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!
This Week
Last Monday (May 16), I had tea and a book discussion with a college friend over Zoom. We talked about The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, and we have very different opinions, so it made for a lively and interesting discussion. We each provided our own afternoon tea, complete with tea sandwiches and sweets. I made cucumber sandwiches, curried chicken sandwiches (with cranberries, apples, and pecans: delicious!), and cherry scones using dried cherries. I had a pile of delicious strawberries, and a small dish of chocolate truffles that Mr. Bookwyrm gave me for Mother’s Day. I also bought a bag of Milanos, because I hadn’t had them in years. I served it all with (decaf) Earl Grey tea, using my favorite tea set. It was so much fun to have a proper tea party; I haven’t done that since before the pandemic.
If you’re wondering where I was last weekend, we went up to my aunt’s memorial service. (She passed away on Halloween, but the service was put off due to the Delta and Omicron surges.) We decided to go despite our reservations about public gatherings, because I really wanted to be there for my cousins. Mr. Bookwyrm and I are both recently boosted, and we wore masks during the service, as well as outdoors afterward. It was a lovely service, and set up so that people could Zoom in if they couldn’t be there in person. My aunt was a teacher at a private school (in fact, she was my 9th-grade teacher), and some of her former colleagues and students gave really moving tributes to her and her impact on their lives.
My mom flew in for the weekend, and we stayed in a hotel near where my cousins live (about 100 miles from here) so we could spend time with them and their families, as well as my only remaining aunt and uncle. I hadn’t seen any of them since a couple of years before the pandemic, and it was so good to be together! There were two extended-family lunches (one Saturday and one Sunday), which were both unmasked, so I’m praying that no one gets Covid. It’s been a week, and Mom, Mr. Bookwyrm, and I all seem to be in the clear, so hopefully everyone else is, too.
This past week, I’ve just kind of been chilling and trying to get some stuff done around the house… without much success. Maybe I’ll be a bit more focused in the coming week.
Recent Posts
- Sunday Post – 5/15/2022
- Fantasy Books I Couldn’t Wait to Get – But Still Haven’t Read – Top Ten Tuesday
- Returning Ebooks After Reading Them? Seriously, No.
- News & Notes – 5/28/2022
- Sunday Post – 5/29/2022 – this post
Looking Ahead
- Desperately Seeking a Duchess, by Christi Caldwell – review
- – Top Ten Tuesday; tentative
- other reviews TBD
- Sunday Post – 6/05/2022
What I’ve Been Reading/Watching
Reading: I have had two slow reading weeks, and I don’t really know why. I finished Point to Point by Celia Lake, which counted toward the continue-a-series readathon for COYER. I read Desperately Seeking a Duchess by Christi Caldwell (an ARC) and A Stitch in Time by Kelley Armstrong (a Christmas gift from my sister.) I’m still reading The Forgotten Beasts of Eld in tribute to Patricia A. McKillip, who died on May 6 of this year.
Listening to: Invisible Women by Carmen Criado-Pérez. Unfortunately, my library check-out ran out, so I will have to finish the last 15-20% on Kindle.
Watching: We watched Benjamin Franklin by Ken Burns. It’s very good, which is no surprise; I love Ken Burns’s documentaries. This one had the added bonus of Mandy Patinkin voicing Franklin.
Playing: The Last Campfire on Steam, and Penguin Isle on my iPad. (And Pokemon Go on my phone, but that’s kind of an ongoing thing.)
Added to the Hoard in the past 2 weeks
For Review or Consideration
Many thanks to Tor.com for A Mirror Mended, Harlequin for Sound of Darkness, and Kensington for The Belle of Belgrave Square and Murder in Westminster.
Purchased (Kindle, print, or audio)
Print: Semicolon (Click title for Goodreads page.)
Kindle: A Marvelous Light; The Diabolical Baron; The Proposal; The Enigma Game; (Click title for Goodreads page or my review.)
Audiobooks: (Click title for Goodreads page.)
Jenni Elyse
Sounds like it was a lovely service for you aunt. My father passed away in 2020 and it was difficult to do the service because of the pandemic. We managed, though. I hope your cousins are doing okay considering.
