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willaful

willaful

Joined April 2022

Pretty sure my last words are going to be “where did I put my Kindle?“
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willaful
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A powerful listening experience. It's a sad, horrific, true story of the massive consequences of health inequality, told with humanity and grace. I understand now why this became his cause, and there's hope in the fact that so much has and still can be done to help. (Though as an American, it's hard not to fear we've taken such a wrong turn, we soon won't even be able to help ourselves.)

#RealHistory #HonestHistory #MonthlyNonfiction2025

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willaful
Untitled | Unknown Unknown
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I did! Willa for a lot of reasons. Same initial as my old name. Feminine version of William, “strong protector.“ Partial homage to a woman named Wilma who was very important in my life but no way was I naming myself Wilma. (She quite agreed. 😂) I came across it in a book and liked it.

2. Most of them were dreadful but I had two hamsters named Haba and Sima, which were taken from a Zipha Keatley Snyder book.

3. Cleery from Magic in the Alley

Eggs I love your name-it‘s musical! Thx for playing 🥰🥳 13h
willaful @Eggs 😍 12h
22 likes2 comments
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willaful
BookSpinBingo | Untitled
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#BookSpin list for June. I've been working on customizing it for maximum potential enjoyment.

TheAromaofBooks Woohoo!! 14h
18 likes1 comment
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willaful
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1. No obvious standout this month, perhaps because I was tremendously picky about everything! I guess the favorite I read was Paladin's Strength and the favorite I listened to was Great Big Beautiful Life.

2. I found a Laura London (Tom & Sharon Curtis) romance I somehow missed when they were reprinted, called The Testimony, so I'm looking forward to that. I hope the time in which I could appreciate them is not completely past!

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willaful
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I didn't have a specific goal for #JumpStartSummer but I think my subconscious goal was to take pressure off. So I didn't just read, but also DNF'd and took books off my TBR, and I do feel much freer!

In addition to these I finished, I listened to about an hour of Undercooked by Dan Ahdoot (probably a DNF), about an hour of Everything is Tuberculosis (definitely will finish) and started reading The Thursday Murder Club, from my #BookSpinBingo.

TheSpineView Glad it was a success! 🤩📖📚 2d
25 likes1 comment
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willaful
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Charming romance about two privileged Black teens dealing with the emotional fallout of perfectionist parents. This can be read as a follow-up to Williams' lovely adult romance Seven Days in June or as a standalone.

AmyG Hahahaha a book about my childhood! FUN 3d
willaful @AmyG Oh dear! Might be a rough read for you. 3d
27 likes3 comments
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willaful
Guards! Guards! | Terry Pratchett
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#WhereAreYouMonday

I'm in the fascinating, fragrant city of Ankh-Morpork. Unfortunately, so is a dragon.

@Cupcake12

julesG 🦧🐉 3d
Graywacke One of the best of Discworld 🙂 2d
26 likes2 comments
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willaful
Guards! Guards! | Terry Pratchett

Each man thought: one of the others is bound to say something soon, some protest, and then I'll murmur agreement, not actually *say* anything, I'm not as stupid as that, but definitely murmur very firmly, so that the others will be in no doubt that I thoroughly disapprove, because at a time like this it behooves all decent men to nearly stand up and almost be heard...

But no man said anything. The cowards, each man thought.

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willaful

And so we have entered a strange era of human history: A preventable, curable infectious disease remains our deadliest. That's the world we are currently choosing.

shanaqui John Green spoke so much truth in this one. Tuberculosis is a completely solveable problem, and receives such stinking little funding. Ugh. 3d
willaful @shanaqui It's devastating. The part about people giving up treatment because getting well made them unbearably hungry and no money is allocated to food makes me want to scream. (edited) 3d
shanaqui @willaful That particular fact wasn't mentioned directly in my TB course (it's one of my electives, the most difficult/high-level one I'm taking actually), but one thing we've learned that Green doesn't quite explain: a large portion of the problems for people with TB are solved by giving them money. Just money. Not surveillance (which is what the current treatment protocol amounts to) or sage advice. Just. Money. 3d
See All 6 Comments
shanaqui And we don't give it to them except in a few small pilot studies where it was wildly successful but declared to be unsustainable. So what, the high treatment failure/inability to comply is sustainable? NO.

