Sunday Post – 5/29/16

May 29, 2016 Sunday Post 16

The Sunday Post is hosted by the wonderful Kimba, the Caffeinated Book Reviewer. It’s a chance to share news, recap the past week, take a look ahead, and showcase our new treasures – I mean books!

My Week

We got back from my college reunion on Monday night, and I’ve been playing catch-up ever since. The reunion weekend was wonderful, and we stayed long enough on Monday morning to hear Jessye Norman’s Commencement address. She was amazing! I went to Oberlin College; the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, which is part of the same institution, is celebrating its 150th year, so it was really appropriate to have a world-renowned singer give the Commencement address. And her speech was terrific! I was saddened to see her in a wheelchair, but she has lost none of her graciousness, wisdom, and dignity. (No, I haven’t met or seen her before, except in recordings, televised concerts, and interviews, but I admire her immensely.)

Jessye Norman, Oberlin College and Conservatory of Music Commencement, 2016. (Photo © 2016 by K. Pekar; used with permission.)

I hope all my fellow U.S. bloggers are having a good Memorial Day weekend. We’re having friends over tomorrow for a luncheon tea, which basically means we’re cramming lunch and tea into one meal. Should be fun—and delicious! Robin is making scones, there will be strawberries and whipped cream and jam, and probably quiche and a salad.

 Last Week on the Blog

 

Upcoming on the Blog

 

What I’m Reading/Watching

I finished Once a Soldier (Mary Jo Putney; ARC), Knit to Be Tied (Maggie Sefton; ARC) and A Son’s Vow (Shelley Shepard Gray; ARC from AvonAddicts), and started The Invisible Library (Genevieve Cogman; NetGalley ARC).  I still need to get back to Wishing Day (Lauren Myracle, ARC); I don’t know why I’m having trouble sticking with it.

In audio, I’m listening to Great World Religions: Islam. Mr. Bookwyrm and I started listening to Bill Bryson’s Made in America on our way to and from the reunion. Now that we’re home, we’ll probably have to listen to it separately in order to finish it.

 

New Additions to the Hoard

Cover links take you to Goodreads.

 For Review or Review Consideration

Thank you to Alibi (Random House)!

 

Purchased for Kindle

Um…there might have been a Memorial Day weekend sale on Kindle books. And um…I might possibly have gone just a smidgen overboard. But we needed to complete our Percy Jackson collection! And add to my Mary Balogh collection. And one or two (or five or six) other things that looked too good to pass up.

 

Have a wonderful week, and happy reading!

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16 Responses to “Sunday Post – 5/29/16”

    • Lark_Bookwyrm

      Well, I tend to enjoy Balogh’s later books more than her early ones, which were written for the Signet Regency line, but the early ones can be pretty darn good despite the restrictions (in length and content) imposed by the publisher. These four were all Signet Regency titles; Balogh has been re-releasing them on her own as the copyrights have reverted to her.

  3. Lola

    Sounds like you had a fun reunion! I hadn’t heard of that singer before, but that’s great she gave the commencement address. I really enjoyed your review of madness of Mercury earlier this week, I have to try and fit it in my reading schedule this month.

    I read In for a Penny last year and I quite enjoyed it, it was one of my first historical romances.

    Enjoy your extra long weekend and the luncheon. Yum those scones sound delicious! I could got for some scones right now.
    Lola recently posted…Sunday Post #180My Profile

    • Lark_Bookwyrm

      She’s a classically trained operatic soprano, though one of my favorite albums of hers has her singing spirituals in a concert with Kathleen Battle (another world-renowned soprano.) But she’s also an amazing woman, so it was really a treat to hear her speak.

      Thanks for the recommendation on In for a Penny. I’ve seen good reviews from several bloggers, so I’m looking forward to reading it sometime.

      Have a great week, and I hope you get a scone somewhere!

    • Lark_Bookwyrm

      I listened to the Kane Chronicles, which I think helped me get into them. I didn’t like them as much as I love the Percy books, but I did enjoy them. And yes, I could easily get through summer on the books I already have… but who am I kidding, I will be buying and requesting more books before the summer is out.

  5. Stormi

    Glad you had a good time at your college reunion! I see you got caught up in the memorial day sale thing too…lol. I have banned myself from amazon for a while. 🙂
    Stormi recently posted…The Week In Review #90My Profile

    • Lark_Bookwyrm

      Yeah, it kind of sucked me in! I probably should ban myself from Amazon too, but I’d have been kicking myself if I had missed the Rick Riordan sale. Of course, I can justify those books because Robin and I share a Kindle account, and she loves Rick Riordan, so I can pretend they’re really for her. (Even if they’re just as much for me!)

    • Lark_Bookwyrm

      Thanks, Heather. It’s going to be a really busy week; I have a ton of work to do. But I’ll try to find time for fun (and blogging)!

  7. Lory @ Emerald City Book Review

    I’m glad you had a good reunion weekend – and how special to get to hear Jessye Norman. I’m off to my reunion (Carleton) in a couple of weeks, but commencement will be over by then; can’t take extra time off for that.

    I’ve been curious about the Great Courses offerings so it was interesting to see your review of the Judaism course. I still wonder what they have to offer that is different from just reading a book. Maybe a recorded lecture would hold me attention better than an audiobook (with which I tend to drift off)?
    Lory @ Emerald City Book Review recently posted…Month in Review: May 2016My Profile

    • Lark_Bookwyrm

      A friend of mine went to Carleton for a few years — ’80-’81 and ’81-’82, I think. He later transferred to my college for a variety of reasons, among them the weather. I’m not sure Oberlin was any less snowy, given the lake effect, but it may not have been as cold!

      The Great Courses have a few differences from an audiobook. The half-hour lecture format breaks the content into manageable chunks with a focus and a conclusion for each lecture. They work really well for timing my walks (when it’s not raining for weeks on end LOL!) and also for shortish tasks around the house, or driving to our nearest small city. Many of the courses are also available on DVD, which is particularly useful for some subjects where seeing is important: astronomy and cosmology, engineering, architecture, and some of the history lectures benefit from the audiovisual format. We like either, depending on the course. Plus, most of the lecturers are good at staying interesting; they’re recommended by students, so they are usually good teachers. Audiobook narrators, on the other hand, are a bit of a mixed bag; some are terrific and some are mediocre. (Though I have come across the occasional dry, hard-to-follow, or monotone lecturer on The Great Courses, it’s pretty darn rare.)

      • Lory @ Emerald City Book Review

        My Carleton roommate was from Oberlin and it always sounded like a great place. Too bad I never made it there for a visit. I suppose Ohio might not be QUITE so Arctic as Minnesota. The good thing at Carleton was that we got a break from Thanksgiving to New Years, sparing us at least 6 weeks of winter. And there used to be tunnels between the buildings so you didn’t have to go outside, but they closed them after my freshman year, alas.

        Interesting info about the Great Courses, thanks!
        Lory @ Emerald City Book Review recently posted…Month in Review: May 2016My Profile

        • Lark_Bookwyrm

          Tunnels?! That sounds like fun, and rather sensible besides. I think Ohio is generally not as cold as Minnesota most of the time, though it could get plenty cold on occasion. Tunnels would have been welcome!