Jenni Elyse recently posted…Sunday Post #20
Lark_Bookwyrm
Thank you, Jenni Elyse. I’m so sorry for your loss, and I hope you’re doing all right now, at least most of the time. I know grief can come in waves, and even years later, it can swamp you unexpectedly.
My cousins are doing as well as can be expected. There are many joys in their lives, as well as the grief of losing their mom. I think the memorial service was healing for them, as was the chance to spend time with family members on both sides.
Greg
Your bookish tea party sounds very nice. 🙂 And Milanos. I haven’t had those in forever either…
I’m glad you were able to see family, but I hear you on Covid. It’s still out there and nerve wracking when you go out.
The LAst Campfire looks intriguing. I’m going to have to take a look at that one…
Greg recently posted…Sunday Post 454
Lark_Bookwyrm
Yes, Covid is still nerve-wracking. Increasingly so (again), as studies show each subsequent Omicron subvariant is more infectious (has a higher RO) than the previous one. And we aren’t even seeing BA.4 and BA.5 in this country yet, at least not in high numbers. My summer plans are looking less and less viable, darn it.
I think you might really like The Last Campfire. It’s a very soothing game – quiet music, puzzles of varying difficulty (none of them impossibly hard), and as far as I can tell, there’s really no way to die, which lowers the tension level considerably.
Yvonne @ Socrates Book Reviews
I’m sorry about your aunt. I’m glad you were able to spend time with your family.
I hope you enjoy your books and have a great week!
Yvonne @ Socrates Book Reviews recently posted…The Weekend Review – May 28th-30th
Lark_Bookwyrm
Thank you, Yvonne. I wish you a good week, too!.
Jinjer @ Intrepid Arkansawyer
A virtual tea and book discussion! How fun!!! Your sandwiches and other goodies sound delicious! What did your friend make for her tea?
Jinjer @ Intrepid Arkansawyer recently posted…Staycation May 2022
Lark_Bookwyrm
It really was fun. She made petit fours, scones, and tea sandwiches. Oh, and lemon bars!
Wendy
I’m so sorry about your aunt, but I’m glad you were able to go to her service and visit with your family.
Wendy recently posted…Stacking the Shelves #43!
Lark_Bookwyrm
I’m glad we went.
Esther Dauvillier
I’m sorry to hear about your aunt, but on the other side glad that you got to spend time with the family!
That tea party sounds like it was so much fun!!
Have a great week.
Esther Dauvillier recently posted…Review: A Court of Silver Flames (A Court of Thorns and Roses #4)
Lark_Bookwyrm
Thank you, Esther. The tea party was a lot of fun, and the memorial service and time with family were very healing.
Anne - Books of My Heart
It’s nice you were able to get out to see family and honor your aunt. Still even wearing masks sometimes it feels a little surreal to me. I love your tea and Addie Larue. I hope you enjoyed it as it was a favorite of us in COYER book club last year.
Anne – Books of My Heart This is my Sunday Post
Lark_Bookwyrm
I did enjoy it! My friend was not as enthusiastic, and she made some very good points (which I won’t post here because spoilers.)
Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction
How fun that you were able to have a lively book discussion with a friend about Addie Larue. It always makes a book more enjoyable when you can talk it over with someone. (Or, in this case, I guess maybe it made you realize some flaws? Either way, it makes for a more interesting experience when you share it with a friend!)
Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction recently posted…Sunday Post: Book Pre-order Campaigns & Giveaways Galore – 5/29/22
Nicole @ BookWyrm Knits
That sounds like a wonderful tea party! I want to make a point to do something like that with my sister, too. And it sounds like the memorial service was a needed healing time. It sounds like your aunt touched a lot of lives.
Nicole @ BookWyrm Knits recently posted…#Wyrd&Wonder Top Ten Tuesday ~ Fantasy Comfort Reads
Katherine
Sounds like a busy week! I’m so glad you’ve stayed healthy through all the family events and your aunt’s service sounds unbelievably special. The zoom book discussion sounds like such fun! I love curried chicken salad and scones. King Arthur Flour has these things called jammy bits you can substitute for dried fruit in scones and I’ve been loving them though it takes WAY less jammy bits than dried fruits. I hope you’re having a wonderful week!