I knew I would love this book and I did💛💛💛 Elvis is a wonderful character - bright, curious, wiser than her years. She made me think of Elsa in My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She‘s Sorry (which I also loved).

#catsoflitsy Teddy and Louie

So happy to have a few moments to spend with Mma Ramotswe before work this morning. I hope to channel her calming influence all day😚

1. My little squirrel buddy having a little snack.
2. Nope. It's garden season. Lucky to get any reading in at all🌿🌸🌳
3. A new coffeemaker from Amazon. Current one stops working mid-brew. Can't have that☕
4. I have no idea. Need to get to the grocery store.
5. My mom's chocolate cake with browned butter frosting.
#humpdaypost
@MinDea

Getting started on this book this morning before work. The author comes highly recommended. I hope I love it and have a new-to-me author to follow📚
On a different note: my #catsoflitsy are all in hiding this morning. Our neighbors are getting a new roof today and the noise is just too much for them. I must say that I understand and I‘m glad that I have to work today😉

Not my biggest #bookhaul of all time from the library used book sale, but it‘s a book haul nonetheless! I couldn‘t resist Gnomes; my mom had this book and I always loved the illustrations. And I got a cute little book of Edward Gorey cat drawings. The softcover books were 50 cents each or 5 for $2.00, so that cookie cookbook that I didn‘t need was free! Who was I to say no🤗

The cats are fed. It is STILL snowing. 3 more inches expected on top of the, I don‘t know, 14” we got yesterday. What to do but start a new book📚 I‘m really looking forward to this one. Her other two were quite good. Much of this one takes place in Iran so I think I‘ll learn a little something along the way.
#reallyneedmyuffdamugtoday

I got to leave work early today due to our little April blizzard here in Minnesota ❄️❄️❄️ I‘m not sure how much snow we have so far because it is coming down sideways, but we‘re supposed to get another 7”.
Anyway, that gave me a chance to finish up my current book. It was a good, quick and interesting read. And it was a nice change to read a true crime book that wasn‘t all blood and guts and murderers.

Should be getting ready for work...
1. Enzo in The Art of Racing in the Rain.
2. Cats. 3. Louie, Teddy, and Nellie.
3. Black bears - specifically, Ted at the North American Bear Center in Ely, Minnesota 🐻😘😘😘
4. Besides one of my spoiled little darlings? A mountain lion or an elephant, as long as no one is hunting me.
Ok, off to get ready! Everyone have a happy Monday🙋🏼‍♀️

#manicmonday
@JoScho

A nice collection of essays. The author is an Ojibwe woman and a professor of American Indian Studies at the University of Minnesota-Duluth. She writes of both her modern day life and that of her ancestors and how the changing seasons influence both internal and external lives. Another theme is the importance of shared history and family and tribal rituals. I enjoyed the introspective and reflective nature of the book.

#catsoflitsy Teddy, again😽

Finished the second in the Flavia series. She‘s quite the kid! As the oldest of four girls, I wonder if my youngest sister had always planned for my demise😉
Teddy makes a good, but temporary, bookend. #catsoflitsy

1. One of my favorite coffee mugs.
2. I‘m just starting Season 2 of Gilmore Girls.
3. Darktown. Only about 40 pages in, but I think it will be a ‘pick‘.
4. Currently 12F, heading for 27F. Looking like it will be mostly sunny. That 6” of fresh snow is keeping us a little colder than average. As long as it‘s sunny, I‘m good😎 and Teddy Cat agrees. He‘s waiting for his birdies to show up.
5. Just your standard pierced ears.
#HumpDayPost

So fun to read this childhood favorite again! I‘d forgotten about Claudia and Jamie bathing in the fountain at the museum😂 I loved that scene. Now I might go find some Encyclopedia Brown mysteries...

