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ravenlee

ravenlee

Joined March 2018

Homeschool mom trying desperately to read grown-up stuff (at least occasionally)
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ravenlee
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This section ends: “Take care of yourself and remember that taking care of something else is an important part of taking care of yourself, because you are interwoven with the ten trillion things in this single garment of destiny that has been stained and torn, but is still being woven and mended and washed.”

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ravenlee
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“Who the hell wants unity with Nazis until and unless they stop being Nazis?”

Another great essay.

kspenmoll I cannot wait to get this- one day soon! 2d
24 likes1 comment
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ravenlee
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Very similar in tone to Hope in the Dark, in how change is incremental and invisible until it‘s not, this essay in particular is really striking to me. Sometimes I miss with Solnit, but this is a home run.

Sace I want this book for this page alone. 7d
23 likes1 comment
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ravenlee
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We are writing stories that are not markers to say, “We got here,” but compasses to say, “Press on in this direction.”

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ravenlee
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These were acquired BEFORE our trip (to be joined by the rest my mom is sending…I have a cookbook problem, for real) as library discards. I showed restraint, I really did! But I cannot be trusted at the freebie cart. Now to squeeze them into my already-groaning cookbooks bookcase.

kspenmoll More books is always a plus! 1w
Tamra 👏🏾 No such thing as a cookbook “problem” 1w
TheBookHippie I adore the top book. 1w
TheBookHippie @Tamra exactly! 1w
29 likes4 comments
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ravenlee
Step-By-Step Manga | Gecko Keck
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Part 2 of kiddo‘s haul: she‘s recently become obsessed with manga/anime/kawaii/chibi art styles, so when she found the bottom five at Half Price Books I wasn‘t going to say no. Even when we found many (many) more at B&N, too. I‘m a sucker, that‘s no secret. The rest are en route thanks to Gramma because our suitcases were maxed out.

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ravenlee
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Part 1 of kiddo‘s haul: the tagged has been borrowed from the library at least a dozen times, the bottom two finish the series, the Daughter books is her cousin‘s absolute favorite series (she carries them around and calls them her children) and a birthday present for my kiddo, and the Calin just because (and author‘s first name is kiddo‘s first name so if that‘s ever a bingo square again she‘s set).

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ravenlee
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My most recent Haymarket subscription book. I wasn‘t really excited about any this month, but this is a beautiful cover.

Kiddo and I just got back from 16 days at Gramma‘s house (kiddo did a ballet intensive and we had some sorely-needed family time). We may have gone crazy with the book shopping. Photo deluge incoming (some are being shipped, so this will last a while).

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ravenlee
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ravenlee
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Pickpick

Just as enjoyable as all the others! Full of book references and fun puzzles, as usual.

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ravenlee
Along Came Amor | Alexis Daria
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#bookmail from the last few days, as preorders trickled in. I‘m traveling next week and considering taking one or both of these along. Might need to do a series reread for the tagged, though, because I don‘t remember the first two primas stories, so maybe that will wait for later this summer. Oh, the decisions!

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ravenlee
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Kiddo has been begging to go to the bookstore, and I finally gave in. The deal: less than ten minutes, we‘re only buying her one book (Misty Copeland‘s new book, Letters to Misty), and minimal browsing. Then I saw this one. Well, one is minimal, right? And it was for me…

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ravenlee
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I do so appreciate a good Elon dig.

dabbe 🤣🎯🤣 1mo
27 likes1 comment
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ravenlee

I recently subscribed to SK‘s Substack, and it turns out I have a few gift subscriptions. It‘s a one-month subscription. Anyone interested? I have five to offer, so I‘ll set a deadline of noon tomorrow (1200 CT on 30 May). If more than five people are interested I‘ll do a drawing. Simply comment below if you‘re interested, and I‘ll let you know if you‘re a winner! Feel free to repost, but only comments on this post will count.

