It’s time for mini book reviews again! I like to do them in groups of three, sometimes four. Today I have three!
I am so thankful that I learned about Taber. I am slowly trying to make my way through her books, and this was the second one that I have read. I liked this one a little better than Stillmeadow and Sugarbridge, which I loved, only because it was all in Taber’s voice and perspective, and it was nice to meander through her life with her. She has such a wonderful POV, and it is just a relaxing and slice of life read.
ETA: Taber is an author who wrote memoir, essay style books about her life in the country and on the cape. It is gentle vintage fiction from an earlier era. I love the gentleness and just everydayness of it.
“April twilights are blue and deep. The air smells of growing things and running brooks. The pond holds the sky in it. The stars come out.”
This is the third and maybe final book in the series, which makes me sad. I really loved this series! It is a cute, easy to read series, and is absolutely so cozy. I love the town of Poppyville and I will miss it – and of course Dash as well, that cute little corgi you see on the cover. This book in particular was a lot of fun as it had a gold rush plot which is not something I see in very many books. One thing that I loved as well was a Gladys Taber reference! I could not believe it, considering I had just read Stillmeadow Daybook!
“I’d never get to sleep feeling so anxious, so I dug out a book of Gladys Taber essays that never failed to relax me, and read for an hour or so, reveling in her descriptions of cocker spaniels and life in an old Connecticut farmhouse..”
An Escape Goat was another really fun cozy! In this one, the main character Callie has connected with long lost family on the East Coast (she is from Seattle) and started a goat yoga retreat business on their farm. Of course, being a cozy mystery means that someone has to die. And they do. I said on Instagram that this is like a book version of a Luke Bryan song, but with murder, and I stand by that. It just has all those vibes – wholesome summer fun on the farm, big old trucks barreling down country roads, picnics with all the fixings, outdoorsy activities, small towns. I really loved it and need to get the next one in the series!
And that is about it from me here! Just a few short little thoughts on some good reads!
Hello everyone! I hope everyone is doing well. We had a full week but it was a fun one. We have one more obligation today and then we are all coming home and putting on comfy clothes and decompressing. Lol.
Books:
It was a good week, but I barely had any time to read. I did finish Watership Down for my yearly reread, and I am partway through An Escape Goat.
Version 1.0.0
I loved my journey with the rabbits of Watership Down, as always. And I am loving Zen Goat way more than I thought I was going to! I am definitely going to be seeking out the rest in the series.
This week I am reading more barnyard books. Lol.
Screens:
It was a super busy week, so we did not really watch anything. I did watch a few YouTuber channels here and there though, and I have a few new favorites that I am watching lately.
Rebecca at Literary Wanderings has become a regular watch for. I am really enjoying her vintage sleuths series of videos – and of course had to share them with Lisa at Boondock Ramblings of course, with her love of Nancy Drew!
Rebecca is also the channel where I learned about Gladys Taber last winter. She has some great recommendations and information, especially about older books.
I also enjoy watching Shelby’s Cottage. She only produces a video maybe once a month, but they are always really well done. I love her slow living ways. I can’t reproduce her routines at my house, but it is nice to pull maybe a little suggestion out that is manageable. I also find it interesting that I am drawn to YouTube channels where the person is an artist as their occupation, a painter or designer or illustrator. I have a type! Lol.
Last week I did manage to post a lot!
Books With Disability Representation – this has evolved into a passion project. I am either creating a website or a page that will be a searchable database of books that have disability representation. I have a feeling it is going to take a while but it will be worth it!
We celebrated Independent Bookstore Day! We popped into two of our local bookstores, and picked up a few books. One had a few other vendors there as well, including a sourdough bakery, so we also purchased a loaf of rosemary sourdough and some sourdough sugar cookies which were phenomenal. This was our haul. I tried to support independent authors (Pattern of Betrayal) and local authors (The Busiest Place You Know). I got Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead as a free ARC from making a purchase at one of the stores. It has a crazy title but I have heard really good things about it.
