pickJanuary reads (not pictured above)
🎧 Cosmic Queries by Dr. Neil DeGrasse Tyson
🎧 60 Songs That Explain the 90s by Rob Harrvilla
🎧 King of the Murgos by David Eddings
🎧 The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner
🎧 Elevation by Stephen King
🎧 Dark harvest by Norman Partridge
🛜 Redshirts by John Scalzi
I know there‘s a week left but I‘m being proactive 😄
pick📚📚📚📚📚 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ Loved this dark romantic comedy about two serial killers and their annual competition/love story. Pretty funny banter in some places, exciting moments of actions and some seriously f*cked-up dessert options 😉
pick📚📚📚📚 A fun romp D&D style story featuring a wide range of likeable characters. Dark Lord Davi is winging it and we‘re along for the ride. Anticipating Book 2 in this duology.
June stats. I‘ve hit 70/100 so far. Joined two new Litsy book clubs and bought 11 new books for the collection.
pick📚📚📚📚 tandem audio + ebook - wow! Loved this! My first by the author. I was sold as “inspired by the tragic death of Percy Bysshe Shelley” but really it‘s not remotely close😕 Still good- concurrent timelines 1970‘s/2023, creatives, an Italian villa, sex drugs rock n‘ roll and murder mystery. Pleasant but clear twist at the end. Good read.
so-so📚📚📚 This was s-l-o-w. I put this down for nearly 1.5 week because I was bored with it. Combo of Rebecca (which I didn‘t like) and Northanger Abbey (which I love) and a touch of every paranormal haunted house movie ever. I‘m being generous because while beautifully written, it‘s gagging in its pretentiousness; I said what I said. Some will love and others will loathe.
pickMay reading - not including digital/audio reads for a total of 14 this month- with a side of cacti friends. Fave of the month was Rise of the Red Blade, least fave The Spanish Love Deception.
Currently reading the tagged book for my Classic of the Month (CotM) and wanted to update myself on my personal reading goal for the year 📚 A Happy Death is Camus‘ first novel and has the most author insert of all his novels. One of my favorites of all time is L‘Etranger and I‘m determined to read all his novels.
pick📚📚📚📚📚 This should be renamed Darth Sidious or The Rise of Palpatine because it‘s basically his story. Easily makes him my 3rd most favorite character in the SWU. Totally recommend the audio version too. #litsystarwarsbuddyread #starwars (May 2024)
pick📚📚📚📚📚 Iskat Akaris is my spirit animal. I didn‘t realize that I‘d basically read the end of this novel when I read Darth Vader: Dark Lord of the Sith #20 earlier this year. Loved Iskat‘s development and general dissatisfaction with the Jedi. (Late post April) #litsystarwarsbuddyread #starwars
pick📚📚📚📚 Action forward and includes insider peak to video game too. Some of the side stories needed stronger development and connection to the main plot. (Late post for March)
#litsystarwarsbuddyread #starwars #jedi
pick📚📚📚📚📚🎧: Hillary Huber; transl. Megan McDowell. Orig. Spanish
A total WTF did I just listen to story about a mother and child, possible body snatching, and poisonous hallucinations. Multi-POV with simultaneous narration. Gripping and twisty. Loved it!
so-so📚📚📚 🎧: Olivia Vinall
Set in 1800‘s and following a young woman & her shady uncle who have an antiquities shop. Story centers on a Greek pithos (vase) & secret treasure. Not a lot of twists, FMC doesn‘t have a lot of agency, low stakes. Not a great payoff at the end, just okay.
pick📚📚📚📚 + 🏆 1-Handed Read Award.
🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ B.O.B. or significant other recommended while reading. This is a MMF novella. Insta-love trope, throuple ending.
pick📚📚📚📚📚 Vol. 1 Adds to Vader‘s badass legacy. Read all 4 volumes. 5 📚📚📚📚📚 across the series
so-so📚📚📚 *10 in a series. Dragon shifters, post apocalyptic romance. Formulaic, crosses over with 9th book for a couple chapters. Villain redemption felt rushed.
pick📚📚📚 Decent end to Phase 2. Less checklist-y than other YA installments and focused on the story more.
#StarWarsBuddyRead
pick📚📚📚📚📚 January Classic of the Month. Worth it.
pickBook 1/100
📚📚📚📚📚 I understand why this split the #pulitzerprize for 2023. It is an unconventional story structure focusing on a Wall Street tycoon in the year leading up to the 1929 crash and shortly after. Written in 4 parts with 4 different POV‘s sharing the story of this person. The first part did get slow about 1/2 through but the rest goes quickly and creates an entire picture of the character.
pickLow stakes cozy romance with simple clear writing and straight forward plot; no guessing or serious business.
📚📚📚 and 🌶️
Just a book dragon enjoying my hoard 🐉🐲📚
I‘m up to book 111 for the year (haven‘t finished Foucault‘s Pendulum or #starwarsbuddyread yet) & I‘ve got the tagged book +1 for my Classroom Reading Project…4 days is enough time, right?! 😑
📚📚My theory: this is an AI generated book where the author and her publisher sat down and listed ALL the most popular YA/NA books and tropes then literally published what was kicked out 😈This is a TB or transition book for newbie NA Fantasy readers NOT seasoned readers; set your expectations LOW (PS: I preordered book 2 bc this is such trash I have to read it- kinda like Twilight & 50 Shades which I own multiple copies of) I SAID WHAT I SAID.
