It's Monday! What Are You Reading? and Mailbox Monday - Feb 19

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! Hope you had a great week. Here are a few pictures from my week, which included a real estate event, lots of good food, and animal antics.

Saw some friends at awards night. Took home the Gold for my sales and service. 

Made a slow cooker picadillo for the family.

Gift from a friend.

Theo is a Lamb Chop fan.

Can't open a closet around here. Do you see Travis' eyes?

Dwight wasn't fast enough to get away from the Lil' Diva.

For Lent, I am reading this book and two other devotionals. 

I started the next book in the Love Comes Softly series on Saturday because I can read it when I'm in the tub. All the others are e-books, and that might not end well.

I am also reading this one.

I finished this one yesterday. This is the Prairie Pages Book Club selection for March. A well-written novel, it is an emotional read. Look for my review soon. 

Next are these three. 

Upcoming virtual book tours:

• Civil Twilight by Anique Taylor - Feb 19 (interview)
• Universally Adored and Other One Dollar Stories by Elizabeth Bruce - Mar 12 (interview)
• It Will Have Been So Beautiful by Amanda Shaw - Apr 25 (review) 
• My Career Journal by CareerTuners - May 1 (review) 
• Be Resilient in Your Career by Dr. Helen Ofosu - May 16 (review)

At Christmas Year Round, I shared some of the Christmas fiction in my TBR Pile. You can see that list here.

 

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.

Nothing new this week. I needed to stop the book-buying binge, and I haven't made it to the library lately. 

Looking forward to visiting your blogs today. 

Top Ten Tuesday - Top Ten Places In Books I’d Love to Live

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! Hope you are having a great day so far. This week's Top Ten Tuesday is going to be so much fun. Have you ever wished you could live in some of the places you read about? Now, you can share what those places are. Will my places remind you of your favorite books? Will our lists look the same? Let's find out.

Top Ten Places In Books I’d Love to Live

After reading Lucy Maud Montgomery's beautiful descriptions in the Anne of Green Gables series and other books set on Prince Edward Island, I would love to visit. Sounds like a lovely place to live.

Don't you think Hogwarts would be an interesting place to live? You never know what might happen there. You live in a castle. You can even cast spells on your friends when they make you angry and turn them into toads. 

Thinking about all the amazing things Laura Ingalls Wilder saw in her lifetime makes early America a neat place to visit. I wonder which of the towns on Laura's travels I would like to live best. Maybe Walnut Grove, Minnesota or De Smet, South Dakota. I visited both in 2014. I'm not sure, however, I could live without indoor plumbing, so this would need to be a modern day move. 

As a lover of history, I would love to live in Charleston, South Carolina. All the evil spirts that follow Melanie around, however, would need to be gone first.

Though I am not sure I could handle the Australian heat, if they could outfit a place like Drogheda with air conditioning, I would give it a chance.

The small town of Sweet River, Oregon sounds like a charming place to live... especially for the holidays. Think of any Hallmark Movie Channel Christmas story and you will get the picture.

Another fictional small town I would love to live in is Cedar Cove. On the Pacific coast, this friendly little town would be full of fun adventures. I think I would enjoy working at the library.

The Outer Banks of North Carolina is like a second home to us. We are so looking forward to this year's trip down the Atlantic coast to our favorite spot on earth. My hope is to retire down to the OBX one day. 

If I had to live on the west coast, a fictional town like Bear Creek, a small mountain community in the Southern Sierra, sounds like a fascinating place. Hiking would be a great pastime. Not sure I would want to run into the Hairy Man, though.

Considering that I am not Amish, this last one might be tough. Amish communities like Morning Star have always fascinated me. Hard work isn't an issue for me, but I think I would be happier in a more progressive community like Morning Star than some others.

So, what do you think of my list? Hope you will share your thoughts. 

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? - Nov 23

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 you had a nice weekend. I didn't get half of what I needed to do accomplished, but this week I have only one meeting, one closing, and one book review due, so I am hopeful for a more productive week. 

In my book world, I am reading this neat little treasure. My review will appear on Friday. 

These are the next ones I need to review. 

In addition, I just requested this book for review in January.

Yes, I am my own worst enemy. I blame it on that 2014 Little House trip I took with my friends. We crossed the Mississippi by car and saw one of these paddlewheels when we pulled over to take photos. How could I pass up this travel memoir?  

I am looking forward to 2021 and making plans for success. I will be making some blogging changes in the new year, so look out for that announcement. 

Thanks for visiting. Hope my friends in the States have a nice Thanksgiving. 

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? - June 8

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.

Here it is Monday again. Did the week pass quickly for anyone else? The real estate market is booming (they warned us of the delayed spring market) and my head is ready to explode. It's great to be working full time again, but things have changed--just like other industries have changed--as a result of the pandemic.

As far as reading goes, I'm almost done this one. Love it so far.

These are next. The last one might have to come to North Carolina with me. We will see how much I can accomplish before then.

What's on your list to read this week? Anything exciting I should be adding to my wish list?

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? - June 1

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 first Monday in June. It sure is a crazy time in our world. The pandemic, riots, states trying to re-open their businesses...

Sure makes one want to hide under a rock for a while and come out when things are better.

After a tense month and a half, we are focusing on being kind to ourselves. This week will be a busy one, but I have some writing to accomplish and maybe a bit of editing. Oh, and some reading to catch up on.

I reviewed this one last week. You can find the review here. I felt disappointed when the publisher stopped sending me books from this series (this book was the last one I had), but in fairness to them I wasn't returning reviews fast enough. I'm now six books behind. Yikes!

I opted to switch to Karen White this week because I have all the books in the Tradd Street series and I want to catch up.

Then comes these two.

I need to consider which books I'll bring with me to North Carolina at the end of the month. Maybe I'll contemplate that next week. 

What genres do you like to take on vacation? How do you pack them? Do you bring printed and e-books?

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? - May 25

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.

Happy Memorial Day, everyone. I hope you have some plans for rest and relaxation. This Memorial Day is special for us because so many local remembrances are also including the 89 veterans lost at the Soldiers' Home in Holyoke--including my father-in-law. It is also our son's birthday, so we are having him over for supper.

In my reading world, I'm on the final few chapters of this one.

I need to sneak this one in next.

Then this one.

That's it for me. I'm doing my best not to request new books for review. That only makes catching up harder. 

How do you stay on top of your TBR pile? Are you caught up on book reviews or are you a bit behind? 

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? - Apr 20

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.

Happy Patriots Day. You've probably heard that the annual Boston Marathon has been postponed until September. This is the first time in 122 years it won't take place in April. Our world is so different these days.

Sunday was our second Easter. We always celebrate Orthodox Easter with my husband's family. This year it was just us and the kids, but it was nice to keep the tradition alive.

I'm keeping up with my reading. I recently finished these two books.

Now, I am reading this one. My review is slated for April 30.

Here are some others I plan to read. 

Hope you're enjoying your books. Feel free to share what you're reading.