Still important today

The matriarch remains the head of the family into her old age, at eighty, ninety, even a hundred years old and way past her menopause; orcas are one of only five animal species in which females are known to outlive their fertility. * Grandmother orcas are the wise elders, keepers of expert knowledge of where to hunt, and they call other members of the pod to them with a splash of their tail.

*The others are short-finned pilot whales, belugas,

Something to think about

The International Booker Prize Shortlist has been announced today

I loved On the Calculation of Volume so very happy to see that on the list.

I‘ve read Perfection, liked but didn‘t love as everyone else

Just bought A Leopard-Skin Hat so hope I like that

I‘ve seen some great reviews for Small Boat so might want to give that a chance too

What do you think of the shortlist?

When sharks and rays are finally ready to begin reproducing, things still happen at a slow pace. Female sharks are typically pregnant for a year of more; short fin makos give birth after a year and a half, basking sharks after two and a half. Female greeneye spurdogs, […], are pregnant for between thirty-one and thirty-four months, one of the longest recorded gestations of any animal.
[…]
Except now, of course: Humans are changing the rules, and

#BookReport

Continue yearlong reads on the right

Continue Heartstone #ShardlakeBR and Eloquent Rage #SheSaid

Continue What the Wild Sea Can Be and Betongblomst (Concrete Flower)

Continue listening to the tagged

Finish Nesting and then I‘ll see what I‘m in the mood for next

Each female produces a single egg, […] She quickly transfers it to her partner, and he balances it on his feet to keep it off the ice […] During storms, the males huddle together to preserve body heat, and their feathers are so good at keeping them warm that now and then they break apart and steam, as if they‘d just stepped out of a sauna. While the fasting males wait out the winter with nothing to eat on the empty ice, they run down their fat

Wintertime temperatures in Antarctica plunge to - sixty degrees Celsius. The lowest temperature ever recorded on the earth‘s surface -89,2 degrees Celsius, was made in the heart of winter in July 1983 at a research base toughly halfway between Antarctica‘s coast and the South Pole.
[…]
Most living organisms simply could not exist in Antartica‘s winter, especially out of the sea and on the exposed ice. But this is where one species comes each

“It just seems like Black women are trying to force white women to accept and include them. I‘m still not over how those suffragists treated Ida B. Wells at that march in 1913.” She was right. A group of white suffragists had tried to force Wells to march in back during a 1913 suffrage march. Wells patently refused, though, and found a way to march with her state delegation

#SheSaid

Beyoncé gets that lesson about feminism better than most. And she has been one of the biggest victims of this failure to love women among Black feminists. Until the release of her magnum opus, Lemonade, an album so self- consciously about the interior lives, struggles, and emotions of Black women that even most of Bey‘s haters had to bow down
…
Beyoncé is my feminist muse

I love Sally Rooney and from the first sentences it felt like I was coming home and knew I was safe in the story telling.

The brothers; Peter (32) and Ivan (22) have just buried their father and grieving the loss of a parent. Peter a lawyer taking on work related cases and Ivan is a promising chess player.

So a book about grief, but also felt about double standards and different experiences towards men and women. Peter is dating a 23 yr old

#BookReport

I finished Intermezzo and read Perfection

I continued the yearlong reads on the right

I pick up Heartstone again #ShardlakeBR

I‘ve started What the Wild Sea Can Be, Betongblomst (Concrete Flower) and Nesting

The title is pretty self explanatory in what its about.

I feel that I finally had some arguments if I ever where to get into a discussion with a pro-lifer. And that actually feels great.

For me gaslighting was a term that suddenly turned about and was everywhere. Now I feel that I finally understand what it is and how it‘s used

I‘m so glad #SheSaid made me aware of this book so I read it

The #BookSpinBingo card for April is ready

#BookSpin is a horror/ thriller book that seemed appropriate for Easter

#DoubleSpin is the next book in the Nancy Drew series

The Women‘s Prize for Fiction Shortlist was just announced, and to be honest I‘m a little disappointed without any real reason to be

I‘ve read two books from the Longlist and my favorite, The Safekeep, made it to the shortlist

I‘ve just started Nesting, but have seen so many great things for it, that I was really rooting for it.

I‘m still on the wait list for two of the books that made it to the shortlist, Tell Me Everything and The Fours

My #BookSpin, #DoubleSpin and #BookSpinBingo list for April is ready. How is the first quarter of the year already over?

A list influenced by buddy reads, crime/ scary reads for Easter, spring reading and longlisted books.

For A Year Unfolding, I might “just” read the early spring and spring chapters

(The picture is by Lisa Aisato)

#WeeklyForecast

Continue with the yearlong reads on the right

Pick up Heartstone again #ShardlakeBR

Finish Intermezzo

I just started What the Wild Sea Can Be and what to read some more in that

Read Perfection

Start the poetry collection Betongblomst (Concrete Flower)

Winter 1847, Star of the Sea is leaving Ireland for a 26 day trip to New York. Some is rich, some is poor, but they all hope for a better life in NYC, and a lot can happen on a trip. We get the backstories for everyone and the ending surprised me.

