If some of you are like me, this is still happening. I just hand the box to the kids: “here‘s another one I must have forgotten about.” #holidayhumor
Ok there‘s just been 3 so far…
I ♥️ my family! Mom and husband gave me all nonfiction books, which I love!!
pickChemistry teacher Redlaw continually bemoans everything about his life. When his phantom self offers to remove all his “sorrow, wrong, and trouble,” he accepts, along with the gift of removing those memories from others. Off he goes to share his gift with his down-and-out student. Quickly he learns this “gift” helps no one and makes life far worse. Yet he can‘t help but “sharing” the gift in the presence of those close to him. Finally he begs ⬇️
Final #wordoftheday Glad I looked up this one. I‘d been using it incorrectly.
“Besides which, another little boy — the biggest there, but still little — was tottering to and fro, bent on one side, and considerably affected in his knees by the weight of a large baby, which he was supposed by a fiction that obtains sometimes in sanguine families, to be hushing to sleep.”
Fourth #wordoftheday Lots of looking up Dickens‘ vocabulary:
“Softening more and more, as his own tender feelings and those of his injured son were worked on, Mr. Tetterby concluded by embracing him, and immediately breaking away to catch one of the real delinquents. A reasonably good start occurring, he succeeded, after a short but smart run, and… ⬇️
Third #wordoftheday I ♥️ Dickens‘ use of the word here:
“Mrs. Tetterby, without any remark, but with a decided subsidence of her animosity towards the table, finished her preparations, and took, from her ample basket, a substantial slab of hot pease pudding wrapped in paper, and a basin covered with a saucer, which, on being uncovered, sent forth an odour so agreeable,… ⬇️
Second #wordoftheday
“Mr. Edmund, would you rather be alone?”
“There is no reason why I should detain you here,” he replied.
“Except —” said Milly, hesitating, and showing her work.
“Oh! the curtain,” he answered, with a supercilious laugh. “That‘s not worth staying for.”
#wordoftheday Going with the 2nd definition:
““Give me back myself!” exclaimed Redlaw like a madman. “I am infected! I am infectious! I am charged with poison for my own mind, and the minds of all mankind. Where I felt interest, compassion, sympathy, I am turning into stone. Selfishness and ingratitude spring up in my blighting footsteps… ⬇️
I had to use a valuable Audible credit to get this book this month. The library hold is months out. So anyway, I hope to finish it before year end. I didn‘t realize this is such a recent trilogy! Boy did I luck out. I would have hated to wait for book 3!
#authoramonth @Soubhiville
Look what book came in from my library hold! It‘s lengthy so I‘m starting now even though it‘s for January‘s #auldlangspine hosted by @monalyisha
Looking forward to reading off of the list from @LeafingThroughLife
Oooh @Gissy you went above and beyond and I‘m so so thrilled! PERFECT books for me! And all the craft goodies, notepad and pens, hot chocolate, chocolate bark, and black tea. It‘s like you‘ve known me forever!! It‘s all simply delightful and I‘m so happy I waited until I felt well enough! Thank you so much! Now to read all the cards you tucked in… 🥰😍
#nlhs @TieDyeDude @WildAlaskaBibliophile
I‘ve had a stomach bug today and didn‘t want to open my #nlhs box while feeling icky. So I‘m finally opening! Just opening the box it is spilling over with goodies! ♥️♥️♥️ @Gissy
@TieDyeDude @WildAlaskaBibliophile
With Dad‘s diagnosis of Alzheimer‘s it‘s been a difficult year and sometimes hard to find joy. But he was having a brilliant day on Christmas and he and I had the best talk we‘ve had in years. God gave me and Mom a very special Christmas present with one of Dad‘s best days. And in other #5joysFriday, 2) remembering husband‘s surprise gift of book art this morning for him to unwrap, 3) reaching 600 consecutive days on Duolingo, 4) reliving my ⬇️
Second #wordoftheday
“When the old trees outside were so shaken and beaten, that one querulous old rook, unable to sleep, protested now and then, in a feeble, dozy, high-up “Caw!” When, at intervals, the window trembled, the rusty vane upon the turret-top complained, the clock beneath it recorded that another quarter of an hour was gone, or the fire collapsed and fell in with a rattle.”
#whattheDickens @Cuilin
#wordoftheday
“When the wind was blowing, shrill and shrewd, with the going down of the blurred sun. When it was just so dark, as that the forms of things were indistinct and big — but not wholly lost. When sitters by the fire began to see wild faces and figures, mountains and abysses, ambuscades and armies, in the coals.”
#whattheDickens @Cuilin
I‘ve let my Dickens Christmas reads slip this year! Oops! I‘m at least going to try to finish the tagged book. I love this opening quote. The phrase “everybody says so,” or now “the internet says so,” grinds on my nerves. So happy that I‘m in Dickens‘ camp on this even though it‘s been 177 years or so since he wrote this. #whattheDickens @Cuilin
#wordoftheday
“While Olimpia is somewhat known in Rome, Viterbo, and other places associated with her, the stories about her are bleared with time and spiced with sex. In Viterbo it is said that Olimpia was a beautiful woman who stuck her head out of the window, tantalizing men with her lovely hair and inviting them to come up to her room…. ⬇️
Rome was very advanced for its time in the 1650s to deal with the plague. Although they weren‘t aware fleas were the manner of spreading the disease, they took all sorts of steps like those mentioned here, which as a practical matter reduced the amount of flees spreading plague. This is a fascinating chapter.
