SqueakyChu's Book Menu for 2026 - 3rd Quarter
Talk 75 Books Challenge for 2026
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1SqueakyChu
Hi all!
Here we are again! I'm still continuing to enjoy my reads this year. They are slower than usual, but I think they are better than usual as well so I'm not complaining.
I'm now in therapy for anxiety which I think has improved a great deal. I really like my therapist who leaves me in an improved mood every time I leave her office. I now think much of my anxiety has to do more with my loss of hearing that with politics...although I still am terrified and ashamed of the state of my nation (USA). I do not feel like celebrating this Fourth of July.
My garden is doing well. It could probably stand a bit more loving care, but the temperatures here in Rockville are so ridiculous. Today it was 99 and this weekend it is supposed to be 102 degrees. Not exactly gardening weather. We're harvesting cherry tomatoes, green beans, and cucumbers mostly this week.
I've really been enjoying watching the World Cup these past couple of weeks. My choice for winner is Argentina because I love Messi, but France's Mbappe looks amazing. I think that France might just go all the way. Today I watched the USA win to be in the round of 16. The best they ever did in one previous world cup was to make it to the quarterfinals.
Thanks for stopping by, everyone! Enjoy your summer (or winter if you are south of the equator!).
Pages Read YTD: 5,217
Pages Read per Day: increased to 27
Books in my To Read Pile: decreased to 339
BookCrossing Books to be Released: increased to 1,512
Here we are again! I'm still continuing to enjoy my reads this year. They are slower than usual, but I think they are better than usual as well so I'm not complaining.
I'm now in therapy for anxiety which I think has improved a great deal. I really like my therapist who leaves me in an improved mood every time I leave her office. I now think much of my anxiety has to do more with my loss of hearing that with politics...although I still am terrified and ashamed of the state of my nation (USA). I do not feel like celebrating this Fourth of July.
My garden is doing well. It could probably stand a bit more loving care, but the temperatures here in Rockville are so ridiculous. Today it was 99 and this weekend it is supposed to be 102 degrees. Not exactly gardening weather. We're harvesting cherry tomatoes, green beans, and cucumbers mostly this week.
I've really been enjoying watching the World Cup these past couple of weeks. My choice for winner is Argentina because I love Messi, but France's Mbappe looks amazing. I think that France might just go all the way. Today I watched the USA win to be in the round of 16. The best they ever did in one previous world cup was to make it to the quarterfinals.
Thanks for stopping by, everyone! Enjoy your summer (or winter if you are south of the equator!).
Pages Read YTD: 5,217
Pages Read per Day: increased to 27
Books in my To Read Pile: decreased to 339
BookCrossing Books to be Released: increased to 1,512
2SqueakyChu
JULY:
My first ever corn! During the following years, the corn did not turn out well so I stopped planting it.
COMPLETED:
18. Now is the Time; 170 Ways to Seize the Moment - Patrick Lindsay - TIOLI #11: Read a book where the one of the author’s names ends in a “Y” - 170 pages
19. Butter - Asako Yuzuki - TIOLI #1: Read a book with a one-word title beginning with a letter from the first half of the alphabet (A through M) and containing NO numbers - 452 pages
CURRENTLY READING:
20. How To Speak Chicken - Melissa Caughey - TIOLI #15: Read a book where a word in the title or the author's name starts with PHILADELPHIA FREEDOM
21. Botchan - Natsume Sōseki - TIOLI #1: Read a book with a one-word title beginning with a letter from the first half of the alphabet (A through M) and containing NO numbers - 55/192 pages = 27%
TO READ:
???
My first ever corn! During the following years, the corn did not turn out well so I stopped planting it.
COMPLETED:
18. Now is the Time; 170 Ways to Seize the Moment - Patrick Lindsay - TIOLI #11: Read a book where the one of the author’s names ends in a “Y” - 170 pages
19. Butter - Asako Yuzuki - TIOLI #1: Read a book with a one-word title beginning with a letter from the first half of the alphabet (A through M) and containing NO numbers - 452 pages
CURRENTLY READING:
20. How To Speak Chicken - Melissa Caughey - TIOLI #15: Read a book where a word in the title or the author's name starts with PHILADELPHIA FREEDOM
21. Botchan - Natsume Sōseki - TIOLI #1: Read a book with a one-word title beginning with a letter from the first half of the alphabet (A through M) and containing NO numbers - 55/192 pages = 27%
TO READ:
???
3SqueakyChu
AUGUST:
This is acorn squash. I love to bake it with a sweet filling and eat it with a spoon!
BOOK EVENTS:
1. BookCrossing Meetup somewhere in Virginia
CURRENTLY READING:
???
TO READ:
???
This is acorn squash. I love to bake it with a sweet filling and eat it with a spoon!
BOOK EVENTS:
1. BookCrossing Meetup somewhere in Virginia
CURRENTLY READING:
???
TO READ:
???
4SqueakyChu
SEPTEMBER:
Ahhhh! These are poppy seed mandelbread, a cookie which I love to bake. Yum!!
CURRENTLY READING:
???
TO READ:
???
Ahhhh! These are poppy seed mandelbread, a cookie which I love to bake. Yum!!
CURRENTLY READING:
???
TO READ:
???
5vancouverdeb
Happy New Thread, Madeline. My sister makes a similar cookie she calls komish,a twice baked cookie with chocolate chips and cinnamon. We had several neighbours on the Jewish faith when we were young and my sister and I babysat for them. That is were my sister got the recipe.
6SqueakyChu
>5 vancouverdeb: I love making all kinds of mandelbrot (mandelbread). This is just one kind. The ones with chocolate chips and cinnamon are equally delicious, Deb.
7PaulCranswick
Happy new thread.......and a delicious one it promises to be, Madeline.
