This weeks prompt is: books with my favorite color on the cover! My favorite color is green. To me, it is a color full of nature, life, yet so calming. The color of leaves and grass and katydids. Emeralds. Moss. Luna moths. Frogs. The patina on old copper. I love all shades of green, from deep forest greens to bright jewel tones to more muted sage and then springlike light greens.
I usually write a little something about the books in these posts, but today is just all about the cover and the color.
So…this post was originally all just cover and color. But Laurie pointed out to me that this made my post inaccessible to her as a screen reader user. So I went through and tried to do alt text. I hope I did it correctly! As the parent of a wheelchair user, I understand how frustrating inaccessibility is.
I don’t have too much to share today! Billy has been away camping this weekend, on a remote island with little cell service (I wish I was kidding!) and I will be anxiously waiting for him to get home today. Wyatt and I have had a few good days hanging out though while his dad has been out with the guys. We had a weekend of Wyatt – shopped for books, ice cream, games, painting, reading, popcorn and M & Ms, macaroni and cheese for dinner. We have both been missing Billy but will be very happy to see him tonight.
Read Last Week:
I read middle grade/YA books last week and I really enjoyed them both! The Currie book was fun because it takes place in Saugatuck, MI, which is one of my favorite places in the state. I love to visit there! I know which house the fictional house in the book is based on, but to say might be too spoilery! If you don’t want to know, don’t go googling old houses near Saugatuck. On the other hand, if you do want to know, then go ahead and google away.
The Nancy Drew was also a fun read as well. It was my first time reading Nancy Drew, and I would probably never have read one of these vintage mysteries except Lisa over Boondock Ramblings has been reading them, and it piqued my interest. It was fun read!
Reading This Week:
I love the sound of both of these. The Easy life in Kamusari sounds like it will be very slow living, nature vibes and I need that right now, but then on the other hand a bookshop…it’s hard to say which one I will pick!
It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is hosted by Kathryn at Book Date
Hello everybody!! Last week was such a fun week! Wyatt went to music camp and it was just everything. He had so much fun, and I am so thankful for this camp that brought him such joy. It was a very busy week but very worth it.
You guys, I loved this book!! I don’t usually read romances but this one got my attention because that main character is a snail scientist, and I love snails. Sometimes that is all it takes. Anyway, I absolutely adored it. I loved the journey that Christa’s character went through, and it was handled very well. For those who like a clean romance, this was not a closed door book and there was some swearing for those who dislike that as well.
Reading This Week:
I feel like this is another week I might bounce between books before I find the right one. I am like the Goldilocks of reading these days! In my pile of possibles this week are:
I am also slow reading At The Pond, which has been a fun read, but also reinforces my dislike of swimming in open water.
On Father’s Day, Billy wanted a lazy day and I didn’t blame him. He has been working his tailfeathers off lately between his actual job and building Wyatt’s ramp. So a lazy day for the win over here. We ended up watching Ghostbusters Afterlife, which actually turned out to be a really good Father’s Day movie. We also realized that when Billy and I saw Ghostbusters when it came out in 1984 we were the same age Wyatt is now, and that Ghostbusters Afterlife was Wyatt’s first introduction to Ghostbusters. We just thought that was neat.
While away at Music Camp, we didn’t watch too much. We watched YouTube but for the most part let Wyatt chill out with the television since there wasn’t too much to do in the room, and he was pooped out from the day everyday. Billy did whatever on his tablet, I read. I think today we are going to have another movie night – we might introduce another nostalgic 80s movie to kiddo. We are thinking maybe Goonies, but we might just watch Ghostbusters Frozen Empire.
It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is hosted by Kathryn at Book Date
Hello everyone! This past week was a pretty darn good week. It was a good mix of busy and slow, which was nice. We are about to have two pretty busy weeks in a row so this calm before the storm was welcome.
I was also totally wrapped up in the book I was reading! Last week I couldn’t settle, but I guess I hadn’t picked up the exact right book. That book ended up being Riley Sagar’s The Last Lie I Told, which was fantastic. I am late to the party on reading Sagar and at least now I have a bunch of his books to read!
I LOVED this book and could not put it down. I can’t wait to read another of his books.
Reading This Week:
This week Billy and I will be taking turns going to Wyatt’s different programs at music camp, and so when it is not my turn to be with him, I will be sitting in the lobby reading this book. I started it over the weekend and so far it is funny and lighthearted. I hope I continue to like it! Maybe I should take another book or two as well, just in case.