We also celebrated my mom’s 79th birthday! We all went over and had ice cream and hung out and told stories.
And with that everyone, I will say goodbye for now. I hope that whatever you do today, you do something that makes you smile!
And just a reminder:
Lisa of Boondock Ramblings and I host a monthly bookish link party called A Good Book and A Cup of Tea. This link-up is for book and reading posts or anything related to books and reading (even movies based on books!). Each link party will be open for a month. You can find that link up for this month here.
I had been sleeping on reading Raising Hare for a while now. Well, since it came out! I just love rabbits and hares a whole heck of a lot, and I didn’t think my heart could take it if something terrible happened. It is one of my biggest book triggers, throw the book down and never look back things, if an animal dies or is there is animal violence. So, I was tiptoeing around reading this one.
Finally, this spring I went for it. I was about to start my annual reread of Watership Down, and I felt like it was finally the right time. And I am so very glad that I did. I loved it. And I have to admit, I was a bit jealous of Chloe Dalton while reading it! I want my own hare to live with me and just come and go freely from my home! My killers (Max and Mouse) wouldn’t allow something like that but a girl can dream.
So, the summary:
“Imagine you could hold a baby hare and bottle-feed it. Imagine that it lived under your roof and lolloped around your bedroom at night, drumming on the duvet cover when it wanted your attention. Imagine that, over two years later, it still ran in from the fields when you called it and slept in your house for hours on end and gave birth to leverets in your study. For political advisor and speechwriter Chloe Dalton, who spent lockdown deep in the English countryside, far away from her usual busy London life, this became her unexpected reality.
In February 2021, Dalton stumbles upon a newborn hare—a leveret—that had been chased by a dog. Fearing for its life, she brings it home, only to discover how impossible it is to rear a wild hare, most of whom perish in captivity from either shock or starvation. Through trial and error, she learns to feed and care for the leveret with every intention of returning it to the wilderness. Instead, it becomes her constant companion, wandering the fields and woods at night and returning to Dalton’s house by day. Though Dalton feared that the hare would be preyed upon by foxes, stoats, feral cats, raptors, and even people, she never tried to restrict it to the house. Each time the hare leaves, Chloe knows she may never see it again. Yet she also understands that to confine it would be its own kind of death.
Raising Hare chronicles their journey together, while also taking a deep dive into the lives and nature of hares, and the way they have been viewed historically in art, literature, and folklore. We witness first-hand the joy at this extraordinary relationship between human and animal, which serves as a reminder that the best things, and most beautiful experiences, arise when we least expect them.”
My Thoughts:
I have to give Dalton credit. Her career and adult life was not one that left room for pets or children, and she knew that and never had any. Until lockdown, and until the hare. Her lifestyle needed to be flexible, free, able to pack up and fly out to any country at any time. It didn’t have room for anyone or anything that relied on her for their existence. Until lockdown, when the whole world took a break. And Dalton found a tiny baby leveret on her walk and then saw it still there four hours later. And in a move foreign to her, she brought it home. She did her research, consulted friends and vets and books and journals, and learned how to care for it. She knew that she wanted to keep it wild, which would make everything harder.
So in the weirdness that was the pandemic, she was able to shift her schedule to that of her new charge. And slowly, but surely, they forged a relationship that worked.
Her heart was not prepared to fall in love, but of course, she did. And here I give her credit as well, allowing the hare to come and go, to jump the wall and explore and be a hare, knowing that each time she did she risked not ever seeing it again.
This book was a beautiful story, an explanation of a woman learning to slow down and see the world around her. The natural word. To pay attention to the smaller things, to appreciate a sunrise or a certain flower in a garden. To notice habits of small animals. Raising Hare changed her outlook on the world, on how she lived. She kept her job and when she had to go back to work, she did. But she changed things in her home so that the hare could keep its routing, by installing a special rabbit door in her own door. She had cameras set up so that she could see what was happening at home no matter where she was in the world. All because of hare, she planted a hedgerow.
