It's Monday! What Are You Reading? and Mailbox Monday - Dec 20

Welcome to It's Monday! What Are You Reading? and Mailbox Monday.

 

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 and comment, and er... add to that ever growing TBR pile! So welcome in everyone. This meme started with J Kaye's Blog and then was taken up by Sheila from Book Journey. Sheila then passed it on to Kathryn at the Book Date.

Welcome to the second to the last Monday in December and, therefore, in 2021. It has gone faster than I thought possible. Since all my shopping is done, I spent this past week wrapping gifts, decorating two of our three trees, trying to get my last two closings of the year settled so that I can enjoy the holidays (both have been frustrating because of all the delays), watching Season 1 of Little House on the Prairie, blogging (here and at my Laura Ingalls Wilder blog) and reading. 

Our collectibles tree.

The snowman tree

Travis enjoys hanging out under any tree I am working on.

I let the girls decorate our main tree, which they still haven't done. So... we will see if they manage it by Christmas Eve when we have company.

As far as books go, I am reading the following. My review of 52 Weeks of Writing is scheduled for December 31. 

Next up are these books.

I just took a photo and sent it over to Sheila at Book Journey for The 9th Annual First Book Event. What will I--hopefully--be reading? You'll have to wait and see, but let me know if you have any guesses. One clue: a book by one of my favorite authors. 

Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came in their mailbox during the last week. Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles and humongous wish lists.

This time of year, I don't usually buy or request many books because my family often gifts me one or two. This year, I decided to use some of my digital credits to buy books from my Amazon Wish List.

In my physical mailbox is this book from an author I follow. I will review it at my children's book blog soon. 

That is it for me. I wish you and yours a blessed Christmas. I also hope you'll join me in praying for all those affected by the horrible tornadoes across the country. If you purchase a copy of my book, A Christmas Kindness, from 4RV Publishing through December 31, 2021, my proceeds will be donated to the Midwest and Southern Tornado Outbreak Relief Fund. Please visit http://www.4rvpublishing.com/cheryl-c-malandrinos.html to purchase. 

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? and Mailbox Monday - July 6

Welcome to It's Monday! What Are You Reading? and Mailbox Monday.

 

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 and comment, and er... add to that ever growing TBR pile! So welcome in everyone. This meme started with J Kaye's Blog and then was taken up by Sheila from Book Journey. Sheila then passed it on to Kathryn at the Book Date.

Welcome back to Monday. I hope my United States friends enjoyed their holiday weekend. I've been working from the Outer Banks, but still enjoying some down time. We went to the fireworks last night on the Manteo waterfront. 

Vacation is always good for reading. I'm reading through a middle grade manuscript for a client right now. As far as books go, I finished this book before we left for vacation. Look for my review today.

I read these:

 

Read my review here

Read my review here

Read my review here

Read my review here

I am reading these three now:

Mailbox Monday is a meme started by Marcia of To Be Continued. Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came in their mailbox during the last week. It now has a permanent home at the Mailbox Monday blog.

I've stayed away from ordering new books since I bought some before vacation. I did, however, find a book warehouse in Nags Head where I picked up this hardcover for a little over $8.

Thomas Jefferson had three daughters: Martha and Maria by his wife, Martha Wayles Jefferson, and Harriet by his slave Sally Hemings. In Jefferson's Daughters, Catherine Kerrison, a scholar of early American and women's history, recounts the remarkable journey of these three women - and how their struggle to define themselves reflects both the possibilities and the limitations that resulted from the American Revolution.

Although the three women shared a father, the similarities end there. Martha and Maria received a fine convent school education while they lived with their father during his diplomatic posting in Paris - a hothouse of intellectual ferment whose celebrated salonnières are vividly brought to life in Kerrison's narrative. Once they returned home, however, the sisters found their options limited by the laws and customs of early America.

Harriet Hemings followed a different path. She escaped slavery - apparently with the assistance of Jefferson himself. Leaving Monticello behind, she boarded a coach and set off for a decidedly uncertain future.

For this groundbreaking triple biography, Kerrison has uncovered never-before-published documents written by the Jefferson sisters when they were in their teens, as well as letters written by members of the Jefferson and Hemings families. She has interviewed Hemings family descendants (and, with their cooperation, initiating DNA testing) and searched for possible descendants of Harriet Hemings.

The eventful lives of Thomas Jefferson's daughters provide a unique vantage point from which to examine the complicated patrimony of the American Revolution itself. The richly interwoven story of these three strong women and their fight to shape their own destinies sheds new light on the ongoing movement toward human rights in America - and on the personal and political legacy of one of our most controversial Founding Fathers.

My reading slowed down a bit this weekend, because I was working. I hope to finish the Rocky Bluff P.D. series and the two children's books I'm reading.

What are you reading right now? What has been your favorite read lately?