Monday Malarkey

Recent arrivals (top to bottom):

• Far Flung by Cassandra Kircher - from West Virginia University Press for review
• No Flying in the House by Betty Brock - purchased
• The Desert Sky Before Us by Anne Valente - from HarperCollins for review
• The Beekeeper of Aleppo by Christy Lefteri - from Ballantine Books for review
• Inspired by Rachel Held Evans - purchased
• Summer Country by Lauren Willig - from HarperCollins for review 

Nice pile, again. Far Flung (essays) and The Beekeeper of Aleppo were both won via Shelf Awareness drawings and both excited me in a way you'd think books would no longer do. But, yes, I get excited like a kid looking at shiny packages under a Christmas tree, to this day. Kind of wild how the joy of books, especially those that are unanticipated, simply refuses to fade. No Flying in the House was purchased on a whim when someone on Twitter posted her childhood favorites. Since I always liked books with some sort of magical, paranormal, or unusual-gift element -- like The Trouble with Jenny's Ear, which is about a girl who can suddenly hear everyone's thoughts -- I figured the kid in me would like a book about a little girl who can fly (she's part fairy). And, I can always pass it on to my grandkids, when I'm done. 

The Desert Sky Before Us and Summer Country are both "second chance" books. Long ago, I read Lauren Willig's first book and didn't care for it. But, I always figured I'd give her a second chance if any of her titles appealed to me and the synopsis of Summer Country intrigued me. Anne Valente's Our Hearts Will Burn Us Down was a DNF -- last year, I think. But, again, I like to give authors a second chance. I remember just not buying the emotion of the characters in Our Hearts, etc., so we'll see if The Desert Sky Before Us works for me. The Tattooist of Auschwitz was purchased for F2F discussion, a few months from now, and I ordered Inspired after hearing that the author has been placed in a medically-induced coma. It's been on my wish list since it came out but I just kept hesitating. When I heard about her illness, I started thinking about how much I've wanted to read Evans' latest book and that was that. Ordering online is far too easy. I wish there was a bookstore within 20 miles of my home. I was always a little slower to purchase books at full price in person. Not that I regret the purchase; I don't. 

Books finished since last Malarkey:

• Forbidden Area by Pat Frank

After somewhat frantically reading and posting for National Pet Day (or, is it "Pets", plural?), I went instantly into a slump. I blame the Klawde books. I loved them so much that nothing else sang to me. It took about 5 days before I finally began to read, again, and then it was Forbidden Area, by the author of Alas, Babylon, that rescued me from my brief slump. While Alas, Babylon was post-apocalyptic, Forbidden Area is about people who are desperately seeking to prevent an apocalyptic war. It was a little unevenly paced, but once you realize the clock is ticking, it becomes pretty exciting.


Currently reading: 

• The Unlikely Adventures of the Shergill Sisters by Balli Kaur Jaswal 

Just about 50 pages in and I'm finding this story, by the author of Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows, somewhat less compelling than her last book but it took about 45 pages for the main characters -- three sisters who are fulfilling their mother's last wishes in India -- to get to the first item on their list. I have a feeling the pace will start picking up, now.


Posts since last Malarkey:

• When Grandma Gives You a Lemon Tree by Jamie L. B. Deenihan and Lorraine Rocha (book review)
• A Little Chicken by Tammi Sauer and Dan Taylor (book review)
• Just Read by Lori Degman and Victoria Tentler-Krylov (book review)
• Some Days by Karen Kaufman Orloff and Ziyue Chen (book review)
• Holy Squawkamole! by Susan Wood and Laura Gonzalez (book review)
• Growing Season by Maryann Cocca-Leffler (book review)
• The Awakening by Kate Chopin (book review)
• Fiona Friday - Yes or no to cuddles (cat photo)
• My Coney Island Baby by Billy O'Callaghan (book review)

So, it may have been a slumpish reading week but at least it wasn't a bad blogging week, too! The first 6 of those book review links lead to children's books because I made Tuesday a Children's Day. Then, I reviewed my March classic, The Awakening. And, because everyone was headed home for Easter, I convinced myself that Thursday was Friday and posted Fiona Friday on the wrong day. Oops. After I realized what I'd done (and the storm had ended), I figured I might as well do another review on Friday.


In other news:

After the storms finally left, Mother Nature gifted us with some incredible weather so we've spent a lot of time sitting on the patio, sipping beverages and either reading or talking. When it's nice outside, it's very, very difficult not to just spend the entire day outdoors. The railing on our upper patio (it's a double-decker) is about 12-15" in from the edge, which means there's room to sit in front of the fence for almost the entire edge of the upper deck. My husband also discovered it's perfect for walking along and going, "Chugga chugga chugga chugga, choo-choo!" The grandchildren will have fun when they visit.

I watched the usual, last week: NCIS, Chicago Fire, a couple episodes of The Royal, one of The Widow, and Les Miserables. Actually, I missed most of Les Mis because we were out looking for a place to get supper (the cook was fatigued) and most everything was closed. I'm almost glad I did. Poor Fantine. It was hard enough seeing her near the end, much less watching her downfall.

Once again, I need to mention that I'm currently unable to post replies to comments. Blogger's sending me to an error message saying I need to empty my cookies and cache, but since I did that just to get online when I shifted computers, a week ago (Blogger wouldn't let me enter till I cleaned the cookies and cache), that shouldn't be the problem. If it is, I'm going to have to clean them constantly. I've tweeted to Blogger's help-twitter twice, now, because there appears to no longer be a way to contact a human. Has anyone else had this problem?


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