Sunday Post – New Year’s Eve, 12/31/2023

December 31, 2023 Holiday, Sunday Post 14

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!

Happy New Year!

It’s the last day of 2023; tomorrow starts a brand-new year. I am not ready for 2024, so bear with me whilst I get home and try to catch up!

In real life: We spread Christmas over two days (three if you count Christmas Eve.) On Christmas Day, we celebrated with Robin and my parents. On Boxing Day (Dec. 26), we celebrated with my sister’s family and another family who have basically been part of ours for 20 years. Robin’s best friend (another chosen family member) came as well. It’s a big, joyful party full of mostly introverts; we play games, exchange presents, and laugh a lot, and no one minds if someone needs to go off by themselves for a while.

The rest of the week was spent more quietly with Robin, my sister’s family, and my parents. We played a lot of games, watched some movies, drank a lot of tea, and ate far more Christmas cookies than was probably good for us. It’s been a lovely vacation.

Tomorrow, we start the drive home. Once home, I will plunge into post-vacation unpacking, work, and projects for the new year.

The blog: I had almost no time to work on blog posts, but I did manage to post my goals for the 2024 challenges I’m participating in.

Recent Posts

Looking Ahead

  • My Favorite Books of 2023
  • Sunday Post – 1/07/2024

The Backlist Reader Challenge

The sign-up post is live for The Backlist Reader Challenge 2024, and it’s not too late to sign up! If you’re looking for a reading challenge to help you tackle all those books that have been languishing on your TBR pile (or list) forever, check out this challenge.

What I’ve Been Reading/Watching

Reading: I read As the Ground Shifts by Celia Lake. It’s a fairly substantial collection of scenes that fall within or between two of her most recent books, but weren’t included in either. (It’s easily the length of a novella, so I decided to count it as a book.) I also enjoyed my semi-annual reread of Winter Solstice, by Rosalind Pilcher. In January, I want to finish Aunt Dimity and the Duke by Nancy Atherton (a reread) and A Fragile Enchantment by Allison Saft (an ARC.)

Listening to: I didn’t listen to anything other than Christmas music this week, but on our drive home, we’ll probably finish up Phasers on Stun, by Ryan Britt, and perhaps start another of our audiobooks.

Playing: Wingspan, Flamecraft, Century: Spice Road, and Azul (all tabletop games.) Also Wordle, Connections, the NYT Spelling Bee, and Pokémon Go (all phone apps.)

Watching: A Haunting in Venice, which I enjoyed very much once I accepted it as its own thing and not (as it was billed) an adaptation of Christie’s Hallowe’en Party.

Added to the Hoard

For Review or Consideration

Many thanks to Crooked Lane for A Collection of Lies!

Christmas Gifts! (Kindle, print, or audio)

Print: The Book of Oberon; Good Wives; Stiff News; Learning Curve

Kindle: To Shape a Dragon’s Breath; Constable Country; The Vanishing Type; Paper Cuts; The Adventures of Amina al-Sarafi

Audio: Making It So: A Memoir; Starter Villain; Braiding Sweetgrass; A Restless Truth; A Power Unbound; The Chalice of the Gods. (The audiobooks were all gifts to Mr. Bookwyrm or to Robin, but since we share an Audible account, I will get to listen to them as well.)

Purchased or Free (Kindle, print, or audio)

Print: The Lost Flock (for January book club)

Kindle: Mrs. Holloway’s Christmas Pudding; Persephone in Bloom (free); Queen Charlotte; How to Tame a Wild Rogue; Psyche and Eros; Amy Herzog’s Ultimate Sweater Book; A Restless Truth; A Power Unbound; The Chalice of the Gods; Starter Villain

(Click title for Goodreads page.)

Stay kind and hopeful… and may your books bring you joy this week!

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14 Responses to “Sunday Post – New Year’s Eve, 12/31/2023”

  1. Jenni Elyse

    I totally understand not being ready for the new year. I’m normally not ready, but this year I am. I hope 2024 treats both of us well! Happy New Year!
    Jenni Elyse recently posted…Sunday News #49My Profile

  5. Nicky @ The Bibliophibian

    Oh, a lovely haul! I’m very curious (from the title alone) about To Shape a Dragon’s Breath. Hope you enjoy all these!

    And happy new year! Here’s hoping 2024’s a good one.

  9. Katherine

    Happy New Year! I’m glad to see you enjoyed A Haunting in Venice. I’ve been a little hesitant since it looks so different than any book even if is an adaptation of Hallowe’en Party. I think I need to do like you did and think of it as its own thing.
    Katherine recently posted…First Books of the Year – 2024My Profile

    • Lark_Bookwyrm

      There are a few other books I do that with, notably Ella Enchanted and Stardust… although to be honest, as different as both of those are from the original book, they still hew closer to their source material than A Haunting in Venice does. But the plot is pretty good (they borrowed bits of it from other Christie books), and the cinematography, sets, and costumes are fantastic. And by and large, the acting ranges from competent to very good as well. So yes, if you can just approach it as an Christie-esque story instead of an adaptation, it’s worth watching.

    • Lark_Bookwyrm

      All of us (our family) are in jobs where we can take off the week between Christmas and New Years, fortunately. Which is good, because it’s just too much for all us introverts to try to squeeze everything into one day.