Sunday Post – 7/07/2019

July 7, 2019 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!

Last Week

Last Sunday we saw a terrific production of The Pirates of Penzance, or The Rascals of the Rappahanock at the nearby regional dinner theater. The original Gilbert & Sullivan operetta was adapted about 20 years ago by Carolyn Flye (for a production at Washington DC’s Folger Theater.) She changed the Major General’s name to Boshington (a spoof of Washington), and tweaked some of the songs and dialog to fit the show’s new time—the 1700s, before the Revolution—and new setting—in and around Fredericksburg, Virginia. The adaptation also includes a song from a different G&S show (“Sorry her lot” from HMS Pinafore), which worked quite well where it was placed, and a very strange mashup of “God Save the King” and “Our Country, ‘Tis of Thee,” which share a tune but evoke loyalties to two different countries, and therefore struck a somewhat jarring note. The latter song aside, the show was a delight, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The singing was excellent, the acting both good and delightfully comedic, the small orchestra—onstage for the entire show—well up to their task, and the production values (sets, costumes, lighting), while not lavish, worked well in context.

Our Fourth of July was pretty quiet. Our county hasn’t put on a fireworks show for several years (due to cost and the fact that the venue used to be the local military base), so we just stayed home and puttered around. Mr. Bookwyrm grilled steaks between thunderstorms, and in the evening we (re)watched The American President. 

Accountability time:

Tour de Fleece started yesterday. That’s an event for spinners, loosely related to the Tour de France. We set our own goals and try to spin every day that the riders are cycling. I’m a rookie, so I kept my goals simple: spin an average of 15 minutes every day, and try one thing I haven’t tried spinning before—a sheep wool breed, a non-sheep fiber, a fiber blend, a prep like rolags or batts, a style like art yarn… just something I haven’t done yet. I haven’t started the “something new,” but I put in more than my 15 minutes last night!

I’m also doing Camp Nanowrimo. My goal is a mere 5000 words. Mostly, I just want to try breaking through the fears and procrastination that keep me from writing. To keep things simple, I’m working on a fanfic I started about a year and a half ago. It’s just a short story, but with original characters.

I’m sharing these goals here because I need the accountability to keep me on track. So please—hold me to it!

 

Last Week on the Blog

 

Upcoming on the Blog

  • Top Ten Tuesday post – tentative
  • Mid-year Challenge Update – tentative
  • The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal (audiobook review)
  • News & Notes – 7/13/2019
  • Sunday Post – 7/14/2019

 

What I’m Reading/Watching

Reading: I read several ARCs this week, starting with Someone to Honor (Mary Balogh), which I really enjoyed. Then I was approved for Coming Home for Christmas (RaeAnne Thayne) and made the mistake of dipping into it…and finished it before I knew it. I also started The Harp of Kings (Juliet Marillier); it’s very good and I’m already hooked, but it’s not the best for middle-of-the-night insomnia reading, so it will take me a little longer to finish it. And I started Rebel by Beverly Jenkins.

Besides the ARCs, I reread Risk, an early Dick Francis novel, and then began another, Nerve, which is one of my favorites. (I reviewed Nerve back in 2014.)

Listening: Last Sunday, I thought I was nearly finished listening to Code Girls… and then I looked closer, and realized there were 12 disks instead of 11. So I’ve still got a few tracks to go.

Watching: Besides continuing with the 4th season of Eureka, we finally got around to watching The Avengers: Infinity War. I had been spoiled ahead of time, thank goodness, or the ending would have been much more devastating. We hope that Endgame will still be in theaters next weekend, so we can see it.

And as I mentioned above, we watched The American President on July 4. If you haven’t seen it, it’s a romantic comedy written by Aaron Sorkin (the original writer of West Wing), starring Michael Douglas and Annette Benning. It also features some of the same actors who later appeared in West Wing: Martin Sheen, Anna Deavere Smith, and Josh Malina. You can see a lot of similarities between many of the characters in The American President and their counterparts in West Wing. It’s quite good, but given that The American President came out in 1995, it’s dismaying to realize how many of the political issues are still the same, from climate change to gun control… and how little has been accomplished.

 

New Additions to the Hoard

Cover links take you to Goodreads.

For Review or Review Consideration

Many thanks to Avon, Harlequin, Bloomsbury Children’s USA, Amazon First Reads, and St. Martin’s Griffin!

Purchased for Kindle

The next batch of Dick Francis re-releases from Canelo Publishing is out! This round, I preordered all of them except Whip Hand, the first Sid Halley novel; for some reason, that particular hero/detective rubs me the wrong way. I gave Nerve  5 stars and a Treasures from the Hoard review back in 2013.

I also picked up some more bargain Kindle books, some of which I read as ARCs (The Governess Game, Death and Daisies, and Past Due for Murder.)

 

Have a great week, and happy reading!

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10 Responses to “Sunday Post – 7/07/2019”

  2. Katherine @ I Wish I Lived in a Library

    We had a quiet 4th as well. Normally we would go watch the fireworks show done by the Space and Rocket Center but this year we were feeling draggy and the weather wasn’t good so we just stayed home and it was perfect. Good luck with your writing goal! Have a great week!

    • Lark_Bookwyrm

      I briefly thought about trying to go to the fireworks in town (about a half-hour drive), but given the rain, I’m glad we stayed home, too. Have a wonderful week!

  4. Nicole

    Sounds like a fun time! Good luck on the Tour de Fleece and Camp NaNoWriMo! I’m doing both of those as well, so we can encourage each other.

    My TdF goal is to get two rovings completely spun up – one that has been in my stash for ages, and another that is part of a Spin-A-Long for an indie dyer I follow.

    My Camp NaNo goal is to (actively) work on my story planning for 30 hours this month. I’m trying to get a routine set up, so setting aside the time is more important to me right now than word count.
    Nicole recently posted…The Mid-Year Book Freak Out Tag ~ 2019 editionMy Profile

  5. Jessica at Booked J

    Good luck on your goal for Camp Nanowrimo! You’ve got this! Also, I hope you enjoy the new books on your shelf and this week treats you well.

  6. RO

    I’m looking at your Christmas books for review, and seeing the Hallmark Christmas movies, and reminded that the holiday isn’t that far away. I watched the American President twice, and thought it was a good romantic comedy, and the characters in the role were perfect. Very cool about the Tour de Fleece. (lol) Good luck with your goals. Hugs, RO