The Sunday Post is hosted by the wonderful Kimberly, the Caffeinated 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 I’m also participating in The Sunday Salon hosted by Deb at Readerbuzz, and Stacking the Shelves hosted by Marlene at Reading Reality.
Last Week
The Middle East: Like all of us, I’m deeply saddened by last weekend’s horrific terrorist attack by Hamas on Israeli citizens, and by the loss of innocent life on both sides of the border. I condemn Hamas’s actions. I pray for an end to the violence, and for safety for civilians on both sides of the border. I deplore the rise of both antisemitism and anti-Muslim sentiments, here in the US and elsewhere around the world. The roots of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict are deep and complex, and solutions now seem further away than ever. My fervent prayer is that a just and peaceful solution can eventually be found, and that all peoples of the region may one day live in peace, security, and freedom. (Regarding comments: I know people have strong feelings about what is going on, but I’m trusting you, my friends and readers, to remain empathetic, respectful, and caring toward all.)
Here at home: The weather has been lovely for most of the week, for which I am grateful. I’m also grateful to have the lake so close. Spending a few minutes gazing at the beauty of the lake, trees, and sky calms me and helps me hold on to hope for our troubled world.
On the health front, I seem to be over my mild cold. Mr. Bookwyrm had it much worse, but he’s feeling better, though not yet completely over it. But between the cold, various appointments, and my current freelance project, I didn’t get much blogging done this week. Work is ongoing, although I’m not sure I can say it’s going well.
Recent Posts
- Sunday Post – 10/15/2023
- Sunday Post – 10/22/2023 – this post
Looking Ahead
- reviews TBD
- Atmospheric Books – Top Ten Tuesday, very tentative
- Sunday Post – 10/29/2023
What I’ve Been Reading/Watching
Reading: I reached my Goodreads goal for the year—150 books read! In the past week, I finished rereading Shadow of Night and then The Book of Life, the third book in the All Souls trilogy, both of which I read for #witchtober. (The links go to my earlier reviews.) I also finished reading Witcha Gonna Do by Avery Flynn (an overdue ARC; review coming soon.)
I still haven’t made much progress on Babel: An Arcane History, which I’m supposed to be buddy-reading with a friend. It’s excellent, but it’s also sometimes a tough read, since it deals with issues of racism and colonialism. But I did continue reading The Curse of Penryth Hall (Jess Armstrong; ARC), which I’m enjoying so far, except that the deliberate sentence fragments are going to drive me nuts. (It might count for #witchtober; I’m not sure yet.) I also read another chapter of Short Stories in Spanish for Beginners, Vol. 1 by Olly Richards.
I have been more than a bit fickle in my book affections recently, so I started Always Remember (Mary Balogh, ARC.) And I accidentally started The Only Purple House in Town by Ann Aguirre, which also counts for #witchtober. How do you accidentally start a book, you may ask? Well, it’s a library hold, and when I went to set it with my other library books, I opened it to read a page or two to see if I would like it. Half an hour later, I realized I was still reading… so now I’m going back to the beginning to read the whole thing.
Listening to: I continued with Shattered by Kevin Hearne. I like Atticus’s old archdruid more than I though I would. I’m also listening to Season 7 of the Writing Excuses podcast.
Playing: Wordle, Connections, and the NYT Spelling Bee, and a little bit of Pokémon Go. Incidentally, if you would like to be friends on Pokémon Go, let me know in the comments, and I’ll email you my trainer code.
Watching: We watched a few more episodes of America Outdoors with Barathunde Thurston, Season 2, and a couple of episodes of Stephen Colbert from last week and Monday. (He has Covid, so there haven’t been any more shows this week.) We also watched Ken Burns’s new documentary, The American Buffalo, which is excellent…though the first episode, on the near-eradication of the bison and its effect on the indigenous peoples who depended on them, was heartbreaking.
Unfortunately, I haven’t had time to continue with Season 2 of A Discovery of Witches, which I’m watching solo. It may have to wait until I finish this work project.
Added to the Hoard
For Review or Consideration
Many thanks to Starwatch Press for The Witchwood Knot, to DAW for Valdemar, to Berkley for The Night Island, and to Bantam for The Lantern’s Dance. (Shown in publication order.) I’m so excited to read all four of these, and having them all approved in a 48-hour span was a lovely pre-birthday gift!
