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Welcome to Top Ten Tuesday, a weekly bookish meme hosted by Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl that features a different bookish topic every week.
Today’s topic is Books on My Winter 2024-2025 to-Read List
Alright, now that we’re almost at the end of the year and we’re doing a Winter TBR post, I can say that I’m a little disappointed that some of the books that have been on my TBR since last year haven’t been crossed off the list yet. I’ve read some great books this year, don’t get me wrong, but I really want to get to those pesky books still on my TBR too! Still, for the sake of this post, I’m posting different books so that I won’t feel sad about having the same books from last year on this year’s list!
Top Ten Books on My Winter 2024-2025 TBR
A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher – I’ve been wanting to read this but haven’t gotten my hands on the book yet. I’m a huge fan of Kingfisher and this one sounds really good too!
A Closed and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers – This is the second book in The Wayfarer series and will be a reread for me. I read the first and second book a while ago but not the next in the series, so I’m rereading before moving on to the next ones.
In A Holidaze by Christina Lauren – My irl bookclub’s BOTM. I’ve read other books by the authors and I’m hoping it will be a much needed light-hearted read for the holidays.
The Night She Disappeared by Lisa Jewell – My online bookclub’s BOTM and hopefully a fast-paced, thrilling read!
The Terror by Dan Simmons – This one sounds ominous but I’m intrigued and really want to read it. I’m scared but also very curious!
Oathbringer by Brandon Sanderson – The third book in The Stormlight Archive series. I just finished reading the first two recently and I am hooked! I know the fifth book just came out and I’m really excited to get through the books!
The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst – Honestly, this one is purely judged based on the cover. And title. It seems so whimsical and magical and I just want to read it!
Deadly Assessments by Drew Hayes – The fifth book in Fred, the Vampire Accountant series. I breezed through the first four and have enjoyed them all. Very much intending to finish the whole series.
The Dungeon Anarchist’s Cookbook by Matt Dinniman – The third book in the Dungeon Crawler Carl series. I loved the first two and I’m excited to read the rest of these books!
The Seven Year Slip by Ashley Poston – I just want a little more light-hearted romance in my life and heard this one was good.
Have you read any of these books? What did you think of them? Would you read any of these books?
Welcome to the Monthly Wrap Up hosted by Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction to share our monthly wrap-up posts that summarizes our month in books, our favorite books of the month, what we did on our blogs, and anything noteworthy we want to share.
November 2024 Wrap Up
November was a hectic month for me and I missed several weekly posts and didn’t write a single book review. I also haven’t replied comments here or visited other book blogs. I have so much to catch up on! I’m also feeling a little pressured because there is one more month in 2024 left, and I haven’t read so many of the books I listed on my 2024 tbr, and I don’t think I can.
December is probably going to be another hectic month, and I’m already thinking of all the ways I want to slow down for 2025. Unfortunately, I already committed to some things that will go on into 2025, but I’ll do my best to lock it down!
My November 2024 TBR Intentions
I did relatively well on my November TBR intentions, but The Glass Chateau has been on my TBR the longest out of all the others listed, and it’s the one I don’t think I’ll be able to get to until next year! But let’s just focus on the wins, okay? 😅
Super Powereds: Year 3 by Drew Hayes
Super Powereds: Year 4 by Drew Hayes
Dear Enemy by Jean Webster
The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak
The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman
The Glass Chateau by Stephen P. Kiernan
Doctor Sleep by Stephen King
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
Books Read in November 2024
Super Powereds: Year 3 by Drew Hayes
Super Powereds: Year 4 by Drew Hayes
Dear Enemy by Jean Webster
Long Live Evil by Sarah Rees Brennan
The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
Doctor Sleep by Stephen King
The Paradise Problem by Christina Lauren
The Utterly Uninteresting and Unadventurous Tales of Fred, the Vampire Accountant by Drew Hayes
Undeath and Taxes by Drew Hayes
Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman
Carl’s Doomsday Scenario by Matt Dinniman
The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak
Notable Books This Month
I was super surprised with Long Live Evil by Sarah Rees Brennan! I didn’t expect to love it as much as I did, but it was just fun and so enjoyable to read. It’s isekai, apparently (I just learned the term isekai recently!), and I love it!
