#Scarathlon #PhotoChallenge Team #MischiefAndMayhem

I wanted to pick something for this prompt I'd actually want to read, and I figured Kingfisher wouldn't let me down.

Sweet concept and characters but waaaay over the top; the ludicrousness of the villainy and the abject misery of the reality don't sit together comfortably.

My second #Scarathlon book.

#20in4

A real page-turner and a @#$!#% cliff-hanger! Do not start this without the next book available.

#Scarathlon word search words: blood=13, killer=6, ghost=4, dark=67, spooky=3, evil=1, crime=37, trick=4, treat=1, costume=6, party=23

#CastTheDie #1

Third book finished during #20in4 . Correction - fifth! (But only 2 were started during it, and one was a short graphic novel.)

@Andrew65

#Scarathlon Photo Challenge #Black #TeamMischiefAndMayhem @PuddleJumper

We can turn our bucket lists into BINGO boards for extra points! I added a few tasks to make it come out even.

#Scarathlon #BucketList

This isn't a TBR (except for walkaway) because I mostly read ebooks.

Wish I could've gotten one of our Monarch visitors into the picture!

#AutumnPlease #OrangeStack

@iconEggs @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

#ISpyBingo You wouldn't believe how many books I read this month with windows on the curtains but no visible curtains. But the windows in The Enigma Game definitely have blackout curtains, even if they're not obviously visible. 😂

For #BookSpin I DNF'd Even Though I Knew the End -- will try it again in a better frame of mind -- and read Ten Things I Hate About the Duke for #DoubleSpin. I also read Tramps and Vagabonds, Nasty, Brutish and Short, and DNF'd The Scandalous Letters of V & J, so there was some good movement on my list.

@TheAromaofBooks

My goal for the #20in4 #Readathon is to read 10 chapters per day. Today and tomorrow I'm finishing up reads before the #Scarathlon starts - 2 chapters of A Passage to India, 7 chapters of Old New York, and the rest will be Passage by Lois Bujold.

On October 1st I'm reading Truly Devious by Maureen Johnson and starting some new buddy reads for the month.

@Andrew65

#BookedInTime #WorldWarTwo

Wonderfully atmospheric period details, and incisive portrayals of several marginalized people in wartime England/Scotland, one who can “pass“ and one who definitely can't. All inspired by true events, including a devastating episode in which a little boy assumes half-Jamaican Louisa is a Nazi, just because she has brown skin.

I found the quick switches of multiple points of view disrupted the narrative.

@Cuilin

My #OctoberBucketList. We tend to have really nice Octobers, so it's a great time to garden. And very handy for outdoor parties, because my group of friends are all still covid-cautious.

This is an album my husband plays every Fall.

Me: “How many times for I have to tell you? Desires are not reasons for actions.“

Kid: “Okay Boomer, I've read Hume.“

Me: “What? I'm not even a Boomer. I'm Gen X.“

Kid: “Reason is a slave to my passion, Xoomer.“

Can't tell you how many times I've had this basic conversation with my kid. Nothing pisses off a Gen-Xer more than being called a Boomer. 😂

#bookspin #Scarathlon

@TheAromaofBooks

I think Chase didn't have quite enough inspiration from “Ten Things I Hate About You“/The Taming of the Shrew because the plot of this feels a bit overstuffed and lopsided. But as always, the romantic relationship is delightful, as His Dis-Grace the Duke thoroughly reforms and even becomes an early Victorian feminist under the taming influence of a strong, capable woman. A fun read.

#doublespin

@TheAromaofBooks

I think maybe you have to actually be a fan of reality shows to enjoy this? Because all the glowing reviews just loved the pettiness and drama, and I really didn't. And it felt very weird that this was a YA book; none of it quite made sense to me.

There's decent arcs for the main characters and some laughs, but it was disappointing after the author's previous books.

