Susan Cushing
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Susan Cushing
@sdcushing.bsky.social
9.9K followers 4.1K following 41K posts
#EastCoastKin Arts Collective member
#BlueBrew Coffeehouse Host, founder #BlueBrewBooks
Relentless arts and photography advocate. Eclectic and inveterate sharer. Retired arts administrator. Former dancer. Occasional quilter. Bookish.
🏳️‍🌈 🏳️‍⚧️ LGBTQIA+ friendly
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sdcushing.bsky.social
#BlueBrewBooks

Recommending two of my favorite books of 2025:

“Still Life” by Sarah Winman

“Atlantis Travelers” by Bonnie Brooks

See ALT text for brief descriptions -
“Still Life” - beautiful, joyful. A book for art lovers and those who love historical fiction built around characters. Idiosyncratic but lovely prose. Revolves loosely around the story of those who rescued art from the Nazis. ©️ 2021 450 pages, 5 ⭐️ “Atlantis Travelers” - complex, yet fun and engaging sci-fi storytelling. Reads like a thriller and simultaneously includes great world-building. I particularly loved the arts worlds humming along within the plot. Very entertaining. ©️ 2025 347 pages, 5 ⭐️
January 18, 2026 at 11:12 AM
sdcushing.bsky.social
He’s the #One for us!

#LokiTheKat in my lap on a snowy Saturday.

#BlueSkyArtShow #Caturday #EastCoastKin
Black cat face with yellowish-green eyes and white whiskers, focused on camera from a very short distance.
January 17, 2026 at 5:20 PM
sdcushing.bsky.social
Good morning, Alina!

🤣 Love your gif. Glad you’re having a nice Saturday morning - it’s peaceful here too, and the snow makes everything so quiet when it’s falling.

I hope you also have a beautiful day! ☕️ ✨ 💫

Here’s my card pull for the day, which you may also enjoy ☺️
©️ ToriStevens.art
Photograph of Oracle card by ToriStevens.art , let intuition guide
January 17, 2026 at 2:06 PM
sdcushing.bsky.social
Yes, finding the balance is key!
Here’s my card pull for the day (©️ ToriStevens.art)
Oracle card reads Trust Yourself ©️ ToriStevens.art
January 16, 2026 at 2:31 PM
sdcushing.bsky.social
Good morning Janet! Thanks for posting to BlueBrewBooks. I have two lighter books that I was going to be suggesting for next week. Here’s your peek. Both Jane @loscctgl.bsky.social and Ioved these - she recommended them to me! I’ll write more about them next Sunday! Cheers! ☕️ ✨ 💫
January 11, 2026 at 3:50 PM
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Hello, Marjo! There seem to be lots of books to choose from today!
☕️ ✨ 💫
(I’ve just started Labyrinth - thank you so much for the recommendation! #BlueBrewBooks
January 11, 2026 at 12:09 PM
sdcushing.bsky.social
#BlueBrewBooks

I read 2 books this week, and, frankly, struggled with both! 😂

The True True Story Of Raja The Gullible (and his mother) by Rabih Alameddine, and

House Of Day, House Of Night by Olga Togarczuk

(recommended alternative:
Drive Your Plow Over The Bones Of The Dead)

See ALT for more
“House Of Day, House Of Night” was a difficult book for me. It is an agglomeration of stories revolving around a remote Polish Village. [I read “Drive Your Plough Over The Bones Of The Dead” by the same author a couple years ago and loved it. (Highly recommended!) A quirky mystery, it captured my imagination. It’s one of my top ten books of the past years. 5 ⭐️ ] “House Of Day, House of Night” was tougher. The stories are partially folktale, part religious fantasy, part small town life. If this sounds like your cup of tea, by all means, dig in. 3.5 out of 5 ⭐️ (It is worth noting that Tokarczuk is a Nobel Prize Winner, and both books carry her gentle power.) — Greatly anticipated, “The True, True Story Of Raja The Gullible (and His Mother)” is the tale of a charming homosexual teacher in Lebanon and his experiences in the war-torn country. I found some of his adventures to be more traumatizing than I had expected, and his relationship with his Mother to be initially grating. This National Book Award winner rallies as it develops, and is well worth the read. 4 out of 5 ⭐️ Cover of “Drive Your Plow Over The Bones Of The Dead” by Olga Togarczuk. Please see other ALT text for comments.
January 11, 2026 at 11:12 AM
sdcushing.bsky.social
Loki refusing to help with the long overdue Christmas decoration packing, even though it’s a #Caturday.

not. even. gonna. look.

