The Mindful Librarian

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April 12, 2025

Five Things to Tell You Vol. 19

recent reads, exciting plans, a puzzle finish and more!

Well, hello there! So happy to see you today! Settle in with your favorite snack and let’s dive in …

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I finally finished reading the most bittersweet nonfiction book of the year, as well as two of my highly anticipated new fiction releases. Who is Government? took me quite awhile because it just broke my heart every time I picked it up, but I just inhaled both of the fiction titles.

book covers for the three titles described below

Read Who is Government edited by Michael Lewis if you want to honor the work of the massive number of federal employees who have been cruelly and haphazardly fired in recent weeks, with no regard for their incredible importance to the very being of our nation.

Read Fun for the Whole Family by Jennifer E. Smith if you love messy families and stories of adult children reuniting.

Read The Griffin Sisters Greatest Hits by Jennifer Weiner if early ‘00s music owns your soul and complex sister relationships are your jam.

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BIG NEWS, my friends. BIG NEWS. I made a spontaneous decision recently to buy tickets to a ROMANCE BOOK CONVENTION! I have never been to one before, but after reading Alyssa’s description of Romance Con and finding out it’s in Milwaukee (driving distance for me) in September, I decided to invest immediately.

I'm going to Romance Con! September 5-6 2025 at Baird Center in Milwaukee, WI

I honestly have absolutely no idea what happens at this convention, but as a romance-reading writer and librarian, this is a required research expedition. I. can. not. wait.

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Speaking of romance, I just listened to this librarian romance (from my list I shared last week!), and gasped and cackled throughout the entire thing. Hilarious, outrageous, ridiculous, off-the-charts steamy, but also amazing romance genre and library representation and the male librarian lead was perfect. This is part of a series, but I just jumped right in with #2.

ebook and audiobook cover images for Stud in the stacks by Pippa Grant

Seriously, though. The Kindle version cover is one thing, but the audio cover. I giggled seeing it come up every time I opened my app.

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I started this puzzle during Christmas break and FINALLY finished it recently! Yay me! Usually I spend more time on puzzles during the winter, but I think my sewing mania in January and February definitely slowed things down this year.

A completed puzzle featuring houseplants

Also, working on it reminded me that the massive number of plants that my oldest left in my care (aka abandoned) have not been faring well under my regimen of benign neglect. EEEEEK. I made her listen to me complain about it on the phone one day recently while I painstakingly WASHED all of the plants to rid them of a mealybug infestation.

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Parents of both humans and pets know well that we really truly just can’t predict how the beloved creatures we raise will turn out ….

images of Katy and three dogs next to an image of a dog rolling in a field

Ozzie joined our family on April 3, 2020 as our pandemic puppy, and we thought he would grow up to be a classic border collie who would be a replica of our beloved older border collie Max. He… is not that.

Five years later, we think surely he has SOME border collie in him, but he is one quirky, weird little gremlin who keeps us on our toes at all times. A lot of blue heeler and something else in his blood ~ coyote? raccoon? We adore him, but I will just remind you that when you get dogs for free from that one farmer who has a surprise litter … you get and love what you get! Ha!

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That’s all for this week ~ thanks for reading! Please feel free to reply to this email or use the link below to leave a comment to chime in about any of these things, or to share one of your own things ♡

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