[2/2]It's been... about 8 months since I've had time to post. Yikes! Anyway, here's a nice post of all the books I've read in the interim.

The Golden Tresses of the Dead; Crazy Rich Asians; Nevermoor: The Trials of Morrigan Crow; China Rich Girlfriend; Becoming Rasta; American Religions; Once Upon a River; The Lady's Guide to Petticoats & Piracy; My Lady Jane

[1/2]It's been... about 8 months since I've had time to post. Yikes! Anyway, here's a nice post of all the books I've read in the interim.

Prudence; Imprudence; Tess of the Road; The Martian; Carry On; Noir; The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter; The Obelisk Gate; The Stone Sky; Call Me by Your Name; Competence; Lumberjanes Vols 5-10; Children of Blood and Bone; The City of Brass; Renegades; The Power; The Rastafarians; The Cruel Prince...

I've been way behind on listing books lately. Here's my catch-up post! Spinning Silver was as good as the hype. The Long-Lost Home was super bittersweet without Katy Kellgren reading it.

Work and school have been CRAZY busy but good. I'm feeling super fulfilled!

I'm having a really negative emotional response to 50 Shades of Grey being on a list called the Great anything and, MOST especially, on a page with 1984 and The Giver. Just NO. #ReadBetterErotica

You'd think being unemployed would have upped my ability to finish audiobooks in the newly imposed 21 days but not commuting is having a really negative affective! Thankfully I start my new job in 2 weeks and go back to my normal 1.5 hours in the car. #MixedBlessings 😂

I love how bold the children are in this volume! And the new hints at the mystery (which are more like a million more questions).

Why do all the holds have to come in at once? I'm trying, I really am! I have 3 more coming up soon. All of them, except The Unseen Guest, have long lines I don't want to have to get back in. Guess this is a good time to pick up some embroidery projects I've left unfinished so I can get some hours in during the day.

I finished this a few nights ago, waiting up for my newest NEPHEW to be born! Neither the baby or my relisten of this disappointed.

This was the first in the series I originally listened to and I liked it much more than the first (which I have come around to loving). Some great new characters are introduced and the mystery gets more and more twisty. And, as always, Katherine Kellgren is not to be missed.

I really love Annie. I wish we got to see more of her.

This volume is kinda nuts. And boy, sooo many surprises!

This volume was a little underwhelming. It's shifting gears from the original plot to the new mystery but it makes a muddle getting there.

Loving the focus pieces. Minerva's (bottom right) new look is great!

Laura (Persephone) is back! Yay!

We finally find out what the hell is going on. Sort of.

These are the books I'm excited about for Fall/Winter! This was my first time reading the Buzz Books compilation from Publisher's Lunch and it was a great chance to sneak peek at some upcoming titles.

I always compare my various libraries (in this order) when checking on a high demand book. It can be an eye opening experience. The Navy (L) has a huge member base but only 18 holds. Pierce Co WA (M) has a population of 800,000 but only 44 holds. Blount Co TN (R) has a population of 126,000 and has somehow racked up an impressive 133 holds!

I can't remember ever seeing my little local library have 13 copies of anything much less such a wait-list!

I collect the Delacorte hardcovers (left) for this series but have been seeing some amazing artwork on alternate editions. These Orion paperbacks (right) are BEAUTIFUL! If they came in hardcover I might have been tempted to swap out by copies.

PS: I'm a totally cover art sucker.

I am a HUGE fan of Flavia de Luce and every other regular character in these books. They are PERFECTION. The overarching plot is totally compelling too. The individual mysteries in each book are not always as interesting and this one falls into that category a bit. It's not bad but it drags a bit and the resolution feels underwhelming.

However, the narrative ending of this one provides a ton of excitement on what it might mean for the series!

I had too many feelings for 450 characters. I'd like to at least say that cupcakes and violence are not the answers in life.

Good stuff about the weight loss advertising industry though.

https://www.librarything.com/topic/280882#6512996

I don't know why I keep getting my hopes up about used bookstores because I never have any luck. My tastes are too specific. It was hard to even spend my $7 credit.