There were a couple of heavy books this month but because of stuff happening in my personal life, I ended up reading a lot of light and fun books this month because they were all I could do. Specifically I loved:
The Super Powered series by Drew Hayes
Long Live Evil by Sarah Rees Brennan
Fred, the Vampire Accountant series by Drew Hayes
Dungeon Crawler Carl series by Matt Dinniman
There are many more books to go in the latter two series and I am so hyped up about them! I had to pause on them because there were other books with deadlines I had to finish, but I’m totally going back to them whenever I can!
Reading Challenges
All done with challenges this year. Time to think of new challenges for next year! I’m going to slow it down and go a little easier on myself next year, hopefully.
December 2024 TBR Intentions
Most of the books listed below are December BOTMs or buddy reads with a December deadline. I also fully intend to continue with the other series I’m reading now; Fred, the Vampire Accountant, and Dungeon Crawler Carl.
The Night She Disappeared by Lisa Jewell
In A Holidaze by Christina Lauren
The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson
The Outsider by Stephen King
The Complete Maus by Art Spiegelman
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
At this point, there are several books I listed on my TBR since the beginning of the year that I still haven’t gotten to and don’t think I’ll be able to get to before next year. Oh well. There have also been so many books I didn’t intend to read this year, but did and loved, so it totally balances out!
December is the last month of the year; I hope you all reach your reading goals this year, receive all the bookish gifts and wishes you make, and have the most wonderful holiday season and a happy new year!
How was your month in November? What were your most memorable bookish moments? I hope you have a wonderful December with lots of great books!
Welcome to the Monthly Wrap Up hosted by Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction to share our monthly wrap-up posts that summarizes our month in books, our favorite books of the month, what we did on our blogs, and anything noteworthy we want to share.
October 2024 Wrap Up
October wasn’t a very good reading month for me; I had two DNFs and a few books I wasn’t quite satisfied with. I was in a general funk and sulking about the DNFs and sub-par books, and I spent a little too much time on the DNFs trying to decide if I should finish them or not. You’d think I’d have learned my lesson by now but it’s really not easy to let go! 😭
I did have a few great books though! And I’m choosing to focus on them. I read two Stephen Kings, which are always great! And I’m currently obsessed with the Super Powered series by Drew Hayes.
My October 2024 TBR Intentions
I think I’ve learned my lesson with setting my tbr intentions. The DNFs were kind of demotivating, but I need to learn to move on and focus on the books I loved.
Super Powereds by Drew Hayes This series was the highlight for me this month. Almost every other book I’ve read this month is either horror and/or have heavy themes, and I think this series was just so fun and enjoyable to read. The books are huge, and so many hours on audiobook, but they’re so entertaining and easy to get through. Once again, I have to comment on the amateurish writing because I don’t want to hype it up without giving this heads up, but it’s come to a point that I almost feel the writing is deliberate and becomes part of the fun of reading the books – you can have drinking games out of pointing out how many times the author uses a few particular phrases!
I loved the Becky Chambers books the first time I read it and I feel like I got more out of it the second time around, especially reading it as a buddy read and seeing what other people thought about it and what stood out to them. I’m also planning to read the next books in the series again some time soon.
I had also read both Stephen King books some time ago and enjoyed them but it has been decades since I read them and they both hit differently this time. I’m paying more attention to some of the details this time even though I’m sure there’s still a lot I’m missing. I’m definitely noticing Stephen King’s genius a lot more this time.
Reading Challenges
I have finished every challenge I signed up for this year except two:
They are both related to finishing series and even though I don’t have very many to go, I have decided to let go of both these challenges because they no longer resonate. I have been reading many series this year, actually, and even finishing them(!), but they don’t count based on the parameters of these challenges and I realized that these challenges don’t work for what I originally wanted them for and it’s okay to let them go. I’ll be more mindful of the challenges I sign up for next year!
November 2024 TBR Intentions
Definitely wanting to continue with the rest of the Super Powered series, and I’m also looking forward to Dungeon Crawler Carl. It’s good knowing that these two fun series are in there among the other heavier books.
Super Powereds: Year 3 by Drew Hayes
Super Powereds: Year 4 by Drew Hayes
Dear Enemy by Jean Webster
The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak
The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman
The Glass Chateau by Stephen P. Kiernan
Doctor Sleep by Stephen King
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
Even though many of these are heavy, I’m still excited to read them. Some of them have been on my TBR for ages!
