My #jolabokaflod swap has arrived! Thank you @StillLookingForCarmenSanDiego (now the hardest part - waiting until Dec 24 to open!) ❄️🎉

And thank you once again @MaleficentBookDragon for organizing my favourite swap of the year!

2026 is shaping up to be an excellent year for new books! Tagged is new in translation (@BarbaraBB did you see this?) described as a feminist Breaking Bad in Japan - yes please! And new books coming from:

Ann Patchett
Maggie O'Farrell
Emily St John Mandel
Daniel Mason
David Sedaris
Jenny Lawson
Patrick Radden Keefe

and many more! What titles are you most looking forward to? For me, any time O'Farrell publishes something, I will buy it!

Happy #TuesdayTunes everyone!

These days, I can only listen to instrumental music when I read, words are too much distraction in my already chaotic head. Recently, the algorithmic powers-that-be introduced me to Claudio Constantini and I'm just loving his stuff. Reminds me of Yann Tiersen's work on the Amelie soundtrack.

https://open.spotify.com/track/4KCvukYG1LGZQq8s6SWZQB?si=QIymn0dSSiaDehqi2tdZ_w

@TieDyeDude

#MyLitsyAwards Non-Fiction Edition!

Best Overall - The Story of a Heart ❤️ SO deserving of its Women's Prize win. Dr Clarke writes with so much compassion for her subjects.

Best Characters to hang out with - I just wanted to spend time with Neneh and her mother Moki and their community at the schoolhouse in the woods in Sweden. Magic.

Most gripping - I read this through tears pouring down my face, because I just could not stop.

Cont'd 👇

Great idea, and thank you for the template @CSeydel 🎉 #MyLitsyAwards

Best buddy read - I always love #CampLitsy and this year was no exception. I LOVED the worlds Okorafor created. (Honorable mention goes to Wild Dark Shore, it was a VERY hard choice!)

Characters to hang out with - I just want to curl into a corner of the witches tea shop and never leave 💗

Cont'd in comments 👇

A delightful and often hilarious overview of how Christmas and its traditions came to be celebrated how they are now. I read a section each evening, it was a fun and funny way to celebrate the season!

New Ann Patchett coming in 2026! 🎉🎉🎉

"Picture a man sitting beside a dead tree. He is indoors and wearing a crown. From the ceiling hangs a parasitical shrub that legitimates sexual assault. He is singing to himself about a tenth-century Mittel-European murder victim using a sixteenth-century Finnish melody. Earlier, he told his children that the house had been broken into by an obese Turkish man. This was a lie, but he wanted to make his children happy."

#BeautyBreak from my own backyard. I just love evergreen trees covered in snow ❄️ 😍

A super snowy sick day pairs well with fluffy holiday romance. This was fun, and while ultimately forgettable, it was just what I needed!

Let the holiday reading season commence! McLean is a Canadian National Treasure, and his story Dave Cooks the Turkey is a classic Vinyl Cafe listen. It also makes a delightful short read on a chilly December night.

If you've got the time, it really is worth listening to him tell the story, or can be found here: https://youtu.be/4VmMUM0HW6E?si=jpl-AEC1hSrbw2io

It's a bit of a slow start, but once it finds its groove, it really flies. I would say this one was the most humorous of the Brodie series, the Murder Mystery theatrics made for a hilarious farce. And always happy to see Reggie and the welcome (but underutilized) return of Louise Monroe.

Thank you to @CarolynM for inspiring this year's read through of the Jackson Brodie series. It's been a pleasure to catch up and I can't wait for more!

Guys, I heard the wildest rumour today!!! I was at the mall, and apparently you can go there WITHOUT entering through the bookstore!?! Who knew? I mean, it could all just be a fake rumour, I know I've never managed to do it.

I was, however, able to be a good girl and NOT buy a stack of books for myself today. Yay me! I should totally get myself a little reward... maybe a book...

My #jolabokaflod package is on its way! I unfortunately had to ship direct to the recipient from Amazon, which I hate to do, but it was the only way to make the timing work! So @merelybookish if you receive a mystery Amazon package it's probably your jolabokaflod gift 🎁 😉 (expected to arrive Dec 12-14)

@MaleficentBookDragon - thanks again for all your hard work organizing this swap every year!

I've stolen Aretha's spot in front of the fireplace for some morning reading, and she really doesn't know what to make of it.

#CatsofLitsy

In a remote penal colony in Brazil, the Warden has been hunting the inmates. As their numbers dwindle, desperation begins.

