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 took a few days off last week to help my husband after he had a procedure on one of his eyes — it went well, and mostly he’s just impatient to get back to normal routines (typical!). I’m glad it’s done, and now we wait to see if there’s improvement in his vision over the next few months.

Because of that, we didn’t have a big last hurrah for Labor Day weekend — just mellow times closer to home, with plenty of relaxing and long walks. And honestly, we needed the rest!

But, we did take in a few sights nearby, including spending a couple of hours at the arboretum, which was lovely!

Bookish stuff:

I’ve gotten more books posted for sale on Pango Books. I have a feeling I priced most of them too high… which may be an indication of my hesitancy about the whole thing. I’m not quite sure that I want to start buying packing material, bubble envelopes, etc if there isn’t a reasonable return to be made. In any case, I’ll keep an eye on it, and possibly do some price reductions over the next couple of weeks.

What did I read during the last (two) weeks?

The Night Guest by Hildur Knutsdottir: Fabulous Icelandic horror story! My review is here.

Songs for the Broken-Hearted by Ayelet Tsabari: Beautiful, powerful story of mothers and daughters, grief, and connection. My review is here.

The Sound of Waves by Yukio Mishima: I’m grateful to the Classics Club Spin for getting me to finally reread this lovely book! Some thoughts, here.

Light from Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki: I expected to love this book about — among other things — aliens, deals with the devil, violins, and donuts; instead, I liked it, but with reservations. My review is here.

It Starts with Us by Colleen Hoover: Well, I read it. And now I can say that my (very brief) Colleen Hoover phase is done. I’ll post a review later this week.

Pop culture & TV:

I finally caught up to Snowpiercer! The show is in its 4th and final season, and I’ve made it through everything that’s aired so far. It feels weird to go from binging to having to wait a week in between each of the three final episodes, which is all that’s left.

Next up: I’m looking forward to starting the new episodes of The Rings of Power. Also, Kaos (Netflix) looks pretty awesome!

And in movie news…

November is a long way off… but now that I’ve seen the trailer for Wicked, I can’t wait! Have you seen it yet? What do you think?

Fresh Catch:

No new books!

Puzzle of the week:

I tried a puzzle from a new-to-me company this week, and ended up really enjoying it! The colors are gorgeous, the piece quality is nice and sharp, and the design provided a good challenge — I spent a few days on this puzzle, savoring the detail and the complexity.

Reverie Puzzles seem to have a beautiful selection of images to choose from. They’re a little pricier than the puzzles I usually buy, so I’ll be pretty choosy going forward, but this one felt like a nice little treat for myself (and I had a discount code!). Reverie puzzles do not appear to be available on Amazon; the Puzzledly site has a good selection of Reverie puzzles, and much more.

What will I be reading during the coming week?

Currently in my hands:

I finished a book late Sunday, and I’m not quite sure what I’ll feel like reading next. Options include two library books and an ARC for a book releasing later in September:

• My Vampire Plus-One by Jenna Levine
• Ash’s Cabin by Jen Wang
• Magical Meet Cute by Jean Meltzer

What to do… what to do…

Now playing via audiobook:

Pardon My Frenchie by Farrah Rochon: I really liked this author’s previous trilogy (The Boyfriend Project), and this new book seems really cute. I mean, the main character owns a doggie day care called Barkingham Palace — what’s not to like?

Ongoing reads:

My longer-term reading commitments:

• Damn Rebel Bitches: The Women of the ’45 by Maggie Craig: Over at Outlander Book Club, we’re doing a group read of this non-fiction book, discussing one chapter each Friday. Progress: 65%. Coming up this week: Chapter 18, “For Richer, For Poorer”
• Right Ho, Jeeves by P. G. Wodehouse: My book group’s new classic read! Such silly fun. Progress: 8%. Coming up this week: Chapters 3 and 4.

What will you be reading this week?

So many books, so little time…