And that‘s a wrap. I finished six books, started a seventh, ate some snacks, and celebrated one of our favorite Littens. Not a bad way to spend a weekend. #mrbook1inamillion #24b4monday #litsypartyofone

Afternoon snack time with my next book. One of my 2019 resolutions was to finish 5 series that I already owned. This will be number five. I‘ve read the first few books before but the rest have sat unread on shelves for years.
#mrbook1inamillion #24b4monday #litsypartyofone

Originally serialized over a year in the Irish Independent this is a portrait of Charlie Savage as he deals with aging, a rapidly changing world, and the family he loves more than anything who want want what they think is best for him (even when all he wants is a pint while watching Match of the Day). I look forward to every new book by Roddy Doyle and loved Charlie- his humor and his gigantic heart. #mrbook1inamillion #litsypartyofone #24b4monday

After a brush with death Helena decides it is time to be an active participant in her own life and leaves 1920‘s England for a year in France. She enrolls in an art school, makes true friends, and meets a handsome American journalist. Well-written, light historical fiction, I enjoyed this entire series of loosely connected books.

#mrbook1inamillion #24b4monday #litsypartyofone

I feel as though I frequently wish books were shorter but this is the rare case that I really wanted another hundred pages of Mattie and Rooster. #mrbook1inamillion #24b4monday #litstypartyofone

All of my adulting is done for the day so I am ready to settle in with a snack and finish this book. 70 pages in and I cannot believe it took me so long to pick this book up. #mrbook1inamillion #24b4monday #litsypartyofone

I started this book yesterday morning and spent Friday night looking for things I could do while listening. I am not sure I have ever finished an audiobook so quickly. I love Lindy West. I loved Shrill and loved this one almost as much. I am trying to tell myself I don‘t need to own it but we all know I will be buying a copy for my shelves as soon as I get to a bookstore. #mrbook1inamillion #litsypartyofone #24b4monday

I want to force one of my friends to read this so that I can complain about how much I did not like this book and they can either tell me how right I am or tell me that I am insane and I can rant at them until they sigh and tell me to stop scaring innocent bystanders. I have a lot of feelings about this book.

This morning before work I put together a tentative stack for #litsypartyofone #mrbook1inamillion knowing there was no way I would actually stick to it. True to form all of my library holds have been coming in all day and my Netgalley shelf is suddenly over flowing. The good news is I will have lots to choose from!

Those of you who told me that this series just keeps getting better were so right. I was really into this book and analyzing the three suspects to try and decide which one I thought was the serial killer. Cormoran and Robin are still more of a draw to me than the central mystery and that ending made me want to pick up the next book immediately.

My childhood copy of this book disappeared so I was forced to order this lovely Virago edition. When it arrived it screamed for a reread and I was so pleased that I loved it every bit as much as I did as a child. When the father Jane doesn‘t remember sends a letter to the bleak home she shares with her mother and grandmother demanding she spend the summer with him she doesn‘t want to go. However when she does she finds a new world of happiness.

Frannie is on trial for the murders of her employers in 1820‘s London. She doesn‘t remember the night it happened but can‘t imagine that she could‘ve done it. She relates her story from her life as a slave in Jamaica to her time in London. Frannie is an unforgettable character-strong, smart, and complicated,but is she innocent? This has a strong start but parts of the middle were so slow. All told it is a pick for me but more #likedbutnotloved.

When I first heard buzz about this book I didn‘t plan on reading it. The Weinstein expose seems like yesterday and I wasn‘t sure it needed revisiting. Luckily a few stellar reviews convinced me otherwise. Reading about the months of investigation into the rumors about Weinstein was fascinating with the cast of horrifying villains(not only Weinstein but those trying to protect him) and the courageous women who were brave enough to speak out first.

I discovered this series in high school and fell in love. Rice stayed an auto buy author for me for years, even after her later books became less enjoyable. I was curious about revisiting Lestat and crew but after only a few pages I really wished I had stayed far away with my fond memories. Poorly written and pretty much nothing happens for most of the book except for too many minor characters reverentially referencing past books and navel gazing.

Thank you @AmyG for making my day brighter, and on YOUR special day no less. It was so sweet of you to send this to me when you noticed I had stacked it. The weekend cannot get here fast enough so that I can have time to curl up with this book. Thank you again my friend!