Our evenings have been very full lately, and instead of watching a tv show at night we have just been enjoying some YouTube favorites. Lots of Alexis Dahl , a Michigan YouTuber who vlogs about Michigan history and science which we find fascinating (I believe Katja told me about her!). We have also been watching The Unexpected Gypsy, who is an artist with great personal style (braids and overalls, my fave), and The Rambling Rose, another artist.
So, not a super lot to report here this week! I hope you all are doing well!
Probably 99% of the books I read are from the library, but sometimes, I just want to have my own copy. Usually this is because it looks like a book that will really resonate with me, one that I will reread, and one that I will just be enchanted by for a long time. These are the books that have made that list of books that are currently on my wish list!
The Travelling Cat Chronicles by Hiro Arikawa || Jane of Lantern Hill by L. M. Montgomery || The Honey Witch by Sydney J. Shields
The Travelling Cat Chronicles – I have been super into Japanese fiction this year and this one just sounds wonderful.
Jane of Lantern Hill – I have been wanting to branch out into other Montgomery characters and books, besides the beloved Anne. Jane seems like a great place to start!
The Berry Pickers by Amanda Peters || The Pink Motel by Carol Ryrie Brink || English Pastoral by James Rebanks
The Berry Pickers – I am very intrigued by this book! I feel like it could be a slow read for me, one to really take my time with and digest. Same with English Pastoral, which reminds me of John Lewis-Stempel, who is one of my favorite authors.
The Pink Hotel – I collect Carol Ryrie Brink books and this one just really appeals to me! I love books set in motels and I love the kitschy look of this cover!
The Mermaid in the Millpond by Lucy Strange || A Tempest of Tea by Hafsah Faizal || Days at the Morisaki Bookshop by Satoshi Yagisawa
It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is hosted by Kathryn at Book Date
Hello everyone! We had a pretty quiet week around here – which I greatly appreciated honestly. We need these quiet weeks from time to time!
Despite having a fairly slow week, I didn’t read that much! I have too many books that I want to read and now I am bouncing all over because I can’t choose which one to start with!
I did read one book though. Dandelion Cottage.
I am really into reading these old-fashioned vintage books right now, and this one was a great find. It is set in the upper peninsula of Michigan, and is based on the real life hometown of the author Carroll Watson Rankin. Dandelion Cottage is a real place that tourists can visit too! I was in Marquette a few years ago and I would have visited had I known about this cottage then.
I also started a slow read, inspired by Katherine of I Wish I Lived in a Library. She has a book she is reading from just twenty minutes a day, and I started doing that with this next book.
At the Pond is a collection of essays about the Hampstead Ladies’ Pond, and is divided into sections by season. I have to be honest, to me these women are so brave to wild swim like this in a pond. I am so afraid to swim in anything that is not a pool and swimming in a pond like this in the winter is so courageous! The essays I have read talk about how they feel invincible after a lap or two in the freezing wild water and if I were to ever get the gumption to do that, I would probably feel the same way.
This week I have a few books I am considering (that whole can’t choose and settle down thing).
Billy and I are also hopping all over with our tv watching. We are usually binge watchers but we have been skipping around lately. We have been watching The Brokenwood Mysteries (0ne of my faves!), When Calls the Heart, The Great British Sewing Bee, and Palm Royale. I absolutely loved the first season of the Great British Sewing Bee, it was just so wholesome and cozy.
And that is it from my little corner of the internet this morning! I hope you are all doing great!
This week’s prompt is books that you had very strong emotions about. (Any emotion! Did a book make you super happy or sad? Angry? Terrified? Surprised?)
I am starting out strong on this one with Stone Fox by John Reynolds Gardiner. I did not read this as a kid but I did pick it up and read it one day while working. I used to work in an elementary school library so I would read here and there, obviously. This book though. This book. I will NEVER read it again! It was emotionally devastating. I got to the end and just was sobbing sitting there at my desk in the quiet library, all by myself. I hate this book, and I will never read it again. If you have read it you know.
The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating hit me in the feels in a much different way. I was in a deep state of grief over the loss of my aunt, whom was like a second mother to me in many ways. We were very close and I was struggling. This book did not erase that sadness, but it did lift me up and give me hope. It is beautifully written and is still one of my favorite books.
