5 stars for its handling of one basic message: you are never too old to make new choices in how you live your life. Being now in my mid-50s, I‘ve found less and less of that messaging seems directed to my generation and those older than me. The strength of this book is it unpacks everything that goes along with making a wholesale change of perspective late in life – at the age of retirement in Albert‘s case. Thanks to #Netgalley for the #ARC.

Late here with the March report. I missed both bookspin and doublespin reads but read four! books not originally on my list. All of March reading was good with the tagged book my favorite of the month.

No bingos though - on any of my boards!

#nonfiction2022
#bookspinbingo
#LGBTQBookBingo #LGBTQ2022
#2022ReadingBracket

Tagged book is a library hold that came in so I‘ll definitely be reading it for April #bookspinbingo.

Must #audiobook this for the full impact. More excellent, interesting and dare I say, exciting than expected and being a long time follower of Mystal as a blogger, my expectations were high. It was through Mystal that I probably had my first “a-ha” moment as a white person on how different the black experience is from the white experience in this country. And the deep reasons why.

At the very least, read the epilogue.

Good humor. Language.

April #BookspinBingo #BookSpin #DoubleSpin selections

Strong pick for me. Really unique organization of the novel, from POV of MC who‘s an investigative journalist. Refreshing approach when you read as much as I do. Walton excels at suspense, twice building towards a pivotal scene, tension so taut I read late into the night. Such a good story and one that puts a spotlight on black and white personal and professional relations over the course of 40 years.

“Albert Entwistle was a postman.“

#FirstLineFridays

@ShyBookOwl

Definitely a pop psychology feel to this but some good nuggets nonetheless. Short quizzes included where you can assess your attachment style and your partner‘s. The “secure” style comprises 50% of the population and there‘s hardly any advice for that style. Like we‘re universal donors in attachment issues in romantic relationships without our own issues and needs. Would like to see if there‘s a better book out there on this topic.

I'm running behind this week. Here's my #Two4Tuesday.

Beatitude by Larry Closs is on my favorites shelf in Goodreads, a really delightful story from an independent author/publisher. In a nod to @The.Great.Catsby, who tagged me, there's even a cat on the book's cover.

One word titles aren't necessarily good or bad but I do think there are some titles that are way too long.

For most people time in nature, even small doses in tiny city parks, improves quality of life emotionally, mentally, physically. The more the better for the most part.

Enjoyed this #audiobook. A great example of science writing for the layperson. Very engaging.

Upper left is from Palace of Fine Arts park in San Francisco, 2022
Lower left is moon setting over the Pacific. California 2022
Lower right is my childhood gang of friends in the ‘70s.

1. Greenland by David Santos Donaldson

2. William Gibson

3. Allow Me to Retort by Elie Mystal. I‘ve followed this writer for years online in blogs and magazine articles. Brings such great humor to sensitive racial topics (and to everyday observations). His voice really opened my eyes to how systematic racism works. Offers workable solutions. Not easy ones, but workable.

#SundayFunday

Pechey is non-binary identified and wants other non-binary persons to find & embrace joy. They are a loving mentor/older sibling doing their best to give a young flock tools to navigate society built around a binary gender identification. Pechey offers advice in the face of outright hostility to passive cluelessness from uninformed binary identified persons. Repetitive & without a lot of bottom but a sincere message.

#netgalley
#benpechey

Tagged book is probably longest on my TBR shelf. It was written by a former colleague of mine and I got it upon publication in 2007. I don‘t know why I haven‘t delved in. I like history though this period of US history is not what I‘m particularly drawn to. I need to make space for this book on my reading schedule for sure.

Current reads are the other books pictured: one on kindle, one audio, one hardcover

#WondrousWednesday

Was hoping to find “my people” in this book but instead found a musicologist‘s years long study of the handful of musicians performing music along the country/roots/Americana genres. Read more like a college text than a mass market publication. Not a time waster but not the fun and jaunty read I had hoped for.

Not much mentioned of queer fans of mainstream country music.

Thanks to #Netgalley for the free ARC.

#queer

I do put classics in my mix of reading. Before the end of my life I would like to have read all of Henry James.

Thanks for the tag @TheNeverendingTBR

Tagging @stevesbookstuf1 @bthegood @The.Great.Catsby @plemmdog - want to play?