I still don‘t see the point of the pictures and excerpts throughout, and the way to tell the story felt a little odd at times, but other than that I quite enjoyed this

The plan was to read two chapters a day, but then I came to the point where I know Lady Catherine de Bourgh will arrive and then there‘s my favourite scene, so I just had to read on

This Austen novel will always have a special place in my heart since it‘s the first one I read after watching the BBC series

I think this is the 1st time I‘ve been thinking that Charlotte didn‘t make so a bad choice after all. Because she could have married a Wickham

#BookReport

It‘s towards the end of the month, so I finished the monthlong buddy reads; Pride and Prejudice #PemberLittens #JaneAustenThenAndNow, Entitled #SheSaid and Star of the Sea #BookedInTime

I continued with my yearlong reads on the right

I continued listening to the tagged

I put the Tiller book on pause for now

I‘ve started Intermezzo

This book came out last autumn to great acclaim and I was on waiting list at the library until now. But now is not the right time for me to read this. I find my thoughts wandering and that I want to read something else.

I might come back to in the future when the second book comes out. I enjoy it well enough when I read it, I‘m just not inclined to pick it up

The Women‘s Prize for Nonfiction was just announced.

I‘m actually quite happy about this list

I loved Raising Hare, I enjoyed Private Revolutions

I have What the Wild Sea Can Be out from the library

And I‘m on the wait list for A Thousand Threads

What do you make of this list?

This book annoyed my and that might just be a me thing. I never really understood when this book was taking place, if it was a dream or if it happened in an alternative universe. The son and the mum keep spending francs to pay for stuff. The mom went to finishing school in the early 60s and was 80 now, and as far as I know France hasn‘t spend francs in 25 yrs. This annoyed me so much so that the other stuff fell into the background. There‘s a lot

#BookReport #WeeklyForecast

I finished The Mystery of the Bass-Bound Trunk

I read Anything is Possible, the Sherlock Holmes story The Bruce-Parlington Plans and Eurotrash

I‘m still doing my yearlong reads on the right

I read this month‘s reading of Heartstone #ShardlakeBR and will continue with the others; Pride and Prejudice #PemberLittens #JaneAustenThenAndNow, Entitled #SheSaid and Star of the Sea #BookedInTime

Continue By the Fire We

Linked stories about the people in the rural area of Amgash. Most of the people grew up poor, and we see how this impacts them in adulthood. There‘s several stories covering child abuse.

This is a book in the Lucy Barton series and she‘s mentioned a couple of times and shows up in one

What a book. 13 linked stories where a main character in one story, can show up as a minor character in another story.

The stories in this collection is told in a one-side conversational way, and I loved that

About abortion, violence against women and femicide, the cartels, and grief

#InternationalBooker

#WeeklyForecast

I don‘t have any plans for the upcoming week, so I hope to get some reading done

Continue my yearlong reads

Continue the buddy reads; Pride and Prejudice #PemberLittens #JaneAustenThenAndNow, Heartstone #ShardlakeBR, Start of the Sea #BookedInTime and Entitled #SheSaid

I want to finish The Mystery of the Brass-Bound Trunk

I want to read Anything is Possible and hopefully Eurotrash so I get a start on the book by Tiller

Another case that support that pro-lifers isn‘t about pro-life

#SheSaid

Kate Manne in chapter 6 on why the pro-life movement isn‘t about pro-life

#SheSaid

Every two hours and twenty-five minutes a woman in Mexico is strangled, raped, dismembered, burned alive, mutilated, beaten to a pulp, and left with bruises and broken bones. A woman‘s body, another woman. Some woman, a nameless woman. A lifeless body was found.

#BookReport

I finished Private Revolutions and on audio The Christmas Bookshop

I kept up reading my yearlong reads on the right

I kept up with the buddy reads; Pride and Prejudice #PemberLittens #JaneAustenThenAndNow, Heartstone #ShardlakeBR, Star of the Sea #BookedInTime and Entitled #SheSaid

I‘ve also started Reservoir Bitches and Mystery of the Bass-Bunk Trunk #NancyDrewBR

After losing her job in her hometown, her sister gets her a job in Edinburg working in a bookstore. Carmen isn‘t too excited about this, but agrees and stays with her sister and her sister‘s family

This took me forever to finish, but that‘s not the book‘s fault. I‘m not a big audio book listener and only listen on short walks and to the library and there aren‘t many short walks during the winter months

I liked this and wants know what happens

I‘m so happy #wonf25 put this book in their Longlist. I never would have read it if it wasn‘t for the list.

It‘s interesting to learn about a society and culture that‘s completely different from your own. And I‘m just talking about China being communist. Like the school system, children walk hours to get to school, where your family is registered decides where you go to school and the competition.

