I reread this for #AuthorAMonth. It held up to what I remember from my childhood read of it. I had forgotten that in addition to the main theme of puberty and friends at that age, Margaret is trying to decide if she is interested enough to join her father‘s Jewish faith or her mother‘s Christian one.

I know this one isn‘t getting as good reviews as his previous books, but I really liked it.

It‘s about the summer 4 friends were 14, and they spent the summer swimming, laughing, and dealing with difficult home situations. Lots of content warnings, but if you liked the Beartown trilogy you may like this too.

Wow. This is vey hard to read, because who wants to think about genocides, corrupt governments, murders committed and excused by politicians. But that‘s why it‘s important to pay attention.

I guess if you want a glimpse into what it‘s like to be a rich white southern lady and a how-to for throwing dinner parties and minding your proper southern manners, maybe this is for you.

It‘s a very short audio and she does share some cute stories about her family, but I‘m definitely not aiming for this particular southern belle lifestyle. She is charming and funny though, and if you‘re a fan of her you might like this.

Since I put ACOTAR on my #bookspin list as both 19 and 20, I‘m using the book before it on my it for my #doublespin this month.

I‘m reading ACOTAR ironically- my bookclub topic is “popular trash”, and this was the first thing that came to mind. Mainly because I‘ve heard of how spicy the series is, no offense to anyone! I do like fantasy, so I expect to like it. But is the hype real? I‘ll let you know. 😁📚

Here we are on August 1st #AuthorAMonth readers! Let‘s pull out some books by Judy Blume. What are you planning to read?

Here is the link to the Google form:

https://forms.gle/r6EydHX3GmrfYenA8

All the rules and prize info are on the Google form.

As always, let me know if you wish to be added or removed from the tag list. 🙂📚. Happy Reading!

I finally finished this (it‘s been a busy month for me!) and I loved it. Leave it to #camplitsy to bring some great books into my hands!

I‘ll be going back over the questions tonight to see what everyone had to say. This shows that trans lives can look so many different ways, different for every person living it. 🏳️‍⚧️🩵🩷🤍

We have reached the end of July #AuthorAMonth readers! With a sigh of relief we can all set aside Virginia Woolf and reach towards our August author, Judy Blume. Quite a change of pace!

I‘m pretty sure I saw this on a list of “if you enjoyed A Man Called Ove.” It fits to an extent, with a prickly cactus of a main character who becomes more relatable.

The cover has the feel of romance books lately, and I‘d say it‘s not really that. It‘s mostly the story of a woman who recently finds herself accidentally pregnant and then has to deal with her mother‘s death. There is family drama.

I enjoyed it but more meh than pick.

I‘m glad you reminded us @TheAromaofBooks because I‘ve been too busy to think about #bookspin these last few weeks!

Since my books are currently all in boxes, these are all on Libby or my ereader, with the exception of two which are saved out. The last two on the list are for bookclubs. 🙂

The author is a podcaster, and she narrates the audio pretty well. This was a bookclub pick. It blends true crime with forensic science, mostly following one Jane Doe case in Indiana but with stories from other cases the author has looked into. It‘s good that private citizens have access to look into the cold cases that authorities don‘t have time or money to continue with. Quite a few Does have been identified in this way.

It‘s been almost 2 years since my life drastically changed. I found out I was getting divorced, decided to move back to my heart‘s home North Carolina. Having a house build is quite an ordeal, but it‘s finally officially done and mine! I‘ll be moving in a couple days, I can‘t wait to settle in and unpack my books! I‘m going to read on this deck and soak in the mountain air as often as I can!

If you need my new address email me: magicbelly⬇️

I assumed this was a new release when @Hooked_on_books and others were reading it for a recent prize longlist, but no it‘s a translation from the original German written in the 60‘s.

A woman wakes after a night alone in her family‘s hunting lodge to find that an invisible wall separates the property from the town. She is alone with a cow, a dog, and a cat, and apparently everyone else in the world is dead? ⬇️

My #bookspin this month was a historical fiction about the exploration of the Wolverine River through Alaska, the first successful trip by white men.

While the exploration part was interesting, I preferred the other part of the story is about Sophie, the wife of the lead explorer. She is left behind near Seattle, and finds a new interest in photography of birds and nature, in the days when the art of photography was new.

While I did enjoy this, it fell short of the books I love by TJ Klune. Still a pick.

My main issue is that Artimis Darth Vader, the little girl in the story, sometimes comes across as incredibly naive and sometimes comes across as too mature. This might be fitting for the character and circumstances, but it felt inconsistent and pulled me out of the story.

Still worth a read, just didn‘t live up to Whispering Door for me.

I tried Virginia Woolf for the first time and she is definitely not for me. I hope other #AuthorAMonth readers have better luck!

This is my second short read by Keegan in a couple of weeks. Her writing is so good! I‘ll definitely make my way through all of her titles.

I got this on from my library, probably after seeing @tpixie ‘s review. I haven‘t been to the Louvre, but I would love to one day. I would love to see Nike, and really so many of the works the author describes. It was cool hearing about the history of the buildings themselves and the gardens. And of course info about some of the artists. Great book for art enthusiasts!