The Call of the Wild and Free is a book the deeply resonated within me, and spoke to my heart. Homeschool is not the perfect choice for every family, but it is the perfect choice for mine. This book put into words all I had been feeling.
I had to take the wayback machine for this one. The Jungle by Upton Sinclair. I read this in high school and afterwards, I gave up meat and became a vegetarian for about 30 years. I still struggle with my decision to eat meat now, but it became a convenience thing during the pandemic. My son is a total carnivore, and for a long time was failure to thrive no matter what we fed him (for five years) and my husband can’t eat carbs for medical reasons. It is just not financially easy for me to eat a different meal.
I could not make this list without including All Creatures Great and Small. My mom gave me the series when I was just a young girl, probably around ten years of age, and I devoured them. They did make me feel so many emotions – joy, but yes, also sadness. Confusion, because I didn’t understand what some of the book was talking about, because well, I was ten. However, this is another book that affected me profoundly in my life, encouraging my love of animals and all life. I even named our little homeschool after James Herriot.
Meadowland by John Lewis-Stempel is one of the first nonfiction nature books that I ever read as an adult and it started me down a rabbit hole that has lasted for years. It affected me very much, it was so calming and full of hope like The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating, but in a different way. It’s like that quote from Jurassic Park, “Nature finds a way” – such a powerful quote from an unexpected source. I feel like this book inspired a whole new direction in my life.
Wow when I started this post I didn’t realize how much nonfiction would be on it! Another nature nonfiction book, The Nature Fix opened my eyes to how nature heals, and I used what I learned from it to open Wyatt’s world and my own. I was always a nature-lover, a hiker, sort of outdoorsy sort (except in humidity and heat) but this showed me just how important that time outside really is for our brains.
I know that this series is considered problematic now, but I still love Little House. I read the books every year, since I was kid. I have read them even more than I have read Watership Down, which is a LOT. When I was little the idea of living so wild and free was fascinating, and it taught me a bit about a different way of life. I loved that Laura was not a perfectly behaved little girl, because I wasn’t a perfectly behaved little girl either. I tended towards heroines like Ramona, like Emily from Emily’s Runaway Imagination, and Anne from Anne of Green Gables, who tended to find themselves in predicaments, much like I did. Today, I think these old stories can still be useful as teachable moments, and can be read alongside books like Children of the Longhouse, The Birchbark House series, and Prairie Lotus which have a different perspective.
I loved this book so much! I read my copy until it fell apart and I actually just replaced it with a new copy a few months ago. I read these in high school and it sparked a love for New Orleans that has never abated. I have visited many times, the last time a week and a half before Katrina, which was a weird time to be there! I of course had my picture taken in front of Rice’s home while I was there. It also inspired me to look into my one family history and genealogy, which wasn’t as supernatural as those of the Mayfairs (or at all lol) but I did love talking to my grandparents about their lives, memories, parents and grandparents. My grandfather was born in England, and my grandma was the first of her siblings to be born in America, the rest of her family was born in Scotland, her older sisters and brothers.
And finally, of course, Watership Down.
I really can’t put into words why I love this book quite so much. I just do. There is just something about this book that is comforting and hopeful despite that hardships. Maybe that is it. Maybe it is that they endure and are resilient and rely on each other to get through their lives, as a community. They go through these hard things and keep a levity to their lives as well, a hope for a better life, which they ultimately do get. They are clever and brave and strong, and have moments of fear, even Bigwig, but get through it and live their dream.
And there you have it. I wasn’t planning on getting so serious with this, but it happened. There are so many other books that I could list but if we are talking which books made me feel the strongest emotions, they would be the books that shaped me or affected my life in some way. So that is where I went!
It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is hosted by Kathryn at Book Date
Hello everyone!! I feel like I am draggin’ wagon today. I blame this weather, all overcast this morning. I have to get ready for church soon but I am procrastinating big time. I’ll have another cup of coffee and finish this post then I will get ready.
We had a pretty good week last week. Not anything exciting or noteworthy, just everyday life things. We did set up a fish tank for my kiddo who has wanted a fish, so that was our big event of the week. Wyatt is loving his fish Moon and his snail Sunny.
Read Last Week:
I had started listening to Tress last summer but then stopped because after listening I realized it was a book that I wanted to read, not listen to. And I am glad that I made that choice, because I loved Tress! Brandon Sanderson was inspired to write it after he and his family watched The Princess Bride (one of my all time favorite movies) during lockdown. His wife brought up a question about Buttercup and he started thinking about what it would be like if Buttercup went in search of Wesley rather than accepting that he was dead. And Tress was born. I absolutely loved it although I did find some parts a bit slow moving.
