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 hope everyone who celebrates Thanksgiving had a great holiday! We had a small but very fun (and delish) family dinner, and I loved having my daughter home for the long weekend.
What did I read during the last week?
Black Sheep by Rachel Harrison: Terrific horror story with an amazing twist. My review is here.
Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell: My latest Classics Club Spin book, warm and cozy. My thoughts are here.
Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute by Talia Hibbert: This YA novel is a fun read, but made almost no impression on me. 3 stars — didn’t feel like I had enough to say to write a review.
Good Girls Don’t Die by Christina Henry: What a ride! I gobbled this book up in one day. Review to follow.
Pop culture & TV:
I went to see the new Hunger Games movie! The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes was actually very good — and now I want to reread the book.
I finished watching the first batch of season six episodes for The Crown (the rest of season six drops in a couple of weeks). It’s heartbreaking to watch the events leading up to and including Diana’s death, knowing what’s about to happen and reliving the tragedy of it all. These episodes were very well done, I thought, but difficult to watch.
Fresh Catch:
I treated myself to this gorgeous special edition of The Cruel Prince:
It’s so pretty!!
What will I be reading during the coming week?
Currently in my hands:
In Every Generation by Kendare Blake: After listening to the new Slayers audiobook, I’ve been in the mood for more of the Buffyverse! I’m just getting started with this book (first in a trilogy), but so far, so good.
Now playing via audiobook:
Clanlands in New Zealand by Sam Heughan & Graham McTavish: A road trip through New Zealand with these two guys… full of banter, adventure, and snippets of history too. All good fun.
Ongoing reads:
My current longer-term reads:
- Outlander Book Club is doing a group re-read of Dragonfly in Amber (Outlander, #2). We’ll be reading and discussing two chapters per week. Anyone who’s interested is welcome to join in — message me for info! Coming up this week: Chapters 18 and 19 (of 49). Progress: 33%.
- Daniel Deronda by George Eliot: My book group’s current classic read! We’re reading and discussing two chapters per week. Progress: 22%.
What will you be reading this week?
So many books, so little time…
Bookshelf Fantasies 
I got to (briefly) see my daughter too, although she had to run off to a friend’s Thanksgiving feast after ours, lol. Kids! I’m looking forward to your review of Good Girls Don’t Die😁
My daughter is still in town, although she leaves tomorrow 😦 Visits are never long enough!
So glad you enjoyed Cranford. I loved it too. In case you haven’t read The Country of the Pointed Firs by Sarah Orne Jewett, do try it, it’s on similar lines and very lovely (in America though). That edition of the Cruel Prince is gorgeous. I’m trying not to look. I loved that series so much.
Thank you for the recommendation — I’ll look it up! I loved The Cruel Prince series too… just couldn’t resist when I saw this pretty edition!
Oh that Cruel Prince is stunning 😍
It really is! I’m happy I decided to splurge on a treat for me 🙂
I want planning on watching Songbirds.. didn’t love the book but you are not the first book blogger who enjoyed the movie. So I may just check it out. I agree.. the Crown has been difficult to watch especially when you know how it all ends.
The Crown has been so painful, because of course it can’t end any other way, and I still wish it could. Songbirds is worth checking out! I hope you like it.
I’m glad you had a good Thanksgiving! Mine was small but yummy too.
I’m glad you had a good Thanksgiving! We actually loved keeping ours small this year — lots of time for chitchat, hanging out, and enjoying the time together!
I’m starting to understand your concept of “longer term reads”. I’ve got two currently that I’m reading in stages, and needing to pause on every now and again and read something else. And I recently returned a library book I did the same with. 🙂. Sometimes it’s just a good way to read things, I’m discovering!
Definitely! There are some books — for me, mainly either story collections or non-fiction reads — that make me too antsy and impatient if I try to read them straight through, but they work just fine if I take them bit by bit.
Hmm, yes, some nonfiction ones require a lot of thinking, so can only be done in small bits!
I wasn’t much interested in the Hunger Games movies at first, but I watched the Mockingjay movies a couple days ago and really liked them. I’m thinking to go see that new one and actually complete the book series too.
I hope you enjoy it! I read the prequel book when it came out, and now that I’ve seen the movie, I think I’m going to reread it.
Hope you have a great week!
Thank you! Same to you!