The Sunday Post is hosted by the wonderful Kimba, 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!
My Week
The huge index is done and turned in (phew!), and I’m taking this week off to catch up — on sleep, on the blog, and in the rest of my life. The house is a wreck, and I need to tackle Mt. Washmore before I run out of clean clothes! And I’ve got literally 13 ARC reviews to write — eeep! They really got away from me; lately I’ve had the energy to read but not to write reviews. I also need to get stuff done for the spring chorus concert.
After a second incident where Miss Houdini, aka our cat Tasha, escaped the towel and scratched the heck out of my hand, we finally seem to be getting better at cat-wrapping and getting their meds down their reluctant little throats. The last several days have passed without injury to anything but the cats’ dignity — though they both did share one morning’s dose with the towel. I can’t really blame them for hating this. Liquid amoxycillin is pretty nasty.
Yesterday, I went to a baby shower for a the daughter of a dear family friend, a young woman whom I also taught when she was in grade school. Now she’s grown and is a teacher herself! The funny thing is, I really don’t feel that old… but it’s been 23 years. And yes, of course I gave her a book: Time for Bed, by Jane Dyer and Mem Fox! And some cute little baby clothes and a few other odds and ends.
Last Week on the Blog
- Sunday Post – 2/05/2017
- Game Reviews: The Lost Ship, The Lost Treasure, and Blackthorn Castle
- Goodreads Rolls Out Rereading. Yes, Really!
- Treasures from the Hoard: The Piper on the Mountain (Ellis Peters)
- Sunday Post – 2/12/17 – this post
Challenges
The Backlist Reader Challenge runs all year (and is hosted here on The Bookwyrm’s Hoard.) It’s a chance to focus on those older titles you’ve been wanting to read. You can check out all the rules by clicking on the image above.
I’ve read 8 books so far this year that qualify for The Backlist Reader Challenge. (They won’t show up in the progress bar until I’ve reviewed them.) That puts me ahead of my goal of 24 books for the year.
- Spin to Knit by Shannon Okey
- The Hexed by Heather Graham (Krewe of Hunters #13; I’m not reading them in order.)
- The Next Always by Nora Roberts (Inn BoonsBoro #1)
- The Last Boyfriend by Nora Roberts (InnBoonsboro #2)
- The Perfect Hope by Nora Roberts (InnBoonsboro #3)
- Can’t Wait by Jennifer Ryan (Montana Men #0.5; novella)
- Dance Upon the Air by Nora Roberts (Three Sisters #1)
- Heaven and Earth by Nora Roberts (Three Sisters #2)
COYER Blackout began December 17 and runs through Mar. 3. It’s hosted by Berls of Fantasy is More Fun, Michelle of Because Reading, and Stormi of Books, Movies, Reviews, Oh My! The rules are strict: only ebooks you owned or had requested prior to Dec. 17, that cost $0.99 or less. My goal is 12 books. Since the challenge started, I’ve read 10 books that count toward COYER. (They won’t show up in the progress bar until I’ve reviewed them.) Title links take you to my review; if there’s no link; I haven’t posted it yet.
- A Circle of Quiet by Madeleine L’Engle (ARC)
- Sacred Evil by Heather Graham ($0.99)
- A Perilous Undertaking by Deanna Raybourn (ARC)
- Death and the Gravedigger’s Angel by Loretta Ross (ARC)
- Somebody Like You by Donna Alward (ARC)
- Someone to Hold by Mary Balogh (ARC)
- Breathless by Beverly Jenkins (ARC)
- His Cowboy Heart by Jennifer Ryan (ARC)
- Someone to Love by Donna Alward (ARC)
- Somebody’s Baby by Donna Alward (ARC)
What I’m Reading/Watching
Reading: I read Can’t Wait, a novella in the Montana Men series by Jennifer Ryan (Kindle), then decided to re-read Nora Roberts’ Circle Trilogy: Morrigan’s Cross, Dance of the Gods, and Valley of Silence (Kindle), because I never got around to reviewing them when I read them a year or so ago. After that, I plunged into the Three Sisters trilogy by the same author, finishing Dance Upon the Air and Heaven and Earth, and starting Face the Fire. I don’t understand how I can read that much when I’m working this hard! I guess I’ve gotten some hours in when I should have been sleeping. And Roberts’ books seem to go really quickly.
