Monday, June 04, 2018

Monday Malarkey



Recent arrivals:


  • I Felt a Funeral in My Brain by Will Walton - purchased
  • 1968: Radical Protest and Its Enemies by Richard Vinen - from HarperCollins for review

I Felt a Funeral in My Brain was a pre-order that I'd forgotten about. I kind of love those. Sometimes I change my mind about a pre-order and cancel it but most are exciting surprises. I Felt a Funeral in My Brain was recommended by YA author Andrew Smith, whose recommendations have so far been impeccable. 

1968 is a year I've been reading about in other books, lately, so I jumped at the chance to read more when 1968: Radical Protest and Its Enemies became available for request. I'm looking forward to reading more about the year. 


Books finished since last Malarkey:


  • Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes
  • Hollywood Beach Beauties by David Wills

I finished Don Quixote!!! Yippee!! As Tina said, now I can return to regularly scheduled programming. More importantly, I've finally made it through a chunkster classic that I've been trying to conquer for decades. Woot!



Currently reading:


  • Israel/Palestine by Alan Dowty
  • Goodbye, Sweet Girl by Kelly Sundberg


Except, I haven't touched either book in almost a week. So, that should say, "currently have bookmarks between their covers". I'm planning to start a beachy read, tonight, also. Jenny mentioned that my reads have been awfully heavy for summer (good point - the latter book is a memoir of domestic violence) and I decided she was definitely right about that. So, I hope to lighten up the reading a bit by adding a beachy read and maybe a middle reader that's on the stacks.



Last week's posts:



So glad I was able to pre-post two reviews. That really helped allow me to relax and focus on finishing up Don Quixote. At the moment, 5 unreviewed books remain (all of which I've just gotten started, in some way, even if only to open a new post and add the cover image). I may double up on reviews to get those out of the way, this week, because I love the sensation of being all caught up. 



In other news:

I'm still watching episodes of Psych, now and then (now on Season 3) but Huzzybuns and I have also begun watching Foyle's War from the beginning. I've always liked Foyle's War but felt like I was missing something and, sure enough, it's much better in context -- watching the series in order really makes a difference. Now, I've seen Sam arrive, heard why Foyle needed a driver and why his driver is not a police officer, seen his son Andrew go off for training and nearly get framed for something his superior officer did. I know that Foyle didn't want to stay in Hastings (in fact, I don't know if he remains in Hastings -- if so, I never realized that's where the series was set). And, we're seeing the events of the war unfold in order. It makes so much more sense when you watch this series from the beginning.

Psych is still fun as ever. I watch an episode when I'm in the mood for an upper. Foyle's War episodes are much longer and more of a time investment, so we have to plan the viewing rather than just turn it on randomly.

I haven't watched any Dr. Who in weeks. That's mostly because the last episode I watched was particularly boring -- so boring that it totally drove me away. Maybe I need to just go back and skip past that episode. I'm really looking forward to getting to the Tom Baker years. Tom Baker was my introduction to Dr. Who and he will always be my favorite.

What are you reading and watching?


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12 comments:

  1. Congrats on finishing Don Quixote! That is an achievement. I'm curious to hear more about the new titles you received. They sound interesting.

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    1. Thanks, Iliana!

      I'm excited about both titles. 1968 is a July release so hopefully I'll be reading it within the next month or so. And, I'm thinking about going ahead and diving into the other one, soon. I haven't been fitting in outside reads; I've mostly read ARCs, for the last couple of months -- with the exception of Don Quixote and book club reads. It's about time to read a few off the shelves, I think.

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  2. Congrats on finishing Don Quixote! That is a huge, reason to celebrate, accomplishment. Hopefully the story was reward enough but a decadent dessert might be in order me thinks! I’m glad you’re going to read a few lighter reads. You had me worried there. ;)

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    1. Thanks, Jenny! Haha, well, husband made peach cake, this weekend. It didn't turn out very well but it tastes fine. :) I'm so happy to be done with Don Quixote.

      I read such a strange hodge-podge of books and am such a moody reader. It's not a bad thing if I'm reading heavier stuff. That usually means I'm doing okay. I tend to read fluff when I'm down in the dumps. So, it's all good. But, I like the idea of breaking it up a bit, reading something beachy. Can't hurt, right? :)

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    2. You’ve got a point there. I tend to read fluffy when I’m down too so I guess heavy means we’re doing good.

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    3. Yep! I did start that beachy read, though. I'm reading 4 books at once and can't seem to decide which one to focus on. I might not finish a thing, this week, and actually . . . I think I'm fine with that. It's nice to be back to juggling several books and not have any one of them haunting me. LOL

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  3. We loved Foyle's War! If there weren't so many new shows to watch, I'd suggest watching it again. Right now we're at the end of Season Two of The Bridge (great Swedish series). There's one more season out and maybe another to come. Love it! Rod is hooked on Death in Paradise, which is very light and rather silly.

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    1. We're just about done with Season 3 of Foyle's War. Sooo good. It's amazing how much difference it's made to watch it in order. We both enjoyed the first 3 seasons of Death in Paradise (yes, very silly) but we prefer the original cast and just can't bear to watch the later seasons. We tried but gave up. Ben Miller has been a favorite since Doc Martin. Kris Marshall . . . neither of us is a fan. I haven't heard of The Bridge.

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    2. Like you, I preferred the original cast in Death in Paradise. Even those episodes were silly (that poor community has a lot of murders!!), but I don't care for the new cast at all. Rod tells me there is now a third coming. Ugh. Yes, Ben Miller was perfect in his role and Kris Marshall is just ridiculous.

      I think you would really enjoy The Bridge!!

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    3. I like the silliness, myself. I'm not a big fan of mystery shows, in general. There has to be something unique about them that captures my interest. In Foyle's War, it's the war and the characters. In Death in Paradise, it was the humor and that original cast was fabulous. I missed Fidel and Camille when they left, also, but I think Ben Miller/Richard was the linchpin. When he left, I was willing to give another character a chance but Kris Marshall is simply not suited to the role, so I'll only watch reruns of the Ben Miller seasons.

      I keep forgetting to look up The Bridge. What network or streaming service carries it?

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  4. We rent it from Netflix (dvd, not streaming). There are other options, though. Look here

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    1. OK, I'll see if any of our British channels carry it and if they don't we'll just keep an eye out for it. They seem to change things up pretty frequently. We've never done Netflix. Shocking, no?

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