Monday Malarkey - Arrivals, blog posts, things I'm reading, things I read

I spent my weekend shopping for furniture, moving a table, cleaning the empty space where the table formerly sat, doing laundry, chopping tree limbs, reading, and watching Dr. Who episodes.  We're just now finishing up Season 4 of Dr. Who.  I flipped through cat photos but never got around to finding a photo I liked for Fiona Friday, so we'll call this malarkey shot a "Fiona Friday on the Way Wrong Day."  It happens.

Writing fell by the wayside over the weekend so today I'm writing furiously, trying to get far enough ahead that Thanksgiving still won't interfere with reaching the NaNoWriMo finish line.  Apparently, I'm very determined to finish, this year.  There have been years that I've been lackadaisical about the whole thing.  This year, I am in a goal-setting fever.  As of 7:24 PM, I'm happy to say I've surpassed 5,000 words and am catching up with my previous goal very nicely.

The books shown with Izzy, above, are about 2-3 weeks' worth of arrivals:

• Going Home, Surviving Home and Escaping Home by A. American (apparently, the A stands for "angry"spelled "Angery"), 3 in a survivalist series.  I'm concerned that the author might be a little wacko, given his pen name and website claiming WWIII is coming, but I like to read about survival so I'm looking forward to the series, which I received for TLC tour.  I'm only required to review one but won't know which one I'll choose till I get into the reading.  It'll be interesting to see if they're appealing enough to read back-to-back.
• Somewhere in Time by Richard Matheson - from Paperback Swap was just added to my wish list a few weeks ago and a copy came available pretty quickly.  My last attempt at reading Matheson was a dud (and the reviewers agreed with me that it was not up to his usual standard) but I've enjoyed everything else I've read by Matheson. Somewhere in Time has the advantage of being known as a modern time travel classic.  And, yes, I've seen the movie.
• Rules of Civility by Amor Towles - received via PBS
• Free Bird by Greg Garrett - received via PBS after I read and reviewed The Prodigal and decided to dig into Garrett's backlist.
• Jack Absolute and The Blooding of Jack Absolute by C. C. Humphreys came from Sourcebooks for review.
• Savage Harvest by Carl Hoffman was sent by the author for review and had a nice note attached to the cover. 

I'm probably missing some arrivals since Monday Malarkey has been a sometimes-maybe thing, lately.  

Last week's blog posts:

• A review of my niece's book - Death Wish by Lindsey Menges
• Totally off-the-wall rhino pic
• My review of Perfect Ruin by Lauren DeStefano
• Review of The Tilted World by Tom Franklin and Beth Ann Fennelly

Currently reading:

• The Aftermath by Rhidian Brook - A tale of post-WWII.  I'm not sure where this is headed but I am about 46 pages in and besotted with Brook's writing. 
• A Good American by Alex George - A reread for my Face-to-Face book club, which meets this week.
• If On a Winter's Night a Traveler by Italo Calvino - I haven't touched this one in at least 5 days but I love it; the writing is sharp and funny and sometimes a little mind-blowing. 

Last week I finished:

• The Inimitable Jeeves by P. G. Wodehouse - because two friends just happened to mention Wodehouse within the same week and I needed a break from Calvino.  Faultlessly entertaining, that Wodehouse fellow.  Reading a little Jeeves & Wooster was the breath of fresh air I needed.
• Transparent Things by Vladimir Nabokov - A slim book at 104 pages but it packs an oh-my-Lord punch of Nabokovian brilliance.  It is fascinating and creepy. It left me with questions that, after some thought, I decided had already been answered.  I'm still a little afraid of Lolita (which I have not yet read) and yet, at the same time, Transparent Things made me crave more Nabokov.

That's all, for now.  What's up in your world?

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