Sunday Post – 10/16/2022

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!

I am also linking to Mailbox Monday, the gathering place for readers to share the books that came in their mailbox during the last week, and to Stacking the Shelves, hosted by Marlene at Reading Reality

The Past Two Weeks

After a wonderful week-long visit, we left my dad and stepmom’s place in Salt Lake City and drove to Nevada for our nephew’s wedding, held last weekend. Robin came up from New Mexico with my sister, brother-in-law, and niece. My mom and stepdad couldn’t come because they both came down with Covid. They had relatively mild cases, thank goodness, and are already feeling back to normal.

The wedding and reception were lovely, but several people tested positive a few days later, including the bride and groom. We (Mr. Bookwyrm, Robin, my sister’s family, and I) have been on tenterhooks since then, waiting to see if any of us come down with it, but so far it looks like none of us have. Fortunately, both the wedding and the reception were outdoors, and not crowded, and we were masked for everything we did except for the reception. And at least we are all vaccinated and boosted.

The day after the wedding, we headed back to New Mexico with Robin. We tried to make the 10-hour trip in one day, but we were foiled by several very long traffic jams. We turned around to avoid the first backup, but there was no alternate route for the second, so we were stuck. It took us at least 3 hours to go about 2.5 miles, and we were still in Nevada! That left it much too late to get to back Robin’s house that evening, so we stopped at a really nice historic hotel in Arizona for the night. Luckily, neither Robin nor Mr. Bookwyrm was scheduled to telework on Monday.

This past week was supposed to be a visit with my family, but because my parents were still potentially contagious, and my sister’s family was exposed my nephew and his wife a few days after the wedding (right before they tested positive), we all kept to our own households for the week while we waited to be sure no one came down with it. Robin and Mr. Bookwyrm were both teleworking all week, which left me lots of time to play with the cats, catch up on email, and read.

We’re finally together again today (YAY!), and celebrating my birthday (a few weeks early.) We’ll be heading home at the end of the week. I plan to spend a lot of time over the next few days with my mom and stepdad and my sister and niece. And Mr. Bookwyrm will be able to relax and take a few days off!

Recent Posts

• Sunday Post – 10/02/2022
• Monthly Wrap-Up – September 2022
• Because I Could Not Stop For Death, by Amanda Flower – review
• Sunday Post – 10/16/2022 – this post

Looking Ahead

• The Spare Man, by Mary Robinette Kowal
• other reviews TBD
• Sunday Post – 10/23/2022

What I’ve Been Reading/Watching in the Past Two Weeks

Reading: I’ve read surprisingly little, considering it’s been two whole weeks since I last posted. I have a hard time reading in the car, and the rest of the time, I’ve been hanging out with family. I did reread Unexplored Territory by Celia Lake, a novelette (or really, a collection of scenes) that takes place concurrently with On the Bias, which I had reread three weeks ago. (No cover photo available.) Then I read Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldree (review copy), which was wonderful; I loved it! I also read and reviewed Because I Could Not Stop For Death by Amanda Flower (ARC). It’s a cozy historical mystery featuring Emily Dickinson and her fictional maid. After that, I dove back into Celia Lake’s Albion series briefly, with In the Cards, which takes place before On the Bias but is largely separate from it, except for a few character crossovers. I’m following that up with Point By Point, a historical fantasy romance featuring the unpartnered main character from In the Cards.

Reading Challenges: As of the beginning of October, I reached my Goodreads goal for this year. I have done a lot of rereading, and a few of the books on the list were more like novelettes in length, so it’s not quite as impressive as it looks, but I’m pleased with my progress. I am debating whether to increase my goal, or just go over it by a good bit.

Listening to: I’m still listening to the Circle of Magic quartet (Tamora Pierce), for the third or fourth time. I’m on book three, Daja’s Book. While we were driving, we listened to Andy Serkis narrating The Fellowship of the Ring, and we’ll continue with it on our drive home. Serkis played Gollum in the movies; he is a versatile actor with a real ear for voices and dialects. He does an excellent job with narration and character voices (you’ll hear hints of his fellow cast members, but he doesn’t mimic them), and even sings the many songs Tolkien inserted in his books.

Watching: We watched a few movies with Robin. Aquaman was fun, though not great from a critical standpoint. The actors were all pretty good, but the writing was almost comically bad in places. We also watched the new Little Women, which I had not seen; I absolutely loved it despite the occasional departures from the book.

Playing: Carcassonne

Added to the Hoard in the Past Two Weeks

For Review or Consideration

Many thanks to Atria for The Key to My Heart, to Berkley for Better Than Fiction, and to the MZB Literary Trust for The Laran Gambit.

Purchased (Kindle, print, or audio)

Print: Fairy Tales of Many Lands; The Black Arrow

Kindle: As you can see, there was a big sale this week on Star Trek: The Original Series titles (for 99 cents!), and I bought a bunch that I had either read and want to reread, or haven’t read yet but would like to try. All titles (including non-ST titles) listed below:

Keeper of Enchanted Rooms; A Certain Darkness; Fifth Quarter; Dangerous To Know; Death Comes to the Nursery; Star Trek III: The Search For Spock; Spock’s World; Ishmael; The Vulcan Academy Murders; Yesterday’s Son; Vulcan’s Heart; Vulcan’s Glory; Exodus; Exiles; Epiphany; Sarek; Legendborn; Hex Appeal; (Click title for Goodreads page or my review.)

Stay safe, stay healthy, stay kind… and may you find books a haven in the coming weeks.

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