I was recommending the tagged book to my 16-year-old son because he enjoys history, and I'm finding it a unique perspective on how to live one's everyday life as authoritarianism is spreading and fascist apologists are cropping up. He was on board until I told him the title, at which point he laughed heartily because, while he's quite an intellectual kid, he remains a 16-year-old boy.

We interrupt this Litsy feed to bring you a gratuitous brag on my college kid:

Their dad dropped them off at their new dorm room for junior year, and within about an hour of Dad's departure, I received this shelfie. It's gratifying to see evidence that we've instilled proper priorities in our offspring.

My chemistry-major elder child pointed out that, if this works like a chemical transformation, the more confusion you start with, the more clarity you'll end up with. I'm pretty darned confused, so this bodes well for me.

For #TuesdayTunes today, I'm enjoying Kelli Scarr's "Knowing is the Call" and the album it's from, Greater Mysteries, a welcome recommendation from @catiewithac

@TieDyeDude

How did it take me so long to read this book? I'm so glad that, when I finally did, it was the rest-of-the-world version and not the truncated US version; the point of the novel is much different if it ends when the US version (also the one Kubrick used for the movie) does. It's violent, yes, but after reading S.A. Cosby and Bret Easton Ellis, it feels almost quaint, and I love the cultural criticism and what Burgess does with language.

Camille says, "If you want to take my picture, just ask. The 'photos of bookmail' pretense is unnecessary."

The Booker Longlist titles that I can't get at the library arrived today. Now to sit still uninterrupted long enough to read them...

I accidentally went thematic when I checked out yet more library books I'm unlikely to get to before they're due back.

Playing catch-up with my blog posts. If you're interested in my longer-form musings and my reading wrap-up from May-July, here's the link: http://imperfecthappiness.org/2025/08/25/bookends-may-july-2025/

(Photo: vocal catbird on the shores of Lake Michigan, June 2025)

My overflowing basket of bookmarks and...what I'm using as a bookmark.

The biggest thing that strikes me about this novel is the richness of the internal lives of the characters. It's an excellent example of how each of us is the star of our own life and how much work it takes to break out of focusing on ourselves to even begin to grasp the experiences of others. There are huge cultural critiques here that McCullers makes through her portrayal of the lives of a handful of people in one fictional Southern town.

Cat book format preferences:

Silo says that he prefers hardcover books because they're best for face scritches. Camille likes the Kobo because with the backlight, I read in bed where I can pet her instead of trying to fall right to sleep. They agree that their least favorite format is audiobook because I never sit still when listening to those (and thanks to noise canceling headphones, I also sometimes run the demonic vacuum).

This week has been challenging, so I thought it would help to reflect on the positives, even without many photos:

1. Beautiful skies, day and night.
2. An energetic first class for my teaching year.
3. Jury selection gave me an interesting new life experience.
4. Back-to-school night for my son's 11th-grade year and meeting his awesome teachers.
5. Errands with my college kid before they go back to school this weekend.

#5JoysFriday @DebinHawaii

Well, jury duty was a lot less reading time than I expected. I was called to a courtroom pretty quickly, and then it was all paying attention to other people answering questions then answering questions myself, all day yesterday and much of the morning today. I ended up being excused, which is definitely the less disruptive outcome, but after all of that effort and attention, I'm a little disappointed. It was surprisingly fun! Yay democracy!

Instance no. 12609 when it's good to have a book with you. Performing one's civic duty is not particularly exciting; a book helps.

Edited to clarify that I'm not in a courtroom, just waiting. And waiting. (And waiting.)

Today, #TuesdayTunes involved hitting shuffle on my "liked songs" playlist, which means I went directly from Chopin (Mazurka, op.68, no. 2 in a minor) to White Zombie (Electric Head, Part 2 (The Ecstasy)). A little bit of auditory whiplash, but also kind of fun. Guess which one this sheet music goes with...

@TieDyeDude

This quick, thoughtful read follows one academic year in Inazu's life as a law professor. It's very law-school-oriented, and I worried at first that I'd gotten the wrong idea, but by "January," it shifts, and I was all-in. Inazu's perspective (and the blowback he's received) reminds me of blog posts I've written about my efforts to build community through conflict (Inazu seems more successful than I am at this). This would be a good group read.

A true story of an unexpectedly painful beverage.

The very best way
to locate a papercut:
Squeeze a wedge of lime.

