‪You know how when you‘re reading and highlighting passages, and all of a sudden you realize you basically have the whole book highlighted? That‘s me reading Ace: What Asexuality Reveals About Desire, Society, and the Meaning of Sex by Angela Chen. I‘m learning so much about asexuality, but also about the compulsive and compulsory sexualization of society. Everyone should read this. ‬

Not sure if it‘s too late to post my first quarter #Booked2020 roundup, but I‘m posting anyway because I actually completed it! 🎉🎉🎉

1-Millenial Author
2-Hat or Head Covering on Cover
3-Live and Learn
4-Set in Hollywood
5-Cover Crush
6-Finish in a Day

Ok, #LMPBC #GroupU, here are some options from my shelves. Anything look interesting? Or perhaps more importantly, which ones have you already read? I have other options available if necessary...these just caught my eye while scouring the bookcases.

I am so ready for the next round of #LMPBC (#GroupU)! Are there any genres you prefer? Or maybe more importantly, any genres you dislike? Can‘t wait to see what you all have picked out!

Well, #BookSpin seemed like such a good idea, I couldn‘t miss out on it! With so many books on my shelf and Kindle, it was no problem coming up with a list.

Since I‘m a rreeaallyy slow reader, I chose this short nugget for the #finishinaday #Booked2020 prompt. It was a refreshing look at different crossroads in our lives. Patchett delivered a slightly different version as a commencement address at Sarah Lawrence. No earth-shattering revelations (if you‘ve heard one commencement address...), but it‘s always nice to remind yourself that crossroads aren‘t just scary, they can be exciting too.

This book is already breaking my heart! 💔 I was just looking for stories of cleaning up trauma scenes and hoarders‘ houses—don‘t judge me!—but I am getting so much more.

Signed up for #LitsyAtoZ this year! I didn‘t do any challenges last year, but I‘m looking forward to this one again. I think I read more when I do a little planning and have some fun goals.

Guidelines and sign up: https://docs.google.com/forms/u/2/d/e/1FAIpQLSex7AJyjI7PptZofazZtUX2T7L_FddNrEBx...

@Texreader — Thank you for the wonderful #jolabokaflodswap package! My apologies for not posting sooner...I‘ve been out of town for the holidays and didn‘t have a chance to open the package before I left. Really excited for both books! And the chocolate is my favorite! Yum!!

Thank you so much for the #jolabokaflodswap package @TheBookHippie ! Sorry I‘m so late in posting...I‘ve been out of town for the last week and didn‘t get a chance to open the package until today. I cannot wait to start this book and snuggle up with some hot chocolate!

I finally mailed out my #JolabokaflodSwap packages for @Shadowfat and @Scochrane26 but forgot to take a picture. Your packages should arrive on Monday, paving the way for a midnight opening. Or am I the only one planning that???

My #jolabokaflodswap packages arrived yesterday! Thank you @Texreader and @TheBookHippie ! Can‘t wait for Christmas Eve! 🎄

Apparently I have fallen behind in my Goodreads challenge. Time to break out the short books!

I was excited about this book because three of my favorite authors blurbed it as being basically fantastic. But, it was a bit of a turkey for me. I think the setting, a beach town in fall/winter, could have been used more effectively. I also didn‘t feel that invested in the 1980s MC, which I think is because she was written in third person POV, instead of first person like the current-day MC. It wasn‘t great. It wasn‘t terrible. Just meh.

A cute epigraph to start what is hopefully a fun read.

Not a funny moment in the book, but the dramatic six-year-old Sophia made me laugh. What avid reader hasn‘t heard some rendition of this utter despair from their family and friends??

I know this is yet another late #BFCr2 check-in, but I didn‘t check in at all last week, and I couldn‘t let that happen again! I got 75 minutes of cardio this week and 30 minutes of stretching. I‘m not hitting my goals, but I‘m still doing more than I did before #BFC, so I‘m happy about that. I also finished the tagged book; my first of four. Not quite what I was looking for, but still a good read. (Pic from a walk this week.) #smallsteppers

Sorry for the late #BFCr2 Week 2 check-in. It was another crazy week! Some unexpected travel and some expected houseguests. Not sure how much cardio I got, but I golfed 18 holes with my husband, which we haven‘t done for years, because kids, so happiness meter filled. (We first met each other on the golf course!) Looking forward to a much slower-paced second half of this week! I hope to finish tagged and pictured book this week. #SmallSteppers

I am so proud of my fellow #SmallSteppers in week one of #BFCr2! You guys have done great! The quote above is my positivity quote I needed to remember this week. I was out of town half of the week, and I only got 60 of my 120 minutes of cardio and 30 of my 60 minutes of stretching in. But it all adds up, right?? I also started The Summer Book by Tove Jansson, and it‘s gorgeous so far!