Also, what would prevent the majority of TB? You've probably guessed it from the rant so far... yep... money. Better housing, and give people money. The most cost-effective thing to do issssss moneeeyyyyyyyyyyyyyy.
3d
willaful @shanaqui Pretty much always... 3d
Faranae Universal/Unconditional basic income solves so very, very many problems it's a bit frightening. Or enraging. Oh look, I'll be doing my annual Thomas Spence reading next month, perhaps I should build up to it with Mutual Aid since I don't think there's any still-accurate public domain works on TB (well, maybe London Labour and the London Poor, but that's a little long...) 3d
24 likes6 comments
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willaful
Shelf Discovery | Lizzie Skurnick
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I actually had kind of a love/hate experience with this book, but I enjoyed a lot of it and am glad to have finally read it.

#Roll100

PuddleJumper 🙌 🙌 3d
30 likes1 comment
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willaful
Sorceress | K.L. Noone
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My #Bookspin choice was a book by K.L. Noone; I intended to start with The Magician but this turned out the be a prequel. It's a short fantasy romance with some lovely writing, and definitely piques interest for the next book.

#JumpStartSummer (this time for sure!) book #1

dabbe Two weeks in. a row? #youdawinner! 🙌🏻 5d
TheSpineView Well done! 5d
TheAromaofBooks Woohoo!! 5d
31 likes3 comments
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willaful
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Hey, fellow members of @PuddleJumper's Queer Book Club!

A reminder that we'll be discussing the work of Neon Yang at the end of the month. I'll be posting some general discussion questions around the 30th; feel free to participate and/or post a review of what you read. Please let me know if you'd like to be tagged, or removed from my tag list. (For this month only -- for permanent tags, contact @Puddlejumper)

#QueerBC

BookmarkTavern I‘m so excited! I really enjoyed my read! 5d
peanutnine I just downloaded my pick, hopefully I will make it through a good chunk this weekend 5d
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PuddleJumper I started Black Tides of Heaven and then got distracted 😅 I'll get to it either this week or in June 3d
Kitta Ooo I‘ve never heard of them before! I‘m going to start 3d
AbigailJaneBlog I haven't managed to get hold of anything for this month! Got next month's ready to go though! 3d
AllDebooks I raced through The Tensorate series. I'll defo be looking for more from this author. 3d
willaful @AbigailJaneBlog I found a short story in an anthology. What do you have for next month? I love Zen Cho. 3d
AbigailJaneBlog @willaful Sorcerer to the Crown! I bought it when it came out and never read it 😅 2d
willaful @AbigailJaneBlog Oh, that's wonderful! I hope you enjoy it too. 2d
31 likes11 comments
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willaful
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Good grief, you are all way too polite. Nobody told me I was doing this a week early. 🤣

TheBookHippie Since recently I have no idea what day it is, carry on. 6d
CSeydel It deserves two weekends! 6d
See All 7 Comments
TheSpineView No worries! Two weekends are better than one anytime. 6d
PaperbackPirate You had a jump start on the jump start! 📚 4d
willaful @PaperbackPirate I'm practically on the beach already! 4d
PaperbackPirate 😂🙌😎📚 4d
28 likes7 comments
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willaful
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High schooler Huda tries to maintain control when her parents start divorce proceedings. I've enjoyed all her previous books but I guess I wasn't the right audience for this one and it just didn't grab me.

#SeriesLove

TheSpineView Fantastic! 6d
Andrew65 That‘s a shame. Well done 🎉🎉🎉 3d
22 likes2 comments
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willaful
Paladin's Strength | T Kingfisher
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I liked this even more than Paladin's Grace, because the characters are such delightful gentle giants.

More at my blog: https://willaful.wordpress.com/2025/05/22/tbr-challenge-paladins-strength-by-t-k...

#SeriesLove2025
#URC rodent on cover. (The main one -- this is an alternate.)

