The power of a recommendation

 

I’ve been recommending books for over 40 years. It started with one conversation.

I was a freshman in high school, reading something for English class, when my mom’s friend Mrs. O’Hara sat down and asked what I was reading. We started talking books and she told me I needed to read Robert Ludlum.

I had no idea what I was getting into. But I picked one up and I was completely hooked. Forty years later I’m still chasing that feeling and passing it on.

That’s what one good recommendation can do.

Check out the full story on my Instagram. 

Merry and Bright

 

𝐇𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐲 𝐂𝐡𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐦𝐚𝐬 𝐄𝐯𝐞 𝐄𝐯𝐞! 𝐀𝐥𝐬𝐨 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐚𝐬 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐚𝐫𝐲!

Today is our 33rd wedding anniversary. We’ve been married so long we don’t give each other gifts anymore. But the other day a box was delivered to the house. My husband said he bought a new reading lamp for our bedroom and told me to open the box to see if I liked it. This book was in the box with the lamp. I asked him why he bought Little Steven’s autobiography. Hubby said “Oh. I didn’t think it would be delivered in the same box with the lamp. The book is for you. Happy anniversary, Merry Christmas, and happy birthday.” He knows I’m a huge Springsteen fan and figured I’d want to read what The Boss’s bff had to say. He’s a keeper! 

Taking a few days off for the holiday! Merry Christmas to everyone celebrating! I hope Santa leaves lots of books under the tree for you! 🎅🏻🎄📚

QOTD: what was your hidden gem book this year? In other words, what book did you love that wasn’t a bookstagram darling and seemed to fly under the radar? 

My hidden gem was Heaven’s a Lie by Wallace Stroby. A young woman finds a satchel full of cash and must deal with the deadly consequences. A great action thriller! 

#merrychristmas #bookstagram #anniversary #marriedalongtime #autobiography #memior #bookworm #booknerd #alwaysreading #bibliophile #bibliophilelife 

Currently Reading

 

Crime Reads and a whole bunch of others put Clark and Division by @gasagasagirl on their best books of the year lists. I was thrilled to get the notice that my library hold was ready this morning. I can’t wait to get lost in this historical fiction thriller. I need the distraction. My father passed away early Friday evening at age 95. He battled Parkinson’s for years and the last five years had particularly difficult. He declined quickly since Thanksgiving and in the end he went peacefully and gently. My sister and I spent yesterday with our mom and then planned the funeral. We are comforted knowing his pain and suffering are over. He was a WWII veteran, educator, and head our area’s PBS television station before retiring. He was always active in his church and community. He was always patient, kind, generous, and a gentleman to all. He adored my mother and was a wonderful father, grandfather, and great grandfather. My sister and I couldn’t have asked for a better dad. We were lucky to have him. ❤️

#currentlyreading #coffeeandcurrentlyreading #thatsnotcoffee #clarkanddivision #parkinsonssucks #librarybook #lovemylibrary #kindle 

Currently Reading

 

And just like that our house is quiet again. 

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving filled with family, food, and dogs. Our daughter and her husband were here with their two dogs. Our son and his gf visited with their dog. We spent Thanksgiving day at my sister’s with her whole crew and my parents. The kids and their fur babies have all gone back to their homes. Pretty sure our two dogs are going to spend the rest of today sleeping after all the running around and playing they did with their pals. 

Back to reading for me. I’m #currentlyreading Her Name is Night by Yasmin Angoe. The main character is an assassin and there’s lots of intrigue! Trying to finish this up by the end of the month. What book are you trying to finish up before November ends? 

Happy Hanukkah 🕎 to bookish friends celebrating the holiday! Wishing you all peace and light! 

#currentlyreading #hotchocolate #hotchocolateandcurrentlyreading #hernameisnight #thomasandmercer #yasminangoe #assassin #thrillerbooks #thrillersuspense #kindle #kindlefirstreads #kindlepaperwhite 

The Best Laid Plans…

 

Hello weekend! 

My plan for today was to visit my mom. (She’s in an Alzheimer’s facility.) I stopped to pick up some snacks for her when my sister called. Mom’s facility is now on a two week lockdown because a few residents and staff members are covid positive. So frustrating and disappointing. 

Anyway, my hubby had pulled out some paperbacks to donate to the two LFL I often visit. Hope someone enjoys some great  Robert Crais books! My husband and I both love Crais’s series featuring private investigator Elvis Cole and his pal Joe Pike so I hope these books will find a new home. 