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ravenlee
Untitled | Untitled
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Thanks for the tag @Eggs
1 - I actually like my name, though I went through a period of disliking it (more specifically being OVER Annie) and trying to go by AC around sixth grade. But now I‘m good with Anne. Maybe I should have tried Cordelia…😜
2 - Danny; Boris and Natasha; Laddy Buck (not sure I named that one); Paula (who was in fact Apollo and never forgave me)
3 - Mercedes Athena Thompson Hauptman; Jordan from Real Genius

Tag if you wanna!

Eggs Thanks for playing 🥳 I love Boris/Natasha❣️ 1mo
26 likes2 comments
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ravenlee
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Hope in this sense is just the recognition that…the future is not (as it is so often spoken of) a place that already exists, toward which we are trudging, but a place that we are creating with what we do and how we do it (or don‘t) in the present.

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ravenlee
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Starting this one today.

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ravenlee
The Outsiders | SE Hinton
Pickpick

Okay, I get it now. I never had anyone assign this, so I just never got around to it. Now I feel all sorts of wrecked. What an incredible piece of writing - and SE Hinton was 15 when she started it?! Okay, brb, need to go track down her other work.

TheBookHippie It is all good. ♥️ 1mo
dabbe Love all of her books. 💜 1mo
23 likes2 comments
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ravenlee
Abundance | Derek Thompson, Ezra Klein
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Pickpick

I wasn‘t sure at first, but this was a very interesting and thought-provoking read. Why is there such scarcity in America? In housing, clean energy, and tech development (not innovation, but the follow-up), Klein and Thompson posit that yesterday‘s policies hinder today‘s and tomorrow‘s progress. I‘d like to see some more concrete examples of how to solve these problems, especially at a grassroots level, but it‘s worth a read regardless.

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ravenlee
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Pickpick

I finished this on audio and…holy crap, Sarah Kendzior is so spot-on about everything. Her predictions from Trump‘s first term have all come true, everything she was worried about has come to pass. We should call her Cassandra. I need to find everything she‘s ever written now, and you need to read this book! I subscribed to her Substack a few months ago, and I just upgraded to paid when I finished this. Seriously, read it.

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ravenlee
Pickpick

This book is what I wanted Angela Garbes‘ work to be: personal yet with research and numbers to back up the claim that modern motherhood is unsustainable. While a lot of the information is familiar, and there are no quick fixes offered here, Grose‘s work gives a solid foundation to the general unease and overwhelm so many of us feel. If you‘re interested in the economic value of caretakers, this one‘s a good piece.

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ravenlee
Dating and Dragons | Kristy Boyce
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Pickpick

I didn‘t finish it in one day, but I did wrap it up this morning over tea. Just as good as the first, there‘s no connection between them (except a blink-and-you‘ll-miss-it cameo by an unnamed Riley). Quinn has baggage to deal with when she joins Logan‘s D&D group at her new school, and their brewing attraction could scuttle the whole game. Green flags abound in these stories! Just the pick-me-up I needed when the world is terrible.

31 likes2 stack adds
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ravenlee
Dungeons and Drama | Kristy Boyce
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Pickpick

I read this entire book in one day. It was fun, low stakes but engaging, I loved the characters, and there was just enough teen angst to make it feel real. I‘m glad to have the next one ready to go. And I‘ve already talked it up to a friend who caught me reading it while kiddo danced.

40 likes1 stack add
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ravenlee
Dungeons and Drama | Kristy Boyce
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🥰 My first paying gig as a musician was with the Columbus Junior Theater, performing A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, the summer between sophomore and junior years of high school. The next year, CJT became Columbus Children‘s Theater, and that summer I played for their production of The Mystery of Edwin Drood. I LOVED playing for CJT/CCT!

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ravenlee
Panpan

I finished this a week or two ago, and I‘ve already forgotten most of it. The first section was promising, but other writers have trod the same territory and done it better. I don‘t remember most of part two, and the self-help part three was boring and useless (yes, we should all learn to focus on breathing, that‘s revolutionary, thanks). I‘m sorry I wasted money, time, and shelf space on this one.