And noticed the callousness of humans. We are all aware of what happens to wildlife who share this planet with us. We destroy habitats, create barriers, pollute, kill. It was interesting to read this book alongside Watership Down, where Richard Adams also discusses this:
” Men will never rest till they’ve spoiled the earth and destroyed the animals.”
“That wasn’t why they destroyed the warren. It was just because we were in their way. They killed us to suit themselves.”
Dalton also discusses this. She mentions that Britain has lost 80% of its hare population in a hundred years, a statistic that saddens me enormously, and names agriculture as the superfactor that has led to the decline of this population.
“More risk came when in the late summer the fields of stubble were ploughed; transformed within minutes to brown wastelands, churned up battledfields of Somme-like proportions from the persepective of the a hare. The earth was cut, broken up and turned over by a tractor dragging a plough, and then drilled and sowed with new seed. I pictured the hares fleeing the steel tractors, their hearts pounding in fear, only to return and find their forms – or their leverets – crushed beneath the vast oblivious treads, or later licking their back paws, unknowingly coating their tongues with chemicals, once the new crops were sprayed.”
“The competing imperative of feeding the nation and protecting our environment are still unreconciled.”
And how do we do that? I wish I knew. Maybe our next generation will find the answer for us.
This book just touches on that a bit, but it would be a natural evolution to thinking about it as Dalton, living so closely with a wild thing. This story was more focused on her relationship with the hare, and how the hare changed her. And it was the most beautiful beautiful story.
I encourage anyone who likes nature nonfiction or rabbits or hares (as they are two different lagomorphs) to grab a copy of this book and read it. It is amazing and beautiful and gentle. Quiet. It is the pause we all need to happen in our lives.
As for triggers, if you are sensitive to animal content there is one very small incident but it is brief and I didn’t find it traumatizing, just a little bit sad. It is worth the read.
And with that all, I wish you a good day, and I hope that whatever you do today, you do something that makes you smile!
Lisa at Boondock Ramblings and I read Heidi together this month, and it was the most perfect book to read to usher in spring. I didn’t read it as a child, and I am so very glad that I took the time to read it now. We chatted back and forth to each other about how engrossing it is, what a quick, good read, one that made the book hard to put down, and just about some of the things Heidi had to go through, especially in the beginning.
For those unfamiliar, Heidi is the story of a young girl, 7 years old at the start I believe, who was being raised by her aunt after her family passed. Her aunt however, took a job somewhere that she didn’t feel it was appropriate to take Heidi, so she packed her tiny niece up and dropped her off at Heidi’s grandfather’s hut on the mountain. Heidi had never met the man, and he was not reported to be the nicest person, but he and Heidi hit it off right away and had the most precious relationship. Unfortunately for Heidi though, her aunt decided that Heidi could ripped away from her home, again, and sent this time to the city to be a companion child to a little girl named Clara.
Clara was wealthy, and in a wheelchair. I think she had epilepsy but at the time of course they didn’t have medication to help control seizures, so everyone kept Clara’s life quiet as to not trigger any seizures. Her father was away a lot, and she was lonely in her house with just the staff, and the rotten Mrs. Rottenmeier, her governess. Heidi and Mrs. Rottenmeier did not mesh right from the beginning, and Rottenmeier viewed Heidi as some sort of less than heathen from the country. Heidi enjoyed being friends with Clara but desperately missed her home. After a friend of Clara’s father, a doctor, noticed how pale and thin Heidi had gotten, he told Mr. Sesemann, Clara’s dad, that Heidi needed to return to her simple life on the mountain with her grandfather and the fir trees, the wind, the goats, Grannie, and her friend Peter, the goatherder and Grannie’s grandson.
Heidi returned and was returned to her normal happy, robust self. Heidi and her grandpa also had some visitors from the city! And I am not going to tell you the end. If you haven’t read it, I hope that you do.
Lisa and I did come up with a few questions to ask each other, and I wanted to share the questions and answers with you.
1. Quick, the first five words that pop into your head about Heidi.
Joyful, wholesome, a blessing, thoughtful, and kind.