July is here #AuthorAMonth readers! It‘s time to try a classic with Virginia Woolf. I‘m going with one of her short books on Serial Reader. What do you plan to read?

#AuthorAMonth is a no pressure challenge to honor Litsy nominated and voted upon authors. There are several prizes at the end of the year. Track your reading and see the rules on the google sheet linked below.

As always let me know if you‘d like to be added or taken off the list.📚

At some point Libro.FM had a sale and I got this audiobook.

The author lives in the suburban Seattle area, and this is a series of essays about the wildlife she finds in her own area. Birds, bugs, fungi, plants, she talks about a little of everything.

If you read a lot of nature writing some of this will likely be familiar to you, but even so I found it engaging.

New to me- slime molds. I‘ve never thought very much about them. Cool!

Thank you so much for the recommendation @BarbaraBB !

What a beautiful novel in letters. Sybil prefers letter writing to any other communication. She writes to friends, family, favorite authors, customer service reps, really anyone.

She‘s in her 70s and her vision is failing. The fear of that and grief over two huge losses in her life become the backbone of the story.

I cried more than once, and I laughed plenty.
Recommending!

This is one of those books I‘ve heard about for most of my life and thought “someday I‘ll read that.” I‘m so glad I finally did! I‘m sure it‘s one I‘ll read again. Celie learns so much in her life, overcoming abuse and learning about love and making a life for herself that she feels good about.

I watched the movie in the last year so the story was familiar, but the book was much better. Of course.

Loved, possibly my best book of the year.

Well, at about 30% I‘m giving up. I am not finding this particularly funny, and I don‘t really like the main character. I know he‘s supposed to learn about who he is and grow as a person, but I‘m over it.

#hailthebail

This audio was only an hour, so I think this would be considered a short story probably.

The story of a girl who spends a summer helping relatives on their farm. It‘s scary at first, but she finds them kind and more caring than her own parents, and thrives in their care. It‘s not all sunshine though, as there is a secret that overshadows.

Beautiful writing, I will put one of Keegan‘s books on hold.

July‘s #bookspin comes from a very limited selection, since I‘ve packed all but 3 of my books 😱. The other are audio from Libby and Libro.FM. If I happen to have enough time for more there‘s always my kindle or the library! Hopefully my shelves will be set back up by the end of July. 📚

Are we completely sure this was written by Kevin Wilson? It lacks the humor and the wittiness and weirdness we know him for. It really doesn‘t feel like him at all. But maybe he was trying something different?

I did enjoy it, I thought it was an interesting story. It just wasn‘t what I expected at all. And the ending felt abrupt, like the book was unfinished.

Oh well, hopefully he‘ll return to his old style with the next book.

For July #AuthorAMonth. I have found Serial Reader to be a great way to get through classics. It‘s a free ap, and there are a lot of Woolf books on there, from 7-25 “issues”. Each “issue” is about a 10 minute read, making it easy to read for 2 short sessions a day and complete a tough classic in a month! I think I‘ll probably read her this way.

Hello #AuthorAMonth readers! We‘re down to about one week left with June‘s author John Scalzi. I hope he‘s been making you laugh.

July brings us to a classic with Virginia Woolf. I haven‘t read anything by her before and I‘m looking forward to it! Any recommendations for where to start?

Andy Weir may be an auto-read for me at this point, and I‘m not sure I can say that about any other scifi author.

This one is a heist in a lunar colony. Jazz is hired to sabotage the smelting company on the moon so a billionaire can take over their contract with the lunar government. Of course things don‘t go as she planned, and a fast paced race to avoid the law, a mafia, and save the day ensue.

Projects Hail Mary is still my AW fave, but 👍👍.

I really liked this stand alone dark fantasy! It‘s pretty heavy, with themes of colonialism and oppression and exploitation, among other things. Definitely see content warnings.

There‘s a well defined magic system and two main characters I really cared about. There were several reveals I wasn‘t expecting, and the end was a surprise.

A tragic car accident spurs events in this intense family and neighbors drama. I really liked it, though it jumps around in time quite a lot.

Morning snuggles and reading.

The cover and title made me pick this up used somewhere, and it‘s been on my shelf for some time.

It‘s a low pick, but I found it fun and silly. How often do you get to read a heist book with 5 retirees as the criminals? It looks like there are a few more in the series. While I won‘t rush out to get them, I‘d read more if I found them in a LFL or at a library sale.

Goonies never say die! Thank you for the birthday gifts @Hooked_on_books ! The glass is perfect, so cool that you remember my favorite movie. I just read that it released 40 years ago this week.

All of the books sound great, and I‘m faced with the dilemma once again of what to read first! Seeing that you chose The Wall as the winner of a recent award makes me lean towards it.

Thank you Holly! (Happy to see Powell‘s stickers, glad you‘re back)

Thank you for the sweet birthday gifts @Mitch ❤️
The socks are so cute and soft, and the soap smells amazing!

