The Friday 56 (252) & Book Beginnings: The Witless Protection Program by Maria DiRico

The Friday 56 is a weekly meme hosted by Freda's Voice where every Friday you pick a book and turn to page 56 or 56%, and select a sentence or a few, as long as it's not a spoiler. **Note: Freda @ Freda's Voice is taking a break from The Friday 56; Anne @Head is Full of Books is hosting for now.**

Book Beginnings is a weekly meme hosted by Rose City Reader that asks you to share the first sentence (or so) of the book you're reading.

Synopsis from Goodreads...

Mia Carina has steered her Italian-American family’s Astoria, Queens, catering hall, Belle View Banquet Manor, into becoming the borough’s premiere party site, and nothing could make her happier—except her boyfriend proposing. There’s just one presumed-dead obstacle in the way . . .

A strong, independent woman and respected entrepreneur, Mia never imagined she’d pine for a marriage proposal. Yet lately, with her beloved Shane, she’s on tenterhooks. It’s especially surprising, considering Mia’s first husband, Adam, was a philandering grifter, assumed lost-at-sea after a boating disaster. But everyone knows what happens when you assume . . . While working a huge wedding expo in Manhattan, Mia is shocked to spot the man who nearly destroyed her life. The one who’s supposed to be sleeping with the fishes. But she loses him in the crowd. And when it happens again the next day, it’s time for an emergency meeting with the family—and the Family . Because if Adam is alive, Mia is still married . . .Everyone wants Adam dead. Everyone except Mia. She’s dealt with enough police for a lifetime. Mia needs to be a divorcée, not a widow. But someone out there disagrees, and if Mia doesn’t discover who, she may never be free to marry Shane—or anyone else . . .

Beginning: “Tavern on the Green was as lush and elegant as Mia always dreamed it would be.”

56: “Mia emitted a furious growl. She then ran down the back stairs, brandishing the bat.”

Comments: My first read of 2024 was Maria DiRico's The Witless Protection Program. This is still one of my favorite cozy mystery series. What are you reading this week?

Music Monday (309): Tennis, ALT BLK ERA, Al Green

Rules:

• Music Monday is a weekly meme hosted by Lauren Stoolfire at Always Me that asks you to share one or two songs that you've recently enjoyed. For the rules, visit the page HERE 

Breana: A number of great songs released last week, like Lady Gaga's Abracadabra for example. One of the other ones that I happened to like was Weight of Desire by Tennis. I love everything about it including the visual style of the music video.

Adri: As I thought I would, I've been enjoying ALT BLK ERA's new album, Rave Immortal. My pick for today is Hunt You Down.

Andrea: Hi all. This week I'm listening to Lets Stay Together by Al Green. Have an amazing week!

What are you listening to this week?

What I've Been Listening To: November and December 2024

Since I took an extended break at the end of 2024, it’s a given that I’ve accumulated something of a backlog of music, which I haven’t written about yet. So this post is overdue.

Tempest is new to my playlist, but she’s an artist I intend to watch. I adored her EP, The Ranch. Its R&B through and through combined with some pop and rap (particularly on the titular track) with some lyrics about relationships and self-worth (Worthy, Don’t Need You, etc.).

Then I was in the mood for hyper-pop and pop with a dreamy ethereal vibe so I checked out a couple of albums and a collaborative EP. First was My Twee Monsters by Tracey Brakes. This one ticked all the boxes with the exact vibe I was looking for with heavily autotuned vocals and upbeat, almost chaotic beats. Then I got the dreamy music I wanted with Night Tapes’s album, Assisted Memories. There was something soft almost grainy about the style, which made me think of old films—an impression which was furthered by the visuals and artwork—while the themes of the songs went much deeper and were often contemplative. And, switching back to hyper-pop (and rock) I listened to Soul Kiss by Frost Children and Haru Nemuri. Honestly, Soul Kiss was one of my favorite collaboration EPs of 2024. The artists’ styles and vocals meshed really well here, and my only gripe is that I wish it was longer.

Up next, I listened to Mars Argo’s EP: I Can Only Be Me. It only had three songs, but I loved all of them. If you know anything about this artists, then this collection of music will feel very relevant.