TheSpineView Fantastic! 1w
Faranae The failure of the new covers to feature the White Rat is a sin and a shame. I also didn't like that they went with “fantasy“ covers, so none of the couples look at each other, but none of the secondary characters are depicted. Earstripe is too important in Paladin's Hope to leave out if you aren't going to have Piper and Galen all over each other (but then I don't like the way Piper is drawn anyway...). 7d
willaful @Faranae Yeah, aesthetically this sucks and doesn't really give a sense of the books, but I did like seeing Clara drawn large. 7d
See All 6 Comments
Faranae @willaful It's definitely nice to see Clara drawn right! Istvhan isn't as big as I imagined in my head, so I'm sticking to my own imagination and not letting this cover override it. 7d
willaful @Faranae 👍

(And people don't get why I don't want to see the Murderbot show....)
7d
Andrew65 Excellent 🎉🎉🎉 3d
33 likes6 comments
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willaful
Paladin's Strength | T Kingfisher
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There was no town. There was only the road, which was damp clay splotched with stones, like a toad's back. Perhaps the whole world was a toad. It was no stupider than anyone else's cosmology. Clara would leave the order of St. Ursa and found the order of St. Toad. They would sleep a lot. Yes. Sleeping seemed like a good commandment for the order. Sleep and hot tea. Yes.

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willaful
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Pleased with my #JumpStartSummer weekend. Despite spending 4 1/2 hours on Eurovision 🤣, I met my goals of reading Erasure and Floating Hotel, listened to a couple of hours of Great Big Beautiful Life, cleaned a bunch of short reads off my ereader and am in chapter five of Paladin's Strength. Will certainly read for at least another hour tonight, but might as well post now.

TheSpineView 👍📖📚 1w
Faranae I'd complain about my Eurovision watch group being far, far too straight and can I join yours, but I'm probably never watching again until they deal with some very obvious problems. 😬 1w
willaful @Faranae I totally get that. Mine was pretty straight too, if that's any comfort. 1w
34 likes3 comments
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willaful
Floating Hotel | Grace Curtis
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Character-driven science fiction of the kind described as cozy, notwithstanding murder and torture. The premise is great, like an old star-studied movie: a lot of people, all with their own secrets, living out interconnected stories in an hotel spaceship. The plotting isn't as well done as the prose, and I felt let down by the ending, though it does have some lovely poignancy.

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willaful
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Unless you count the Lord of the Rings as one book, which I don't really, it's probably this fanfic, which according to GoodReads has 2184 pages.

I don't even read fanfic! But this one was so popular with my family members I gave it a try. It wasn't as good as rereading The Lord of the Rings again, but it was interesting.

BookmarkTavern A unique choice! Thanks for sharing! 1w
27 likes1 stack add1 comment
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willaful
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My brain was too tired for my current book (The Floating Hotel) so I read a bunch of little free stories that were cluttering up my ereader, mostly extra epilogues to romances. I don't know why I bother, they're hardly ever worth reading, but at least I did a lot of deleting. I don't even like digital clutter!

#JumpStartSummer

Faranae My main 3 romance culprits all have worthwhile “extras“ and I feel like this has given me expectations of others' extras that will be cruelly disappointed... 2w
TheSpineView 👍🤩📖📚 2w
30 likes2 comments
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willaful
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Two very different books for May, I wonder what the next weeks will hold...

Read4life I‘m looking forward to your next pick! 🤓 1w
29 likes1 comment
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willaful
Guards! Guards! | Terry Pratchett

There are many horrible sights in the multiverse. Somehow, though, to a soul attuned to the subtle rhythms of a library, there are few worse sights than a hole where a book ought to be.

22 likes1 stack add
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willaful
Erasure: A Novel | Percival Everett
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I got to a good start on #JumpStartSummer by not being able to sleep last night 🙄 and finishing Erasure. (Full disclosure: I skipped most of the story-within-a-story, and feel completely justified. 😂)

This was so much more than its main plot description... bitter and satiric yes, but also very quietly human and deeply sad.

#AuthorAMonth

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willaful
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An accidental reread, but that's okay because I liked it both times. There are a few stinkers, but the general madness level is on point.

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willaful

There are a handful of supervillains who go in for the world-saving routine. It's usually an excuse--dramatic speeches, hijacking the airwaves, self-righteousness and posturing, and it's amazing how saving the world always seems to boil down to giving them personally whatever they want.

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willaful
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This is definitely interesting, but I felt a certain amount of skepticism about it as “science.“ I have a Psychology degree and not only have I seen a fair amount of what I learned in college debunked, but I also had to participate in an experiment which I found completely bogus. Nonetheless, if you accept their theories it does make sense out of a lot of otherwise inexplicable behavior. I would love to see a new update on Trump, *again*. 😫

35 likes1 comment
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willaful
BookSpinBingo | Untitled
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A late #BookSpinBingo entry. I wasn't going to do it this month, because I've been feeling too pressured with reading goals, but I've decided that sticking to the actual BookSpin list version will fit with what I'm trying to do.

