Thanks…I’ll look that one up!

I finished two books recently... My Antonia by Willa Cather - This was the second book in the American Literature study DD and I are doing. I struggled with the first half of this book. I appreciated the vivid descriptions the author used, but the plot was a little boring. I was glad things started to pick up at the end. I just didn't connect with this one, but I still appreciated the writing. (3.5 stars) The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak - This was our book club's selection for this month. This is a multiple timeline and multiple (sort-of) POV about a couple from the island of Cyprus. They had a forbidden love because Kostas is Greek and Defne is Turkish. I wasn't really too familiar with the conflict in Cyprus, so it was interesting to learn a little bit about that. While the book does mention the conflict/tensions between Greeks and Turks, it's not really the main focus. This book actually tries to bring in lots of topics, which was kind of my issue with it...I wish it would have focused more on the history. The multiple POV comes into play when we get to hear the thoughts of a fig tree....which was weird. I recently read Remarkably Bright Creatures and getting the perspective of the octopus was strange at first, but it was much better than this. This was just strange. (3 stars)

I finished It's Okay to Not Be Okay last night....loved it! I loved the dark fairy tale story, love the actors (especially the lead couple and their brother), loved the animations, and loved the focus on mental health/mental illness. I could probably list a hundred more things! Ha!

This was my choice for Book of the Month this month, and it just arrived a few days ago. I’m excited to get to it!

Yay! 🥳

How exciting! ☺️

DD and I are about to finish Romance is a Bonus Book. This one was just meh. 😕 I really liked the setting being in a book publishing company and seeing lots of pretty books. However, I really didn't care for the two lead actors. Their "romance" came off as so childish...it was annoying to watch, like eye-rolling annoying. And they were not young...part of the plot was how "old" the female actress was (she was 37 🤣). We haven't watched the last episode, and I don't know if we will. I'm pretty sure I know where everything will end up. DD said she wanted a little break from watching shows, so I started It's Okay to Not Be Okay. What a difference...love these two actors together already (I've watched 4 episodes). It's definitely different than what I was expecting. From the little trailer, it looked like it might be a little depressing (which is why DD wasn't interested), but I think it's more dark than depressing (does that make sense?! 😂🤦‍♀️). At least so far. This may sound weird, but I'm getting an Addams Family/Wednesday sort of vibe (which I like!!). Looking forward to the rest of the show!

Happy September! 🍁 I really hope fall is coming soon…it’s my favorite season! The temperatures have finally dipped below 100, but it’s still hot as heck outside. 😩 We also need rain so badly. 🙏 I’m in a bit of a reading slump. 🫤 Not sure why since I did pretty good in August. Oh well…maybe things will pick back up soon. I hope all of you are doing well and reading some great books! ☺️

Oh, I’m sorry to hear that. 😔 Thank you for the info.

Good to know! I am definitely not expecting anything to make it go away completely...just hoping for something to make it better. Do you still give it to her daily? Or just at certain times?

Thank you for the info! Regarding the bolded...this is exactly the issue we face with the anxiety meds. 😫 We tried the gel stuff a long time ago (I don't remember if it was called Sileo, but I doubt there are any other products, so it must have been that). Unfortunately, it didn't do anything for him, which is why we moved on to the anxiety meds. I'll have to give more thought to the Thunder Shirt. 🤔

Has anyone tried CBD oil to try and calm a dog/cat with anxiety and/or fear of thunderstorms? Our dog is extremely afraid of thunderstorms. He starts with panting and pacing around the house, but then he gets more destructive by scratching and biting the walls and furniture. He has a special crate for high anxiety dogs (this is also the crate he sleeps in at night), but during storms he still scratches and bites the inside of the crate. We have a basket muzzle that we put on him to prevent him from damaging his teeth because he has done that in the past. We also have the crate in our bedroom where we have a white noise machine to try and help block out thunder sounds and black out curtains to try and cover up lightening (which doesn't help at night). We've talked with our vet numerous times. We tried Benadryl first, but that does nothing to calm him. She's now prescribed him two different anti-anxiety meds, but it's very difficult to give him those at the right time because it takes a few hours for them to kick in. For storms that just pop-up, it's impossible. Also, the medication doesn't calm him all that much. The only thing we haven't tried in a thunder vest, but he has a pretty broad chest (he's a Doberman) and after trying all of the other things, I don't think it would be much help. So, I'm wondering if a daily dose of the CBD oil would be worth trying. On days where we know storms are coming, I can up the dose? Thoughts? I feel like we've tried everything and I'm so discouraged and frustrated. 😔 Please don't quote...I may delete. Thanks.

