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.
Hurray for long weekends! I’m so happy to have an extra day off — even if I am going to spend it running around on errands and taking care of the odds and ends I otherwise never seem to have time for.
This past week has been mostly work and projects at home, although I did get out to dance a few times, which always makes me happy.
In kitty news… Benji is ridiculously obsessed with this little bird toy, and we’re all ridiculously obsessed with watching him.
Goodreads and Kindle.
Will these sites never stop giving me (and all of us) headaches? Kindle now syncs with Goodreads challenges… but it doesn’t actually work correctly. When I finish reading a Kindle book, my Kindle marks it as read, and now adds it to my Goodreads challenge automatically — but meanwhile, it also gets added via Goodreads when I update the book there. This means that each book I finish ends up counted twice, and then I have to go back into the challenge and delete the duplicates.
Not the end of the world, but it’s annoying, and only started with the latest so-called improvement to Kindle functionality. Argh.
Blogging.
For those who chimed in last week about the WordPress bug causing copied posts to not save correctly… still not fixed. Even as I’m typing this post, I can see that the post title has already reverted itself back to the previous title.
Bookish love.
Stumbling across this meme made me unreasonable happy this week.
What did I read during the last week?
We Love the Nightlife by Rachel Koller Croft: My first 5-star read of 2025! My review is here.
My Rosebud Boy by Rainbow Rowell: This is kind of like an AU fanfic… except it’s written by the author! This alternate-world story about Simon and Baz is sweet and romantic and lovely. Note: It was originally published in 2022 as part of a special limited offer, and has been next to impossible to track down. Someone shared a link to a PDF version with me, so I thought I’d pass it along: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1dedpN_lSzLdP_K9PwZEjl215gNM9_hyN/view. (I’m wondering how legit it is to share the link, but since the book isn’t available for sale anywhere, it’s not depriving anyone of the income.)
Pop culture & TV:
Welp, that’s a wrap on season 7 of Outlander! The finale was well-done in many ways, yet the episode ends with a head-scratcher of a cliffhanger. Why, Outlander, why?
Has anyone else watched Deadloch (Prime Video)? I’ve watched three of the six episodes so far — really enjoyable. Check out the trailer!
On a lighter note, All Creatures Great and Small is back for a new season, and it’s just the bit of cheer and sweetness I needed!
Fresh Catch:
No new books this week.
What will I be reading during the coming week?
Currently in my hands:
The Bones Beneath My Skin by TJ Klune: Loving it so far! I’d hoped to make more progress over the weekend, but life got busy. I should find time to finish either today or tomorrow.
Next up:
The Life Impossible by Matt Haig: My book group’s pick for January. As usual, I’m behind schedule! Our discussion is later this week.
Now playing via audiobook:
This Summer Will Be Different by Carley Fortune: I’ve loved every one of this author’s audiobooks, and this book is no exception. Getting close to the end!
Ongoing reads:
My book group’s classic read is Mansfield Park by Jane Austen. We’re reading and discussing two chapters per week. Progress: 24%. Up next: Chapters 12 and 13.
What will you be reading this week?
So many books, so little time…
Bookshelf Fantasies 
Btw… your work around for the WP issue is much much easier than mine so I’m using your exclusively!
I’m glad it helped! Now if only WP would get it fixed…
The Kindle/GR thing is irritating. It works for me as I often forget to add my kindle reads so I don’t get duplicates. Hope you manage to read at least some of the Life Impossible before your book group discussion this week.
Thanks! I’m trying to wrap up my current book so I can get to The Life Impossible… I keep letting my deadlines slip by!
Yep, that meme! Aragorn all the way! 🤣
Aragorn, my king! Forever awesome.
I still haven’t encountered the duplication problem, probably since I haven’t updated Goodreads so far this year. Hope it’s sorted soon. I have to get started on Austen soon, I’m hoping to revisit all six this year–let’s see. Enjoy your reads this week!
I’d love to reread all the Austen books! I’m so overloaded right now that I think it’s unrealistic to think I’d manage to make it happen… but maybe I can at least get to one more in addition to Mansfield Park!
Keeping my fingers crossed that I can. I’m most looking forward to Mansfield and Northanger both of which I haven’t reread for ages.
Either Northanger or Sense & Sensibility would be my next choice — it’s been the longest since I’ve read either one. Good luck!
Benji is adorable! I didn’t know that about Kindle and Goodreads being synched. I’m a little annoyed by that and I’ll have to see if it’s affecting anything on my accounts. Goodreads already adds a book to your shelf a second time if you enter a giveaway!! Which makes no sense. Glad you’re enjoying the TJ Klune book, I’m excited to read it😁
Oh, yes, I was super annoyed when Goodreads started adding more copies of books to the to-read shelf every time you enter a giveaway… and I keep forgetting to go back and delete the duplicates. Benji is a riot, and we’ve all fallen under his adorable spell ❤
That meme 🤣🤣 Hope your WP issues are solved soon!
It’s never the wrong time to think about Aragorn 🙂
Aragorn rocks! And I’m sorry you’re still having issues with WordPress. That’s so frustrating. The Kindle/Goodreads duplication thing sounds pretty annoying, too. I hate when technology doesn’t work the way you need it to.
Right? All this tech is supposed to make life easier… until it glitches and causes extra work.
The meme is great! And I’m reading Wind and Truth by Brandon Sanderson this week and for the foreseeable future. It’s a chunky guy lol.
Brandon Sanderson is a major gap in my reading life! I know I should read his books… and just feel overwhelmed every time I think about starting.
I understand that. I’m in the middle of reading the Cosmere and I’m still overwhelmed lol
He’s massively attractive and I don’t mind admitting it. LOL I’m so happy your cat is having such a great time. 🙂
Aragorn forever! ❤
Lol at that meme and Benji is too cute.
Regarding Kindle-Goodreads, when I read e-books, I allow Kindle to make the update and then I go to Goodreads to finetune what’s there. But my Kindle app always has a pop up asking what status to mark the book, because there are some I use as references for my job and do not want marked as read or currently reading on Goodreads. I think that’s something you set in your Kindle settings, I think, so it asks before automatically setting whatever you open as currently reading.
Thanks for the info re Kindle/Goodreads. Something seems to have changed in the Kindle settings — before this year, there was always an option in the Kindle app to mark as read in Goodreads, and I’d turn it off, but now it just seems to apply updates automatically.
Oh, well that really sucks. Maybe you’ll need to select to unlink it to your Goodreads from the settings.
I did do that — but one thing I like is that Kindle highlights get added to Goodreads reading history, and if I unsync, that goes away. Just can’t win…
Aww, totally get that.
It would be great if you have the option to opt out of some auto post features on sites. Hope you get the WordPress issue sorted. Have a great week!