Faranae Mr. Warren's Profession is cute if rather shaky on the historical research (and not cosy), but apparently I never reviewed it on the blog!

I hope having a few free squares helps make it less pressured!
2w
willaful @Faranae My theory is that it would be so ridiculously hard to get a blackout I won't even try. 😂 2w
TheAromaofBooks Woohoo!! Looks fantastic!! 2w
shanaqui I hope you can have some chill fun with it. 💙 2w
28 likes4 comments
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willaful

I love his YA but this didn't grab me.

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willaful
What Happens in Amsterdam | Rachel Lynn Solomon
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I enjoyed this so much! It's a trope-based romance but doesn't expect the tropes to do all the work. The characters are very real and imperfect, which just makes their tender care for each other all the more romantic. And Amsterdam sounds so amazing... can I go please?

TheBookHippie I shall go with you! 🧳 3w
shanaqui I really liked Amsterdam. When I was spending part of the year in Belgium with my wife before we moved, we'd go semi-regularly so that I could plunder the American Book Center and stock up on English-language books. The selection was always worthwhile.

(There were places to get English language books in Belgium too, but one of them downsized by a lot, and the others tended to be chains with a limited selection in English.)
2w
willaful @shanaqui My husband was there for business and really liked it too. 2w
36 likes3 comments
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willaful
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A bit like Thank You For Listening, but about podcasts rather than audiobooks. I had some niggling issues but mostly enjoyed it, and there's a nice “worm turns“ arc for the main character. The author also narrates the audiobook.

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willaful
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As an immigrant estranged from her family, Tao has gotten used to a solitary traveling life with only her mule for company. But then she starts encountering others on their own complicated journeys, and everything changes. A sweet, comfortable found family story, though it goes off the rails in the middle which stopped me from loving it as much as I might have.

#TBRTarot make your own prompt: leftover challenge read
#Roll100 Feb.

CBee I‘ve heard good things about this one! 3w
PuddleJumper ❤️❤️ 3w
39 likes2 comments
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willaful

“I would ask you to remember Tao, as one woman with power to another--the greater good much always come before the personal.“

“No,“ said Tao. Here, at last, was something she was sure off--something that she had learned in her journeys, that perhaps the High Mage had not. “You're wrong. There's no such thing as greater good--there's just good, and the more of it we can do, the better.“

CarolynM ❤️ 3w
24 likes1 comment
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willaful
Raising Steam | Terry Pratchett

I feel terrible, but I read fully half and then just couldn't go on. I was so bored! Almost every conversation was cringingly lifeless! 😩 😭

#OokBookClub

julesG You gave it your all. It's not one of his best, I'm afraid. Don't worry. We'll be reading Guards Guards in May. You can ignore Mrs Bradshaw's Handbook, it's very similar to Raising Steam. 3w
willaful I'm looking forward to Guards Guards! Couldn't get a copy of MBH anyway. :-( 3w
Faranae I've tried to get past the first chapter twice and it just... it isn't the Sir Terry I know. People tell me it gets better but... 3w
willaful @Faranae It doesn't. :-( 3w
22 likes4 comments
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willaful
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A powerful, necessary book. I appreciate that it was fairly short and easy to read, because it's such an intimidating topic.

#MonthlyNonfiction2025

julieclair Oh wow, that quote. So true. 3w
29 likes1 comment
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willaful
Paladin's Grace | T Kingfisher
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Pickpick

Kingfisher says that she wanted to write a fluffy romance, but wound up with a few too many severed heads and rotting corpses. I'd still put it in the fluffy, and formulaic category. Luckily it's also sweet, relatable and often funny, with a nice slow burn.

#SeriesLove2025

TheSpineView That face! Love it! 😍 3w
Andrew65 😂😂😂 Love this, well done 🎉🎉🎉 3w
33 likes2 comments
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willaful
Bad Reputation | Emma Barry
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A soft pick. I really enjoyed the details of intimacy coordination work and the characters reinventing themselves, but the slow burn romance fizzled out instead of blazing.

(Can't complain about three #ISpyBingo squares for my first book of the month though!)

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willaful
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Four old favs, and one I'd like to read.

