Soft pick. I enjoyed the Appalachian setting and the relationships/friendships/found family, but the pacing was odd. It almost felt like it had multiple endings.

I read the heartbreaking end of this novel in my parents' house before everyone else was up. Elaine Feeney is amazing. This was just the kind of novel I love best, where so much is happening but most of it is in memory or thought and the action itself is quiet. The "action" of the novel is mostly all in the short flashback sections. It's brilliant and sad and so well written.

I know this is bells on a ribbon, but it looks like an open book on fire. We're traveling for Thanksgiving and every light pole in this town looks like a book bonfire. Maybe if the ribbon was green it would work better?

The novel is circular by design, which I liked at first, but the text was too repetitive & there was too much filler -- overuse of phrases like "in other words" or "with that thought." And I think every character thinks or says, "Huh?" at least once. Here are a couple quotes: "Eiko had no idea what a Whiskey and Coke was." ? "Plants were amazing things. Every year, without fail, they created literal, solid produce." ? Better in Japanese, maybe?

I finished up the last Oz book written by L. Frank Baum today. Baum had to have known this would be his last book because all the characters from the series make an appearance. Dorothy and Ozma take center stage and, as the cover shows, there's an especially magical submerged city. I've enjoyed reading this whole series over the past year. And I'll be rereading Wicked soon. #beyondtheyellowbrickroad

Bryan Washington has never let me down. I think Memorial is still my favorite, but this was so good. The mother and son dynamic was so well done, their dialogue especially. I loved the side characters at Alan's and the mother's friendship with Ben. Washington will continue to be an automatic buy for me.

@BarbaraJean @TheAromaofBooks I just read about an incident on pages 135 and 136 that she'd already told about on page 105, as though it happened earlier. The editor didn't think that was worthy of a footnote, which is crazy to me, considering all the things that DO get footnotes!

Well, now I have a new series that I want to read all of! This was perfect for the first few cold days we've had. #OhCanada

Wow. This book follows along with almost the same plot as The Blue Castle, then in the last third veers off wildly and finally falls off a cliff. Not what I was expecting! #kindredspiritsbuddyread

While there are a ridiculous number of similarities to The Blue Castle, McCullough definitely did not steal this scene with LEECHES in it. 🤮 #kindredspiritsbuddyread

This started off well, but ultimately didn't draw me in. I have a lot of questions about Mona's family. I realize I live in America, where rent is a nightmare and healthcare is impossible, so maybe I'm wrong to wonder, but how can they afford to live in Paris when Paul's shop is going under and Camille only works part time? Also, does Paul not have parents? Why is there zero mention of his family? #europacollective

Putting all the books I want to read/finish reading by the end of the year in one place was probably a mistake. 😜 This is a lot! I do plan on listening to the audiobook for several of them (and switching to audio for a couple that I can't get motivated to finish), so that will help.

I liked this one well enough. I like that it centered around someone the kids saw at school. Even if, at this point, any new people in Sleepyside pretty much have to be involved in whatever crime has been committed, I still like it best when the books are set there. I was happy for Bobby getting to ride like the big kids. #bobwhitebuddies

Another #OhCanada pick I never would've heard about otherwise. I found both of the dual narratives interesting, which isn't always the case. I haven't read many books about WWI and I appreciated the perspective of an indigenous Canadian.

This was so much better than I remembered! I've decided I must've been overly distracted on my last reading because most of this felt brand new to me. I adore Malcolm and Alice. And Lyra and Pan. I'm excited to start The Rose Field at last, but it'll probably be the weekend before I can. It's cool and rainy here and I would much rather be reading than working...

I'm over halfway through, but I'm losing momentum... Not sure I'll be done by Saturday. I'm still trying though! One critique I have that isn't about the story/writing is that there should be a list of the artworks somewhere inside the book in case it gets separated from its dust jacket. #europacollective

Here's something for all of you doing #haikuaday 😜

This book was absolutely packed with information about L Frank Baum and the extraordinary time period in which he lived. He also seemed to have been present for, or just on the heels of, most of the major events I knew about during this time. He was at the 1893 Chicago World's Fair, for example. Loncraine did a phenomenal job pointing out possible influences and making connections between Baum's real and fictional worlds.

