Took a little break from Empire of the Vampire to read Orbiting Jupiter. Narrated by 12-year-old Jack, this is the moving story of Joseph, a boy a couple years older, who is fostered by Jack‘s parents. Joseph‘s life has been anything but easy, but he settles into life on Jack‘s family‘s farm, and begins to open up to his new ‘family‘. Lovely, but heartbreaking. I guess it‘s MG, although thematically it probably more YA.

I wish I had read this debut mystery in one or two big chunks, but I was reading it during the last few days of school when things were chaotic. Nevertheless, this story of a recent HS grad who is trying to find out who murdered her sister is well-written and complex. It is not, despite the age of the narrator, YA.

@kspenmoll tagged me for @Eggs Wednesday questions.
1. I am a mood reader, and since I literally have 500 books on my TBR shelf, I can generally find something that fits my mood. I have also really enjoyed @TheAromaofBooks #bookspin to help with indecision.
2. I review everything I read at theludicreader.com. If I really love a book (a 4 or 5 ⭐️ read), I will tag it ‘highly recommended.‘ It doesn‘t happen often. I am picky.
3. Summer holidays!

Even though June was a total bust, summer vacation starts today and I am optimistic about July‘s #bookspin. I am hoping to tackle some chunkier books, so this list is comprised of what I hope will be page turners.
@TheAromaofBooks

First of all, thanks to @BarbaraBB and @Cinfhen for hosting a wonderful #summerheat event. I wasn‘t quite as enamoured with the book as many of my fellow readers were, but it was certainly an easy read. You can read my full review at https://theludicreader.com/2022/06/19/seven-days-in-june-tia-williams/

I am limited by the photos on my iPad as I am away for the weekend with the girls pictured bottom right. That was taken on our last trip to Italy in 2018, which is the place I most associate with #summerheat. I am spending the weekend at the location pictured top left…except it‘s going to rain all weekend.
@BarbaraBB @Cinfhen

My #litsylovesummerswap is winging its way to @LapReader
The books have been ordered separately via Book Depository.
Fingers crossed everything arrives on time.
@Kdgordon88 @rsteve388

I very much enjoyed the Netflix series which is based on this book…although the two bear very little resemblance. The book lacks the series‘ introspection…and that‘s saying something. Read my full review here: https://theludicreader.com/2022/06/08/sex-life-bb-easton/

Casey‘s life is a mess. Her mother died suddenly. A love affair ended. She‘s got a dead-end job as a server and thousands of dollars in debt. She‘s been trying to finish the novel she‘s been writing for six years. She suffers from crippling anxiety. Then she meets Silas. And Oscar. A coming-of-age story that is quirky and thoughtful and wholly delightful.

June #bookspin #doublespin selections. Some have been on my tbr for a minute; some are recent purchases; one is a gift.
@TheAromaofBooks

This is a soft pick because it‘s a fluffy read. Percy and Sam are 13 when they meet and over the next six summers they fall in love until something awful happens and they stop speaking. When Sam‘s mom dies, Percy has to go back to Barry‘s Bay where, of course, she and Sam are reunited. I loved that it was set in 🇨🇦, but the book lacks tension and Sam and Percy as adult act like teenaged Sam and Percy. Quick read.

This was my first book by this author and its clever book within a book conceit made for entertaining reading. Eve Black was the only survivor of a horrific crime that ended the lives of her parents and younger sister. Now, 20 years later, she‘s written the story of “the nothing man” in the hopes he might be caught. The man himself is not too pleased. Not scary, but a well-written page-turner.

Pre birthday book haul. All the books are for me except the tagged book and Furia. #sorrynotsorry

My #doublespin is part memoir, part travelogue, and part self-help book about the joys of traveling alone, something I hope to do once I retire. The author spends time in Paris, Florence, Istanbul and her hometown NYC (a city she tries to see with fresh eyes). I found the writing, her observations and her thoughts about the topic lovely.
@TheAromaofBooks

I loved John Hughes films back in the day, many of which would likely be considered problematic by today‘s standards, particularly my favourite, 16 Candles. This memoir isn‘t so much about Hughes, although the author spent many years trying to write Hughes‘s biography - without any access to the man himself or the people who knew him. I found this repetitive, grim and kind of annoying. Basically, our 20s. 😂
#bookspin @TheAromaofBooks

Happy Mother‘s Day.

