Monday Malarkey - Easter, a lousy reading and blogging week and beautiful arrivals

Easter was, I confess, pretty dull in this house.  I managed to decorate a little using a plaster bunny I already owned and some tiny Ukrainian eggs just purchased. But, only one of our children came home and he spent the weekend recovering from a flight to and from Florida for a job interview (meaning, like most college kids, he pretty much slept all weekend).  Here's the bunny:

As to reading and blogging, last week was terrible!  I enjoyed the two books I finished but I ended up abandoning the new Matthiessen book, In Paradise, because it just wasn't doing anything for me -- too vague at times, too sad for the moment. I'll give it another go, later.  I missed my book group meeting so I decided to also set aside The Forest Unseen for later, as well. It's beautifully written but I needed something to really grab me hard and not let me go.  Nothing called out to me for days.

The book that finally captured me was A Single Breath by Lucy Clarke, the only book that arrived week-before-last (and not even at the right house).  I finished A Single Breath on Saturday night and immediately began reading The Other Typist by Suzanne Rindell, so it certainly seems like A Single Breath has broken the slump. We shall see.

Last week's arrivals were so pretty I decided I should photograph them:

• Outrageous Fortune by Anthony Russell (purchased)
• Confessions of a Self-Help Writer by Benjamin W. Dehaven - from Lagniappe Publishing via Shelf Awareness

From Algonquin Books:

• The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin
• The Time Fetch by Amy Herrick
• Anton and Cecil, Cats at Sea by Lisa Martin and Valerie Martin
• The Transcriptionist by Amy Rowland (unsolicited - the rest were by request)

Last week's posts:

• 50 Children by Steven Pressman, The Accidental Caregiver by Gregor Collins and Children's Wartime Diaries, ed. by Laurel Holliday
• Fiona Friday: Izzy helps with the laundry

Books finished (links lead to Amazon for the sake of easy access to book descriptions; I am not an associate and will not profit if you purchase after visiting via these links):

• The Accidental Caregiver by Gregor Collins
• A Single Breath by Lucy Clarke

Currently reading:

• The Other Typist by Suzanne Rindell - Really, this is the only book I'm actively reading.
• Birds of America (short stories) by Lorrie Moore
• Poetry for Young People: Robert Frost ed. by Gary D. Schmidt
• Inside Poetry Out by John O. Hayden 

Weekend movies:

Wahoo, husband found our copy of The Princess Bride!  So, naturally, we watched it as soon as we had a spare moment.

Some movies are timeless and The Princess Bride comes perilously close.  There's that bit at the beginning when Fred Savage is playing a video game, which unfortunately does date the movie a tiny bit. Otherwise, it's all swashbuckling fun, great lines and true love.  I wondered aloud how many people say, "As you wish," to their significant others because of this movie. We do, at times.  Love The Princess Bride.

That's actually the only movie we watched and neither of us was apparently in a television mood. We watched enough of last week's episode of The Bletchley Circle to fill in the gaps as we missed about the first 20 minutes of it, last week.  Husband watched a little hockey.  I remember when my mother used to write to me and her letters were all about sweeping the walk, weeding and watching Dancing with the Stars (which I've only recently begun to watch). I thought she was dull as paste.  Ack, tell me I haven't become my mom!!!

That's all for now.  Happy Monday!

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