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 celebrated my birthday and Halloween this week, both quietly. Mr. Bookwyrm made me a cake for my birthday, and gave me Riviera Gold, the latest Mary Russell & Sherlock Holmes mystery by Laurie R King. I love the series and have been trying to collect them all in hardcover.
On Halloween, we set out a table at the top of the driveway, with a small electric lantern and a bunch of candy-filled paper treat bags for the trick-or-treaters. We stayed inside. I wasn’t sure how many trick-or-treaters we would get, but judging by how many treat bags disappeared, we probably had around 30 kids come by, which is about average for us. Personally, I would not have taken Robin trick-or-treating if the pandemic had happened when they were little. But I suppose if parents were vigilant and kids wore masks and stayed in their family group, trick-or-treating in our neighborhood was less of a risk than it would be in more populated areas or areas with a higher infection rate. The houses here are far enough apart that it would be easy to avoid other families. And from what I heard from other neighbors, the people who did welcome trick-or-treaters (which less than half) tried to do it as safely as possible. Some did what we did, setting out a table and staying inside, or on their porch a good distance away. Others set up a delivery system using a long PVC pipe. I heard someone even built a small catapult!
Election Day is only two days away. Like a lot of the country, I am very anxious about the outcome, both in terms of who will win and what will follow. Honestly, I don’t expect we will know the actual victor for at least a week, if then. I am trying very hard not to worry about it too much. I will probably escape into books, spinning, and knitting, and stay away from social media and doomscrolling as much as I can—so don’t be surprised if you don’t see much of me on Facebook or Instagram.
For my US readers: If you haven’t voted yet, I hope you are planning to do so on Election Day!
Last Week on the Blog
- Sunday Post – 10/25/2020
- Sunday Post – 11/01/2020 – this post
This Week on the Blog
- My Non-Bookish Hobbies – Top Ten Tuesday
- The Night Circus, by Erin Morgenstern – review
- Boone, by Emily March – review
- Sunday Post – 11/08/2020
What I’m Reading/Watching
Reading: The “Reading the Detectives” group on Goodreads will be reading The Franchise Affair by Josephine Tey in November, so I jumped the gun and reread it a week early. I always forget how good it is! I also read three of the four MacKade Brothers books by Nora Roberts: The Return of Rafe MacKade, The Pride of Jared MacKade, and The Heart of Devin MacKade (in the omnibus collection pictured above.) I started rereading The Duke and I (Julia Quinn) for a Bridgertons group read on Instagram, and I started Homicide in Hardcover (Kate Carlisle) but got sidetracked—no, let me be honest, I got annoyed with the main character for withholding evidence from the police, and with the guy I think may be the love interest for being a rude, suspicious, arrogant twerp. But I’ll try to get over that so I can finish the book, because it’s a series I have wanted to read for a while.
This week, I hope to finish The Duke and I and Homicide in Hardcover and start A Darker Shade of Magic (V. E. Schwab), which I promised Robin I would read.
Listening: I finished my relisten of The Night Circus on the 30th, just in time for Halloween. It’s such a beautiful book!
Watching: Our rewatch of All Creatures Great and Small (the 1970s version) faltered in the second season when yet another DVD turned out to be faulty. So I watched (for the umpteenth time!) The Secret Adversary, an adaptation of Agatha Christie’s first Tommy and Tuppence Beresford novel, starring Francesca Annis and James Warwick. It served as the pilot for the BBC series, Partners in Crime. And on Halloween, we started a rewatch of the Harry Potter movies with The Philosopher’s Stone. I know them all by heart, but it has become something of a Halloween tradition for me.
Added to the Hoard
For Review or Consideration
Thank you to St. Martin’s Press for Boone and Avon for Spoiler Alert! (Click title for Goodreads page.)
Gifts
Hardcover: Riviera Gold was a birthday gift from my wonderful husband! (Click title for Goodreads page or my review.)
Purchased (Kindle, print, or audio)
Print: Kindle: The Last Seance; The Agency: A Spy in the House; Mrs. Martin’s Incomparable Adventure; Akata Witch. Audiobooks (Audible, Libro.fm, or Chirp): (Click title for Goodreads page or my review.)
Angela
I thought of putting out a table, too, but ended up not. I didn’t see a single trick or treater all day!
Lark
Happy Birthday a few days late! Hope this week ends up being a good one for you. No matter what happens in Tuesday. 😀
Lark recently posted…Science, history, and mystery!
Anne - Books of My Heart
Happy birthday! We did not really do Halloween. Last year was a hurricane blew through and we got only a few kids and had huge amounts of candy left. We decided not to even try this year. I hope for a better situation next year. Like you, I believe this will be a trying week. I’m going to try to stay calm and accomplish something. Take care!
Anne – Books of My Heart This is my Sunday Post
Nicole @ BookWyrm Knits
The Last Seance sounds like a perfect book for the season!
I really want to start the Mary Russell series. Soon, I hope! We didn’t do much for Halloween, either. We watched a benefit concert of The Nightmare Before Christmas, but that’s about it. (We never get trick-or-treaters in our area, so that part wasn’t anything different.)
Nicole @ BookWyrm Knits recently posted…Top Ten Tuesday ~ Non-Bookish Hobbies
Nicole @ BookWyrmKnits
Oh—and Happy Birthday! I hope it was a fun day!
Nicole @ BookWyrmKnits recently posted…Top Ten Tuesday ~ Non-Bookish Hobbies