#sundayfunday thx for the tag @dabbe coincidentally my FIL just asked me this - currently I have 4 on the go #hashtagbrigade The Hotel, #sundaybuddyread The Flight Portfolio #audio The Secret History ( irl bookclub) and a just because book - Oona ( which I‘m about 1/2 through and really still not sold on) I am starting later today or tomorrow Katherena Vermette‘s latest “real ones” b/c I‘m seeing her speak on Wednesday #prettynormal

I know you too will breathe a sigh of relief

Spring: light, fun = classics or retells; Emma of 83rd Street by Audrey Bellezza & Emily Harding. Summer: holidays, travel, setting is important; any of Carley Fortune‘s books or Last Summer at the Golden Hotel by Elyssa Friedland. Fall: spooky, witches, dead bodies = anything by Simone St James or Witches of New York by Ami McKay. Winter: cosy mysteries; Inspector Gamache ( Louise Penny) or Finlay Donovan ( Elle Cosimand)

#5joysfriday Sunday we went to the Fair to see a concert ( on a school night) the opening act, The Spoons, I saw 41 years ago during Frosh Week of my first year at Uni 🤯 and I still have my all access pass from back then ❤️🤣 I made blueberry pancakes with wild blueberries my oldest brought home from up north, I finished All Fours and now only have one more Camp Litsy read to go #betterlatethannever and today is my first day back to school 🎉

#tlt #threelistthursday three creepy murder mysteries ( I‘m not even mentioning Simone St James cuz she goes without saying ❤️❤️ ) 1. Pretty Girls by Karin Slaughter 2. Lost Girls by Andrew Pyper ( set sort of where/like my in laws cottage is and the water HAUNTED me for ever) 3. The Winter People by Jennifer McMahon ( I should read more by her, this is her jam )

This is a weird book. Initially I was not impressed & almost put it down, then I got kind of swept up. Then it was just too much information, too much emotion, too much sex. But inside my head is too much sometimes, like could I just fucking shut up & give it a rest. That‘s what MJ wrote 🤯 her weaving of perimenopause into this was perfect and I had no idea about ghost baby syndrome. This is totally a book that has to be finished. I like Jordi

My library hold came in for #camplitsy #betterlatethannever

Audio books helping with Costco runs $300 doesn‘t buy a lot ( this story just took a TURN 😳)

My book FINALLY arrived so I am going to read, read, read, and get caught up with #sundaybuddyread #2weeksbehind #icandoit

Third book in Katherena Vermette‘s trilogy about the Stranger Family. IMO you should read these close together because there is quite a list of characters who are all connected and appear in the 3 books, sometimes more prominently in 1 than the others, but they pop up again and again. The ending is heartbreaking and full of hope at the same time. The series feels like real life

My Libby hold finally came in ( 2 of them in fact = 22 + 11 hours of listening ) so my cleaning game just got some gas. Kitchen is getting a deep clean; drawers and cupboards emptied, vacuumed ( where do these crumbs come from?!) wipe down, and the stove and floor get the same treatment. It‘s a rainy day so it‘s a great way to spend the day

It‘s been a glorious low key week. 1. My local library has switched out how they move books between branches and gifted their old bags to local makers and I got my hands on one ( it‘s cleaned, has updated handles, an inside pocket and key ring) 2. back to school time; my husband is back, I‘m having a soft start to substituting( first 2 weeks off?) 3. first two books of September finished 4. spaghetti bolognese from scratch 5. so much gardening

I got 42/50 and here are my top 3 villains, 2 from list and 1 outlier. Snow White is my ride or die Disney Princess because of her dark hair but it scared the shit out of me and gave me nightmares about accepting food from strangers, Annie in Misery shows us all that psychopaths hide in plain sight and Emperor Palpatine preyed on the emotionally weak and got strong enough to wreck a universe. I invite anyone who sees this to play too #TLT

A friend gifted me a ridiculous amount of hostas so my day of leisure reading blew up in my face as I wrangled 14 of the 17 into spots in my front yard. I was hot and filthy so I took my #hashtagbrigade reading to the tub and reset myself to rights

I was reading my chapter for tomorrow & realized there was only one more so I went ahead and finished. What. An. Ending. So thankful to @BarkingMadRead for leading the #hashtagbrigade and pointing me in the direction of books I probably wouldn‘t pick up on my own & creating a community to share them with. There was so much yelling, swearing, absolute fury from me for some of these characters #bellingshit will not be forgotten #dontthrowthekindle

I am a CP fan for life! Her books always make me laugh and feel good. I like the multigenerational mix of characters and all the fun they have and connections they make.
This one made me think of the show The Outlaws. It‘s set in a run down community centre too, has a disperate cast of characters and connections are made while hijinks ensue
I recommend both

What could go wrong ?! #bellingshit #hashtagbrigade

My plan is always to do #hyggehourreadathon but it‘s always more of a #happyhourreadathon or #lheureapero this is when my house is calm, my husband is exercising, my kids, if they are home, are doing their own thing, I have dinner started and I can just take a breath, grab a snack and get lost in a book

Not a lot of chores got done, but a good number of books were read #livingmybestlife

Looking for pointers and moving my reading party into the tub

This gave me some serious Simone St James vibes ( small town, 2 times lines, creep factor, supposed paranormal activity) I was a bit frustrated with the main character‘s prejudice and narrow mindedness - and reminded her a few times to ask follow up questions - but that actually was a plot point 🤷🏻‍♀️ I‘d read this author again

I couldn‘t help myself #littensloveromance I had to finish this fun modernized regency romance ❤️❤️ the author not only wrote Canadian Boyfriend which I read earlier this year ( impulse Costco buy) but she lives in my city, London ON 🤯

