Doing a skim/reread before watching the movie. I‘m not really a fan of books to movies #thebookisalwaysbetter but the reels I keep seeing from this feel like January medicine just like my tulips

Started my first non-library and non Buddy read of 2026 - the Death Tower is pleased ❤️ this was a Christmas present and I was thinking the author was familiar and it finally twigged - ST is the Lady Sherlock author ❤️❤️❤️❤️ so happy

CBC‘s Canada Reads Longlist was announced and my TBR has grown again 😆 I‘ve only read Julie Chan so I‘ve a few to get to #canadareads2026

A young women‘s search for regaining a sense of self after a messy break up with an unfiltered look at the mess that exists in the female brain thanks to marketing, societal/family expectations, social media. And
Maggie isn‘t always likeable, she‘s dramatic and quite self centred after the break up but being a girl can be soooo hard!

#fridayhappyreadinghour longest week ever? TGIF Cheers Littens! I hope your Friday nights are everything you need them to be

I really liked Good Spirits by B. K. Borison so I thought I‘d try another book by them - this is pretty delightful, a romance radio host loses his love of love, problematic in his line of work, and gets a call into the show about a woman who needs some help with her love life that sets a whole chain of events off ending with some spicy spice

#hashtagbrigade In 2026, PBS proudly added The Count of Monte Cristo to its MASTERPIECE lineup. This adaptation offered audiences a fresh take on Alexandre Dumas‘ enduring classic.

Sam Claflin starred as Edmond Dantès, a young sailor whose promising life was shattered. A false accusation and wrongful imprisonment set him on a path filled with hardship and betrayal.

Found an available now audio book to do my chores with and it‘s making all the things easier to do - laundry, vacuuming and throwing the 🌲 out into the back yard. My regular reading spot is back, my stack of buddy reads is set up and now I have to figure out what else to set up ( aka figure out where I stashed everything when Christmas got set up)

Where is Shirley? asks the #hashtagbrigade taking a minute out of my wheel spinning aka starting a million things, getting nothing done to read today‘s chapter ‘Coriolanus‘ Shakespeare? and no Shirley no doubt and I‘m wondering “is this where heavens to Murgatroyd “ came from? I‘ve never seen this name in print before but I‘ve heard it ( Bugs Bunny I‘m sure, where all my knowledge comes from )

#wintercamplitsy OH MY GOSH! How freaking amazing is it when a book is gushed over for being the BEST and then you listen to it and it actually is the BEST! I LOVE LOVE LOVE this book! What a wonderful story of a life, of friendship, of love, of loss, of grief and guilt and forgiveness and a love letter to letter writing and connecting through books. ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

#sundaybuddyread I finished this today packing up Christmas ( the tree will stay up until epiphany) and holy F what a ride this story is - based on a real person, Virginia Hill, and the real people she ‘worked‘ with in the mob. Listening to this was spellbinding but the borrowing window means I‘m screwed up for Sunday meet ups ☹️

I‘m going to inhale this ❤️ along with my 🍷and nuts n bolts - how did I take so long to get on the Heartstopper bandwagon?

#wintercamplitsy I‘m throwing caution to the wind and listening to this winter camp read on audio. It‘s amazing so far! I don‘t want to do anything but listen - so I will probably take Christmas down tomorrow after my random to do list today (bag #18 of Home Alone = the roof begins)

#europacollective my 1st book for 2026 is a gem!!! We should all have the self confidence and fearlessness of Rosa Achmetowna! She is outrageous and single minded in her drive for what she feels is right, most people and consequences be damned, but what a story and what a life ❤️❤️❤️ I can‘t wait to talk about this with the hive

#happyfridayreadinghour just got home from driving oldest son to airport in Toronto to fly back to Thunder Bay for school. He got dumped over the holidays and he was very emotional going back (she‘s there in same program) he loves his classes but dreads seeing her - she blindsided him liking him and then blindsided him with the dumping 💔 he‘s full of should haves and I‘m all “she should have left you alone!”

#naturallitsy “I am Red Fox - how do you see me?” reminding me of The Frozen River which I listened to in December and how the red fox warned Martha ( and Martha was prepared to keep the red fox safe from hunters/poachers)

Trying a #sundaybuddyread on audio - the story is fantastic so far on audio ❤️❤️❤️ but flipping back pages for the discussion won‘t work and I can‘t prolong my borrowing time so we shall see how it goes ( bag #17 of Home Alone)

So many of these books were because of Littens ❤️ buddy reads and random posts and off I go reading with the cool kids. Thank you everyone for inspiring and supporting my book addiction

Getting buddy reads ready for the new year, I‘m forgetting more than one 🤦🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️ sending out positive vibes for 2026, wishing ( hoping) for good mojo for all Littens - may your new year be filled with amazing reads, healthy friends and families, an abundance of good times and sunshine

My last finished read of 2025 - what an addictive story 🤯 so much intrigue, double crossing, sacrifice, racism, devotion and devastation- the world building will continue and 🙏🏻 the new world order is better

Getting started on buddy reads for next year #europacollective I love this cover and reading in bed #whatdayisit

I guess this was intended to be a chapter a day advent calendar like read 🤷🏻‍♀️ but it‘s also easily inhaled! A lively seasonal murderous mystery

My year end wrap up happens when the year ends!