And last, but certainly not least, SZA released the deluxe edition of SOS before 2024 was over. Lana was excellent. It added an additional fifteen songs and, tonally, was different from SOS. It was cohesive, but not repetitive. It didn’t stray too far from what I’ve come to expect from SZA, but everything was done well and with creativity, making it a fun foray/return to SOS. And, oh man, did I love every second of it.

The new singles added to my playlist include: Best Friends by Banks, Obsessed by Olivia Rodrigo, Lizard People by Chi featuring Deto Black and Mowalola, Don’t Smile and Bed Chem by Sabrina Carpenter, In the Morning by Dorian Electra, and Need Dat Boy by Lil Nas X .

Nutcracker: The Motion Picture (1986)

I’m not a ballet aficionado, but I enjoy them from time to time. That being said, few movies make me think of winter and the holidays as much as the various recordings and retellings of The Nutcracker. There was this one version, though, the motion picture—as the title proclaims—released in 1986, which I watched, paused, and then resumed watching almost an entire year later with my co-blogger, Adri.

Nutcracker: The Motion Picture is fun. Because it’s not a stage production, it does interesting things with its lighting, the angle of the camera, the transitions between the scenes (the switch between perspectives, the shrinking and growing). There’s no audience, but the grownup version of Clara is the narrator. It’s on the stage, but it’s clearly a motion picture with that format in mind. But it also holds onto its influences, with set backgrounds and moving aspects designed with a distinctive (and flat) illustrative quality. The character’s don’t speak, but instead tell the story through dance and expression.

Again, I’m no aficionado, I’m just a viewer, and this is my opinion. Have you watched Nutcracker: The Motion Picture?

Written in the Waters: A Memoir of History, Home, and Belonging by Tara Roberts

Title: Written in the Waters: A Memoir of History, Home, and Belonging

Series: n/a
Author: Tara Roberts
Source/Format: BookishFirst; Paperback ARC
More Details: Nonfiction; History; Memoir
Publisher/Publication Date: National Geographic; January 28, 2025

Goodreads     Amazon     Barnes & Noble

Synopsis from Goodreads...

This searing memoir by a National Geographic scuba diver recounts one woman's epic journey to trace the global slave trade across the Atlantic Ocean—and find her place in the world. For fans of adventurous women’s memoirs like Elizabeth Gilbert's Eat Pray Love, Cheryl Strayed's Wild, and Jesmyn Ward's Men We Reaped.

When Tara Roberts first caught sight of a photograph at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History depicting the underwater archaeology group Diving With a Purpose, it called out to her. Here were Black women and men strapping on masks, fins, and tanks to explore Atlantic Ocean waters along the coastlines of Africa, North America, and Central America, seeking the wrecks of slave ships long lost in time. Inspired, Roberts joined them—and started on a path of discovery more challenging and personal than she could ever have imagined.

In this lush and lyrical memoir, she tells a story of exploration and reckoning that takes her from her home in Washington, D.C., to an exotic array of locales: Thailand and Sri Lanka, Mozambique, South Africa, Senegal, Benin, Costa Rica, and St. Croix. The journey connects her with other divers, scholars, and archaeologists, offering a unique way of understanding the 12.5 million souls carried away from their African homeland to enslavement on other continents. But for Roberts, the journey is also intensely personal. Inspired by the descendants of those who lost their lives during the Middle Passage, she decides to plumb her own family history and life as a Black woman to help make sense of her own identity.

Complex and unflinchingly authentic, this deeply moving narrative heralds an important new voice in literature that will open minds and hearts everywhere.

Admittedly, I’m not familiar with Tara Roberts’s work, as much as I would like to be. Before BookishFirst shut down in December, her new memoir, Written in the Waters, was one of the books being offered for review. And, after reading the excerpt, I jumped at the chance to read the rest of it.

Tara Roberts wove a compelling memoir that was part journey of self-discovery and part historical narrative about the complicated history of the transatlantic slave trade, while also reconciling how it related to her own life. From a not-so distant relative who was born enslaved, to the journey Roberts embarks on through diving and travel, to exploring shipwrecks and talking/meeting with people doing important work—with student programs, with politics, or working to find new evidence and preserve an important part of history—in the hopes of finding a sense of understanding, belonging, and peace in her own life.

Most of the memoirs I’ve read didn’t approach history quite like Written in the Waters, which I get, because they were, first and foremost, written with a specific focus (kind of like how some fiction is more of a character study rather than anything else). But Roberts found a good balance, a bridge between the past and the present (no pun intended), through the ups and downs of her life—and even the highs and lows of gaining more experience as a diver.