How was your month in October? What were your most memorable bookish moments? I hope you have a wonderful November with lots of great books!
Welcome to the Monthly Wrap Up hosted by Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction to share our monthly wrap-up posts that summarizes our month in books, our favorite books of the month, what we did on our blogs, and anything noteworthy we want to share.
September 2024 Wrap Up
It was a pretty good reading month! I read from my September TBR, and I finished all my reading challenges except two! I’m not sure that I’ll finish the other two though; they’re both about finishing series, but series that we started before this year, and I’m currently embroiled in new series and I’m not sure what to do! 😅 I can’t resist the shiny new books!
My September 2024 TBR Intentions
I read all the books in my September TBR Intentions! Woot! I was kind of conservative with it with only five books on the list, and I do have more motivation when they are buddy reads and BOTMs, but still!
Perfume by Patrick Suskind
Dark Places by Gillian Flynn
Cujo by Stephen King
Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
I’m just realizing that all of them are darker-themed and there were several other dark books I read in September too. Setting up my intentions for next month, I’m going to try to get in more balance for the light and the dark. I know ahead of time there are some horror stuff coming because October is Halloween season, but I can definitely add more fun stuff to my book diet too!
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky I’m very proud of having finished this chonker! I’m not sure that I liked it, but at least I finished it!
Born A Crime by Trevor Noah This was amazing and might be my favorite book this month! I love listening to Trevor Noah’s stories and I love his humor and wisdom.
Cujo by Stephen King This is a reread, and I think I got a lot more out of it this time around than I did the first time. I love the buildup of the story, and I love the insight we get into such different characters in the book. Stephen King is truly a master at his craft.
It’s October and that means Halloween, and guess what? My irl bookclub’s BOTM is Pet Sematary by Stephen King. And my online bookclub’s BOTM is The Shining by Stephen King! I’m not complaining, because I love Stephen King!
Pet Sematary by Stephen King
The Shining by Stephen King
Dear Enemy by Jean Webster
Never Whistle at Night by various authors
The Glass Chateau by Stephen P. Kiernan
Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler
I Fell in Love With Hope by Lancali
I’ve got so many books I hope to read this October, some have been on my TBR for ages. Let’s hope I can get to them all!
How was your month in September? What were your most memorable bookish moments? I hope you have a wonderful October with lots of great books!
Welcome to Top Ten Tuesday, a weekly bookish meme hosted by Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl that features a different bookish topic every week.
Today’s topic is Books on My Fall 2024 To-Read List
Some of these books have been on my list since the beginning of the year. Heck, some of them have been on my list since last year… and way before. It distresses me that I haven’t read them, the older ones in particular. I’m going to really try to get them done this fall!
Top Ten Books on My Fall 2024 TBR
The Glass Chateau by Stephen P. Kiernan – This is the one I most want to prioritize. I’ve had it on my TBR the moment it was announced, before it was even published, and I was so excited when it was released. I love the author and I have no doubt I’ll love this book, but I just haven’t gotten around to it for some reason.
The Storm We Made by Vanessa Chan – Malaysian author, Malaysian setting, Malaysian reader (me!). I must read it!
Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson – I have been wanting to read this for a while now. You know it caught my attention with a title like that.
Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman – Everyone keeps recommending this as one of the best series you can listen to on audiobook, but I’m hesitating because I listened to a sample and I’m not sure I like the narration, so I’m waffling between getting it on print vs. audiobook. So many people can’t be wrong about the audio, right? But what if they are?!
Never Whistle At Night by various authors – This is relatively new to my TBR but I really want to read it because I wanted to read more diverse books this year, and I love folklore and not whistling at night is also a superstition in my own culture.
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot – A much older book that I’ve been wanting to read for a long time. Part of why I also signed up for a nonfiction reading challenge this year.
Between Us by Mhairi McFarlane – I love the author’s works, but I don’t consider them light-hearted romance because they often have heavier themes and not so traditional HEAs, so I do need to be in a certain mindset to read them.
The Keeper of Hidden Books by Madeline Martin – Another author I love, but much, much heavier stories. I read two of them very close to each other earlier this year, and I needed a break before I jump back into another one.
The Wishing Game by Meg Shaffer – I don’t even remember how I heard about this book but I was so excited about it, and it’s also a bookish book!
The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins – Another bookish book I’ve been wanting to read. The things people say about it make me very curious!