This happened to me a few months ago…it definitely hurts! The crazy part was I had my shoes on for about 4 hours before it stung me, so it was just hiding in there! I have no idea how or why it didn’t sting me sooner, but it gives me the creeps knowing I had a scorpion by my foot for hours. 😩 🤢 Now I make it a habit to shake out my shoes.

Thinking of you today, Melissa. Hugs 🙏

We haven't watched a Joseon-era show in a while, but I scanned through Netflix and nothing jumped out at me. What do y'all recommend? We've already watched...Flower Crew, Rookie Historian, 100 Days My Prince, and The King's Affection.

Ha! That's usually me in my book club...everyone will really like the book we're reading and I'll be the one who doesn't. 🤣 Just curious...what in particular did you not like about this book? Was it just too much of a stretch...the whole octopus thing? Or just too perfect of an ending?

I finished two books over the past few days... For English this year DD and I are doing American Literature (she's doing US History, so I thought it would go nicely with that). I don't think I've actually read any of the books on our list...which is kind of terrible, but I'm happy because I'm always on a quest to read more classics! The first book is Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger. I kind of went into this one blind. I knew it was a bit controversial, but I didn't know much more than that. I now understand why some people may not like it, but I actually really enjoyed it. I think there's going to be a lot for DD and I to talk about. (5 stars) The other book I finished was Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt. I missed my book club in July because of our vacation, so I finally got around to reading this one. It was such a sweet, heartwarming story. I loved Tova, and I especially loved Marcellus. (4 stars)

We just finished The Inheritors (Heirs)...it was pretty good. This was the first show we've watched with Lee Min-ho. I know we should watch Boys Over Flowers, but I didn't realize it was 25 episodes! We'll eventually get to it...I know it's one of those classics. I also put The King Eternal Monarch on our watch list. My favorite character in The Inheritors, though, was the one played by Kim Woo-bin. I love the trope of the bad guy/villain turning good because he likes the girl. 🥰 Too bad they ruined it with my least favorite trope ever....the dreaded love triangle!!! 😤🤣 Anywho...it was still a fun show with all the crazy drama. On to the next!

Just wanted to add...I've haven't read many books under the magical realism genre, but some of my more recent ones... The Wishing Game and Weyward...these were okay, but I didn't love them. Other Birds and Beasts of Extraordinary Circumstance...I really liked these.

I'm not familiar with Cassandra in Reverse, but I've read both The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue and As Long As the Lemon Trees Grow. I think these would fall under magical realism. I thought Addie LaRue was really slow, so while I liked the premise of it, I was kind of bored. I really loved As Long As the Lemon Trees Grow, but it is a difficult book to read...it's sad!

Hugs Scout

Definitely not

Sounds good…I just placed a hold for it on Libby. 😊

Gross! 🤮

I've finished two books recently... Another Lynn Painter book...The Love Wager. It's about Hallie and Jack who meet at a wedding and end up having a one night stand, but happen to meet up again through a dating app. They agree to help each other find the right partner for each other, but end up starting to like each other. This story was fun, but nothing new or super meaningful. (4 stars) For my book club we read America's First Daughter by Stephanie Dray. This book is told from the perspective of Patsy Jefferson, the daughter of Thomas Jefferson. The story takes us all the way from her childhood to after her father's death. There was a lot of interesting information about their time in Paris, her perspective on Jefferson's relationship with Sally Hemings, and her marriage. I will admit that I skimmed through the last 150 pages because by that point I had grown a bit tired of the book. The story was good, it just didn't always capture my interest. Also, after reading the author's note, it seems the author made a lot of assumptions from the letters she researched. I know this is common practice, but there was a big emphasis on a love story that was never really known to have existed. That just kind of felt weird. (4 stars)