8jessibud2
Happy new thread, Madeline. Your baking looks wonderful! I am also harvesting cherry tomatoes. This year, for the first time, I didn't plant my tomato plants in the ground. Instead, I bought a hanging basket of tomatoes, because they already had tomatoes on them that were red. That was in May and I'm still bringing tomatoes in every day! Absolutely nothing tastes as good as a freshly picked sun-kissed tomato!!
9jessibud2
Funny story about Messi. My ginger cat Theo has terrible litter box etiquette. I am grateful, of course, that he uses the box but when he comes out, he always has litter on his backside and legs. Gross. He does let me *wipe* him, thank goodness but I told him the other day that I am considering changing his name to Leo, because he is, at the moment, Theo Messy.
Sorry if this is tmi, ;-p
Sorry if this is tmi, ;-p
10SqueakyChu
>7 PaulCranswick: Thank you so much, Paul.
>8 jessibud2: >9 jessibud2: I agree with you about the taste of freshly picked tomatoes, Shelley. At the grocery store during the rest of the year, I only buy grape tomatoes or cherry tomatoes because the full size tomatoes taste like...nothing!
Theo Messi...LOL!! Love it!!
>8 jessibud2: >9 jessibud2: I agree with you about the taste of freshly picked tomatoes, Shelley. At the grocery store during the rest of the year, I only buy grape tomatoes or cherry tomatoes because the full size tomatoes taste like...nothing!
Theo Messi...LOL!! Love it!!
11atozgrl
Happy new thread, Madeline! It sounds like your garden is producing well. Hang in there with the heat. We're dealing with it in NC too. Even 90F sounds good at this point.
12SqueakyChu
>11 atozgrl: My friend in North Carolina told me today that the temp reached 100 degrees where she lives...the hottest it has been there in twenty years. The thermometer in front of my house in Rockville, Maryland, reached 106 degrees today!
14atozgrl
>12 SqueakyChu: 106! Yeeesh! We got up to 101F today, and we've got at least two more days like that to go. I'm surprised you were that much hotter in MD.
15SqueakyChu
18. Now is the Time; 170 Ways to Seize the Moment - Patrick Lindsay
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TIOLI #11: Read a book where the one of the author’s names ends in a “Y”
----------------------------------------------
This book is so gorgeous! On every page is a different but striking suggestion for one thing to do to make one’s life most meaningful. It dwells on the present and what each of us can do right now. Each subject is followed by a quote of a different famous person. Take what this book says deeply to heart and keep it there. This book is not a self-help book, but rather a guide to inner strength and beauty. It’s a keeper…literally!
Rating - 5 stars
Now is the time
to make your vote count.
Politics may be show business for ugly people,
but we must still take part in the selection process.
Think of those who have no vote,
no power to control their destiny.
Honor them by using your vote wisely.
Whether national, state, or local elections,
study the candidates and their policies.
Make a reasoned selection.
-----------------------------------------
TIOLI #11: Read a book where the one of the author’s names ends in a “Y”
----------------------------------------------
This book is so gorgeous! On every page is a different but striking suggestion for one thing to do to make one’s life most meaningful. It dwells on the present and what each of us can do right now. Each subject is followed by a quote of a different famous person. Take what this book says deeply to heart and keep it there. This book is not a self-help book, but rather a guide to inner strength and beauty. It’s a keeper…literally!
Rating - 5 stars
Now is the time
to make your vote count.
Politics may be show business for ugly people,
but we must still take part in the selection process.
Think of those who have no vote,
no power to control their destiny.
Honor them by using your vote wisely.
Whether national, state, or local elections,
study the candidates and their policies.
Make a reasoned selection.
16SqueakyChu
19. Butter - Asako Yuzuki
------------------------------------------
TIOLI #1: Read a book with a one-word title beginning with a letter from the first half of the alphabet (A through M) and containing NO numbers
------------------------------------------
Wow! What an excellent story! It’s deep and delicious. I was not sure what to expect about this story when I began to read it. I thought it would be a murder mystery. That it was not. Rather it turned out to be a character study of three women in Japan: Rika was a journalist for a magazine, Reiko was Rika's best friend, and Kajii was an alleged murderess of three men whom she had been dating. The gist of this novel is that Rika is trying to get an exclusive interview with Kajii by not talking about the murder investigation, but rather conversing about other things in which Kajii is interested, mainly gourmet food and cooking.
The story-telling is dense and full of food preparation! I can see how others might not like the depths into which the author wrote about food, but I found the way in which this story was told mesmerizing and the ending unexpected but immensely satisfying.
Rating - 5 stars
Rika blinked at the scene that unfolded in front of her, as dazzling to her eyes as if she'd dived into a glass of champagne.
------------------------------------------
TIOLI #1: Read a book with a one-word title beginning with a letter from the first half of the alphabet (A through M) and containing NO numbers
------------------------------------------
Wow! What an excellent story! It’s deep and delicious. I was not sure what to expect about this story when I began to read it. I thought it would be a murder mystery. That it was not. Rather it turned out to be a character study of three women in Japan: Rika was a journalist for a magazine, Reiko was Rika's best friend, and Kajii was an alleged murderess of three men whom she had been dating. The gist of this novel is that Rika is trying to get an exclusive interview with Kajii by not talking about the murder investigation, but rather conversing about other things in which Kajii is interested, mainly gourmet food and cooking.
The story-telling is dense and full of food preparation! I can see how others might not like the depths into which the author wrote about food, but I found the way in which this story was told mesmerizing and the ending unexpected but immensely satisfying.
Rating - 5 stars
Rika blinked at the scene that unfolded in front of her, as dazzling to her eyes as if she'd dived into a glass of champagne.
