If you know the “Her Royal Spyness” series, you‘ll know that a luncheon managed by Queenie would be enough entertainment for the whole installment. #arc #Netgalley

Could someone tell me who this chick is on the cover, because I've been reading about Mary Russell, detective, for 26 years and this is definitely NOT HER. It can't be a young Mrs. Hudson either (long story) because this is 1920's clothing. Fixed her as much as I could with books and glasses. Mary is no longer glam enough for her own series apparently. Coming out June 9. Full review at https://www.librarything.com/work/23708455/reviews/184023733

Imagine “The Handmaid's Tale“ world run by an aging Jeffrey Epstein with a messiah complex and a yen for torture and you've got the general setting. Ick factor: very high. Main character Immanuelle realistically overcomes mind control; may or may not be a witch/cause or stop plagues. Plus: lesbian zombie spirit witches in the woods! Friends. . .or foes? #Netgalley #arc https://www.librarything.com/work/24073810/reviews/183956413

Recommended for readers who like smart historical fiction with romance and intrigue. ⭐⭐⭐1/2 because while I enjoyed the story a lot, I didn't fall in love with the characters, even though I really wanted to. Out August 18. Full review at https://www.librarything.com/work/24666469/reviews/183525760
#Netgalley #arc

Just started. Pretty good so far! The main character is a genius in physics 👍🏻 . Who started this weird women-pictured-from-the-back cover design trend? It‘s ubiquitous, and it erases the distinction between total fluff and more serious women‘s fiction (as does the cartoonish romance cover). #arc

Mediocre. The cover makes me mad given who she is, (hint: NOT that Magnolia woman, whatever her name is) but I managed to leave that out of the review. This is the world we live in. Barely ⭐⭐⭐ Full review at https://t.co/32EwOYuscJ?amp=1 #Netgalley #arc

This #arc says “Lesson One of the Scholomance” so I might have the beginning of a new SERIES here by Naomi Novik whom I LOVE ❤️!!! #Netgalley

1. Topsail Island, NC
2. “Moon Meets the Sun” by Our Native Daughters (on Youtube! Look it up for a lift!)
3. I love anise flavors like black jellybeans and craft root beer.
@Eggs #wondrouswednesday

Just finished this series. It‘s historical fantasy fiction, and it can be a bit much at times but it‘s fun. VERY much coming from a left-wing perspective so if you‘re a right-winger you may not enjoy. Some of the most diverse and lovable characters ever. January Lavoy is a heck of a good narrator. #series #fantasy

Delightful from page 1 to Acknowledgements and hilariously funny. Should have been an #arc but it‘s very late getting to me. 🐉 ❤️ Not for children: it‘s profane and violent. Loved it anyway.

Books I have read and recommend, with dates on which they will be released. Watch out for these! #arc #netgalley

Came highly recommended as hilarious “Appalachian gothic.” That‘s a thing? Count me ALL in!

Of the three prepubs I just read for #Netgalley, the tagged one was the best! A surprisingly deep chick lit diversion for summer. I actually gave “The Willoughbys Return“ 2 1/2 stars on Librarything. Not a patch on the original. #arc Full review at https://www.librarything.com/work/24192111/reviews/181401760

A woman in her golden years, Ann, re-imagines the sixties of her graduate school days, relocating them to California, the romantic heart of the sixties. Ann might have taken one seminar at Stanford; again, the whole framing thing is so weird that I‘m not really sure. Either leave out the dream aspect, or spell out what‘s true, or make the narrator clearly unreliable. #arc #netgalley

As with Mythos, simply *adored* Heroes. Need to get the audio of both like my pal @aimeesue so I can hear Fry read them! You can hear him read the beginning of the Theseus story on Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zh2jHkmWBrQ
My ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ review is at https://www.librarything.com/work/22368433/reviews/180546646

Lulu was flying high as the Love Guru, a major influencer around the art and science of romance, when her mother Patricia began, um, let‘s just say *misbehaving* in yet another nursing home. Patricia has Alzheimer‘s and might say or do just about anything. When Patricia demands to be “taken home” to the family‘s run-down estate in Louisiana Lulu lands herself in a crazy, unrecognizable life, like many of us right now. A great diversion! May 19.