#ThreeListThursday #TLT @dabbe

dabbe I've never read that one either. Love your other choices! Thanks for playing and sharing. 💜💜💜 4w
26 likes1 comment
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willaful
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Can someone remind me of the title of the book we read for #SheSaid about how neighborhoods closed down swimming pools and public areas rather then desegregating them?

@Riveted_Reader_Melissa

TheBookHippie I didn‘t read with you but I think you mean this one 4w
willaful @TheBookHippie Yes, thank you!
4w
See All 7 Comments
Riveted_Reader_Melissa Nope, just looked. TheBookHippie is correct 4w
Riveted_Reader_Melissa I was just looking at the list of books removed from the military library… The Sum of Us is on the list (edited) 3w
13 likes7 comments
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willaful
Swept Away | Beth O'Leary

An adventure romance that reminded me of On The Island -- and honestly, I'm a lot older now than when I read that and I wasn't always sure my heart could take it! 😂 The adventure section is excellent but I felt the ending hit some false notes that took away from the authenticity of the rest. The audiobook is very well narrated.

julesG Agree, the ending was a bit un-O'Leary-ish. 1mo
29 likes2 comments
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willaful
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A decent month, if not the best.

Read4life Getting any time to read makes every month better!! 💙📚💙 1mo
29 likes1 comment
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willaful
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Quite a good month, even though one cover really let me down! (Into the Woods had a tent instead of a cabin, even though there are literally no tents in the story, and the MMC's painted fingernails are not depicted!)

TheAromaofBooks I frequently find myself reading about some weird I Spy prompt and thinking - Why isn't this on the cover!? 😂 4w
willaful @TheAromaofBooks SO irritating. These cartooony covers are so short (or wrong!) on detail. 4w
27 likes2 comments
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willaful
BookSpinBingo | Untitled
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willaful
Yield Under Great Persuasion | Alexandra Rowland

I'm an outlier but 250 pages of Talking It Out was a bit much for me.

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willaful
Service Model | Adrian Tchaikovsky

Inside his decision-making software there were two subroutines in the shape of wolves, and one insisted that he stay, and the other insisted that he could not stay. Neither of which seemed to be natural behavior for wolves, but Uncharles could only assume this was another aspect of his undiagnosed defect.

He let them fight until one ate the other.

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willaful
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Ruthiella 👏👏👏 1mo
37 likes1 comment
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willaful
BookSpinBingo | Untitled
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TheAromaofBooks Woohoo!! 1mo
22 likes1 comment
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willaful
Go with the Flow | Lily Williams, Karen Schneemann
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The look on her face...so relatable.

lil1inblue This part reminded me too much of my first cycle. 😂 😲 1mo
24 likes2 comments
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willaful
Things I Should Have Known | Claire LaZebnik

I'm glad this wasn't as dark as the cover suggests. Chloe, a popular high school girl, thinks her autistic older sister Ivy is yearning for a boyfriend -- but her attempts to set her up have unexpected consequences, both bad and good.

Although I don't love books about disabled people that don't center them, I did appreciate how caring and accepting Chloe is, even if she's not always wise. And I related to her a lot.

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willaful
Time Is a Mother | Ocean Vuong
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This is a section from “Reasons for Staying,“ my favorite poem from this. You can read the full poem here: https://griffinpoetryprize.com/poem/reasons-for-staying-vuong/

I definitely didn't get all of these poems, but even the bits and pieces I did were powerful and evocative.

#QueerBC #NationalPoetryMonth

PuddleJumper ❤️❤️ 1mo
peanutnine I felt the same way about this collection, there were some beautiful sections that really stood out as powerful 🩷 1mo
27 likes3 comments
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willaful
The Rose Code | Kate Quinn
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Exciting, engrossing historical fiction about three women who worked at Bletchley park during WWII and the impact that time -- of personal freedom on one hand and intense secrecy on the other -- impacted their lives. It is on the melodramatic side but interestingly, some of the most astonishing elements were drawn from true stories. (I was a little uncomfortable that Prince Phillip is a major character.)

One of the characters is almost (cont)

willaful certainly autistic, and though of the “savant“ variety few of us are, I was really interested in her growth and her way of finding happiness for herself that had nothing to do with what society expected of her.

#AuthorAMonth
#AllergicToChunksters
1mo
Jess861 This has been on my bookshelf forever - I need to get to it! 1mo
julieclair Great review! And I‘m totally fine with a little melodrama. 😘 1mo
32 likes3 comments