#Two4Tuesday

Interesting. Genova is gifted in explaining the scientific in layman‘s terms. Lots of focus on laying out the differences between normal memory loss and Alzheimer‘s related memory loss. The different types of memory and how they are formed were particularly interesting.

#audiobook

Watched this documentary last night and then finished the last few pages of this book. Both so good - highly recommend. I need to go back and re-read more Baldwin. My 50+ self, who has now witnessed so much of the continued racial strife in this country, was taking in his words in a more visceral way and with deeper understanding than did my college aged self who first read his words in the '80s.

“History is not the past
It is the present.“

In June 1979, acclaimed author James Baldwin commits to a complex endeavor: tell his story of America through the lives of three murdered friends:

Medgar Evers
Martin Luther King Jr
Malcolm X

Baldwin never got past his 30 pages of notes entitled: Remember This House

#FirstLineFridays

Here‘s my #bookspinbingo list for March. Should be a good month of reading no matter what the bingo board looks like!

Thank you @ncsufoxes - Jessica! Every choice is amazing and I really appreciate the note and personal connection you shared with the books and the gifts. I am looking forward to tomorrow morning‘s coffee, the chocolate and the notebook (which is not too large.) The Baldwin sentence diagram is brilliant. I was enough of an English nerd that I liked diagramming sentences in school. Love it all. #blitsyswap #bhms

Book reviews to come!

Still reading the tagged book and don‘t expect to finish by the end of the month. Posting #bookspinbingo results for February now.

How Much of these Hills is Gold was top read for February. Will post the reading list for March after #bhms opening day. :-)

Told through the eyes of Lucy, a girl living in the western territories during the gold rush. Of Asian ancestry, her family stands out from the flood of migrants from the east. I was captivated by the story and its eerie and melancholy voice, a striving for hope strained by desperation. Yet the reader sees Lucy‘s strengths and weaknesses just as Lucy sees those of her sibling Sam and their parents. Unforgettable story.

#bookspin

Thank you, Michelle (@Chelleo) for this card and bookmark but most of all, thank you for being the amazing host of the Black History Month Swap. #bhms #blitsyswap

Soft pick. Great messages and Doyle's delivery is authentic but also polished. Her target audience is probably my sister-in-law and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this book to her & others. For me there were parts I liked a lot and a lot of parts that were a little dull if you aren't a parent or in a relationship. These messages on life can be heard from many people these days and Doyle will be the messenger that resonates for some. #bookclub

@ncsufoxes, we've been matched again! I know from past experience that opening day will be awesome. Anticipating what's under the wrapping for #blackhistorymonthswap #bhms #blitsyswap gifts. Less than two weeks to February 28!

This review of the super bowl halftime show was so beautifully written and so factually interesting and thought-provoking I had to look up who wrote it. Harmony Holiday is a poet and now I‘m eager to read her work.

The Super Bowl halftime show was a mixture of respectability and reckoning - https://www.npr.org/2022/02/14/1080608083/the-superbowls-halftime-show-was-a-mix...

If you geek out on the design process of cars and are a fan of the early Birds, this is a good read. Have been in the business world long enough myself that I wasn‘t exactly surprised at the internal politics at Ford to bring certain design concepts to market but still…in retrospect those parts didn‘t make for great reading. And yet for those interviewed it was clear the feelings remained strong! We humans are a strange lot.

A gentle read filled with good advice for those who love to write. I would say that this is filled with good advice for a well lived life, no matter which profession one pursues. Short, easily digestible, and thoughtful.

#mindfulness
#doublespin

Kershaw knows how to write war; he commands words and language to the highest effect. This book follows the war career of Felix Sparks, an unassuming leader who lead men through tragic battles to ultimate success in WWII. Among the first to liberate Dachau in Germany. In the 90s, successfully fought the NRA to take guns out of the hands of children in Colorado. His life made our lives better.

My #blackhistorymonthswap #bhms package has started its long journey but should arrive ahead of opening day - 28 February!

#blitsy

Strong start on bingo cards for 2022!
#bookreport
#nonfiction2022
#lgbtqbookbingo
#lgbtq2022
#bookspinbingo

Ready to go for February #bookspinbingo.

Wasn‘t sure what to expect from this and glad I took a chance on it. Educational for me on how emotionally entwined teens are with online entertainment and interactions, the immediacy of it and how rapidly the terrain can change. Engaging story with believable and well drawn characters who had depth, even the minor ones. I would read more from this author.

#ThinkPositiveBePositive

Here‘s to a great weekend for everyone on Litsy. Happy reading!