#haikuhive #haikuaday @dabbe , et al

This novel is violent, but not gratuitously so. It's the story of the evolution of one family's fortune (with a side story about another family as well). This is a novel with momentum, almost like Cosby set the story up at the top of a hill and then gave it a nudge and watched it roll. It was interesting to watch the characters follow paths shaped by history, secrets, ambition, and their own and others' choices. #camplitsy25

I was audio-exercising yesterday morning, and it appears that I was so engrossed in the audiobook that I forgot to stop my workout tracking. According to my app, I did almost 37 hours of weight training...pretty impressive! 😂

This novel is super creepy, pretty gory in spots, and just a lot of fun. It drags a little in the middle, and I'm still not entirely sure I understand how all of the layers fit together, but I enjoyed it all the same. Great on audio, but I could also see it being a really cool movie in the right hands.

Overall, I really enjoyed this novel. This is a mix of mystery and horror, and it does for me exactly what I love horror to do: show us parts of ourselves we'd rather not face. The novel brings us back to the early months of the pandemic and highlights the ways that covid brought out negative tendencies in United Statesian culture. There's a pretty glaring error relating to propane tanks, but that's the only bit that took me out of the action.

I enjoyed this unsettling book full of people making cringey choices, although I'm not sure I totally understood it. If you're not a fan of ambiguous stories, this might not be your cup of tea.

It's been a stressful but good week.

1) Art show finds.
2 and 3) Silly cats.
4) New patio plants.
5) First concert of the year/last concert of the summer for my tuba-playing kid.
Not pictured: Recorded and submitted 11 auditions.

@DebinHawaii #5JoysFriday

This was a quick read and very odd. The premise isn't the oddest thing; the oddest thing is how the characters jump to bizarre conclusions as though they're not just plausible but the only rational explanation and get essentially no pushback. It feels a little like the author is a kid coming up with weird stories while playing with his action figures. I don't love Uketsu's books, but I'll keep reading them.

This is from an email from author and biomechanist Katy Bowman, and I've verified the print and e-book numbers (https://thetechylife.com/how-much-money-does-amazon-take-from-book-sales/). Still looking for audiobook numbers as the linked article is less detailed on those. I also learned that Amazon controls 80% of book distribution in the US.

If you, like me, are alarmed by this, check out bookshop.org, libro.fm, and kobo.com for alternatives.

Camille giving me a high five because, after getting my elder kid and my spouse to read Playground and discuss it with me and then attending a book club about it, I have a new appreciation for what Powers is doing in this novel. I want to re-read it now that my context has evolved so I can see what else I see in it.

Drowning my jealousy over my spouse's trip to London at the garden center and then audiogardening with the tagged. We rent and only have a few containers on our patio, so audiogardening doesn't take up a lot of time, so I'll have to find something else to distract me soon.

Diplomatic review: This novel wasn't really for me, and I should have known that ahead of time based on my experience with two other Willingham books. I don't find the main character believable, and the twists feel forced and the emotionality overwrought rather than organic. However, it's successful at what novels like this are supposed to do, and the narration is great.

Spoiler rant in comments.

This is an ARC from StoryGraph/Macmillan Audio.

I consumed this one on audiobook so I might be mistaken, but it seems like Tuppence forgets which name she's using more often than I would expect from a former spy. Like so many TV heroines of the 20th century, she seems like the kind of woman who hides her cleverness so as not to threaten the men in her life and ends up acting sillier than makes sense. And she gets coshed on the head almost as often as 1970s TV Wonder Woman got chloroformed.

Update for @RaeLovesToRead :

My spouse thanks you for the restaurant recommendation! (He also got a milkshake.) He promises to bring me next time he travels to London (okay, so *he* didn't promise, but it's happening regardless...I am aching to travel outside of North America, and I keep being thwarted by the calendar and kids who seem to prefer road trips. I'm in the UK via my current/most recent books, but I'm guessing that's not the same).

Although the plot drags a bit and I have a distaste for epistolary fiction, the complex characters, varied settings, and political and historical commentary make this an interesting take on a Dracula story. I'm glad I had the audiobook to read alongside it, though, as I don't have the concentration I once had for such an epic story.

Already making progress on my August #bookspinbingo (a couple on the verge of finishing).

@TheAromaofBooks #bookspin

This week's #5JoysFriday is all about wildlife!

1) Klipspringer and Yellow-Crowned Bishop at the zoo.
2) Lizard on a rock on the hiking trail.
3) Bobcat caught by my backyard cam.
4) Woodpecker (Nuttall's, I think) on my urban hike.
5) Not pictured because I was too slow, ironically: A huge pet tortoise in someone's front yard (must have been three feet long from head to tail).