A happy and vibrant Caturday and BlueSkyArtShow to all the rest of you!

#EastCoastKin #BlackCats
January 10, 2026 at 3:47 PM
sdcushing.bsky.social
Exactly.
January 8, 2026 at 2:49 PM
sdcushing.bsky.social
#BlueBrewBooks

I read two books this week:

• Cutting for Stone, by Abraham Verghese (2009)

• Flesh, by David Szalay (2025) 🥇

I am just starting

•The True True Story of Raja the Gullible (and his Mother), by Rabih Alameddine 🥇 🥇

Comments in the ALT text.

🥇- Award Winners
• Cutting For Stone is an epic, compelling, fictional story. It is primarily about developing surgeons in Ethiopia in the second half of the 20th century. I was a bit overwhelmed by the anatomical and medical detail, but that is in part its point. The story held together beautifully from beginning to end. I’d rate it 4 out of 5 stars. (On a personal note, the story revolved around two identical twins. I dated an identical twin in college. The story had some appropriately squirmy moments for me. 🤦🏼‍♀️ ) • Flesh is also fiction, the story of one man’s rise from a childhood in Hungary through the trajectory of his life to riches in an “ever globalizing Europe”. Its cadence is spare to the point of bare; another quick read Booker Award 🥇 winner. I’d skip this, but I would rate it 3 out of 5 stars. It’s not a book you’ll quickly forget, though it can easily be read in a day. •The True True Story of Raja the Gullible (and his Mother) is supposed to be charming. We’ll see. It did win the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction and the National Book Award. (50 pages in, it has yet to win me over…. 🤷🏼‍♀️ ) P.S. I’m looking for uplifting literature these days! Please let me know what you find out there! 🤩
January 4, 2026 at 11:21 AM
sdcushing.bsky.social
Happy Caturday from LokiTheKat, King of the Quilts!

#Caturday #EastCoastKin #quilts
January 3, 2026 at 3:33 PM
sdcushing.bsky.social
In a rare convergence of #WackyWednesdayArt and #NewYearsEve, I present to you the Happy Hippopotamus!

(She was a mascot at a store I managed for many holidays!)

🥴🤩🥳

#EastCoastKin
An ornament with a hippopotamus head sits on an unfinished bookcase. She has the torso, arms, and legs of a lady and wears a red and black sequined dress with crinoline underneath it - and on the back of her silly head.
December 31, 2025 at 5:30 PM
sdcushing.bsky.social
#BlueBrewBooks

Good Morning!

I read two books that I could just sink into during this holiday week:

•The Life Impossible by Matt Haig

•The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

For my brief takes, please see the photo’s ALT text
The Life Impossible was a bit of a stretch, but a fun, easy read. A modern tale about life-enhancing waters and their effect on the people they attract and environments they impact. I rated it 3 out of 5 stars. The Time Traveler’s Wife was just that: an enjoyable time- traveling story with the twist of having a solid, life-long love story as plot. I was way behind at picking this delightful book up - I rated it 5 out of 5!stars. A must read!
December 28, 2025 at 11:24 AM
sdcushing.bsky.social
Someone asked me about my favorite books of the year. In advance of this week’s #BlueBrewBooks, I thought I’d share a pile of most-loved titles read in 2025. I wanted to add more, but the pile was tipping over! Hope you can see them (if not please see ALT):
Favorite Books for 2025 included: •There Are Rivers In The Sky by Elif Shafak •Amsterdam by Ian McEwan •10 Minutes 42 Seconds In This Strange World by Elif Shafak •Still Life by Sarah Winman •Whalebone Theatre by Joanna Quinn •Atlantis Travelers by Bonnie Books •Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr •Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel •The Ministry Of Time by Kaliane Bradley •The MaddAddam Series by Margaret Atwood •What We Can Know by Ian McEwan •Dancer by Colum McCann
December 27, 2025 at 9:05 PM
sdcushing.bsky.social
Happy #Caturday from two of the lovingest chubby cats of the #Holiday!