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ravenlee
Pickpick

A very good essay collection, with a combination of travel stories, behind-the-scenes of the Rick Steves machine, memoir, cultural studies, and humor. It‘s not a travel guide, but more of a travel guide‘s raison d‘être. If you like the writing style of the Rick Steves guidebooks, you‘ll probably enjoy Hewitt‘s writing here. Recommended. And honestly, I liked this MUCH more than the RS travel writing book from a few years ago.

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ravenlee
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Pickpick

Low pick. The story is important and worth telling, though I agree with other reviews that the way it‘s told could be better. It‘s repetitive in many places, and I feel like I wouldn‘t necessarily like Jones if I knew her in person. She makes some leaps of logic, and has expectations of people that sometimes exceed reality (and is then disappointed in them). But, what she‘s been through and how she fought back are worth sharing. 👇🏻

ravenlee Her appeal was denied by the first appellate court, but in December 2024 the Louisiana Supreme Court approved her appeal of that decision and sent it back to the appellate court for reconsideration. The suit is still active, and I‘ll keep an eye on it. Overall, the big-picture parts of this book are worth reading, but the personal parts maybe less so. 2mo
31 likes1 comment
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ravenlee
Bailedbailed

I couldn‘t connect with this on audio. I think because multiple essays/authors share readers, and it messed with my mind. I may try again in print sometime, but for now it‘s a DNF.

21 likes1 comment
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ravenlee
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Pickpick

I love this series! I sat down last night and read the entire thing. Some serious revelations in this one! Now I have to wait for October when the final volume comes out, but then I can reread the entire series.

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ravenlee
Dungeons and Drama | Kristy Boyce
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And hubby picked up my library #bookhaul today, too 🤷🏻‍♀️ I think I have a problem (actually, I have two: not enough time to read and not enough bookshelves)

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ravenlee
Untitled | Unknown
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Did I need to order 20 new books from Book Outlet? Well, no, not really. Did I cross my fingers that this would arrive while hubby is at work so I don‘t have to explain why I‘ve received something like six book deliveries in the past week or so? Well, yes, of course. And then I tried to find places for them so they‘re accessible but not OBVIOUSLY new. Don‘t mind me being a little crazy over here. #bookmail is the best mail.

TheBookHippie 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 2mo
catiewithac I see you and support you! 🤓 2mo
Birdsong28 Totally understand this. I do it myself 😂📚📖 2mo
Reggie Lol 2mo
dabbe 🎯🩵🎯 2mo
35 likes5 comments
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ravenlee
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“…it is about dumbing down society for a more easily les population, and it is about using libraries for political gain.”

This, all of this.

kspenmoll 🎯 2mo
24 likes1 comment
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ravenlee
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#bookmail is the best mail!

kspenmoll I just ordered Solnit‘s new book too! 2mo
29 likes1 comment
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ravenlee
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Today‘s #bookmail from BN (bottom left) and Bookshop.org for the rest. I may have had to sneak the boxes into the house so hubby didn‘t see them, as this may have been the third and fourth book packages this week… The bottom two are for kiddo, and the top two (the skinny ones) are mine.

I may also have several preorders filtering in over the rest of the year. And a sizable order from Book Outlet shipping soon. I really shouldn‘t be unsupervised.

Kenyazero looks like an excellent selection! 🤩 2mo
35 likes1 comment
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ravenlee
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Continuing my political/current events self-education with a slight pivot. Starting this one while hubby and kiddo battle it out on the chess board.

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ravenlee
Pickpick

This book was amazing! You have to read it. Ressa is a Philippine American dual citizen, journalist, and Nobel Peace Prize winner. Her story is incredible. She describes her work to preserve the integrity of journalism and democracy in the Philippines, the global south, and the world. What she‘s been through under Duterte and his successor, her fight against Facebook/social media misinformation…it‘s all so relevant. Just take my word and read it.

