My Monday tradition, including a look back and a look ahead — what I read last week, what new books came my way, and what books are keeping me busy right now. Plus a smattering of other stuff too.
Life.
It’s been a busy, crazy workweek — but what else is new? I actually have a day off today, and I’m so looking forward to doing nothing at all…
In blogging news, I finally tackled a project I’ve been putting off for a while now. For the first several years of blogging, for whatever reason, when I posted book reviews, I used the book title but didn’t include the author name in the post title. I’ve been meaning to go back and fix this, but it seemed like a daunting task. But, this week, I finally did it — I went back through HUNDREDS of posts and added the author name to each post title… and I feel like I accomplished something!
What did I read during the last week?
When He Was Wicked by Julia Quinn: The 6th Bridgerton book, read on my flight home last weekend. My review is here.
This Close to Okay by Leesa Cross-Smith: Powerful, engaging contemporary fiction. My review is here.
Lycanthropy and Other Chronic Illnesses by Kristen O’Neal: I loved it! My review is here.
The Album of Dr. Moreau by Daryl Gregory: Terrific sci-fi mash-up! My review is here.
Pop culture & TV:
I just finished Shadow & Bone on Netflix. I’m not sure how impressed I am — a lot of it feels like a retread of typical YA fantasy tropes. But, I know there are tons of fans out there. Should I read the books???
Puzzle of the Week:
Back to puzzling! A sweet, fun, kind of simple one this week:
Fresh Catch:
One new book this week — thank you to Orbit for sending a review copy of this gorgeous book! Can’t wait to start it:
And book-related… I made an impulse purchase on EBay that arrived this week! I’m out of shelf space, yet again, and thought a library cart would make a cute addition to my book room. With special thanks to my son, who assembled it for me while I was in a long Zoom meeting.
What will I be reading during the coming week?
Currently in my hands:
The Soulmate Equation by Christina Lauren: A new book by this author duo is always reason to cheer!
Now playing via audiobook:
Golden Child by Claire Adam: My book group’s pick for May. I’ve made almost no progress, but I’m determined to get through it before my book group discussion.
Ongoing reads:
- This is it! After over a year, we’re finishing Don Quixote this week!!! Only two chapters to go.
- Outlander Book Club is doing a speed-re-read of Written in My Own Heart’s Blood, #8 in the Outlander series. We’re doing 5 chapters per week. Let me know if you want to join in — the more, the merrier! This week: Chapters 11-15.
So many books, so little time…
Bookshelf Fantasies 
That looks just like my book cart! And congrats on such a big blogging task. I’m not sure I would have the patience to do that myself😁 Have a great week, Lisa!
Thanks! I’d been putting off the blogging clean-up task for a long time, but I finally put on the HAmilton soundtrack as background and just powered through. 🙂 I love my book cart!
Nice jigsaw puzzle. I’m read a bunch of nonfiction right now and will be reading Most Beautiful Girl in Cuba by Chanel Cleeton when my mother brings it back (she reads super-fast so I let her have it first)
Nice of you to share with your mother! I haven’t read any of Chanel Cleeton’s books yet, but I know I have one on my Kindle, so I should get to it already. 🙂
We have both really enjoyed them.
OK Lisa, u deserve all the credit for going back to ur posts and achieving it, I have something similar to do for my earlier posts, just keep putting it off 🙄
I put it off for a long time! A drizzly day stuck indoors finally gave me some motivation. 🙂
I’m just dying to read For the Wolf — the cover is largely to blame because some of the ARC reviews I read didn’t give it a very high rating. And I share your thoughts on Shadow and Bone — the visuals were great, but it came across as very YA and not in a good way. I’ve had similar views about Book 1 which I gave up on within the first 2 chapters. 😦 Still, Ben Barnes is amazing, so that’s a plus for the show!
Ha ha, yes, Ben Barnes was a major draw! Too bad about the book — I put myself on my library’s hold list, but I’m not convinced I actually want to spend time on it. I hope For the Wolf is as good as it looks! I haven’t read any reviews yet — maybe I’ll avoid other reviews until I actually read it myself.
Those library carts really come in handy and are quite cute. Unfortunately, I went overboard with the extra space and now mine is all filled up and I’m back at square one needing more space.
Oh boy, I have a feeling I’ll quickly end up in the same situation. I’m being really cautious about putting books on it right now… but I can see that it’ll fill up quickly!