#BlueSkyArtShow #EastCoastKin #ornaments #silly #kisses
Photo is of two ceramic ornaments, a boy and a girl, with bright red kissy mouths - both completely round and covered in pink, green, and gold glitter and ribbons. The girl has her hands at her heart, while the boy’s arms are outstretched for an embrace. Both have their eyes closed tightly.
December 27, 2025 at 3:12 PM
sdcushing.bsky.social
Happy #Holiday #BlueSkyArtShow to all of my favorite angels! 😇
A handmade angel tops a Christmas tree. It has white wings, and a white costume dotted with pine trees. Image is lit from behind and underneath with small white Christmas tree lights. The very vintage tree under it is also white.
December 27, 2025 at 2:10 PM
sdcushing.bsky.social
Hi Alina: This photo gives you a sense of a bookcase and ornaments crying out for a bigger tree next year! The photo is a little chopped as there are cactuses with purple grow-lights lurking on the right side! Yikes! 😳
December 25, 2025 at 4:17 PM
sdcushing.bsky.social
Merry Christmas to everyone, from Loki and me!
December 25, 2025 at 1:10 PM
sdcushing.bsky.social
Good morning Alina!

I received them, in perfect condition, but much too heavy for our tiny tree! This year, I will have to hang them from our twig mirror, on candelabras around the house, etc.

Does this look familiar to you? Did I end up with one of the sets you have? I love them! 😍
December 23, 2025 at 2:24 PM
sdcushing.bsky.social
Good morning, lauren! ☕️ ✨ 💫

A couple of my books have arrived, but I’ve gotten sidetracked with some light reading of Matt Haig’s “The Life Impossible” which I am quite enjoying.

I hope you are having a lovely holiday and are getting some reading done too! 📚
(Or whatever strikes your fancy!😊)
December 22, 2025 at 3:41 PM
sdcushing.bsky.social
Oh and Petie - I got this great compilation of new poems to complement what we already have from the earlier masters. Very excited about it! #BlueBrewBooks
Cover of the book, You Are Here, Poetry In The Natural World Edited and introduced by Ada Limon 24th Poet Laureate of the United States
December 22, 2025 at 1:39 PM
sdcushing.bsky.social
Hi lauren! So glad you’re reading ‘What We Can Know’ and loving it. 😊

And yes, ‘Braiding Sweetgrass’ is wonderful. 🥰 I need to read ‘Gathering Moss’, also by Kimmerer. Thanks for the reminder - I just pulled it off the shelves to add to my pile 🤦🏼‍♀️ 🤣.

Have a wonderful day!

#BlueBrewBooks
December 21, 2025 at 4:30 PM
sdcushing.bsky.social
#BlueBrewBooks

I’m not recommending the two books I read this last week 🤦🏼‍♀️.
Here are 2, still on their way to me, for this week

I’m very excited about The True True Story of Raja the Gullible (and His Mother), winner of the National Book Award

And Flesh, the Booker Prize Winner this year

See ALT
Cover for The True True story of Raja the Gullible (and His Mother) by Rabih Alameddine. Winner of the Pen/Faulkner Prize and the National Book Award, it is said to have a charming and unique Narrator. Cover for the book Flesh, by David Szalay, winner of this year’s Booker Prize. Story for one man’s climb from the lowest rungs of society to the highest. Readers say it is unlike anything they have ever read.
December 21, 2025 at 11:24 AM
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December 20, 2025 at 1:35 PM
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Currently, they sit in our house on top of a candle, like this:
December 20, 2025 at 12:08 PM