It took me a bit to get into this. I didn‘t think I could bear with one of the narrators (the only one)? And the melancholy!

Now I‘m finding this quiet and at times, beautiful. The narrator that was bugging me? Wise.

Three stories on a course toward each other. Delightful, sad, funny, deep. I loved the main characters. As soon as I finished the book I wanted to know, “What happened next?” The mark of a great book, IMO. ❤️

Bonnie makes her own Three‘s Company world and escapes the “real” one and everyone in it. She creates a safe place.

Who gets to judge what is a good or happy life or a “ sane” one?

Not a happy read but I couldn‘t put it down.
#auldlangspine

I wouldn‘t have known about these books without #auldlangspine and @Sharpeipup 👏👏🎉🎉

Status:
I‘d already read one (18 Tiny Deaths), one is in progress (Midnight in Chernobyl is a chunkster), and three completed.

I‘m going to read more from the list. But not by the end of the month. 😆

THANK YOU @monalyisha for arranging this fun, eye-opening swap. ❤️🥳 And THANK YOU, Tina, for the excellent list. 📚🤗

This story was very tense! The author does a great job connecting you with the main characters and their personalities.

I knew nothing about the importance of Lisbon during the war.

It‘s hard to rate this. There‘s the above 👆 and there‘s the writing. I had to stop myself from automatically rewriting sentences in my head. Run-ons, excess explanations that watered down emotion, adjective and adverb overuse. See👇
#lmpbc @TheBookHippie @Pogue

This book is full of fascinating—and sometimes funny—stories like this. Manhole covers, the strange symbols you see painted on streets, electrical substations—why are they presented like they are? And why don‘t we see them? Why do we have drinking fountains?

Each story is only a few pages, making it easy to pick up and put down. But once reading, I don‘t want to put it down. 😄

The first part of this is like watching a very slow-moving car crash. A call-the-police-and-ambulance-and-fire-department crash.

This is fascinating although it‘s sometimes over my head—physics is not my forte. It‘s very tough to put down. Thus, I‘m alternating between audio and print. 😄

Another book I wouldn‘t have picked up except for #auldlangspine. Thanks, @Sharpeipup 🙌🙌🙌
And thanks, @monalyisha 🤗🥳

This is a strange one. It‘s a good story and send up of a lot of corporate mumbo jumbo/initiatives. I think some of the characters might belong to a cult. 😄

3/3 This doesn‘t hold up to earlier books in the series. Even the weird family dynamics weren‘t as funny.

The reader didn‘t help. She made Isabelle sound like a dullard.

I‘ll probably listen to the next one since
1) an audiobook doesn‘t take away from my reading time. And it keeps me entertained.
2) I‘m curious—but not too—how the series will wrap. (Unfortunately, my library‘s audio copy of book #5 has the same reader.)

I‘m reading this for the first time. I listened a few years ago and I loved it. It‘s even better in print.

The pacing is perfect. It alternates between making me laugh out loud and squeezing my heart.

Another good one from my #auldlangspine list!

It‘s quite the story. The characters‘ personalities are well developed and I waver between liking and disliking them. One of the brothers needs a good slap. 😆

I have no idea where this is going.

Your books are on the way! @TheBookHippie @Amandajoy
#lmpbc @suvata

If you work with websites and you haven‘t read this book, doooo! It‘s hugely helpful and very fun. Krug is very funny and the illustrations are great.

If you don‘t work with websites, but you‘re interested in what works and doesn‘t, you might like this, too.

On a usable website, your average person can figure out how to do what they need or want to do—without the hassle outweighing the payoff. ❤️

Beware the, “I‘ll read a few pages to see if I want to commit.” What did I expect from author who regularly appears on This American Life?
#auldlangspine @Sharpeipup

This book flips between hilarious and maddening/sad. 👆

That said, I‘m glad this on my #auldlangspine list! It has quite the group of characters. 😄

First book completed in 2023! 🎉

This family. 🤦‍♀️ Off to the next book. 😆

Oh boy. This family is “interesting.” 😆😆😆
@Sharpeipup

First book from my #auldlangspine reading list. 🎉

My library has many of the books on my #auldlangspine list. Most of the above 👆are from that list. 👏
@Sharpeipup

#readingbracket #readingbracket2022
I read so many good books this year. It was helpful, and fun, to have a way to narrow them down.

Thanks to @Pogue for recommending my #1 book (#lmpbc)!

And thanks to @chasjjlee for the layout!

My library doesn‘t have book two in this series so I have to skip to the third.

I‘m not a big series reader but in this case, I can‘t help myself! @Read4life thank you!

Man, I love this strange family.

@Sharpeipup I‘m starting the year with this book from your list. I *might* start it today. It‘s *almost* the new year. 😄
#auldlangspine

I usually love Pride & Prejudice adaptations. Add in a different culture and I‘m IN!

The main character is a great modern-day Elizabeth, but the book didn‘t do it for me. 😞

I love this dysfunctional family. And the book is a perfect accompaniment for crafting.

This is the first book for my local businesswomen‘s book club. We‘ll be reading and discussing professional development books. 👏👏👏

The author is tenacious! Setting and achieving goals is first-grade material compared to how she plans. It‘s overwhelming and inspiring.

I need a break from espionage so I picked up this one.

