Gotta love when a book starts with a map! 🗺✨

man, I love the way Jason Reynolds writes

My latest library haul had a bit of an accidental theme... 🚂🔪

what happens when I go to the library “just to return books” 📚 👀

only a couple pages into this one and I‘m already loving the writing🌻

Really enjoyed this one! I find the Magnus Chase books read a little slower than a lot of Riordan‘s other series. But I also enjoy having a narrator with a less snarky outlook (don‘t get me wrong, I love Percy, but just to mix it up), and the great focus on teamwork and the whole ensemble of characters.

Reading & tea on a rainy day 👌🏼 Finally feeling like fall after a week of summer weather, which I love in the summer but starts to feel wrong once the leaves have started falling. 🍂🍁

(Also, hi Litsy! It's been a while)

A new Queen's Thief book and time in the sunshine? The perfect day.

Hiding out from the heat (and my apartment without a/c) in cafes around the city today, so good thing I've got a big book!

Thankful for a sunny day to read outside after a week of rain. ☀️ 🌺 🌈

And enjoying this book so far!

Now that my sister lives in the same city as me again, it makes stealing each other's books so much easier!

Reading in the Gardens, on this lovely day 📚🌻☀️

Went to a local bookstore yesterday for an event, with the intent not to buy any more books since I still have many to read, but.....whoops?

#noselfcontrol #bookhaul

Birthday book haul! Lots of great middle grade reads + ACOWAR, which I'm dedicating my weekend to.

I finally have my copy! (Although, I'm going to wait for the weekend to read it when I have enough time.) When I first picked it up I was confused by how small it is. Not the trim size, but the thickness-- I mean, it's a 700 page book after all! But it turns out it's because the pages are *quite* thin.

Thanks for the early birthday present, @kimberly.burke !

Started this sequel to The Girl From Everywhere yesterday and I'm really looking forward to diving in! I loved the first book and this unique world of time traveling pirates.

Seeing as the book centers on the crew of a ship that travels through time, space, and myth, there are lots of bodies of water involved.

#bodyofwater #maybookshowers

It's the last day of Children's Book Week, so I thought I'd cap off the week with some of my childhood favorites! I was an avid reader as a child (I read everywhere, all the time) and I was especially into fairy tales, whodunnits, and any stories of spunky young girls.

#childrensbookweek

A collection of black & white (& grey!) books. 🎹⚽️🎬📓

#blackandwhitecovers #maybookflowers

This continuation of Lady Helen's story gets off to a bit of a slow start, but ends up just as engaging as the first. A darkly fun adventure with interesting characters, delightful period details about the Brighton Season, and vivid descriptions of the supernatural elements.

The supernatural, demon-hunting side of things is slightly less prominent in this one with more of the focus on conspiracy and secrets -- but there's plenty of action too.

I was going to take a picture of The Inexplicable Logic of My Life by Benjamin Alire Sáenz, but forgot before I left this morning! I saw him speak in March and that one is still on my TBR.

One thing I enjoy about doing these photo challenges is finding new books to fit the themes. In the library today I found this series of memoirs from Francisco Jimenez about immigrating to America from Mexico, his childhood as a migrant worker and life beyond.

I've been feeling a bit under the weather this week -- maybe all I need is to be dipped in the sea 😂

Ok so this one technically doesn't take place in a galaxy far far away because some people still live on earth (honestly that part of the set-up of the universe confused me). This is the story of a rough-and-tumble but lovable space crew, always seconds away from stumbling into danger. The plot twists aren‘t surprising, but the story is still energetic, with plenty of action. Space pirates! Who doesn‘t love space pirates?

Jill is in the hospital with a head injury and without any memory of what happened on her trip to Italy. But she knows two things: Her best friend is dead. And people think she did it.

Jill tries to piece together her story at the same time the media and everyone else is constructing one of their own. I didn't love this but it did keep me completely riveted for a while. I was expecting a lot from the ending though, and was left unsatisfied.

I was hoping today was going to be sunny but it seems we've dipped back into the gloomy, rainy part of spring again (those April showers didn't get the memo that it's May now). Here's a little flashback to the weekend before last, when I spent a whole day in the Gardens reading.

#sunshine #maybookshowers

My full monthly reading wrap-up for April is up on the blog now!

https://bitsandbobsandbooks.wordpress.com/2017/05/01/what-i-read-in-april/

A Court of Wings and Ruin comes out tomorrow! I'm worried I may not get any sleep trying to finish it (as it's even slightly bigger than ACOMAF...) So excited for this one.

#maymostanticipated #maybookflowers

Here were a few of my favorite reads from April! Not pictured but also a fave: The Dark Days Club.

I definitely didn't do every day but I think April was my most consistent posting for a photo challenge -- going to try to keep it up in May!

#bestofapril #aprilbookshowers

My haul from my earlier #independentbookstoreday outing! A couple books from the used book cellar (my fave part) and some new ones I just couldn't help but pick up.

(And I've just noticed I ended up with a sort of purple theme)

#indiebookstore #aprilbookshowers

Spent my morning at my favorite local indie celebrating Independent Bookstore Day!

#independentbookstoreday #indiebookstore #aprilbookshowers #getindie #brooklinebooksmith

A Series of Unfortunate Events is #aneeyorekindofread because...well, don't the titles say enough?

But I also had to include Emma because although the book as a whole isn't Eeyore-like, Emma's dad is one of the most Eeyore-like characters I can think of: rather lovably and ridiculously pessimistic. He's particularly great in this BBC miniseries version (played by Michael Gambon).