Attempting to help hubby hang drywall tomorrow. I really think he’s overestimating my strength. 🙃 My goal will be to not drop a piece of drywall on our heads! What plans do you have for the weekend? 

#littlefreelibrary #robercrais #paperbacks #sharethelove #weekendvibes #bookworm #alwaysalibrarian #bibliophile #bibliophilelife #booksbooksbooks #bookstagram #elviscole #joepike #PleaseMaskUpSoICanVisitMyMom

Shop Local

 

Happy August! 😎

We visited Island Bookstore  in Corolla, NC yesterday. We always stop in this lovely indie bookstore when we’re at the beach. I picked up Hard Cash Valley by Brian Panowich and this cute t-shirt. This book has been on my GoodReads want to read list ever since Crime Reads mentioned it as a best new paperback last April. Happy to finally get my hands on it. 

Synopsis: Dane Kirby is a broken man and no stranger to tragedy. As a life-long resident and ex-arson investigator for McFalls County, Dane has lived his life in one of the most chaotic and crime-ridden regions of the south. When he gets called in to consult on a brutal murder in a Jacksonville, Florida, motel room, he and his FBI counterpart, Special Agent Roselita Velasquez, begin an investigation that leads them back to the criminal circles of his own backyard.

Arnie Blackwell’s murder in Jacksonville is only the beginning – and Dane and Roselita seem to be one step behind. For someone is hacking a bloody trail throughout the Southeast looking for Arnie’s younger brother, a boy with Asperger’s Syndrome who possesses an unusual skill with numbers that could make a lot of money and that has already gotten a lot of people killed—and has even more of the deadliest people alive willing to do anything it takes to exploit him.

As Dane joins in the hunt to find the boy, it swiftly becomes a race against the clock that has Dane entangled in a web of secrets involving everyone from the Filipino Mafia to distrusting federal agents to some of hardest southern outlaws he’s ever known.

What are you reading to kick off the month? I’m still reading The People You Meet on Vacation. 

#hardcashvalley #brianpanowich #minotaurbooks #obx #islandbookstoreobx #indiebookstore #independentbookstore #shoplocal #beachread #bookstagram #booksbooksbooks #alwaysreading #bibliophile #bibliophilelife #readerlife #bookworm #booknerd 

Free Little Library Love

 

My daughter and I visited my parents on Wednesday. We had very nice visits. This was the first time my daughter got to see her grandparents  in person since before shut down last year. 

There are three Little Free Libraries right by my dad’s skilled nursing facility. I dropped off some books in all three. Sharing is caring! 

I’m reading Blackout today. Ironically, we had a big thunderstorm storm roll through last night and lost power. Still off today. Fingers crossed it comes back on soon! 🤞🏻

What’s your best your best tip for surviving without electricity? 💡

#littlefreelibrary #sharingiscaring #bookstagram #spreadthelove #nopower #poweroutage #clearingmyshelves #readerlife #readingcommunity #bibliophile #bibliophilelife #booksbooksbooks #booknerd #bookworm 

June Reading Wrap-up

 

June Reading Wrap-Up

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Project Hail Mary 🎧

The Other Black Girl 🎧

Dream Girl 📱

Upright Women Wanted 🎧

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Glorious Guinness Girls 📖

Faithful Place 🎧

Shiver 📱

Local Woman Missing 📱

Borrowed Time 📱

One Great Lie 🎧 

I enjoyed all the books I read this month. My favorite was Project Hail Mary. Loved the narration and Rocky is a favorite character. I also loved the slow burn of Dream Girl. What can I say? I’m a big Laura Lippman fan girl! The Other Black Girl is an impressive debut novel that lives up to the buzz that surrounded its publication. Upright Women Wanted was a quick re-read this month. I read it back in the spring, but wanted all the details to be fresh for a Zoom buddy read. This is such a fun quick read & we had a wonderful discussion. 

The Glorious Guinness Girls was an impulse buy & was entertaining. Faithful Place was an impulse check out from the library. It was available and I needed an audiobook. I’lm slowly working my way through Tana French’s catalog & I enjoyed this one very much. Shiver was an Instagram made me read it. I read Local Woman Missing with the #betweenfriendsbookclub. The book is filled with twists & we had a great chat about it. Borrowed Time is the second book in the PI Cass Raines series. The newest book in the series just published & is getting rave reviews. I’m trying to catch up with the series. One Great Lie is a YA contemporary fiction that has so many layers. 