This book is broken into six chapters, each told from the point of view of a different member of a Cambodian family, that jump backward and forward in time. At only about 200 pages there is a lot of pain and struggle in their stories but there is also a lot of strength and hope, especially in the tale of the youngest daughter.

Rob‘s younger brother is able to read things out of books and into the real world. It is startling enough when it is a paperweight but when the Cat in the Hat is suddenly in your house it is even more alarming. When the two discover that there are characters in the world that Charles did not read out, they know something is amiss. This book was an absolute delight full of adventure, the love of literature, and a world with more than one Darcy.

Litsy is slowly but surely getting me to give more graphic novels a chance. I am honestly surprised it took me so long to give and read this one. A gay hockey player who loves to bake? I should have stormed my library after reading the first Litsy review. This was pretty much as adorable as all of the Litsy love proclaims and you can bet I will be keeping an eye out for book two.

Well, if my desk calendar insists...

I unabashedly love Queer Eye. Watching every episode and ugly crying is like therapy for me.That said I wasn‘t sure if I wanted to read any of the recently released memoirs until this one. Jonathan relates his journey to become the empathetic soul that comes through on screen with humor and without flinching away from the many severe mistakes that he made along the way. This book was brave and moving and only made me love him more.

So proud of myself, I walked into a bookstore and only bought the book I went in there to buy. Trying so hard to be good and read what I own but I have wanted this one since @Liberty started singing its praises ages ago.

I had so much fun reading this one. A family of psychics are down on their luck after a disastrous TV appearance years ago. Things are going from bad to worse with pressure coming from both the mob and the government at the same time. All of comparisons to Arrested Development were spot on. This book has a cast of quirky characters, humor, but also a lot of tenderness. Once things began clicking together in the second half it was unputdownable.

Two women who were wronged in love work to deal with their pasts. Calista who left her home as young and naive bride married to an older man seeks revenge. Pilar who worked hard to rise above the poverty of her youth gives into her attraction to a married man and faces repercussions she cannot ignore. They never truly meet but their lives connect. This was a gripping read and, while I would have liked more front the ending, one I would recommend.

I never miss the last day of the library book sale when everything is $1. I really tried to limit my #bookhaul this year but think I did pretty darn well. Every year I wish I could stay home on Monday and read my new books and this year I can since I ended my old job on Friday (finally!) and have a week off before I start my new one.

#7days7covers #covercrush Day 7

This was a lot of fun and I hope everyone who wants to join in does.

#7days7covers #covercrush Day 6

I have no idea who to tag anymore. If anyone isn‘t participating I wish they would. I am loving seeing everyone‘s choices.

#7days7covers #covercrush Day 5

@CaseyTheCanadianLesbrarian would you like to join in and post a cover you love every day?

#7days7covers #covercrush Day 4

@TobeyTheScavengerMonk are you interested in participating? Just post a cover you love for seven days with no explanation and tag someone new every day.

#7days7covers #covercrush Day 3

@TheBookStacker have you been tagged yet? If you want to join in just post a cover you love every day, with no explanation, and tag someone new every day.

#7days7covers #covercrush Day 2

@Lel2403 are you interested in playing along? Just post a cover you love every day for seven days with no explanation and tag someone new every day.

#7days7covers Day one. #covercrush

Thank you so much for the tag @Centique It was fun looking at my shelves and thinking about what covers I especially love!

@CocoReads are you interested in participating if you haven‘t been tagged yet? Just post a cover you love for seven days with no other explanation and tag someone new every day.

I started this book on audio but even with a great narrator I could not focus so I waited for the ebook from the library. When I started that I thought I would end up bailing until suddenly it changed from a book I struggled to read to a book I seriously could not put down. This is nonfiction that I would reread and is definitely going to be one of my favorite books of the year.

None of the books I was planning to read today were keeping my attention so I picked up this one and was 50 pages in in what seemed like a second. Two hired killer brothers are tracking down their next target but one of them is rethinking his choice of profession. I love a good western and was instantly smitten with Eli‘s narration. I need to seek out the movie next.