Another one I stacked from Litsy. Here is the titular Courtesan; how and upon whom she will get her revenge remains to be seen, since there is no dust jacket for clues. It‘s an ILL from SWEM, the university library of William & Mary.

AUDIBLE STORIES free streaming for children and teens until this coronavirus crisis is over. Don‘t even need an Amazon account. Some Audible exclusive classics that I had on my Wish List! http://stories.audible.com

Tagged my current read, but this is really about public libraries. Threading using the comments. Things have moved fast with the COVID-19 crisis. Thurs: we were planning to stay open and maybe offer curbside holds pickup. Fri: we cancelled all programs but planned to stay open. Sat: we decided to close to the public, but come in and work. Sun: someone in VA has died and the governor will make a special announcement on Mon. which was ⬇️

The characters in this series, set in NYC during Prohibition, are very lovable and Bray has a real gift with dialogue. I‘m switching back and forth between print and audio. The narration is superb. On to the third in the series.

So wonderful I immediately downloaded the second book in the series the instant I finished. Set in #nyc during Prohibition. What a great fantasy. 👍🏻 #magic #fantasy #ya

I have a really good feeling about this #arc

Bailed and gave two stars on Netgalley halfway through. I know you‘re supposed to finish a book if you review it, but it was soooo much work just getting to the middle. Time leaps. Perspective leaps. Narrative style switches. Reorienting yourself on every page. Whole premise is cheesy but I was hopeful. It will probably become a stupid TV series. #fantasy #fairytale

In my book this is THE arc to have right now. #arc #netgalley #prepub #anglophilesoflitsy #mythology

This book on free speech begins by challenging the reader to adopt a VERY high standard of self-policing for considerate, appropriate, and current terminology, which I appreciate. The fact that language changes is irrelevant, and the burden of effective speech is rightly assigned to the speaker. It doesn‘t cost anything to choose the least offensive terms, so why go around offending people? #culture #law #communication

I admire Howe‘s principled stance but found the book to be pretty mediocre. More history of the religious right movement might have been interesting if he were a more compelling writer. Heard some names I‘d forgotten ages ago such as Mike Farris and Ralph Reed who did a lot of my thinking for me in my 20s. #politics #religion #culture

I have an acquaintance who‘s a huge name in the fantasy genre. His recs are infallible and he and his wife gave me some at a party last night. Ellen Klages and Libba Bray: their Gordon Family Saga and Diviners series, respectively; “Portable Childhoods” stories by Klages; the old book “A Black Fox Running;” and the newish “The Ten Thousand Doors of January.” #recommended #recommendedreading #tbr

THIS IS SO GOOD IT KILLED ME TO COME TO WORK TODAY. I read 200 pages last night. 😍😍😍

Started strong and very funny but lost momentum somewhere in the middle. Books of essays are tough. The author and publisher cobble together old and new material, and the result can be uneven and underwhelming. #arc #netgalley

Seeing what this one is like! It has good Litsy reviews and is kinda #gothic so giving it a shot. Hopefully I haven‘t read it already and forgot! I can‘t remember very well this week!

When the bookcase stopped rattling, Alex gripped its right side and pulled. It swung out from the wall like a door, revealing a two story chamber lined with bookshelves. . . . The glass dome above her glowed. . . .

