@TheKidUpstairs , my #LittleChristmasSwap arrived safely! Thank you so much. 😘😘

@bookish_wookish
#LCS

Amazingly enough, my IRL bookclub has picked a Persephone book for our current read (after 27 years together). And no, it WASN‘T my pick. 😆

I was going to ask you, @Centique , if you‘d read this classic New Zealand coming-of-age novel but I see you are the only other person to post about it on here! I‘m really enjoying it.

Look at my wonderful #StuffedStockingSwap from @StillLookingForCarmenSanDiego !

Two ‘much-wanted‘ books from my Litsy TBR, those cute bookish socks, the pretty tin of chocolates, cookies I‘ve never seen before (!), and that Olaf bookmark. The Christmassy book sleeve is SO sweet. Thank you so much; I love it all! ❤️

And a big thank you to our organizer, @Avanders ! 😘
#SSS

Our voting has trickled off so it‘s time to announce what we‘re reading next year … TA-DAH! 🎉

Anyone is welcome to read along with us at any time, of course.

#PersephoneClub

Twelve-year-old Flora and her mother go to the seaside village of Helmersbruk to spend their Christmas holiday in a cottage on the grounds of a beautiful, but rundown, old mansion. Well, that‘s about all I needed to know to buy it. 😆

I may wait until next year to read it as it‘s formatted with an illustrated chapter for each day of Advent.

(Translated from Swedish).

Oh, Emmeline. 😬

I can‘t say much else right now but I can hardly wait to discuss this with you all!

#PersephoneClub

@ReadingRachael , all three #JolabokaflodSwap packages have arrived safely! Thanks so much! ❤️

#JolabokaflodSwap24 #JS2024

Okay, #PersephoneClub … I‘ve adjusted our order a bit so here are my two (randomly grabbed from my shelves) suggestions for August. Vote away!

@quietjenn will now choose our October suggestions and @rubyslippersreads will choose for December. You two can post as soon as you‘re ready!

And they‘re all sent!

#StuffedStockingSwap #SSS @Avanders
#JolabokaflodSwap #JolabokaflodSwap24 #JS2024 @MaleficentBookDragon
#LittleChristmasSwap #LCS @bookish_wookish

I‘m really enjoying the beginning of this book, #PersephoneClub people!

I Googled some images to see what Lowell looked like as a mill town and look … a little doffer. So young! 💔

It‘s now December so that means it‘s time for one of our #PersephoneClub reads!

@andrew61 ‘s pick for us this month is Emmeline by Judith Rossner. This is a casual buddy read; read and comment on each other‘s posts and reviews as you see them. We usually aim to finish by the middle of the month but that‘s not written in stone. 😉 And anyone is welcome to read along with us, of course!

AND… are we ready to choose our 2025 reads? See below: 👇

Friday night at my house!

@StillLookingForCarmenSanDiego dropped off my #StuffedStockingSwap today (we live in the same city and Canada Post is on strike) and included the SWEETEST care package!

I‘ve had some sort of stomach virus and warned her (via @Avanders ) that she might not want to be in close proximity to me for the next few days. I hope you didn‘t see my goblin-like form when I opened the front door (I thought it was a parcel I was expecting from The Bay). 😂 ⬇️

Here it is: our 2025 #FurrowedMiddlebrowClub reading schedule!

Thanks for all the nominations and speedy votes. It looks like we‘ll be having another enjoyable year together! 👏

And, as always, anyone is welcome to join in at any time to read along with us and discuss, of course.

My current reads.

I‘m not sure why the tagged book has such a low rating on here as I‘m really enjoying it. I haven‘t allowed myself to read the reviews yet though so we shall see as I get closer to the end, I guess! 😬

Okay, #FurrowedMiddlebrowClub … here are my picks for May 2025.

Vote away!

Okay, #FurrowedMiddlebrowClub , with our November book we come to the end of our year of reading!