This #bookclub read was not one of my favorites. Started so strong and I loved it or loved what I expected it was going to be. Then right around the Vegas marriage I got bored and never recovered. The mystery of why Evelyn chose Monique kept me going but even that was anti-climatic. Needed more Monique, more on the process of interviewing, and crafting a story. Evelyn was not that interesting once I got to know her.

#audiobook very high quality

Might be the best book I read this year. Kipling is a Black Briton in the U.S., trying to get his novel on E.M. Forster and Mohammed, Forster‘s boyfriend, published. Facing a deadline, he is barricaded in his home in an effort to force himself to re-work his manuscript. Seeking Mohammed‘s voice to tell his story, Kipling undergoes a unflinching examination of his own life which takes the reader around the world.

#queer
#NetGalley
#Greenland

“One may as well begin with the gun.”

#FirstLineFridays

I will be thinking about this one for a long time. Didn‘t know much about Jarman‘s body of work when I started. Streamed “The Garden” and investigated more online. Diary of a humble, gentle, creative, much loved man.

#queerbookbox

I really enjoyed this #YAFantasy from #QueerBookBox. A real mystery and good page turner. The MC was likable and relatable I remember a stage where I was ‘between friends‘ as I developed different interests from my childhood friend group and hadn‘t made new connections yet. It‘s lonely. Also the hyper-awareness that your parents are struggling financially is stressful. Ending here was rushed but still a pick for me.

#bookspin for January.

Socks
Mug
Paperback
Either
Dark

#BlitsyThisOrThat
#Blitsy

This book was all over the place. Only a slice on this interesting man‘s life. A very large part covers the history of criminality of homosexuality in England up through and including this century. Long chapters on Havelock Ellis‘ writing and influence on public views of homosexuality. The author wanted to provide context for the reader for Carpenter‘s life but his life and personality got lost along the way.

#netgalley
#queer
#nonfiction

I got to open this amazing package of goodies today for #LittleChristmasSwap #LCS. Thank you, @BookBosomed1 - everything is delightful and I can‘t wait to delve into the books and the treats!

318 points this week for #MistletoeManiacs in #WinterGames2021
#bookspinbingo
#WinterCosy

Tagging my favorite book in December and one of my favorites of all time. Dickens was such an observer of humanity.

I‘ve been on this group a little more than a year and Litsy has been a highlight of 2021. Thank you, All, for your reviews, blurbs and quotes. They often brighten my day and expand my horizons. I have discovered MANY new books based on Litten recs, including the tagged one.

5 stars for this one which I #audiobooked. Author and narrator were warm and straightforward-great combination. Finished a couple days ago, one of my last reads this year.

Excellent adaptation to a graphic novel. Macy retains the Victorian era language. Coupled with his drawings, the story takes on a modern feel in a historical setting. The reader remains aware of the times in which this daring story of homosexual love was written. I can only imagine the illicit thrill of penning Teleny in the 1890s; it edges beyond the erotic to pornographic even by today's standards.

My completed #LGBTQBookBingo2021 board! ⬇️

I need to put this short story in my regular reading rotation around Christmas. Capote engages all the senses as a young boy and his grandmother, best friends, make fruitcake and other Christmas preparations. This book has all the cosy feelings and a little melancholy too-which honestly can be part of Christmas as one grows older, with less wide-eyed innocence.

#WinterGames2021
#MistletoeManiacs
#WinterCosy

I‘m ready for #BookspinBingo in 2022!

#Bookspin
#Doublespin

102 points this week for #WinterGames2021. Only 2 books read but got one bingo.

#MistletoeManiacs
#BookspinBingo

This was fine-read it on a plane over Xmas holidays. Not Patterson‘s best but still a good crime and intrigue read. The MC and his family must reconcile the unsavory and unsafe nature of his work which pulls him away from his family Christmas gathering. Raises real issues of choices we make around prioritizing work over family and balancing individual sacrifices for the greater good of society.

#Wintergames2021
#MistletoeManiacs

This wasn‘t quite a Christmas book. Fairies, pixies, elves, other mystical beings are willing to make themselves visible to a young boy whose birthday is Christmas Day. He and his father travel in England and Europe. At each locale he hears a new story from the local sprite. I became bored with the stories which had no point or moral to them that I could see. Adult themes would bore a child even more then me.

#MistletoeManiacs
#Wintergames2021