Impulse Costco purchase started on the dock today and currently part of happy ‘reading‘ hour. A new to me Canadian author, it‘s giving me Simone St James vibes, without the ghosts so far - who knows where this will go. But small towns where people vanish without a trace and turn up 40 years later embedded in walls has got an SJS aura

This is the second book in the trilogy of The Stranger family and it packs just as big a punch as the first, The Break. I love it even while it breaks my heart

I may have brought 7 books plus the 2 I‘m reading on my kindle as chapter a day. I‘m here for a week. Katherena Vermette is coming to London ON to read from her new book out on September 3 so I better clear her back catalogue off my TBR

I liked that this is set so close to me right now but I think I liked the first one better. I have the next one in the queue but maybe I need a longer break between them 🤷🏻‍♀️

#5joysfriday 1. We went to our third play at Stratford this week, the World Premiere of Salesman in China, a play about when Arthur Miller went to China to mount a production of his Death of a Salesman 2. We headed straight to the cottage from Stratford 3. Sunsets at the lake 4. Being by and in the water 5. Back to school clothes shopping 🤫

Felt like I needed to read this at the cottage which is 20 minutes outside Huntsville. This book is set in Toronto and Smoke Lake which is about a 30 minute drive from where I am ( might need to go on an adventure)

I wasn‘t expecting the husbands to start right off out of the blue so that shocked me. Mid way through there is another shock/surprise and then the end also 🤯 I enjoyed it and I think it would be a good bookclub pick

Lunch at the cottage

#selfcaremonday it‘s a cool and humidity free Monday morning so I did a Costco run and grabbed a few espresso shots to warm up after being in the coolers 🤣🤣 this is a new to me 🇨🇦 author and I‘m taking her to the cottage to read

It‘s raining, might as well start another book

I loved this so much more than I thought I would. Another impulse buy at Costco because it had summer in the title. It had a Finlay Donovan vibe but not murder, more the banter and the balance between hard truths and laughter being the right medicine for most of what life throws you

I LOVED this book!!! Listening to it has probably ruined all other audio books going forward! Sara Vickers brought this to life at a level I couldn‘t have imagined beforehand. This photo is from Inverness, mentioned many times in the book on the way to Birdshead. This churchyard was originally pagan and then became Christian so actually from the time period this book is set ❤️❤️❤️

#5joysfriday 1. Driving to Stratford to see their production of The Diviners ❤️ 2. The half moon was glorious and framed perfectly in our backyard in the very early evening/later afternoon 3. I‘m still listening to Queen Hereafter and either weeding or purging and loving every second of this glorious book that makes me gasp out loud 4. I found a fantastic leopard print skirt at Zara 3. I‘ve finished 3 books this week, all light summer reads 😎

This was a lovely light romantic read, a story within a story about people who love books and lose themselves in them. Who doesn‘t dream of getting to spend time in and with your favourite characters ?!

Weeding and listening 32% - 50% HOLY SMOKES this was an action packed bunch of chapters 🐎🔥🤺🗡️👨‍❤️‍👨👯‍♀️🏡👰🏼🩸

This was a lovely non-spicy romance that let me relive being on Skye for a wee time

Today I went to Stratford to see a play based on Margaret Lawrence‘s The Diviners and it was wonderful ❤️❤️❤️ I have loved ML for a long time, I‘m so glad the smart creative people do too.

My current read is on sale at Amazon and Kobo

1. 🍎 2. I‘m currently reading ( more off than on) Ivanhoe on my serial app which is what I usually use to read in my phone but I use my phone for Libby mainly and I am listening to Queen Hereafter. I also use it to buy books for my kindle. thx for the tag @Cuilin

Bought at Costco to remember my trip, spending the day reading

I got this for #camplitsy but I was way late for the party. I whipped through this, partly trying to catch up but a lot because I was caught up in it. I did skim a bit of the gloom and doom geology end of times cli fi because my anxiety does not need anymore fodder. But I enjoyed all the sisters and their areas of expertise ( the ending though 😱)

My hold came in at the library, finally, so I‘m getting caught up. It‘s Happy Hour 🎉

#5joysfriday back to normal around here 1. It is not a good summer for tomatoes ( cherry do okay) but my cucumbers are having a moment 🥒 👏🏻👏🏻 2. Wednesday was glorious so I floated and read all day 3. Queen Hereafter on audio is the BEST 4. Despite being a full summer girlie, I bought a Casper tee #casperthefriendlyghost is my level of fright 5. I‘m making lots of good and healthy dinners to reverse the trip overindulgences 😆

I wonder if reading this closer to the age of the ‘girls‘ in the book would mean you‘d fall under the spell of Miss Jean Brodie? I thoroughly enjoyed it and loved that I could picture all the places they walked in the story

No I was not floating in my tub reading, sobbing and laughing out loud. At all. ❤️❤️❤️❤️

Started the August #literarycrew read on audio and the narrator‘s accent is EVERYTHING. I don‘t even care what this book is about 🤣 although I‘m loving it anyways

I loved this cosy mystery. I‘m looking forward to going down a rabbit hole of Violet Brewster mysteries in my future

I love this day and seeing what everyone posts ❤️ this week was mainly big but some smalls 1. Dippie eggs at a bed & breakfast just like my mom used to make ❤️❤️ 2. Going to Balmoral Castle 👸🏻 3. My first ever High Tea and it was at Balmoral 4. Seeing the Kelpies ( it‘s a beautiful spot) 5. Home again and reading in my favourite spot #5joysfriday