The Sunday Post is hosted by the wonderful Kimberly, 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!
Last Week
We continued decluttering last week, tackling another small section of the basement and rearranging Robin’s room a little to make room for Mr. Bookwyrm’s new standing desk. I hope I can keep up the momentum! There’s still a long way to go. We’ve been in this house for over a quarter of a century. It’s amazing (and a little scary) how much stuff you can accumulate over the years… especially stuff passed down from relatives who have downsized or passed away. As for books, all my life I have lived by the motto, “You can never have too many books.” But as it turns out… yes, you can. Too many for the available space, anyway. The problem is choosing which ones to let go of! (Well, the other problem is figuring out how to let go of them, since the Friends of the Library store isn’t taking donations and I’m not very comfortable going into the used bookstore… and the latter rarely takes more than half of what I bring them, anyway.)
Last Week on the Blog
- Sunday Post – 9/06/2020
- The Dead Heat of Summer, by Heather Graham
- News & Notes – 9/12/2020
- Sunday Post – 9/13/2020 – this post
This Week on the Blog
- reviews TBD
- News & Notes – 9/19/2020 – tentative
- Sunday Post – 9/20/2020 – tentative
What I’m Reading/Watching
Reading: I finished The Perfect Hope and then reread Nora Roberts’s In the Garden trilogy: Blue Dahlia, Black Rose, and Red Lily. I also read two Krewe of Hunter books by Heather Graham, Dreaming Death (ARC) and The Dead Heat of Summer (a novella; I reviewed it this week.) I started Happily This Christmas (Susan Mallery; ARC), but it’s not grabbing me — nothing wrong with it, I’m just not in the mood for holiday romances right now. (Click title for Goodreads page or my review.)
Listening: I finished Aunt Dimity and the Duke (Nancy Atherton) and dived into Binti (Nnedi Okorafor). Since it turned out to be a bit more exciting and violent than I was expecting, in the evenings I started listening to Some Die Eloquent by Catherine Aird; it’s a police procedural in the Agatha Christie vein, and has the benefit of familiarity besides.
Watching: Not much, to be honest.
Added to the Hoard
Library Books
I borrowed Blue Dahlia and Black Rose on Kindle. (See covers above. Click title [left] for Goodreads page or my review.)
Purchased (Kindle, print, or audio)
Kindle: Murder at Half Moon Gate; Flamebringer; The Dead Heat of Summer; The Reading Life. Audiobooks (Chirp): At Bertram’s Hotel; Murder On the Links & Murder on the Orient Express. (Click title for Goodreads page or my review.)
Esther @ BiteIntoBooks
Oh man, I know about the STUFF. My boyfriend just moved in and we together have so much stuff. We had to get rid of a lot, but the house just feels packed right now, lol. Yay for decluttering! Maybe we’ll need another round of that.
Lark_Bookwyrm
Yes, there comes a time when you can’t organize it into submission anymore; you just have to decrease the amount of STUFF. I hope you are able to do another round of decluttering, if it’s needed. It can be hard to find the time and energy!
Michelle@BecauseReading
I wish I can get motivated to be that productive. I am working on getting the kids to help clean up their rooms. It isn’t going so well. Since my dad passed we have a lot of stuff to go through and at some point starting next year we have to downsize three houses. It’s going to be a very long process.
I hope you have a great week, Lark! Happy Reading! xx
Lark_Bookwyrm
Take it a little at a time. It is a long process, you’re right. And it’s easy to get overwhelmed. Honestly, when the lockdown started, I thought I would use the time so productively, and it’s only the past few weeks that I’ve done much decluttering at all. Well, I did get my desk cleaned up, and some of my study, but I have a long way to go in there, too. Right now the basement takes precedence because we need space for the treadmill. (It arrives tomorrow—I’m so excited!)
Angela
I have a lot of books I need to get rid of, as well – I’m debating putting a box on my front lawn with a “free books” sign! I cringe sometimes at how much stuff we have – and our house has become the dumping ground for my in-laws since we bought it. Every time they come here, they bring more stuff, including stuff from my husband’s childhood that he clearly doesn’t want! It’s so frustrating!
Lark_Bookwyrm
I feel for you! And I understand. We have stuff from my in-laws (both now gone), my grandmothers (ditto), and from my parents (stuff they didn’t want to move halfway across the country.) As well as all the stuff we have accumulated over the years. It’s… a lot. I would put out a “free books” box, but the HOA frowns on that, and anyway, it has been raining too much. So I’ll see if any of the Little Free Libraries in the county have any space, and box the rest up for whenever things open up again. Luckily, the local thrift store is taking donations of clothes, housewares, and toys.
Gayathri
I would hate to give away books but hey, space is hard to come by. And it doesnt mean I would be happy to give away.
PS: Oh I realized you had linked a wrong post on the Sunday posts!
Gayathri recently posted…The One With The Website Changes: Sunday Musings #92
Lark_Bookwyrm
Oh, nuts! I didn’t realize I had done that. And it doesn’t look like there’s any way to fix it, or to delete the incorrect link and add the right one. Well, I hope other folks figure it out!
sjhigbee
I know what you mean about books *sigh*. We have far too many print books, seeing as we both rarely read anything other than ebooks, these days. But getting rid of them is going to be difficult! clutter. It sounds like you’ve been making great progress, though. I’m interested on your thoughts regarding Binti – it’s a book that has intrigued me, but looks rather dark and disturbing. Have a great week, Lark.
Lark_Bookwyrm
I actually had to pause Binti, because it was getting very dark. I think I may skim through the ebook so I know what’s coming. The narrator is amazing, and I definitely want to keep listening to her, but it’s a little easier if I know what to expect. (That probably stems from the fact that I deal with anxiety.)
Katherine
The interesting thing about moving to an apartment that is literally 1/5 the size of your house is that you realize how little stuff you actually need! We’ve been seriously considering downsizing but when I see all the stuff I have I don’t want to get rid of it! It’s a dilemma. I reread the In the Garden trilogy last month and really enjoyed it. I’m pretty convinced that Roberts has never been to Memphis though. The only places she mentions are serious tourist destinations and no one who lives here (especially a local!) would actually eat on Beale St. Yay for cleaning and decluttering! Hope you have a great week.
Katherine recently posted…Life with Leukemia (and some reading) – Week 1 billion or something like that.
Anne - Books of My Heart
Good for you on the decluttering. It’s hard but a valuable thing to do. I am considering those Agatha Christie Chirp deals too. I rarely read print books anymore, so I am only buying digital versions of things and I got rid of a lot of print unless it was signed or a favorite.
Anne – Books of My Heart recently posted…Sunday Post – 13 September 2020
Nicole @ BookWyrmKnits
I’ll admit, storage space is one of the two main reasons I’ve been buying more ebooks than physical books lately. (Like, a LOT more.) I can store all the ebooks I want on a device that’s thinner than almost all of my physical books. I think the thin poetry volumes and paperback picture books are the only books I have thinner than my e-reader. (The other main reason is because I feel fine highlighting ebooks, whereas I can’t bring myself to highlight physical books.)
I also had a similar problem when decluttering some of my books. I ended up giving up and taking them to the local secondhand shop just so they went somewhere.
Nicole @ BookWyrmKnits recently posted…Goodreads TBR Declutter #36
Berls
I bet it feels good to get so much done. I can’t imagine living in the same place so long – I think the longest I’ve lived somewhere is 5 years. And the result is we don’t really have a lot of extra stuff. We’ll see how having Dante changes that though.
Hope you’re having a great week!