I started reading You’re Not Supposed to Die Tonight as part of the Camp Spooky Readathon hosted by the Midnight Book Club on Instagram, and it was such a fast read that I finished it the same day I started. And it was a very busy day too! It was just one of those books that you could not put down and also was a quick read too. It was so good! Kaylnn Bayron said that she was a fan of those 80s slasher movies as a kid (just like me) and wanted to write her own homage to them. So she did! Very good read, not super gory.
Both of my books were inspired by movies! I just realized that.
Reading This Week:
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In keeping with my trend of reading vintage or older middle age books, I picked up Dandelion Cottage from the library the other day. I am excited to read it! The author grew up in Michigan on the shores of Lake Superior, and the Dandelion Cottage is apparently a real cottage that is still there. I think I am also going to start At the Pond this week as well.
Billy and I have been watching a few different things. My favorite that we have been watching is the newest season of The Brokenwood Mysteries. I just love that series so much. We are also watching When Calls the Heart and Palm Royale. I love the way Palm Royale looks and the cast is fire, but ooh it is hard for me to watch sometimes because of secondhand embarrassment and cringe. But the set and the costumes and the colors are just beautiful so that makes it worth it so far. This article is about the costumes if you want to read more.
We also watched The Fall Guy! I had been waiting for this movie to go to streaming and I was so excited. Now, I know this movie was panned but I loved it, and so did Billy. We both loved the tv show with Lee Majors as kids, and there were so many references and throwbacks to the 80s. We were so excited every time we caught one. We also think that the character Tom Ryder based his characters mannerisms and speech pattern after Matthew McConaughey, who I love. We both thought it was a lot of fun. I think people wanted nonstop action and this movie had a bit of a plot and a love story to boot.
And that is it from me today! I hope you all have a wonderful day!
Hello everybody! I hope that you all had a wonderful weekend!
We were worker bees and homebodies all weekend, which was nice. Billy worked more on the door/inside part of the ramp project while I did some work on our new fish tank. Wyatt has wanted one and with his mornings being so not fun these days, I decided to get one when we got a little surprise bonus check.
I had no idea that setting up a fish tank was so involved, but now I know. On Friday after dinner at our local pizza place, we decided to see if the aquarium store was still open. It was about 7 so we thought there was a chance it would be closed but we were happily surprised to find it open – and busy! The woman working was extremely helpful and kind, and is exactly the type of person you want working in your store. I can’t say enough good things. The store itself was really neat too – there were so many cool fish and little shrimp and snails and axolotls, and all sorts of things to look at inside – even bullfrog tadpoles! We saw the tadpoles inside and then the actual bullfrogs outside. It was neat.
We also got a little Mystery Snail that Wyatt named Sunny, who spent the night in a glass jar with a strainer lid on my nightstand. I heard him clinking around in there all night. We all are fascinated by him to be honest. He only had to stay one night in there because we set up the tank Saturday morning, one step closer to getting Wyatt’s fish.
Then it was time to add the beneficial bacteria! I had no idea this was a thing, but my friend Kelly did, and she also gave me some. I guess this is good for your aquarium to help break down bad stuff like waste, dead plants, etc and you can buy it but Kelly gave me some from her axolotl tank instead. Which meant a trip to Kelly’s – who has more animals than I do! Two axolotls, 6 toads, 2 tree frogs, and some baby toads that she raised from tadpoles last year. She also has a bunch of cats, but we only saw one, Pal. I didn’t get to see my favorite Buddy, but maybe next time.
We added the beneficial bacteria and then it was a waiting game. We let it cycle a few days then on Tuesday I took a water sample to the aquarium store and had them test it. I figured the woman could let us know if we were good to go, and if not, what we needed to do to get there. Wyatt was very happy when she told him things were good to go! He looked at all the betta that they had, so many colors and varieties, and finally made his choice.
Meet Moonlight, or Moon, for short. (and Sunny the snail again)
Moon is so pretty! He did a great job! He was thinking that he wanted a yellow one but when the lady told him that this was a Halloween betta ( I am pretty sure she was just calling it that and that it is not an actual type?), that was it for Wyatt. That was the one he wanted, my little Halloween loving boy. He named it Moon although I was petitioning for the names Spooky or Stormy. Moon is a great name though, and it is his fish so he wins!
