On My Nightstand February 12, 2023

I ended up with a stomach bug last week, so all baking was postponed to this weekend. This weekend we were supposed to go skiing, but it’s going to be warm and raining. We’re learning to be flexible! Either way I’m enjoying these last few weekends before spring sports start again and my free time starts to disappear.

Have a great week everyone.

What’s on my nightstand this week:

Ivona Iverson's Rules for Commuting by Clare Pooley - Never got to this one last week. This is an impulse read, and it looks really fun!

A Single Thread by Tracy Chevalier - This is for a backlist reading challenge. I’m looking forward to it.

The Puma Years by Laura Coleman - I’m enjoying this book about a woman volunteering at an animal rescue in Bolivia. (This is free if you have Kindle Unlimited.)

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On My Nightstand January 29 2023

I’ve been reading a chapter a day of Middlemarch with a group on Litsy, and this chapter title last Monday cracked me up. Yup, a cold rainy pre-dawn Monday in January can feel that way!

Oh well, bad weather makes for good reading!

What I’m Reading This Week:

Gone With The Wind by Margaret Mitchell - I’m still listening to this. 10 hours left. I can do it.

A Study in Charlotte by Brittany Cavallard - This is a fun YA that I’ve been reading on the train. I’m enjoying it.

Braver Than You Think by Maggie Downs - It’s been a while since I read a good travel memoir. I’m hoping to sink into this one over the weekend.

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This post is linked to The Sunday Post on Caffeinated Reviewer.

On My Nightstand January 22, 2023

I took last week off from blogging. My new year hadn’t gotten off to a good start, and I decided I needed a reboot. Now I’m back, rested and refreshed, and just a little bit organized. I’m looking forward to catching back up with you all and talking books!

What I’m Reading This Week:

Our Missing Hearts by Celeste Ng - This has a long wait at the library, so I have to return it next week. From what I’ve read so far that won’t be a problem!

Gone With The Wind by Margaret Mitchell - I’ve been listening to this on audio off and on, but it is also due back at the library soon. I need to get back at it!

End of the Lane by Sonia Parin - I needed something short and light for kindle reading on my commute. I hope this is it!

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This post is linked to The Sunday Post on Caffeinated Reviewer.

On My Nightstand September 25

Friday is the last day in September, so Daisy and I pulled out the rest of the books on my September stack. I don’t think I can really read three books in six days, but you never know. Maybe I’ll miss my train some day and have an hour to kill at the station. It can happen!

I am so excited for October reading. I am basically signed up to join every readathon, event, and challenge I have seen over the last few weeks. From now until January is basically reading Olympics to me. I have an October reading bucket list that I’ll post later this week.

Deacon King Kong by James McBride - I’ve had this on my shelf forever, and everyone loves it. Why has it taken me so long?

Wanderers by Kerri Andrews - Another one I’ve left on my shelf for way too long, although if I run out of time this week I might punt this one to Non-Fiction November. Yes, I have issues

The Good Left Undone by Adriana Trigiani - It’s been a while since I’ve read one of her books. I usually find these hot or cold, so we’ll see.

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This post is linked to The Sunday Post on Caffeinated Reviewer.

Show Us Your Books December 2020

My TBR Shelf

November was a really weird reading month for me. It started with the election (no ability to concentrate whatsoever) and ended with a Covid exposure (complete cocooning with Thanksgiving food for ten people that of course we couldn’t see and tons of reading.) It was really about three months in one. So now it’s December, my house is a complete mess, but at least I have stopped scouring Twitter all night for election news and my reading mojo is back.

Three Great Books

Normally I just pick one favorite book per month, but I liked all three of these in such different ways I couldn’t choose.

Above Us Only Sky by Michele Young-Stone - This book was magical, mystical, and musical. I read it over Thanksgiving and the story of a girl being born with wings tracing the roots of her family with her cranky grandfather was perfect for that holiday.

She Come By It Natural by Sarah Smarsh - Dolly is everywhere these days! This short book about Dolly as a nontraditional feminist and business woman really made me like her even more. They tried to turn her into a boob joke, but the joke is on them.

Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen - This Jane Austen classic is really underrated. It’s funny and Catherine is a heroine you can relate to and root for. If you’re doing a classics challenge in 2021 you can’t go wrong with Northanger!

More Good Reads

The Giver of Stars by Jojo Moyes - This historical novel about a horseback lending library in rural Kentucky had me on the edge of my seat worrying for the ladies in the book. I really liked it, but thought the ending was rushed.

American Royals by Katherine McGee - I surprised myself by how much I liked this alternate history of George Washington’s royal descendants. I didn’t even mind when my dishwasher broke on Thanksgiving and I had to spend hours hand washing because it meant more hours with this on audio. If you read it be ready to turn to part two right away! My copy just came in from Libby and I can’t wait to see what happens next.

