It's Monday! What Are You Reading? & Mailbox Monday - Jan 19

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is a place to meet up and share what you have been, are, and about to be reading over the week. It's a great post to organize yourself. It's an opportunity to visit, comment, and add to that ever-growing TBR pile! So welcome, everyone. This meme started with J Kaye's Blog and was then taken up by Sheila from Book Journey. Sheila then passed it on to Kathryn at the Book Date.

Welcome to the middle of January. See how quickly that happened? Hope you had a great week. My schedule last week and this coming week is full, but I managed to take two half days off this weekend, and today I only have one appointment. 

Our Christmas decorations are officially packed away for the season... much to the dismay of Travis. I guess he will need to find something else to play with instead of ornaments. 

Snow arrived overnight on Friday and continued through part of Saturday. We had another coating or so on Sunday morning. 

I've taken to enjoying auctions over the last few months. I snagged this clipper ship table that is in the room where my office will eventually be.

After Christmas, Modern Prairie ran its annual mystery sale. You purchase from select categories at discounted prices. Well, my mystery gifts arrived yesterday: a sewing kit and cloth napkins. 

As far as reading goes, I've been loving the Christian short story collection, Chapters and Second Chances by Evelyn Grace Berry. 

I did not read I Heard the Bells, but I want to finish it this month. 

I read some of Hooked by Cailtin Rother last week. I need to finish this one soon.  

Mailbox Monday is a gathering place for readers to share the books they added to their shelves the previous week. This weekly meme is now hosted by Vicki at I'd Rather Be At The Beach. 

Two of these new books, Arthur's Cat by Johan Leynaud and The Curious Life of Cecilia Payne: Discovering the Stuff of Stars by Laura Alary, arrived on Sunday from Eerdmans Publishing. 

I Really Want to Be a Cat by Helen Hancocks (Sourcebooks Jabberwocky) and Creepy Kid by Caleb Roehrig are NetGalley downloads.

I grabbed It Shouldn't Be You by Jessica Wakefield during a promotion for newsletter subscribers.

Upcoming Events

Hooked by Catilin Rother - January (Review)

Tender Dreams, Harsh Reality by John Beilharz - Jan 26 (Interview)

Artsy Rambler by Evy and Rich Journey - Feb 3 (Spotlight)

Winter's Season by R. J. Koreto - Feb 13 (Spotlight)

Hook, Line, and Murder by GG Calpo - Mar 2 (Interview)

Agatha Christie, She Watched by Teresa Peschel - Apr 15 (Review)

Christmas Year Round

Christmas Year Round's latest "Journey through Christmases Past" finds us in 1982. You can read that post here.

The Children's and Teens' Book Connection

I shared the new children's books that I mentioned above, so not sharing a link here today. 

Laura's Little Houses

The sixth chapter in my Season 9 "Times Are Changing" rewrite is now available. I posted a link here.

I have a morning appointment, so I will be checking in with you throughout the day. Thanks for visiting!

Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge: The First Show I Remember Watching

 

The Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge is hosted by Long and Short Reviews. They offer this blog hop as a weekly prompt to help you gain new friends and visitors. You don't have to participate every week, but if you decide to post and join the blog hop for a week, Long and Short Reviews asks that you share your link on their weekly post on their website (it will be the top post on the home page each Wednesday morning). The link list remains open for new links for 48 hours. Visit the other bloggers participating to see what they discuss that week. Comments are appreciated. 

Happy hump day! Hope your week is going well. Today, we are talking about television. Today's Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge asks us to share the first show we remember watching. Keeping in mind that I am a Gen Xer, we only had a handful of channels back then: ABC, CBS, NBC, PBS, and Channel 38 out of Boston. 

My earliest recollection is watching Sesame Street on PBS. Long before Elmo was even imagined, Grover, Bert, Ernie, Big Bird (my favorite), Kermit, Oscar the Grouch, Count von Count, Gordon, Susan, Bob, Luis, and Mr. Hooper lived on Sesame Street, helping me learn how to read, spell, and count. I still sing some of the songs from the show, and used to sing them to my children. Here are a few of my favorites:

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Most Anticipated Books Releasing in the First Half of 2026 & Tell Me Something Tuesday: What's a Food You're Obsessed With?

