75/100
This is apparently my time period for movie watching.
Three faves: Babe, A Serious Man, Fargo (and In the Bedroom and Sixth Sense because I can't stop with just 3)
Thanks for the tag, @dabbe !
#ThreeListThursday #TLT

April #bookspinbingo card, ready to go!

@TheAromaofBooks

1) I was until junior high when my family moved, and I went from a school where trying hard and doing well were cool to a school where doing those things got you targeted by bullies. So I hid out for a few years, then when we moved again in high school to another high-caliber school district, it took me a while to rebuild my skills. I still did decently through high school and college.
2) A classic.
@TheSpineView #Two4Tuesday

I guess that wraps up my #WeeklyFavorites for March. It's been a pretty good reading month, but moving into April, I feel like I need a refresh of how I approach reading. I've been using audiobooks as a replacement for putting my hands over my ears, and I would rather move *towards* books rather than *away* from reality. So we'll see if I can find a little more balance as we move into spring.

@Read4life

My April #bookspin list!

@TheAromaofBooks

March #bookspinbingo card. I didn't read my #bookspin title, but I finished my #doublespin and managed one bingo...yay!

@TheAromaofBooks

I chose my airplane book. I picked the one I don't think I'll mind leaving behind in a random LFL or indie coffee shop when I finish it to make room for newly-purchased books.

I got to hang out with my teen and my spouse for an outdoor, in-concert-with-the-symphony showing of this classic movie about a grandpa who reads a book aloud to his jaded grandson. There's also kissing and pirates.

This one is decent. It has some fun twists (and some that are a little confusing), but it seems like it can't quite decide how YA it is. Part of that could be the narrator (I listened to part of it on audiobook...the narrator also mispronounced words and whoever was editing the audiobook left background sounds in a few times, which I found distracting), but I think a lot of it is just how tenuous the characters are, like they're not fully formed.

This novel did not go in any of the several directions I expected it to, which was actually kind of delightful. It's a bizarre story of family systems, mourning, and discovering new ways of upholding responsibilities when the old ones no longer work. In a way, it's kind of a coming-of-age story for the painful growing up one does when our parents no longer carry us (literally and metaphorically), for whatever reason and at whatever age.

1) Had a few great runs, including one during which I heard and saw a red shouldered hawk.
2) Saw a North American premier of a bagpipe overture.
3) Spotted the ocean on a walk (which helped balance the walk being through a pretty unfriendly neighborhood).
4) Kitty snuggles.
5) Library visit.
Not pictured: a great phone conversation with my college kid, and my prealgebra class went really well!
@DebinHawaii #5JoysFriday

For an upcoming week-long trip, I'm limiting myself to one physical book plus my Kobo. These two are the current front-runners---Wild Houses and Horror Movie.

Which should I bring? Or should I bring something else entirely?

Other options:

Darkly by Marisha Pessl
Baby X by Kira Peikoff
The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones
Stone Yard Devotional by Charlotte Wood

I was surprised at how many disaster movies made the list of nominees.

I loved:
1. The Color Purple
2. Coal Miner's Daughter
3. Norma Rae

In related news, since my elder kid went away to college, my teenaged son and my husband have had greater influence on which movies we watch, which means I am watching a lot of Marvel and Tarantino and not much else. It's nice to be reminded that other movies exist!

@dabbe #TLT #ThreeListThursday

I kept putting this one off because I wanted to re-familiarize myself with There There first, but finally I picked it up, and I'm glad I stopped delaying. The interwoven stories, including those in the past and present and about figures both fictional and historical, are gripping and deal poignantly with how various addictions can draw a person in and how the legacy of colonialism continues today. Another #tob25 longlist title.

We'll see if Silo and I can make some reading progress before this one is due back at the library. I have not had near as much reading time so far this week as I would prefer. Or as Silo would prefer.

Okay, the character is in San Francisco, thinking about an earthquake that Enrico Caruso was in, which was in 1906. Was Caruso in another earthquake in 1905, or is this just a typo that the editors didn't catch before publication? Or maybe it's the character's mistake?

Can you tell this kind of thing irritates me? I don't know how to read it if I don't know the origin of the mistake.

1. Hiking, walking on the beach, huggling my (big, adult-sized) kiddos, listening to the birds.

2. Tagged.

@TheSpineView #Two4Tuesday

Not sure if this is for a specific group, but I figured it wouldn't hurt to jump in.