2. Would you slam two big mugs of goat milk back to back, and why is the answer no? What about one mug?
I don’t think I could slam two big mugs of anything, but milk? The thought makes me sort of sick. Lol. I know that Heidi and her grandfather set a lot of store by that milk and its healing properties, and maybe there is. I do know it is more caloric and has more fat, so maybe it would be good to make someone a bit sturdier if that was needed. But I could never just drink down two big mugs quickly, or even one. I could probably drink one at a normal pace.
3. Was Uncle Alp making goat cheese, like chevre?
I know this is a dumb question – it is mine. Lol. The book talked about how Uncle Alp, or Heidi’s grandfather, would make cheese and I am sure it was delicious goat cheese but in my head I kept picturing those wheels of cheese or a wedge. And while I couldn’t gulp down goats milk, goat cheese is a whole other story.
4. Write a beautiful description of a natural place you’ve been to, a sunset, a plant or animal you’ve seen.
This was a suggested activity from the back of the edition of Heidi I bought. Good thing I am going to write something and have it compared to Johanna Spyri and another published author, Lisa.
Ok. Here is the best I can do this morning, with Peppa Pig laughing in the background.
The lake shone like blue glass under the early morning light. All around, birds sang out to each other from evergreens and birch trees, while near the shoreline mysterious underwater creatures created small ripples in the sleeping lake, waking it up gently. A light breeze helped to cool the piping hot cup of coffee that I held between my hands, and I wrapped myself up in the gentle peace of the morning.
5. Heidi, like Anne of Green Gables, loves her home and has favorite aspects, like the fir trees, the wind, the fire sunset on the mountain. Is there anything in nature you cherish about your home, the way that she does?
I saw this question somewhere as well. I am a Michigander, and while we don’t have mountains here, we have water. Lots of water. I love heading down to the river and having lunch or just sitting and looking out across the water. We have even gone for sunrises and sunsets, to see the huge moon above it; it is just a part of our life here and I can’t imagine living somewhere that I was not surrounded by so many lakes and rivers.
6. In the same vein, what are some small things you are grateful for?
Cups of tea, books, walking barefoot in the grass, fireflies. Definitely fireflies. Rabbits in the dewy grass, or congregating in our yard during the winter.
7. Which character, besides Heidi, is your favorite and why?
Clara’s grandmother, or Grandmamma. She was not snobby as I was afraid she would be. She took special time for Heidi, to encourage her and to try to make her happy. As Heidi said, she came and she made everything good and ok.
8. What character did you like the least and why?
Mrs. Rottenmeier, of course. She was a mean curmudgeon. How could she be such a jerk to a small girl, who has been stolen away from her home and family? I also didn’t like Heidi’s aunt, she was so careless and thoughtless about Heidi and treated her like a suitcase.
9. There is a part in the book where Heidi longs for home. Has there ever been a time in your life where you have longed for home?
Yes. When I went away to college I was absolutely miserable. I missed my house, my friends, my family, Billy. I moped around even though I made some really good lifelong friends there. I took every ride share to my area that showed up on the ride board. I was a sad sack for a little while. I got over that level of homesickness but I did transfer to a university closer to my home and commuted instead after my freshman year. I honestly do think some of it was that I felt very landlocked! I was attending Central Michigan, in the middle of the state, and I was just nowhere near a river or a lake and it was weird. I know that in Michigan we are never more than 6 miles from a lake or water, but those were small rivers, maybe creeks, instead of the watery shores I was used to.
10. Do you think you would like to live in a small hut in the Swiss mountains, miles away from a town?
Hm. Like in this day and age, as me now? I probably would not want to live there full time, but would love to visit for a month or so at a time, like Clara and the doctor did. Or if I lived close enough, on weekends or as a getaway whenever I needed one.
Have you read this one? I know a few of you told me that you had beautifully illustrated versions as kids, which must have made it even more special.
For Lisa’s version of this post, pop on over here!
Lisa of Boondock Ramblings and I host a monthly bookish link party called A Good Book and A Cup of Tea. This link-up is for book and reading posts or anything related to books and reading (even movies based on books!). Each link party will be open for a month. You can find that link up for this month here.