Enjoyed the sixth in the Detective Kubu series. I like the Botswana setting, the Bushmen, the witch doctors, and how Kubu enjoys his treats. I keep expecting Detective Kubu to run into Precious Ramotswe of the No. 1 Ladies‘ Detective Agency or to have his car serviced by Mr. JLB Matekoni😉

#catsoflitsy That‘s Teddy up in the closet caught mid-chomp enjoying the dried hydrangeas. I gave up trying to hide them from him. He loves to destroy them😸

This was soooo good! Are his other books this good? I can hardly wait to read more🤗
Picture taken yesterday when our 6” of snow was coming down sideways💨❄️💨❄️

I‘ve been re-reading some childhood favorites. I got a copy from the library rather than crack open my old tattered and torn copy. Harriet was a little meaner in her notebook entries than I remembered, but I still love her. In 5th grade, my neighbor Carol and I kept notebooks just like Harriet. I don‘t think I would have wanted anyone to read what we wrote either! I remember writing something about Nancy P.‘s smelly socks😬🤭🤫

1. Just thinking about this one😢
2. Plaid.
3. Haven‘t tried either one, but I‘d try cheese sauce🍟🧀
4. Definitely ‘pop‘. My husband says ‘soda‘ and he‘s from here(Minnesota)!! Don‘t know where he gets that from!
#FridayFrigesDay
@SpeculativeFemale

Wasn‘t so sure about this one at first, but once I got all the characters straight I really enjoyed it. Also, it jumps around in time from chapter to chapter which I always find a little disorienting, but I liked the way the story of the Keating and Cousins families is revealed. Very good story-telling.

Finish book, find a kitty, take picture✅
#catsoflitsy Teddy

Nearly as good as Still Alice and better than her other two. This time a look at the hereditary disease, Huntington‘s, and it‘s devastating impact on a family.

That‘s my bookend, Louie. #catsoflitsy

1. Yes, but still pouting about the Vikings not being in it. Can‘t believe I‘m saying this, but Go Patriots 🏈
2. Currently -12F and gloriously sunny. Heading to a high of about 10F. Welcome to Minnesota Super Bowl visitors😆
3. Just starting River Thieves by Michael Crummey. I loved Sweetland, so I‘m hoping this is good📚
4. The Galapagos. I would love to see a blue-footed booby🤓
5. OK, off I go🤚

#friyayintro

1. Lassie and Lost in Space.
2. Don't read a lot of them, um, I really loved Wild and Lab Girl🌳
3. Mashed potatoes🥔🥔🥔
4. Getting past my birthday. I'm not a birthday person. Just my own. Everyone else's is OK🎂🎁
5. 👋🏻☮️💟

#friyayintro
@jesshowbooks

Just finished this and I can't move so I might as well get this posted now. This is the second book in the Oslo police investigator Hanna Wilhelmsen series. It has bloody crime scenes, but no bodies and an unsolved rape case where the victim and her father independently seek justice. I would have liked a bit more about the motivations of the perpetrator, but I'm enjoying getting to know Hanna and her colleagues.

#catsoflitsy Nellie and Teddy

1. Puffy AND crunchy. I alternate🙄
2. I just finished it - Mr. Mac and Me.
3. Work both days. And playoff football. Go Vikes🏈
4. Be able to talk to animals. Especially scared ones.
5. Biology/Horticulture major, no minor. 🐝🦋🐞🐰🦊🐻🌷🌼🌸🌿🌳🌲
#friyayintro
@jesshowbooks

Loved this! Wonderful novel! Beautifully written. Set on the Suffolk coast right at the beginning of WW I. It's the story of village life and the unlikely friendship between Thomas Maggs, a village teenager, and summer visitor and architect/artist Charles Rennie Mackintosh.
The illustration on the book jacket is from Mackintosh's work. The frittilaria on the right are from my garden this past spring.