Let‘s keep it up in Week 2!!

#BookFitnessChallenge #BFC

I thought this quote would be good inspiration on the first day of #BFCr2. Time to start thinking I can! My fitness goals are 120 minutes of cardio or strength training per week and 60 minutes of yoga or stretching per week. My book goal is to finish four books. Excited to finally get started and cheer on my team! #BFC #BookFitnessChallenge

Thank you to @cwarnier for a spectacular #SummerSantaGoesPostal package! I love everything! Can‘t wait to read the books and use the pens, post-its, and bags. I actually just broke my favorite glass, so the new summer ones are perfect. My daughter tried to steal the flip-flops, but that‘s not going to happen! 😆

And a heartfelt thank you to @BookishMarginalia for once again organizing a great swap. Your efforts are greatly appreciated! ❤️

A few more days to sign up for #BookFitnessChallenge! The first round looked so fun, and I can use whatever help I can get to get moving! You set goals that make sense for you. I set a goal for cardio/strength training and yoga/stretching. Plus a reading goal! Books and fitness...what more could you ask for? #BFCR2

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfLOkhxk06vVWG9leYeNEa-JYLOfwZiOKPtrBuU...

What a thorough examination of the Golden State Killer case. I do wish Michelle had survived to see him finally captured. I guess my best review of this book would be: After moving to a more rural area, I had been a bit relaxed about shutting my curtains at night. After reading this book, I‘m shutting them all tight and double checking the door locks. An excellent true crime read.

Book: The Sun is Also a Star
Movie: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Song: Walking on Sunshine

#ManicMonday

Finally mailed out my #SummerSantaGoesPostal package! It will arrive on Friday (June 6). It‘s headed off to the mountains! 🏞🌄

#SummerSolsticeBookExchange

What time is it? Butterfly time! 🦋 I love summer because the monarchs (and other butterflies) return. This spring I uprooted most of two garden plots and replanted them with butterfly-/pollinator-friendly plants. The bees already dig it. I usually don‘t start looking for monarch eggs until June, but I planted lots of milkweed and was rewarded with 14 eggs already. I raised 47 monarchs last summer...already on my way to beating that this year!

It‘s here! It‘s here! 🎉🎉🎉 Can‘t wait for June 21! #SummerSantaGoesPostal #SummerSolsticeBookExchange

A sample of the goodies for my #SummerSantaGoesPostal recipient! The package is ready to mail out except for two items arriving Monday. I‘ll have it in the mail as soon as they get here! #SummerSolsticeBookExchange🌷🌸🌼🌞🌻🌹🌺

1. I like to have a bookshelf dedicated to books I‘d like to read soon. But I have zero attention span, so maybe someone suggests something on Litsy I have to read now, or I see a shiny new title at the library.
2. I don‘t usually use a bus or train, but I‘d read on them if I did.
3. Seems like everything these days.
4. Tea and maybe a cookie or two.
5. If anyone else would like to participate, consider yourself tagged! 🙌

#WondrousWednesday

It may be freezing out (are we ever going to get a spring??), but soccer has started. Looking forward to my two hours of practice...er, reading...every week. Excited to finally start this one! 😱

I had to stop by the library today and found these two hanging out on the book sale shelf. I felt it irresponsible to leave them there, so they came home with me.

I‘ve heard good things about both. Which one to start with?

I just finished reading this book to my kids, and I‘ve discovered I‘m raising monsters. Not a tear was shed over the totally tear-worthy event at the end of this book. I, however, wept openly. Again. And I knew what was going to happen!

The chapter in the cave is my favorite chapter, perhaps of the whole series. And this is still my favorite book of the series. Such a great setup before the final book. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

1. I‘m in the middle of a few short books right now, including the tagged one. My attention span is zero at the moment.
2. Clearing some garden beds in the hopes of planting some new plants next weekend. 🌺🌸🌹🌷💐
3. Love them!
4. Grace
5. Yes! 🙌

#FriYayIntro @howjessreads

I guess my reading attention span is pretty short these days. Maybe that‘s why nothing has really stuck over the past few months. But this one is going well. A graphic novel combined with journal entries. The illustrations are great and detailed (I usually find myself turning back the pages and reviewing them), and combined with the journal entries, it‘s making for a very creepy, atmospheric read.