I avoided this book for a long time and it was every bit as harrowing as I feared. The events of Columbine were tragic and the fact that we are still battling to keep kids safe in schools made me want to scream at times. Still there was so much that I did not know about Columbine and so much of what I thought I knew was wrong. Glad I listened to this well done audiobook.

I have been reading a lot but not really loving anything I have picked up. So when a friend handed me this ARC on Saturday I knew how I would be spending my Monday off. I am a big Ann Patchett fan and really enjoyed this story about two siblings who are abandoned by everyone else in their lives. They cling to each other and their pasts and wrestle with forgiveness and moving on. Not my favorite Patchett but still a great way to spend a holiday.

I think this series just isn‘t for me. Parts of this were so gripping I was breathlessly turning pages and parts were a total slog. I will admit that I love how much I dislike the main character and I still want to know how things end but I don‘t think I will be reading the next book. I wish I loved this as much as everyone does.

Thank you so much Misty! You really brightened my day and I have been such a bad friend lately! I am so behind on all of my correspondence but please know how much I appreciate your thoughtfulness and overall awesomeness. Really looking forward to reading this!

I was supposed to only drop donations off at the Friends of the Library bookstore yesterday but who can say no to a $7 Folio Society edition of a book you have been wanting to read?

A Muslim doctor in Minnesota wakes up the morning after the election to discover that not only is Trump president but his town overwhelmingly voted for him. Feeling betrayed by his neighbors his first impulse is to leave but he then partners with a local pastor to give a speech about his faith which then turns into a series of lectures. I found this short audiobook absorbing and affective.

A recent widow and an ex-baseball player help each other let go of their pasts when he rents an apartment in her house. They both have issues they are dealing with that at first agree to never discuss but as they grow closer they let each other. I loved Evie and kind of wanted a different ending for her because of how she grows so much over the course of the book. Still this was a really enjoyable romcom. Great on audio with a fantastic narrator.

Finishing this trilogy is bittersweet. Each book took forever to get through so it was a relief to reach the end. Yet after spending time with generations of Lyttons I will miss them and their endless drama. This was a fitting final installment, plenty of misery and scandal and a tear jerker of an ending.

I finished this a couple of days ago and am still not 100% sure how I feel about it. It starts off as a typical tale of an amazingly talented but misfortunate youth getting into a elite boarding school and then turns into a much, much darker war story. Great world building and I appreciated the historical parallels but I found myself skimming more than once. I expected to love it more than I did but still want to start the sequel this weekend.

I loved Sky in the Deep so I hate how disappointed I am in this book. I found the first part confusing but after finding my footing In the story I realized how little I cared about any of it. I was not nvested in either protagonist and most of the events were so predictable that there wasn't even enough suspense to keep me interested. I love the world that Young brings to the page but this was a miss for me.

It took me awhile to fall under this book‘s spell but once I did I was fully ensnared by Reina‘s deep love for those who did not always deserve it, her loneliness, guilt, and reluctance to wish for more for herself. I didn‘t always understand her but I came to deeply care about her. Not everything about this book worked for me (especially everything involving the dolphin sanctuary) but I loved Engel‘s writing and this was definitely a pick.

Things have been stressful so I really needed a reas that I could sink into like a bubble bath and this book really helped me turn my brain off. Loveday has worked in a bookstore since she was 15 years old. She loves her job, its paternal and eccentric owner, and books. She really does not need anything else in her life. Suddenly pieces of the past she is trying to put behind her start turning up as well as compelling stranger she cannot ignore.

@TorieStorieS I cannot thank you enough for the incredible surprise package- a book I have been wanting to read for ages and a perfect summer read. I so appreciate your kindness (and great taste). #jb

If you are looking for a charming audiobook with a bookish, introverted heroine look no further. Nina loves her job in a bookstore, her cat, trivia,and scheduling every moment of her day. She discovers that she was included in the will of the father she never knew and that he also left her a large and complicated family she will have to meet. I was so sad to when I reached the end. I will definitely be adding more Abbi Waxman books to my TBR.

To celebrate my Litfluence hitting 100,000 I am giving away this stack of signed books. To enter please create a post about what living author‘s book signing you would most like to attend tagging me and using #signmeup. Winner will be drawn on Sunday, July 28th. Open internationally.

Look what happened while I slept! This is awesome. To celebrate I will be posting a giveaway shortly.