#aprilbookshowers

@elkeo Here is the front view of the Discworld poster!

I couldn't fit it all in this photo, but the bottom has the key to what each of the circles/lines/colors mean. Each color is a series (the Wizards, Tiffany Aching, City Watch, etc). White outlines indicate "starter novels" -- good spots to jump into. Dashed lines mean minor connections. And the black centers mean short stories.

All shown on the back of a turtle of course!

Geeking out with my sister over this Terry Pratchett poster we got from a book event tonight -- it shows how all the different Discworld books are connected by series etc. Very cool.

#discworld #terrypratchett

As you've probably heard, book two of this series is better than book one -- this one sets up the characters in a way that is important for the next one, but there are some parts of it I didn't totally enjoy. Still great writing though. (Book 3 comes out next week!)

One weird aspect of this story is that all of the characters in the faerie world are under a curse that involves being stuck in their masquerade masks.

#masked #aprilbookshowers

My first thought for this prompt was of course The Secret Garden. But I don't actually own a copy of that, so I went exploring in the library at work today to find a garden title. The Garden of Abdul Gasazi was Chris Van Allsburg's (Polar Express, Jumanji) first book. He has such a captivating art style, and so many great books.

#gardentitle #aprilbookshowers

My bookish umbrella is getting a lot of use this spring ... ☂️🌧

(Thanks @Susi-bee !)

There are plenty of books that I have disliked because of characters who I was supposed to be rooting for but were just too unlikeable. BUT I love purposefully unlikeable characters--they can be so much fun.

I think Austen has some wonderful unlikeable characters: Mr. Collins, Mrs. Elton, Caroline Bingley, etc.

#unlikeablecharacters #aprilbookshowers

?"She often wanted to plant herself back into the earth to see if she'd grow into something better this time, maybe a dandelion or an oak tree or a walnut no one could crack." ?

I have three shelves in my bedroom and a couple downstairs as well so there's no way to get all of them in one shot. (I live with other bookworms so we keep buying more shelves -- and more books! It's a vicious cycle.) Some of the shelves are organized by color or genre but this one is just random.

This shelf has my record collection below it and my art print collection on the walls above.

#shelfie #aprilbookshowers

I thought 1000 was a fun milestone to pass! Litsy is such a lovely genuine place, definitely the nicest social media place I know. Book people are the coolest people. 😎

In terms of my other stats, I've read more than 22 books just in 2017 so far, so I'm going to try to get better at posting my reviews here (I always write reviews over on goodreads when I'm done anyway)!

"This is a book."

And, it's a quite a good one. A book about the magic and power--literal and figurative in this world--of stories and books, about a captain of a ship who just wants to be remembered, a boy with no voice who wants to move on from his past, and a girl who has lost everything but then finds a secret.

The plot moves slowly at times but the prose is uniquely detailed, the characters engaging, and the atmosphere richly drawn.

Only on the second page of this book and I'm already so on board with this narrative voice. Excited to jump into this world 🌈✨

Earth tone covers for Earth day! 🌏 🌲🌳🌍🌿🌻🌎

#earthtonecovers #aprilbookshowers

Pretty unsurprisingly, the place I found books with subtitles was my non-fiction shelf. I haven't read any of these books yet (I read non-fiction much less frequently than fiction, and much slower too). But they all seem to be really interesting subjects that I'm looking forward to diving into at some point!

#subtitles #aprilbookshowers

Wrote a bit on my blog for the first time in a while! I was inspired by the #goodbookbadcover hashtag for #aprilbookshowers and my recent reading of this book (and my decision whether to buy the next one or read from the library) to think about how much covers make a difference to me in book buying now versus how they used to.

This one has been on my TBR for a while now -- I'm hoping to catch up on some middle grade reads soon. Tru & Nelle is based on the childhoods of Truman Capote and Harper Lee, and follows the two young budding authors as they solve a mystery in their small town, Monroeville, Alabama.

#ruralsetting #aprilbookstagram

Sometime this fall, I was browsing one of my local used bookstores and found this book -- I've like the other books of Delaney's I've read and hadn't read this one yet, so I picked it up. I went to put it on my bookshelf at home and noticed...another copy! I had already bought it at some point and just forgotten 😂

#dontrememberbuyingthis #aprilbookshowers

This is my Rick Riordan shelf (which holds part of my collection--look at those worn Percy Jackson spines). He's a local author here in Boston! Boston is featured in the Magnus Chase series and I love recognizing all the landmarks he tosses in there.

(Whoops, still one day behind) #localauthor #aprilbookshowers

A fun, engaging Regency tale with a twist. Goodman mixes the sly social commentary, witty characters, and period details of Austen into something new. There's mystery, action, banter, emotion, and oh yeah, demon exorcisms (well, sort of). The premise is fairly simple--Regency era meets supernatural secret society, Pride & Prejudice meets Buffy the Vampire Slayer--but it's executed in a way that feels exciting, fresh, and just oh-so-fun.

I don't have any room on the rest of my shelves so I store all of my picture books (a small collection, but growing thanks to work) on my nightstand. It started off as a way to match the height of the slightly taller nightstand on the other side of the bed, but now this side is much taller...

#onthenightstand #aprilbookshowers (I'm doing a bit of catch-up)

Because we refuse to grow up, my mom made us a children's book themed treasure hunt for Easter! The quotes lead to books around the house where more clues were hidden. The prize? Our easter baskets!