#5joysFriday

1-2) We spent 3 days getting son (on left) & his friend home from first year at university for the summer & getting to eat amazing BBQ on top of a NM mountain at Mad Jacks
3) Safe drive home from northern Arizona, thru New Mexico, back to San Antonio
4) Sister gave me a cat coloring book
5) I made a welcome card for my new paralegal who loves pink, and graduation cards for my daughter (college) and grand-niece (high school)

Who‘s excited for our #foodandlit country #Bangladesh for May? I‘ve got so many books to read for it! And don‘t you just love this artwork by @Catsandbooks ? Here‘s to another great reading Month!!

Happy May the Fourth!

Not book related…we were driving son home from his university in northern Arizona when this happened:

A freak snowstorm at high altitude tonight driving toward home through New Mexico. A woman had swerved into a ditch. We had to stop until good samaritans pulled her out. They were so nice. And it was a bit scary driving in snow at night in May. One more full day on the road.

April wrap-up: I finished two books for March #foodandlit #Ireland, then read four books for April #Rwanda (still working on my fifth). I read one book for #authoramonth Kate Quinn (still reading two more), and one book I finished from last month‘s author Leigh Bardugo. And I read Keeping House as an impulse read.

I tagged my favorite book of the month, but it was a close call.

Deborah is a mystic who helps a young girl heal her weak body. Grown up, the girl, now a professor in the USA, goes back to #Rwanda to learn Deborah‘s fate. I struggled to follow this story. There is so much more to it, but I couldn‘t follow who was who, when things were happening, etc. I blame it almost entirely on the fact that I listened to it. I sometimes wish narrators would tell us when a new section is started, even just a longer pause. ⬇️

This is #Rwanda President Paul Kagame‘s story through 2008 (he‘s still president today). A young Tutsi refugee from the violence by the Hutus even back in the 1950s, he fought in Uganda, secretly training to become a rebel soldier to try to return to Rwanda. As he built a secret army, the genocide in 1994 occurred. He was able to dismantle the Hutu government and would eventually be elected president. He assembled a Hutu/Tutsi government, and ⬇️

#two4Tuesday

1) When hubs and I married we had about 500 books each. He had to ship his books to America via boat when he married me. He couldn‘t leave them behind in Norway! Between us, now about 37 years later, I‘d say we have between 5,000-6,000 physical books. We‘ve got eternity covered!

2) Tagged! So artfully written by 7 authors to be read as a novel or 7 short stories. It was for #authoramonth

@TheSpineView @Soubhiville

#wondrouswednesday

1) It happened to me today!! My secretary made a homemade chocolate cake. It was yummy but different from any cake I‘ve eaten in years. When I went into our break room later the smell hit me! It was my grandmother‘s chocolate cake! The memories just flooded in!
2) One summer carrying my rag doll cat, Mama Yeller, over my shoulder while pulling my little red wagon with milk jugs of water to water my tomato plants, which thrived!

I‘m always learning new things from books too sweet kitty.

So appropriate this last day of April reading about how precious milk is in #Rwanda for #foodandlit. For example, from the BBC: “Unique to Rwanda, milk bars reflect a little-known truth about how intrinsic cows and milk are to Rwandan culture.” I‘ve truly discovered that in this month‘s books. @Catsandbooks

I‘m squeezing in one more book for April for #foodandlit #Rwanda @Catsandbooks

This book strives to reset our mindsets. Society teaches us that to be a “good” person/parent/spouse we should have a neat, clean house. The author suggests that a neat, clean house is not an issue of goodness or badness; it‘s a functional issue. We aren‘t meant to be the servant to house. It is supposed to serve us. With that change in mindset, the goal is no longer perfection but function. On days when parenting, chronic pain, work, etc keeps ⬇️

In a small town near Belfast, during the Troubles, Cushla juggles her teaching job, bar keeping at the family bar at night, a perpetually drunk mother, the man she‘s having an affair with, and giving her heart to a young student whose poor Protestant family is barely making ends meet when the father is beaten so badly he can no longer function. There‘s a lot going on yet this short book moves at a snail‘s pace. We are given intimate details ⬇️

An absolutely charming book! Tanzanian Angel bakes beautiful unique amazing cakes in Kigali, #Rwanda, there with her professor husband teaching in the university. Each customer has a story and Angel learns a lot and shares a lot, and solves a problem here and there. She learns how the neighborhood prostitute got that job 😢 and how the local ladies handle female mutilation. Angel solves marital woes and so much more. She reminds me of Mma ⬇️

Happy Superheroes Day!!

I‘ve been reading rather than writing reviews! So… coming soon, a raft of reviews!

This is the next audiobook I‘ve started today for #foodandlit #Rwanda @Catsandbooks

Humphrey‘s mini story

https://www.instagram.com/p/DI9S7OzgDCa/?igsh=NWVidXRvMzByeTl4

#5JoysFriday

1) I‘m temporarily on some meds that allow me to walk the neighborhood again without my back cratering in pain. The neighborhood garden is full of veggies and flowers!
2) I made some fun wall art
3) My new paralegal started working for me this week and she‘s awesome!
4) I wrapped up an awful harassment investigation & the stress lifted from my shoulders
5) My sister is visiting me at my lake house this weekend

@DebinHawaii

Today is Italy‘s Liberation Day from the fascist regime. Join all Italians all weekend long as we celebrate (while also continuing to mourn Pope Frances‘ death). Remember we are celebrating #Jubilee all year long for #foodandlit. Read any good books set in Italy recently? (Photo by my daughter when she was there on April 25 two years ago. She reminded me to make this post!) #Italy #catsandbooks

@wanderinglynn What are you doing to celebrate?