TheBookHippie Will do! 2mo
29 likes3 stack adds1 comment
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ravenlee
Antidemocracy in America: Truth, Power, and the Republic at Risk | Eric Klinenberg, Sharon Marcus, Caitlin Zaloom
Mehso-so

Like many compilations, this is a mixed bag. It suffers from being already outdated, although many of the contributors‘ predictions were spot-on for this disastrous second term. I found a lot to be rambling and unhelpful. The highlight was the penultimate essay, “The Right Type of Citizenship” by Jefferson Cowie. It focuses on the Left needing a solid action plan and vision to combat the Right‘s American exceptionalism and 👇🏻

ravenlee white nationalistic bluster. Overall, I give this collection about a C. Helpful if you‘ve got the time and energy, but easily skippable in favor of more up-to-date work. 2mo
24 likes1 comment
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ravenlee
What the Hex | Alexis Daria
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Recent #bookmail - two kinda different vibes here…

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ravenlee
Math Without Numbers | Milo Beckman
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Starting this while kiddo has her violin lesson. This is Mr. Weasley, who tolerates my presence in his home once a week.

dabbe 🖤🐾🖤 2mo
Ruthiella 😻😻😻 2mo
32 likes2 comments
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ravenlee
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Gardening metaphor? Carpentry? Yes, these both work. I can get behind this imagery for treating cancer. They‘re both much better than the kitchen metaphor.

BUT, these are about treatment. Earlier she discussed RESEARCH, and I stand by the “front lines” idea for that. Treatment and research are different aspects and deserve different approaches.

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ravenlee
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So Lesser lost her younger sister to cancer, but she still has some…views…on cancer that don‘t make sense to me. Apparently it was the sister‘s fault?

BarkingMadRead I have uterine cancer and I can‘t tell you how many times I‘ve seen posts saying that you get it from being overweight 🙄 I can‘t ever imagine blaming anyone for getting cancer! 2mo
ravenlee @BarkingMadRead that‘s insane! I‘m sorry you‘re having to deal with all of that. People can be the worst. I‘m just horrified by this author even hinting that her sister brought it on herself by not standing up for herself enough. 😤 2mo
Ruthiella I don‘t understand that concept either. Children get cancer. Animals get cancer. What attitude could they have that caused it!?!?! 🙁 2mo
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kspenmoll Insanely ridiculous! 2mo
nanuska_153 And that she says it about her sister is even worse. People have the craziest less empathetic comments about strangers situations, and you wonder how would they feel when they see it happening to someone in their inner circle. Apparently this person wouldn't find empathy even in that case 2mo
Clare-Dragonfly Uh. WTF. 2mo
32 likes6 comments
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ravenlee
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The kitchen of cancer research? I guess I‘m just not seeing how this is better than “front lines.”

Maybe it‘s my perspective. I‘m a military brat. My paternal grandparents, father, at least three uncles, cousin, brother, and sister-in-law all served. I served. My husband still serves. To me, military service is a legacy, and while it has areas of concern, it‘s not shameful. Maybe that‘s why I‘m not getting Lesser‘s point here.

Ruthiella I think it‘s less the military metaphor and than the black/white juxtaposition of winning vs losing. Some people feel like when they hear “she lost her battle with cancer”, it implies if she‘d only tried a little harder or strategized better, she might have “won” and survived. 2mo
DHill IMO this passage reads like it‘s written by someone who‘s never had cancer. It is a battle, and as someone who‘s had cancer, I‘m reassured by the thought that doctors are on the “front lines” of research. 2mo
shortsarahrose I don‘t think she‘s necessarily saying “kitchen” is better than front lines. Without other context and just speaking personally, kitchen speaks to care (for me that‘s my grandma making pie or my dad cooking for our family), where front lines speaks to war and destruction. What would cancer research look like if it was centered on an ethic of care (for patients and their families) rather than just destruction of disease? (1/2) 2mo
See All 8 Comments
shortsarahrose Thinking of my uncle who passed from stage 4 colon cancer and the kindness his doctor showed him when he decided to stop treatment, in particular. (2/2) (edited) 2mo
ravenlee @Ruthiella she‘s arguing against the usage of military/violent language in general, and this is the example she chooses. It just doesn‘t work for me in this sense. Also, later on she does discuss her sister dying or cancer in just those terms, like she could have done better. 🤷🏻‍♀️ 2mo
ravenlee @dhill agreed. I haven‘t gone through it myself, but my mom has been through multiple bouts/kinds and it feels very much like battle. There‘s a very combative element to a lot of it, and the researchers are absolutely in a fight to save lives. 2mo
ravenlee @shortsarahrose there‘s definitely an element of care needed, and a focus on quality of life for patients rather than just bare survival, but I want researchers looking for cures, not just palliative care. I really just feel that, in Lesser‘s argument against using military/violent metaphors in general, this was not a convincing example. 2mo
shortsarahrose Yeah, I don‘t think it was the best example (again, not having any additional context). If she had use the idea of a “moonshot” as an alternative metaphor (as has been used elsewhere to describe the attempt to cure cancer), it would‘ve made her point better. A moonshot being a coordinated effort at reaching a lofty, seemingly impossible goal. Or maybe summiting Everest? 2mo
25 likes8 comments
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ravenlee
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Today‘s #bookmail courtesy of Haymarket Books: two of the last Solnit books I didn‘t already have (and part of her “Haymarket rainbow”), plus this book on AI that looks very interesting but wasn‘t released as an ebook (ironic, I think).

