I just started this book for #foodandlit #Canada @Catsandbooks

#wondrouswednesday

1) A dark damp weekend day at the lake in my reading corner; or a cool bright day on the back patio at the lake—my two “awesomest” reading spots

2) I was excited about our #authoramonth author, and so far I‘ve enjoyed the tagged book by her the most

@Eggs @Soubhiville

For 50+ days, Constantinople defended itself and its 1200+ years of history as the eastern-most bastion of Christendom against the Turkish Ottomans‘ assault. This is a very detailed account of the siege and battle, and some of the aftermath. Sultan Mehmet was only 21 when he felled the city that had withstood many previous attempts. I suspect age aided his endurance. But he was also a young military genius and had extraordinary control of the ⬇️

The author of the tagged book describes the sources he most trusted to write this historical account of the siege and fall of Constantinople, Doukas being one of them. How crazy that Doukas‘s account stops mid-sentence!

“If there is any moment at which it is possible to recognize a modern sensibility in a medieval event, it is here in the account of reactions to the news of the fall of Constantinople. Like the assassination of Kennedy or 9/11 it is clear that people throughout Europe could remember exactly where they were when they first heard the news.”

I realize how inappropriate this is but in the chapter when Constantinople fell, I had to play this song. Now everyone will have this song stuck in your head. Sorry, not sorry. It is a good song.

A good friend (& my former now-retired paralegal) flew from Massachusetts into San Antonio this morning and flies out tomorrow. She‘ll be giving a speech at a private club here tomorrow and then flying home afterwards. She gave me two hours of her precious time tonight for dinner and she gave me this lovely book. She knows me well. I‘ve missed her so much. It was so wonderful to see her.

Great artwork reminding me of the tagged book

https://www.instagram.com/p/DCb-MKXoJOq/?img_index=8&igsh=aGV5M2Z5c3lieDV2

I just voted and I‘m so excited. This is definitely a favorite yearly challenge. I always vote for authors on my tbr list but even if they don‘t get picked for the year I have always enjoyed finding new authors I love. So even if you don‘t vote or read an #authoramonth, I recommend trying it out for a month or two and learn about new to you authors! I‘m reading more books by authors read earlier this year like Klune and SA Cosby. @Soubhiville

I worked on organizing some books today. I‘m just missing 6 of this series. And we plan to watch the tv show starting tomorrow night

#serieslove @TheSpineView

Josey waits on her mother hand and foot, until one day a woman in town starts hiding out in her closet, and discovering Josey‘s secret stash of junk food. Della Lee, the closet lady hiding from her abusive boyfriend, encourages Josey to discover herself and love. Meanwhile Josey befriends Chloe—whose unusual magic means books appear from nowhere, giving her their own advice on her decisions (who doesn‘t want to be Chloe!). So much magic, ⬇️

I‘m so enjoying this book! Gifted by @LibrarianRyan during our swap last month. It‘s so cute!! I‘m glad there are more volumes!

My Libby loan just came in! Next up!

I‘m listening to this one next for #authoramonth @Soubhiville

Goal for today: color and assemble the remaining pieces of these cards for #litsylove and #naturallitsycardswap

@Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks @TheBookHippie @Chrissyreadit

Ok I‘ll start: David Copperfield

You?

I started the week with significant back pain, so my joys are related:
1) I was nauseous from the pain on Monday but I was able to go back to work on Tuesday
2) massage yesterday relieved a lot of the pain in my legs
3) successful nerve block for a few hours on my lower back—I may be a candidate for ablation
4) I got to catch up with the doctor—our kids played soccer together
5) I‘m anticipating a weekend with less pain than last weekend

Well, I‘m so embarrassed. Here I am co-hosting #whatthedickens and I lost track of where I was and finished the book! We still have part 4 to finish in December. I can attest it‘s almost too good to stop once it really gets going. Definitely worth the read! I‘ll refrain from reviewing it until the end of the year. @Cuilin

Today‘s the last day to nominate countries for #foodandlit 2025! Comment to this post with your nominations.

A belated review:

Change is afoot in Botswana. The Agency is losing money and so it must pick up and move. But what to do about the assistant detective? It seems Mma Makutsi has hidden talents besides being the assistant and top graduate of secretarial school! I love the development of this character. Meanwhile the orphanage has taken in a wild boy who seems to have been raised by animals. How can anyone communicate with him? The solution is ⬇️

#two4Tuesday Thanks @TheSpineView for the tag

1) Easy, stripes. I have some very nice work blouses with subtle stripes. Hard to imagine being subtle with spots

2) Tagged. Checked out from Libby. It‘s an interesting but slow read. I‘ll likely have to renew my loan

It‘s one of my favorite author‘s birthday!

https://www.instagram.com/p/DCH305QyFW2/?igsh=MW5jZnVmNWRmdm9meQ==

1) I am a recipient of a Cornerstone Award for a client Operation Homefront
2) A nationwide bank's president said he loves my work and is taking me to lunch in a couple of weeks as thanks
3) I got to have a long talk with my son this week. Miss him 😢
4) I‘m crafting again with girlfriends this weekend
5) My severe lower back pain has returned (I had spinal fusion years ago), my physical therapist today got me back to walking with less pain today

Checking in to see how you‘re doing with this month‘s chapters. For November we are reading parts 11 - 15 Chapters 32-47. Let us know! Big surprises are in store!!