Have you read any of these books? What did you think of them? Would you read any of these books?
Welcome to the Monthly Wrap Up hosted by Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction to share our monthly wrap-up posts that summarizes our month in books, our favorite books of the month, what we did on our blogs, and anything noteworthy we want to share.
I finished the challenge relatively early in the month, so I tried to make a dent in my other reading challenges and I managed to complete my Classics challenge as well! Technically, The Classics Club challenge is reading 50 classics in 5 years, so I just decided to read 10 classics a year (which I just completed), but if I wanted to do more, I could! We’ll see.
My August 2024 TBR Intentions
My TBR Intentions for August was to knock out the 52 Book Club 2024 Reading Challenge, and I did that! I had five more prompts to go, which were:
13. An academic thriller
17. Nominated for the Booker Prize
37. Palindrome on the cover
42. Author debut in the second half of 2024
48. The word “secret” in the title
And the books I planned for them were as listed below, but subject to change as long as they fit the prompts:
If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio
Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood
The Women by Kristin Hannah
Four Weekends and a Funeral by Ellie Palmer
The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu MandannaThe Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
I managed to finish the challenge, and the only book I switched out was The Secret Garden for The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches. I still want to read it eventually but I was happy to read The Secret Garden too. I’m so happy the challenge is done!
I loved The Women, Oryx and Crake, and Children of Time, but the highlights for me this month were the rereads.
Daddy-Long-Legs, and the Anne of Green Gables series were some of my favorite childhood books and I just love all the memories and vibes they brought back.
11/22/63 is also a reread, even though it’s more recent, but it’s such a great story and I love it so much more this time around because I think I got more out of it.
The Classics Club – 10/10 – Started at 4/10 at the beginning of the month. Read 6 classics this month! Challenge completed!
September 2024 TBR Intentions
Most of these are buddy reads I signed up for and bookclub books. The ones with end-of-September deadlines will take priority but I think I can finish most of them, even if I interperse them with other reads in between. I find I do a lot better sticking to my TBR intentions when I have buddy reads and deadlines, so let’s do this!
Perfume by Patrick Suskind
Dark Places by Gillian Flynn
Cujo by Stephen King
Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
How was your month in August? What were your most memorable bookish moments? I hope you have a wonderful September with lots of great books!
Welcome to the Monthly Wrap Up hosted by Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction to share our monthly wrap-up posts that summarizes our month in books, our favorite books of the month, what we did on our blogs, and anything noteworthy we want to share.
July 2024 Wrap Up
July was another hectic month, but for positive reasons this time. June was hard and it made me realize I needed to change certain things and build better habits. Obviously, things don’t change overnight, but I think I made a good effort this July to get things started.
I started waking up at 6.30am in the mornings and go for a walk/run (alternating because I’m not quite in good shape yet). Some days are harder than others, but the important thing is that I showed up. I’m also looking into continuing education classes I can take and I’ve been doing some research and legwork on that. I’ve organized and reorganized my workspace and workflow, purged some things in my life that no longer served, and am trying to prioritizing the important stuff.
To be honest, I’m still floundering and some days I’m full of self-doubt and throw out everything I thought I was clear on the day before. We also had a heat-wave this month and some days were so bad I couldn’t bring myself to do anything except lie down on the cool floor and not move.
Still, it was a good month overall, even though I haven’t been very present here on the blog and in the blogosphere. I’ve missed visiting with all of you, and I’m trying to figure out how to manage my time better so I can still do the things I love.
My July 2024 TBR Intentions
The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs by Steve Brusatte
Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer
Feeling Good by David Burns
The Dance of Anger by Harriet Lerner
Frequency by Penney Pierce
The Enchanted Life by Sharon Blackie
I only read two of my TBR intentions this month, but the good news is that my broader intentions were to read more nonfiction and books I own, and I did that! Out of the 12 books I read this month, five were nonfiction, and eight are books I own! So I did pretty good!
I got lucky again this month because almost every single book was great! The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs was a bookclub read, and our bookclub went for a road trip to the Royal Tyrrell dinosaur museum after that, so it added to the experience. It was so much fun and I love spending time with these people!
The picture isn’t very good, unfortunately, but we couldn’t take too many because it was pretty crowded and there were other people wanting to take pictures too.
