Creepy books I checked out to try! I’m still mostly interested in Labyrinth and The Poe Shadow. That’s because the are historical mysteries with archaeological/ephemera elements. Waiting for the 3rd in Hierarchy Series so I tried the author’s backlist. Not what I want at this time!A seasonal friend recommendation and a retelling of sorts from an author I’ve enjoyed before. Cozy, illustrated reread!
✨Just like that I feel sick of my darker, adventurous mystery/sci fi titles I’ve been checking out of the library and I’m turning more to my cozy, comfortable reads. What are your go-to types of books when in need of something comforting? 🥰♥️☕️ Some books I choose to stick it out with and be disciplined. My light reading, I’m much more flexible with quitting if I’m not ‘feeling’ it. Do you read every book you start to the end?
I’m thinking classic-feeling, character-driven, children’s literature, cozy mysteries, and of course, continuing my Victorian literature selections for Victober. I have plenty of Victorian classics choices to keep me going all autumn and into winter! I also have plenty of favorite niche type book stacks around my room, many of them on my 50×50 list. Also Im a big rereader of favorites for comfort. I’m hoping I can keep this mood up for the rest of the year!
I’ve been reading the Holy Bible in New Living Translation this year and I’m loving it so much! I just finished Hebrews and was blown away with its challenging beauty. 😍♥️✨🙏🏻
I’m seriously decluttering my online stuff. I go in spurts with reading apps and social sites. It’s time to let a lot of it go. I’m truly an analog lover and my energy levels need to be turned toward home and those around me. It gives me more brain breathing space, too, to write regularly, collage, walk, dabble in photography, journal, and write pen pals, which are all things I love!
It’s a gorgeous day, blustery, and sunny here! ✨Happiest Tuesday to you! ♥️
Good morning, friends! I’m snuggling into my sweatshirt as we woke to a chilly, but gorgeously sunny morning here! What a gift! ☺️☀️✨
I have a massive pile of library checkouts that I may or may not get to due to my Victorian reading focus this month. I thought it would be fun to share what’s in my PL basket.
Mainly, I have a lot of Sci-Fi choices leftover from Sci-Fi September. I still don’t feel totally sick of Sci-Fi, so may try to see if any of these in photo above catch my fancy! I’m most interested in Green City Wars and Scion, but my 19 yo read Scionand said it was a bit brutal and had language. I’m surprised because I’ve loved James Islingtonso much and hadn’t run into language before. Have you read any of these? How are they?
Cozy mysteries ✨
My second pile is cozy mysteries! I know, I know, not high literature, 😂 but just the right light reading for me, when I need a break from heavy reading or the chaos around me. 😂Think Hallmark with a side of murder. 🤣📚✨I’m most interested in Autumn at Cat Cafe! 🥰🐈⬛🎃☕️
My friend created a Victober bingo, so I made her grid with washi and stickers! So fun! 🤩 Crafting!
I bought a pack of these charming bookmarks (penpals I hope to send one your way!) and I decorated my first one for Victober on front, other reading possibilities on back. I need to add 2026, so I can keep them as a memory! Maybe I should make ones for the past Victober’s that I participated in!!! I think this is my 4th or 5th official year of participation?! It’s the 11th year this wonderful Booktube readathon has been happening! 📚🎃🐈⬛✨🍁
To-Dos! ✨Rock paper weight 😂✨
My Moleskine Daily Pocket to-do is almost filled! My 2027 version is on its way! The one quibble I have is the Monday start, otherwise I loooove these. The paper is buttery and I love how they fit in my hand and the monthly and daily set up! The spines have held up to my heavy abuse.
How’s my beginning Victorian reading going? Good! I had listened to The Importance of Being Earnest a couple of days before October and that was a perfect, lighthearted choice to get me even more excited. I found this free audiobook of The Pickwick Papers and so I’ve started tandem reading and listening and it’s just as ridiculous and full of wordsmithing wonder as I remember. Yes, I had read half years ago! 🙃😂
It would definitely fulfill the prompt for Travel and Adventure. Dickens and I are fickle friends, so we’ll see if I can stick it out! I may have to just listen 🎧 while cooking etc.