@DebinHawaii

I'm not sure how summer passed so quickly (and why August isn't "summer" anymore), but I'm ready to read!

#bookspin @TheAromaofBooks

13 finished, including #bookspin (but not #doublespin) and 1 DNF this month. And one bingo! Now on to August...

@TheAromaofBooks #bookspinbingo

This month was a lovely reading month! My book for 07/27-07/31 was actually so-so for me, but since it's the only one I finished that week, it's my favorite. The tagged is my favorite for the month, and I've been talking with excitement about it to anyone who will listen since finishing it.

#WeeklyFavorites @Read4life

We do not care that we bought the shorts we're wearing at a thrift store during Clinton's second term. Some styles are timeless.

We also do not care that we're posting this on Thursday. Time is a construct, and we can't be expected to keep up with what day it is.

#WDNCW @dabbe

While I really liked the "home for wayward girls" premise and the exploration of the many ways girls were (are) manipulated in the name of doing what's considered right, I really don't know if the witchcraft piece is necessary, unless the idea of girls actually having agency without the assistance of magic is just too unbelievable. Which, well, maybe it is. Regardless, I still didn't like the chanting.

I stayed up late to read this one before it was returned on Libby, and it was worth it. Strategically starting it after my elder kid returned from a trip to Portland was also a good idea. The tension is a little much to bear, and living on the West Coast, the premise is a little too real, but I love the complex relationships, the imperfections, the portrayal of grief and disappointment at how our image of life differs from reality. #camplitsy25

#5JoysFriday @DebinHawaii

1) Haircut! (My hair dresser thankfully talked me out of a bob.)
2) Butterflies!
3) Acting like a tourist in my home city!
4) A webinar that helped me get some of my mojo back!
5) Etsy browsing!

Honorable mention: Autocorrect changing "webinar" to " "weiner."

For a novel filled with exasperating characters, this was quite a fun read! While the characters are exasperating, they're also complex and darkly funny, with commentary about wealth---inherited and otherwise---race, antisemitism, and the challenges of being in a family. I love that there's no character in this novel that I can entirely love or entirely despise.

I'm too distracted to concentrate today, but Camille seems to be enjoying the tagged book.

A haiku in honor of a day that I worried would be busy but turned out to be an excellent combination of activities. I did more than these things, but this is what fits in 5-7-5 (and it hits the high points).

Time with family
Solo outdoor exercise
A perfect balance.

#haikuhive #haikuaday @dabbe

Through beautiful, engaging prose and a unique and striking setting, McConaghy tells a story that's both bleak and hopeful. As with her other recent novels, she addresses the reality of climate change while offering a way to keep our hope and humanity in the face of a changing world. I enjoyed this one quite a lot.

Photo: Acadia National Park, Bar Harbor, Maine, USA

Audiowalking with the tagged while my younger kid is at tuba lesson. In addition to tons of students and parents at the university for orientation (is it seriously that time already?), I met up with this male monarch enjoying a snack. My external environment was quite different than the one in my ears.

For #TLT #ThreeListThursday, @dabbe requested three favorite movie soundtracks.

The ones I thought of first (minus season 1 of The Umbrella Academy, which isn't really a movie) were:

1) Hedwig and the Angry Inch
2) Sinners
3) O Brother, Where Art Thou?

I love Davies's reflective, introspective writing style and vivid settings. This novel follows the confusion and conflicting motivations of the main characters well. Reading it felt like I was being taken on a journey. I listened to the novel on audio, but based on prior experience, I suspect the effect would have been similar had I read it in print. And bonus: I learned more about the geography of India than I knew before.

We do not care that you think you shouldn't have to wait for us to cross the street. Pedestrians have the right of way even if you drive a Mercedes, Tesla, or any other "premium" vehicle. (We do care, however, if you hit us, and we will swear loudly at you to help prevent that from happening.)

#WDNCW #WeDoNotCareWednesday @dabbe

There are many ways I could read this novel, many clues I could (and did) highlight, many threads to pull. One thing I feel confident about is that it's about the parts that we play in our lives, the way that we sometimes continue to play the part even when it's not working anymore, the way that we get caught in our role and lose sight of who we are, if anyone, apart from it. There are other things here, but this one I'm pretty sure about.

This is a funny and emotional novel with characters whose deft, complex, and compassionate portrayals eclipse the statistical unlikelihood of them all existing at the same time in one small town. The story is certainly a vehicle for showing a variety of lives and perspectives of trans individuals, but it's also an enjoyable and touching story in itself. I didn't read anything about it before I started, so it was a total, delightful surprise.