1. Pretty well. Time feels slippery today, and I'm constantly starving because I've increased my activity level but not my caloric intake (by design), so I'm fighting hangriness.
2. Mostly negative (except for Litsy) unless I'm very careful.
3. I'm taking a break from Facebook and using IG & Bluesky sparingly. So far, so good.
@Kerrbearlib #MentalHealthMonday

When all the library holds come in at once.

This is a mix of #Roll100 titles and books I requested to help me figure out my relationship with social media (except Litsy. I know exactly how I feel about Litsy ❤️).

I've enjoyed all of the books I read this week, but if I have to choose just one, Help Wanted it is! If I'd finished Moon of the Turning Leaves a day earlier, that would have been an easy pick for this week. We'll see if anything I read this week tops that title!

#WeeklyFavorites @Read4life

What a beautiful and immersive follow-up this novel is. I love the portrayal of the landscape and that Rice leaves dialogue in Anishinaabemowin untranslated, with context clues to meaning. While reading this novel, I have found myself observing the world around me differently and requesting from myself more attention in the moment. I find myself contemplating what's most important and how to center those elements in my life. It's a gift of a book.

Friday night splurge. I'm so sad that our indie is moving across the highway in a couple of weeks. I can still get there, but it's a drive rather than a walk (and parking is a pain). I likely won't spend as much at their new location as I have in their current location, but hopefully for them it's a better spot.

1) #ToB goodies.
2) Solar-powered cats.
3) A hike with beautiful views and a chance to identify poison oak without touching it.
4) Climbing 489 "secret" stairs with a friend.
5) Looong shadows on an evening walk.

#5JoysFriday @DebinHawaii

I might also have bought myself a #ToB25 t-shirt. I like wearing IYKYK shirts and seeing how many people K (and say so). No one today so far.

After the 6th graders put me through my paces in class tonight, I feel like having something stronger, but I'm trying to convince myself that salad, nonalcoholic kombucha, and post-apocalyptic fiction will nourish me better in the long run---and disturb my sleep less---than a martini.

I first read this in 2009. With this 2025 re-read, I'm struck by how GenX this novel is: disillusion with/suspicion of consumerism, a desire for real experiences, a sense of impending doom not recognized by those in power, a desire for community if for no other reason than to have people to have a beer with while we watched the world burn. 2025 turns out to be a great time for a re-read and a reminder that stability isn't a given.

1. Crocus in New England (first to push through the snow and give me hope that it would be warm again eventually), jasmine in San Diego (I love walking through the neighborhood and wondering why I smell tea and realizing it's the jasmine blossoms).

2. Tagged reminds me of spring, both the literally and emotionally/metaphorically.

@TheSpineView #Two4Tuesday

My mom and my brother both worked at a major discount retailer in a rust belt city for several years, and Waldman captures well the feeling of being trapped---by corporate indifference, by an economically bifurcated community, by the accident of birth and privilege---that those years highlighted for our family (and that led me to boycott the retailer for 25+ years and counting). This is a well written but depressing novel from the #ToB25 longlist.

It's bizarre books like this that make me want to live in Sweden (or anywhere in Scandinavia). I would love to see if the off-the-wall perspectives in Scandinavian fiction are universal within the culture, if they'd be accessible to an ex-pat, and if they would make up for the climate being as near the opposite as possible to the weather in San Diego (which has, unfortunately, become my baseline). This book is delightfully weird.

I'm really enjoying this year's #ToB! I got myself a mug to commemorate finishing the whole shortlist (as I did in 2023). Today's decision and commentary---between Liars and The Book of George---are particularly interesting, and I enjoyed reading them while enjoying decaf from my official mug.

I missed a week, so here's my mid-month #WeeklyFavorites post. @Read4life

I went to the library to pick up one hold, and three more books jumped into my arms. At least I wasn't visiting the animal shelter.

I finally finished my February Bookends post, in which I talk about my solo trip last month, uncomfortable interactions, and, of course, the books I read. Here's where it lives, if you'd like to check it out: http://imperfecthappiness.org/2025/03/13/bookends-february-2025/

I've yet to meet a time travel storyline that doesn't become tedious at some point, and this one is no exception. However, it's less tedious than most, and I really like the premise and the tie-in to actual historical figures. The steamy bits are nicely written but maybe a little more detailed than necessary for what the book is meant to be, but I really like the characters and was disappointed to say goodbye at the end. #tob25 longlist

I got myself a bit of a treat that's not in the database: Agatha Christie's England: A Map and Guide from Herb Lester Associates, written and researched by Caroline Crampton. Now I can get a sense of the geography of the Christies I read each month.