McKay's used to be fairly reliable but now, if I do find something I'm interested in, their pricing makes no sense. They had 4 HC and 3 PB copies of this. I just found one at Bargain Hunt for 75 CENTS & it's only $8 on Amazon new. The PB was listed for $1 over cover price! Crazy.

I just got the notification that today is my 10th Thingaversary! Hard to remember the days before I was on #LibraryThing. I've made so many great connections and read SO MANY great books!

And now LT has brought me here and given me even more people to swap book recommendations with! Life is pretty sweet. 😘

I'm too broke to buy the traditional 1 book for every year but I think I'll treat myself to something special. 🎂🎉📚

I realized that I had some comics on my Kindle I'd never gotten around to either so I'm knocking then out too.

Ms Marvel did not disappoint! Kamala is great and I really appreciate the nuanced views about culture and religion that are packed into just this first volume.

I'm dedicating this post to the goddess Tara.

This whole volume is drawn by guest artists. The first time I read it, that really ruined it for me. W+D is so connected to the art style that I just couldn't make it work.

On rereading, this volume is very powerful. Each issue focuses on a single God, giving some of their backstory or behind the scenes knowledge, while still driving the main plot forward. They are all shocking in some way. (Cont)

The Wicked + The Divine is very LGBTQ+ inclusionary but Vol 2 was a particularly good read on Knoxville Pride day!

Of the volumes I've previously read, this one is probably my favorite.

Continuing my comics rereads to clear my backlog of unread issues.

The art of Wicked + Divine is insanely beautiful. The concept of the story is very cool. The actual text doesn't always make as much sense as I'd like but this first volume is wonderful.

I want a rainbow zebra!

This volume contains a nuanced discussion of abortion, including some cleverly used word play and character use. They didn't drag the story out too much and left it with a perfect bittersweet feeling.

Hints at more interspecies, gender fluid couplings to come!

Noooooooo! 😭

Finally a picture where I can include the title!

This was the first of the back issues I've neglected to read. Exciting stuff! Big time jump that I would have liked some more info on but otherwise good.

I really love Sophie.

It's hard keeping a family together, especially when everyone else in the universe has their own opinion about that.

Being an adult is hard. Being a parent is hard. No one ever feels appreciated.

Chugging along in my reread. I forgot how sweet some of the subplots in this are.

This is a fine but not particularly exciting volume. The family stuff is great though.

I can't for the life of me, however, figure out what this cover has to do with this volume...

I'm rereading this series to remind myself what's going on so I can finish the couple of unread volumes I have on the shelf. As if this cover wasn't enough perfection, there's a daddy carrying a baby in a sling and changing cloth diapers, an intergalactic love story against all odds, a snarky teenage ghost, a tree rocket ship, and robot sex. And that's just this first volume. 😍😍

Another gorgeous installment in the Binti series and Okorafor's ouvre. As always with Okorafor's work, I'm left craving more. More because what she writes is so compelling but also more because she has a frustrating tendency to skip over or expedite things that could be very good reading. I want a LOT more Oomza Uni. I want a lot more interaction with Okwu. I want to understand the technomagical stuff that's going on. (Cont) #Afrofuturism

The Overdrive library I most frequently borrow from has removed the 30 day loan option and it's really screwing up my listening! I am a few hours shy of finishing both these books but the 21 days just didn't cut it. I started listening to Dietland when The Grave's a Fine and Private Place expired and then Dietland expired yesterday and I'm on to Binti: Home while I wait for my holds to come back up.

I'm jumping on the #AudibleStats bandwagon! I'm 4 hours away from reaching Master level. I do the vast majority of my listening (which is the main way I consume books these days) on Overdrive because it's, well, free, but when I just can't wait to get my hands on something, Audible is a godsend.

My last Audible listen was Akata Witch.

It's Hufflepuff House Pride Week for the release of Chamber of Secrets. Hufflepuff and proud!

I still have a quite difficult time overcoming the necessary suspension of disbelief this book requires. The fact that Alexander is 10 and Cassiopeia is 4 creates so many issues. But, once you do look past that aspect, this book is so cute and Penelope and the children are so darling.

The spectacular Katherine Kellgren makes this series a must listen.

This is my third read through the series in anticipation of the final book coming out soon.

