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.
The Past Week
In real life: I voted in the Congressional primary in my state, and wrote a couple of pieces for publication about the conference I attended.
I saw the occupational therapist again, and the orthopedic PA. The consensus is that I have carpal tunnel, exacerbated by the wrist injury. The PA wants me to have a nerve conduction study, so I’ll try to get that scheduled. (Just FYI, I plan to avoid surgery if at all possible; I’ve heard about too many negative outcomes. I’ll wear the brace, minimize things that make things worse, revamp my office to be more ergonomic, use dictation software instead of typing, and try chiropractic treatment and just about anything else reasonable and noninvasive.)
Decluttering: We went through several shelves of toys and games. We are saving some for now, but there’s a fair bit that can go to a thrift shop or consignment store.
Writing accountability: My minimum goal is an achievable 250 words every day (fiction or other creative writing; book reviews for the blog don’t count.) I wrote 4 days this week.* Word counts for the week: 995 words of fiction plus 1029 words of nonfiction* (which met my goal was 1,750 total for the week.) I am using 4theWords to gamify my writing sprints.
Recent Posts
- Sunday Post – 6/16/2024
- Books on My Summer 2024 To-Read List – Top 10 Tuesday
- Sunday Post – 6/23/2024 – this post
Looking Ahead
- My Most Anticipated New Books for June–December 2024 – Top 10 Tuesday
- The Love Remedy, by Elizabeth Everett – review
- Sunday Post – 6/30/2024
What I’ve Been Reading/Watching
Reading and Listening: I reread Legacy by Nora Roberts so I can (hopefully) write a review, and followed it up with Identity (reviewed 4/28/2023) and then Black Hills. I hope to get back to A Collection of Lies by Connie Berry (ARC) this week. On the plus side, rereading is getting me over my reading slump; on the negative side, I’m still having trouble picking up and sticking to anything new. But it will come.
Listening to: I finished re-listening to Bellewether by Susanna Kearsley (narrated by Tim Campbell, Sarah Mollo-Christensen, and Megan Tusing), then started The Vanished Days by the same author (read by Robert Ian MacKenzie.) In both cases, I previously reviewed the print/ebook editions of the book. It’s early to say for The Vanished Days, but the audiobook of Bellewether, which uses three narrators to match the three POV main characters, is excellent.
Watching: The 10th season of The Brokenwood Mysteries; we are half-way through the 6 episodes, and I wish there were more.
Playing: Same as usual. Some of the NYT word games, mostly Wordle, Connections, and the Spelling Bee. The NYT is beta-testing a new game called Strands, which I like. I also played Pokémon Go occasionally, when I could squeeze in a few minutes.
Added to the Hoard
Purchased or Free (Kindle, print, or audio)
(Click title for Goodreads page or my review.)
Kindle: Wait Until Midnight; How To Read Novels Like a Professor; Death at a Scottish Wedding; The Dragon and the Pearl
Audiobooks: SO MANY AUDIOBOOKS!
- The Lark and the Wren, The Robin and the Kestrel, and The Eagle and the Nightingales (Bardic Voices series, by Mercedes Lackey)
- Closer to the Heart (Herald Spy #2, by Mercedes Lackey)
- Take a Thief (Mercedes Lackey)
- Owlflight (Owl Mage #1, by Mercedes Lackey)
- Storm Rising and Storm Breaking (Mage Storms trilogy #2 and #3, by Mercedes Lackey)
- The Serpent’s Shadow (Elemental Masters #1, by Mercedes Lackey)
- The Sleeping Beauty (Tales of the Five Hundred Kingdoms #5, by Mercedes Lackey)
- The Gabriel Hounds and Nine Coaches Waiting (Mary Stewart)
- The Very Irregular Society of Witches (Sangu Mandanna)
- Murder at the Royal Botanic Gardens and Murder at the Merton Library (Wrexford & Sloane mysteries #5 and #7, by Andrea Penrose)
- Legends & Lattes (Travis Baldree)
- Named of the Dragon (Susanna Kearsley)
- A Palm for Mrs. Pollifax and Mrs. Pollifax Unveiled (Mrs. Pollifax #4 and #14, by Dorothy Gilman)
- Lord of Stariel (Stariel #1, by A. J. Lancaster)
Between Audible’s huge sale and some sale books at Chirp, last Sunday I picked up 19 audiobooks for around $65. (I picked up a couple more during the week, also on sale.) Most of them are books by authors I love and have read multiple times; a few are newer, but are probably destined to join that category based on how much I enjoyed them on the first time through. The only one I have never read is Lord of Stariel, which is on my TBR list; at $0.49, that was a no-brainer.
If you are wondering why I would buy audiobooks that I have already read and own in other formats, the answer is that a) I enjoy revisiting books, and audio is a good way to do that; and b) my eyes don’t work as well as they used to, which makes me worry that a time will come when I can’t read much or easily. Since the list of downloadable audiobooks available from the library tends to change with what is popular, with older titles disappearing from the collection, owning the audiobooks of older books I love means that hopefully, I will still have access to them if that time comes. And since they don’t take up any physical space, the only downside is the cost… which in this case, was pretty low per book.
Harvee
I remember packing up my entire basement of books and asking the used book store guy to come pick them up and have them for free. He took 70 percent of the boxes but must have run out of space, as he didn’t come for the other 30 percent. I see his bookstore is doing well though.
Harvee recently posted…Cat Lovers, Coffee Shop, and Other Novels in International Settings
Deb Nance at Readerbuzz
Wow! That’s a lot of audiobooks for a very good price. I am certain you will enjoy these.
Your writing is going well. I wish I was writing more. I’m a very lazy writer!
Deb Nance at Readerbuzz recently posted…The Sunday Salon: A Week of Tropical Storm Alberto, Hunting for Pollinators, and Some Happy Reading
Jodie
I need to check out the Audible sale – you did so well! Have a great week ahead.
Jodie recently posted…The Sunday Post #109: Weekly Highlights & More! #TheSundayPost
Rachel @Waves of Fiction
I enjoy audiobooks for the same reason! My eyes get tired too, and things get blurry after reading for a while, even with glasses! It sucks. I bought a few on the Audible sale. I need to look through it again. Looks like you’re on a Nora Roberts binge. I really enjoy her writing! Identity was so good. Loved her newest, Mind Games even more! The audio was fantastic!
Rachel @Waves of Fiction recently posted…Sunday Post #255
Anne - Books of My Heart
I’m totally with you on the fact that audio which is at the library may not always be at the library. I also have a huge digital library ebook and audiobook because it doesn’t require storage space only organizing to utilize it. The real problem is to be careful not to buy something on Chirp which I already own on Audible or vice versa!
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Emma @ Words And Peace
Lots of audiobooks!
I have been also listening to a lot of audiobooks recently. Currently listening to a classic scifi Flowers for Algernon. Loving it!
Emma @ Words And Peace recently posted…Sunday Post #110 – Book addiction
Katherine
There is nothing like rereading to cure a reading slump – Nora Roberts almost always solves it for me. I’m so sorry about the carpal tunnel but definitelys sympathize on not wanting surgery. I’ve had a lot of good luck with chiropractor treatment (though have been told that not all chiropractors are created equal) for other issues and hopefully you are able to avoid surgery. I hope you are having a great week!