#5JoysFriday

1) I‘m temporarily on some meds that allow me to walk the neighborhood again without my back cratering in pain. The neighborhood garden is full of veggies and flowers!
2) I made some fun wall art
3) My new paralegal started working for me this week and she‘s awesome!
4) I wrapped up an awful harassment investigation & the stress lifted from my shoulders
5) My sister is visiting me at my lake house this weekend

@DebinHawaii

Today is Italy‘s Liberation Day from the fascist regime. Join all Italians all weekend long as we celebrate (while also continuing to mourn Pope Frances‘ death). Remember we are celebrating #Jubilee all year long for #foodandlit. Read any good books set in Italy recently? (Photo by my daughter when she was there on April 25 two years ago. She reminded me to make this post!) #Italy #catsandbooks

@wanderinglynn What are you doing to celebrate?

So *raspberries* 😝 to my certain family members who say audiobooks do not count as reading. Penguin says it‘s so.

I‘ve started this audiobook tonight, my third book for #Rwanda #foodandlit @Catsandbooks

I‘ve started my third Kate Quinn book tonight for #authoramonth @Soubhiville

I don‘t think I‘m keen on trying this Rwandan specialty

#Rwanda #foodandlit @Catsandbooks

I love how Cushla is reading out loud the misspellings on the menu!

#Ireland #foodandlit @Catsandbooks

Ebook on sale. Will work for November‘s #foodandlit country #Samoa @Catsandbooks

Today‘s mini story

https://www.instagram.com/p/DIrNqDVR71C/?igsh=NmF1emswOGRuaXBl

Great quotes. First, I love that the main character Angel, the cake maker, is going through the “change.” The doctor asked Angel if she‘s flashing! Poor Angel she‘s flashing all the time. I feel for her!

And second, don‘t you just love the name Dr Rejoice?

#foodandlit #Rwanda @Catsandbooks

Doing a little crafting while listening to this book

#foodandlit #Rwanda @Catsandbooks

Ebook on sale today. I loved this book

Rome turns 2778 years old on April 21. Not part of Italy‘s Jubilee celebrations but definitely part of #foodandlit‘s all year celebration of all things Italian. #Jubilee. Throw a Roman birthday party this Monday!

More info here: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DIcFUz5MA9b/?igsh=ZzFvM2d0MTV2dGk5

First page. A lot of the first paragraph is relevant although I‘m fortunate not to have had PCOS.

I lost 10 pounds the last two weeks!! I‘m hoping the loss wasn‘t because of the stress I was under. But I‘ve been tweaking my diet a lot, so maybe?

This book was referred to me by my gynecologist. So I‘ve started reading it today. If you spend the extra $ to buy the spiral bound you get the hard-bound book with holes punched in it. Ugh. But it does lay flat.

#5joysFriday

1) I spent last weekend with my crafty friends
Work was really rough this week so I‘m going with the joys coming up!
2) Easter weekend
3) My new paralegal starts next Wednesday and we are getting her office set up—I think she‘ll be a great addition to my team
4) Flying to AZ to pick up son from university for the summer (hopefully I can come see @dabbe on one of these trips)
5) Daughter is graduating university a month from now

Happy Piñata Day!!

I‘m going to give this book a try as my next #authoramonth book. @Soubhiville

Obviously this is a hard book to read. I‘m just not in the right head space right now to read it. So I‘m going to mark it unread rather than bailed (it doesn‘t deserve a bad rating because I‘m not up to reading it now). I need something a lot lighter. So I‘ll find another book that might work better for me now. #Rwanda #foodandlit @Catsandbooks

I read 27 of them. Not bad I think. Definitely some favorites in there and one I despised and bailed on. My favorites were The Count of Monte Cristo, Lonesome Dove, and Rebecca. I hated The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. I want to read A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. #tlt #threelistThursday @dabbe

Want to play? @Julsmarshall @Bookwormjillk

See link in the original post from @dabbe

I‘ve read a lot about this genocidal massacre but I didn‘t know that there were warnings ahead of time. I‘ve barely started this book and it‘s already overwhelming

And to finish the quote above, the Hutus who sympathized with the Tutsis were among the first murdered