1. Paperback fiction bookcase awaiting most recent #bookoutlet order. There is a stack of overflow on each side.
2. History.
3. Wine. White only; red makes my ears get red and hot🙄
4. Blue.
5. Mr. Mac and Me
#HumpDayPost
Shelfies are my favorite📚📚📚❤️❤️❤️🤗🤗🤗

One of my resolutions (again) is to read the next book in any series that I've started. This is the second in the Walt Longmire series. I'm almost done watching Longmire on Netflix so I feel like I'm further along in the book series than I really am. Lots of good characters in these novels; I especially like Henry.
#catsoflitsy Nellie enjoyed the sunny open window this afternoon - it was a lovely 37F here in Minnesota, 50F warmer than a week ago🤗

So happy to come home from work today and find that my #bookoutlet order arrived???I think this was a pretty good #bookhaul - 14 books for just over $35! The cover on Mr. Mac and Me is just beautiful. And there's an Ann Patchett blurb that says "I loved every page." I might just move this one closer to the top of the ol' TBR pile?

I had a little time before work this morning to play with my books...decided to get my Black Friday #bookoutlet order shelved before my After Christmas #bookoutlet order arrives tomorrow😛It will be nice to come home to a box of books after work tomorrow📚📚📚
#bookhaul

This was my last read of 2017 and I'm happy to say that I loved it❤️❤️❤️ Great characters, great story. I agree with all the blurbs on the book jacket: 'Captivating', 'Utterly spellbinding', and 'Guaranteed to enchant, enthrall, and enmagick'. It would be a good book to read with a child which I would do if I had kids, but I don't, so my cats will have to do. I hope Teddy and Nellie like it😉

Almost forgot: Happy New Year🎉🎉🎉

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Excellent. Another of my best reads of the year. Can't stop thinking about this one. Everyone should read this to understand the many ways our justice system is broken.

This was good as everyone said. One of my best reads of the year. As soon as I get her newest book, I'm moving it to the top of the TBR stack📚📚📚

I loved The Shadow of the Wind trilogy so I was excited to read more by this author. This book is the third book in another trilogy written for younger readers, but can be read as a standalone novel. There's a nice teen love story in here as well an eerie murder mystery. It's a great setting for unsettling events - scary woods surrounding a mansion owned by an old toymaker that makes bizarre mechanical toys that seem to come to life🤤🤤🤤

This was a fun, quick read. It reminded me of the TV show Northern Exposure - small town Alaska, lots of quirky individuals. A good, enjoyable story.
Can you see the big hawk in the tree? I took the book out in the -8F temps just to get the hawk in the photo🤓🦅

The first book in the Ruth Galloway, Forensic Archeologist series and my first read of the series too. I enjoyed both Ruth (she has cats😻) and the setting, the saltmarshes, some of 'the wildest and most remote landscapes in England'. I'll definitely be reading more of the series, in order, of course, cuz that's what I do😜
#catsoflitsy That's Teddy who moved just as I was taking the picture.

I really enjoy this series. I thought this was a bit slow to get going, but I was glad to catch up with Carl and Assad and Rose. Rose was in deep deep distress at the end of the previous book. Besides the crimes, this book focuses on all that has happened to Rose to bring her to where she is today. It was Rose's story that really drew me in to this book.
Thank you Amazon for the image. My sisters are taking turns reading my copy😉

This one was slow to get started and you're probably about 1/3 into it before Detective Inspector Ann Lindell is even mentioned. AND the murder hasn't even happened yet. Most of the book is the set-up to the murder which was a bit unorthodox, but I enjoyed the different approach and story-telling.
And I love that I read this when the cover COMPLETELY coordinated with the leaves falling from my gorgeous maple tree🤓🤓🤓🍁🍁🍁

I was so hoping this would be better than The Girl in the Spider's Web, but it wasn't☹️ Not enough Lisbeth for me. In fact, this was so disappointing that I may abandon the series altogether. OK, who am I kidding, I won't, but it sure makes me think about it.
#catsoflitsy I'm pretty sure that is Teddy, but it could be Nellie😽😽😽

This was just a so-so read for me. It moved slowly and I was not really invested in the characters. I have the 'sequel' too and will probably pass on that one. I've read other Ivan Doig's books (The Bartender's Tale, Last Bus to Wisdom) and really enjoyed them so I don't feel too bad that this one was a disappointment.
That's Nellie that I so rudely cropped in my haste to get all my 2017 reads posted. I'll make it up to her. #catsoflitsy