"Baum's ability to create vivid, odd characters and varied, weird kingdoms wasn't matched by an ability to build well-structured and satisfying plots." Isn't *that* the truth? ? #beyondtheyellowbrickroad

I saw the ending coming a mile off, but it's a sweet story and the humor is perfect. #kindredspiritsbuddyread

Continuing my Pullman reread, Malcolm Polstead is one of my all-time favorite book characters. I could read a whole series of him hanging out with the nuns doing odd jobs. The first section, as the world is suddenly opening up to Malcolm and Asta, is filled with quiet moments of reflection and intention that perfectly set up the rest of the story and Malcolm's resourcefulness and intelligence. Looking forward to rereading The Secret Commonwealth.

In September I caught up on ALL THE THINGS!!! Summer is my least favorite season. Everything happens then and it's not like I get the summer off from work. 😜 #bobwhitebuddies #beyondtheyellowbrickroad #kindredspiritsbuddyread #ohcanada #KLBR

I just don't know about these books.😂 Rikitink in Oz was annoying & nothing Oz-related showed up until chapter 20. I liked The Lost Princess of Oz, which had a relatively tight plot. Then we ended with The Tin Woodman of Oz, which was bizarre. After all this time, Nick Chopper is going to go back & offer to marry the munchkin girl he used to love & make her empress. So egotistical for kind Nick! And we meet Oz's version of Frankenstein's monster.

I'm finally caught up, fellow #BobWhiteBuddies! (And I need to come up with a better storage solution for these TB books, since we still have quite a lot left.) This one was pretty good, even if I never did understand how the wheelchair bit at the beginning connected to the rest. I liked the storyline with Hallie and Trixie. I hope we see Hallie again later in the series.

Maud had a tough four years in this volume! She can be so funny and relatable, then occasionally say something strange or slightly racist. It's tempting to say she's a product of her time, but I think it's more accurate to say she lacked self awareness sometimes. I find these journals fascinating. It's such an interesting record of life in this time period.

Good gracious, Maud! That's a lot of racism in two consecutive sentences. ? "We seemed to be motoring through a river there and back but in the little Jew theatre itself we spent hours in another world. The film was The Birth of a Nation and it was very fine."

This took me longer to read than it normally would have, as the subject matter changed significance after I started it. This is the story of Leena and her family dealing with her sister Maija's death. It's told through snapshot-like moments and memories from the different family members, who each connected to Maija in their own way. Nunnally is a translator and, I know now, a skilled writer on her own. I wish the timing had been better for me.

I finished my reread of the His Dark Materials trilogy today. This ending. My goodness. I love Lyra and Will. I love The Golden Compass, but this one might be my favorite of the trilogy.

I'm looking forward to rereading the first two volumes of The Book of Dust, in preparation for The Rose Field coming out next month.

I finished this on the way to my son's early XC meeting. I liked this one. I think I like the ones set in Sleepyside better than the traveling ones. I think you said that, too, @TheAromaofBooks ? I can't believe Trixie didn't figure out what was happening sooner, but I was too busy enjoying the visits with Spider & Mrs. Vanderpoel to care. The horses were back! I wonder if the show they were preparing for will be in the next one? #bobwhitebuddies

It's rare for me to actually read a book within a week of getting it, but that's what happened with this one. I've loved all the Dalton books so much & this was a satisfying last volume. Some storylines are wrapped up, in the sense that we are given an idea of what will happen next, but overall I'm left with the feeling that these characters are all still trying their best, even now, in the Dalton of today. I will definitely be rereading these.

I finished this reread a little late for #kindredspiritsbuddyread. I still enjoyed it though!

I'm a little late for the #OhCanada discussion, but I didn't want to miss out on this book. It's hard to review a memoir, especially one with this much trauma, but I think Knott faced her trauma head on and framed her story well. I'm interested to see what her newer book is like.