Today it is my goal to visit the posts there and also go blog visiting!
And with that, I am going to say goodbye until later! Whatever you do today, I hope you do something that makes you smile!
Hello everyone! It’s so cold and dreary here today, at least right now. It is supposed to warm up though this afternoon, to 76, but we will see. I am having a hard time believing it!
Books:
Over the last two weeks I read three books.
Heidi is a buddy read with Lisa at Boondock Ramblings. We were going to stretch it out over the month but I accidentally read it all the other day. I think Lisa is pretty close to finishing it as well. I am so glad that we read it; I absolutely adored it!
Marigolds for Malice is part of the Enchanted Garden mystery series, and is book 3 of 3 according to Amazon. It was pretty good and I am bummed the author stopped writing this series. I feel like there was more to tell about Ellie and her garden and the town of Poppyville!
Finally, I finished up Stillmeadow Daybook by Gladys Taber. It is funny that Lisa and I both were reading this at the same time, and didn’t realize it! I loved this one even more than Stillmeadow and Sugarbridge which I read at the beginning of the year. I loved Taber’s voice, and perspective, and so many of her thoughts are valid still today. (although there were some outdated references and signs of this book being of its time) I had so many book tags sticking out of the library copy that I ended up buying my own. That is a sign to me I need to own it! I was lucky enough to find a copy it and also Amber: A Very Personal Cat being sold together for seven dollars on Ebay. They are paperback which is my preference, so even better!
This week, I am visiting my old friends, the rabbits of Watership Down. If I finish, I feel like it will be a good time to also start Raising Hare!
Screens:
Billy and I have been watching Young Sherlock. It took me an episode or two to get into it, but I am really enjoying it now.
I also subjected my family to the original cartoon movie of Watership Down the other day. It wasn’t as bad as I remembered? Wyatt was not traumatized either so I was relieved. Wyatt hasn’t watched much with violence in it, just How to Train Your Dragon and The Mummy, so I was nervous but he did good. He seemed more excited that he was watching a movie version of my favorite book.
In-Betweens:
Do you ever have weird coincidences happen, that are not algorithm related because we know that those are not actual coincidences, but where something pops up where you are not expecting it? This happened to me this week. I had just finished Stillmeadow Daybook, and started Marigolds for Malice, when I encountered a reference to Gladys Taber in the cozy mystery! It was so weird!
I have to agree, reading Taber always relaxes me with tales of her life.
My cousin’s daughter also got her first job! And I was excited to hear that it was at one of my favorite local shops. So of course I had to go and visit, and of course I had to buy something..
I found this distinguished gentleman for half off, and had to bring him home. He is actually a vase, so I need to buy a few flowers to pop into his little ears. Lol. I have named him Hazel. Of course.
Other random photos from the week:
And just a reminder:
Lisa of Boondock Ramblings and I host a monthly bookish link party called A Good Book and A Cup of Tea. This link-up is for book and reading posts or anything related to books and reading (even movies based on books!). Each link party will be open for a month. You can find that link up for this month here.
And that is it from my corner of the world! I hope that whatever you do today, you do something that makes you smile!
Hello everyone! It is a sunny day with predicted temps in the 50s today. I have a cup of coffee, a kitten on my lap, and a little boy next to me. I am trying to stay centered and present right now these days. It’s been a heavy week, hasn’t it? It’s easy to feel lost and overwhelmed, and we need to do what we can in order to keep ourselves as sane as possible. Right now, I know I have responsibilities and the biggest one is Wyatt. I keep one eye and prayers on current events, and focus on Wyatt who needs me to keep things together here.
That being said, yesterday I just did just that, I kept my ear to the ground and went about my day. I prayed, I lamented, and I also took Wyatt to therapy, where he absolutely blew his therapist and I away. She put him in a gait trainer, which is like a walker but with more support, and he took off cruising, practically running. I couldn’t even get a video because I was so shocked honestly. Neither of us have ever seen him move quite like that! We have watched him use this gait trainer for a few weeks, building back up to it after his surgery last July, with some struggles, determination, and some drama as only Wyatt can provide. Yesterday though, he did it so easily. It all clicked and came together in one boy yesterday.
