Week off to read

Back next Monday. 

©2021 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Week off to read

I've kind of fizzled out on both the reading and writing, this week. So, I'll be back for Monday Malarkey on the 17th. Hopefully, I will have read a bit and will feel like writing, by then. Happy week-and-a-half to all!


©2016 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery  or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Malarkey and Promises, Bloggiversary and Blog Break

First things first: It's my 10th bloggiversary. I cannot believe an entire decade has passed since I began blogging, although so much has happened! I've made some incredible friends who share my passion and some who authored favorite books, said goodbye to my mother and two cats, been adopted by two new kitties, become a mother-in-law and a grandmother. I've read hundreds of books and discovered that I really, really do not like reading them in electronic form (good old paper for me, baby). I've watched both children graduate from college and get jobs and traveled to some fabulous places -- some of which would not have happened if not for the blog. It's been a good run . . . so far. On to malarkey before my farewell.

No arrivals, this week.

Books finished since last malarkey:

• The Nest by Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney
• The Secrets of Flight by Maggie Leffler

Currently reading:

• I haven't actually decided what to read, next. Eeks. Will update that on Twitter, when I do. I'm @Bookfoolery

Last week's posts:

• Love Wins by Debbie Cenziper and Jim Obergefell (book review)
• Feather Brained by Bob Tarte (book review)
• The Nest by Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney (book review)
• Fiona Friday - Kitty in a crystal ball (cat photo)
• Aim True by Kathryn Budig, The Secrets of Flight by Maggie Leffler, and A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki (mini reviews)
• Tales of Accidental Genius by Simon Van Booy (book review)

And, now, it's time for a break but not for any of the reasons you might expect. At the beginning of 2016, when I lost a friend suddenly to cancer, I made a promise to myself to stick it out till my 10th bloggiversary and then take a significant break. I'm not tired of blogging or frustrated or worried about the fact that not as many people visit my blog as they did in the beginning. While I miss the close relationships I had in the early blogging days, some of those have matured and moved on to Facebook, letter-writing, visits in person. In some ways it's better to have fewer visitors at the blog; it was a little overwhelming when my blog was kind of popular, early on.

Nope, I just made myself a promise to take a big break and I've decided to keep it. It's possible that I'll reevaluate whether or not I want to continue blogging while I'm away. But at this point I fully intend to come back. And, I still plan on writing the monthly review posts because I'm not going to quit recording my reads, here. I have an end-of-year-post that I update every time I finish a book. However, this is going to be a long break, anywhere from 2 to 6 months. I won't know till I get there. If I'm not back by the end of the year, apart from the monthly posts, I'll return at the beginning of 2017 with an update.

In the meantime, I'll continue reading, of course, and writing brief reviews at Goodreads. I'll update my personal Facebook timeline. I'll tweet about my reads on Twitter. I sit down at the computer to tweet so I'm just a drop-in tweeter but I'll work harder at updating there, hopefully with photos. If/when I return, I will have a different home email address, but my gmail site will continue to function if anyone wants to get in touch. Have a fabulous summer!


©2016 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery  or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Blog Break - Happy Holidays to all!

I'm going to go ahead and go on my annual holiday blog break. Wishing everyone the happiest of seasons!

©2015 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery  or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

What the cat saw and a break to heal

This was a cute moment. Can you see what Izzy spotted?

It is harder to type than I expected and I'm supposed to wear this little brace thingie on my wrist/hand for about 10-14 days, so I'm going to step away from the computer until it at least stops throbbing. As I mentioned, I have some routine maintenance to do, anyway (and I think I can do most of it one-handed). I'll be back in a week, maybe two! Till then, Happy Reading!

©2015 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery  or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Break time!

My family is home for the Christmas break and I haven't found the time to sit at the computer long enough to write a review, so I'm going to go ahead and take my annual break to enjoy their presence. I wish the happiest of holiday seasons to you!

©2014 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery  or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Tuesday Twaddle in lieu of Monday Malarkey and Time Off from Blogging

I opted not to get on the computer most of the day, yesterday, because I had to do important things like eat birthday cake. Also, after updating my browser over the weekend, I'm still getting used to the browser updates, which are frustrating. Silly little things have changed, like no longer being able to write an accent sign over an e by hitting Option and E. I guess I'm going to have to look that stuff up all over again, just when I got it memorized. Le sigh. So, anyway, you get Tuesday Twaddle instead of Monday Malarkey. Same thing, really.