I took time out from reading the tagged, which I'm really enjoying, to go see some live music. I'm kind of disappointed that the trumpet and saxophone players (and perhaps the others at times) were just pretending. I guess I've been going to the symphony too much and expect that if someone is on stage, they're actually going to be performing music. I probably could have listened to the album while reading at home, but it's good to get out.

This one has promise, but it doesn't quite hit the mark for me. The twin thing gets pushed a little too hard in some places then nearly abandoned in others (as is one major character). There was one more twist I was expecting that didn't happen, and some of the seams between story elements are showing. I do appreciate the attempt to make the characters nuanced rather than all-good/all-evil, but I suspect this is one I will forget I've read.

Congratulations, @Texreader !

I love that Litsy has all the best of social media without the stuff I don't like. Here I find a thoughtful, considerate community of readers, a feed that's chronological without boosted posts trying to sell me personalized jewelry or bikini body programs, and a place to talk about books with people who get where I'm coming from (rather than the blank-stare/smile-and-nod I usually get IRL).

This one had me at the Oscar Wilde quote in the front of the book. While it's a little superficial at times, the humor is excellent and tempered well with moments of authentic-feeling connection. I enjoyed laughing out loud and then tearing up, and I appreciate what Rowley has to say about the role that acting can play in giving one the opportunity to feel, explore, and express difficult emotions in a controlled environment.

#5JoysFriday @DebinHawaii

1) Coffee date with my home-for-spring-break college student.
2) Successful and uneventful dental cleaning and mani-pedi for Miss Camille (who is so funny coming off of anesthesia).
3) ToB kickoff!!!
4) Rain!!!!
5) Watching my younger teen build critical thinking skills quickly in the current political atmosphere. We're having great discussions! (Silver lining to watching the possible collapse of our democracy.)

It took me a while to get into the world of this novel, and I'm not sure that I ever completely got my bearings. The writing style is lighter than the story, which is continually unsettling. It reminds me a little of Poor Deer and other novels narrated by children navigating grown-up worlds. I'm not sure I was in the mood for another dystopian novel, but these days, I want to know that life goes on even after things we take for granted fall apart.

"And I realized that I'd brought you into life at a time when everyone else's debts had come due. Only, the debtors weren't around anymore to pay up. So it'd be you doing the paying."

Oof. I have had this same thought many times during quiet moments since my children were born.

Trying to share a quote without sharing spoilers...

"It was just a trick. That's all the thing was. Tricks and lies, all of them cheap, all of them ugly. They only worked because nobody cared about the truth."

Feeling this right about now, in our putative nonfictional world.

I liked this one better than I liked Manhunt, but Felker-Martin doesn't present a very well developed, cohesive idea of who the villain is, which, given the nature of the main antagonist, might be a silly thing to write. The characters are more developed in this one than in Manhunt, and I cared more about what happened to them, but I still found the novel wordy overall and tedious at points, especially in the second half. #ToB25 longlist

Current situation. Reading has stalled, but I'm getting a great belly massage as Camille makes biscuits on me.

Camille just got home from a dental cleaning, and she's all about the pets as she comes off of her anesthesia, which means I might need to hang out and give her some snuggles while hopefully finally finishing the tagged.

Well, I liked this one quite a bit! I find it amusing how Poirot has started acting a little like Miss Marple in this one ("Now, what does that remind me of?"). The political intrigue subplot felt unnecessary and a little like Red Scare Era propaganda, but otherwise, this mystery was delightful to read. #doublespin

March #bookspinbingo card! I forgot to leave space on my #bookspin list for my #Roll100 titles, so I have them on a separate list outside of my bingo card, and I'll put them in free spaces if I read them.

@TheAromaofBooks

Wow, all #tob25 for this month's favorites. It either says something about the quality of the longlist, or it's just a reflection of the fact that I read most of this month's books from the longlist so my favorites are statistically more likely to be from among those titles.

#WeeklyFavorites @Read4life