@AmyG thank you for the birthday gifts! You chose a terrific variety of books 🩷. I‘ll probably start with Forgotten on Sunday since I loved Fresh Water for Flowers so much. I love the puppy themed notepads 🐶. I didn‘t realize mason jars came from Colorado, now I know, can‘t wait to hang this tea towel in my new kitchen. Thank you Amy!

My heart is heavy as I sadly share that I lost my sweetest boy Igor. He was diagnosed about a year and a half ago with HCM, a form of heart failure that sphynx cats are prone to. On Monday it progressed to the point that I had to let him go. He was 12 years old.

I love you forever my beautiful boy.

I know many of you admired him from afar.

This is Slocumb‘s second book, and I‘ve read both this year now. I liked this as much if not more than the first. I still found it somewhat predictable, and wish it could have ended differently, but it was quite good.

Meh. This felt not so different from The Circle, just more of cyber-corporations getting more ludicrous and digging roots further into every aspect of humanity. It‘s a tense read, funny and scary at the same time because it‘s easy to see the parallel with reality.

I‘d definitely say #borrowdontbuy but also I wouldn‘t say you‘d miss much if you skip it.

Happy June #AuthorAMonth readers! It‘s time to pick up some books by John Scalzi.

What do you plan to read this month? Do you have a favorite previous read by him you would recommend to first time readers?

#AuthorAMonth celebrates one author every month as voted on by Litsy members. Here is the link to the Google form with rules and contest entry:

https://forms.gle/1F1BmkcTBh7uPXNp9

As always let me know if you‘d like to be tagged.

I wanted to like this more than I did, for me it was between a pick and so so. Cozy fantasy about an arboretum where you can plant your loved one‘s ashes and they can grow into a magical tree. Some of the characters have dark secrets, and the consequences are causing their home to crumble. Frank is a Beast, and there are cupids, witches, and a fairy and magic is normal.

Read on kindle so here are Igor and Venkman making goofy sleepy faces.

June‘s #bookspin I‘m keeping it more simple as I prepare to move. 1-10 and repeat the same books for 11-20. I may lean towards more audio than usual while I‘m packing. I hope I have time for all 3 of my book club books and one for #authoramonth, we‘ll see!

Happy Pride Month 🏳️‍🌈

May is almost over #AuthorAMonth readers. It seems most folks have really liked their Percival Everett books 🙂.

In a few days we‘ll be picking up John Scalzi. I‘m going to have to go to the library to see what they have, since annoyingly Amazon has rights to most of his recent books and audiobooks. That really bugs me. But still, I‘m looking forward to it because he always makes me laugh.

An island theme park, similar to West World or Jurassic Park but for Dungeons and Dragons and Fantasy lovers, has been hijacked by the creators and a force field is keeping the corporate owner out.

Addy is hired, along with a few mercenaries, to sneak in and get the shield removed.

The writing isn‘t great and it‘s a little predictable, but I still loved it for its many fandom references- unicorns, sphynx, dragons, LOTR and more!

This is exactly what it says it is: the story of a supportive family caring for each other. Two members of Knox‘s family are trans, and this is about their coming outs and the family‘s adjustment to those life changes. It‘s beautiful when love wins and supporting your loved ones is your highest priority.

I knew this would be excellent because I‘ve been seeing Litsy reviews for the last several years. It really is eye opening and perspective changing. I‘d love to see it on curriculums. I‘m glad I own the audio, I could see listening again. I need to pick up her other book soon.

Featuring Igor in his blanket fort. 😸

Family drama about Isabelle, an aspiring novelist, and her emotionally distant very famous father who is a prize winning author.

It‘s not a bad book, just felt kind of surface level emotionally for me and somewhat predictable. I liked it but didn‘t love it.

Kevin Wilson writes quirky novels that I usually love in their strangeness. This book of short stories gives you little bites of that, each one showing a character doing their best to struggle through a challenging life event.

I only rate it so-so because I‘m not a short story fan. It‘s a good collection, I just prefer novels.

Isn‘t this cover weird and wonderful? It fits one of the stories.

#doublespin

This short book packs a lot of emotion! Rocky and her husband and two adult children are vacationing on the New England shore for a week. Her menopausal experience and memories of having and raising the kids blend with what they are all going through in the trip to create a whole atmosphere. There isn‘t a plot to speak of, but if you‘re around her age you‘ll likely relate to the bulk, even if you didn‘t have kids. Excellent.

Read for my “Death Becomes Us” bookclub.

What a useful book! I will get a physical copy to use the workbook part at the end.

If you want help deciding what should happen to your body after you die, this is a great reference. It discusses lots of options and how to let your family or caregivers know your wishes.

I think it is a kindness to let your loved ones know, so they won‘t have to guess or make hard decisions in a time of crisis.

I was here for the travel and food part of the story, and the characters were sweet. I did not care for the casual sex contest storyline, but given that all of the characters were respectful and open about feelings and intentions, it was handled in the best way it could have been I guess.

Low pick for me- I would recommend reading the blurb before you pick it up.