This informative and humorous pop history covers: the antonine plague, bubonic plague, dancing plague, smallpox, syphilis, tuberculosis, cholera, leprosy, typhoid, Spanish flu, encephalitis lethargica, lobotomies, and polio. But what it REALLY covers are the heros- leaders, scientists, common people- who got us through the plagues. And a couple examples of what NOT to do.

Some of her jokes aren't actually funny but I appreciated the levity.

There's so much interesting stuff in this book but the most uncomfortable so far is the link between those joke glasses with the fake nose and a prosthetic worn by syphilitics whose noses had rotted off. 😮

There's a new Jasper Fforde book coming out in August!!!

This memior by Sarah McBride, the first trans person to speak at a political convention when she spoke in 2016, is a great and positive story about "love, loss, and the fight for trans equality." Sarah does a good job of balancing her story with the broader work for trans equality. Sarah has been through and accomplished so much for someone only 27 years old. Her strength in the face of great loss and oppression is an inspiration.

Nnedi Okorafor has a golden gift for character. She doesn't even spend a lot of time establishing them, they just seem to radiate off the page. Settings too. And THANK GOD for the diverse voices taking over sci-fi and fantasy.

What she's not great at is plotting. I had the same feeling with Binti but it is a short story. Here, it feels like a whole act is missing. What's here is gold but the climax comes out of the blue. It's jarring. [Continued]

The bar we hung out at tonight, Union Jack's, was having a "Fantastic Beers and Where to Find Them" theme week. They had adorable Great Hall floating candles!

2 nonfiction holds just came up at the same time. And I requested both of them to be purchased so I feel like I REALLY need to get them listened to, but I'm not a big nf reader and two in a row seems intense to me. 😉

Bonus: I don't remember requesting Get Well Soon but my small rural library bought it so I can't back out now.

Some thoughts after the 10 minutes of this game I've been able to play.

This type of game is not my cup of tea. I don't like these microtransactions it's expecting you to make or the time you have to wait around for energy to build back up. But that's just preference on my part, not the games problem.

My big complaint: The "choose your own characters" are not as inclusive as you'd expect. Everyone is uniformly thin and tall. [Continued]

Thanks @Chellebearss for the tag!

1. So as not to say Harry Potter 😉, His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman
2. Chicken Ritz
3. If you aren't watching The Magicians or American Gods, you really should remedy that
4. @SqueakyChu

@JenlovesJT47

I went into this book (and author) totally blind, having received it from the LibraryThing Christmas swap, SantaThing. Jemisin gets a lot of credit for making me check my "White as Default" bias.

It took me a while to get into this story because it does NOT spoon-feed you any information and I felt a bit adrift. It wasn't until I went looking for some art to post about the book here that I realized the 3 main characters [continued below]

Everyone already knew that Lolita was a disturbing story (regardless of the fact that it's a beautifully written masterpiece) but this cover is a beautiful piece of art that REALLY REALLY ramps up the creep factor.

We had a Chalk Walk in Knoxville today and it was a lovely day with some impressive art! This one was one of my favorites. I was a little disappointed there weren't any with books in them but otherwise a solid outing. 😉

Little Free Library posted this on FB and it's a great question!

I think I'd have to pick Thursday Next. She'd bring literary characters and a dodo with her so that'd be cool.

I'd like to say Flavia de Luce but she'd only be involved if things went terribly wrong and I was dead.

Amelia Peabody Emerson would make a great story out of it but she'd end up accidentally shooting Emerson or me and no one needs that.

I've got faith in my sisters!

The cover of this comic is amazing and the premise sounded quite interesting but it is way too brief and surface level. The relationship between Boetema and her brother Inotu is the shining point but the plot and the astral projection elements are not developed at all.

Leila del Duca is predominantly an artist but I think she has potential as a writer if she focuses her attention on developing story rather than just having an interesting concept.

Started off this rainy Sunday at a library book sale and now I'm snuggled up on the couch with a nice little fire going, enjoying one of my finds. I did not have a lot of luck at this sale (I rarely do because my tastes are not in line with most people in East TN) but I picked up another addition to my suddenly growing #Afrofuturism collection! Also, YAY for diverse comic books!