Recent arrivals:

• One Flight Up by Susan Fales-Hill - via Paperback Swap
• Stormdancer and Kinslayer by Jay Kristoff - Purchased
• The Forgotten Man Graphic Edition by Amity Shlaes and
• Shades of Gray by Susanne Jacoby Hale - sent by friend

Last week's posts:

• The Story Hour by Thrity Umrigar (review)
• Paramedico by Benjamin Gilmour (review)
• Season of the Dragonflies by Sarah Creech (review)

Last week's reads:

• The Time Fetch by Amy Herrick 
• 2 A.M. at The Cat's Pajamas by Marie-Helene Bertino
• Second Form at Malory Towers by Enid Blyton

Currently reading:

Just Spillover by David Quammen. I'm sure I'll add something else, soon, but I'd like to make a little progress on the reading of Spillover, since I've been hacking away at it, off and on, for ages.

Blog plans:

I'm going to take some time off from the blog as I've been having a terrible bout of insomnia and also feel like I want to scream at the thought of sitting down to write a blog post. Clearly, I've become a little burned out (plus, lack of sleep can totally screw up one's ability to think straight). We got a new gym in town, a couple weeks ago, and I'm finding that my days revolve around planning when to exercise, so maybe it will help if I take off some time, get into a routine, and then fit my blog posts within whatever time ends up being open. I enjoyed The Time Fetch and 2 A.M. at The Cat's Pajamas enough that I doubt I'll have any trouble remembering them well enough to write about them later, so I'm not worried about that. I'm planning to do a giveaway some time this month, as well, so hopefully I'll feel recovered within a week or two.

Having said all that, I can't tell you how long I'll be away. I've found that I need to take breaks from blogging more often every year. If I don't feel like writing about books within a week or a month, I'll just stay away till I do. Best to all, till then!

©2014 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery  or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Blogging break and brief words about Shadowed by Grace by Cara Putman

I'm almost done with my January reviews and the last of my January reads, This Dark Road to Mercy by Wiley Cash, was my absolute favorite.  But, for some reason I've hit the wall and can't get myself to write a review of it (or anything else).  It must be time for a little break.  What Hawaiian chickens have to do with a break is beyond me.  I was going to put a word bubble next to that front chicken, "I think I'll go that way for a while," but I couldn't remember which photo-editing website I've used to do that.  Just imagine the chicken is me, going off in another direction for a time, okay?  

Besides the Wiley Cash book (which I am dying to tell you about, when I can get myself to write, again), I was due to write a tour review of this book by the 8th of February:

Shadowed by Grace by Cara Putman is a fictional tale about a photographer in search of her father and her encounter with the Monuments Men (whom you've no doubt heard about because a movie about them is being released, this week).  I'm still reading the book, enjoying it and will write a review of it as soon as I can but there's no way I'll be done with it by tonight.  My apologies to the publisher for not finishing before the end of the tour.  

I'm hoping some times away from the computer will refresh my urge to write book reviews. I'll just stay away till the urge to spill about books returns.  Usually, it's just a matter of days but I can never say, for sure.  

See you soon!

©2014 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery  or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Going blog silent

Happy Thanksgiving (a wee bit early) to the Americans!  We'll be busy with family, this week, and I've been having a bit of post-NaNoWriMo exhaustion reading block so there's not much malarkey to share, this week.  I may take a couple weeks off blogging while I recover.

This is German food from Alabama, by the way.  Couldn't find a decent turkey photo but I figured since this shot pretty much made me drool on the keyboard it would be a good one for illustration.

It makes me want to hop a plane to Germany or at least take a road trip to Alabama.  Hope all of you have a fabulous week or two.  Happy Reading to all!

©2013 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery  or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Time off - which usually doesn't mean much

I have been having a terrible time convincing myself to sit down and blog, this week, and whenever that happens I consider jumping ship (but I've just ended up slowing the boat). Is that poster perfect, or what? Instead of jumping ship, I'm going to try to make every minute count by stepping away. Often, the moment I say I'm going to take time off, the pressure is lifted and I start writing up a storm. Weird, but true. We'll see what happens.

Before I do, though . . . an update and some miscellaneous jazz:

I am about 245 pages into The Reconstructionist by Nick Arvin. It's an oddly captivating book that I think I'm going to have a bear of a time describing. The protagonist is a mechanical engineer. I've been around engineers for so long that I get the way they think, so I'm enjoying that particular point-of-view. I think it's partly the weird relationships and not knowing how they'll end up, partly the math and the descriptions of how the "reconstructionists" go about reconstructing accident scenes that I find compelling. At any rate, it's an interesting book and I will probably finish it tonight.

I'm also reading Learned Optimism by Martin Seligman, a psychology/self-help book about turning yourself into an optimist (you probably figured that out from the title, right?) that is pretty fascinating. I considered skipping the introductory part and jumping right into the how-to, but decided not to and I'm glad I didn't. There's a self-test that was really quite interesting. I tested hubby, as well. I haven't added an image of the book to my sidebar because I have a tendency to stall on self-help books but . . . well, that was an interesting statement. The whole point of the book is not to tell yourself things like, "I tend to stall on self-help books," and learn, for example, to expect to finish. More on that, later.

