Belle > Recent Status Updates

I’m absolutely freaking smitten with this little dude who seems to be surrounded by magic.

“I realize, at first glance, that the idea of writing one’s own obituary while still alive may sound morbid. It’s not, though. I promise you. It’s a needed reminder of who you are, of what truly matters. Because it’s your life and there’s still time to write it. Before I have to.

YEP, I AM IN!

I’m going to dip my toes into this one. But it only gets 59 pages to impress me. Otherwise, I’m out.

Carolyn! The mice!

When Times Are Dark

When times are dark
build a crackling fire
and gather good people.

Omg! Delightful Witchery. If you still need your a little bit spooky-earthy-witchy book for October, look no further. NO BOYS ALLOWED.

Oh-oh. Houston, I have a problem with this one. Review to come.

Perhaps I’ve attained true crime junkie status. I am frustrated reading this in 2025 with the disconnected way that missing people were searched for in 1993 (Polly Klaas). I’m a little frustrated with the story too as it took more than 50% of the book for the author to declare that there is not a database at this time in history. I guess I knew that but why did she wait so long to declare that theme?

Absolutely Exquisite.

DNF. In a moment of self reflection, I realize I’m more interested in the author than Yoko. This is one if it was a physical book on the library shelf I would have flipped through and put back.

It doesn’t help in that imagined physical library I already have my hands full of delicious fiction that I’ve been waiting several months to read.

A perfect cross between SA Cosby and Greg Iles.

This means violence tenfold in the vein of Cosby and race issues like Natchez Burning.

If you are not a highly sensitive reader, I am 100 recommending this one.

I’m a little worried. Of my GR friends that have read it, no one gave it 5 stars.

I spent money on it so I will give it a go.

It’s time for me to go on a Bosch bender. I’m in a low coping space. Bosch will help me.

People can only meet you as deeply as they’ve met themselves.

This deserves some thought.

43 degrees and sunny in the North today. Long walk with the best dog ever. Now home reading about Crow Mary and her nature filled day. I’m in my happy place!

Chapter 10. I’d say if you don’t make it to this point, you may not make it to the end. It’s all story set up before this point. Audio could be hard due to a lot of characters and heavy dialect.

Why not do the unheard of thing? Why not do what no one else is doing? Why not leave behind the old ways that are no longer serving? Why not be the first?

For eight weeks, nearly sixty-year-old Clara walked, sometimes shushing through prairie grasses as tall as her cheeks, sometimes ascending steep, rocky hills with the vigor of a woman half her age. Not only did she walk the entire seven hundred miles to Colorado, she also prepared three full meals a day in between walks for two dozen ravenous people.

I think I’ve stumbled on the perfect reading for election week. It reminds us to look for the small. Never mind all these big personalities in the lights. Very, very calming.

I love this description of Bosch:

“He had seen-it-all-twice eyes, and that nod at the end told her he wasn’t going to just fold up his tent and go home.”

Mmhmm. Resilience. I love it.

Dear Book Gods: please let this be a book that pulls me in, helps me forget that what needs to be forgotten and restores peace and justice to MY tiny little world, in my tiny house with my tiny dog doing tiny things. Just little tiny me begging for mercy.

This one is going to have to pick up the pace at least a little for me to keep reading.

First line: “The Greatest Minds in the world are often cranky when they first awaken in the morning and mine is no exception. If I am to ascend above the ordinary, I require solitude the way a balloon needs helium.”

THANK YOU FOR THIS AT 5:30 AM ON THE TUESDAY AFTER A FABULOUSLY LONG WEEKEND, FLAVIA. TRUTH.

But living a clear and simple life, free from resentment, fear, and guilt, extends into our sleeping, dreaming, and waking.

If ever there was a week that I needed Gamache it is this one. 1.75 hours in traffic jam with an 1/8th tank of gas; a vomiting dog for 2 straight days; husband had a car accident and car is totaled.

Edited to add: I’m not driving anywhere today; the dog has recovered; I am not a new widow or spending my time in a hospital today.

I just can’t help myself. I’m in a Bosch state of mind.

Jumping in, Barbara!

I’m getting all sorts of weird vibes from this book. The main character reads much older than late 30s and either she has ADD or I do. She moves to Isle of Palms but barely visits the sand. I’m gonna keep going though.

I’m taking a leave of absence from my normal and present book preferences for a part or all of June.

I’m going to read through these childhood treasures instead.

I’m feeling nostalgic for all the departed and aging reader ladies in my life who showed me the love of reading. This series has been kept in that family for 3 generations and I want to read them once again to remember the ladies and why I read.

What a Wonderful World

I see trees of green
Red roses, too
I see them bloom
For me and you
And I think to myself
What a wonderful world

I see skies of blue
And clouds of white
The bright blessed day
The dark sacred night
And I think to myself
What a wonderful world