Second #wordoftheday
“Plague had hit Rome. The Roman authorities immediately sequestered large buildings located away from the bulk of the population in which to immure plague victims, keeping them separated from those who remained healthy.”
#wordoftheday
“Several cardinals asked the pope when he would bring his family to Rome and which positions they would fill. Alexander replied that Fabio Chigi had had relatives, but Alexander VII had no family other than the church…. The cardinals were shocked at this reply and warned him that if he didn‘t show affection for his family, he would look pusillanimous, selfish, and cheap…. ⬇️
I LOVE book coincidences like this one. I started my audiobook where I left off last night. And they immediately start talking about Christmas! Even though it‘s May in the book. Do the fates just know it‘s really Christmas Day today so I‘d start reading right here?! #authoramonth @Soubhiville
Merry Christmas to all my dear Litten friends here on Litsy!
#wordoftheday
“The bride‘s grandmother was absolutely delighted, the groom‘s mother less so. Anna Colonna, who had avoided for nearly a decade marrying a blue-blooded child of hers to a parvenu Pamphili, looked on the marriage as a degradation and a necessary evil. Having Olimpia in her family would be a daily martyrdom for the haughty princess. ⬇️
A second #wordoftheday
“Olimpia begged the pope to replace Cardinal Chigi as secretary of state with that bright, handsome, young Cardinal Azzolini. But here she was stymied. Cardinal Pallavicino noted, “Those who were intimately informed were aware that the pope did not want to lose Cardinal Chigi; with his sterling reputation he could not be removed without great vituperation, and without great justification.””
#wordoftheday
“Camillo performed comedies with his servants almost every evening. … Camillo “takes the lead of the young lover,” Giacinto Gigli wrote with disdain. This was seen as ridiculous in a thirty-one-year-old. It is likely that Camillo‘s wife and mother finally agreed on one thing—that Camillo was adept at making a fool of himself.”
#FoodandLit2026 is now live on StoryGraph! I've added a few books for consideration for January #Cambodia. Join the challenge here:
https://app.thestorygraph.com/reading_challenge_prompts/319c5427-26c3-4bdb-bf11-...
We each open a gift on Little Christmas Eve (today), tradition husband brought from Norway. This book is from my husband. One of only 1250 copies from first American edition in 1978, signed by the author and the artist. Husband just rocks!!
pickA delightful story! A young woman, having just cancelled her wedding, starts anew in an old mansion on the coast of Maine, and meets an attractive single lawyer in town. Sounds like a typical romance but I love the ghostly twist. The mansion is haunted by many ghosts, one of whom is the epitome of evil. Sonya must decide whether to accept this inheritance and learn to live in this unusual reality. I‘ve already started book 2. #authoramonth
I ordered a very adult murder mystery as a Christmas gift for my husband. I got this children‘s book instead. I‘m hoping the recipient of my husband‘s book doesn‘t pass out from the gruesome cover of it. 😬
Ah, Amazon… this is a gorgeous book, but alas, I will be returning it tomorrow hoping it will find its proper home.
#wordoftheday
“When the pope encouraged Chigi to be nicer to Olimpia, the cardinal would duly “visit her on rare occasions which the law of common etiquette required…and then talk to her with serious words, and leave after a short time without having discussed any state business with her, and without giving a single instance of adulation to that idol of the court.
⬇️
Just saw this quote on instagram and had to share it.
Moving on to the second book of the trilogy
#authoramonth @Soubhiville
Audiocrafting this morning. Making ornaments for folks at work
#authoramonth @Soubhiville
More helpful tips: this time hiring a buddy for your family member with Alzheimer‘s
pickStar-crossed lovers—daughter of a wealthy ranchero and a peón of the ranchero—grew up together. But when she‘s attacked by a monster, he has to carry her home, where everyone will assume he was the cause. The two become estranged. When the Texianse appear, ready to fight to take Mexico‘s land, the resulting war forces them back together. This is their story, with a side story about gory monsters that drink blood. I would have preferred ⬇️
pickWhen 15-year-old Mary Russell trips over a man on the ground studying bees, her life is changed forever. Sherlock Holmes is retired doing the occasional odd detective case. After discovering Mary‘s very similar style of observation and deduction, she becomes his apprentice. Mary is a woman now as she narrates this story, solving mysteries together or on her own with his help. I thoroughly enjoyed it and am happy to learn it‘s the first in a ⬇️
I‘m reading the tagged book on the advice of my dad‘s doctor, who confirmed Dad has Alzheimer‘s. 😞 This is a useful piece of advice
I‘m finally starting my first book for #authoramonth this month. @Soubhiville
A reminder for everyone doing #foodandlit. This is a #Jubilee year for #Italy! Some history:
“For [Innocent X] had the good fortune to be pope during the jubilee, a yearlong religious festival that Pope Boniface VIII had started in 1300 to bring God into the hearts of men and money into the coffers of Rome. During the jubilee, held every twenty-five years, the pope was the star of the European stage, and the church reigned triumphant.”
![[tagged book]](https://image.librarything.com/pics/litsy_webpics/icon_taggedBook@3x.png){kind=icon}