I also went to yoga for the first time in forever and ever. My friend Kelly and I went to a local class held in an building downtown in our city. It was her first time ever and I was proud of her too! I had to laugh though – we have been friends over thirty years and I have never once seen her sweats and a t-shirt. She is always meticulously dressed. It was so cathartic and restful, and my body and soul needed that. As we sat there, in the old auditorium with it’s wooden floors and antique lighting along the high ceiling, I just felt such peace for a moment. It felt good to be moving my body with such purpose again, feel its strengths (and weaknesses – ugh my core!), and then the final relaxing pose on the mat at the end. I left feeling very refreshed and so did Kelly. When I asked her how she felt she told me that she felt like she really needed that, and I understood exactly what she meant. I am hoping to go every Tuesday night now.
I popped by to see my mom afterwards and she was doing so well. They changed her meds last Friday, and they told us to expect her to be very sleepy over the weekend, which she was. So I was happy to see last night a bright eyed, happy mother. She was chatty and awake, and I saw some real improvement in her. For those who don’t know, my mom had a stroke last month, and she also has moderate dementia. She has some mobility issues as well, but I am hoping with the meds change, we can get her up and out more, at least out of bed. They were really making her very weak and not doing much to help her at all. I went home feeling pretty good about my corner of the world, for at least one day. And that is where I am at these days, one day at a time.
Last week Wyatt and I took some time off for a spring break. We didn’t do too much, mostly just hung out at home and read and played and things like that, lots of art happened, but we had one day out with Mermaid Girl. All three of us are book people, so I took Mermaid Girl with us on one of our bookstore and dessert days! I picked an awesome bookstore too, Coreanders in Grosse Pointe Park. It is designed for kids and is filled with storybook murals and a tall stalk with a sun at the top in the center of the store, shelves of books and cozy reading spots. It even has an ice cream shop and a secret garden. We kicked things off with McDonalds, and then once we were at the store, we spent two hours wandering around, choosing books, chatting, having ice cream. It was so fun.
One of the coolest things about Coreanders is that it is two floors and the elevator is even a mural, all the way up. The door has a glass window and on the wall of the elevator shaft is a mural that follows the path of the elevator, so you are treated to scenes from The Hobbit as you make your up and down. It is really cool.
I didn’t get many photos this time, the weather was gray and gross and the garden has not grown yet, plus I was too busy with two kids and being in the moment, so I will share some photos from the first time I visited.
It is very cool, and it was the perfect little day off. We all left happy and with books (or for me, a journal and some bookmarks) in our hands. The kids also enjoyed ice cream, which was only 3 dollars for two giant scoops! A deal!
Afterwards Mermaid Girl came over and played with Wyatt and Mouse and Max before her dad came to get her. It was a nice time!
We also finally finished up the Gold Rush in history! We celebrated with a “Gold Rush” dinner of beans, bacon, and homemade biscuits, and we sat on the floor in our den on a buffalo plaid blanket. We all decided while the dinner itself was not bad, we certainly wouldn’t want it too often, much less for every meal! Something fun I learned about the gold rush – I mean, Wyatt learned- a bath cost $10 dollars which would have been about $419 dollars today!! Then I read randomly in the Gladys Taber book I just read, Stillmeadow Daybook, that the boomtowns had a rodent issue, so a shipload of I think 3000 cats was sent to California, where they sold to those argonauts for $10- $20 a cat! They were also often stolen from their owners, as they were in high demand!
And with that little tidbit, I will say goodbye. I hope whatever you do today, you do something that makes you smile!
It’s time for mini book reviews again! I like to do them in groups of three, sometimes four.
Let’s start with Trixie!