I didn't realize before I started this that it is a prequel to Maia's excellent Of Cattle and Men. Both books are brutal and bloody examinations of Man's propensity for violence, and the generational effects of the brutality as it infects the very land beneath their feet.

Cont'd in comments

The Blue Jays love continues, this time from the one and only Fredrik Backman. https://www.instagram.com/p/DRxuQ0mCKKH/?igsh=MTZzZDloZG5waG5lYg==
Love to see it. Love the Jays. Love Backman. I got to meet him when I volunteered for a local event on the release of The Winners, such a humble, gentle soul who uses his own vulnerabilities to connect with people around the world. #BooksandBaseball

@CBee Unsurprisingly, I'm really excited reading your #AuldLangSpine list! The ones I've read, I loved. And just about everything else I can access through my local libraries. Is there one (or two) that stands out as the best of the best for you?

@monalyisha #AuldLangSpine2026

“He and the world both changed, but not in time with each other. Valdenio got older, sick, not much sharper. The world renewed itself. To be thrown outside the walls would be to serve another sentence of survival and resistance that he couldn't stand to repeat.“

This is everything that I want in a witchy novel. I loved these characters, and the atmosphere of Gilded-Age New York, and the female powered themes at play. It is a book where the main action doesn't really come until the final 25%, but I really didn't mind because the world creation was so luscious. I picked up the holiday novella from my library, and I would love it if McKay writes more about these fabulous women.

A vital, difficult, confronting look at Western Liberalism, Muslim identity, the genocide in Gaza, and refugee identity, freedom, and gratitude. It is hard to find the words to properly review this, but it is well worth your time. El Akkad does a wonderful job with the narration, and I found listening in small chunks was the best way to digest and engage with this work.

Happy #TuesdayTunes everyone! These two have been on regular rotation lately, absolutely love them both!

Cat Burns - There's Just Something About Her (can't help but dance every time) https://open.spotify.com/track/6XzSqyhtKa4uJT6O1ZjMe8?si=25Lfsa_xQY2MPqBwB5_Nhg

Uzi Freyja - Don't Disturb Me (bilingual feminist body-pos rap, "I am happy, I don't care what you want")
https://open.spotify.com/track/2fWbD7bWoLJJJs6Gopd8lp?si=t5LrQw_CSAmmbVBeXhfdIg

Apologies for the non-book related post... but in case you needed a good chuckle this evening, this is an actual post from my town FB bulletin page. Welcome to winter in Canada!

When the 10 year old reads to the 6 year old 🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩

#RaisingReaders

"Hungry Paul lived on a knife edge between a passion for board games and an aversion to instruction booklets."

I made it!

After @CarolynM included this one on her #AuldLangSpine list, I made it my reading goal for the year to catch up with the Jackson Brodie series so that I could read it in its proper order. And I did it! So it's time to crack this bad boy open and dive in....

I loved this book so much. The characters, the atmosphere, all of it. Very much a right book at the right time situation!

60-something career actress Lulu Blake is onstage, playing Winnie in Happy Days, when she forgets her lines. Shortly thereafter she returns to her small hometown, the titular Snow Road Station, to attend a wedding and to nurse her wounded pride.

Cont'd in comments

Thammavongsa has written two books of fiction, and both have won the Giller Prize. It's an impressive track record, and this was an impressive book. I wasn't expecting too much from a novella about a day at a nail salon, but I ended up really loving this. Engaging, witty, thoughtful, and subversive, Thammavongsa says a lot with a little. If you are a fan of short form, character based writing, I highly recommend this one!

"Rules, conventions, morals, reality itself, all exist so long as their existence is convenient to the preservation of power. Otherwise, they, like all else, are expendable."

I've had this one out from the library for about 6 weeks now, and kept passing it by and choosing another read, but I couldn't quite bring myself to return it (don't worry library people, I properly renewed it! There ain't no flies on me!). I'm so glad I finally picked it up, because it is going to end up on my best of the year. And can we take a moment to appreciate the beauty of this cover?

Cont'd in comments

I'm a sucker for this sort of combination of nature writing and personal essay, so it's no surprise that I loved this one. Renkl does a wonderful job of narrating, you can really feel the joy and wonder she finds in the natural world around her. But if I could go back and do it again I would probably choose print, and savour it slowly as it moves through the seasons. This is written as a sort of secular devotional, and is best treated as such.

Adamson's The Outlander is one of my all time favourite novels. I pre-ordered this one and had it in my hands the day it was released. And then it sat on my shelf for over five years. Because I was so excited that I was worried it wouldn't live up to my expectations. But sometimes the right book jumps off the shelf at just the right time. It was a pleasure to return to the wilds of Western Canada and meet Mary's son Jack.

