Monday Malarkey - 2 weeks' worth of Malarkey

I have two stacks of books, this week,  because I decided to go ahead and let myself ditch the book-buying ban for the library sale (so cheap!) and then I trashed it entirely when we started our "social distancing" to help flatten the curve and try to get that COVID-19 virus under control. Part of my reasoning is that bookstores will need our help. So, with that in mind I'll be placing an order with an indie bookshop, tomorrow.


The last two weeks' arrivals, left to right:

• Woman on the Edge by Samantha M. Bailey - purchased; pre-ordered
• The Prisoner's Wife by Maggie Brookes - from Berkley Books for review
• The Passing Bells by Phillip Rock - purchased; for plague reading
• Ruthless by Sarah Tarkoff - unsolicited from Harper Voyager

Woman on the Edge is one that I pre-ordered before my book-buying ban and I'll save it for when I need something fast-paced. The Prisoner's Wife is a tour book and The Passing Bells was recommended by author Melanie Benjamin. Ruthless is the third in a series so I looked it up to see if it stands alone. Looks like the books need to be read in order so until/unless Harper Voyager is able to send me the first two books (one is currently out of stock), I will not be reading this one right away. But, it does sound like it's my kind of series.

And, my library sale purchases, left to right: 

• Lies And the Lying Liars Who Tell Them by Al Franken
• The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Other Tales by Washington Irving
• The Buccaneers by Edith Wharton
• The Signet Classic Book of Southern Short Stories, ed. by D. Abbott and S. Koppelman

All of these were purchased on a day that I went over to see Kiddo and visited the perpetual book sale in the town where I used to live (Kiddo lives there, now, with his wife). He's been bored waiting to start work so I took him out to eat and then we went to the library sale and back to his apartment to hang out together for a while. It was fun and I'd do it more regularly if there wasn't a plague happening.


Books finished since last Malarkey:

• Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid
• Promised by Leah Garriott
• A Murderous Relation by Deanna Raybourn

Currently reading: 

• And They Called It Camelot by Stephanie Marie Thornton
• Nature's Best Hope by Douglas W. Tallamy

The former is a fictionalized account of John and Jackie Kennedy, from the time they began dating. The latter hasn't been opened for a week. Much as I'm aching to read it, this was a crap reading week and I even had to finish a tour book review post a day late. Hopefully, this week will be better. I did have a problem with obsessing over the pandemic news, last week, but we're in "cancel everything" mode, now, so I feel a little less like I need to pay attention constantly to how the world is burning around me, although I'll check the news at least once a day.


The last two weeks' posts:

• Nerp! by Sarah Lynne Reul (book review)
• Mini reviews: Why My Cat Is More Impressive Than Your Baby by Matthew Inman, Strange Planet by Nathan W. Pyle, Crosstalk by Connie Willis (book reviews)
• Fiona Friday - Droopy (cat photo)
• Promised by Leah Garriott (book review)
• A Murderous Relation by Deanna Raybourn (book review)
• Fiona Friday on the Wrong Day - I get on your lap, plz? (cat photo)

In other news:

We finished watching Doctor Who just after I saw a comment section in which die-hard fans argued about the fact that the ending of Jodie Whittaker's last episode, "The Timeless Children" (I don't know if this is her first or second season) was "not canon" and therefore they were never going to watch the show ever, ever again. I was fine with it but I'm a fan without being obsessed. I don't always like particular actors or episodes but I have my favorite Doctors (Tom Baker, of course, is my #1) and companions. I come and go. I thought the furor was kind of funny. I did think the previous episode was too frenetic. It exhausted me.

Otherwise . . . um, I don't remember what I watched. Mostly, I obsessed over the COVID-19 news, although I saw this coming a mile away and advised my Facebook friends to stock up on the kinds of things we normally get for hurricane season, weeks ago. So, when it came time for people to panic buy, we just needed a few things like eggs, bread, spinach, and coconut (for the Social Distancing cooking of coconut bars Huzzybuns did, yesterday). I only got enough for about 2 weeks but we have things in the fridge and freezer, of course, so we should be fine for a while. Huz still has to go in to work but I'm pretty much planning to cancel everything on my agenda.

And, wow, isn't this so much harder than you could have imagined? I think most of those of us who are doing the Social Distancing thing have been doing it for only a day or two. It really becomes immediately clear how often we just hop in the car to get out of the house, how important the gym is to the daily routine, how much it sucks that you really shouldn't go out to get any of those things you forgot on your final run to the store. But, I don't want us to become another Italy so I'm working hard at dealing with the little and big disappointments. The biggest: I was due to have my reconstruction surgery in a few weeks. It can wait for a long time, if necessary, but I was really looking forward to getting that over with. Ah, well. C'est la vie.

I hope everyone is well and enjoying some good reading time. There's a weekend Social Distancing Readathon happening, next weekend. Whether or not I participate will probably depend on if/when the husband starts teleworking. If we're successfully getting chores done during the week because he's not so tired from his commute, maybe he'll let me get away with a goof-off reading weekend. I could use some intense reading time, as slow as my reading's been, this year.

Happy reading and stay healthy, everyone!


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