#whatthedickens @Cuilin @CaitlinR @raelovestoread @fortifiedbybooks @BarbaraJean @Annececilie @LeeRharry @quietjenn @bookwormAHN @dabbe @alldebooks @Daisey @sparklemn @bcncookbookclub @TheAromaofBooks

One week left to make your country nominations for #foodandlit 2025. Respond to this post with your nominations by November 15! We are so looking forward to another year of yummy reading! To try to avoid duplicates, I posted the countries for the last four years under the tagged book for your convenience.

https://blog.librarything.com/

Martha Wells spoke to the freshman class at Trinity today. My daughter is a teaching assistant to the professors and she promised to take a photo for me.

Constantinople in the early 15th century. It had declined quite a bit by then, especially after its sacking by the Venetians.

I‘m also reading this one for the #comfortreadathon. Just switching around what I‘m reading depending on my mood at any particular moment. @BookwormAHN

“when the reading of such literature is associated with idleness…a woman‘s thoughts and feelings cannot be other than impure and sensual…novel-reading causes, at the very least, fretting, nightmares and a bad complexion.”

That explains so much! 😂

#foodandlit #Canada @Catsandbooks

My #comfortreadathon for tonight @BookwormAHN

#foodandlit #Canada @Catsandbooks

A skeleton, a suitcase, & a fedora are discovered under a peach tree in front of the Blue Ridge Madame, just shortly before the gala celebrating the renovation of the grand 76-yo house. The skeleton‘s ghost is unhappy and the cops are, too, trying to find who killed the man with a bashed in head. This brings the two main characters diving into their grandmothers‘ pasts and that of the house. This book is about how to make friends, and what they ⬇️

When Emily is orphaned as a teenager, she goes to live with her only surviving family member: a grandfather she‘s never met who lives in a town her mom was born but that Emily has never visited. Grandpa is a quiet giant, the town wary of Emily, and Grandpa isn‘t explaining why. Emily‘s mother is a consummate do-gooder, so why do the townspeople blame Emily for her mother‘s sins when Emily can‘t imagine her mother ever hurting anyone? And she‘s ⬇️

The universe is run by bureaucrats. Every little thing that ever happens in the universe requires paperwork and approvals, including dying. Nathan Haynes refuses to ever sign a contract even when he‘s shot dead by a serial killer. When he refuses to sign the waiver of liability required to go to a final resting place, he‘s sent back to live again, picking up where he left off. After multiple deaths, the bureaucrats come to earth to try to sneak ⬇️

My next audiobook

#serieslove2024 @TheSpineView

Dresden is the only wizard (that we know of) in Chicago and he‘s up against some pretty scary werewolves. And sometimes he helps the police and sometimes they‘re locking him up. And sometimes the werewolves help him and sometimes they nearly kill him. Then there are the local mafiosi to contend with. Who‘s killing innocents in grizzly ways? Everyone has a reason to find out, and Dresden keeps making foolish decisions but ultimately the crime is ⬇️

#hauntedshelf #hexesandcrows 9,406 points for Oct 14-31. For the whole month, 9,836. Thanks @PuddleJumper for hosting the games and @Catsandbooks for being our awesome team leader. And thank you to all the hosts of readathons, bingos, word searches, doodles,, etc. So. Much. Fun. 🎉🎊🖤🧡🐈‍⬛🧡🖤

Reminder!

My next audiobook #authoramonth @Soubhiville

Anybody else?

My next ebook. I read Cloud Cuckoo Land, which in part was about the siege of Constantinople, so this one looked good to me. So far, the writing style is excellent

Apparently I‘ve read this one before. But I‘m reading it again, this time for #authoramonth @Soubhiville

Reading now for #foodandlit #Canada @Catsandbooks

October wrap-up: 15 books read in October, not counting Part 2 of David Copperfield and short stories. A successful month!!

Catching up? Or are you ready for November? Either way, here‘s a reminder about where we are at, or hope to be:

Oct parts 6 - 10 Chapters 16-31
Nov parts 11 - 15 Chapters 32-47
Dec parts 15 -20 Chapters 48-64 (the end)

#whatthedickens @Cuilin @CaitlinR @raelovestoread @fortifiedbybooks @BarbaraJean @Annececilie @LeeRharry @quietjenn @bookwormAHN @dabbe @alldebooks @Daisey @sparklemn @bcncookbookclub @TheAromaofBooks

Now that we‘ve survived the awesome #hauntedshelf gaming in October, it‘s time for our discussion of Part 2 of David Copperfield. I look forward to our “discussion” over the weekend!

@Cuilin @CaitlinR @raelovestoread @fortifiedbybooks @BarbaraJean @Annececilie @LeeRharry @quietjenn @bookwormAHN @dabbe @alldebooks @Daisey @sparklemn @bcncookbookclub @TheAromaofBooks

#foodandlit country nominations are open until November 15! Here are the countries assigned in the past four years, so we will avoid duplicates. Thanks to @TheBookHippie for making this graphic back during the Olympics.

Tag me @Texreader !!