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together. 

Welcome to Tuesday! Another morning of meetings for me. Doesn't that sound like fun? At least I'm not bored. 

Today, we are sharing our most anticipated books releasing in the first half of 2026. Let's see what we can find.

Top Ten Most Anticipated Books Releasing

 in the First Half of 2026

No One Would Do What the Lamberts Have Done by Sophie Hannah

Write Way to Die by Nikki Haverstock

Hattie Mae Begins Again by Sharon G. Flake

If You Were Here by Abigail Johnson

How Simi Got her Groom Back by Sonali Dev

99 Ways to Die and How to Avoid Them by Ashley Alker, M. D.

You with the Sad Eyes: A Memoir by Christina Applegate

Everyone in This Bank is a Thief by Benjamin Stevenson

A Lady's Handbook to Gadgets and Guile by Angela Bell

Love on the Shelf by Sheila Roberts

Thanks to Freepik for the image

Tell Me Something Tuesday (TMST) is hosted by Jen Twimom at That's What I'm Talking About. TMST is a weekly discussion post where bloggers discuss a wide range of topics from books and blogging to life in general. Participation is optional, and you can leave your comments in the weekly post when you participate. Check it out if you're interested in joining.

Tell Me Something Tuesday is asking us to share a food we are obsessed with. Hmmm... have you met me? I love to eat. I have the largest appetite in the house. While I love pizza, ice cream, and chocolate chip cookies, I guess the one food I am obsessed with is pasta. 

When I was pregnant with my son many, many moons ago, I ate pasta several times a week. Pasta is a staple in our house, with me making one pasta dish weekly. I might supplement that with leftover pasta for lunch. One day, I want to make my own pasta. 

That's it for me today. I look forward to visiting your blogs. 

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? and Mailbox Monday - Jan 12

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is a place to meet up and share what you have been, are, and about to be reading over the week. It's a great post to organize yourself. It's an opportunity to visit, comment, and add to that ever-growing TBR pile! So welcome, everyone. This meme started with J Kaye's Blog and was then taken up by Sheila from Book Journey. Sheila then passed it on to Kathryn at the Book Date.

Happy Monday! Hope you all had a fabulous week. I spent my week easing into work and taking time to visit with my sisters. Here are photos from our trip.

Grand Pequot Tower 

Lunch at Jealous Monk

Ax throwing: Don't worry, you are all safe. My highest score was zero.

Ketchup cat at Johnny Rockets

Breakfast at Somewhere in Time Cafe

Advent calendars at a 

store in Olde Mistick Village

I finished two books last week: Next Is Now by Leigh Brown, and The Case for Old MacDonald and His Farm. Check out my review of Leigh's book here. The link to the picture book appears further down in this post. 

I did not read I Heard the Bells last week, but I will indulge myself tonight. 

I didn't read Hooked by Cailtin Rother last week, but it will be my focus this week. 

Mailbox Monday is a gathering place for readers to share the books they added to their shelves the previous week. This weekly meme is now hosted by Vicki at I'd Rather Be At The Beach. 

I gave my physical and virtual mailboxes a break this week. 

Upcoming Events

Hooked by Catilin Rother - January (Review)

Tender Dreams, Harsh Reality by John Beilharz - Jan 26 (Interview)

Artsy Rambler by Evy and Rich Journey - Feb 3 (Spotlight)

Winter's Season by R. J. Koreto - Feb 13 (Spotlight)

Hook, Line, and Murder by GG Calpo - Mar 2 (Interview)

Agatha Christie, She Watched by Teresa Peschel - Apr 15 (Review)

Christmas Year Round

I introduced my newest feature at Christmas Year Round, "Journey through Christmases Past." This is a nostalgic celebration of the holidays we remember. You can read the first post, looking back at 1968, here. 

The Children's and Teens' Book Connection

I reviewed one of my NetGalley downloads, The Case of Old MacDonald and His Farm by Mark Teague, which will be released in March. Click here to read the review. 

Laura's Little Houses

I wrapped up my Little House favorite episodes posts by sharing my top five from Season 9. You can read about them here. 

That completes my second 2026 Monday post. I have an appointment this morning, so I will be checking in with my blogging friends later this afternoon. Enjoy your day!