Sunday Post – 1/14/2018

January 14, 2018 Sunday Post 33

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

On Tuesday, feeling slightly chilled, I pulled a plaid wool throw out of the wicker chest that doubles as our coffee table, and to my dismay, there were small moth holes in it… seven or eight of them. Also some dead bugs. Unless you’re a knitter or crocheter, you may not fully comprehend the sheer horror that swept over me in that moment. What else might the moths/beetles have gotten into? The coat closet? (Wool coats, fur collars, handknit hats and scarves and mittens.) The clothes closets? The dressers? (All our clothes… including sundry other handknits like socks and cowls and fingerless mitts.) The carpets? The yarn stash? *gulp* This was Serious Anxiety Territory.

I bagged up the munched-on blanket to throw away. I pulled the remaining throws (both crocheted) out of the wicker chest and threw them immediately into the washing machine. They’re acrylic — not invulnerable, but less tasty — and seem to have survived with minimum damage. At any rate, the washer and dryer should have killed any remaining larvae. The wicker chest, being impossible to clean thoroughly, will be consigned to the dump, so now we need a new coffee table/blanket storage solution. And I’ll be spending much of my “free” time for the next several weeks bagging my yarn stash and small knits into freezer bags and putting them through a freeze-thaw-freeze-thaw cycle (which kills the larvae) and cleaning out closets.

On closer inspection of the bug carcasses, I suspect carpet beetles rather than clothes moths, but either way, it’s Bad News.

 

Last Week on the Blog

 

Upcoming on the Blog

 

Challenges

The Backlist Reader Challenge

The sign-up linky for The Backlist Reader Challenge 2018 is live, and the challenge has begun! (Don’t worry, you can sign up anytime before December 2018.)

 

What I’m Reading/Watching

Reading: I finished rereading Oathbreakers (Mercedes Lackey; my collection). I also read About That Kiss by Jill Shalvis (ARC), and then went back to A Treacherous Curse (Deana Raybourn, ARC) and A Scandal in Belgravia (Mercedes Lackey; library), both of which I’m currently reading.

Listening to: Still listening to Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix… but at least I’m back to actively listening to it!

Watching: We caught up on Star Trek: Discovery. Wow, last Sunday’s episode (#10) contained a few shocks! We also watched a few more Father Brown episodes; we’re currently in season 5.

 

New Additions to the Hoard

Cover links take you to Goodreads.

For Review or Review Consideration

Many thanks to St. Martins for The First Kiss of Spring  and The Woman in the Water (both eARCs.) And I am so excited to have won a physical advance copy of The Problim Children—thank you, you lovely editors at HarperCollins Children’s Books!

From the Library

Purchased for Kindle

All were on sale except the Jim Hines novella, which I had preordered.

Have a lovely week, and happy reading!

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33 Responses to “Sunday Post – 1/14/2018”

  1. Greg

    Aw sorry to hear about the beetle damage, that must be incredibly frustrating.

    The Woman in the Water looks interesting, and I’ve been wanting to try Holly Black. Either The Darkest Part or maybe her new one Cruel Prince will probably be on my reading list soon. 🙂

    Hope you have a great week!

    • Lark_Bookwyrm

      Thanks, Greg! I’ve been wanting to try Holly Black, too. And I love Charles’ Finch’s Lenox series. They’re excellent! Can’t wait to read this one; it’s a prequel to the series. Lenox’s first real case, I think.

  3. Kari @ Kari Reads and Writes

    Sorry about those beetles or moths. I don’t knit but I do feel badly for you! Good luck with your chore.

    You have so many good looking books for me to check out. Thanks for sharing them!

  4. Michelle @Because Reading

    Those are what I like to call pointless bugs. They serve no purpose other than to drive us insane. I never had moths but other bugs have caused me quite they issue. My mom, is a moth ball nut, like every closet in every room has a mothball thing hanging. The house always smelled like mothballs and when I moved out, she made sure I had some. lol. I might need to go get some more since I don’t have any at the moment.

