Sunday Post, 1/22/2023

January 22, 2023 Sunday Post 10

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

I didn’t do much this week. I mean, I did a lot of little stuff, but nothing particularly noteworthy. I used my brand-new Instant Pot for the first time, cooking a pork roast that was absolutely delicious. I baked apple crisp, corresponded with several authors about indexing their books, bought and mailed a few birthday gifts, organized my yarn acquisitions from the last 6 months, and tried to catch up on the laundry and the email. (Both are neverending tasks.) I finished knitting a charity hat and started another, but ran out of yarn before I finished; I will have to rip it back at least three inches so I can add in some stripes in another color. And last night, I spent 3 or 4 hours plying some yarn I had spun last summer. I needed to free up the bobbins because…

…this afternoon, I am taking a four-hour online class on spinning worsted more consistently. Spinning more consistent yarn is one of my goals as a spinner, so I was excited when the opportunity arose to take this class. Until yesterday’s plying session, I hadn’t done any spinning since September — we were away a lot in October, and then I did NaNoWriMo, and then I was packing and Christmas shopping, and then we left for New Mexico. It feels good to get back to spinning.

Recent Posts

Looking Ahead

  • Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries, by Heather Fawcett – review, tentative
  • Ten Authors I Discovered in 2022 – Top Ten Tuesday
  • The Backlist Reader 2022: Wrap-Up & Giveaway Winner
  • 2022 challenge wrap-up post – tentative
  • Sunday Post – 1/29/2022

What I’ve Been Reading/Watching

Reading: I finished rereading The Becoming, then read The Choice (Nora Roberts.) I love the series and was pretty happy with the final installment. After that, I started an ARC of The Gorgon Agenda, book #8 in the SPI Files by Lisa Shearin. I binged the entire series in a couple of weeks back in 2021; it’s fun and fast-paced. So I was really excited when Lisa offered me the ARC this week, and jumped right into it.

Next up are Spinning Silver (Naomi Novik) and Murder on Black Swan Lane (Andrea Penrose), both of which I am buddy-reading with different friends for the current COYER readathon (“Read a Book From a Friend’s List.”) After that, I’ll read A Darker Shade of Magic (V. E. Schwab), which I’m kinda-sorta-buddy-reading with a COYER friend.

Listening to: the third book of The Lord of the Rings trilogy (no specifics because it’s a HarperCollins title.) I’m also listening to Season 3 of the Writing Excuses podcast.

Playing: Wordle, the NYT Spelling Bee, Sudoku, and sometimes Pokemon Go.

Watching: We are almost finished with Season 2 of Star Trek: Picard; we will probably watch the last two episodes tonight and tomorrow. On my own, I’m slowly watching A Discovery of Witches, Season 1.

Added to the Hoard

For Review or Consideration

Many thanks to Berkley for The Bride Wore White, and to author Lisa Shearin for The Gorgon Agenda!

Purchased (Kindle, print, or audio)

Kindle: A Yuletide Kiss; Twice in a Blue Moon; Babel; It Happened One Night; A New Kind of Country

I already have Babel in hardcover (a gift from Robin), but when the Kindle edition went on sale, I snapped it up, since I plan to read it this year. When I’m reading a hardcover, I sometimes switch to the Kindle edition if I wake up in the night. It’s easier than using a headlamp and dealing with a large, heavy book in bed while simultaneously trying not to wake my husband.

Audiobooks: The Best Short Stories of Mark Twain (on sale at Chirp.)

(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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10 Responses to “Sunday Post, 1/22/2023”

    • Lark_Bookwyrm

      Thank you for those encouraging words, Anne! I do get discouraged when I can’t seem to get any of the big projects done (or even started.) Over the last year or two, I have begun to wonder if maybe I have undiagnosed ADHD. (Without the hyperactivity.) I’m so distractable, and so bad at prioritizing, and it’s gotten worse. So it really helps me to keep track of the small accomplishments, so I can feel good about getting something done.

      I’m excited to read all three of those books… and they’re all on my #23in2023 list, too.

  3. Berls

    I keep wondering if I want an InstaPot. I use my crock pot a lot but I hardly ever use my air fryer and I wonder what side it would fall on? I don’t have a lot of room for another kitchen appliance either.

    Yay for the spinning class, I hope you enjoy it and learn a lot! So far I’m enjoying Spinning Silver – but slow going in part because I have it in paperback so the nighttime struggle you described is all too real. Kindle reading is so much easier in bed but I don’t want to buy a book I already own in paperback.

    Have a great week! Good luck with your writing, spinning, indexing and reading 🙂
    Berls recently posted…Sunday Post with Berls | January 22nd 2023My Profile

    • Lark_Bookwyrm

      It does take up a lot of space. I think it’s good for when you want to cook things quickly, but if you are already using your crockpot a lot, you may not need an instant pot.

      The spinning class was fun, and I did learn a fair bit. As for Spinning Silver, I haven’t gotten very far yet, but the first few chapters are good.

    • Lark_Bookwyrm

      I’ll be using my Instant Pot for when I need to cook something quickly, and for roasts that I want to stay moist and tender. But I also love my crockpot. I’ll be using it for potatoe soup in a week or so.

  5. Katherine

    I have Andrea Penrose on my TBR. I liked The Choice but it wasn’t my favorite of the trilogy. I love Dorothy Gilman and Patricia Moyes. Have a great week!

    • Lark_Bookwyrm

      Gilman is a perennial favorite of mine. A New Kind of Country is her memoir about her post-divorce, post-childrearing years, rediscovering herself. I’m looking forward to reading it. I read the entire Moyes series when I was a bookseller back in the 80s, but haven’t revisited it in ages. But I bought the entire series for Kindle, thinking I’ll do a reread one of these years.

      And I agree with your assessment of the new Nora Roberts. I enjoyed The Choice, but I think the first book is my favorite in the trilogy, along with bits of the second.