Two nonfic books for May‘s #bookspin, @TheAromaofBooks

Current situation.

May‘s #bookspin selections.
@TheAromaofBooks

I really enjoyed this author‘s first book, The French Girl, but I found this one slow and frustrating, with wonky character development. Ailsa inherits a manor house in Scotland after her mother dies, but from the minute she arrives the house makes her uncomfortable. The action picks up the last 75 pages or so, but I still had to read 300 pages to get there.

My April #bookspin was a collection of short stories by the Canadian author of The Saturday Night Ghost Club & The Troop (writing as Nick Cutter). Each of the six stories in this collection examines relationships (mother and child, siblings, friendships) and each one was perfection - particularly their ambiguous endings, which are a personal favourite of mine. @TheAromaofBooks

Cook is always going to be a pick for me because I‘ve loved his literary mysteries ever since I read Breakheart Hill 20 years ago. Blood Innocents is his very first novel, published in 1980, and you can see the beginnings of his style, although this book doesn‘t have the same depth as his later books & I am not sure if I had read it first I would have sought him out as I have over the years (his books are difficult to find). Still, a soft pick.

I actually want to go through this book and count how many times these characters drop the F-bomb because it‘s a lot. And I am not expletive adverse, it‘s just…cringe-y, as is much of the rest of this story of 19 yr old Beth and 21 yr old David who have known each other all their lives, and have fought their attraction for years. These are porn stars not people. #doublespin @TheAromaofBooks

This is a dual time-line narrative about Juniper, who returns to her hometown to help out a friend, but also to figure out who is planning to do a podcast about a double murder that happened 15 years ago, a murder for which her brother was implicated but never charged. I really enjoyed this book, and Juniper‘s determination to mend relationships with her family and figure out whodunnit. There‘s a splash of angst, too, and I am there for it.

What a delightful and unexpected surprise, @Mitch
Thank you so much for thinking of me and for sending the best kind of mail- book mail. ❤️

April‘s #bookspin selections, @TheAromaofBooks

I flew through the story of Jane, a Vietnamese woman who has been held captive by Lenn for many years. The author does a really great job of creating a sense of dread; I was anxious the whole time. Jane‘s abuse is not graphic, but that doesn‘t make it any less horrifying. The ending is a little tidy, but this was a great, page-turning read.

Did anyone like this book? For me, this book was such a disappointment. A bunch of names on a page, a trite ending, just a colossal waste of time. I loved Daisy Jones and the Six, but this read more like One True Loves, which I didn‘t like.
My March #doublespin, @TheAromaofBooks

My #valentineswap book from @maich was fun to read. Stella, 30, hires a male escort, Michael, to help her get better at sex. Despite the fact that she‘s smart and beautiful, she hasn‘t had much luck because she has some quirks due to her autism. Take that out of the equation and you‘d still have a fun, smutty romp. I didn‘t get why they complicated things for the characters at the end; it seemed unnecessary. If you like graphic sex… 😂

Current situation on the last day of my March Break.

My March #bookspin . I feel ambivalent about this story of a family who has put everything (and I mean everything) into their daughter‘s gymnastic ambitions. I have read other books by this author which I have enjoyed a lot more than this one. @TheAromaofBooks

@StillLookingForCarmenSanDiego sent this book to me as part of my #poutinepenpals #fallswap and it was great. When six-year-old Claire, her older sister Alison and their parents take a vacation on Saint X, the unthinkable happens. Years later, while living in NYC, Claire meets one of the men involved. This is a beautifully-written examination of family, grief, race & privilege, the secrets we keep & the stories we tell ourselves.

@TheAromaofBooks my March #bookspin reads.