I also really loved Women in Science more than I expected. It features so many amazing women and their contributions in history, and all the important information is presented so interestingly and succinctly. I loved reading every single one of them.
Project Hail Mary was a reread – I read it a while ago on print, but I keep hearing about how it’s so good on audio, and I really wanted to experience that. I’d been listening to audiobooks through Libby and my library all this time, but PHM was only available through Audible so I finally signed up for it just for this book. That’s how they get you! But hey, so far it’s been worth it. I loved listening to PHM on audio, and I’m enjoying so many other audiobooks on the Audible Plus catalog as well.
As I said, I loved almost every book I read this month, but I’ll leave the rest of the gushing to reviews I’m planning to write for them!
Reading Challenges
I achieved a few of these challenges a couple of months ago, but instead of marking them done I upped the challenges instead. I’m now rethinking that decision, because I haven’t done well in some of the other challenges and I think I should focus on the unfinished ones instead of adding to the challenges I already finished.
2024 Nonfiction Reader Challenge – 16/12 – Started at 11/12 at the beginning of the month. Read 5 nonfiction books this month! Challenge accomplished! I’ll keep going informally.
The Classics Club – 4/10 – Started at 4/10 at the beginning of the month. Did not read any classics this month.
August 2024 TBR Intentions
This month I’d like to try knocking out the 52 Book Club 2024 Reading Challenge. I only have five more prompts to go, and I’ve got a couple of books I’m excited to read that would fit the remaining challenges, so I think it would be very doable.
The prompts are:
13. An academic thriller
17. Nominated for the Booker Prize
37. Palindrome on the cover
42. Author debut in the second half of 2024
48. The word “secret” in the title
I’m planning to read, respectively for each prompt, but subject to change:
If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio
Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood
The Women by Kristin Hannah
Four Weekends and a Funeral by Ellie Palmer
The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna
I do have some other books in mind for some of these prompts so I might end up changing my mind, but the goal is to finish the challenge so as long as I read books that fit the prompts, I’m good!
How was your month in July? What were your most memorable bookish moments? I hope you have a wonderful August with lots of great books!
Welcome to the Monthly Wrap Up hosted by Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction to share our monthly wrap-up posts that summarizes our month in books, our favorite books of the month, what we did on our blogs, and anything noteworthy we want to share.
June 2024 Wrap Up
June was a difficult month for me for a few different reasons and I wasn’t able to do a lot on the blog. I didn’t read very many books compared to last month, but I did spend a lot of time escaping into books, which was good. I’ve been emotionally exhausted and haven’t wanted to post on the blog at all, but I get hesitant about reading more books if I’ve left a lot of books unreviewed. I also needed to get this monthly update done because I’d feel like something was missing if I didn’t!
I’m just doing the bare minimum for now, so please bear with me. I’m trying to sort myself out and I’ll be back to normal as soon as I can. Also, I know I have a lot of blog visiting to catch up on. I’m sorry!
My June 2024 TBR Intentions
On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong
The Mountain in the Sea by Ray Nayler
Dragons of Autumn Twilight by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman
Dragons of Winter Night by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman
Dragons of Spring Dawning by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman
Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir
Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir
Nina the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir
The Storm We Made by Vanessa Chan
The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna
Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson
Almost every single book I read this month was great!
I think my favorites were the Heartstopper books, which really surprised me because I didn’t think I’d be interested in reading about teenage boys, but it was the most wholesome, happy, cute book and I loved all the characters!
You Like It Darker by Stephen King was another favorite, but no surprise there, I knew I was going to love anything he wrote. Every single one of the stories were great, and I really just keep wanting more!
Another book that did surprise me is On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong. I went in not knowing much about it but ended up finishing the book in one day because it was just so lyrical and beautiful and I couldn’t stop listening.
Hello Stranger and David Copperfield were amazing too, but there were too many strong contenders this month! I think Hello Stranger is my favorite Katherine Center book so far, and David Copperfield is just so good especially after reading Demon Copperhead.
It’s not my intention to list every book I read this month, just the notable ones, but it’s not my fault that they were all so good!
2024 Diversity Reading Challenge – 13/12 – Started at 11/12 at the beginning of the month. Read two diverse books this month, and I’ve achieved my challenge! Upping my challenge to 20!
2024 Bookish Books Challenge – 5/10 – Started at 5/10 at the beginning of the month. Did not read any bookish book this month.
