New post on Comedy, Tragedy: The Philippines Needs Your Help #comedytragedy #substack barbnatividad.substack.com/p/the-philip...

3⭐️ THE VERIFIERS by Jane Pek. 2022. Mystery. An amateur sleuth investigates the death of a dating app client. During the unraveling, things got messy and I had a hard time following along because of all the talk about algorithms. Just okay. 💙📚

I’m reading Show and Tell by Curtis Sittenfeld 💙📚 #MondayReads

Monday mood. #dogsky #dogsofbluesky

3⭐️ KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON: THE OSAGE MURDER AND THE BIRTH OF THE FBI by David Grann. 2017. History/true crime. An account of Osage tribe members murdered in the 1920s and the subsequent investigation by the then-nascent FBI. Started slow, picked up, ended abruptly. But want to see the movie. 💙📚

Happy #Caturday! #cat #catsky

This week’s belated #FridayReads was She Didn’t See It Coming by Shari Lapena. So good! 💙📚

3⭐️ DON’T YOU CRY by Mary Kubica. 2016. Mystery. Quinn’s roommate in Chicago goes missing and she searches for her. A stranger appears in a small Michigan town and Alex, a local teen, is intrigued by her. Will these two stories converge? Just okay. 💙📚

Doesn’t want her picture taken. #dogsky #dogsofbluesky

The Kinks: Arthur (or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire)

3⭐️ THE BOOK OF REPULSIVE WOMEN: 8 RHYTHMS AND 5 DRAWINGS by Djuna Barnes. 1915. Poetry/art. Dark drawings accompany these languidly rhythmic poems. 💙📚

New post on Comedy, Tragedy: October 2025 Reads barbnatividad.substack.com/p/october-20...

3⭐️ LOVE FORMS by Claire Adam. 2025. Literary. 58yo Dawn gave up her illegitimate baby in Venezuela when she was 16. Originally from Trinidad and now living in England, she embarks on a journey to find her daughter, retracing her steps and decisions made along the way. Slow. Not compelling enough. 💙📚

Fall has come to Chicago

I’m not a baseball fan, but I hope Toronto wins.

Happy #Caturday! #catsky #catsofbluesky

October Reads 💙📚

If you see this, quote with a robot that isn’t from “Star Wars,” “Star Trek,” “Doctor Who,” or “Transformers".

📚 Bookish Checkpoint 📚💙 ✨ Last Read: ‘Anna Karenina’ - Leo Tolstoy ✨ Current Read: ‘Love Forms’ - Claire Adam ✨ Last Added To TBR: ‘Minor Black Figured’ - Brandon Taylor ✨ Next Up: ‘Green Frog’ - Gina Chung

Currently reading Love Forms by Claire Adam #FridayReads 💙📚

Change one letter, ruin a candy Hershey’s HISSES

4⭐️ ANNA KARENINA by Leo Tolstoy. Trans. by Larissa Volokhonsky, Richard Pevear. 1878. Classic. Two stories: Levin is a jilted suitor and Anna is in a love triangle (whose story I preferred). Both are 19th-century, upper class Russians. To say more would spoil the novel. Excellent translation. 💙📚

Post something random or you’ll have an awful November.

New post on Comedy, Tragedy: Filipino-American History Month 2025 #comedytragedy #substack barbnatividad.substack.com/p/filipino-a...

5⭐️ EVERYTHING EVERYTHING by Nicola Yoon. 2015. YA romance. Madeline has a disease that doesn’t allow her to go outside as she must breathe filtered air at home. A boy moves in next door and they begin an online relationship. Will she ever get to meet him in person? Didn’t expect the twist. Cute! 💙📚

without downloading any new pics where are you at mentally

Happy #Caturday! #cats #catsofbluesky

4⭐️ THINGS WE DO IN THE DARK by Jennifer Hillier. 2022. Thriller. Paris Peralta has reinvented herself. However, she’s charged with the murder of her famous husband, and she fears her past will be revealed. Great story structure. Tense! 💙📚

What's it like inside your head?

My current #FridayReads is Everything Everything by Nicola Yoon. 💙📚

Outlived By Her TBR 💙📚

Bookish checkpoint 💙📚 Last read: House of Monstrous Women by Daphne Fama Current read: Anna Katerina by Tolstoy Things We Do in the Dark by Jennifer Hillier (book club) Next read: Everything Everything by Nicola Yoon (book club) Last book added to my TBR: The Riders by Tim Winton

New post on Comedy, Tragedy: Maeve Turned Five! (Maeve’s Story) #comedytragedy #substack barbnatividad.substack.com/p/maeve-turn...

Who's solving the Louvre robbery? Right answers only.

Who robbed the Louvre! Right answers only.

4⭐️ HOUSE OF MONSTROUS WOMEN by Daphne Fama. 2025. Historical/horror. Josephine’s childhood friend invites her to play a twisted game of hide-and-seek in her maze like house where rooms are inside rooms smelling of rot and earth. Will she live long enough to win? Deliciously creepy! 💙📚

Happy #Caturday! #catsky #catsofbluesky

Who's your favorite Jedi? (Wrong answers only)

Currently reading Anna Karenina by Tolstoy but may have to pause to read a book club book for a meeting next week and a library hold that just came in. #FridayReads 💙📚

4⭐️ FILIPINOS IN CHICAGO by Estrella Ravelo Alamar and Willi Red Buhay. 2001. History. A pictorial history of Filipino-Americans in Chicago. Informative. Read for Filipino-American History Month. 💙📚

3⭐️ LIVING DEAD GIRL by Elizabeth Scott. 2008. YA/horror. Alice is living in a nightmare. Will she ever wake up? Read this belatedly for Banned Books Week. It was okay. I would have liked an epilogue. 💙📚

New post on Comedy, Tragedy: Writing Wins! #comedytragedy #substack barbnatividad.substack.com/p/writing-wins

4⭐️ MIDNIGHT BLACK (Gray Man #14) by Mark Greaney. 2025. Thriller. The Gray Man’s lover and former Russian intelligence officer is imprisoned in Russia where she’s doing hard labor. Court Gentry, the Gray Man, attempts a harrowing rescue. Tons of action! This is the last book until February! 💙📚

#20TBRbookchallenge 💙📚 Choose 20 books on your current TBR shelf. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no expectations, just covers. 20/20 #Booksky #bookchallenge #readingchallenge #readersky

#20TBRbookchallenge 💙📚 Choose 20 books on your current TBR shelf. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no expectations, just covers. 19/20 #Booksky #bookchallenge #readingchallenge #readersky

#20TBRbookchallenge 💙📚 Choose 20 books on your current TBR shelf. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no expectations, just covers. 18/20 #Booksky #bookchallenge #readingchallenge #readersky

Happy #Caturday! #catsky #catsofbluesky

#20TBRbookchallenge 💙📚 Choose 20 books on your current TBR shelf. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no expectations, just covers. 17/20 #Booksky #bookchallenge #readingchallenge #readersky

My #FridayReads is Midnight Black (Gray Man #14) by Mark Greaney. 💙📚

5⭐️ FLESH by David Szalay. 2025. Literary. The life of István, an ex-soldier who grew up in a housing estate in Hungary, then finds himself ultra-wealthy in England. Loved the slow burn and spare prose in this character-driven novel. Subtext, subtext, subtext! 💙📚