Trixie Belden The Secret of the Mansion: I loved Trixie Belden growing up and when I picked this up at the used book store I had to take it home with me. I am cracking up reading it now as an adult – these kids either have the best luck or worst luck, I can’t tell! So far, a small boy was bit by a copperhead, Honey almost got run over by a truck, Trixie dove into a shallow part of the lake, hit her head and knocked herself unconscious (with no follow up care), Trixie was thrown from a horse, Jim fell off a ladder, and a stray dog charged them and then died suddenly at their feet, a small aircraft crashed on their land, and a house burned down. It was a crazy ride, but I loved it. I loved the fact that Trixie had chores on her farm but also lots of freedom to be a kid, I loved that balance of responsibility and then just being a kid. It was nice to revisit Trixie and her friends, and I will probably keep reading this series, all over again.
Next up, another mystery, Nightshade for Warning, part of the Enchanted Garden series.
Nightshade for Warning: This series is so fun! I am bummed that it appears there are only three in the series, and I am picking up number three today from the library. Don’t authors know we want to keep reading a series forever when we like it? Lol. Anyway, this was another light read, full of flowers and intrigue, and aromatherapy. Ellie gets embroiled in another murder mystery, this time not to save herself but to save her brother’s fiancee, who is the top suspect. And of course Dash and Nabokov make appearances as well! You can see Nabby the cat in the window, hiding there on the shelf.
Speaking of cats..
Agnes Aubert’s Mystical Cat Shelter: I absolutely loved this book. It had cats, magic, cat welfare awareness, and it was set in 1920s Montreal. It was fantastic. In this world, average everyday people who are magicless don’t really care for those who are magical, believing them to be reckless. Agnes definitely is not a fan of magical wizards, so when she finds out that the Dark Lord himself is her landlord she is not thrilled. But she needs the space for her cats so she makes it work.
I loved Agnes’ character. She was a take charge, Type A personality, yet still quirky. Agnes likes things organized, loves a list (much like me lol), and loves her cats, all forty some of them, and worries about the ones still on the streets. Does she enter into a working relationship with the dreaded Dark Lord to help her cats? You will have to read to find out!
I was very involved in animal rescue for years before Wyatt was born, I helped start an organization, fostered, served on the board, volunteered at the shelter multiple nights a week, and I would like to add that from the perspective an animal rescuer, this book was spot on. The TNR efforts, all the little details involved, were perfect. Fawcett either has to be in animal rescue herself or did some thorough research!
I loved this book, and it is a definite five star for me!
When Wanderers Cease to Roam: I had been slowly savoring this book for a few months, diving in here and there when I needed a pick me up. I loved reading Swift’s memories, her snippets about cats and weather and nature and being cozy, the names she picked for each month. I loved her illustrations as well. This book is a treat for the soul. Thank you Jeanie at Marmalade Gypsy for sharing about it on your blog!
And that is it from me today!! I hope that whatever you do today, you do something that makes you smile!
Hello everyone!! I want to start doing these at the end of the month. I always do one in my book journal so it makes sense for me to make one here in this space as well!
This month, I read 7 books, that were a mix of genres.
I read two nonfiction, one poetry book, two cozy mysteries, a cozy fantasy, and a middle grade. I also had on DNF, sadly.
I was able to add the nonfiction books to my nonfiction challenge goal of Nonfiction Nibbler in Shelleyrae’s Nonfiction Reading Challenge. I seem to be stuck on memoirs but that is ok, this is the most nonfiction that I have read in a while.
As for settings, I visited rural France, 1920s Montreal, California, the Hudson Valley NY, and Long Island.
Faves:
Of course it was. Magic and cats and cat rescue and Montreal and the 1920s. It was such a great book! I will be reviewing it soon.
I am a cohost with Lisa at Boondock Ramblings, who thought of the monthly bookish linkup A Good Book and a Cup of Tea for all things book, not just books read or reviews, but bookstore visits or author visits or whatever else bookish you can think of!
We have decided we will be featuring our favorite posts from the month here. I do read all the posts even if I don’t comment. I only like to comment from my actual laptop and not from my phone, which is a problem sometimes when I read the post on my phone. ( I am working on more time to read and comment though. )
Here are my four favorites from this past month!