Cont'd in comments

I just realized I'm behind on reviews! Prepare to be review-bombed....

I love a story of female friendship, especially one that is not afraid to delve into the dark corners and grey areas. Because life is not always pretty, and we do not always support the choices of those we love, and friendships can wax and wain, but they can also sustain us through it all in sometimes unexpected ways.

Cont'd in comments

#MondayMood

@monalyisha @jamiearc (and anyone else who may be interested, of course!) I just saw that Tara Gereaux has a new book coming out in March. She's coming to a Books and Brunch event run by my local bookstore, so I think I just might have to volunteer!

"The world would count itself lucky if we were vultures or crows. An actual vulture turns death into feathers, and actual crow turns flesh into flight."

“Personally, I loved Anne because she reminded me of me. Once, I was a chatty, imaginative, restless child roaming about my island‘s woods with my friends. Anne was as relevant to me as any character I had ever read.“

CBC Radio host Antonio Michael Downing has an article out about discovering Anne of Green Gables for the first time, and it is a delightful read: https://www.cbc.ca/books/thenextchapter/antonio-of-green-gables-9.6975635

When I die, freeze dry my body and turn me into fertilizer for a tree.

Roach's exploration of what happens to human bodies postmortem is fascinating, and often stomach churning, and definitely makes you think. The audio narration is wonderful, the casual conversational style matching with Roach's wry humour, but also showcasing the curiosity that drives her books.

Currently listening to the tagged, and the chapter I'm on is bringing to mind good ol' Mrs Lovett: https://youtu.be/E1i23Yw4_tQ?si=DoUZFHgFTCK_Ptnr

#IYKYK

#TuesdayTunes @TieDyeDude

I watched (and loved) the movie years ago, and finally got around to reading this one. I think it's best to leave space between the two, whichever you do first, as they are so different from each other. But I loved this story of women's power, the strength of female community and family, love, and the perils of shutting out the ones who love you.

This was delightful. Steves' decision to stick with his mostly unfiltered 23 year old diary entries brings an innocence and naiveté, and the underlying message is timeless: opening your mind and life to other people and cultures expands your knowledge, heart, and empathy. Thank you to @TheBookHippie for putting this one on my radar, listening to it was a lovely way to spend a few hours!

Rosé and reading time ( @BarbaraBB I think you've really started something 🤣 )

I LOVE this. New Booker Prize announced, The Children's Booker Prize. Celebrating the best of middle grade fiction! Two adult judges will select a Shortlist, and then work with three young judges to select a winner. So awesome.

https://thebookerprizes.com/the-childrens-booker-prize?utm_source=substack&utm_m...

While I think she could have chopped about 50 pages off the back end of this one, I really did love this Jackson Brodie ♥️

Because each book is an ensemble narrative, with Brodie as just one part rather than a traditional MC, they really live or die on those "secondary" characters. And I loved Crystal and Harry and their step mom/son relationship so much, and the return of Reggie Chase.

Just one more to go!

We do not care that there are still a million things on our to-do list. The last week and a half has been stressful and has taken its toll on my mind and body. So right now, all I want to do is read a good book, drink Diet Coke, and eat snacks. So, guess what I'm doing until it's time to pick up the kids?

#WDNCW #WeDoNotCareWednesday @dabbe

P.S: 25 pages in, and this book has me HOOKED

It was the last couple chapters that brought this one up to a low pick for me.

I found this to be an interesting story, and I appreciate the many threads Summerscale was trying to weave together here: the murders themselves; the lascivious nature of the press and public interest in them; the racial tensions of the time; public attitudes towards women, sex work, and violence towards women.

cont'd in comments

This is the song I've been singing since I woke up this morning! WE'RE GOING TO THE WORLD SERIES!!!!

https://youtu.be/qag6w_Tp50A?si=4zp8hUtn17Jk5KKS

LET'S PLAY BALL!

#TuesdayTunes @TieDyeDude

Right?!?! I just want to know if we'd be book friends! Or if it's something that I'm not familiar with and need to look up on Litsy RIGHT NOW! I don't think that's too much to ask....

Love this

I will follow TMC anywhere they want to lead. Is this one as good as The Last Devil to Die? No, but that's a hard act to follow. It is still a great time, and well worth a read. I particularly liked the extra attention given to Ibrahim.

I found the discussions on who is the best James Bond a bit too unnecessarily cheesy for my tastes, but I'm okay to overlook the eyeroll ;)