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’m also linking to Stacking the Shelves, hosted by Reading Reality.
Last Week
In real life: Our microwave blew up on Monday, in the middle of fixing dinner. OK, so it didn’t exactly explode, but there was a loud clunk, and then the kitchen began to fill with smoke and a strong smell of burnt rubber/plastic/electrical insulation. Mr. Bookwyrm hastily unplugged it, carried it outside, and put it on the sidewalk in case it started shooting flames. Then we had to air the house out. We had all the windows open and all the fans running for nearly two hours. Thank goodness it was only in the low 40s (F) instead of below freezing! I finished cooking on the stovetop. Tuesday we ordered a new microwave. We couldn’t find one locally because the local stores only had LGs, and we don’t like LG’s new design. (You have to open the door to see and use the control panel; the only controls on the outside are Start, Stop, and “add 30 seconds.” No, thank you; I want my controls readily accessible.) Anyway, the new Panasonic microwave arrived Wednesday.
Last Sunday’s class on how to spin worsted consistently was really interesting. I’m looking forward to putting what I learned into practice, and seeing if my spinning consistency improves.
On Tuesday evening, I had another fiber event: a lecture on “yarn from the ground up” by Anne Choi of Middle Brook Fiberworks, who has her own flock of sheep and creates small-batch milled yarns from their wool, combined with other fleeces (which she buys.) While I have absolutely no intention of ever raising sheep—or goats, alpacas, or any other fleece animal!—I do enjoy learning about the process of yarn making, from raising animals to finished product.
On the blog: I updated my 2023 Reading Challenges page, read and reviewed The Gorgon Agenda, and set up review pages for the books I’m currently reading. I have written and scheduled more reviews in January than I did in the previous four months combined. (Five completed, four posted so far.) So maybe (hopefully) I have broken through my reviewing block?
I also went through my reading journal and set up pages for the books I read in the last two months. Normally, I set up a page when I start reading the book, or at least when I finish it, and jot down my thoughts about the book. Sometimes I add little doodles, or stickers, or paste in a picture — images that serve as reminders of what is in the book, or express it artistically. I use my notes to write my review. But since I have now reviewed several books without writing notes first, I just printed out the reviews for those books and pasted them into the journal. For the books that I haven’t reviewed yet, I am making notes on whatever I remember — whatever stands out in my mind. And I have set up pages for the two books I’m currently reading, so I can write notes on those as I go.
COYER Book group is this afternoon, and for once, I have read the book and have time to attend!
Recent Posts
- Sunday Post, 1/22/2023
- Ten Authors I Discovered in 2022 – Top Ten Tuesday
- The Gorgon Agenda, by Lisa Shearin – review
- Sunday Post, 1/29/2023 – this post
Looking Ahead
- The Backlist Reader Challenge 2022 – Giveaway Winner!
- TTT Freebie – Top Ten Tuesday – tentative
- January Wrap-Up – challenge wrap-up
- 2022 challenge wrap-up post – tentative
- Sunday Post – 2/05/2022
- UPCOMING REVIEWS:
- Spinning Silver, by Naomi Novik – review, tentative
- Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries, by Heather Fawcett – review
- Murder on Black Swan Lane, by Andrea Penrose – review, tentative
- Well Met, by Jen DeLuca – review, tentative
What I’ve Been Reading/Watching
Reading: I finished my ARC of The Gorgon Agenda, book #8 in the SPI Files by Lisa Shearin, which was released on Tuesday. I read Spinning Silver (Naomi Novik), which was amazing! I also read Murder on Black Swan Lane (Andrea Penrose). I loved it, and will definitely be reading more of the series as soon as I can fit them in. Both of those were buddy reads with different friends for the COYER readathon ending today (“Read a Book From a Friend’s List”.) I also started A New Kind of Country, a memoir by Dorothy Gilman, author of the Mrs. Pollifax novels.
Next up is Sad Cypress by Agatha Christie, the January book for #ReadChristie2023. After that, I think I’ll read A Darker Shade of Magic (V. E. Schwab), which I’m kinda-sorta-buddy-reading with a COYER friend, and/or one of the ARCs publishing soon: Three Can Keep a Secret (M. E. Hilliard) and Of Manners and Murder (Anastasia Hastings.) And soon, I want to get back to An Enchantment of Ravens (Margaret Rogerson) and Without a Summer (Mary Robinette Kowal), both of which I started during the holidays; I was very much enjoying both.
Listening to: the third book of The Lord of the Rings trilogy (occasionally.) I’m also listening to Season 3 of the Writing Excuses podcast. I tried Mur Lafferty’s I Should Be Writing podcast, but it’s just not working for me.
Playing: Wordle, the NYT Spelling Bee, sudoku, Dragonvale, and Pokemon Go — all on a very occasional basis
Watching: We finished with Season 2 of Star Trek: Picard. I particularly loved the last episode, which had seome wonderful moments. I started A Discovery of Witches, Season 1 a couple of weeks ago, but haven’t had much time to watch it since; hopefully I can get back to it this week.
Added to the Hoard
For Review or Consideration
Many thanks to Berkley for Remember Me!
Purchased (Kindle, print, or audio)
Print: The Indexing Companion; The Accidental Indexer; Indexing Books (2nd ed.); The Fleece and Fiber Sourcebook
Kindle: The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents; The Gorgon Agenda;
(Click titles for Goodreads page or my review.)
Nicci @The Lady Never
The “yarn from the ground up” workshop sounds fascinating! I have no interest in raising my own flock of anything but I love the idea of living life doing something that you love and are passionate about like that. (I’m assuming she sells the yarn produced and it’s like a business?)