Last but not least, I've started Play These Games by Heather Swain. Even though I misread the information about the book and expected something totally different, it's a book about making your own games for rainy days and such, which is something I can really get behind. As a kid, I used to do a lot of what is now referred to as "repurposing" -- making games, toys, desk shelves, etc. out of simple things like boxes, pipe cleaners, foil, paper . . . you name it. So, I'm hoping I'll find a few things to do, just for a change of pace. Besides how-to instructions, there are some terrific nerdy factoids thrown in. It's a really fun book.

The miscellaneous jazz:

I read Baby Shark's High Plains Redemption by Robert Fate (<---my review) in 2008. I can't believe it's been 3 1/2 years since I read it! I still remember several particularly vivid scenes. Anyway, Robert Fate's Baby Shark books are now available as e-books and Baby Shark is free for Kindle till the 22nd of May. I highly recommend grabbing a copy.

Kiddo will need to learn to cook a bit more (he's not afraid of the kitchen) because there's no room in the dorms at the university he'll be attending in the fall and that means he'll have to live in an apartment or rental house. So, we bought him a crock pot and I went hunting for crock pot recipes at a few favorite bloggers' websites. I failed miserably, but ended up looking for a recipe similar to a favorite restaurant pasta dish and found this:

Creamy Shrimp Artichoke Fettucine (there's no image available, so this link takes you directly to the print version)

Husband whipped it up in nothing flat and it was every bit as good as the restaurant recipe.

Feel free to share if you have any easy, delicious crock pot recipes. We have not used a crock pot in eons, so we have none.

The trouble with using available light when photographing cats (hand-held) is that they really like to move. But, I managed to snap a few nice images of Fi on a bright green background. I thought the green really brought out the color of her eyes:

Can you tell I've been in a super-close-up cat photography mood, lately?

Meanwhile, I started wondering what had become of Isabel when she disappeared for a nap, tonight. I like to know where my cats are hanging out because they have a tendency to end up in odd places like linen closets, but this is where I found her:

The cat carrier has been sitting out between vet visits for a couple of weeks and I just hadn't still haven't put it away, yet. Oddly, in spite of its association with a horrible place, both cats have been in and out of it the whole time it's been sitting in the living room. Dark, cocoon-like places are always favored retreats for cats but it still surprised me to find Isabel happily sleeping inside the carrier.

That's all for now! I'll be back when I return. I never know whether it'll be a day or two weeks, when I take time off, but I do tend to walk away from the computer as thoroughly as possible. So, don't freak out if it takes me a while to approve comments and/or reply to them. I will at least drop in daily and I often approve messages from my iPad but don't respond till I get to the computer (since my wonderful, hard-shell iPad case with full-size keyboard broke).

Happy Reading!

©2012 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery and Babble or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Blogging Break

Cropped from this source

©2011 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery and Babble or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Going unplugged - back on the 30th (with kitty pics)

Image credit

But, of course, I'd never leave you without at least a kitty pic or two to admire.

I will pre-post the book tour due on the 30th and plan to be back no later than some time during the first week of July. I intend to totally step away from blogging, so my sidebar may stagnate, but don't worry. I'll update you on what I've read when I return. See you then!

©2011 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery and Babble or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Going unplugged for a few days

I can't seem to get interested in either reading or writing, at the moment, so I'm going to take a brief blogging break. I have about 5 books and a DNF to write about, so I don't plan to stay away for long -- just till my motivation has shut down and rebooted. Hopefully, that'll only be a few days, at most. See you soon!

Taking a break

Quick, how many cats does it take to screw in a light bulb?

Answer: Just one and her name is Isabel. She's very talented.

Izzy, Fi and I have about 10 very busy days coming up. I'll be cleaning and enjoying family; the fur girls will help in a way that only felines can.

<---"Here, Mom, let me help you fold that towel."

"Housework? Where's the nearest cat-sized escape hatch?" ----->

At some point, either next week or the week after, I'll be touring The Mountains Bow Down by Sibella Giorello. But, I don't have a date for that tour, yet, and The Mountains Bow Down is the only book left in my sidebar that I haven't reviewed! Like, freak me out, dude.

Seems like a good time to take off, doesn't it? Maybe I can catch up on some reading, in between tossing out piles of whatever the heck is in those corners. Who puts all that junk in the corners of my house? I don't think I can blame the cats for the clutter (although they do have a massive kitty-toy collection).

First on the reading agenda: I must finish Cutting for Stone by next Wednesday. I have not yet managed to finish a chosen book in time for my face-to-face book group's reading discussion (well, except for those two in December . . . but the point is lost if you don't make it to the meeting), so I'm going to focus on that one. It should take me a few days, since Cutting for Stone is a chunkster. Otherwise, I'm just going to read what calls to me.

See you soon!!

Bookfool on a brief break

Break for the holiday

Taking a break to enjoy having the family around. Happy Thanksgiving to the Americans!