    I am sorry you have to do all of that, it’s such a pain! I hope this week is a better one and more relaxing with no critters. Have a great week, Lark! Happy Reading! ox
    Michelle @Because Reading recently posted…Making sure this year is the best year ever! ~ WIR & SPMy Profile

    • Lark_Bookwyrm

      I thought about moth balls right after the discovery, but I find the smell about as repellent as the moths do. And I think this was carpet beetles, so I’m not sure if moth balls would even work. I’m also reluctant to use such strong chemicals, especially with a cat in the house who already has cancer and an autoimmune disease. We do have Orkin coming on a regular basis, though usually the guy only sprays outside, and uses glue boards indoors.* I’ll be putting some lavender and/or peppermint sachets in the closets and dresser drawers, though, in hopes of discouraging any similar pests. And I’ll probably add lavender or peppermint essential oil to the shampooer when we shampoo the carpet.

      *Except to get rid of ants. We have had a lot of trouble with them, over the years. Comes from living more-or-less in the woods.

  5. Jenea's Book Obsession

    That’s just awful about your throw. Bugs like that are useless! My Mom always used the moth balls, but sometimes they weren’t enough either. Ugh. Enjoy all those new and great looking books. Happy reading.

    • Lark_Bookwyrm

      They’re certainly useless bugs from my perspective! I’m sure they have some purpose in the overall ecosystem, but they don’t belong in my house. I really hate moth balls (see my response to Michelle), but I’ll be looking into more natural ways to discourage moths and beetles in the future. Meanwhile, books are always a comfort!

    • Lark_Bookwyrm

      Well, I don’t know about solved, but so far, I have hope that that there’s no further infestation. We’ll see when I get downstairs to bag up the yarn stash—though thankfully, a lot of it is already in bags. I tend to store my yarn in ziplock bags (with air inside) for just this reason. At least if bugs eat their way into one bag, they’re not likely to get into all of them!

  8. Samantha

    Oh that sucks about the beetle damage! That sucks (and creeps me out-I have a fear of bugs of any kind but especially any that can chew on things!). Hopefully the problem is handled and you can enjoy your books with hole free throws!
    Samantha recently posted…#SundayPost: Snow days!My Profile

    • Lark_Bookwyrm

      I was pretty freaked out, as you can tell! It will take a while to do all the cleaning and safer storage of clothes and handknits, but so far, I haven’t found any more bug damage, thank goodness.

  9. Sherrie

    Hi,
    Great list of books. I’ll have to check them out. Loved Father Brown, great show. Have a great day!

  10. Barb (boxermommyreads)

    So sorry to hear about the pest problem – just glad it wasn’t worse. I’m reading A Treacherous Curse too and loving it but of course, I love me some Veronica and Stoker. Looks like you’ve grabbed some good books so hopefully you can find time to de-stress and read!

  12. Literary Feline

    I am so sorry to hear about your blanket–and the carpet bugs. Ugh! What a nightmare. They can do so much damage, can’t they? And what a hassle to have to take so many precautions. But it’s better to be safe than sorry, isn’t it? I feel for you, Lark. I hope someday I’ll be able to watch Star Trek Discovery. I only got to see the first episode, but since I don’t subscribe to the internet channel, I haven’t been able to follow it. I hope you enjoy your new books! The Amanda Quick one sounds really good. And I’ve been hearing good things about the Charles Finch novel. Have a great week, Lark!
    Literary Feline recently posted…Weekly Mews: January TBR Winner!My Profile

    • Lark_Bookwyrm

      I’m not too happy about the beetles or moths or whatever it is! But yes, better safe than sorry.

