🐯 Nancy is much more physical when Bess isn't around to calm her down, I guess!

I didn't even like all 9 of the ones I've read. Not a fan of the list, in general. Obviously, I've only read a small portion, so I can't say they aren't good books, but I don't think multiple books from the same series should've been included (even if the whole Neapolitan series is amazing). No Lorrie Moore, Per Petterson, Mieko Kawakami, or Lauren Groff?

The third time was the charm! One order got lost in the mail and the second never shipped, but I finally got a copy. I'll try to get caught up for next weekend. #kindredspiritsbuddyread @BarbaraJean

Every time I read a poetry collection I ask myself why I don't read more poetry. There were so many good lines here that I read over again.

I haven't read much literature from South America and I need to remedy that. I started this short story collection from Argentina while I was traveling home from NYC last week. A couple of the stories could be considered novellas, but I've never known the rules for that, if there are any. The characters were artfully rendered. I'd like to read more by Falco, but I think this is all that's been translated to English so far.

Here's my #bookspinbingo card for July. My #bookspin is The Faces, which I just bought in NYC last week. My #doublespin is Healing a Divided Nation, which has been on my list for about two years. I love how that happens. This is such a great way to get through my TBR. (Not that I'll ever get through, at the rate I acquire books!) Thanks, Sarah! @TheAromaofBooks

Here's my final #bookspinbingo board for June. I'm over halfway through A Perfect Cemetery, so I almost had a bingo. Thanks, as always, Sarah! @TheAromaofBooks

I almost forgot to post this one, which would've been silly because it was a delight. This is the book that got my mom hooked on Trixie as a kid (this is not her copy) and I can see why. Trixie's older brothers are home from camp and the gang solve the mystery of a giant diamond. I enjoyed the dialogue between the kids. #bobwhitebuddies

Without a moment to spare, just about, here's my #bookspin list for July. @TheAromaofBooks

These are the books I picked up at McNally Jackson earlier this week.

I was in NYC for most of this week for work and visited the fantastically curated McNally Jackson store at Rockefeller Center. Pictured is their Nordic fiction section. ❤️

I finally finished this while trapped at LaGuardia overnight on Wednesday. I'd read it in fits and starts. It didn't grab me like LMM's books usually do. There were so many storylines and I only cared about half of them. And then there was the *shockingly* horrible ending. I didn't hate the whole book, so it's one step up from a pan.

I liked this much more than Hjorth's Will and Testament, which deals with similar issues. Johanna spends so much time in her own head that at times I wondered if she was a reliable narrator, but I suppose, in the end, she was just as reliable as anyone else would be to tell the "truth." She made me nervous, but I loved her.

So many thoughts! I was amazed at how beautiful her descriptions of nature were, even as a teen. Her friends played such an important role, growing up with seemingly joyless grandparents, an absentee father, & a dead mother. Her wit & charm come through so much better in her journals than they ever could in a biography. She seems like she would have been so fun to know. I'm looking forward to the next volume, even though it'll be sadder, I think.

I think my favorite thing about this book was that Inspector Grant is a good detective, but not a savant. He's not a Holmes or a Poirot, he's just good at his job. This edition had a slur edited out, but it was still racist, since Grant attributes bad actions and motives to a particular cultural background. It wasn't overwhelming, but still worth mentioning. The mystery itself was entertaining and I liked the side characters.

I'm struggling with the rating on this one. It could have been a low pick. Parts of it were so, so good. The premise was great and writing was solid. The end wrapped up a little too easily though and there were a few parts that lagged. In the author's note, Arden discusses her inspiration and ideas, which I don't think the book quite lived up to. It did make me want to read more WWI books though.

He did WHAT?! How was that a "harmless hobby," I'd like to know!

While I did enjoy this one, my big take away, unfortunately, is why isn't Nancy in college?! Why is she just *visiting* a college? She's smarter than all those college boys! (Obviously, I know the reason why, but still. Sigh.)

Oh, George! 😆

I loved this! Would've liked more of a resolution for Greg, but I think we'll get that in the next book, which I've just pre-ordered. #EuropaCollective

Someone at our local Publix draws a new, beautiful calendar every month. And now I'm wondering if maybe they're on Litsy, since this month's drawing references Undine, right as we're about to read it for #kindredspiritsbuddyread. I love when things like this happen.

Here's my #bookspinbingo board for June! My #bookspin is the #EuropaCollective book for June, The Road to Dalton by Shannon Bowring. My #doublespin is Is Mother Dead by Vigdis Hjorth. I'm looking forward to both of those and a few others I'm hoping to get to this month. Thanks for organizing, Sarah! @TheAromaofBooks

My husband and son read this together several years ago. They've been very patiently waiting for me to read it so we can watch the movie together. I ran across it yesterday while sorting through my TBR and decided today was the day! I spent my morning curled up with this and loved it.

May was a blur! My nephew graduated college and my son finished middle school, so I spent time traveling to a graduation and my parents stayed with us for a week for 8th grade crossover and Memorial Day Weekend. I didn't read as much as I wanted, but I did finish my #bookspin and #doublespin. Hoping for a quiet June! 🤞 @TheAromaofBooks

Here's my #bookspinbingo list for June, without a second to spare! @TheAromaofBooks

I don't know about this one. The beginning was really cute and there were some nice moments throughout, but it felt like Wiggin was in a hurry to finish. Rebecca's time at Wareham is so glossed over and, by that time, the relationship with Mr. Aladdin was starting to give me the creeps. It felt like we were racing towards a bad ending, which wasn't totally true. I didn't like the ending (too easy), but it wasn't as bad as I thought it might be.