Savage Summit by Jennifer Jordan - A non-fiction book about the first five women to climb K2. You find out in the first few pages that none survived very long after summiting, and I was left with the question of how someone can be so driven they’re willing to throw their life away to climb a mountain.

That’s it for November reads, but SUYB Best of 2020 is coming on Dec. 29! It’s been such a weird year, I’m not really sure how I can do a wrap up, but I’ll give it my best!

Linked to: Show Us Your Books and Quick Lit

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Writing Prompt: Mollie Garfield In Love

Mollie Garfield was just a young teen when her dad, the president James A. Garfield, was shot and killed. Imagine having to live with grief like that on a public stage. She moved back to Mentor, Ohio with her mom Lucrecia who dedicated herself to preserving her late husband’s papers. When her Dad’s former private secretary Joseph Stanley Brown came to help it’s no wonder she fell in love with him.

This is the historical fiction book I would love to read, but no one has written yet. If you write it please send me an ARC!

Related books:

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January 2018 Quick Lit

Each month I link with Modern Mrs. Darcy's Quick Lit as a way to talk about the books I liked, but didn't review. I'm posting my January Quick Lit under the category of better late than never. I would be tempted to just let it go, but I've read some really good books lately.

The Traitor's Wife by Allison Pataki -- I got interested in Benedict Arnold's wife after reading Valiant Ambition for the Armchair Audies last year, and this book was a very fulfilling accompaniment. This was an excellent choice for anyone looking for historical fiction; I'll be adding more by Pataki to my TBR soon.

The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden -- A perfect book for cold and snowy nights. I can't wait for the sequel. I recommend this if you liked Uprooted.

South Pole Station by Ashley Shelby -- I didn't think this story was the greatest, but I didn't love the descriptions of what it's like to live on the South Pole.

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Quicklit December 2017

We moved our furniture to put our tree in a different spot, and I must say reading within view of it is rivaling back yard reading, and reading by the firepit as a new favorite place to park myself with a book. Cozy nights=Merry Christmas.

Here's what I've been reading lately:

The Purple Swamp Hen And Other Stories by Penelope Lively -- I'm not usually a short story person, but I think someone on The Readers podcast talks about her a lot, so when I saw this on the new releases shelf at the library I picked it up. These short stories were great- engaging and satisfying. They were like a mix of F. Scott Fitzgerald and O. Henry. I predict that several Penelope Lively books will appear on my TBR in 2018.

11/22/63 by Stephen King -- This was a re-read for me, brought on by the release of the Kennedy files in early November. I still love this book as much as I did originally, even if it is a gigantic doorstop that was hard to carry on the metro!

The Lonely Polygamist by Brady Udall -- It's not weird to relate to a polygamist man right? Because that was my reaction to this book. Oddly sympathetic.

It's been a few months since I've linked up with Quick Lit, and I'm really looking forward to seeing what everyone else has been reading.

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August Quick Lit

New bikes for the kids have given me a good excuse to sit on the curb while reading a book.

(Pictured here: wolf by wolf by Ryan Graudin)

I have been reading a wide variety of stuff lately - just whatever suits me at the time, really. It's too hot to stick to a list!

The Royal Nanny by Karen Harper was an interesting book, made all the more interesting because it's based on a the true story of the Nanny who took care of King Edward VIII and King George VI. It's a little longer than needed, and is sure to force interaction between the Nanny and all the major political figured of the day (the Tsar, Churchill, Teddy Roosevelt, etc.) Recommend for fans of royal baby pictures and The Royal We. (I got this book from Library Thing in exchange for a review.)

I wanted to read Jaws by Peter Benchley this summer, but forced myself to wait until after our annual trip to Cape Cod. I needn't have waited, as the movie is way more scary than the book. I kind of thought the book was just meh, actually. Plus a lot of the 1970's language is offensive. I know they didn't live in such an enlightened time as us, but it's not really worth it for a sub-par book.

Wolf by Wolf by Ryan Graudin was about a motorcycle race in a world that would have existed if Hitler had won the war. If you try not to think about the details too much this is a really good book. I'm looking forward to the sequel due out in November.

I've had Off Balance by Dominique Moceanu on my to be read list forever, but it took the Rio Olympics to finally get me to read it. This book has its ups and downs, but was really interesting to a once every four years gymnastics freak like me. I did some background research on Wikipedia, and it seems like a lot of people in the gymnastics industry deny a lot of Moceanu's claims. However given recent news stories about USA Gymnastics and Marta Karoli's handling of the team I see Dominique in a much better light than I may have a month ago.

Each month I link with Modern Mrs. Darcy's Quick Lit as a way to talk about the books I liked, but didn't review.

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