A full English breakfast to finish this absolutely bonkers #hashtagbrigade buddy read. So many red herrings, so many twists and turns, so many random bits of story - a mad cap crime that leaves the reader puzzled until the end

#sundaybuddyread I had never heard of this author and I‘m quite grateful for being pointed in his direction by our fearless and tireless buddy read leader @TheBookHippie this story is heartbreaking and in the last chapter/section I really thought it was going to fully break my heart but thank goodness it ended with a smidge of hope

I am loving this so much! Just puttering around, cleaning cupboards in the bathroom, reorganizing the linen closet #whatdayisit #whenisgarbageday #nevercookingagain

This was an impulse buy when I was shopping for new lamps at Homesense ( TJ Maxx) where I spotted quite the collection of current books for sale ( I have to get my fix somewhere now that 🇨🇦 Costco doesn‘t sell books anymore 😢) this story follows the Christmas rom-com formula ( with some unsubtle nods to Love, Actually among others) and it‘s delightful ❤️

#fridayhappyreadinghour a friend gifted me with a Friday Happy reading hour glass so here I am breaking it in 🍷 with a plethora of candles burning. We had a transformer blow and then a bunch of trees go down in an ice storm. We currently have power but we are surrounded by people who don‘t 😬 the city and hydro workers are not having a relaxing Boxing Day ☹️

#5joysfriday and now the complete chill part of the holidays can begin 1. I went to a candlelight concert last weekend and it continues to make me happy 2. Power line to our house threw a fit and burned out the neutral line 👎🏻 but London Hydro had it fixed in less that 1/2 hour so they are joy ( ice storm took our power again, not just us this time, when I went to post this and again London hydro had us up and running in 30 minutes …cont‘d

9:30 am, no one is up yet 🤦🏻‍♀️ starting another holiday read and eating cookies for breakfast. Happy Merry Christmas Day to all who celebrate.

‘Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house ….. enjoying a wee break after hosting John‘s family for lunch, wrapping all the presents and doing a bit of prep for tomorrow when I host my family. Husband and oldest son have gone to rescue youngest son and girlfriend who hit a pothole and damaged her car - enjoying the ‘not a creature was stirring‘ quiet

#littensloveromance I couldn‘t help myself and read to the end last night 🤦🏻‍♀️😆 I loved this delightful twist on ghosts of Christmas past ❤️ it was magically delicious, as was Nolan who visits Harriet to show her the error of her ways. A grumpy vs sunshine and apparently that‘s my jam 😉

Moving right along with Home Alone Beckett watches the movie while he builds and I listened to this amazing story. I love the idea of this story concept and the story itself ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ bad people don‘t deserve to be here

#fridayhappyreadinghour I‘ve got toast and tea and a seasonal romance ( which is quite sad ) school is out and I‘m battling a cold 🤦🏻‍♀️ it will be early to bed for me, the boys can cook up frozen chicken pot pies and watch sports, sports, sports and I will be in bed, bed, bed

#5joysfriday I‘ve gotten out of the habit of embracing the small joys 1. Impromptu mini snowman art class #snowmuchfun ❤️2. A sweetheart in grade 2 drew my portrait ❤️❤️and I want it on a tee shirt now 3. dinner out last night with my sister and a friend; wild mushroom ravioli ❤️❤️❤️ 4 a new Christmas sweatshirt from a local maker ❤️❤️❤️❤️5. Building the Home Alone Lego set with my 23 yr old ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

Audio baking has commenced with Swedish rosenmunnar aka thumbprints - imagine a world where witches made bad men ‘disappear‘ ?! I‘ve got a list for them 😉

#ohcanada challenge to read something by Louise Penny ✅ this is 9th in the series and so dark and twisted 🤯 I wasn‘t sure I‘d survive reading it but LP has been playing a long game with us ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ and I am in it for the long haul ( Rosa is no where near as scary as this cobra chicken)

#littensloveromance December read is so good at only 3 chapters in ❤️❤️❤️

Starting ‘Home Alone‘ as a family build, I got to go first 🎉 bag #1 means Harry and Marv are on the scene in the OH-KAY Plumbing and Heating van. I can‘t believe Jeremy survived what he did but I also can‘t believe things he blew off ( fixing his mouth in the beginning, knee surgery cuz he didn‘t want to go back to the hospital) also the cost of his recovery 💰💰💰💰💰

Santa is finished and has joined his crew. I‘m laughing at Jeremy trying to escape the hospital before he is actually able to

#ohcanada #9 in the Inspector Gamache series - I‘m extra happy cuz it‘s set in December ❤️❤️ so it‘s a seasonal read too ( winning my personal game on all the levels 😆😆) just lazing in bed reading for as long as I can get away with is my main goal today

Ladies and Gentleman, the weekend #happyfridayreadinghour to all who celebrate 🙏🏻 loving being back in Three Pines world but it‘s more like the Upside Down World cuz things are not right 😢😢😢

Santa has arms and hands (bag #4) JR talks about how the breathing lessons he learned going to Lamaze classes with his mom when she was pregnant with his younger sister ( his dad had left ) kept him alive waiting for help after his snow cat accident - he had to force himself to inhale and exhale because of all the damage to his torso, his body wouldn‘t breath without conscious effort

Hanging out at Starbucks before I go into school for the afternoon. This was a delightful sweet romance with Scotland as a major character ❤️❤️❤️

So sad to hear Sophie Kinsella has passed away from the same awful kind of brain cancer as Gord Downie

Next on audio ( it‘s okay - he‘s repetitive with his phrasing) and Santa has legs

This story held me in its grip the whole time!!!! I guessed a few of the twists and turns but not the whys, what a rollercoaster ( Santa bag #2 is done)

My youngest is sick (he‘ll be fine), my oldest has been dumped (he‘ll be fine), my in laws are a pain in the ass ( there is no cure) and my husband is stressed about all of it ( holidays will get here eventually). I‘m just going to be here for the next while

The Botanical Garden is finished so now it‘s time for Santa

Almost done the Botanical Gardens 🎉 Frozen River is soooo good! Thank god for feisty women!