Monday Malarkey

Recent arrivals (left to right):

• The Paris Hours by Alex George, and
• The Collected Poems of William Carlos Williams, Vol II  1939-1962 - both purchased
• Premeditated Myrtle by Elizabeth C. Bunce,
• How to Get Away with Myrtle by Elizabeth C. Bunce, and
• Skunk and Badger by Amy Timberlake and Jon Klassen, all from Algonquin Books for review
• Exit Strategy by Martha Wells, and 
• Rogue Protocol by Martha Wells - both purchased

OK, clearly I went hog wild buying Martha Wells' Murderbot Diaries series (I now own all of the novellas and I still want to get my mitts on the full-length novel) but I have no regrets. As to the other purchases . . . I feel like I've been waiting forever for Alex George's latest, The Paris Diaries. So excited to finally have a copy! And, the poetry was an impulse purchase influenced by an Instagram post.

The three children's books were a surprise. It took a while to jog my memory but I signed up to review them and I guess the pandemic may have slowed the shipping so I forgot? Or, maybe it hasn't been as long as I think and I'm just forgetful. At any rate, I'm super excited to have finally received some children's books to read because, a) It's been ages, and b) I absolutely love reading children's books. So, I immediately started reading the May release, Premeditated Myrtle (which I am enjoying immensely).


Books finished since last Malarkey:

• All Systems Red by Martha Wells
• Orphan Monster Spy by Matt Killeen

I think I mentioned that Orphan Monster Spy is a reread to refresh my memory before moving on to the new book in the series, Devil Darling Spy. I have a few books I have to wedge in before moving on to Devil Darling Spy, but Orphan Monster Spy proved to be one of those books that was even better on the second reading, so I'm really looking forward to moving on to the next book. 

All Systems Red turned out to be every bit as good as I expected of a book recommended by my former blogger friend Alyce, who is one of the people I call my "reading twins". I like almost everything she recommends, our taste is so similar. I keep telling myself I'm going to save the rest of the series and just read one whenever I feel a little slumpish. We'll see if that works out. I am sorely tempted to dive in and spend a day binge reading Murderbots. 

Currently reading:

• The Paris Hours by Alex George
• Premeditated Myrtle by Elizabeth C. Bunce

Again, I didn't touch Hamlet. I may have to go back to the beginning but I'm not taking it off my current reads at Goodreads because I'm determined to get to it. I do have some other books I need to read first, though, so Hamlet may continue getting shoved aside for a while. I'm loving both of my current reads.


Last week's posts:

• More Top Reads in 2019 - Fiction titles I missed, Short Stories, Nonfiction (List with brief descriptions)
• The Star-Crossed Sisters of Tuscany by Lori Nelson Speilman (book review)
• Fiona Friday (cat photo)

In other news:

I was so excited about Frankenstein (streamed via National Theatre at Home) because of the actors that I forgot how much I hated the book, a DNF from about 25 years ago. When we finished the first version, with Benedict Cumberbatch as Dr. Frankenstein and Jonny Lee Miller as The Creature, Huz turned to me and said, "What part did you like best?" I couldn't answer. I didn't like it. But, eventually, I told him the actors were the only thing I liked about it. And, then I realized that I liked the train, which we presume was symbolic of progress. At any rate, all National Theatre productions are impressive so it was just the yuckiness of the story that I disliked, not the production itself.

We haven't yet watched Antony and Cleopatra, but I'm sure we'll start on that tonight. We watched a couple more episodes of Life on Mars but I can't think of anything else that we watched. The weather has been a little too perfect to sit in front of a TV so we spent a lot of time on our porch, this week.

Every day I get up and peer out the window to see if the squirrels have managed to steal our tomatoes, yet. The tomato plant (we only have one, this year) is caged so it can't grow as large as our tomato plants usually do, but we have 4 tomatoes on it and if we manage to harvest any, it will be a first at this house. The squirrels have broken through all our previous barricades. So far, so good. One of the tomatoes is already quite large so we're hoping it will start to turn red, soon.

Trips to the gardening center at our hardware store for plants, way early in the morning, has become one of Husband's escapes on the weekend. He says people keep their distance and most wear masks in the morning. And, there aren't many people there when it opens, anyway. So, our yard is getting spruced up, we have loads of gorgeous things on the patio, and we are definitely in the Pandemic Gardening crowd. It's amazing how much joy you can get just walking around, checking on the plants to see how much they've grown, giving them a drink, and then sitting on the porch admiring them. The photo above shows my books next to a pot of lavender. When I reached over to pick up the books, I stuck my face in the lavender and, ohmygosh, it smells heavenly.

Incidentally, as a side note, COVID-19 has reached my extended family (in another state). The numbers appear to be dropping, now, and fewer people are being hospitalized but I hope all of you are still sticking close to home as much as possible, wearing masks, washing hands, etc. The threat is not over. Hopefully, though, we'll get a summer reprieve. I doubt the family member in question reads my blog, but I'm sending healing wishes and prayers and hoping that it's a mild case of this vicious disease.

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