OtterMommy

Air date: December 16, 2020

Air Date: December 9. 2020

Air Date: December 2, 2020

Air date: November 26, 2020

Air date: November 18, 2020

Air date: November 11, 2020

Air date: November 4, 2020

I finished The Mountains Wild by Sarah Stewart Taylor. It was great mystery--a lot of well placed red herrings and I did not see the end coming, which is rare when I read mysteries. Today, I started The Royal Governess by Wendy Holden, a historical novel about QEII's and Princess Margaret's governess. So far, it seems...fine. It's a nice diversion, which is what I need right now--as well as a good palate cleaner before I pick up another mystery or thriller.

I finished When We Were Young and Brave by Hazel Gaynor. It features a troop of Girl Guides at a mission school in China who are moved to an internment camp during WWII and now I will quit complaining about having to run my daughter's Girl Scout Troop meetings over zoom.... It was pretty good, but could have been better. The biggest frustration is that it is a book that is told through alternating viewpoints and there was no difference between the two narrating voices. Sigh. Today I'm starting The Mountains Wild by Sarah Stewart Taylor. I don't know much about it except a number of my Goodreads friends read it and gave it 5 stars. We'll see!

I finished The Broken Girls by Simone St. James last night and enjoyed it even more than her most recent novel, The Sun Down Motel. It isn't exactly horror, but it is a ghost story and incredibly creepy. I kind of wish I had waited to finish in the morning... I then read a new short story from Jennifer Weiner, who I love, called Dog People, and it was horrible. Ugh! It's rare that I wish I hadn't read something... I'm starting Hazel Gaynor's new book When We Were Young and Brave today. Apparently it is about Girl Guides during WWII and, being a Girl Scout troop leader, I'm looking forward to this one.

I finished Alice Hoffman's Magic Lessons and absolutely loved it. It is, chronologically, the first of the Practical Magic books and is the first one I've read (I remember seeing the Practical Magic movie when it was released, but remember very little about it). My plan was to continue reading the books chronologically, but I'm not willing to wait a year or so to see where the 4th one falls, so I'm just going to continue onto Rules of Magic in the near future and hope that the 4th books takes place in the present day. To keep the Spooky Season going (I started with Mexican Gothic before reading Magic Lessons), I started Simone St. James's The Broken Girls. I'm only a few chapters in, but it definitely looks like it will fit the bill.

They recruited a group of viewers to watch via zoom (or something like that) to vote.

If you like Aasif Mandvi, I highly recommend his memoir, No Land's Man, especially if you can listen to the audiobook (which he narrates). The essays are smart and funny and the one in the middle, about him returning to Bradford, England--where he grew up--is simply beautiful. I listen to a lot of the comedic celebrity memoirs, and this underrated gem is my favorite.

Based simply on her reference to Chicken of the Sea, I am convinced that Seahorse is Jessica Simpson. I also have no clue who the other suggestions were, so I'm sticking with Jessica Simpson.

I finished Mexican Gothic and it was a solid 4 star read for me. It was a fun and a page turner, but it was also something you can't think too much about. I can't say that bothered me (I do watch Evil, after all...). I did have some trouble with the ending. I started Magic Lessons by Alice Hoffman today. I haven't read Practical Magic, nor the other prequel, but my guess is that I will end up reading the books in chronological order.

4!

Air Date: October 28, 2020

Air date: October 14, 2020

Thanks to book club commitments, I've found myself with too many books going at once. Every year, I resolve to avoid this and, every year, I find myself in this position at about this time of the year! Anyway, I did finish The Unexpected Inheritance of Inspector Chopra by Vaseem Khan yesterday. It's a delightful little mystery--I would say that it is close to but not quite a cozy mystery. I'm generally not a fan of cozies, but this one worked for me and I'll definitely be reading on in the series. Now: What I have going on now: Mexican Gothic (like everyone else): I've been holding this until it was closer to my book club date (which is later this month). I just started it yesterday and was immediately sucked in. I Felt A Funeral, In My Brain by Will Walton. This is for my postal book club and it is definitely...different. I'm reading it in small chunks. Ayesha At Last by Uzma Jalaluddin. This is a re-read for me and I'm listening to the audiobook before the discussion in another book club (I told you I was in book club overload). It's a delightful retelling of Pride and Prejudice and I think I'm liking it even more the second time. I Have Something to Tell You by Chasten Buttigieg. This one isn't for a book club, but I started it (as an audiobook) before I got hit with the rest of the book club books. I'm really enjoying it--it is a personal, not political, memoir and Buttigieg has a great, dry sense of humor. Also, his childhood is the perfect set up for a sit com. Middlemarch by George Eliot. I'm reading this through Serial, so I should be done at some point in February. This is a book that I have always wanted to read but, for some strange reason, was never assigned to read in school. When my friend reminded me of Serial, I decided to use it to read this. I'm only 7% in, but I'm already having some very strong reactions to the characters! How Lovely the Ruins -This is a collection of poems and quotes "for hard times." As lofty as that sounds, this is my toilet reading.

Air date: October 7, 2020

Air date: September 30, 2020

Air date: September 23, 2020

Discuss the show while you watch! Note: We will unlock this thread when the show begins on the East Coast and close it when it ends on the West Coast. If you wander in here before it airs in your area, you will be spoiled.

I'm looking forward to reading this one. It is the October book for my Marginalized Authors book club and I'm waiting a few weeks before starting it so that it will be fresh in my mind when we discuss it.