#TBRTarot

“The had started speaking of 'women and children'--that phrase the exempts the male from sanity when it has been repeated a few times.“

Part of the fascination of reading older books is seeing how little human nature actually change over time.

1) “The Phantom of the Paradise.“ I imprinted on it as a child. Still have the soundtrack album.

2) I love how much my husband loves it. He can't wait to feel Autumnal and put on George Winston music.

3) Paranormal romance.

4) Adding to the TBR/TBW. 😁

5) I had it last year! We rented a popcorn machine and showed movies outside to our friends. It was awesome.

Team #MischiefAndMayhem

It's not too late to sign up for the #Scarathlon ! Be on a team and have fun doing Halloween-y reading and watching!

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdnawYo1IDsBAr2s_LlqzBQlxM8KGwIqDxE1Dm4...

TBR for the #Scarathlon

@Puddlejumper

My #CastTheDie choices, to coincide with #Scarathlon

@Puddlejumper

My #scarathlon watch list for team #mischiefandmayhem

I don't have a whole lot of ideas, but I'll probably get some from others. My TBR on the other hand...

@PuddleJumper

“For a moment or two Quiller toyed dizzily with the idea of double-crossing the man who had made him wear running shorts.“

“He himself was so far from having any pretensions of being an amateur that he could not even claim to know what he liked.“

#FurrowedMiddlebrowClub

#TitlesAndTunes Midnight Duet is a modern day “Phantom of the Opera“ and by all account, both main characters are total drama queens. 😁 And “Black Widow“ features the verse, “I'm gonna love you, until you hate me... I'm gonna love you like a Black Widow baby!“

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mT8cg7LStwk (Just Dance version)

@Cinfhen @BarbaraBB

#ISpyBingo I was looking through my August books, thinking surely someone who reads as much romance as I do would have read a book with a heart on the cover? And I found this. 😂

@TheAromaofBooks

An enjoyable read despite some infuriating characters who do not get the comeuppance they deserve! #tbrdeckofcards

#bookspin #doublespin @TheAromaofBooks

A thoughtful reframing of the endless TBR problem:

https://www.oliverburkeman.com/river

“I'd only ever had one boyfriend and it hadn't gone well. I'd realized pretty quickly that this boy and I were incompatible (because of everything he said and did), so I told him it was over. It took months for him to get the message. It was so excruciating, I thought I was going to have to pay someone to kill him.“

I suspect Aster Glenn Gray must be independently wealthy, since she spends so much time on research and virtually none on trying to get people to actually buy her books. 😂 But she has a bunch of loyal fans and deservedly so. This fairy tale retelling/friendship story/college story/young adult historical romance/time travel tale weaves disparate threads in in an immersive, quietly moving, and astonishingly insightful way.

#backlistreadathon

1. public school ridiculously early, like this week. My kid starts college at the end of the month.

2. I *love* school stories, of all kinds! This, Gaudy Night by Sayers, Cat Among the Pigeons by Christie, Witch Week by Ibbotson, Dragonsinger by McCaffrey, Sideways Stories from Wayside School by Sachar, The Education of H*Y*M*A*N K*A*P*L*A*N, Little Men by Alcott -- too many to count!

“At the spiritual level, Yavilah believes, racism interrupts the human connection with the divine.“ pg. 251

My #bookspin book, which also amused me to use for the “high/low“ #ISpyBingo space. (And red lipstick!)

Not really my cuppa; I'm not a fan of accident/humiliation humor. Kept reading mainly for the pov of a non-binary character. Overall I liked it pretty well, but I think the author isn't great at third-act break-ups--they always seem to be based on mental breakdowns.

I thought of the perfect image for this, a Jules Feiffer cartoon which ends with a man saying “I love you Dorothy!“ and her thinking, “What terribly poor judgement.“ Alas, I cannot find it.

This is a much rougher read than you'd expect, light in tone but serious in topic. I almost DNF'd but am glad I didn't, because I actually related quite a bit to depressed, pessimistic Lizzie, who's married to a kind, generous optimist.