I have been in such a huge reading slump these past few months. I‘ve tried several books, but nothing seemed to stick and in the slump I stayed. But it seems like the blog entries of Ursula K. Le Guin may be what pulls me out of it! She‘s fantastically wry, and her takes on old age, as well as her cat stories, are a breath of fresh air. So far she‘s been a wonderful reading slump companion.

Hey @Betty and @CindyMyLifeIsLit!! Your books are finally on their way back home. So sorry for the delay. They should arrive on Monday!

#LMPBC #HGPBC

A huge thank you to @Tanisha_A for my #JustABookSwap books! I love love love Year of Yes and am so glad to finally own it! And the Oscar Wilde quotes are fabulous! Thank you so much! ☺️

I ordered my #JustABook book today! And it gets to go all the way to Australia!

This is late in coming, but I wanted to thank the wonderful #JB Littens who passed along some birthday love this year! It was so fun opening these cards over the last few days. And a special thanks to @Soubhiville and @CBee for passing along these awesome books! All of you warmed my heart in these frigid days! 😘🤗

#Genji4 also gives us this gem (Tyler translation). “I know I would like such a woman more, the more I lived with her and FORMED HER TO MY WILL.” As I said, quite over the top. He‘s 17! #Genji

Just wanted to say thank you to @Betty for the sweet (and gorgeously handmade!?!) #jb card I recently received. And I just thought of you this morning as an email from #nyrb informed me that the tagged book is their pick of the month, and for the next few days they are offering 30% off all John Williams titles. This one looks interesting! (And I do have Stoner and am enjoying it immensely. But also slowly! Sorry!)

And this is why I‘m trying not to buy any books this year! 🤦‍♀️ This is my haul from the Book Outlet holiday sale. My first order ever from Book Outlet and a total #blameitonLitsy moment!! Their books are sooo cheap! Now I‘m trying to use my own mountain of books for reading challenge prompts this year. (So far, so good!)

Any reads you‘ve enjoyed in the stack?

I‘ve gotten some wonderful #jb #litsylove mail recently. Thanks to @kaye for the cute card emphasizing my favorite part of a birthday. And thanks to @Lovesbooks87 for the card and fun goodies! 😘

1. Before heading to a show on Saturday, my daughter and I tried out a local Korean restaurant. I had beef bugolgi; she tried a sizzling udon bowl (pictured). And we found out we both loved kimchi!
2. I haven‘t bought any books yet this year, but The Tale of Genji was the last one I bought in 2018.
3. 19
4. No
5. No ☹️ Hopefully next year for our anniversary!

#HumpDayPost

“Writers are territorial, and they resent intruders.”

I had no idea Margaret Drabble and A. S. Byatt are sisters. That‘s a prolific pair! Here, Drabble is speaking about not wanting to offend anyone when writing about her relationship with her aunt. I imagine it‘s hard to “write what you know” when you have to call dibs on what you both know.

January is National Puzzle month! To celebrate, I‘m reading The Pattern in the Carpet by Margaret Drabble, which is supposed to be part memoir, part jigsaw history. I don‘t know French, so I don‘t know what these endpapers say, but I do know they are gorgeous! #nonfiction2019 #somethingpersonal

1. Teleport! So many places to go! And they would probably be infinitely more interesting than any minds I could read.
2. Currently reading this one with my son
3. No. They never stick.
4. Nothing on Netflix, but Dr. Who on Amazon and Handmaid‘s Tale on Hulu.
5. Of course! 👍

#FriYayIntro

I have never been more pleased with a quiz result. Jane and I would be quite happy together.

I‘m not sure who originally posted the quiz, but if you‘d like to find out which classic author is your soulmate, here it is:

https://www.buzzfeed.com/dianabruk/which-classic-author-is-your-soulmate?utm_sou...

I guess I‘m going to relate to Genji through late ‘90s/early ‘00s teen movies. Only a bit into Ch. 2 and already 🙄 at men discussing women. “Anyway, the really fascinating girl is the one of whom no one has ever heard, the strangely appealing one who lives by herself....Compared to someone truly flawless, she of course falls short, but for what she is, she is hard to let go.”

I guess there‘s a prom queen/consort in all of us.

#Genji #Genji2