Sunday Post – 5/28/2017

May 28, 2017 Sunday Post 10

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

I’ve been working on the house all week—mainly on our bedroom, because we bought a new mattress and box spring last weekend, and it was delivered yesterday. (Yay!) Since we’re going to need new sheets to fit the taller mattress, it seemed like a good excuse to declutter and redecorate the bedroom as well. I’m not attempting anything as extreme as the KonMari method, but I’m making progress on the declutting!

As for reading and blogging, I’ve been in a reviewing rut. I am reading, but a lot of it has been rereading, because new books feel like a lot of work. (Weird, huh?) Reviewing has been like pulling teeth; I don’t feel like I have anything at all interesting to say. What do you do when you’re in a reviewing rut?

 

Last Week on the Blog

Upcoming on the Blog

 

What I’m Reading/Watching

Reading:  I finished up Hospitality and Homicide (Lynn Cahoon; ARC) and started in on The Dragon with the Chocolate Heart (Stephanie Burgis; ARC), which is truly delightful. And I read Jayne Ann Krentz’s Deep Waters and reread Trust No One (because I never got around to writing a review the first time.) I’m also slowly making my way through From Holmes to Sherlock (ARC), a long and slightly-too-in-depth history of everything remotely to do with Sherlock Holmes. I’ve really blown it on the Clean Sweep ARC Challenge, though. I wonder how many ARCs I can read between now and Wednesday midnight?

Eventually I’ll get back to The Lost Kingdom of Bamarre (Gail Carson Levine; ARC.)

Listening to: Hidden Figures, by Margo Lee Shetterly. I’m over a quarter of the way through.

Watching: We’re still watching the Father Brown mysteries, and will be for a long time; we’ve seen 9 episodes of season 1, and there are five seasons. I’m not a binge watcher, apparently!

 

New Additions to the Hoard

Cover links take you to Goodreads.

For Review or Review Consideration

Many thanks to Knopf!

Purchased for Kindle – in the last three weeks!

Uprooted is so good that I decided it was worth owning on Kindle as well as in hardcover (and it was on sale.) I read Dragonhaven years ago, but Robin wanted it on Kindle because she doesn’t have a copy. Fire and Hemlock is for both of us; Robin loves Diana Wynn Jones and I love Tam Lin adaptations. (We’ll keep sharing our Kindle account now that she’s grown, since we have so many books in common.) The Piper on the Mountain is a treasured favorite, which I reviewed here. And the two Kowal titles are a novella (The Escapement of Blackledge, written as an April Fools joke and originally published under another name) and a Hugo-nominated short story (“For Want of a Nail.”)

Have a wonderful week, and happy reading!

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10 Responses to “Sunday Post – 5/28/2017”

    • Lark_Bookwyrm

      I wish I had that problem! Mine is the opposite; it’s hard for me to let go of things. But if I keep practicing, I should get better at it, right?

      Rereading is my go-to when I’m stressed or tired, which is probably why I’ve been doing so much of it recently. But my energy has been coming back, and I’m feeling closer to normal, so hopefully my new-book and reviewing mojo will bounce back, too.

  2. Trish @ Between My Lines

    Decluttering feels so good! But I wish my life would just stay decluttered! Things just creep back in again.
    Reviewing ruts are tough. I just have to ride them out, trying to force the words doesn’t work for me. Maybe if you talk about the books you are rereading though, why you wanted to reread them, and what felt different this time round? Just a thought.
    Trish @ Between My Lines recently posted…The Sunday Post : Get your Bookish News – Prague boundMy Profile

    • Lark_Bookwyrm

      I love the look of a room or closet after it’s decluttered, but the actual process is hard for me. I’m not a hoarder in the classic sense, but I have a sentimental attachment to things that have been in the family, or I’ve had for a long time, or that I might need/want/someday fit into again in the future. It makes every decision hard—and I’m an INFP (Myers-Briggs personality types), so decision-making isn’t my strong suit to begin with. But I’m making progress, slowly.

      Writing more personal reviews of the books I’m rereading sounds like a good idea. I’ll give that a try. Thank you!

  3. Rita @ Paging Through Books

    Since I’m moving you’d think I’d be decluttering, but I apparently have issues with letting go. I’m having a difficult time throwing out things that wouldn’t mean anything to anyone but me, though donating decorations I’ve “outgrown” is easier to do. Time will tell– I have 2 months left.

    I understand your reviewing rut. It’s one of the reasons I stopped blogging last time (and thought it was for good). I just don’t feel like writing up formal reviews anymore. It slows down my reading process (and I read slower now, maybe from my meds.) and it was making me question my book choices (as in, should I read this because would anyone want to hear my thoughts on it?).

    Now I just read what I want and say what I want. It might be one sentence or a whole paragraph. I think other bloggers will get the gist of another’s preferences, so then figure out if the book is for them, also. Does this make sense? Like I know what you like to read, so if you praise something I can put it in the proper perspective. Well, ARCs need some kind of recognition or approvals will dry up, but not all bloggers do it up big-time.

    Have a wonderful week (and I like to read and hear about older titles)!
    Rita @ Paging Through Books recently posted…Weekly Book NewsMy Profile

    • Lark_Bookwyrm

      Wise words! And I appreciate them even more because you’ve been there, and reinvented yourself as a blogger several times. I am seriously thinking of swearing off all challenges for the rest of the year, except the Backlist Reader challenge that I am running. And I’m starting to think a lot harder about the ARCs I accept. But I do feel some obligation to the ones I’ve already accepted. I need to catch up to the point where I can request a book, receive it, and read it while I’m still interested… and leave plenty of room for reading whatever I want, even if it’s books I’ve read before.

  5. Jan @ Notes from a Readerholic

    I’m in a reviewing rut, too, Lark. I’m having trouble getting reviews done. I changed my review format and that helped a little, but not enough. I’m reading plenty of new books that I’m really enjoying, but not getting reviews done. I hope the review bug comes back for both of us.

    We’re watching Father Brown, too, and really enjoying it. However, we’re watching the last season available so that makes me sad. I hope to do a little bit at least during June.

    I have decluttered some of the rest of the house–but some of that clutter went into our bedroom which just made things worse there. 🙁
    Jan @ Notes from a Readerholic recently posted…WWW Wednesday: May 31My Profile

    • Lark_Bookwyrm

      Another Father Brown fan, yay! And I’m so familiar with the moving-clutter-around phenomenon. It’s so easy for me to shove things into another room or onto another surface, when what I need to do is let go of it and get it out of the house. *sigh*

      I hope your reviewing zeal comes back soon, and mine too! I did get a few done this week, which is encouraging.