“Leaving Angkor, he took a motodop to see the sunset at Ta Prohm—the next temple on the tourist trail, and the one that had loomed largest in his mind for twenty years. It was renowned for the way the jungle trees had grown into its fabric, the serpentine roots of silk-cottons and strangler figs draping themselves over its columns and pediments, worming tendrils deep into their fissures until root and stone were inseparable.”

Pic from internet

I‘m reading another book for #foodandlit for #Cambodia. It‘s gotten very dark, and so, needing something lighter and available from the library, I started this ebook tonight. It seems pretty dark as well. Alas a difficult country to read about. @Butterfinger @Kelly_the_Bookish_Sidekick

A great idea over on instagram

Second #wordoftheday

“They upended furniture, pulled out drawers, and scattered their contents. A bed grated painfully as it was dragged across the floor. They flipped it over and the slats came clattering onto the tiles—like the sound of a giant roneat being dismantled and shattered.”

#wordoftheday

“Though Amos stayed silent, Fearless sensed a new softness and thoughtfulness to his diffidence.”

#foodandlit #Cambodia @Butterfinger @Kelly_the_Bookish_Sidekick

#foodandlit #Cambodia @Butterfinger @Kelly_the_Bookish_Sidekick

#wordoftheday

“Amos reached down and locked forearms with him. Fearless gripped back, his thumb pressing a tattoo of a caduceus.”

My next audiobook for #auldlangspine @LeafingThroughLife @monalyisha

Good advice

#foodandlit #Cambodia @Butterfinger @Kelly_the_Bookish_Sidekick

“Rhombuses of gold along the street announced beer gardens, around which motodops congregated like geckos.”

#foodandlit #Cambodia @Butterfinger @Kelly_the_Bookish_Sidekick

Greed drives Cordelia‘s mother to find wealthy men for each to marry. But her cruel extreme-helicoptering of Cordelia has made her meek and naive, lacking almost all understanding of the world, even the fact that dear mom is a powerful sorceress. So when Mom latches on to a squire, Cordelia enters into the world of the wealthy—servants and the circle of elderly friends of the squire‘s sister. For the first time, she has friends and privacy. ⬇️

Second #wordoftheday

“Rainbow soap bubbles made an orrery around the children as they lathered themselves into creatures of white foam, then sloshed and rinsed till they were glistening brown seals.”

#foodandlit #Cambodia @Butterfinger @Kelly_the_Bookish_Sidekick

#wordoftheday

“A little farther: the fraying edge of a royal blue sampot.”

#foodandlit #Cambodia @Butterfinger @Kelly_the_Bookish_Sidekick

Even though you know how the plot is supposed to end, it still takes you by surprise! Princess Marra, now almost a nun, sets out to save her sister married to a brutal prince. She completes magical tasks and hooks up with an insane entourage—all of whom bring something special to the group, and yet in no way could possibly pull off their plan. And they meet up with some creepy characters along the way, too. Other than Marra‘s excessive ⬇️

Fourth book finished for the year. Review to come.

Great author of magical tales! So glad for #authoramonth introducing me to her!

@Soubhiville

#litsyAtoZ #letterN

When her closest friend Finn becomes a monk, Aleys pours all her love into God. Not wanting to be a nun, but seeking a life of pure devotion, she decided to be the female version of a Franciscan friar. For lack of an appropriate place for her, she‘s forced against her will to live with the beguines, who had an awful reputation in Brugges. These lay women devoted their lives to somewhat monastic life but much freer than nuns. When she begins ⬇️

Gen X: I learned to make salisbury steak as a teen, and the family still loves it to this day! I loved chocolate Carnation breakfast bars. They were my breakfast in high school. Sadly no longer around. When I was really little, my go-to cereal was Sugar Smacks! I would love having those again. Mom would pour a bunch in an empty glass mayonnaise jar for long car trips to eat dry as snacks. Mmm mmm good!

@Doll8455 What foods did you love as a kid?

Last #wordoftheday

Squeezing all these in before my library loan automatically returns my book!

“In the future, from Rome, he will wonder at what happened next. Robed men will ask him. He won‘t be sure, and the doubt will puncture his days and tatter his nights. For what he saw is not what others saw, and the paths that diverge from that moment are antipodal, inconceivable, cannot be held together. He saw what he saw. Others saw more.”

Fourth #wordoftheday

This is a lovely use of the word:

“Cecilia tries to coax some vigor from the desultory fire with the hand bellows.”

Third #wordoftheday

“He draws in a breath and holds it like a discipline. His discernment, his judgment, his duty to protect his order from charlatans are all held in this breath.”

Second #wordoftheday

“He was mesmerized by the geometric patterns of those tiles—an infinity of tessellated shapes and stipples.”

#foodandlit #Cambodia @Butterfinger @Kelly_the_Bookish_Sidekick

#wordoftheday

“Fearless felt a sense of pride observing Alyosha working his way through the well-wishers. Avuncular yet stern, understanding what each of them needed: an arm around the shoulder, a clip on the ear, a glance, a wink, a back-slapping embrace.”

#foodandlit #Cambodia @Butterfinger @Kelly_the_Bookish_Sidekick

Translating again:

“You mean you‘re in love too?” “Well. Maybe.”

Alyosha placed his hand over Fearless‘s and squeezed. “Lyubov zla, polyubish i kozla, as we are saying.”