My March #bookspin selections, @TheAromaofBooks

This is a soft pick. Bea Kim, a high school senior, hides her love for music (and her innate talent) from everyone. Then a new music teacher arrives at her school. He‘s worldly, and talented, and beautiful and he thinks her musical gift should be celebrated. You can guess the rest. I am not sure Ohlin managed to flesh out these characters or the relationship between teacher and student in more than broad strokes, but it was an easy read.

Niven captures the breathlessness of first love in this NA story about newly graduated Claude whose life implodes when her parents announce a separation and she ends up traveling to an island off the coast of Georgia with her mom. There she meets Jeremiah Crew, who upends her world and mends her heart. First love was a long-ass time ago for me, but this brought back those memories and then some. Loved it.

Oft recommended here, this book is fabulous, heart-wrenching and beautifully written. I loved everything about it.
The story follows Franny as she hitches a ride on a fishing boat in an effort to track terns in a future world where most of nature has been destroyed by climate change. How she came to be here is revealed through multiple time lines. Glorious. Highly recommend.

My February #bookspin was a dud. I have read a lot of Nicci French and have loved a lot of it, but this one - about a married woman who discovers the body of her lover and decides to clean up instead of calling the cops is just ridiculous. I did all my eye-rolling practice for the month with this one.
@TheAromaofBooks

#bookhaul #sorrynotsorry #classlibrary

February #bookspin & #doublespin, @TheAromaofBooks

So, this is my view this morning. Luckily, my landlord has a snowblower & he is hard at work out there clearing the walk & driveway. Quite a storm. I am not reading this weekend, unfortunately. End of term marks are due tomorrow and I have another full day of marking ahead of me, but then the kids come back to school on Wed after three weeks of virtual teaching so YAY! Hope you other East coasters made it through the blizzard. @Crazeedi

#NYWD22 book #3 this is a soft pick for me. Ellie Littlejohn has climbed the corporate ladder dragging her secrets behind her. She‘s the only Black woman on the executive floor and she‘s only there because her boss (and lover) is found dead. I think a rather pedestrian mystery is elevated by Morris‘s observations about race and misogyny.
@JamieArc @monalyisha

When her best friend from college, Julie, disappears without a trace and then reappears two years later, Elise knows something isn‘t right. A girls‘ getaway with their two other besties goes nightmarishly bad. Although it doesn‘t completely hang together, this was a page-turner.

It‘s -23, -30 with the windchill, so it‘s the perfect day to snuggle up with my third #NYWD selection All Her Little Secrets.
@Andrew65 @JamieArc @monalyisha

My pledge this year is to not waste time on books I don‘t enjoy. Both of these have been on my tbr shelf forever…and #bookspin and #doublespin has cleared them. I bailed on them both.
@TheAromaofBooks

I was surprised and delighted to find a parcel waiting for me from @Bookgoil , @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks and the #Litsylove team. It‘s been a week, let me tell you, and this certainly brightened my day. Thank you. ❤️

My second #NYWD22 selection was just okay for me. I loved the premise- an elderly widower and a lonely teenage girl connect over books, but it all felt contrived to me. 😬 There was just too much going on for any of it to really land, the book discussions were cursory and the ending was, frankly, implausible. This might be a case of it‘s me rather than it‘s the book.
@JamieArc @monalyisha

Besides the tagged book, I recommend
The Secret History
Fingersmith
The Book Thief
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
The Paper Palace
Chaos Walking trilogy
anything by Thomas H Cook

Thanks for the tag @Elizabeth2 @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks #sundaysoapbox

Any interest in sharing your recs @catiewithac @MadelineMcCrae @ShelleyBooksie @merelybookish

First #bookhaul of 2022. #sorrynotsorry. 15 of them are for my classroom.

@Andrew65 #WeekendReading prompt has me thinking about how I am going to spend my post-blizzard Saturday. On tap, my #bookspin and #doublespin and my second #NYWD22 selection. It‘s ambitious to think I might complete any of them, but I will give it a go. Art by my daughter- a huge self portrait which was an art school assignment and now watches over me while I sleep.