1. Just English
2. Oona‘s out this upcoming week & she is superb!
3. At the Shoney‘s buffet so red, orange, yellow, green, purple and a whole bunch of browns & tans
4😭🙏🙄 it‘s been a week
5. Hey y‘all if you see this jump in! 👋🏻
@4thhouseontheleft @howjessreads #friyayintro

Current NetGalley shelf. Need to get these babies read and reviewed! #arc #tbr

The dudebro book of 2020 probably, out May 5. A guide to what Amazon is up to (a lot) and what people say about them (a lot, mostly bad) and the author‘s confidence that they will just keep “disrupting” stuff but didn‘t we think that about Walmart? My fave part was about Sephora ❤️ which is a far more effective online retailer. #internet #business #nonfiction

I was going to read something romantic for Valentine‘s Day but I read one paragraph of this and was instantly hooked. These biographical essays of a Puerto Rican woman, who grew up raising hell while dealing with tremendous trauma in Miami Beach, are “a whole mood.” How Díaz made it with all these strikes against her is beyond me. Stellar writing. Wow. #latinaauthor #blackauthor #lgbtq #memoir #strongwomen

Cute! And in places LOL funny. Another one recommended by Littens. #booksaboutbooks #bookstore

I had already decided this book was pretty mediocre. Then I misplaced it. I had decided NOT to take it back to the library but to finish it in order to learn what became of one particular character. I looked for it all over my house for 20 minutes. Then I found it in my bag of library returns. Being a woman in your early 50s is nonstop fun. 🙄

I really loved this. A young woman is trying to find her way in Boston on many levels, and is torn between two men, but mostly it‘s about the craft of writing. Lily King can really drop an exquisite sentence on you, leaving you reeling. #arc #Netgalley

Some flaws in the denouement, but I enjoyed the spell the author cast throughout the novel of slipping into the shadowy and perilous margins between intertwined lives and destinies, which was quite brilliantly done. #arc #netgalley #literaryfiction #surreal #ghosts #Canada
Full review at https://www.librarything.com/work/21588436/reviews/178509154

I love this cover. Isn‘t it cute? After “Writers and Lovers” by Lily King this is my next galley #tbr. Kind of intrigued by the premise. #NewYearWhoDis #Netgalley

Victorian true crime is really interesting. Another TBR from Litsy—ex library from Lancashire! #truecrime #england #anglophilesoflitsy

#januarywrapup Interesting reading month. Almost everything either new or upcoming. No audio. #arc and #Netgalley account for a bunch! I‘m addicted! My VERY favorite is tagged. #bookreport

Saw the third book in the Teahouse Detective mystery series on Netgalley and was intrigued. I knew that Baroness Orczy was at least partly in the public domain and sure enough, you can get the first in this series (published in 1908) for free at Project Gutenberg if you want to try out the Teahouse Detective. http://www.gutenberg.org/files/10556/10556-h/10556-h.htm

Anybody else married to a raconteur? This book is very funny. Love Roz Chast illustrations. #humor #comics #relationships #love #valentinesday

I have a book to read and another book to read and two ARCs from the publisher that I‘m supposed to read so WHY AM I CHECKING THESE OUT? #willpower #nonexistent

In Gish Jen‘s explosive new speculative fiction novel, “The Resisters,” underclass parents risk everything in a stifling technocracy just so that their kids can play baseball. Endlessly entertaining, with an “aha” of disturbing recognition on every page. The Cannon-Chastenet family will melt your heart. Five stars! Released February 7. #arc #speculativefiction #scifi Full review at https://www.librarything.com/work/23666364/reviews/178166578

Knocked my socks off. Ann Patchett does not exaggerate. Review of #arc coming soon as soon as I get a chance to write it.

1. Lately, e- format.
2. Publishers! Which is the reason why all the e-books. And the library. Being a librarian, they will sometimes call to you and can be hard to resist.
3. I do! Haven‘t for a few months though.
4. On my iPhone using Libby.
5. Tagged. @laurenslibrary
#ThursdaySurvey

Cool so far. Early in the book, he makes the argument that machine learning is still light years from human learning. “[M]achines are data hungry, but humans are data efficient.” Geeks pour a staggering amount of data into a neural network to get it to do a few things. We are the opposite: with a few pieces of data we can conclude, and do, a staggering number of things. #neuroscience #education #arc #Netgalley

Essays about “Peanuts.” Writers & artists write about the strip, the history, Schultz as a cartoonist, and the Peanuts characters they love and why. Jonathan Lethem mashes up lines from the strip with Allan Ginsburg in an ugly long-form poem—the only bad contribution. #comics #essays #writers