Written in the Waters is a compulsively readable memoir. And, I highly recommend it!

About the author....

Tara spent the last six years following, diving with, and telling stories about Black scuba divers as they searched for and helped document slave shipwrecks around the world. Her journey was turned into an award-winning National Geographic-produced podcast called “Into the Depths” and featured in the March issue of National Geographic magazine. Tara became the first Black female explorer ever to be featured on the cover of Nat Geo. In 2022, Tara was named the Rolex National Geographic Explorer of the Year. Currently, she is an Explorer-in-Residence at the National Geographic Society. And her book Written in the Waters: A Memoir of History, Home and Belonging hits stands in January 2025.

Goodreads     Website     Instagram

Disclaimer: this copy of the book was provided by the publisher (National Geographic) via BookishFirst in exchange for an honest review, thank you! 

Music Monday (308): Nao, Nova Twins, Teddy Swims

Rules:

• Music Monday is a weekly meme hosted by Lauren Stoolfire at Always Me that asks you to share one or two songs that you've recently enjoyed. For the rules, visit the page HERE 

Breana: It feels like it's been ages since I last participated in Music Monday, and I've missed sharing some of the stuff from my playlist. So, it feels good to be back. My pick this week is a song from one of my all-time favorite artists. Check out Happy People by Nao!

Adri: After Nova Twins' last album, I knew I couldn't wait until their next release. That's why this week my pick is their newest song, Monsters.

Andrea: Hi all. I'm listening to Lose Control by Teddy Swims. Have an amazing week!

What are you listening to this week?

New Year, New Stuff

With the New Year there are a slew of new books, movies, albums, and TV shows to look forward to. So here’s a brief list of some of the media I’m waiting for…

Books…

• Kata Basis by R.F. Kuang
• The Listeners by Maggie Stiefvater
• Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy
• When the Moon Hits Your Eye by John Scalzi
• The Capital of Dreams by Heather O’Neill
• Black Woods Blue Sky by Eowyn Ivey
• The Bewitching by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
• Emily Wilde's Compendium of Lost Tales by Heather Fawcette

Albums…

• Eusexua by FKA Twigs (January 24)
• Hurry Up Tomorrow by The Weeknd (January 31)
• Club Shy Room 2 by Shygirl (February 14)
• Jupiter by Nao (February 21)
• The Right Person Will Say by Lana Del Rey (May 21)

So, that covers it for now. As always, this list will change as more information becomes available later in the year. What are you looking forward to in 2025?

We're Back & Some House Keeping

 

Hello. I know it’s been a while. Our Thoughts Precisely went on hiatus in December and, honestly, I needed the time away from the internet and from reviewing. And then, I ended up extending my break, since the state where I live has gone through a series of destructive wildfires. (I wasn't in the evacuation zone, but the there have been red flag warnings for wind in my area.) But, I digress. I, honestly, didn’t do too much reading in the conventional sense, a couple of novels but mostly a variety of essays and columns ranging in subject from science to history, think pieces, personal essays, and reviews from publications like Reactor Magazine (formerly Tor.com). And, during that time, I really got to thinking about the ways I wanted to engage with the book community and social media going forward.

Some housekeeping…

I’m not quitting the blog, but I have decided to scale back on the number of posts. For a few years now, I’ve maintained the schedule of posting three times a week (typically Monday, Wednesday, and Friday). But, going into 2025, I likely won’t have a consistent schedule like that anymore. It takes time to maintain, and I’ve reached the conclusion: I don’t want to spend that much time on it anymore, besides the fact that some books I just want to enjoy rather than making decision with “blog content” in mind.

Content wise, nothing much is changing. Music will likely be condensed into Music Mondays and “What I’ve Been Listening To,” rather than individual albums having dedicated posts. For Short Stories, I may or may not do more with the miscellaneous (from around the web) section; we’ll see.

Other than that, I have no blogging resolutions, and I’m just going to go with the flow for 2025.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! It's officially 2025, and we hope everyone has a marvelous day. We're not back to blogging just, so we'll see everyone later this month!

Break Notice

We usually have posts planned for December, but, unfortunately, not this year. So, we’re starting our annual break from the blog early. We hope everyone has a great holiday, Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year. See you all in 2025. Happy reading!

