I was on board until the ridiculous climax, which was just painful. The characters not talking, keeping secrets, and so on was frustrating but also pretty realistic. I mean, for a holiday romance. The disability rep and the Jewish life view was all really good. I‘m curious how Meltzer will follow up this debut as she seems to have written herself, and authors who start that way don‘t always have much else to do after that. A good-enough read.

A busy week! So I‘m late on my November wrap-up, but it was a good reading month. 31 books read (no DNFs!), 14 of which were picture books; 17 non-fiction so I met my goal of half my books being NF for the month. 4904 pages puts it right in the middle of my months for this year. I‘m six books from my goal of 300 and ten owned books from my Mount TBR goal of 100. Both should be doable, despite a frenzied December heading my way.

Yesterday I had a last-minute gig (which was great, a candlelight church service), and my MIL and BIL came to visit. Today I made hubby‘s belated birthday cake (Black Forest Cherry Cake, the only way I eat cherries) to share with his family. Between the two days I‘ve read something like 25 pages of two different books. I‘m worn out and just want some quiet time with a book!

The Matzah Ball is my December #BookSpin and Reading Lolita in Tehran is my #DoubleSpin - both of which I started in the last couple days. It‘s fate! Or something.

My December #BookSpinBingo board is ready! I want to read everything, all at once!

Starting this book (second attempt) has me awash in memories. When it was new, a prof at my school told me about it, having just read a review in the NYT (I think) that reminded him of me. Sounds nice, right? The prompting was the author discussing Anna Karenina and he remembered how much I‘d hated AK in his class the year before, so he was giving me a “so there!” Except I loved AK, and hated (loathed) Madame Bovary, so his memory was off. 👇🏻

Yesterday‘s library #bookhaul - bottom for #YABuddyRead, two seasonal reads, and an accidental find (it‘s supposed to be for kiddo‘s history studies, but it‘s beyond her grade level - but it coincides nicely with the most recent #SheSaid book so I just have to read it myself!).

Part two of my #roll100 list for @PuddleJumper ‘s new challenge. Third quarter is mostly middle grade, fourth quarter is fluff reads (lots of romances languishing on my shelves, plus some urban fantasy series to reread and finish).

Well, it‘s unreadable on here, but this is part one of my #roll100 list for @PuddleJumper ‘s 2022 challenge. First quarter is mostly classics, second quarter is nonfiction.

Well, I was hoping to get in one more, but this looks like it for November‘s #BookSpinBingo for me. Four bingos, I read 14/20 list books, and eight of my (non-picture book) reads were for #NFNovember. I‘m pretty happy with it.
@TheAromaofBooks thanks for hosting such a fun challenge!

My December #BookSpin list is finally done, and my #BookSpinBingo board is all fresh and crisp and ready to be filled in! I am DETERMINED to get some of these stragglers read by the end of the year!
@TheAromaofBooks

An informative book about seven British women writers who haven‘t maintained their fame like Jane and the Brontes, I found the writing style frequently turned me off. It was hard to sort the general history commentary (life was hard as a woman, and DeWees hammers that point home repeatedly) from the specific biographies in several chapters. Still, I have some new-to-me books to track down. Second finish of #20in4

Did you know a ten-year-old piano prodigy from Venezuela played for President Lincoln? I never heard of Teresa Carreno, but this great little book was a wonderful introduction. Vibrant illustrations accompany her amazing story.

A beautiful picture book biography of an early conservationist, Marjory Stoneman Douglas. A bit long by picture book standards, it‘s worth it.

I‘ve long loved Julia‘s House for Lost Creatures, but I forgot to keep up with Hatke. I have been missing out! In addition to two more Julia books, there‘s this gem. Poor Goblin goes on a quest to get back his Very Best Friend Skeleton, who was stolen by a band of adventurers. Adorable illustrations + a sweet storyline = another one I need to own.

I didn‘t get much reading time this weekend - lots of cooking/cleaning/various projects for everybody else. One of those was wrapping the kiddo‘s book advent calendar, a combination of Christmas favorites and new goodies. Now she‘s anxious to start unwrapping!

Forgot - kiddo and I finished this installment last week and she immediately asked for the next one. We‘re still enjoying our adventures in early 20th century New York! It took a while to get through it because kiddo can‘t stop reading her own picks to let me read to her!

I finally finished it! I started it on my trip to visit family five weeks ago, paused to work on other things, and now it‘s finally done! This was such a good read. The original English “sensational” novel, it has some mystery and some thrills, with a neatly tied-up ending, but it was so very well done. Highly recommend. Chunkster, clocking in around 650 pages, but easy to devour in doses.