I thoroughly enjoyed this novel - good characters to follow and care about; lots of heart-warming and heart-breaking scenes both. This was a late summer read. My goal is to get my 2017 reads posted before the year ends. One of my #bookishresolutions for 2018 is to get my books posted as I finish them😉

A good read. I completely disliked the parents, James and Sadie Goodenough. What a miserable, mean, dysfunctional couple! They made me want to abandon the book despite my love of all things apple orchard🍎But, I kept on and enjoyed the second story line of the book that followed their son Robert on his work and travels amongst the redwoods and sequoias in early 1850s California.

Catching up on posting some of my late summer/fall reads tonight. One of my #bookishresolutions this year was to read my first Agatha Christie and I did it!! I never knew her first sleuth was Hercule Poirot; I thought it was Miss Marple. Anyway, it was a good mystery, but I don't feel like polishing off the whole series. I'll probably read one of the Miss Marple mysteries though.
That's Louie, my bookend. #catsoflitsy

Another Backman, another winner. Not as good as A Man Called Ove, but still very good. You don't have to like hockey to enjoy the book. I think Backman really captures how the identity of a town or school is so tied to its sports teams, for better or worse.

Had this one on my TBR stack for quite awhile. I enjoy the author's Inspector Erlendur series and was hoping I'd like this stand-alone novel. For me though, this was just a so-so thriller with lots of unlikely action and despicable, sadistic villains.

@erinreads
What?? You need pictures of cats?? I can do that😻This is my cat Louie. He's 12. He doesn't like to have a camera in his face. He likes to sit near me, but he doesn't like snuggles. He loves head scratches. Hope Louie and all the other kitties help you feel better. #catpicsforerin #catsoflitsy

I'm WEEKS behind on my posts, but I had to get this up. Louie was unwilling to pose with the book and abandoned his sunny cat perch before I could snap a picture. I just started this one this morning - only read the intro so far -this is going to be soooo good, interesting, eye-opening, infuriating, and more. Really looking forward to reading more, but for now, it's time to head to work😕

Starting a new series...I think I'm going to like Dr. Ruth Galloway, forensic anthropologist😉And she has cats too!

#catsoflitsy Teddy and Nellie were too busy watching birdies and squirrels to pose with the book.

This is another book that I bought last summer with every intention to read it right away. That's pretty typical for me🙄 Anyway, I enjoyed catching up with the gang and seeing them as adults and parents. I didn't think I'd like the play format, but I got used to it pretty quickly. Sure made for a fast read which I needed because I'm behind on my reading goals for this year📚📚📚
That's sleepy Louie up there #catsoflitsy

I bought this last fall as the leaves were falling from our maple. Fully intended to read it then but never did. I did read it in July as the Japanese beetles were munching away on our Siberian larch. I hoped the tree sensed I was trying to help as I picked off those damn beetles. Recently, I had to do some pruning of my trees and I felt bad about cutting off their 'arms'. I hoped they understood. I love my trees🌳🌳🌳I loved this book🤓🤓🤓

A favorites quiz is a good way to start the day!
Definitely apple🍎
Cozy book because I don't do horror 📚
Hayride🌾
Hot cocoa☕️
Pumpkin patch🍂
Bonfires🔥
Football, but only after the World Series⚾️
#falltimefavorites

Just out today. I couldn't help myself😉 Definitely moving this one to the top of the tbr📚

Louie is really more interested in burrowing under the blanket than the book. #catsoflitsy

Made a quick trip to JoAnn Fabrics to get yarn that I didn't need (but it was on sale and I had a coupon) And what the heck, Half Price Books is just a couple of stores away, so might as well check out the clearance section🤗It was a smaller than usual #bookhaul but I still managed to get a few. I got the garden book just because of the pretty cover but it is a nice collection of essays and illustrations🌼🍃🌸