I’m absolutely loving Poems of the Past and the Present by Thomas Hardy on my Kindle. Some obtuse literature/history/places mentioned, but I’m finding it very readable! This would fulfill birthday month author as we are both June born! I thought I would enjoy his poetry due to his lush writing in the novels I have read of his. I’m hoping to attempt The Woodlanders, too. A friend gave me a gorgeous old copy of it years ago, but it’s a bit fragile so may read it on my kindle.
I also picked up at 39%? with Uncle Silas as I had started this years ago. Honestly, the first part of this book draggggggged for me. But I have it on good authority, that the next part is better and gets the sinister, atmospheric plot going! So far, the main character Maud? is traveling to live with an estranged uncle to fulfill her father’s will conditions. 😳😬
I’m 5 chapters into my local friend’s bookclub read of Dr.Wortle’s School! It’s very easy to read and I like the story. Haven’t fallen in love with any characters yet, though. You could definitely use this for a Character who Has a Secret 🤐 prompt! It’s a nice, short Victorian novel, too, which can be a relief. 😅
Reading Autumn 🍂 ~
whole worlds
leaf by –
my eyes,
heart cries
tumbling in,
passing my kin‘s
by-gone sighs
rustling, flitting
let my soul sink in.
~A.M. Pine♥️🌲
Damp treasures 🥰♥️✨
How’s your reading currently? Creating anything? What’s new with you?
The cellar hole that had once held a home had been abandoned for many years. None but a dweller of the forest could have found it, for its road was lost, its stones were overgrown with wild brier and sumac, and the old gray birches that had sprouted around it were now tall and arched by the winds into a roof. But the cellar hole could remember. There, on one side, a brick fireplace had once stood with the bean pot snugly simmering in its oven, the andirons holding four-foot logs, and a mother rocking a cradle and knitting on the wide hearth. The cellar hole remembered spinning wheels and sleigh bells, sizzling doughnuts and molasses cookies, fishing tackle, guns, singing school and Bible readings, hardships and laughter, snow drifts and white lilacs. Now it was nothing but an ancient memory-book of things past. The thicket of black alder, pine and hemlock that led to it kept its pages closed to all except those who love the country.
I didn’t realize how many series I’m in the middle of, because most of them I move through very slowly. Here’s a few of the ones I really want to prioritize and a few I want to try!
Commisario Brunetti Mystery Series by Donna Leon ~ I absolutely love the characters in this police procedural series. The Venice setting is so intriguing and I’m so happy Kate Howe (favorite Booktuber and now a friend) introduced me to this series. This series has A LOT of books. FYI – the crimes are gritty and dark and these aren’t ‘politically correct’ for today’s sensibilities.
Matthew Shardlake Series by C.J. Sansom ~ This historical mystery series set in Tudor England is so wonderfully rich in characters, language, and setting. Shardlake is a deep, interesting character who works as a solicitor turned investigator. Dark and a bit creepy.
The Huntress Series by Carrie Cotton ~ I loved this Celtic historical world and the deep, rich characters. Took a bit to get used to the dialect and the flashbacks, but I have the second on my Kindle waiting for the mood to strike.
The Hierarchy Series by James Islington ~ I really enjoyed the first two books in this Roman-inspired fantasy world. I can’t wait for the next two to be published!
The Bangalore Detective Club Mystery Series by Harini Nagendra ~ I’ve only read one of these so far, but fell in love with the newlywed couple solving a mystery in 1920’s Bangalore.
Northwoods Mystery Series by Annie McEwen ~ new-to-me cozy mystery series set in my home state of Wisconsin! A family that runs a small cozy resort with lakeside cabins. Characters are deeper and so loving! I’m reading the second right now, Dead, White, and Blue, and really enjoying it. I will pause and save the next two for winter as they move seasonally. 🥰
Green Rider Series by Kristen Britain ~ I was loving this series following messenger Karigan G’ladheon as she navigates a lurking evil, politics, and all the interpersonal relationships. This is a medieval fantasy that I want to return to when the mood strikes.