2024 Audiobook Challenge – 47/75 – Started at 40/75 at the beginning of the month. Listened to 7 audiobooks this month!
2024 Library Love Reading Challenge – 60/60 – Started at 56/60 at the beginning of the month. I’ve hit my target and it’s the highest target level so I’ll consider it accomplished! But I’ll just keep going!
The Classics Club – 4/10 – Started at 3/10 at the beginning of the month. Read one classic book this month!
July 2024 TBR Intentions
This month I want to try to make a dent on more nonfiction and books I own. I’ve neglected them for years, so I want to at least try to get some read!
The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs by Steve Brusatte
Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer
Feeling Good by David Burns
The Dance of Anger by Harriet Lerner
Frequency by Penney Pierce
The Enchanted Life by Sharon Blackie
I still want to read fiction and books I listed for last month’s TBR, but I want to try to prioritize these for the month.
How was your month in June? What were your most memorable bookish moments? I hope you have a wonderful July with lots of great books!
Welcome to the Sunday Post, a weekly meme hosted by Kimberly @ Caffeinated Reviewer to share weekly news and updates on what we’ve been up to on our blog, with our books, and book-related happenings.
To Say Goodbye
Late Monday night, we got news that my father-in-law passed away. It wasn’t unexpected, but we thought he’d have more time. I didn’t know my FIL as well as I would’ve wanted to but my husband was understandably distraught, and all I could do was try to be there for him. It was a somber week, but mixed in with wonderful memories and stories about my FIL. On Thursday we went to the temple to pray and say goodbye. It was nice.
In other news, the water main break is still being fixed and we’re still being asked to ration water use. Apparently it’s worse than they thought and the latest news is that it’s going to take an additional 3-5 weeks to fix! I have no idea how that’s going to work out since Calgary is having the Stampede soon and we’ll have visitors/performers/acts coming in and using more water than usual. Hopefully, it will get fixed sooner than estimated.
Nothing much else happened last week. I’ve been emotionally exhausted but in relatively good spirits, and husband is doing relatively well too. I’ve still got lots of book reviews to catch up on, comments to reply to, and I’ve missed visiting your blogs and finding out what everyone has been up to. Fingers crossed this week will be absolutely boring and uneventful and I’ll get caught up on the blog stuff.
Laundry and all water-related chores is another story.
All the happy things:
We found a bistro near our place that has delicious food and the most friendly and helpful staff!
I got some really great deals from the Audible sale! I got all the Murderbot books – the dramatized versions, and the Bobbiverse books, a couple of T. Kingfisher books, and some Dragonlance books too! It’s on the Audible US store, and it ends Sunday night, but if you’re a member and somehow missed it, you’ve probably still got some time to get some deals quick!
I finished all the Heartstopper books the week before, so I started watching the TV series last week. I haven’t gotten far but I have loved every single episode so much! Nick and Charlie are just so adorable, I can’t stand it!
The Books
Books I read last week:
Dragons of Autumn Twilight by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman – The first half of the book was great, but I finished the second half of the book Tuesday evening and had been mostly preoccupied since the news about FIL on Monday, so I feel like I wasn’t fully present. I still really enjoyed it and really want to continue the rest of the series!
Books I’m (still) reading:
David Copperfield by Charles Dickens – I’m on hour 28 of this 36-hour audiobook! Almost there! It’s really good but the preoccupation with irl stuff isn’t helping and there are certain details that confuse me, even when I go back and repeat some of those parts. This is a book I fully intend to reread in the future though, along with Demon Copperhead, so I’m content even if I only understand 50% of it.
Last Week on The Blog
I did squat on the blog this week. 😭
This Week
I’m just going to do my best.
How was your week? I hope you had a great week last week, and I hope you have a great one again this week!
Welcome to the Sunday Post, a weekly meme hosted by Kimberly @ Caffeinated Reviewer to share weekly news and updates on what we’ve been up to on our blog, with our books, and book-related happenings.
Fever All Through The Night
Sunday we went to the annual Lilac Festival and before I go any further, I should clarify that it’s not a festival for lilacs! The only lilacs featured were decorative lilacs, but otherwise, it was just a street market full of random things. I knew this so I wasn’t disappointed or anything, I just thought I should clarify because everyone I talked to seemed to think it was for lilacs!