I’ve had Spinning Silver on the TBR for a long time. I’m glad to hear you liked it! Amazing is a good endorsement so I might bump that one up the list…
I’ll hopefully see you tonight at COYER booklub! I’ve read Well Met so figured I’d attend. I’m so out of the loop nowadays that it feels like a nice way to get back into feeling like part of the bookish community. 🙂
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Tanya @Girl Plus Books
Wow, that’s scary about the microwave. Weird about the LG design. I haven’t seen it yet but it doesn’t sound very user-friendly. I just recently separated out my reading-related pages from my regular planner and it’s been working out so much better for me. Nice that you’ve got your journal set up and ready for input!
Lark_Bookwyrm
I thought about keeping my reading pages in my planner, but it’s an A5 6-ring binder, and I do a page per day for nonreading stuff, so I just don’t have room. I do keep track of what I’m reading on the daily pages, and I keep a list of what I want to read and what I have read and need to review, just for weekly planning purposes. But my actual thoughts on each book go in the reading journal. I really like having one journal dedicated to my reading.
Jennifer @ Book Den
Oh no! That’s so scary. I’m glad you were able to get your microwave out of the house.
Lark_Bookwyrm
I’m relieved it didn’t start a fire, too. 🙂
Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction
Oh, wow – crazy about your microwave! Glad it didn’t cause a real issue.
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Lark_Bookwyrm
You and me both!
Anne+-+Books+of+My+Heart
You are really on it! I loved Spinning Silver and Murder on Black Swan Lane. I binged the Andrea Penrose series after reading that one. I love hearing about your fiber work. I would love to raise alpacas and hand dye yarn but that’s unlikely. Growing up in a rural area, I always thought I would love to live on a farm. I enjoy the planting and growing, the cooking and crafting things like knitting, sewing and quilting. That was my grandma’s life but it was also very hard work. They didn’t even have electricity until she was 63! See you at book club!
Anne – Books of My Heart This is my Sunday Post
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Lark_Bookwyrm
I’m planning to binge the rest of the Penrose series, too. At least insofar as I can binge anything these days — I have a bunch of ARCs to read for February, and my list of #23in2023 books. But I’m going to squeeze them in as I can!
I do love spinning and knitting. I wish I enjoyed gardening, but it’s not a favorite activity. Partly I think it’s a sensory thing; even as a very young child, I hated getting my hands dirty or muddy. (I didn’t really like to fingerpaint, either; I just pretended to, because the other children seemed to love it.) Partly it’s a temperature thing; hot and humid just saps my energy and makes me feel slightly sick. If I could garden only in fall and spring, I might be more into it! And partly it’s that I’m not very good at keeping plants alive. But I have such admiration for people who garden, whether it’s flowers or vegetables.
Wendy
That’s so scary about your microwave. Glad you were able to air out the house as I’m sure that smoke is pretty toxic. I have the ARC for Remember me as well! I hope it’s a good one that we both enjoy
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Lark_Bookwyrm
I worried about the smoke. But it turns out, KN95 masks are good for more than just warding off Covid and flu! They did a pretty good job of filtering out the smell, so I’m guessing that also kept at least some of the toxic chemicals at bay. I hope so, anyway!
I hope Remember Me is good. I had mixed reactions to Remember Love, which is unusual. Usually, I love Balogh’s books.
Lydia
Goodness, I’m glad no one was hurt!
Good for you for getting all of those reviews done ahead of time. It’s so nice to have some padding with upcoming blog posts. 🙂
Lark_Bookwyrm
Well, only one of the reviews is still unposted, so I don’t have much of a cushion yet. But I’m working on it. 🙂
Majanka
Sorry to hear about the microwave. Yikes. That sounds scary. Murder on Black Swan Lake looks like a book I would enjoy as well; glad to hear you liked it.
My Sunday Post.
Lark_Bookwyrm
I hope you get a chance to read it! I’ll definitely be reading the rest of the series.
jinjer
OMGGGGG how scary about the microwave! What brand was it so I can see if mine might be about to do that? lol
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Snapdragon
Sound like you microwave almost catch on fire. I have a family member that rises sheep but not for wool. One day I would like to keep alpacas. It would be nice to have my own supply of wool.
Have a great week.
Snapdragon recently posted…January 2023 Wrap-up
Lark_Bookwyrm
I’ve thought about it, but raising animals is a lot of work and expense. I think it’s great if you love taking care of animals (and have the space, which we don’t.)Personally, though, I’m content to just buy fleeces, or buy the wool already processed. Cats are more my speed!
Nicole @ BookWyrm Knits
Microwave issues are scary! I know where the plug is for mine, but since it’s mounted underneath the kitchen cabinets it would be really hard to take it outside if it died catastrophically…
I like the way you managed the update for your reading journal! I’ve at times considered doing a reading journal of that sort, but maintaining it sounds like a lot of work. I’m happy with using my bookish journals to hold my TBR books. (There’s also a small section for reading dates and a sentence or two of notes, so it kinda does double-duty. But it’s mostly for TBR tracking.)
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Jill
I love your method for journaling books.
Jill
http://www.allthebooksihaventread.com/
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Katherine
How scary about the microwave! I’m glad you were able to get the house aired out. That burning plastic smell is so awful. I’ve seen A New Kind of Country but didn’t realize it was Gilman’s memoir. Now I really want to read it! Balogh is an author I’m hoping to read more of this year. I used to love her books but I can’t remember the last time I read a new book by her. I hope you are having a wonderful week!