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altlovesbooks.bsky.social
alt(really)lovesbooks
@altlovesbooks.bsky.social
110 followers 45 following 280 posts
I read a lot of books. I have weird friends. I have a ton of different interests. I read even more books. I'm a full-time librarian at a library on an Air Force base. I cross stitch. I sometimes forget I have social media profiles. I have two cats.
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altlovesbooks.bsky.social
I finished an ARC for 'The Astral Library' by Kate Quinn. Not my cup of tea, maybe something here for Kate Quinn fans? I read it because library, but all the over-the-top humor and extras thrown in made it feel disjointed to me.

⭐⭐⭐

#BookSky #reading

Full review: www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
AltLovesBooks's review of The Astral Library
3/5: Soooooooo...... I grabbed this book off NetGalley because it's a book about magical libraries. I've read a ton of these, and I like the different takes. I have not read anything by Kate Quinn pre...
www.goodreads.com
October 8, 2025 at 3:03 PM
altlovesbooks.bsky.social
I finished an ARC for 'The Pillagers' Guide to Arctic Pianos' by Kendra Langford Shaw. I don't normally like generational dramas, but this one captured my attention. Unique premise, I wanted the Spahrs to succeed. Good stuff.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

#BookSky #reading

Full review: www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
AltLovesBooks's review of The Pillagers' Guide to Arctic Pianos
4/5: "Piano keys. The ivory spine of the Arctic." Because I read so many Arctic expedition books, I'm uniquely interested in any book that references this area of the world. So imagine my surprise wh...
www.goodreads.com
October 3, 2025 at 1:00 PM
altlovesbooks.bsky.social
I finished an ARC for 'Neptune's Fortune' by Julian Sancton. Walked away with lots of neat treasure hunter knowledge. Dooley was an interesting character. Just as good as his other book about the Belgica.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

#BookSky #bookreview #reading

Full review: www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
AltLovesBooks's review of Neptune's Fortune
4/5: "The sea is broad and her paths are many." I read Sancton's other book, Madhouse at the End of the Earth: The Belgica's Journey into the Dark Antarctic Night, as part of my deep dive into arctic...
www.goodreads.com
September 18, 2025 at 9:31 AM
altlovesbooks.bsky.social
Ruby, fallen. An art piece.
September 16, 2025 at 2:02 PM
altlovesbooks.bsky.social
I finished 'Sunset, Water City' by Chris McKinney, capping off this sci-fi trilogy. Didn't like it as much as the others, with a change in tone and POV, but a solid end to an interesting sci-fi mystery series.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

#BookSky #bookreview #reading

Full review: www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
AltLovesBooks's review of Sunset, Water City (The Water City Trilogy, #3)
4/5: This is more like a 3.5 rounded up. I didn't like this one as much as the other two, but appreciate the conclusion/closure. Part of this had to do with the drastic-feeling change in tone from ...
www.goodreads.com
September 8, 2025 at 6:58 PM
altlovesbooks.bsky.social
My current reads:

Sunset, Water City by Chris McKinney

The Fifth Season by @nkjemisin.bsky.social

Neptune's Fortune: The Billion-Dollar Shipwreck and the Ghosts of the Spanish Empire by Julian Sancton

The Desert of Souls by Howard Andrew Jones

#reading #BookSky
August 28, 2025 at 4:09 PM
altlovesbooks.bsky.social
My current cross stitch work in progress, various old school Kamen Rider figures. 2 and half figures done out of 10.

#crafting #crossstitch #wip #kamenrider
August 28, 2025 at 1:16 PM
altlovesbooks.bsky.social
Whoops, there I go, vanishing again.

I got approved for an ARC of Julian Sancton's "Neptune's Fortune: Neptune's Fortune: The Billion-Dollar Shipwreck and the Ghosts of the Spanish Empire". Kind of excited to start this, I read his other Antarctic one and loved it.

#BookSky #reading #arc
Cover of "Neptune's Fortune" by Julian Sancton
August 27, 2025 at 3:46 PM
altlovesbooks.bsky.social
Organizing my library's storage situation.

Pens: ✅️
Pencils: ✅️
Brains: ✅️

#library #libraries #librarylife #somanybrains
July 31, 2025 at 7:34 PM
altlovesbooks.bsky.social
I finished the audiobook for 'Playground' by Richard Powers. A friend group drama, an AI, and an island in the Pacific. How do these mix so well? The twist brings it all together.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

#BookSky #bookreview #reading

Full review: www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
AltLovesBooks's review of Playground
5/5: "How inappropriate to call this planet Earth, when clearly it is Ocean." Read this book as a physical/ebook copy, if you can. I listened to it as an audiobook, and without the text, didn't have ...
www.goodreads.com
July 30, 2025 at 4:13 PM
altlovesbooks.bsky.social
Started a new cross stitch project last night/this morning. I picked up a pattern off Etsy of Kamen Rider characters, a Japanese show. Also upgraded my hoops because I wasn't a huge fan of the wooden ones.

#crossstitch #kamenrider #crafting
July 1, 2025 at 11:39 AM
altlovesbooks.bsky.social
Just finished my first decent sized cross stitch project. I'll remove it from the hoop layer and iron/de-cat hair it. I'm going to mount it on foam board and hang it (and other future projects) on my wall like art prints.