#foodandlit #Rwanda @Catsandbooks

5+ stars! Seven authors each write in sequence from the viewpoints of different people about Rome‘s occupation of Britain, and the attempt of a queen of one of the tribes to force them out. Queen Boudica did exist; her story was told by the Roman historians. But this book follows other characters (one per author): another queen, a slave (Boudica‘s husband‘s illegitimate daughter), a Roman tribune, a Druid, a son of an important character, ⬇️

In 1899, Jeremy is in Rwanda overseeing building a railroad when two lions begin killing the workers (like the Ghost and the Darkness if you‘ve seen the movie or heard about the true story). In 2000, Max, a young woman with Aspbergers, is looking for a plant that could be the basis for a new life-saving drug in the mountains of Rwanda. Their stories are told alternately. And how they are intertwined will come as a complete surprise at the end ⬇️

#foodandlit #Rwanda @Catsandbooks

My next audiobook

#foodandlit #Rwanda @Catsandbooks

My next ebook on my tbr forever. #foodandlit #Rwanda @Catsandbooks

This book is astounding, written by 7–SEVEN-authors, about Queen Boudica‘s rebellion against Rome in Britain. Review to come. But in the Author‘s Notes, I thought it amazing that one of the authors gives so much credit to our #authoramonth Kate Quinn! I‘m so glad I read this book; it‘s a keeper (which means I‘ll have to buy a copy). I wouldn‘t have read it but for #authoramonth but I also needed it for #letterY for #litsyatoz. It‘s extraordinary.

Ebook is on sale right now for $1.99

https://rb.gy/ylwf61

#foodandlit #Italy #Jubilee

Fun #foodandlit fact:

“Mizero Ncuti Gatwa is a Rwandan-born Scottish actor who plays the 15th Doctor in the British sci-fi series Doctor Who.” Courtesy of Wikipedia

Watch an episode for #Rwanda!

A sad passing.

Getting kitty biscuits while listening to the tagged book, which is fantastic. #authoramonth @Soubhiville #litsyatoz #LetterY

I really like the last one. Good enough is perfect.

All the best laid plans…

Care tasks are morally neutral. Being good or bad at them has nothing to do with being a good person, parent, man, woman, spouse, friend. Literally nothing. You are not a failure because you can‘t keep up with laundry. Laundry is morally neutral.

I started this ebook today.

#5joysFriday

1) Mom and Dad are safe after a brush fire at their home
2) I went to a cute bookstore in a small TX town
3) My book order arrived from NYRB
4) A friend bought a round of ice cream for girlfriends Thursday night
5) I made super cute bee cards on Friday at my crafty retreat

@DebinHawaii

📚🥰

Starting my craft retreat weekend tonight with some girlfriends. One of them is an avid reader like me. She treated us with ice cream or gelato and we shared our current books. It‘s like a crafting and read-your-own book club while ignoring your diets kind of weekend.

I‘m in a small Texas town of Pleasanton today and tomorrow working with a client. In this town is a little bookstore!! I had a little extra time today so I checked it out. It‘s a year old and the owners‘ parents were running it for them so they could attend a book conference. Only new books and a decent selection. The best thing were a number of complete sets and a good selection of classics. And it appeared to host a LOT of book-related events.

This ibook s fascinating. The female main character is a scientist in the 2000s with Asperger‘s, so her parts of the story describe how she approaches the world so differently. For example, when she entered a room she only looked at the people‘s feet because faces are too chaotic for her to handle. I find her story so compelling. I‘m not quite into the 1899 part of the story yet but I‘m thinking the male MC may have a mild form of “aspies.” ⬇️

I‘m way behind reading this book for #Ireland #foodandlit. But geez when I started this chapter, I decided NOT to try this allegedly Irish meal: “a fish-finger sandwich soggy with melted butter and malt vinegar”

No thanks.

I bought these two translations from the nyrb booksale (thanks to @TheBookHippie for letting us know about the sale) for #Rwanda #foodandlit @Catsandbooks

Modeled after the United Nations memorial installed in September 2024. The “Kwibuka Flame of Hope” remembers (“Kwibuka means “to remember” in the Kinyarwanda language”) the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi where one million people were killed due to ethnic tensions. The flame, being a statue, additionally represents the permanence and immortality of the tribute. (by my daughter Ariel)

#foodandlit #Rwanda @Catsandbooks

Super easy instructions here:

https://action.everylibrary.org/what_do_i_do_if_i_don_t_like_a_book_at_the_libra...

An 1899 map of Africa

#Rwanda #foodandlit @Catsandbooks