So *raspberries* 😝 to my certain family members who say audiobooks do not count as reading. Penguin says it‘s so.

I‘ve started this audiobook tonight, my third book for #Rwanda #foodandlit @Catsandbooks

I‘ve started my third Kate Quinn book tonight for #authoramonth @Soubhiville

I don‘t think I‘m keen on trying this Rwandan specialty

#Rwanda #foodandlit @Catsandbooks

I love how Cushla is reading out loud the misspellings on the menu!

#Ireland #foodandlit @Catsandbooks

Ebook on sale. Will work for November‘s #foodandlit country #Samoa @Catsandbooks

Today‘s mini story

https://www.instagram.com/p/DIrNqDVR71C/?igsh=NmF1emswOGRuaXBl

Great quotes. First, I love that the main character Angel, the cake maker, is going through the “change.” The doctor asked Angel if she‘s flashing! Poor Angel she‘s flashing all the time. I feel for her!

And second, don‘t you just love the name Dr Rejoice?

#foodandlit #Rwanda @Catsandbooks

Doing a little crafting while listening to this book

#foodandlit #Rwanda @Catsandbooks

Ebook on sale today. I loved this book

Rome turns 2778 years old on April 21. Not part of Italy‘s Jubilee celebrations but definitely part of #foodandlit‘s all year celebration of all things Italian. #Jubilee. Throw a Roman birthday party this Monday!

More info here: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DIcFUz5MA9b/?igsh=ZzFvM2d0MTV2dGk5

First page. A lot of the first paragraph is relevant although I‘m fortunate not to have had PCOS.

I lost 10 pounds the last two weeks!! I‘m hoping the loss wasn‘t because of the stress I was under. But I‘ve been tweaking my diet a lot, so maybe?

This book was referred to me by my gynecologist. So I‘ve started reading it today. If you spend the extra $ to buy the spiral bound you get the hard-bound book with holes punched in it. Ugh. But it does lay flat.

#5joysFriday

1) I spent last weekend with my crafty friends
Work was really rough this week so I‘m going with the joys coming up!
2) Easter weekend
3) My new paralegal starts next Wednesday and we are getting her office set up—I think she‘ll be a great addition to my team
4) Flying to AZ to pick up son from university for the summer (hopefully I can come see @dabbe on one of these trips)
5) Daughter is graduating university a month from now

Happy Piñata Day!!

I‘m going to give this book a try as my next #authoramonth book. @Soubhiville

Obviously this is a hard book to read. I‘m just not in the right head space right now to read it. So I‘m going to mark it unread rather than bailed (it doesn‘t deserve a bad rating because I‘m not up to reading it now). I need something a lot lighter. So I‘ll find another book that might work better for me now. #Rwanda #foodandlit @Catsandbooks

I read 27 of them. Not bad I think. Definitely some favorites in there and one I despised and bailed on. My favorites were The Count of Monte Cristo, Lonesome Dove, and Rebecca. I hated The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. I want to read A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. #tlt #threelistThursday @dabbe

Want to play? @Julsmarshall @Bookwormjillk

See link in the original post from @dabbe

I‘ve read a lot about this genocidal massacre but I didn‘t know that there were warnings ahead of time. I‘ve barely started this book and it‘s already overwhelming

And to finish the quote above, the Hutus who sympathized with the Tutsis were among the first murdered

#foodandlit #Rwanda @Catsandbooks

5+ stars! Seven authors each write in sequence from the viewpoints of different people about Rome‘s occupation of Britain, and the attempt of a queen of one of the tribes to force them out. Queen Boudica did exist; her story was told by the Roman historians. But this book follows other characters (one per author): another queen, a slave (Boudica‘s husband‘s illegitimate daughter), a Roman tribune, a Druid, a son of an important character, ⬇️

In 1899, Jeremy is in Rwanda overseeing building a railroad when two lions begin killing the workers (like the Ghost and the Darkness if you‘ve seen the movie or heard about the true story). In 2000, Max, a young woman with Aspbergers, is looking for a plant that could be the basis for a new life-saving drug in the mountains of Rwanda. Their stories are told alternately. And how they are intertwined will come as a complete surprise at the end ⬇️

#foodandlit #Rwanda @Catsandbooks

My next audiobook

#foodandlit #Rwanda @Catsandbooks

My next ebook on my tbr forever. #foodandlit #Rwanda @Catsandbooks

This book is astounding, written by 7–SEVEN-authors, about Queen Boudica‘s rebellion against Rome in Britain. Review to come. But in the Author‘s Notes, I thought it amazing that one of the authors gives so much credit to our #authoramonth Kate Quinn! I‘m so glad I read this book; it‘s a keeper (which means I‘ll have to buy a copy). I wouldn‘t have read it but for #authoramonth but I also needed it for #letterY for #litsyatoz. It‘s extraordinary.