Short Stories: The Wood at Midwinter by Susanna Clarke illustrated by Victoria Sawdon

I'm taking a brief break from the usual format of Short Stories, to take a look at the new Susanna Clarke story, The Wood a Midwinter, illustrated by Victoria Sawdon.

Title: The Wood at Midwinter
Series: n/a
Author/Illustrator: Susanna Clarke; Victoria Sawdon
Source/Format: Purchased; Hardcover
More Details: Fantasy; Short Story
Publisher/Publication Date: Bloomsbury Publishing; October 20, 2024

Goodreads 

Synopsis from Goodreads...

From the internationally bestselling and prize-winning author of Piranesi and Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, an enchanting, beautifully illustrated short story set in the Strange universe.

"A church is a sort of wood. A wood is a sort of church. They're the same thing really."

Nineteen-year-old Merowdis Scott is an unusual girl. She can talk to animals and trees - and she is only ever happy when she is walking in the woods. One snowy afternoon, out with her dogs and Apple the pig, Merowdis encounters a blackbird and a fox. As darkness falls, a strange figure enters in their midst - and the path of her life is changed forever.

As my Short Story intro above says, I’m taking a break from the typical format to look at Susanna Clarke’s short story, The Wood at Midwinter, illustrated by Victoria Sawdon. I was very excited to pick this one up, considering how much I adored Piranesi—and I’m slowly working my way through Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norwell, which has, so far, been as entertaining as I’d hoped. But, I digress, this post is about The Wood at Midwinter.

A woman, Merowdis, sits in a forest at midwinter, which was, now that I think about it, very fairy tale-esque of her. She talks to animals, to the bugs, and even to the trees; her loyal animals and, as the title suggests, the wood at midwinter. It’s a conversation between all of them, wherein she laments about her life, what she doesn’t wish to do, and admits to what she desperately wants to have and hold—regardless of the consequences and what she might have to give up to have it. And in a story with a setting like this one, with a quietly magical atmosphere, anything was possible.

The Wood at Midwinter is short but still a delightful little story with an enigmatic character and a wintery backdrop, which featured a nice visual aspect accompanying the prose with Sawdon’s illustrations.

Music Monday (307): Lil Nas X, Jon Batiste

Rules:

• Music Monday is a weekly meme hosted by Lauren Stoolfire at Always Me that asks you to share one or two songs that you've recently enjoyed. For the rules, visit the page HERE 

Breana: Recently, I added Lil Nas X's new song, Need Dat Boy, to my playlist. I'm really enjoying the direction his latest music is going in.

Andrea: Hi all! This week I'm listening to Für Elise - Batiste by Jon Batiste. Have an amazing week!

What are you listening to this week?

The Friday 56 (251) & Book Beginnings: The Wood at Midwinter by Susanna Clarke

The Friday 56 is a weekly meme hosted by Freda's Voice where every Friday you pick a book and turn to page 56 or 56%, and select a sentence or a few, as long as it's not a spoiler. **Note: Freda @ Freda's Voice is taking a break from The Friday 56; Anne @Head is Full of Books is hosting for now.**

Book Beginnings is a weekly meme hosted by Rose City Reader that asks you to share the first sentence (or so) of the book you're reading.

Synopsis from Goodreads...

From the internationally bestselling and prize-winning author of Piranesi and Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, an enchanting, beautifully illustrated short story set in the Strange universe.

"A church is a sort of wood. A wood is a sort of church. They're the same thing really."

Nineteen-year-old Merowdis Scott is an unusual girl. She can talk to animals and trees - and she is only ever happy when she is walking in the woods. One snowy afternoon, out with her dogs and Apple the pig, Merowdis encounters a blackbird and a fox. As darkness falls, a strange figure enters in their midst - and the path of her life is changed forever.

Beginning: "It was winter, just a few days before Christmas. A few flakes of snow fell on the quiet fields."

56: "Some stories sink down into your bones. In my own writing I had become fascinated by characters who are bridges between different worlds, between different states of being, characters who feel compelled to try and reconcile the unreconcilable."

Comments: I really liked this short story from Susanna Clarke. Its a very quick read but a good one, and it's illustrated by Victoria Sawdon. Since this was a so short, my 56 this week comes from the author's afterward, just because of how much I loved the quote. What are you reading this week?