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.

I’m back! I was away from computers, email, and blogging last week while on a road trip with my husband. The trip was amazing! We traveled up through Northern California, enjoyed the redwoods, spent a couple of days in Ashland, Oregon at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, and then came back down through the Lake Shasta area. We visited two national parks (Redwood and Lassen), visited a lavender farm, saw The Tempest in an outdoor Elizabethan-themed theater, did lots of good hiking, and enjoyed the fresh forest and mountain air!

Here’s a little montage of some highlights:

And now I’m back! I spend Sunday doing laundry, putting away my hiking shoes and other outdoorsy stuff, and catching up online. I’m dreading tackling my work email — I was very good about NOT checking it while away, but that means it’ll all be waiting for me bright and early Monday morning.

What did I read during the last week?

Between traveling and my obsession with my new subscription to the New York Times games features, my reading time this past week was pretty meager. Must stop spending so much time on Sudoku!

Book of Night by Holly Black: A dark adult debut from a favorite YA author. My review is here.

Book Lovers by Emily Henry: So much fun! This author never lets me down. I’ll l write up some thoughts later in the week, once I’m feeling a bit more caught up.

Since I was in the car with my husband for the entire past week, I didn’t listen to audiobooks at all. And I missed them! But he could not be convinced to play along. Sigh…

Pop culture & TV:

Being away also meant very little screen time — we didn’t watch or stream anything at all on our trip! So, I have some catching up to do…

I still have 5 or 6 episodes of The Beauty Queen of Jerusalem to watch, plus 2 episodes of The Boys, the season finale of Come Dance With Me, and most of the newest season of Love, Victor. I guess I’ll be busy this week!

Puzzle of the week:

Right before leaving on our trip, I finished this puzzle — super fun! I was a little nervous when I ordered it, since I’d never tried anything from this company before and I’m picky about puzzle quality. It all worked out well — the pieces are sturdy and well-cut, and I really enjoyed all the colors and patterns!

Fresh Catch:

I took advantage of some Kindle promotions to add to my (ever-growing and unread) Kindle library:

I also decided that, now that I’ve seen The Tempest, I should read it too! I bought myself this cute little paperback, with a “plain English” translation alongside the original text:

What will I be reading during the coming week?

Currently in my hands:

In the Quick by Kate Hope Day: It’s been a long time since I picked up a random book on a whim, but that’s exactly what happened with this one! While browsing in a cute indie bookstore in Ashland, this pink astronaut cover caught my eye. The fact that it’s described as “Jane Eyre in space” helped seal the deal! I’ve only read about 25% so far, but I’m liking it!

Now playing via audiobook:

The Extraordinaries by TJ Klune: I loved this book so much when I first read it, and doing a re-read via audiobook is just as awesome as I’d hoped! The narrator is amazing — he captures the main character’s personality brilliantly. I’m rereading books 1 & 2 before the 3rd in the trilogy comes out in July.

Ongoing reads:

These books will be on my plate for months to come:

• Go Tell the Bees That I Am Gone by Diana Gabaldon: Over at Outlander Book Club, we’ve started our group read of BEES, reading and discussing two chapters per week. If anyone wants to join us, just ask me how! All are welcome.
• Hamlet by William Shakespeare: My book group’s current classic read. We’re reading one scene per week — now in the middle of Act IV.
• Tales From Shakespeare by Charles and Mary Lamb: I bought this paperback to help us prepare for seeing The Tempest, then decided it might be fun to read through all the story summaries. I’m fairly familiar with Shakespeare’s tragedies, a little familiar with the comedies, and not at all familiar with the histories. My plan for now is to read a couple of chapters per week, on and off. We’ll see how it goes!

So many books, so little time…