Joining in on the #20in4 Readathon for this weekend, and adding Monday as a bonus. Today I worked on finishing The Woman in White; over the rest of the time I want to read Not Just Jane, finish the Tao of Pooh, and whatever else I can clear off my #BookSpinBingo board by the end of the month! Thanks for hosting @Andrew65 you‘re the very best of Littens!

“…and my buttered toast waits for nobody.”

I might have to add this to my vocabulary. 😆

I love sharing traditions from my childhood with kiddo, and this book is one of them. Happy Thanksgiving (again) to all!

My pumpkin pie has evil eyes…but the custard from leftover filling tasted great! Today I‘m thankful for running water (nearby neighborhood lost water on Tuesday), working appliances, a delicious feast, family, friends, Litsy! and finding time to read the tagged in bursts between cooking!
Love to you all, and Happy Thanksgiving (or Thursday)!

It‘s an important book, but it felt kind of jumpy. Within chapters Jones jumped around in history, back and forth, which was hard to follow. And the last chapters felt like a headlong hurtle from post-WWII to the 2020 election, which was also hard to follow. It needs a little grammar editing. Overall it was fine but I find myself a bit disappointed. #SheSaid discussion should be interesting this week! @Riveted_Reader_Melissa

If you‘re a fan of Rick Steves you‘d think this is for you, but you‘ve already seen it all. These “essays” are the monologues from various episodes, and some are pretty old (early 2000s). Also, Italy is a full quarter of the book (24 sections, while Greece gets 2 and Turkey 4). Disappointing. But I got a #bookspinbingo out of it!

Kind of amazingly, I met my goals for #NovelNovember - I kept up with buddy reads, and I read 4 of the possible 5 on my list, plus another book and started a sixth! Maybe I can keep up the reading momentum with kiddo‘s lessons being light for the holiday this week 🤞🏻. Thanks to @Andrew65 for another great reading boost.

Up next - my birthday present from last year, and another #NonfictionNovember read. I‘m already itching to travel (though my recent foray into air travel was, um, fraught), and I imagine this is only going to make it worse.

Well, that was depressing and very timely. I got through high school without reading this and probably should have done at some point. Better late than never, though. Thanks @Annie1215 for this #thatsclassic pick.

Beautiful little book! I wish I‘d read it years ago but am also kind of glad I never had to read it for school, as I‘m not sure I would have appreciated it as much. The voice reminded me a bit of Angelou in I Know Why…, but was still distinctive. I will definitely be reading this again, and might someday take a stab at the Spanish version (when I dust off my skills some more with kiddo).

I got a bingo! I feel like I‘m making very little headway this month, but every little bit helps.
#BookSpinBingo

Sorry, Bill, but this was a swing and a miss. The scholarship and conclusions were suspect and the humor wasn‘t funny. As a linguistics book this wasn‘t very rigorous (despite lots of citations, which I haven‘t seen before in Bryson‘s books), and as general NF/humor there just wasn‘t much of note. A Walk in the Woods stayed much fresher; not once in this book did I LOL. If you‘re looking for books on language there are far better choices.

The Hobbit trilogy? I‘ve never heard it called that; I‘ve always encountered The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. Is this an outdated reference?

Also, I find nothing surprising about Tolkien being very interested in dialects and their preservation. I don‘t consider myself particularly knowledgeable about Tolkien, but maybe more so than Bryson is/was. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Thanks for the tag @julesG #Two4Tuesday

1 - I don‘t usually set reading goals other than just read what I can and enjoy it, but this year I decided to see if I can read 300 books. So far I‘m at 277, so it‘s still close.

2 - I want to finish the tagged. I‘m halfway and reading other stuff for a bit, but it‘s really good.

Who hasn‘t played yet? @Endowarrior21 @Alfrazier21 @kspenmoll @tenar

I knew this book was old (1990) when I started reading, but having the Soviet Union and West Germany mentioned on a single page - both as current entities - really brought me to a screeching halt.

Thanks to @kimmypete1 @Eggbeater @MidnightBookGirl for hosting! I met my goals for #AnyWayYouReadathon plus my extra book and even one more!

Also on track for @Andrew65 ‘s #NovelNovember and I‘m so happy to be reading! Working on Bryson‘s The Mother Tongue for now, then some Cisneros for me.

Sorry, Hockney and Gayford - I‘m no artist, and the lighting in my photo is awful! 😆
But this is a great art book, not comprehensive but also not overwhelming. I‘m going to get a copy for our homeschool, and maybe the grown-up version, too. Recommended.