#crossstitch #crafting #cats
June 22, 2025 at 12:22 PM
altlovesbooks.bsky.social
I finished an ARC for 'Among the Burning Flowers' by Samantha Shannon. If you've read her other two doorstops, absolutely pick this novella up. This one is set two years before Priory. Marosa is everything.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

#BookSky #bookreview #reading

Full review: www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
AltLovesBooks's review of Among the Burning Flowers (The Roots of Chaos, #0.5)
4/5: "Broken are the roots of chaos." In this novella (which, let's be honest, is about the size of a regular novel from anyone else), we're two years prior to the events of Priory of the Orange Tree...
www.goodreads.com
June 20, 2025 at 6:33 PM
altlovesbooks.bsky.social
Franklin is tangled.

#cats #catsofbluesky #franklin
June 16, 2025 at 11:34 PM
altlovesbooks.bsky.social
Just finished 'Blood over Bright Haven' by M.L. Wang. The author tried to cram in entirely too many social issues into one fantasy book, leaving the whole thing feeling a bit muddled. Interesting magic, but complex.

⭐⭐⭐

#BookSky #bookreview #reading

Full review: www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
AltLovesBooks's review of Blood Over Bright Haven
3/5: "I can be civil, ma'am, or I can be honest. You can't have both in their entirety." This book had all the subtlety of a hammer to the face. While not a bad book exactly, there's the bones of som...
www.goodreads.com
June 9, 2025 at 8:00 PM
altlovesbooks.bsky.social
Finished a little knockoff Lego thing I picked up at my local comic book shop. Photos of the front and back.

#lego (kinda) #hobbies
June 7, 2025 at 5:55 PM
altlovesbooks.bsky.social
I finished 'The Moonlight Healers' by Elizabeth Becker a few days ago. Little emphasis on healing, more of a family drama with some magical realism aspects. Unnecessary dual POVs, they never really came together.

⭐⭐⭐

#BookSky #bookreview #reading

Full review: www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
AltLovesBooks's review of The Moonlight Healers
3/5: I sort of thought the "secret healing powers" would play a more prominent role in a book about, well, healers, but I was surprised at how little it actually had an impact on things. We have two ...
www.goodreads.com
June 6, 2025 at 3:05 PM
altlovesbooks.bsky.social
Three-quarters done! The black thread on the black fabric is my least favorite part of this project. It's hard to see, and convinces me I'm blind. I've made errors in my counting in places, but I'm happy I've stuck with it so long.

#crossstitch #crafting #cats
May 31, 2025 at 2:31 PM
altlovesbooks.bsky.social
Ruby working on her reps in the prison yard.

#cats #catsofbluesky #caturday #ruby
May 31, 2025 at 11:30 AM
altlovesbooks.bsky.social
I finished 'The Cemetery of Untold Stories' by Julia Alvarez. Great prose/writing, less great of an actual story. Many POVs, it was hard for me to keep track of who was who, particularly with how much it hops around.

⭐⭐⭐

#BookSky #bookreview #reading

Full review: www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
AltLovesBooks's review of The Cemetery of Untold Stories
3/5: As I listened to this book, I kept hopping between 5 stars for the writing and 3 stars for the story. I ultimately decided that good writing doesn't save a disjointed story, but I wish I could ha...
www.goodreads.com
May 30, 2025 at 6:54 PM
altlovesbooks.bsky.social
There is no cat here.

#cats #catsofbluesky #ruby
May 30, 2025 at 9:51 AM
altlovesbooks.bsky.social
I returned from a Western Caribbean cruise. Beautiful weather all week, I read 3 books, drank my weight in free milkshakes, and a monkey stole my hat on Roatan. 10/10, I hope that monkey enjoys his hat.
May 29, 2025 at 6:15 PM
altlovesbooks.bsky.social
I finished 'Navola' by @paolobacigalupi.bsky.social on my trip. Like if Guy Gavriel Kay wrote Game of Thrones, with an emphasis on characters rather than action. Very Italian-forward. Loved it.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

#BookSky #bookreview #reading

Full review: www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
AltLovesBooks's review of Navola
4/5: "We always sit at the plank." This is like if my favorite author, Guy Gavriel Kay, wrote Game of Thrones without gratuitous sex scenes and almost all political intrigue. Which is to say, yes ple...
www.goodreads.com
May 29, 2025 at 5:29 PM
altlovesbooks.bsky.social
Don't be this guy.
Man checks out 100 books from Beachwood Library, then burns them in social media post
A man applied for a card from the Beachwood Library and, over two visits, withdrew 100 books. He later posted two videos, one in which he burned all of the books.
www.cleveland.com
May 11, 2025 at 10:04 AM
altlovesbooks.bsky.social
From 'Hear the Wind Sing' by Haruki Murakami. What kind of monster eats pancakes like that?

#reading #BookSky #grossfood
A snippet of text from a book. It reads, 'The Rat's favorite food was pancakes, hot off the griddle. He would stack several in a deep dish, cut them into four neat pieces, then pour a bottle of Coke over the top.'
May 9, 2025 at 9:02 PM