I’m also back to reading The Crooked Sixpence (Jennifer Bell, ARC), a charming MG fantasy.
Listening to: Podcasts: Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me.
Watching: Avatar: The Last Airbender, and several more episodes of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes starring Jeremy Brett: “The Dancing Men” and “The Naval Treaty.”
New Additions to the Hoard
Cover links take you to Goodreads.
For Review or Review Consideration
Many thanks to Alibi and St. Martin’s/Minotaur!
Purchased for Kindle
Someone to Hold and Saturdays at Sea were pre-ordered for my Kindle. I already owned the first book in the Nora Roberts series; since I liked it, I had to buy and read the next two! And the Dick Francis and Ellis Peters books are part of my strategy to duplicate my favorite authors on Kindle.
Lisa Mandina (Lisa Loves Literature)
The COYER black out challenge sounds good, but I would have to quit downloading more free e-books. Hope you enjoy your week with the index done. You can check out my Sunday Post in the link below!
Lisa Mandina (Lisa Loves Literature) recently posted…Sunday Post #79 and Stacking the Shelves February 12th, 2017
Rita @ View From My Books
I love the Three Sisters Trilogy and hope you enjoy reading them again! As usual, you have a great line-up of books to choose from.
Per your cats meds: do they enjoy those chewy cat treats like Pounce or Whisker Lickins? The vet also sells convenient “chewy pill pouches” for dogs or cats, where you hide the pill inside. It worked well for my dogs, and since my cats enjoy those “junk food” treats on occasion, I intend to use that method next time.
I realize you’re using liquids– not sure if this medicine comes in a pill form that you could exchange it for. For liquid, the giver should kneel over the cat’s body, facing the back of the head, hold the head up, squeeze the cat’s jaws snugly on either side, squirt, then hold the mouth closed and rub the throat for a few seconds so they can’t spit it out. They will instinctively swallow. Sounds kind of rough, but a vet showed me how to do this and it works.
However, I’ve been scratched and bitten by cats, dogs, rabbits, birds, turtles, hamsters…you name it, I bear the scars of rescuing pets throughout my adult life– good luck. 🙂
Rita @ View From My Books recently posted…Weekly Book Thoughts- 2/11/17
Lark_Bookwyrm
I’m sorry it’s taken me so long to get back to you. The meds were liquid, and we got more skilled at giving them, but it was never easy. I now have a scar on one finger from Tasha’s back claws. The little pillow snacks would be a great idea for pills, except that we used that when the kitties were little and needed deworming, and Tasha has refused to eat treats ever since. Of any kind. In fact, she won’t eat canned food either, only the dry food she’s accustomed to. Ever since the deworming, she regards everything else with deep suspicion. And that was about 12 years ago!
Stephanie
My cat died a little over a year ago and every week I think about getting another but then I remember litter boxes. And read stories like yours. And another week goes by, lol.
I need to go check out your review of the Ellis Peters book – I love her and haven’t heard of that one…
Have a good catch up week!
Stephanie recently posted…K DRAMA REVIEW | City Hunter (2011)
Lark_Bookwyrm
I’m sorry about your kitty. But I can relate on the litter-box issue. It’s the major drawback of having cats, in my opinion. 🙂
Michelle
I LOVE the Circle Trilogy! I don’t generally like vampire characters, but Cian is one of my favorite heroes of all time (he and Moira are in my TTT this week). I’m actually reading the Three Sisters trilogy next (though I read Face the Fire a while back).
Lark_Bookwyrm
I don’t usually like vampire characters or novels either. I’ve made an exception for Cian in this series, and for Matthew Claremont in the All Souls trilogy (and several of the other vampire characters, like Marcus, Gallowglass, Philippe, Martha, and Ysabeau.)
I enjoyed the Three Sisters trilogy and need to write my reviews of those and of the Circle Trilogy books.
Melissa (My World...in words and pages)
Glad you got the index done. I can understand taking time off to get caught up too. Wow. 13 reviews is a lot. I dread when I get that far behind. Hope you have a good week and make progress. Have a good week.
Lark_Bookwyrm
Dread is the right word. Me too!
Charlie
So glad your project is done – get some rest! I also have a mounting number of reviews to write, and I just can’t seem to ever get around to them.
Lark_Bookwyrm
I know what you mean. I think having so many reviews hanging over my head makes it feel like I’ll never get through them all, so I’m too intimidated to start. But I’m getting through them, slowly.