Why did I do this? I‘ve been scattered for the past month, between weird health stuff (nothing major) and the election, other personal junk; can‘t concentrate to read or get other stuff done. So, clearly, I needed to order a huge box of books. And half of them are cookbooks (serious problem). The justification of needing books for the advent calendar is negated by yesterday‘s Amazon order for just that purpose…

Today‘s library #bookhaul is entirely impulse grabs from the new books displays. I‘ve had a lot of trouble focusing on…anything…in the past month. We‘ll see if any of these help. Or hurt. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Haymarket Books is offering a library of ten anti-fascist books for free for a limited time (one week, I think). Run, don‘t walk.

https://www.haymarketbooks.org/blogs/517-ten-free-ebooks-for-getting-free

Recent #bookmail and I‘m so excited!

Today‘s library #bookhaul - kiddo complained because I gave her a limit (15 is a reasonable limit!) and then found all of these for myself. Two I‘ve read before but need to refresh to finish the trilogy. Everything else is new.

Sigh. We just can‘t move beyond this, can we?

Starting this one today. We just got home from a few days at Great Wolf Lodge in Dallas (kiddo‘s been dying to go back), and #DannyBoy is so happy to be back from boarding school! He‘s been my velcro kitty most of the evening, and exceedingly vocal about my failings as a mom. Time to sit down and hold the kitty.
#catsofLitsy

https://news.artnet.com/art-world/euripides-greek-tragedies-translated-2528715

This is so cool!

Another concern about the AI aspect.
#NaNoWriMo

Hey NaNoWriMo folks, some not great news: https://pivot-to-ai.com/2024/09/02/nanowrimo-gets-ai-sponsor-says-not-writing-yo...

#nanowrimo

This week‘s library #bookhaul and they‘re mostly for me! (The mountains of Warriors and Rainbow Magic and 13-Story Treehouse books for kiddo have taken over our hearth)

In honor of World Folklore Day, I picked one of my many (so many, so very many, seriously I have a problem) books of folktales to dive into.

It‘s a good day for #bookmail!

Today‘s #bookmail - I‘m hoping to get back into #deadphilosopherssociety with this one. 🤞🏻 I have not done well with scheduled reading for the past year or so, and now I‘m especially caught up in daily Substacks about the current political nightmare…I mean situation. And that leaves less time for books, unfortunately.

I absolutely LOVE this! From “Vasylisa and Baba Yaga,” by Rossana Sasso, at the very end of this novella.

Knowing I was about to finish my current read, I threw another book in my bag today. When I pulled it out, I found three bookmarks in it. Apparently I have done the “grab a bookmark, throw it in the book, throw the book in the bag” routine a couple of times already with this one. I did start it this time, though. 🤦🏻‍♀️

Schrödinger synod ?

What I wish I could do today/this week.

My BDH merch arrived! Now I can get around to reading the print edition of this book.

Man, I just cannot get away from this POS.

Ouch. And even more true in the COVID era.

“…you might wish to describe Christianity as the gateway drug to supply-side capitalism.”

Recent library #bookhaul - let‘s hope the tagged is better than the last one 🤨🙄

And one caught my attention on the new releases shelf, so let‘s give it a try then.

I was so excited to get this #bookmail this week! I preordered it, but it shipped before the release date, so I was completely surprised. I need to find the time to focus on it, which is hard to do at the moment. But soon, yes…soon.

Well, I read this in two days, it was that good. The plot and basic character setup seem the same as in Love, Theoretically, but it‘s not broken so don‘t fix it. I love how Hazelwood manages to work in genuine emotional growth while she‘s writing enjoyable and steamy romance. Not my favorite by her, but not far off, either.

The author of this book has MS, RD after her name. And then she puts this “home test” in here, admits there‘s absolutely no evidence to support it, but why not? I was already skeptical from some of her other starements, but now I‘m out.

I just got this email from the Penguin publishing house, and now I‘m feeling super old. Historical fiction?! Set during my childhood?!! Oy vey.

https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/the-read-down/books-set-in-the-1980s/

It felt like it took forever to read this, but it was really just three days. I felt confused for a good bit, trying to remember the previous installment and sort out what I was supposed to know already, but it all worked eventually. I‘m looking forward to a full series (plus A&O) reread at some point.
#DannyBoy is tired of his place on my lap being taken by this big hardcover and ready to reclaim his territory.