What a first story. But if the rest of the stories in this collection is like this one, I‘m in for a treat

I‘m not going to say too much about what it‘s about, but I loved all the references to watching Legally Blonde, Miss Congeniality and Almost Famous

#BookReport

I continued with the yearlong reads on the right

I started all the buddy reads & so far I‘m keeping up; Entitled #SheSaid, Star of the Sea #BookedinTime, Pride and Prejudice #PemberLittens #JaneAustenThenAndNow & Heartstone ShardlakeBR

I continued listening to the tagged

I read The Coast Road & has started Private Revolutions

There‘s the world championship in the Nordic genres at the moment & it‘s having an effective on reading

Early on in this novel one of the female protagonists says in relation to marriage and divorce: “And if it‘s too easy to get out of, who‘d bother trying? […] In my day the worst thing you could imagine was being unmarried - you just went with the first fellow who asked you.”

This is a character study of what happens when marriage is the only option. How does this influence the women, the men and their children?

An amazing read

The Women‘s Prize for Fiction Longlist was just announced

I‘ve read 2: The Ministry of Time & The Safe Keep

I‘m on the waitlist at the library for 2: All Fours & Tell Me Everything. But the list is long & they won‘t arrive until after the shortlist, if not after the winner announcement

Then there‘s all these other books to explore, some showed up in prediction videos, but other than that they‘re new to me. Anything you want to recommend?

My #BookSpinBingo card for March is ready

My #Bookspin is Intermezzo, Sally Rooney‘s latest
My #DoubleSpin is the March section of Year of Wonder, so far this year I‘m enjoying a musical piece a day

Here‘s to another great reading month

The 9th volume so I‘m not sure what to say about the story without spoiling it.

But who need family when they treat you like this?

I have thought about rereading all the volumes since it‘s a long time since I started on volume one

#WeeklyForecast

Continue with my yearlong reads on the right

Continue listening to the tagged

I might be a little over ambitious this month and joining in on four buddy reads: Heartstone #ShardlakeBR, Pride and Prejudice #PemberLittensb#JaneAustenThenAndNow, Entitled #SheSaid and Star of the Sea #BookedInTime

I‘m about to start The Coast Road and also want to get a start on Private Revolutions

A friend and colleague of Shardlake is found murdered and Shardlake promises the widow that he will find the killer. This leads to the discovery of more related murders as someone is killing according to one of the stories in the Book of Revelation.

At the same time Shardlake gets appointed the lawyer to Adam Kite. A young man who won‘t do anything besides praying who for his own protection has been sent to the asylum. This give Sansom to explore

#BookReport

I continued with my yearlong reads on the right

I continued listening to the tagged

I read I Hate Fairyland volume 6 and 7, Monstress volume 9, Why Fish Don‘t Exist and Martyr!

I decided to DNF The Book of Love since I didn‘t think about once during all my other reads

I‘ve started Entitled #SheSaid

If it hadn‘t been for the #wonf25 I never would have known about this, so I didn‘t know what this was about when I pick it up at the library. Thankfully, Louise Savidge on her YouTube channel had made me aware of some

About taxonomist David Starr Jordan that started with the stars and flowers near him. Turning to fish and discovery thousands. A man that tries to find order in all the chaos. And how this ordering and labeling takes a dark turn

I was at the House of Literature last night to hear Elif Shafak talk about her latest book

What a talk. She talked about so many aspects of the novel and the significance of different writing styles for the different POV. I now have a deeper understanding of the novel

And Sharif was so sweet. Taking her time for everyone wanting a signed copy and a selfie. I stood 50 min in a queue. I can‘t remember the last time I did that

I so enjoy the return to Fairyland.

You can almost feel the joy Skottie Young while writing these stories

While Gert loves a good fight, these covers make her more brutal than she is.

In general, I think of misogyny as being a bit like the shock collar worn by a dog to keep them behind one of those invisible fences that proliferate in suburbia. Misogyny is capable of causing pain, to be sure, and it often does so. But even when it isn‘t actively hurting anyone, it tends to discourage girls and women from venturing out of bounds. If we stray, or err, we know what we are in for.

(I can already tell this book will make me angry)

My #BookSpin, #DoubleSpin and #BookSpinBingo list for March is ready

A lot of buddy reads and reading challenges

I‘m leaving a few extra free spaces for all the books on longlists at the moment and to be announced early March. I hope to receive books from the library and maybe buy a few

The International Book Longlist 2025 was just announced

I don‘t follow this prize the same the same way I do Women‘s Prize, but I get easily carried away

I‘ve read one book; On the Calculation of Volume 1, and I love this series & am eagerly waiting volume 6

Then I saw Solenoid which Eric Karl Anderson has been raving about on his YouTube channel & the library has it

My library also had two other books; The Book of Disappearance and Eurorrash

Another great entry today. I love how she‘s including composers writing from movies

When it comes to Morricone Burton-Bell writes:
“His scores invariably make a film, as the directors he works with know all too well. Sergio Leone, for example (the director with whose ‘spaghetti western‘ films Morricone‘s music is synonymous), only began shooting Once Upon a Time in the West after Morricone had written his magnificent score. The music came first.

When a werewolf isn‘t a werewolf anymore