#foodandlit #Cambodia @Butterfinger @Kelly_the_Bookish_Sidekick

Another #wordoftheday

“Every pane of glass in every building was obliterated. Heading directly into the sulfurous cloud above the ruins, he stumbled on a moraine of smoldering rubble, bruising his knees and searing his hands. Through the haze, three soot-covered ghosts emerged in front of him, each heaving the limb of a body bathed in vermilion.”

#foodandlit #Cambodia @Butterfinger @Kelly_the_Bookish_Sidekick

“She has the Siemens washing machine she is always dreaming of. Come—you know what Khrushchev said. About the wet hen.”

It appears I‘ll be looking up lots of references in this book. I‘m glad it‘s an ebook!!

#foodandlit #Cambodia @Butterfinger @Kelly_the_Bookish_Sidekick

Mona has a singular magic—baking. She animates gingerbread men and sourdough. Then one day one of the cookies becomes sentient and something like her familiar. The timing is prescient because soon a body is found in the bakery and Mona is accused of the murder. Setting out to prove her innocence, she befriends a street urchin Spindle and together they find corruption and magic genocide. Only knowing baking magic, Mona feels incapable of ⬇️

Second #wordoftheday

“Gray slabs of cloud and pearl begin to scrape against each other like layers of ocean current, moving out from the square, forming branching roads in five directions. The air flickers. Some will say it was a sudden haze, others remember a halcyon clarity. People look to the sky; people look to the ground.”

#wordoftheday

“The acquisitiveness he would have sneered at in any Western friend he forgave in someone who had lived through Brezhnev‘s gody zastoya. Alyosha had queued for toilet roll in subzero temperatures. Supermarkets, salami, and chewing gum were magical to him.”

#foodandlit #Cambodia @Butterfinger @Kelly_the_Bookish_Sidekick

The quote below makes more sense with the translation. I remember seeing the video of massive lines in the USSR and Brezhnev‘s bushy eyebrows when my parents watched the news in the 1970s

“The acquisitiveness he would have sneered at in any Western friend he forgave in someone who had lived through Brezhnev‘s gody zastoya. Alyosha had queued for toilet roll in subzero temperatures. Supermarkets, salami, and chewing gum were magical to him.”

https://www.instagram.com/p/DTLKfVgCGmU/?igsh=MTRkaXg4b2xxOXl4MQ==

The first mention of food! Already!

#foodandlit #Cambodia

@Butterfinger @Kelly_the_Bookish_Sidekick

My first #foodandlit book for #Cambodia

@Butterfinger @Kelly_the_Bookish_Sidekick

I started my third #authoramonth audiobook today. #litsyatoz #letterN @Soubhiville

Third book of 2026 completed. #auldlangspine #litsyatoz #letterS @LeafingThroughLife @monalyisha

Review to come. Breathtaking.

Second book of 2026 completed. #authoramonth #litsyatoz #letterS @Soubhiville

Review to come. Another winner!

Too true Marte. Too true.

Aleys has just explained that Lot‘s wife disobeyed God when she turned around to see the destruction of Sodom, where two of her daughters still remained. Marte, you are correct, a man wrote this story—would God really punish a mother for looking back full of love for the loss of her children?

#wordoftheday

“He can‘t speak of the fiends that crouch in the corners of the friary; how they whisper to each other in susurrus and go quiet when he looks at them. In the darkness, they slide between the cots, always toward him, toward him.”

I signed up! Reposting for @TheBookHippie

#VALENTINECARDSWAP ♥️💌♥️

Sign up now until January 13

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSelytdRYWlrbgBxpM7a95LhlaP5D3VF4Rkpt1DK...

A “little” Half Price Books run yesterday

On the first three reads I thought the miter was falling off Christ‘s head. I think an editor could have used pronouns better here. I was even shocked the bishop was ruffling Jesus‘s hair. Well… glad I read it one more time.

First book of 2026 completed. #authoramonth #litsyatoz #letterW @Soubhiville

Review to come. But I loved it.

My next book for #authoramonth @Soubhiville

#wordoftheday

““Did you hear?” Through alleys, the words eddy and swirl, and the people look up. Zephyrs of wonder dust steeples and sills.”

This first edition from 1928! We have a new used bookstore near us that has unbelievable rare finds. #whattheDickens @Cuilin

I met my StoryGraph goal of 120 books but just barely and in the nick of time.

#5joysFriday

1) Awesome box of goodies from @Gissy
2) Book-shopping at a used bookstore with son today and splitting the cost of books with him (set on the far right from 1897) and shop owner gave us a massive discount because they have found a good home
3) Husband finished building me a raised garden box (to be put in place tomorrow) ♥️♥️
4) Reached my 2025 reading goal
5) And hosting Litsy challenges again this year!

December wrap up, 12 books read:

3 Nora Roberts books for #authoramonth
1 chunkster for #foodandlit #Italy #Jubilee
2 books for #whattheDickens
1 for the #LitsyIrregulars
1 last book to finish #litsyatoz #letterV
1 book narrated by our very own @ImperfectCJ

Best book of the month tagged.

Audio coloring tonight, ironically listening to the creation of gingerbread warriors while coloring gingerbread earrings

#authoramonth @Soubhiville

Looking for a very short overview of Dickens‘ life, this is the book for you. I learned a lot, particularly about his unhappy marriage. Not condoning his turning his wife out quite the way he did and cheating on her, but it wasn‘t the happy marriage it‘s been made out to be. His wife suffered severe depression most of her life, badly affecting him and the children. There were sadly few options in those days. Good to have a clearer picture of ⬇️