#DannyBoy is fed up with fireworks.
Happy Independence Day, and may we be able to celebrate it again next year. #catsofLitsy

I normally wait for paperbacks, but it feels like it‘s been SO LONG since I read a Mercy book, I broke down (partially, can‘t buy a hardcover that wouldn‘t match my MMs) and it just came in at the library. My holiday weekend plans just changed!

While listening to this audiobook, about listening, I found myself needing to rewind occasionally to hear something more clearly. But I did start to be more present for what I was hearing, too, and I‘m not sure that would have been the same with a text copy. Definitely a make-you-think book, about how and why to listen better.

What a fantastic, frustrating read! I expect to revisit this in the future. It also dovetailed nicely with other recent reads, especially The Feminine Mystique, The Math of Life and Death, and Recollections of my Nonexistence. I‘ve been sharing tidbits with my mom and now she‘s interested in it, too. Highly recommended.

Meh, not a bad book, but there‘s not much point to it. The first book has anecdotes that support ideas for homeschooling and general family life. This book is heavy on anecdotes and generic aphorisms, without much in the way of substance. Pleasant enough to listen to, and I guess if one needs a pat on the back, or reassurance that it‘a all going to work out, this could work. Otherwise it‘s ok to skip.

It was pretty good, and I always like how the characters come together in these stories, but I didn‘t like this as much as the others. The first book was the best, the second was good, and this was a little lower than that. I‘m definitely going to continue the series, though, because I must know what happens next!

This easily readable explanation of how math affects our daily lives was really fascinating. The section on epidemics has the beginnings of COVID, which surprised me. I will revisit this one in the future, and may make it part of kiddo‘s high school math curriculum in a few years.

This article is not from the tagged book, but it deals in the same currency. Solnit writes about the loneliness epidemic, the rising wave of authoritarianism, and most importantly, how we can feel better about our lives. It‘s a quick but important read. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/jun/04/trump-covid-climat...

I‘ve been hovering between so-so and pan, and I‘m coming down on the pan. I should have known, with it billed as things I don‘t like (thriller/horror/mystery) but I‘ve liked KA‘s other books…but no. It wasn‘t a solid story any way you slice it, and it feeds one of my pert peeves 👆🏼 when the author says someone says something without us actually getting the words. Deliberate obfuscation bugs me. I‘m irritated I spent good reading time on this.

Not book related in any way, but #DannyBoy in a laundry hamper needed to be shared. #catsofLitsy

This jumped out at me, in the context of the bear/man thought experiment going around.

I should have read this book ages ago, but better late than never! I see the drawbacks of Friedan‘s approach, how she focuses on a very narrow subset of women for her work, but I do think it‘s full of important criticism. I saw myself in these pages, much more than I‘d like. Definitely worth a read.

(Inset from Rollo May, “Contributions of Existential Psychotherapy)

Friedan uses this in her argument against housewives “adjusting” to their limited existence, but it really struck me how this applies to LGBTQ+

Another great installment. My only complaint is I‘m having a hard time keeping similar-looking characters straight. I guess I‘ll have to do a full-series reread at some point while I wait for the next one this fall!

I checked the mail on my way out to pick up kiddo from dance rehearsal, and my preorder arrived! Guess what I‘m reading while I wait. Of course, my bag now has two large books and a water bottle in it, so it weighs a ton.

I‘m reading my paternal grandmother‘s memoir, and her description of a mass food poisoning incident during her time in the WACS is making me feel sick. “Especially if they ate the ham salad” in particular…I‘m vegetarian, but I think ham salad would seem ill-advised even if I weren‘t.

I never had a great relationship with either of my grandmothers. They weren‘t good people, in my experience, but it‘s interesting to learn more about them.

I mostly haven‘t cared for the stories that accompany Disney franchises (looking at you, Lost in a Book and Far from Agrabah), but this one was quite good. Set shortly before Frozen II picks up (the Epilogue leads right into the movie), we find Anna battling a nightmare as Elsa takes on a blight affecting crops and livestock around Arendelle. The sisters must work together to solve the mysteries and find a way to save their home. 👇🏻