From the Library
Percy Jackson and the Chalice of the Gods; The Only Purple House in Town
Purchased or Free (Kindle, print, or audio)
Kindle: On sale: Pawn of Prophecy; Emily Wilde’s Encyclopedia of Faeries (reviewed as an ARC); (Note: I much prefer the paperback cover of Pawn of Prophecy, but that often happens when the rights to the book revert to the author and the author self-publishes the ebook—or in this case, the author’s estate does. The original cover art belongs to the original publisher, not the author, so the author can’t use it.)
(Click title for Goodreads page or my review.)
Anne - Books of My Heart
I’m sad about so many things in the world. I support Israel and the Palestinian peoples, but I am against Hamas. The governments are a bit questionable too. But I don’t know enough and I don’t hate anyone. I hope this week will be better for you with your health and your project.
Anne – Books of My Heart This is my Sunday Post
Anne – Books of My Heart recently posted…The Search for Us by Susan Azim Boyer @susanjenna @WednesdayBooks @sophiarose1816
Lark_Bookwyrm
Yes, that’s where I am too — supporting the people on both sides of the border, condemning Hamas, and holding significant reservations about the governments on both (or all) sides.
Thank you for the well wishes! I’m feeling much better than last Sunday, and enjoyed a walk with Mr. Bookwyrm this evening. And I think (I hope) the project is going a little better now, too.
Catherine @ Book Club Librarian
150 books and still a significant amount of time left in 2023. Very impressive!!
Lark_Bookwyrm
Full disclosure: I did a lot of rereading this year, and that always goes faster. But thank you!
Jorie
Hallo, Hallo Lark,
It has been half an age since I’ve been on your lovely blog — I am so grateful to be back on it, now!! I understand why you shared what you did – those moments that arise in the world tug at my own heart and my own soul. You said it best and I’ll let it lie there – sometimes there aren’t enough words to express our sorrow for what happens nor the shock of what happens during times of war, conflict and crisis.
I’ve been on an unplanned sabbatical from my own blog for most of the past year since October, 2022 due to a variety of events that were out of my control (ie. death of two cats, my Dad’s health crises and battles and his entrance into long-term care) — whilst my eyes also played a role and soon (fingers crossed) will be addressed as I blogged about it during my last two Sunday Posts. In short, I’ve missed reading bloggers like you who were always a delight of joy to visit and I hope to become a better visitor starting anew this Autumn.
Speaking of dragons — did you ever play the mobile game *Merge Dragons*? Mum and I are positively addicted to it and I completely forgot to mention it during this week’s Sunday’s Post! :O Oyy. I’ll definitely be talking about it next week as it has been a complete JOY in our lives for a month now! Laughs. Where did that month go? We catch ourselves saying “should we wake up the dragons?” Laughs. Also, I want to get back into the Jane Austen Dragons series – saw your reading it in your sidebar. I have several audiobooks to still listen too and more to listen to after the batch I currently have too. I re-joined Audible and I’m considering getting Scribd back as well. Audio just suits me right now and with my eyes it might be something I need to lean harder on over the next year, too.
You’ll find some reviews for the Jane Austen dragons on my blog and I’ll have a go at seeing if you’ve been reviewing them, too on yours. I’d love to swap reactions/comments.
I’m with you on being in the natural world. I haven’t been in it for such a long time though — with work taking over my hours as I work 3x jobs, though I hope to work only one or two in the nearer future – as the load is exhaustive at the moment, I miss those moments I’d get to be in nature, too. It is such a renewing part of my life and I ache to get it back. I am always seeing nature though even if on my commute and that gives me a bit of still hope of knowing I’m not completely disconnected!
There is such a thing as #Witchtober?! I need to find out more — did you blog about it? Hmm… I need details. I LOVE #WitchyFiction!! lol
Is the Lantern’s Dance the next Mary Russell? Ooh, I am dearly behind on that series and so many others I lost track of over the years. Maybe next year I can re-focus on those series… I need to make a list! Aunt Dimity and Mary Russell are at the top. As well as Bess Crawford and a few others.
Wells, I hadn’t meant to be long-winded! Just wanted to pop over and say “Hallo” and that I’m enjoying your lovely blog!! Be well.
Jorie recently posted…#TheSundayPost XVII | Jorie’s favourite time of year has arrived whilst #SpooktasticReads is underway!
Lark_Bookwyrm
Welcome back to the blogging world, Jorie! I’m sorry you had such a rough year. Any one of those things would be tough to deal with, and all of them in a year is just… too much. I hope things are going better for you now, and that whatever’s going on with your eyes can be treated/fixed. I hear you on leaning into the audiobooks. I know I’ll have to do that more in the future, too. And I depend on my Kindle a lot, because I can enlarge the font to make it easier to read.