Half the board filled and not a single bingo, of course.

@TheAromaofBooks

My #bookspin for August. Although I DNF'd my book for July -- The Algorithm Will See You Now, I found the prose too pedestrian -- I did read *eight* other books from my July list, and one from my regular list (Unmask Alice. Two, if you count The Hollow Places by T. Kingfisher, but I'm leaving her on the list.)

@TheAromaofBooks

A thoughtful memoir that looks at the nature of community college and the additional barriers created by the 2020 lockdown. Very powerful use of the graphic novel format.

(My own daughter was one of the community college kids left behind: not from technological or financial issues like many, but from a brain that doesn't work with zoom and that suffered so much from isolation.)

#doublespin @TheAromaofBooks

A shame this has a very poorly aged plot device -- the heroine thinks the hero is “touched in his attic“ -- because it's otherwise charming.

#ChristmasInJuly @Littlewolf1 @Roary47

I'm almost flabbergasted by how hideous AND non-communicative these covers are. It's a pleasant contemporary sports romance.

A quiet, character driven romance in which Alexei finds love and emotional healing while hiking the Pacific Crest Trail. Very moving, and also a good, non-stereotypical portrait of an autistic person.

My choice for “mountain on the cover“ for @faranae 's #URC challenge.

#MidYearBookFreakOut I love this hashtag!

1. This is How You Lose the Time War. For book published in 2023, We Could Be So Good by Cat Sebastian,

2. ok, this is embarrassing but... The Heir Apparent's Rejected Mate by Cate C. Wells. 😊

3. Happy Place by Emily Henry. I started it on audio but even though I usually love that narrator, didn't get into it.

4. Business or Pleasure by Rachel Lynn Solomon. Loved the Ex Talk and Weather girl.

cont.

I've decided to find my weird canva efforts charming.

Very close to a second bingo this month! I started False Colours by Alex Beecroft for the “fire and water“ square but it was more war-ish than I felt up to.

#ISpyBingo @TheAromaofBooks

#TitlesandTunes #sexdrugsandrockandroll

This prompt made me think of one of my favorite “#JustDance songs. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkGPGDd12VA&ab_channel=BoomieDCI (SFW version.)

@Cinfhen, @BarbaraBB

Bummed to say I DNF'd both my #BookSpin and #DoubleSpin books, Everyone in this Room Will Someday Be Dead and Beautiful Music for Ugly Children. Part of my great DNF-fest of 2023! 8 books in June alone, so far!

On a brighter note, I did read If This Gets Out and am listening to Moral Follies by Alexis Hall, from my June list. And I read Shades of Wicked and several books by Sarah Rees Brennan, from my May list.

@TheAromaofBooks

This month's #bookspin reflects the fact that a) I'm feeling overloaded and need to just read for fun for awhile and b) I have a 3 month free trial of Kindle Unlimited and a huge backlog of interesting books in it. (True story: I was just about to subscribe to KU again on the *very day* that they raised the price, and I just can't bring myself to pay that much!)

@TheAromaOfBooks

I couldn't wait and devoured the rest in one gulp! Will wait for Sunday though. #SUNDAYBUDDYREAD

I enjoyed this very much when it first came out, and now there's a sequel I decided to reread. It's wonderful suspense for kids. I suspect recent events might have inspired the author to revisit the idea.

@purpleness #rereadingsummer

@TheAromaofBooks Twinsies!

Family Sabbatical was my absolute favorite Brink though. I'm so happy it got reprinted!

@purpleness #rereadingsummer

I loved this when it first came out but have never read it since. How wonderful to find it still lives up to its title. Such strong, appealing characters who somehow find each other.

I took advantage of a “lucky day“ loan, so I'm a bit early for #CampLitsy. What a fantastic read! I feared it would be a slog but I tore through it. Looking forward to the discussion.

Also my very first #ISpyBingo! @TheAromaOfBooks