      I started writing a long response to your comment about ST:Discovery, and realized I should turn it into a post. So I’ll just say that my husband and I are long-time fans of Star Trek, going back to our separate childhoods and TOS reruns, so we subscribed to CBS All Access just so we could watch Discovery. It’s been worth it so far. 🙂

      I’ve actually read Quick’s The Burning Lamp before. Several times, in fact; I really like the whole Arcane Society series. But having it on Kindle is good, since I’m an inveterate rereader. I’m also looking forward to both the new Amanda Quick book (The Other Lady Vanishes) whenever I can get my hands on it, and the Charles Finch mystery. I’m glad you’ve heard good things about that one!

    • Lark_Bookwyrm

      It’s a prequel to Charles Finch’s historical mystery series starring a mid-Victorian gentleman detective, Charles Lenox. The Woman in the Water details his first case, a serial killer. Finch is an excellent writer, and I love the series, so I’m excited to read this one. (You can click the cover art to see the Goodreads page, if you want more information.)

  17. Nicole

    Ooh, that Holly Black cover is lovely. I hope the book is good!

    And OH NOES. Carpet beetles might not be as bad as moths, but still. Anything that eats wool is Not Good to have around a knitter’s (or crocheter’s, etc) house. I hope you can escape otherwise unscathed.
    Nicole recently posted…Top Ten Tuesday ~ Bookish GoalsMy Profile

  18. Katherine @ I Wish I Lived in a Library

    So sorry to hear about the bug damage and hopefully the damage will be limited to the throw. I can imagine your stress level was cranked up to high for some time! You’ve been reading some great books! I have the Jill Shalvis for review and I have the first in the Deanna Raybourn from the library but it may have to go back before I have time to read it which makes me sad. Have a great week!

  19. RO

    Dang it, that’s the pits Lark, but good thing you noticed it, right? Some people may have put on that blanket, and thought the holes were supposed to be there as part of old age or something.(lol) Still a headache to do the cleanup and pack up though, and I can just imagine the stress of it all. I’ve been looking at Father Brown on Netflix, and added it to my list, but my list there is so long, I hope I get to it before it gets deleted from their playlist. (lol) Happy Wednesday! Hugs…RO

    • Lark_Bookwyrm

      A Treacherous Curse was good; I really enjoyed it. I love the heroine!

      As for Star Trek: Discovery, it depends, I think, on what kind of fan you are. The writing is good, on the whole. The acting is excellent, particularly Sonequa Martin-Green and Jason Isaacs. The overall feel is “Star Trek dark”—more like the later years of DS9 than the overall optimism of TOS and most of STNG. There’s a lot of moral “grey” in this series, as well. There’s also much more of an overall story arc, more even than the DS9 Dominion Wars storyline. I also happen to think the Klingon redesign was unnecessary and went too far; the actors are wearing so many prosthetics that it’s hard to gauge facial expressions, and it breaks continuity with the canon universe even more so than the STNG and DS9 redesigns did. (I will admit, however, that I’m getting used to it.) The ship tech is well beyond what even STNG had—and I don’t mean the special effects, I mean the actual technology, from bridge stations to the Discovery’s experimental drive system. If you were OK with the alt-universe reboot movies, you’ll probably really enjoy Star Trek: Discovery. If you’re a canon purist and hated the reboots, you probably won’t be happy. If, like me, you enjoyed the reboot movies but bristled at some of the liberties they took (*cough cough* Romulans *cough cough*), you’ll enjoy Discovery but bristle at some of the liberties they’re taking with the canon. Bottom line: On it’s own, I think the series is excellent for a number of reasons. As a Star Trek series, it’s satisfying and at the same time, raises my “don’t violate canon” hackles.

  21. Charlie

    I didn’t realize they can cause so much damage! That sucks that you had to throw out those things. Hopefully you’ve caught the cycle in time and it will end here. Lord knows I thought I would go crazy going through the processes to get rid of Baby’s fleas. Funny thing, when I moved it all ended.

    • Lark_Bookwyrm

      The holes they leave are small, but eradicating them from the house is hard, and fixing the holes is often impossible. 🙁 I know what you mean about fleas; ours have been indoor cats, but they’ve each arrived with fleas and it takes a while to eradicate them entirely.