I found this book because I'm (im)patiently waiting for Daisy Johnson to write another book. Her story was first and fantastic, but the rest were great, too. I especially loved "Sour Hall" by Naomi Booth and "The Dampness Is Spreading" by Emma Glass.

I'm loving these Trixie books so far. It was a huge missed opportunity that no one adapted these into a movie starring Hayley Mills around the time she did "The Parent Trap." #bobwhitebuddies

I liked how this book balanced out the somewhat light main plot with heavier "research" sections. Fawcett was successful in making the faeries both charming and cruelly dispassionate.

I'm hoping to do some catch-up posts today, but first, here are the new bookish stickers on my water bottle. 💕

I haven't read much this week because we've had house guests. Today I took them for a day trip to New Orleans, so naturally I stopped by Faulkner House. I found a signed Ellen Gilchrist novel that I don't already own! 💙

Bess has quickly become my favorite character I'm this series. 😂 This installment was much more straightforward than others have been. And Ned finally showed up!

I'm not sure why I own three copies of this book, since I've only just read it for the first time. I loved it. I expected to, but I loved it for all the ways it wasn't quite what I expected. Poor Amy gets a bad rap in the movie adaptations, but she ended up being a favorite of mine by the end. Of course, I loved them all and cried several times.

Here's my #bookspinbingo card for May. My #bookspin is Little Women and my #doublespin is Hag. Thanks (as always!), Sarah! @TheAromaofBooks

HOW is it May already? Here's my #bookspinbingo card for April. These were all pretty good books, so it was a good month. @TheAromaofBooks

This picture looks a little like I took it in a dark cave, but nevertheless, here's my #bookspin list for May! @TheAromaofBooks

I finally broke down and ordered some Trixie Belden books from eBay, then I found a couple at a used bookstore. These were books my mom loved as a girl, but her copies have vanished. This first one was really charming (except for all the times they had chocolate with lemonade--and once it was pineapple juice 🤮). I can tell I'm going to like these.

This was just delightful. I laughed out loud more than once at the sarcastic and witty comments in the narration and dialogue. The story unfolded beautifully, definitely a "this is why it's a classic" situation. I look forward to reading the others books in this massive collection.

The last story in the collection, which was almost a novella on its own, was excellent. The others were good, but some were incredibly short. Flash fiction isn't really my thing. So, the writing is great, but not always to my taste.

This was my #bookspin for April. @TheAromaofBooks

Yesterday evening. 🌼 🌸 📖 🎧

I wanted to read this because of all that was said about it in Mary Rubio's bio of LM Montgomery. The critics in the late 1920s said Jalna was an example of the way forward for Canadian literature, with Montgomery's books being relegated to children's books exclusively. I started this with a feeling of loyalty towards LMM and wanted to hate it, but I didn't. It had some moments/lines that didn't age well, but that's true for most books from 1927.

Manazuru was the last of Hiromi Kawakami's books (that have been translated into English) that I hadn't read -- until Under the Eye of the Big Bird comes out in September. This one was quieter than some of her others. The fantastical parts weren't as colorful as in Dragon Palace or People from my Neighborhood. The pace was on the slow side, but once I got into it, I found it to be a gripping rumination on grief and memory.

"So Maudie, who had been on the verge of fainting for twenty years, finally accomplished it and was bundled back into the bedroom by Herbert." ? Also, the print in this book is so tiny!

I finally read this and of course I loved it, just like I have loved all the Elena Ferrante books I've read.

This is the only Nancy Drew book I know for sure I read as a kid. I checked it out of the school library. One day, while I was reading, a boy (who everyone universally thought was really cute) interrupted me. He asked, "What's the secret?" I said, "I don't know yet." I never thought much of him after that. ? All I remembered of the book was people walking around wearing sheets in the night. Reading it now, this was one of the better ones so far.

I enjoy reading older mysteries, but the open racism and xenophobia can sometimes be a distraction. It was interesting, then, in this one, when the main character's preconceptions caused her to miss what was really happening. I enjoyed the easy dialogue and it felt (again, except for the open racism) much more recent than the 1940s. I would like to read more in this series--if I can find them. The others might be out of print.

My son has been assigned Shakespeare for the first time. 🤎 I decided we needed to read outside with fairy lights. My husband and I read from these two copies of mine from college, while my son read his parts from his copy from school. We had snacks and the weather was lovely. I can't wait to start Act 2 and meet Puck again.

I finished Unlikely Animals yesterday, just before Annie Hartnett's speaking engagement tonight. I had met her years ago, before Rabbit Cake came out (my signed copy is an ARC). I have loved both of her novels so much. Unlikely Animals was absolutely charming. She said tonight that she has another book that will hopefully come out in June of 2025. Yay!

My April #bookspinbingo board is ready to go! My #bookspin is Sing to It and my #doublespin is The Turquoise Shop. Thanks, Sarah! @TheAromaofBooks

Here's my #bookspin list for April, just in time. @TheAromaofBooks