Are we in for another round? Here‘s our next group of selectors (according to our records):

January: @rubyslippersreads
March: @quietjenn
May: @LeahBergen
July: @CarolynM
September: @Cathythoughts
November: @Ruthiella

If we‘re all in, let‘s start with our January and March “pickers” posting their two choices for us to vote on. 😃

Well, this was a charming little romp! It somehow reminded me of Miss Pettigrew Lives For a Day but, in this case, it‘s more of a “Mr Partridge Lives For Six Months”. 😆 Look at him on the cover and spine of my edition!

#FurrowedMiddlebrowClub

I‘ve been dipping in and out of this book lately and it‘s marvellous!

@CarolynM What a lovely surprise! I‘m having the birthday that keeps on giving. 😆

I‘m so excited to finally try a Dornford Yates as I know you‘re a fan and I‘ve had The Tea Ladies stacked since your review (it‘s not published here until next year).

The card (titled “Looking for Bookworms” 😆) is the best! Thank you so much, my friend, I love it all! 😘😘😘

@BookishMadHatter !! Thank you so much for this wonderful #AllHallowsReadSwap !

I‘m so excited for both books (they‘re perfect!) and the candies are awesome (yes, I‘m a Smarties pig). How did you manage to colour coordinate this so well? 😆 I love it all!

Thanks again to @MaleficentBookDragon for hosting another great swap! 🎃

#AHRS

@AshRob22 !! Thank you so much for this AMAZING #HauntedHollowSwap package! The “reading ghost” cross-stitch is absolutely stunning. I adore it!

You chose some perfect reads for me and I love everything else: the hair scrunchies, pumpkin mug, earrings, bookmark, skeletal servers 😆, and candies! Perfection! Happy Halloween, friend! 🎃🎃🎃

Thank you once again, @wanderinglynn , for organizing this great swap! 🎃🎃🎃

#HHS #HHS24

My current pre-Halloween spooky read. I‘ve had this one sitting on my shelves for ages!

Thank you, @TrishB (my fellow Scorpio 😆), for this lovely birthday book! It sounds so good and the cover art is fabulous. And it was longlisted for this year‘s Giller Prize, too!

I hope your birthday was as good as mine is shaping up to be! 😘😘

@Cathythoughts ! Thank you for this wonderful birthday package!

The books both sound amazing and I‘m thrilled to get a copy of your husband‘s folk opera (signed, to me, too… Thanks, John!). And what a sweet little bookmark and card. I love it all, my dear friend! 😘😘

Thank you so much for these lovely birthday gifts, @rubyslippersreads ! 💙🩵

I‘ve already been flipping through The Blue Castle manuscript and it‘s so cool! The Mischief Makers (Daphne Du Maurier!) sounds absolutely intriguing. Yes, let‘s do a buddy read (but I shan‘t share my chocs). 😆

You‘re a dear friend. 😘

I‘ve been having a lot of fun working my way through this anthology of ghost stories (all with ghostly children 😱).

@Bookwomble Care to take a guess at the MR James story included in this collection? Or the ubiquitous Elizabeth Gaskell? 😆

My #AllHallowsReadSwap arrived today! Thank you, @BookishMadHatter ! I‘m very excited! 😘😘

*and*

A lovely birthday card from @rubyslippersreads . Thank you so much! 😘😘

#AHRS #AllHallowsRead
@MaleficentBookDragon

I enjoyed this story of Teresa, swept away to India by her father when her mother (who abandoned her) threatens to come back into her life. Her father is cold and self absorbed but the boat journey (which I loved reading about) and her time in India opens her eyes to an entirely new world.

#PersephoneClub

My #HauntedHollowSwap has arrived!! Thank you so much, @AshRob22 ! 👻 🖤 👻

#HHS #HHS24
@wanderinglynn

@merelybookish !!! What an absolutely beautiful surprise! 😮

Thank you SO much for thinking of me (and my DE Stevenson collection). These are gorgeous! And I loved your card and the 1920s art attached to the puff envelope, too. 😆 You know me well!