Anyway, it’s an annual street market festival, this year featuring 500+ vendors and 70+ performances, and held from 10am to 6pm. My husband and I were there from 10am until 3pm, and we were exhausted at the end of it! There were so many things to see and explore. The handcrafted items were beautiful, the crafters and performers were amazingly talented, the food all looked and smelled delicious! It became extremely crowded and got increasingly difficult to navigate our way through the crowd, but we had fun!
Also, the weather was nice in the morning, and it got kind of hot actually, but then it rained in the afternoon for a while and then got hot and sunny again later. And I got a fever the next day. 🤒
Yeah, I think I overdid it. I felt nauseous, had no appetite, my skin was feeling really sensitive, I was brain-tired, and my whole body was sore. I had ambitious plans for the week and had to reschedule because I just couldn’t do much of anything Monday through Wednesday. Except read! Yay! (That’s also why I missed Top Ten Tuesday last week too, btw.😭)
Silver lining of being sick, I stayed in bed and read/listened to Last Argument of Kings by Joe Abercrombie. I alternated between physical book and audiobook whenever my eyes/ears got tired, and I managed to finish it from Monday to Wednesday!
I felt much better Thursday morning, but unfortunately, I also woke up to a city-wide alert about a water main break and that we had to ration water. They are still trying to fix it even now and we’re encouraged to use as little water as we can. So that means the laundry isn’t done, and is still continuing to pile up even more!
Honestly, I’m feeling really anxious about the state of the house right now after a whole week of not cleaning up because I was sick and then water rationing. I’m distracting myself with other good things as best as I can!
All the happy things:
I made some strides on my work issue – not much because of being sick, but I’ve implemented some of my ideas and it’s early days but it seems to be working. 🤞
I finally finished The First Law Trilogy by Joe Abercrombie! I meant to finish it last month but at least I got it read early this month.
It’s strawberry season! I’ve been enjoying lots of strawberries!
I crocheted a couple of summer hats! (Because of the heat at the Lilac Festival and having no hat – I’ve learned my lesson!)
I finally bought a yarn winder – what a game changer! I just got it yesterday and I’ve been using it non-stop since, for fun!
Had a fun jamming session with the husband, plus he taught me a couple of things on the guitar.
We also watched The Martian again because we enjoyed it so much and it’s been a while.
I binged on Heartstopper and omg, I love Charlie and Nick so much! They are the most adorable, cutest couple and they bring me so much joy! I cannot wait to watch the TV series!
The Books
Books I read last week:
Hello Stranger by Katherine Center – I loved this one so much! It was just so fun and while I’m usually not a fan of the miscommunication trope, I loved the way this one played out. I made the mistake of starting this close to bedtime. I thought I could stop halfway at a lull point or something, but it was so good that I couldn’t stop and just read through the night! I finally slept at 4.30am.
Heartstopper: Vol. 2 by Alice Oseman – I’m sorry but Nick and Charlie are just so cute and I can’t stand it!
Heartstopper: Vol. 3 by Alice Oseman – I can’t stop thinking how cute they are! It’s just makes my heart swell!
Heartstopper: Vol. 4 by Alice Oseman – I think this might be my favorite one because of events that happened here that I won’t spoil but they were just so freaking cute!
Heartstopper: Vol. 5 by Alice Oseman – If I had known there was a sixth book, I might not have started the series until it was out. Now I have to wait for the last one!
Last Argument of Kings by Joe Abercrombie – I’m not sure how I feel about this final book of the series. On the one hand, I love the arcs for several of the characters and the development of the story, on the other hand, I really hated the arcs for some of the other characters. It’s still a great series, but I’m trying to decide if I want to read the other books in the series that are only tangibly related to the characters in this one. We’ll see.
Books I’m reading:
David Copperfield by Charles Dickens – I’m still making my way through the audiobook, I’m 10 hours into a 36-hour audio, so there’s still a long way to go!
Dragons of Autumn Twilight by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman – Finally rereading this, but just starting out! I’m anxious and excited!
My plan this week is to finish the Dragonlance Chronicles books; Dragons of Autumn Twilight, Dragons of Winter Night, and Dragons of Spring Dawning. I also need to get caught up on book reviews, blog visiting, and replying comments. Thank you for being patient with me, my friends!
How was your week? I hope you had a great week last week, and I hope you have a great one again this week!