“The future of slavery was at the heart of the conflict, no matter how politicians may have spun the Civil War to be about other matters.”

This is something people STILL don‘t seem to get. Why romanticize “the South” when it all boiled down to being allowed to own people and treat them like animals?

Squad was my second finish for #AnyWayYouReadathon and first for #NovelNovember and has my #BookSpinBingo board shaping up nicely. Next up will be Bryson‘s The Mother Tongue for a bingo and The House on Mango Street for four corners.

I wanted to like it, but I only kinda did. The clique was awful to each other, why would anybody want to spend time with these jerks, who actually gets sucked into the cool kids the very first day at a new school…I had some issues. I like the love story, and I liked Heidi (minor character) and the chem teacher. This reminded me of Lumberjanes - in that there‘s a rabid following but it didn‘t work for me.

Another nostalgia-pick, this concludes the original trilogy. None of these kids act like kids, but I love this story and always have. First finish of #AnyWayYouReadathon (I think I‘ll actually meet my goals!).

For #NovelNovember my goals are:

Keep up with #SheSaid Vanguard and #DeadPhilosophersSociety Tao of Pooh

Read: Squad, The Mother Tongue, The House on Mango Street, Animal Farm, and/or I Think Therefore I Draw

Fingers crossed for family giving me some quiet time and no migraine this week! 🤞🏻 Thanks for hosting @Andrew65

Goals for #AnyWayYouReadathon are pretty modest: catch up on Vanguard for #SheSaid and The Tao of Pooh for #DeadPhilosophersSociety and finish the tagged. Family are conspiring against me reading this week, but I‘m going to try! If, by some miracle, I meet those goals I‘ll start Squad.

Julia‘s House decides to move - but Julia and the creatures aren‘t quite ready! Julia has plan after plan, but nothing works out right. Just when things seem utterly desperate, help arrives.

I didn‘t even know there was a second Julia‘s House book until I found the third! I adore these books, and now I need the other two for my collection (kiddo‘s collection, of course). Continuing from book two, the house needs a new place but disaster strikes. Julia and her ever-growing band may not have a home anymore - but that may not be the whole story, either.
@LibrarianRyan have you seen this yet?

Thanks for the tag @MoonWitch94 #ThoughtfulThursday
I‘m also reading Vanguard, The Woman in White, and More All-of-a-Kind family with the kiddo.
When kiddo was trying to make a Christmas wish list and it was hard because “my life is pretty good right now.”
I hate editorial errors, and I really hate thinking a book is a standalone when it‘s a series starter. Also abusive behavior as a “he likes her.”
Let‘s play!

This was a really good book, with friendship growing pains and family secrets galore. It took me a few chapters to settle in, but I finished this in one day. Such a heartbreaking story in one way, and so beautiful in another.

It‘s got me thinking about how old is “old enough” to share some family history with kiddo. Not secrets, but some drama that requires a little maturity to understand. It made me empathize with the parents in this story.

This is a pretty dated book of music history humor. That said, it‘s still fairly amusing and I would read more by the author. Especially his history of opera, because his dislike for opera is pretty obvious in this one, so I‘d be interested to see how he works that out.

Thanks for the tag @sblbooks
1 - yes, all of them! I‘d love to get to the tagged store in person someday; and I‘m itching to get to McKay‘s in Knoxville and the HPB flagship in Dallas.
2 - yes, though it‘s mostly a starting point.
#Two4Tuesday @TheSpineView
It‘s late, so if you haven‘t played and want to, you‘re it!

#bookmail is the best mail! Finally got my copy of the tagged, courtesy of Cavalier House Books (thank you!), plus another couple I‘ve been eyeing. Now I‘m trying to decide if I want to dive into April‘s story or do a trilogy reread…decisions, decisions…

Maybe fans of Deadliest Catch would like this, but I didn‘t. The writing is mediocre, diving into melodrama and “Touched by an Angel” style at times, while at others playing into the crude language of the fishermen. There‘s no order to the stories, nothing that connects them other than sinking boats and stranded crew. And then it‘s just over, nothing to tie it together. I never would have picked this myself, and I don‘t recommend you do either.

I‘m catting today, recovering from a doozy of a migraine yesterday. Reading is slow and careful, with lots of water, regular aspirin, and intermittent naps. This is my November #BookSpin and so far it‘s meh. I never watched Deadliest Catch; I don‘t like boats; so I‘m really not the target audience. This came from a grab bag last year (I asked for narrative NF). It‘s not particularly well-written, either, but about my speed today.