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.
Happy New Year!
It’s the first Monday of the new year… so it’s back to work for most of us. Sigh… the holiday feeling had to end eventually! I hope everyone had a festive New Year celebration and found time to relax, enjoy, and read over the holidays!
At my house, we had out-of-town guests, including my daughter and her fiancé, and local friends threw them a shower while they were here. So lovely to have happy reasons to gather and celebrate!
Celebrating Hanukkah with our extended family was really terrific, with multiple days and nights of candles, singing, gifts, and games.
Little Free Library update:
My husband decided that my LFL wouldn’t stand up to another storm like the last one we had, and so he dug a hole, poured cement, and made my little library a whole lot more stable! It’s now back in business, and I’ve been happy to see more books coming and going.
Someone actually took the big, fat readers’ encyclopedia for Shakespeare and some acting-lesson books! (Although no one has grabbed the Insurance Law book that showed up recently… wonder why?) Meanwhile, I’m still weeding through some boxes of books that I had stored away, and I’ll be using them to restock over the coming weeks.
It’s so nice to have my LFL back!
What did I read during the last week?
The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst: Sweet cozy fantasy. See below for the review link!
Meet Me at the Lake by Carley Fortune: My last book of 2024! I wrote a two-fer review post for this book plus The Spellshop; read it here.
Adrift in Currents Clean and Clear (Wayward Children, #10) by Seanan McGuire: A brilliant addition to the ongoing Wayward Children series — I just loved this one. My review is here.
The Thorns Remain by JJA Harwood: Finished late Sunday; review to follow. This was a good one!
Pop culture & TV:
With so much going on, I’ve barely had time for TV — which is fine! I’ve been keeping up with new Outlander episodes, but that’s about it. This week’s was a doozy, and there’s just one more to go!
Fresh Catch:
No new books this week.
What will I be reading during the coming week?
Currently in my hands:
The Apology by Jimin Han: My book group discussion of this book is later this week, and I’m late getting started! I’m hoping to finish in time for our get-together.
Now playing via audiobook:
The Christmas You Found Me by Sarah Morgenthaler: My listening time has been pretty limited lately, but I finally made progress over the weekend. This holiday romance is tugging at my heartstrings! I should be able to listen to the last few chapters by mid-week.
Ongoing reads:
My book group’s classic read is Mansfield Park by Jane Austen. We’re reading and discussing two chapters per week. We’re starting back up this week after a break for the holidays. Progress: 15%. Up next: Chapters 8 and 9.
What will you be reading this week?
So many books, so little time…
Bookshelf Fantasies 
Happy New Year. So glad that you had such a good time with your family. Lovely to see your LFL back in action again .Can’t say I’m surprised that no one wants the Law book. 😃
Yeah, that law book doesn’t exactly look like a page-turner! 🙂 Happy New Year!
I’m glad you enjoyed your celebration with family!
Love your LFL
Happy new year 🥳
Thank you! My LFL makes me happy 🙂 — love seeing people stopping by and using it! Happy new year to you and your family ❤
How exciting to have your Little Free Library back up, and more sturdy as well! I’m glad you had a great time with your family, and now it’s back to work, sigh.
Sigh… even though I worked from home a good number of days over the past two weeks, everyone else was off, so it was overall quiet. Back to the grind today!
I have to head back to work today, too. Sigh. I love vacations too much. ;D I’m glad your Hanukkah was to lovely. And yay that your cute LFL is back up and full of books. Wishing you a good Monday! (And hoping this comment actually goes through.)
Thanks for hanging in there with the comments! It sounds very frustrating. It’s definitely been hard to get back into work mode again… everyone seems to be feeling it 🙂
HNY, glad to see the LFL is back in business and I LOVED The Spellshop!
Happy New Year to you! The Spellshop was so sweet and lovely — can’t wait for the sequel!
Because my kids are all grown adults and I don’t have any grandchildren, Hanukkah for me is just lighting the candles. Glad you had a good time with your family.
Thank you! We were lucky enough to have three of our adult kids plus partners with us to celebrate, and they made it extra fun.