I'm getting caught up on Trixie this month and this one was a struggle. 😂 I think that's why I got behind -- I just didn't like this one. When the kids don't listen to Trixie, it drives me crazy. Trixie put herself in danger, then Mr. Wheeler insists the girls stay at the hotel, alone, to rest. Are you kidding?! And then the girls GET IN A CAR WITH STRANGERS. Also, I don't believe any kid has ever actually loved Tom Sawyer as much as Mart Belden.

I loved Convenience Store Woman and I keep reading Murata for that reason, and each book gets further away from what I liked. This one was repetitive and oddly written. The plot seems like it's trying hard to be weird, but it didn't seem to have a point? Like, I'm not sure what the message was, which is odd for a book that seems to be a societal critique. Maybe I'm not familiar enough with Japanese culture. The dust jacket made me want king cake.

I'm surprised at how strong the urge is to start this over again from the beginning. Where is the sweeping epic adaptation of this masterpiece? Seriously, this story has everything -- romance, betrayal, politics, fantastic medieval clothes, the list goes on. It's amazing. #KLBR

My husband picked up this collection recently and we ended up listening to the audiobook of the first book together on a drive. It was great and I definitely want to read the rest.

This is the newest volume of poetry by Alabama Poet Laureate Ashley M. Jones. The scope, depth, and emotion of these poems are wide, varied, and powerful. Jones makes me want to read poetry every day, be a better activist, and hold my family close.

Eowyn Ivey always makes the real world magical and the magical seem real. I wasn't sure I liked the last section of this one, up until the ending when I realized that everything happened just as it had to.

I read about half of this in one day. The following day, I got some really distressing news (see my previous post about my sister) and I didn't come back to it for a while. I didn't want to color my impression of a book I was enjoying with horrible, real life. Horrible, fictional life, like this, is much more enjoyable. Her writing had me completely hooked. It was funny, brilliant, poignant, and absurd. I loved it.

My sister is probably going to stop her metastatic breast cancer treatments. She has a little less than a month to change her mind (I don't think she will) and, at that point, they'll either start another trial drug (if she does change her mind) or start hospice. I'm struggling to have the focus to read or even watch TV. I've been trying to catch up on this #kindredspiritsbuddyread and Maud really does feel like a kindred spirit sometimes. 🩵🩷💚

I was in Montgomery, AL, this weekend and visited The NewSouth Bookstore. I picked up two books by Montgomery poets (Yay, Alabama poets!) and a used Bobbie Ann Mason novel. I'd like to visit the store again, especially since they have a nice event space.

I'm so pleased that my #bookspin and #doublespin for August are the two books I most wanted to read: Vanishing World and Idle Grounds. Fingers crossed this month is calmer than the rest of the summer has been! Thanks, Sarah!! @TheAromaofBooks #bookspinbingo

Here's my #bookspin list for August! @TheAromaofBooks

Still making my way through this audiobook, BUT I finally finished my son's 2024 Christmas ornament! 😂 He requested a tiger beetle. #LitsyCrafters #ShowandTellTuesday

The storylines at the communal living house & Holly & the goats were all SO good. Loved all of that. But the fictional version of Alison got on my nerves. I would have preferred two books, one where the secondary plotlines in this were the main ones & the second would be the fictional book, $um, that I guess she decided not to write. I definitely want to read Bechdel's DTWOF. Maybe reading them in this order undercuts the impact of this one?

I enjoyed parts of this, but I didn't love it overall. The characters were believable and well crafted. The writing, specifically the figurative language, was a little flat though. The setup of Winnie telling the story in present day felt contrived. I don't understand why Susan wouldn't have told her daughter she had a brother. Also, the title makes no sense. None of them were forgotten. Winnie concentrates on remembering their faces. #ohcanada

Does Trixie have the neck of a pigeon and the ghostwriters forgot to mention it? That is not a picture of a human girl! 😆

I've finished another three Oz books. Just one more and I'll be caught up for #beyondtheyellowbrickroad. Of these three, The Patchwork Girl of Oz was my favorite.

I loved working on this mostly-edge-piece puzzle while listening to audiobooks (most recently Kristin Lavransdatter) and rewatching "Father Brown" on Hoopla. ?

Book of Dust #3 is coming out in October and my pre-order is set. (It's not in the Litsy database yet, so I tagged The Secret Commonwealth.)