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.
My husband and I celebrated our 27th anniversary over the weekend! We treated ourselves to a lovely dinner at one of our favorite restaurants, and they added a nice touch to our dessert:
Blogging.
In new WordPress weirdness, the ability to copy an old post and save it as a new one seems to be working… but for some random reason, the menu choice is now “duplicate” instead of “copy”, and it took me a minute to realize it (before just thinking that the ability to copy was entirely gone). Why, WordPress, why? I don’t understand the need to change something that’s already fine.
Around the blogosphere:
I enjoyed a discussion on the Pages Unbound blog about reading challenges. It’s interesting to see so many opinions on the topic!
What did I read during the last week?
The God of the Woods by Liz Moore: Posted a review from my previous week’s reading. 5 stars! My review is here.
Three Days in June by Anne Tyler: Short, sharp fiction by a masterful writer. My review is here.
Impossible Creatures by Katherine Rundell: Excellent middle grade fantasy adventure. My review is here.
Black Woods Blue Sky by Eowyn Ivey: Atmospheric story with a gorgeous Alaska setting. Parts left me baffled, but it’s a reading experience I can’t stop thinking about. My review is here.
Pop culture & TV:
I really haven’t watched much this past week, other than new episodes of Ghosts and Abbott Elementary. Too busy reading, I guess…
Fresh Catch:
My lovely hardcover edition of The Bones Beneath My Skin arrived. It’s so pretty!
My Little Free Library has seen quite a bit of action this past week, despite the awful rainy weather day after day. Lots of new additions, lots of books taken that had been there a while. I don’t typically take books from the LFL for my own collection… but I made an exception when a copy of a Carley Fortune book showed up over the weekend!
What will I be reading during the coming week?
Currently in my hands:
Annie Bot by Sierra Greer: My book group book for February! It grabbed my attention right from the first page, and it’s been hard to put it down. I’m close to the end — should finish up today.
Next up:
Either a book for a reading challenge, or one of my two remaining ARCs for February new releases:
Now playing via audiobook:
Equal Rites (Discworld, #3) by Terry Pratchett: I’ve had very mixed results with my forays into Discworld thus far, but I decided to give the witch books another try, after seeing strong recommendations for the audiobooks. The narrator is Indira Varma, and she’s fantastic! I’ve listened to about half so far, and it’s lots of fun.
Ongoing reads:
My book group’s classic read is Mansfield Park by Jane Austen. We’re reading and discussing two chapters per week. Progress: 34%. Up next: Chapters 18 and 19.
What will you be reading this week?
So many books, so little time…
Bookshelf Fantasies 
Happy Anniversary! I need to check out Annie Bot, especially since you’re loving it. I read The Bones Beneath My Skin this week and loved it😁 Now I need to read his wolf series, since I know you’re a big fan of that too.
Thank you! Definitely check out Annie Bot — I ended up finishing last night, so glad my book group picked it. Yay for The Bones Beneath My Skin!!
Happy Anniversary! 27 years is pretty awesome. Happy reading this week. I hope it’s another good one for you. 😀
Thank you! Wishing you a great week!
WP is weird… mine still says Copy….but it’s working so no complaints!
Very true, at least it’s working!! 🙂
Happy Anniversary!
I wish WP would leave things alone too. I had to post in WP forums today because when I highlight and delete or edit the first word in any paragraph it deletes the whole block. It’s been driving me crazy all week.
Wishing you a happy reading week
Oh, that sounds really annoying! It seems like as soon as one glitch is fixed, another pops up. I hope you get a good answer in the forums!
Happy Anniversary! Hope you have a great week!
Thank you!
Happy Anniversary! I like when restaurants do those small simple things, it’s such a nice touch!
I thought of you when I saw they had changed “copy” to “duplicate”. I agree, mine is now working, yay! It must have been some sort of coding bug and maybe that was the reason for the name change. All to say, I’m happy it works again! Have a great week!
The restaurant was so sweet – I’d indicated it was our anniversary when I made the reservation, and every single person we encountered — host, waiter, chef — made a point of saying happy anniversary to us!
Wishing you a great week!
Oh wow, that’s amazing! Love to hear it!
Thank you! 😁
Happy Anniversary! And many more years of happiness. I’m starting Kings of the Wyld this week.
Thank you so much! I’ve heard good things about Kings of the Wyld – hope you enjoy it!
Happy anniversary!! At first, I thought that was a rectangular cake, lol.
That would have been even better ! 🙂 Thank you!
I loved Granny Weatherwax, et al. Love his witch books.
Granny Weatherwax is awesome! I have about 30 minutes left of the audiobook, and at this point, I’m planning to continue straight onward to the next witch book.