolate, but I‘m not sharing that or the truffles. The card is gorgeous, so sparkley! Thank you my friend ❤️

Happy Holiday of your choice my Litsy friends!
I‘ve been learning to edit photos to send my clients, and played with these of Venkman and Sietje. (My home is actually not decorated at all this year.)

I hope you all get to enjoy some reading time and your favorite treats today. ❤️💚❤️

What a wonderful #jolabokaflod package! Thank you @Readergrrl 🙂. I love that you sent local chocolate, and the mustache is really fun.

I love bird watching and I‘ve heard this is terrific. Definitely looking forward to reading it. Thank you!

I‘m a bit bummed I didn‘t like this one more. I loved two of her other books. It‘s possible that it‘s because it‘s about a man trying to enact vigilante justice, searching for his sister‘s murderer with plans to kill him. Which sounds like it could be exciting, but I was bored. And I guess I don‘t like the idea of revenge?

Anyway, Venkman is posing for you, wishing you a happy holiday. 🐈‍⬛❤️💚❤️🎄

My #LittleChristmasSwap2024 package has arrived safely. Thank you @BookwormAHN 💚❤️💚 and thank you for organizing @bookish_wookish .

A sweet quick read graphic novel about baking and romance. Igor liked it too 🐱🩵

Another wonderful cozy scifi from Becky Chambers! And with that, I have read everything she has published.

Three strangers of different intergalactic species are trapped at something like a space air BnB when there is a technical glitch with all the planet‘s satellites. The host is gracious, and the characters deal with separate frustrations about being stuck while getting to know each other. About respect for folks different from oneself. 5⭐️

I saw an IG post this morning about keeping certain very favorite books on hand to give to anyone who seems interested when you talk about it. Are there any books like that for you? Do you truly keep copies of them or are they just the books you would do this with if that was your style?

Three books I pick up used copies of whenever I can to hand out to friends tagged in comments. 🙂📚💜

My #Jolabokaflod2024 package has arrived!
Thanks for organizing @MaleficentBookDragon !
Thank you @Readergrrl !

I had fun tracking my #Bookspin books with this graphic this year. I skipped October because of the hurricane. #Bookspin continues to be my favorite challenge. I always look forward to the drawings on the second of the month. Thanks @TheAromaofBooks !

Only two weeks left in 2024? Wow. I hope your time with Terry Pratchett is going well #AuthorAMonth readers!

In case you didn‘t know, there is a Discworld book that‘s Christmasy themed! Hogfather. And there is a movie adaptation, I believe available to watch on YouTube.

Reminders that our first author of 2025 is Dorothy L Sayers, to go to the last post under this book title to get the StoryGraph link, and get on next year‘s tag list.

I‘m making the 2025 Tag list now, please comment below if you would like to stay on or be added to the list I tag for all #AuthorAMonth posts next year.

AND-

The 2025 #AuthorAMonth Challenge on StoryGraph is ready if you like keeping track of things there: https://app.thestorygraph.com/reading_challenges/3fd3a3c4-e3eb-4846-b89e-b9024ac...

I like Soul of an Octopus better than this because the most charming part of Sy‘s books are her anecdotes about her times with the animals. This was more speaking of other folks encounters and while interesting it didn‘t work quite as well for me. That said, there are beautiful photos and plenty of science in here, and if you‘re a cephalopod fan you‘ll probably love it. 🐙

Sietje is trying to be patient about dinner time.

Headed to the Post Office with all of these this morning 🙂. All the things inside are wrapped, so if you end up with one at your house it‘s ok to open the outer package.

In this stack are my #Jolabokaflod24 and #LittleChristmasSwap24.

Beautiful writing but such a sad story! I felt the weaving of timelines was perfect to let me meet all the characters as youngsters and watch them all grow, both generations. Making Agnes the main character really worked for me. At its heart it‘s a story of motherhood and losing a child, that huge grief. The fact of the husband being one of the most famous playwrights isn‘t very important. A story that will stay with me.

Liz Moore hasn‘t disappointed me yet.

A thirteen year old girl disappears from a summer camp, the camp owned by her own wealthy family. Her brother disappeared many years earlier and was never found.

I suspected several different people throughout the book, and was satisfied at the end.

This was my #doublespin for December @TheAromaofBooks 🙂📚♥️

The writing style made it difficult to feel close to any characters, making this a low pick for me. I did like the twisting of the old myth to approach Medusa from her side of the story a bit more. There are a lot of characters (as is appropriate for a mythology retelling) and I didn‘t particularly care for any of them.

My December #bookspin and #doublespin! Thanks @TheAromaofBooks ! Can‘t believe this is the final round of the year. 📚🧡

It‘s December, our final 2024 #AuthorAMonth! Time to pull out our Terry Pratchett books. What are you planning to read?

#AuthorAMonth is a no-pressure, no-commitment Litsy challenge. The goal is to celebrate the works of a particular author each month. Authors were chosen through polls by Litsy participants. Read as many as you like, skip months when needed, it's entirely up to you! ⬇️

Final #Bookspin list of the year! I‘ll definitely be reading 1 and 7 for bookclubs, we‘ll see what else @TheAromaofBooks chooses from her magic bowl of numbers! ❤️💚📚

I think Kingsolver is a very good poet. Has anyone else read and enjoyed this?

My favorite poems were the ones about her time in Italy and those about her family.

Thank you @MemoirsForMe for sending this early this year. I finally got to it. 🙂💚

Just noticed all three of the physical books I am currently reading are published by Harper. Not necessarily something I‘d generally pay attention to, but I have them stacked together and happened to see the labels. All three are good so far!

Heartwarming found family type story with ghosts? Yes apparently that is what I have been looking for lately.

I really liked the characters, and the reveals were satisfying for me.

Sarah Addison Allen is November #AuthorAMonth