You‘ve brightened my day, my friend. 😘😘

And away they go with Canada Post! 🎃🎃🎃

#AllHallowsReadSwap #AHRS @MaleficentBookDragon
#HauntedHollowSwap #HHS24 #HHS @wanderinglynn

My current “Royal Biography Buddy Read” with @shawnmooney !

👑👑👑👑👑

This read like a disturbing ‘80s version of Are You There, God? It‘s Me, Margaret and I couldn‘t put it down. 😆

It‘s now October so that means it‘s time for one of our #PersephoneClub reads!

@Aimeesue ‘s pick for us this month is The Far Cry by Emma Smith. This is a casual buddy read; read and comment on each other‘s posts and reviews as you see them. We usually aim to finish by the middle of the month but that‘s not written in stone. 😉 And anyone is welcome to read along with us, of course!

I‘ve been MIA from our reading groups for a while as we‘re still travelling around in our trailer (it‘s time to head home now though as the leaves are falling!) I‘ve managed to read all three and heartily enjoyed them.

The Native Heath : a fun and frothy slice of village life
The Children Who Lived in a Barn: nice try, Mr and Mrs ‘We Forgot to Come Home to Our Children‘ 😆
Spam Tomorrow: a witty and heartfelt exploration of life on the Homefront

I‘m nearing the end of my reread of the Little House series.

Much of my enjoyment has been discovering that I somehow seem to empathize with the adults now (and that I can‘t stop questioning the lifestyle choices they were happy to live with). 😆

Today‘s book mail! I‘ve been looking forward to this one.

I‘ve been shamefully avoiding all book club reads since I got back from my summer travels and reading all the little books I picked up in various Laura Ingalls Wilder museums instead.

This has now lead me to rereading the entire series in order, which I don‘t think I‘ve done since my tween years. 😆😆

It‘s now August so that means it‘s time for one of our #PersephoneClub reads!

@rubyslippersreads ‘ pick for us this month is The Children Who Lived in a Barn by Eleanor Graham. This is a casual buddy read; read and comment on each other‘s posts and reviews as you see them. We usually aim to finish by the middle of the month but that‘s not written in stone. 😉 And anyone is welcome to read along with us, of course!

I‘m across the bridge and in the UP (Upper Michigan) and reading a book set in the UP.

I‘m even drinking American beer. 😁

And #JohnnyBergen made it to Betsy‘s House in Mankato, MN!

He sat on “the bench”, too. 😆

We‘re road tripping and #JohnnyBergen has made it to The Banks of Plum Creek. 😆

A new addition to my LM Montgomery shelves!

This is the diary of Montgomery‘s cousin, Myrtle Webb, who owned Green Gables and embraced its popularity as a literary landmark.

This was today‘s read and “we” absolutely loved it!

#JohnnyBergen

Here‘s my current read, in preparation for meeting my best friend in Michigan‘s Upper Peninsula (the book‘s setting) next month!

I‘m very much enjoying it and plan on watching the Jimmy Stewart film when I‘m done.

A couple of oldies that I found at the bookshop this weekend (and that I‘ve somehow never read 🤷🏻‍♀️).

I just finished reading Carney‘s House Party (with the guidebook to the real people and places close at hand!) and immediately dove into the tagged book. 😆

This was a charming and wryly witty story of a couple‘s first year of marriage and their first home. The author drew from memories of his own idyllic first year of marriage on “Greenery Street” (Walpole Street in London) and it made me so nostalgic for my first house after marriage. And just like the Greenery Street houses, we bought our old house from owners who were expecting their second child and needed to size up. 😆

#PersephoneClub

Wow, @TheLudicReader ! I thought you were sending me a few teabags to try and I ended up with this lovely New Brunswick care package!

My husband was here when I opened it and he immediately said, “Ooo, Chicken Bones! Gimme one!” 😆 We haven‘t had them since we were kids. And Bay of Fundy salt! 👏

Your daughter‘s artwork on the postcard is amazing. Thank you so much, my friend! 😘😘