Realm of the Elderlings by Robin Hobb ~ I so want to try this multi-series interconnected world. I’m experiencing extreme FOMO as a fantasy reader. 😂 I’m newer to high/epic fantasy and have heard this is one of the best! I’m a little worried that it’s going to be VERY violent, heavy adult content, and heartbreaking.
Licanius Series James Islington ~ I’d love to read this trilogy while I wait for him to finish the Hierarchy Seties! 🤣 He also has a newer book called Scion but not sure if it is going to be a series or if it’s a standalone.
The Faithful and the Fallen Series by John Gwinne ~ I’ve heard such good things about this high/epic fantasy series from Miriam Elizabeth Reads and Paris Mae Reads, that I reallly want to try. Gwinne has more series, too, if I enjoy his stories. I anticipate these to be pretty dark and gritty, so we’ll see if this wimp can handle them. Maybe I’m coming into my epic fantasy era! 😂
What are your FAVORITE series?♥️ Or do you prefer stand-alones?
It’s taken me until today (Friday) to feel a little more relaxed! 😌 I realized I was trying to “force” myself and the kiddos to relax. Ha. 🙃😂 We were able to pop into our lovely small local library and browse. A couple of my kids have been enjoying the summer reading program, so we picked up some more picture books. I’m sure missing my wonderful, curated living books which are packed away, as you know, for continued remodeling. I may treat myself later by pulling out a few bins of our history period we are studying this coming school year. It will satisfy my itch to be among my ‘friends’ for a little while. My 14 yo daughter chose after the library to get an iced matcha and my two boys chose ice cream from our little drive in diner. We love the local hippy coffee shop with cheerful vibes and the fun diner. Our area has SO much natural beauty, too, and we have a couple of places we plan to haunt soon.
Our lovely friends let us chrysalis babysit and we got to watch three Monarchs hatch this week. 😍♥️🌿🦋 Such a rewarding experience!
We spent the afternoon at a nearby lake and I truly felt myself relaxing. The cool wind and toasty sun, flickering through the trees was perfect. I’ve been wanting to reread my Summer Book by Susan Branch and I was able to slowly savor her lovely illustrations, quotes she collects, and recipes. I love her work so much! It made me excited to be a home keeper again. 😍☕️✨🌻 One of my favorite things was sitting on the fishing dock with the sun beating on me. The weather was perfect. We also saw a pair of Belted Kingfishers flying low over the water. 🥰🥰🥰🥰
I did a little journaling set up! I like doing little goals sheets, not religiously or anything, but to give myself a pretty way to track my habits etc that I’m continuing to work on. I’ve done these little symbol keys before! They are fun! ♥️
I made a massive Brain Dump List and some other to-do things because it helps me to focus and calm down without all that rattling around in my brain. I’m also figuring out a way of curating the quotes from my reading that I want to jot into my commonplace. I read a lot and mark my books up, but I want to figure out how to better choose quotes! I loved this video about recently on this topic. I’m letting Jane Austen’s Bookshelf simmer before choosing favorite quotes to add out of the ones I marked.
I’ve been on a Booktube watching break and it’s interesting how many other things I get done and how much actual reading I get in! 🤣 I finished The Opt-Out Family and I must say it may be so far one of my favorite things I’ve read this year. I’m going to slowly go back through it, as I want to note ideas and passages better. Highly recommend! ♥️✨
Finished my reread! Love Miss Austen so much! This isn’t a favorite of hers for me, but the 2nd half was such a wonderful character study. ♥️✨
Just took a moment to sit by local lake recently. ✨It was just what I needed. My four younger kiddos were playing on the playground and under the giant trees, so I just gazed at the clouds and lake. Don’t you just love the reflection? Prayed a little and took a deep breath! Read a little more in this library find. Not sure about the ostrich farm and dressmaker premise? 😅, but fun to try. Happy Thursday, friends.
Ummmm…. 🤣😂😆 I didn’t realize that I had so many books checked out from library! Some are for me to preview for our upcoming school year. What should I try first? I’ve started a few. I’m liking the Yellow Rose Bride and very intrigued by Turn Right at Machu Pichu. If it’s good, I may have my 17 yo read it this coming school year. I have an Elizabeth Mann picture book about Machu Pichu, too! 😍