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ravenlee
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Starting this one while #DannyBoy whaps me with his tail.

Leftcoastzen 😄😻 2mo
41 likes1 stack add1 comment
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ravenlee
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For the next two days (I think, it may just be today and tomorrow), Barnes & Noble members can use PREORDER25 to get 25% off preorders. It‘s not valid on signed copies, though. But Rebecca Solnit, Joyce Vance, Ali Hazelwood (one just announced today as well as the companion to Bride), Frederik Backman, and so many others have new books coming out. I may have indulged a little…a lot…

ravenlee Oh! And premium members also get the 10% member discount on print books. But the 25% is good on ebook and audiobook preorders, too. 2mo
TheBookHippie Oooooo 2mo
Bookwormjillk Nice- I‘ve been eyeing the new Stephen King 2mo
36 likes3 comments
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ravenlee
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Who, but the French, would look at snails oozing across a rain-dampened path and think, “I‘ll bet if I sautéed those in garlic butter, they‘d be delicious”?

Ruthiella I‘ve had them. The garlicky butter is delicious. The snails not so much….🐌🤢 2mo
RamsFan1963 I tried escargot once, against my better judgement, and it was okay. I didn't object to the taste so much as the texture. 2mo
bookishbitch The butter is what saves the dish for sure. 2mo
25 likes3 comments
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ravenlee
Untitled | Unknown
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#DannyBoy missed me while I was working today. And now he must wash my face because he‘s a much better and cleaner cat than I am.

Ruthiella 😻😻😻 2mo
TheSpineView Awww... 2mo
LeahBergen 😆😆 Good boy! 2mo
Leftcoastzen 😄😻👏 2mo
dabbe 🖤🐾🖤 2mo
35 likes5 comments
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ravenlee
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“Just to be entirely clear on this point: The Sound of Music fans were so rowdy, they were bothering Austrian drunks chugging one-liter mugs of beer.”

I don‘t know why, but this is cracking me up, and I could use a good laugh.

Bette 🤣 Thanks, I could use a laugh too! 2mo
julieclair Love Rick Steves and Cameron Hewitt! Stacked! 2mo
ravenlee @julieclair so far it‘s a really good read! 2mo
32 likes2 stack adds3 comments
review
ravenlee
Panpan

Meh, I wanted this to be better. Mack has a few decent observations from growing up in Hitler‘s Germany, but it‘s all very slapdash. It feels too casual and anecdotal and I wanted so badly for there to be some depth of understanding. I think he had good intentions, seeing where we were heading, but it didn‘t come together well enough. And after reading Ruth Ben-Ghiat‘s Strongmen, this just doesn‘t get it done.

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ravenlee
Flirting Lessons | Jasmine Guillory
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My recent #bookmail has a visual theme, even if one is very, very different from the others! Thanks to The Ripped Bodice for the signed Jasmine Guillory books, and to Haymarket Books for a club that exposes me to books I would probably never otherwise encounter.