It‘s a delight. It has so much heart and depth. It‘s also laugh-out-loud funny.

I spent most of the day glued to this book. Once they landed in France I was on the edge of my seat.

I writing was often distracting—not in a good way. I didn‘t appreciate how he described women, especially if he didn‘t think they were attractive.

Two of the group were lesbians and another was a cross-dresser—for no apparent reason. (Is this a guy thing?)

I want to learn more about the the real-life Jackdaws!

#lmpbc @Pogue @TheBookHippie

Such a vivid description!

I‘ve been pretty critical about the writing. Still, it‘s a good story and very suspenseful.

Its good to see an all-women crew, even though they‘re sometimes painted with sexist brush. (I wonder what this would have been like with a woman writer?) #girlpower

I am a snob about writing and soup. 😆 This is my first Follett book. I like the story but he uses too many words.

In this case, you know that the women have to sneak an injured, incapacitated man into Gilberte‘s apartment. “Unfortunately” is unnecessary. And, removing it makes the sentence more powerful.

Off soap box. 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️

This was very soap opera-y and was way too earnest. Maybe it was the reader? Maybe all the family secrets and incidents were too convenient and stereotypical?

I got to 60% and gave up.

@Sharpeipup
Kim Philby—from my #auldlangspine list—with the author of the tagged book.

The author was head of the foreign intelligence division of the Stasi for most of the Cold War.

“In the West he was known as ‘the man without a face‘ due to his elusiveness.” (Wikipedia)

This book is such a delight. It‘s quiet and beautiful, even though the setting is so harsh. I‘m glad I‘m reading this with my book club. There‘s so much to discuss! #winterreads

Verdict: 5/5 ✨

This may be one of my favorites of the year. The reader was excellent.

I don‘t know where to begin. It‘s like The Elegance of the Hedgehog. I just love the book and can‘t explain why.

The narrator was sublime. You find out very quickly who it is but I won‘t give it away. It makes the book magical.

5/5 🌟

Time to get busy. Book club is next week. 🤭

The cover art is delightful.

Who knew there was so much science and empowerment behind home ec? This was quite the eye opener!

It lagged in spots and then, boom!, it was off and running again. It‘s heavy on “trailblazing” women. 💪👍
#lmpbc @mabell @Bookwormjillk @Amandajoy

👍👍👍👍 This had more nuance than I expected. Joan was multidimensional: good, bad, gullible, wise, pliable, strong. The secondary characters, too, were nuanced and surprising.

The transitions between current and past are done really well. There are intelligence reports on the characters interspersed throughout. Even though this is a novel, they add gravity to the story.
#lmpbc @TheBookHippie @Pogue

Oooh! What a fun list! @Sharpeipup Thanks!

I just started 18 Tiny Deaths—the audio—today, before I saw the list. 😄👍

@monalyisha

The writing. The story. The make-you-thinkness. This book is remarkable.
#lmpbc @TheBookHippie @Pogue

👆👆👆This hit me right in the stomach. “Cannot tolerate complexity.”

She notes that it doesn‘t correlate with intelligence. And, others take advantage of this intolerance.

This book is depressing and fascinating.

There aren‘t a lot of innocents in this book. But there are a couple of particularly slippery, slimy ones. With lovely faces and manners.

This one is hard to put down. It seamlessly switches between the present day and flashbacks.

(My margin notes: “I‘d like to punch him.” 😄)
#lmpbc @Pogue @TheBookHippie

I‘m reading this book. This shows up today in the New York Times:

Jewish Allies Call Trump‘s Dinner With Antisemites a Breaking Point

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/28/us/politics/trump-kanye-west-nick-fuentes-ant...

#antisemitism #fighthate

First line:
“Sometimes your body is someone else‘s haunted house.”
🤯

@Cinfhen Thanks for the recommendation!

A so-so mystery. It kept me company while making cookies for Thanksgiving.

I did enjoy the heroine‘s fight against low expectations. She pushed against the walls of the tiny box she‘s squished into. Her husband. 😠

It had little to do with Christmas. 🙁

This is quite charming. Aggie and Hector investigate a murder (modeled after Agatha Christie characters, including Hercule Poirot).

Children in 1902 are taken even less seriously than today. These two run circles around the adults.

It took me awhile to get into this book. I wanted to put it down many times—melancholy is the word for it. But I didn‘t want to leave these characters. And at the end of the book, I wanted to follow them.

World War 1 cast a long shadow. And in ways I hadn‘t thought of.

This book is exquisite.

The epitome of melancholy. The reverberations of World War 1 on three women.

I want to put this down, but I can‘t give up these characters.

I‘ve been writing, “I heard NOTHING about this in school” waaaay to often.

This was an incredible story. It reads like a novel which is quite the feat considering the detail. The author writes in a way that grabs your heart.

I gave it 4⭐️s instead of 5 because, like His Boys in the Boat, there were several areas where I wanted it to move on—enough detail already.

Don‘t miss this one! #forgottenhistory #historymatters

It‘s here *and* it‘s a Europa edition!
#lmpbc @TheBookHippie @Pogue
@suvata

#auldlangspine
Happy to vote today. Especially against the person who claimed George Soros was controlling two Jewish Democrats in MN. The same candidate has also been in trouble for anti-immigrant remarks.

2022 to date.