What was your favorite June read? What are you looking forward to reading in July? I can’t wait to read Razorblade Tears which comes on next Tuesday. 

#readingwrapup #summerreading #projecthailmary #theotherblackgirl #dreamgirl #uprightwomenwanted #librarybooks #audiobooks #bookstagram #audiobookstagram #readerlife #readinglove #bibliophile #librarylove #kindle #ebooks #ebookstagram #libbyapp #audible 

On a personal note- happy 65th anniversary to my mom and dad! So happy we could be together on this very special day! 

Currently Reading

 Currently Reading 

Happy Thursday! 

I feel like I haven’t posted in forever. Last week we traveled from our place in PA to our place on the Outer Banks of NC. We broke up the drive by staying overnight at our daughter’s and son in law’s house. Easier traveling with the dogs if we do that. We’ve been pretty much working almost nonstop since we got here last Friday getting the place ready for the summer rental season. We bought two new beds for the bedrooms. Then I  bought a new dresser for one of the bedrooms. We rearranged both bedrooms and my husband painted the ceiling in one. 

Then my husband decided we needed a new hood over the stove. The one that was there was pretty beat up and rusted. I had to go get that. I ordered a new top rack for the dishwasher and installed it all by myself. Hubby painted the railings on the deck. This morning I stared cleaning out and rearranging the kitchen cabinets.

So I’m way behind on writing some reviews. My current read is Confessions on the 7:45. Started it last night and I’m interested to see where the story is going. 

Hope you’re having a good week! What’s everyone currently reading? 

#currentlyreading #confessionsonthe745 #lisaunger #parkrowbooks #ineedavactionfrommyvacation #alwaysreading #ebook #kindle #librarybooks #librarylove #beachread 

Speedy Internet?

 

Happy Saturday! 

I’m #currentlylistening to Smoke by Joe Ide. It’s number five in the IQ series. 

I live in a little rural corner of the world. It is beautiful, but good internet is hard to find. For years the only internet available was through a regional telephone provider and it’s slow. And goes out frequently. And is very slow and just generally sucks. And yet we put up with it because it was really the only option. But now the technology gods have given me an option. We’ve switched over to a cellular internet provider and life is good! Netflix isn’t pixelated. It doesn’t take forever to text a pic of the dogs to my daughter. Everything loads faster. Yippee! But I’ve been spending the morning switching my email account that was with my old internet provider over to gmail. I have to go through every app and every online account I have and make the change. But it’s so worth it when I finally kick my old internet provider to the curb this week. 

My next change will probably be to get rid of our expensive satellite tv provider and switch to a live tv streaming service. Any recommendations? Hope you all are having a delightful Saturday! 

#currentlyreading #smoke #joeide #audiobook #alwaysreading #iq #readwithmyears #audiobookstagram #audiobooksisreading #readreadread #changes #internet #theneedforspeed 

Meet the Blogger

 Meet the Blogger 

Happy Saturday!

I guess it’s about time I properly introduce myself to the bookstagram community. My name is Kris. I’m a retired high school librarian. I worked at a small rural school serving grades 7 through 12. Best job ever! 

I’ve always been a reader since I was a little. My favorite genre is mystery and thrillers. Sue Grafton, Laura Lippman, and Michael Connelly are three of my favorite authors. And even though I’m retired, I still enjoy reading young adult books. 

My husband and I have been married for 32 years. He’s a retired social studies teacher. We taught at the same school. We have two kids and they’re both teachers now. We have two dogs- Rory and Gracie. We spend part of the year at the Outer Banks, NC. I love the beach! 

I don’t like coffee or tea. Am I even allowed to be a bookstagrammer if I don’t drink coffee or tea? 😀Whenever there’s a mug in one of my pics it’s filled with either chocolate milk or Coca Cola. I love chocolate, pizza, and Bruce Springsteen. 

Once in Barnes & Noble, I noticed a grandmother and grandfather shopping for books to give to their teenage daughter. I asked them if they knew what their granddaughter had read recently. The grandmother mentioned a few titles. I then spent the next 5 minutes giving them an impromptu book talk of some of the books that were on display. The grandmother asked if I worked there. “No. I’m a high school librarian and my talent is matching kids with the right books,” I replied. She ended up buying two books I recommended. 

That’s me in a nutshell. The photo me meeting Diary of a Wimpy Kid author Jeff Kinney at a book signing a few years ago. 

Have a great weekend!