The art exhibit that Billy had his work entered in opened on Thursday, and we went to that too. It was pretty neat seeing all of the small works of art, but Billy’s was the smallest. I am quite proud of him! He was interviewed by the Downriver Council for the Arts while we were there, which was neat to watch. We had a good time exploring all of the pieces on display, and it was hard to pinpoint our favorites. We all loved the lizard/dinosaur/dragon eye, which is amazing. I also could not get over the detail on that portrait! Look at Billy’s little terrariums down there! So exciting!
Oh, and I got a boba tea for the first time. Except I got boba lemonade, and it was delicious.
And now, some random photos!
And that is it from me this very early morning! I hope that whatever you do today, that you do something that makes you smile.
Ok guys so here it is. I am not a big fan of summer. Oh there are things I enjoy about the season, like the longer days and more sunlight, the easy days, the lushness of the outdoors, sunsets, fireflies, summer foods (wow there is more than I thought!), but I am not a fan of heat and humidity. I loathe being hot and sweaty, so so much. I am also one of those people who looks just awful in heat. My face gets red, always has (and so does Wyatt’s and Mermaid Girl’s too..), my hair gets frizzy. I just don’t like it. I don’t like beaches or swimming in lakes or oceans. I am a reallllll bummer about summer.
I do have so many good memories of summer from when I was kid. One of them is the summer that my cousin Brian and I spent riding bikes to the library and checking out Stephen King books. We would check them out, then go back to his house and read them. My mom, a single mom, worked everyday and my brother and I would go to my aunt’s house during the summer while my mom worked. My brother is six years younger than me so he didn’t get to go to the library with Brian and I. Sorry Devin. He was back having fun with our aunt anyway. Brian and I would ride back to his house after, then hole up in the cool darkness of the den, eat snacks, and read Stephen King together. It was a great summer, if a little spooky. Since then, I have always equate summer reading with spooky books. No beach reads for me, I guess. I do mix it up here and there, because I can no longer just binge scary like I used to, but I will forever think of summer reading and scary books together.
That being said… here is my tentative summer reading list, which I think is a nice eclectic mix of genres.
So many scary/thriller books! I can’t wait to read What Lives in the Woods, since it is set in Michigan in a town I have been to many times. I love Saugatuck, it is such a neat little artistic community. That one will be fun.
I also have quite a few that are summer camp themed – one of my favorite settings. I realize I am a bit of a sucker for a setting, and I think I am going to do a post on that in the future. There are just places and cities that make me immediately pick a book up, and summer camp is one of them. (I also love summer camp themed movies, just saying) You’re Not Supposed to Die Tonight, When She Was Me, and The Last Time I Lied all involve summer camp and I am super excited about it.
I have been on a mission to find “own voices” books by authors with disabilities about characters who disabilities, especially when the representation is “casual” and You Never Know by Connie Briscoe came across my radar. The main character in You Never Know has an hearing impairment, as does Connie Briscoe. I have been compiling a list for Wyatt as well, to have in our own home library, starting with middle grade and working my way up to YA. It is important that books are mirrors as well as windows.
The Berry Pickers has been on my TBR for a little while, and I am looking forward to finally getting to it. I actually think I am going to listen to this one on audio. At the Pond is another that has been on my list; it was hard to find here so I caved and bought it for myself so that I could read it. I think it will be perfect summer reading!
I will be honest, the cover is what drew me to The Twilight Garden, as well as the word twilight. I can be so weird. But that cover is beautiful! I keep seeing Every Time I Go on Vacation Someone Dies all over the place, and Italy is another setting that I love. Plus, it’s a cozy! Wolfsong by TJ Klune is another I have been eyeballing far too long, and I just feel like this summer is the perfect time to pick it up. And finally – The Easy Life in Kamusari. I started reading a bit of Japanese Literature this year and this one was one of those suggested reads, like if you liked this then you will like this – and after reading the blurb, I decided I probably would like it indeed!
So many! And I am sure that I will add in some older middle grade books, from decades ago because I love them. Looking at this list, I really don’t think I will get to all of these. When did my list get so long for the summer?? I will give it the old college try though!
I probably won’t start these for another week or two still, as I have to finish my spring TBR still!
When do start thinking summer? In June, after Memorial Day? Or on the first day of summer, June 20?
Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs.. 