I finished. Lots of tabs, commentary, and annotations. I am still considering everything so I don‘t have a rating yet.
Started this today and I‘m actually tabbing and notating the nonsense. The thing that has my eye twitching the most so far are the use of periods to emphasize points - too often for common sense! 🤦🏽♀️
pick📚📚📚📚 Returning to the origins of Han Solo was nice and the story overall had solid bones. The writing itself was a bit blocky/chunky but I put that to style preference of the time. In general, a quick read about our favorite scoundrel becoming a scoundrel 😁 #starwarsbuddyread
so-soFinished this book today - 📚📚📚 Characters weren‘t charismatic enough, plot was decent and should have been more exciting but wasn‘t necessarily. There‘s great bones here but it fell flat for me. I skipped about 1/3 of the middle and read the last 5 chapters after hitting 50% and I don‘t feel I missed a whole lot 🤷🏻♀️
Bookishly related - I‘m a HS ELA teacher & I told my 9th & 10th graders if they went to the public library & got a card or went on the website & got a digital card, I‘d give them extra credit on a summative (re: essay/test) assignment. 97/176 students did it!!! I am so impressed. Some only for credit but at least they did it. I also piloted my Monthly Independent Reading Project this year with them including CAWPILE reviews & it went GREAT! 📚📚📚
pick📚📚📚📚📚 Great story, fast paced and a really good story about the galaxys‘ sweethearts. Do yourself a GIANT favor and get the audiobook narrated by Saskia Maarleveld & Marc Thompson; they‘re amazing!
#starwarsbuddyread #litsystarwarsbuddyread #starwars #jedi
pick??? YA novel following Padmé on her venture into marriage with Anakin and beyond to the events of SW EP:3. Easy to read for younglings and not too difficult of a plot to follow. Decent read.
#litsystarwarsbuddyread
so-so📚📚📚 This took me 3 months to read. It shouldn‘t have because it‘s action heavy, Jedi-centric, and has good bones as far as THR plots go - it took so long because it‘s boring expositional dumping; all tell and no show. I wasn‘t connected to any character, I didn‘t feel the urgency of the situation. Not a favorite but it should‘ve been. 🙁 #starwarsbuddyread
pick📚📚📚📚 There‘s something about mid-1800‘s horror - it hits differently. This was an 🎧 book + 📖 & I enjoyed its creepy innuendo. Hawthorne has a way of describing things to make your skin sort of crawl but never gets too graphic or gross
so-so📚📚📚 Slow slightly dull romance w/2 daytime actors. This should‘ve been cool Latino rep but instead it read like a diversity check-off list with a bit of a story thrown in. 🌶️ on the spice scale. Probably moving it to my Older Readers cabinet in the classroom with the CoHo books
so-so📚📚📚 This had a slow confusing start and ended up being some sort of paranormal fated mates + reverse harem. 🌶️ for sex scenes. Big Bad isn‘t introduced until last 30+ pages and then it‘s wham bam no thank you ma‘am. Honestly, I‘ll read the next one but not in a rush
pick📚📚📚📚 Quick paced and suspenseful read; apocalypse plot with pseudo-religious undertones (clues described in exposition but never outright declared) small twist. I didn‘t like the ending but understand the “why” of it
#bookhaul
Good haul from the library shop for my classroom & some new items for the home library. Underrated place to get books: The Dollar Tree! (called that here in SoCal). Picked up quite a few decent YA for the classroom from there too
September TBR - chosen by my husband
Classic of the Month: The Brothers Karamazov - Dostoevsky
#starwarsbuddyread : The Fallen Star - Gray
The Complete Cosmicomics - Calvino
The Shining - King
In the Courts of the Sun - D‘amato
The Religion - Willocks
Hubby came through again 😁 He saw this Hocus Pocus tarot deck and swooped it up for me. I think he‘s a keeper 😂. Trying really hard to get through the tagged book- it‘s slower than the previous ones and I‘m having a hard time staying focused. I will persevere!!
pickTHRAWN!!! Probably my favorite we‘ve read so far. It‘s a good wrap up to the trilogy and everything comes around to set Thrawn up for the next trilogy he‘s the star of. The pacing is fluid, quick but clean. Character development pays off for almost all the characters. The dual timelines converge to give a terrific ending. Listened to audio as well and it was 👩🍳💋
📚📚📚📚📚 #starwarsbuddyread
Books leaving my collection. Most are going to my classroom next week, but the Frassetto [bottom] is going to the library (it‘s SO dull & academic, I don‘t know why my grandfather bought it; he NEVER read anyway)
#shelfiesunday
I seem to have run out of space. My Hubs solution…stop buying books. He‘s wrong and to prove it to him, I bought 7 new books. We only need a few more bookcases 😉
June/July 2022 #bookhaul
Purchased at B& N, Amazon, the public library charity shop & won from LibraryThing Early Reviewer‘s (A Suitable Companion…)
