Happy 7th anniversary to Mini-me and Ms. S! I can't believe it's only been/already been 7 years. In some ways time has just flown by. In other ways, so much has happened since this happy day that it seems like ages ago. Their present home is already the third city and fourth home they've lived in, they've bought two houses and added two pets to the family. They have survived Covid, Mini-me's continuing and ever-changing treatments for an autoimmune disease, a house fire, and winters in Alaska. I've always said they were perfectly suited to each other and these seven years and proved the point.
Happy Sunday! It strikes me today that I used to comment on whether or not the day was sunny, but some time ago I realized that Sunday mornings seemed to nearly always be sunny. As is this one. In fact the whole weekend will be sunny and cooler so yesterday saw us getting some outside work done and spending a lot of time on the patio enjoying the fruits of our labors.
This week's reviews are tied together because the books both have to do with books/stories, are set in other countries, and involve dictators in some way.
Last Week I:
Listened To: I finished The House of Lincoln and now I'm listening to Lynn Painter's Mr. Wrong Number.
Watched: A lot of the Olympic trials for swimming, track and field, and gymnastics.
Read: I finished Tea Obreht's The Morningside and started Julia Phillips' Bear, both on NetGalley.
Made: Nachos, BLT salad, and overnight French toast for a brunch that was supposed to happen yesterday but didn't.
Enjoyed: Patio time in the afternoon with one set of friends and dessert with another set in the evening.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This Week I’m:
Planning: Finally, finally going to get started on projects this week. The question is just which piece to start with. Refinish a vanity, paint some dining chairs, paint Mini-him's dresser?
Thinking About: The point, 15 years ago, of starting this blog was to keep a record of the books I read. The problem with it, though, is that it doesn't keep statistics. So I try to track those in my journal. This week I at least got all of the book listed that I'll have finished by end of day today. Forty-five. How did I get to forty-five already this year? Lots of audiobooks, for one thing. Requesting a lot of books through NetGalley and from the library with strict read-by dates has pushed me along as well. The thing is that I've mostly not felt like I was being pressured, even when I turned up the speed a bit to finish up an audiobook before it was returned. I've enjoyed almost every book I've read this year and really liked, even loved, several. It's been a good year for reading so far.
Feeling: Refreshed from a slow day yesterday with lots of friend time.
Looking forward to: Miss H is coming in for a couple of days and the 4th is Miss C's birthday.
Question of the week: If I stay on track with the number of books I've been reading a week, I'll hit 90 books read by the end of the year. I could shoot for that but I'd rather focus on enjoying my reading, and maybe even throw in a couple of really big books this year. How many books do you read a year? Do you prefer print, e-books, audio, or some combination of those?