Yes, I used to play Merge Dragons. Or wait, I think what I played was the sister game, Merge Magic. I eventually gave it up—it was much too addictive lol! But I had fun with it for a while. I do like the mobile game DragonVale. I don’t play it all the time, but every now and then I play it for a week or two. Those are my only electronic dragon games, but I also play the electronic versions of Carcassone, Evolution, and Wingspan sometimes. (And the tabletop versions of those three, but only when I’m out in NM with my family.) I play electronic games because Mr. Bookwyrm isn’t particularly interested in games; instead, we do jigsaws together.
The Jane Austen Dragons series is on my list to start—thank you for the reminder! And I hope you enjoy Stephanie Burgis’s Regency Dragons books when you read them.
Yes, The Lantern’s Dance is the next Mary Russell. It’s been a while; King’s last book was a standalone. I’m actually caught up on that series, but I need to read the middle of the Lady Darcy series, and catch up on the Lady Emily books by Tasha Alexander as well. The Bess Crawfords are on my list to start one of these days, but I think C.J. Harris’s Sebastian St. Cyr books are higher on the list, and Catherine Lloyd’s regency mysteries. So many books to look forward to!
Jorie
Small correction:
The Regency Dragons by Burgis is a series I need to start reading – somehow I confused it with the Jane Austen Dragons series by a completely different author! Sorry! I think my mind is a bit on the tired side today and I just made a blunder on that!! Very sorry!!
Lark_Bookwyrm
No worries! (I read this before I wrote my reply to your first comment, so I just included my response in there.)
Ronyell @ Rabbit Ears Book Blog
I’m sadden at the situation in the Middle East and I wish that there’s more peace in this world instead of having so many wars. I can’t stand wars because so many innocent people always get hurt in the crossfire.
Ronyell @ Rabbit Ears Book Blog recently posted…The Sunday Post Meme (223)
sjhigbee
It’s a heartbreak – I regularly find myself in tears when I’m watching the News… I’ve read that elephants choose their leaders based on their experience and their empathy with other members of the herd – I do wish we had a chance to choose our politicans based on their compassion and kindness, rather than their strength and ability to spin unacceptable practices so they sound plausible. Thank goodness for books! I must look out for The Only Purple Houe in Town as I’m a fan of Anne Aguirre’s writing and I haven’t come across this one. Have a good week, Lark:).
Nicole @ BookWyrm Knits
I’m also saddened by the situation in the Middle East, and it’s disheartening to consider that new escalation while realizing that Ukraine is still fighting off Russia. People just need to be kinder all around.
I’ve been fickle with my reading lately, too. The only things I seem to be able to stick with for long enough to finish them without (much) interruption are graphic novels — and I suspect part of the reason there is because they’re much shorter to read than novels (or even novellas).
Nicole @ BookWyrm Knits recently posted…SciFi Month 2023 ~ a VERY tentative TBR
Yvonne @ Socrates Book Reviews
I, too, am sad about what’s been going on in the Middle East. So awful.
Thank you for reminding me to put the NetGalley challenge link for October on my blog. I totally forgot and I just scheduled for November, too. In answer to your question – yes, I’m planning to have a NetGalley & Edelweiss Challenge for 2024.
I hope you enjoy your books and have a great week!
Yvonne @ Socrates Book Reviews recently posted…2023 Netgalley and Edelweiss Reading Challenge – October Review Link Up
Deb Nance at Readerbuzz
I, too, am deeply saddened by the Middle East.
Congratulations on reaching your goal!
Glad you and your husband are feeling better.
Deb Nance at Readerbuzz recently posted…Searching for Italy, Readerbuzz Edition: High Heels
Jinjer @ Intrepid Angeleno
You’re the first person to put into words EXACTLY how I feel about each part of the current Middle East situation. Thank you! I knew how I felt but couldn’t put it into words. Especially, this part: I condemn Hamas’s actions. I pray for an end to the violence, and for safety for civilians on both sides of the border. I deplore the rise of both antisemitism and anti-Muslim sentiments, here in the US and elsewhere around the world.
Jinjer @ Intrepid Angeleno recently posted…Dewey’s October 2023 Readathon
Lark_Bookwyrm
Thank you, Jinjer. I thought really hard about how to say all that, because I recognize how painful this situation is for both Israelis and Palestinians (of any faith), and for both Jews and Muslims (of any nationality.) There’s so much grief, fear, and anger on all sides. If I said nothing, I felt that would be ignoring and minimizing the tragedy on both sides.