A First for the Blog Marsha at Marsha in the Middle’s Wuthering Heights post. She mainly posts about her life and fashion so it was so cool to hear from her about her favorite book.
Hello everyone! I hope you are all doing well! We had a pretty quiet week around here last week, which was nice!
Books:
Last week I read Trixie Belden, which was a blast from my past, and it was a crazy ride. I enjoyed returning to the world of Trixie and Honey!
I also read the second in the Enchanted Garden series. This series is just what I am needing right now; it is light and easy, keeps my attention, and makes me think spring with all of the garden and flower talk.
This week I am planning on starting two books, maybe three if the third in the Enchanted Garden series comes in for me at the library.
I plan on starting these The Sugar Rush by Peter Gregg, and Heidi. I am reading Heidi as a buddy read with Lisa at Boondock Ramblings and I am looking forward to it. I haven’t read it before! I missed this one in my childhood somehow.
Screens:
Not too much here on the tv/movie front, again. I have been going to visit my mom in the evenings, so I don’t get home until later and by the time Billy and I sit down to watch tv together we are pretty tired out. This usually means we watch a comfort show, and we are revisiting Brokenwood. I love that show so it is not a hardship.
Also, just a reminder that Lisa and I cohost a link up, A Good Book and a Cup of Tea, for bookish links all month long. Anything book and reading goes! You can find it up in my header area.
In-Betweens:
We had a mostly quiet week last week, but we did go out yesterday to the Dance for Mother Earth Powwow in Ann Arbor. We had a great time, ate some fry bread, shopped a bit, and watched some of the dances and the grand entrance.
Today we have a birthday party for the Hurricane. She is turning three! It was supposed to be last weekend, but illness just keeps getting in the way these days. My dad and stepmom can’t make it today actually, because they have Covid!
And I will leave you with just a few photos from my roll before I leave.
And with that I will end here! I hope that you are all doing well, and that whatever you do today, you do something that makes you smile!
Hello everyone! I saw this book tag on Heather at Bookables Youtube channel and it just seemed fun! I copied the questions from her YouTube channel.
Flowers: All the flowers we remember are blooming again. Pick a book that’s a fresh take on a retelling.
Heather Fawcett’s The Grace of the Wild Things. This is just such a fun, different take on Anne of Green Gables. I loved it! My review here.
Cadbury Mini Eggs: Obviously the superior springtime candy of choice. Pick a book that you consider to be a sweet treat.
Ok, I am not a super fan of Cadbury Mini Eggs. To me the springtime candy of choice is a Reese’s Peanut Butter Egg or Starbust Jellybeans. For my book however, I am choosing one set somewhere that is supposed to smell like marshmallows.
This is one of my all time favorite books. I just love it! I love everything about it. I also love that my dad read it and said the main character reminded him of me! What a nice thing to say. My review here.
Allergies: Seasonal allergies often make your eyes water. Pick a book that made you cry.
This book made me a soggy tissue. I just cried and cried and cried. I loved it though. My review here.
Spring Cleaning: Out with the old and in with the new. Pick a book to unhaul.
I have had this on my shelf forever and I don’t think I am ever going to read it. It seems too sad every time I start it. I should just donate this one and free up a little space, especially since this is a chunker.
Spring Break: It’s the perfect time for an adventure. Pick a book involving a road trip.
This is a wonderful book. I highly recommend it.
Rainbows: I just feel like Spring is made of freaking rainbows. Pick a book featuring an LGBTQ+ character(s).
This book is a fun read, and is perfect for spring! My review here.
Spring Awakening:. Pick a book that’s also filled with completely dysfunctional characters.
I had a hard time with this prompt. I think this one works though!
In like a lion, out like a lamb: Pick a book series that didn’t get better as it progressed.
This is a blast from my past. I loved these first books so much, and then, whoa. They went absolutely insane. If you know you know. I often don’t read all the books in a series anymore, maybe this series is the reason why?
