Sunday Post – 12/01/2019

December 1, 2019 Sunday Post 9

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

Last Sunday’s concert went very well, especially for my children’s and youth choruses, who both sang beautifully and received so many compliments. I have some teens who sing as mentors with the children, and some adults who sing as mentors with the youth. They were a real blessing for this concert in particular, because our numbers were lower than usual and I had no teenage boys for the tenor and bass parts. But I’m always grateful for the mentors of all ages, because they give the younger singers confidence, help them learn to sing in parts, and are great role models for them. I do hope to have some of my teen boys as well as some of my younger kids back in the spring. Several families had to bow out this fall due to sports, robotics, family illness, or other schedule conflicts. One stalwart family is moving away, and I will miss them terribly; they are personal friends as well as “students” and fellow musicians.

Hamilton was amazing! I expected it to be, and it lived up to my expectations. The show itself is fantastic, as you know if you’ve seen it — or seen any clips from it, listened to the cast album, or watched the “making of” documentary. The lead actors in the “Angelica” touring company are all very good, and several were excellent. The choreography is terrific, and the ensemble’s precision was spot-on. (You can’t really call them the chorus; they do so much more than sing and dance. They set the scene; they dance props and set pieces in and out; they act out a hurricane as well as several battles… the director uses them in many clever and creative ways.) The night we saw it, Hamilton and Burr were played by understudies. Their performances were technically quite good, but they lacked a little of the charisma and energy I expected in those roles. Then again, I’m comparing them to Lin-Manuel Miranda and Leslie Odom, and those two set a very high bar! Anyway, it was a wonderful evening, and I’m so glad we splurged on season tickets so we could get to see this show.

Our Thanksgiving was quiet, just the two of us. We cooked a turkey and all the trimmings but kept things low-key. Now that Thanksgiving is past, I want to get the Christmas decorations up and get most of my Christmas shopping done, as well as work on an index and start packing to visit my folks later this month. All in under two weeks. Wish me luck!

Challenge Update: I met my Goodreads goal of 190 books for the year. As of today, I’m at 206 books. But around half of those were rereads, which usually go faster than my first time through a book.

Last Week on the Blog

This Week on the Blog

  • Reviews and posts TBD
  • News & Notes – 12/07/2019 – tentative
  • Sunday Post – 12/08/2019 – tentative

What I’m Reading/Watching

  • Book Cover: An Everyday Hero by Laura Trentham

Reading: I read The Country Guesthouse (Robyn Carr, ARC) and An Everyday Hero (Laura Trentham, ARC.) And I reread another Mary Balogh book, Slightly Sinful. Currently, I’m reading Christmas Angels (Nancy Naigle, ARC) and Aunt Dimity and the Heart of Gold (from the library.) (Click titles for Goodreads links.)

Listening: The Wilhelm Conspiracy, the second book in the “Sherlock Holmes and Lucy James” series.

Watching: We’re still watching Season 1 of Warehouse 13. And we watched Thor: Ragnorak for the second time.

Added to the Hoard

Purchased (Kindle, print, or audio)

Click to see on Goodreads: Murder in the Minster; A Body in the Bookshop; The Stalking; On Her Majesty’s Frightfully Secret Service

All of these were Kindle books that I bought on sale.

Have a great week!

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9 Responses to “Sunday Post – 12/01/2019”

  1. Anne - Books of My Heart

    I’m glad the concert went well and thanks for the info on Hamilton. I’m happy you enjoyed it. I really need to look into if there is some venue with plays or musical theater here where we might get tickets to things. I know some in Durham but not Raleigh at the moment.

    The year is flying by – I can’t believe it is December and in 2 weeks most people including my daughter and I will be on the holiday break until January.

    Anne – Books of My Heart Here is my Sunday Post   
    Anne – Books of My Heart recently posted…Shelf Awareness by Katie AshleyMy Profile

  2. sjhigbee

    I am glad the concert went well – the mentoring system sounds absolutely brilliant. And I’m very jealous that you got to see Hamilton – I’d love to take my eldest grandson, who knows all the words and loves the show. Congratulations of a great total of read books so far – impressive! Have a great week, Lark.

  7. Berls

    So glad your concert went well and I hope you do get some of the families back for the spring season! How sad to be losing a family 🙁 I think the mentors is a fabulous idea, I’m sure it makes a difference, especially for your youngest singers.

    Hamilton sounds fabulous, not that I doubted it would be. Bummer about the understudies, but sounds like they still delivered a good performance. I’d love to see this if I can!

    Have a great week 🙂
    Berls recently posted…#FitReaders ~ December GoalsMy Profile

  9. Katherine @ I Wish I Lived in a Library

    So glad the concert went well and the mentoring singers sounds like it’s such a smart idea for so many reasons. Hamilton sounds amazing and like such a fun evening. So many fabulous books! I see some of my favorite authors and I’m curious about Helen Cox. Those look like mysteries I would enjoy!