It's Monday! What Are You Reading? & Mailbox Monday - Jul 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, 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 great week. I'm still playing catch-up because I was living in real estate hell last week. However, I did have two closings last week that went smoothly. I also managed to get to the lab on Friday for my bloodwork to see if they can figure out what is going on with me. 

Today, I will start the day by taking Theo to his least favorite place on Earth--the vet. He gets a monthly allergy shot. Then I have a meeting, and in the afternoon, I follow up with my doctor. I'm still working on an issue for work as well. 

Saw this old restaurant booth in a house last week. It is always cool to stumble upon these treasures. 

In my reading world, I wrote a review of Meditations for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman. I ordered a printed copy of this and Burkeman's first book, Four Thousand Weeks. You can find my review here.

Did not touch The Ladies Hall by Vanessa Miller, and I wonder if I will get to it. 

I am done with The Ledger by Steven Manchester, a companion to his novel The Menu. Look for my review soon. 

I didn't pick up The Eyes of River last week. 

I read some of Love on the Shelf by Sheila Roberts. 

I wrote a First Chapter Review of Staged by Caitlin Rother, which is the sequel to Hooked. You can read that review here.

Massawa by Pam Weber is a book I have not yet started.

I reviewed Max and Her Stacks by Joyce McCullough at The Children's and Teens' Book Connection. Look for my review link below. 

Photo credit: Freepik

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 was approved for these two books by publishers on NetGalley:

A Christmas Carol Devotional: 

25 Advent Reflections from Charles Dickens's Beloved Classic

by Rachel Dodge

The Christmas Yes List by Melissa Ferguson

Hank also sent me his newest beginner's guide for writers to review:

Beginner's Guide to Using an AI Writing Assistant 

by Hank Quense

Upcoming Events

The Ledger by Steven Manchester - TBD (Review)

Staged by Caitlin Rother - TBD (Review)

Massawa by Pam Weber - TBD (Review)

Love on the Shelf by Sheila Roberts - TBD (Review)

Christmas Year Round

This week's Journey through Christmases Past post isn't up yet. Hopefully, tomorrow. 

The Children's and Teens' Book Connection

At The Children's and Teens' Book Connection, we celebrated 17 years of blogging. I also posted a review of Max and Her Stacks by Joyce McCullough. You can read that review here.

Laura's Little Houses

Still nothing new here. Maybe Wednesday. Depends on how this week turns out.

It's nice to see some books come off my list. I'm tired of sharing the same ones week after week. Looking forward to reading your posts. 

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? and Mailbox Monday - Jul 14

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 had a great week. We arrived home from vacation on Saturday afternoon, which was my birthday. I bought myself a new Kindle Fire during Prime Days and am trading in my Paperwhite. I never really liked it. The family also treated me to the gifts below:

The candle reads, "Mom's Last Nerve oh look... it's on fire." The book is about a murder that took place in the Outer Banks. Not sure if those are related: me, my last nerve, and murder. LOL! The cat card in the back is hilarious. It's a cat setting a cake on fire. I guess my husband thinks I'm old (keeping in mind that he's two months older than me). 

On Sunday, I made it out to the garden to see what I had killed... I mean grown. I was pleasantly surprised.

Lettuce and broccoli. The broccoli was delicious. We had it for lunch. 

Snipped a bunch of herbs: basil, oregano, rosemary, parsley, and thyme. 

I've always had success with potatoes. Besides beans, these are the easiest for me to grow. I also snipped the garlic scapes. Will probably add them to a stir fry this week.

The basil and rosemary made it into our chicken last night. 

I've been on a bit of a spending spree lately. Nothing that I didn't need or won't use--work clothes, a tea nest and spoonula for the kitchen, shipping for a free candle that Yankee Candle gives for my birthday, and books. Most of the books didn't cost me money because I had Amazon credits. Of course, one could argue, how could someone with hundreds of books in her TBR pile need more books? 

In my reading world, I realized there was a book I listened to on Audible that I never shared. It's really a great book--one of the most helpful on time management, but one I want to listen to again before reviewing it. At some points, I was distracted or on the phone while driving. Dang multi-tasking. 

Four Thousand Weeks by Oliver Burkeman

My review of 10 Nesting Swallows by Tammar Stein appears at The Children's and Teens' Book Connection. Read it here.

My review of The Three Faces of Nellie: The Real Story Behind Laura Ingalls Wilder's "Nellie Oleson" by Robynne Elizabeth Miller is posted at Laura's Little Houses. You can read it here. 

Hope to have reviews of Stop That Witch! and My Dad Thinks He's a Scream posted soon. 

I've been reading Behind the Scenes by Elizabeth Hobbs Keckley on my Kindle.

Started The Bible Simplified by Zach Windahl on NetGalley. 

I also started Like Driftwood on the Salish Sea by Richard Levine, which I will be reviewing in September.

Look for my First Chapter Reviews of these books coming July through September!

Whispers by J. Herman Kleiger

Gone to the Ground by Morgan Hatch

What Lies We Keep by Janet Roberts

Whatever It Takes by Alan Benham 

Need to read Old Flames, New Beginnings by Lea Schizas 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. 

Here are the new books I added to my ever-growing TBR pile:

The Day I Met Big Foot and Made a New Friend by D. L. Miller 

Mr. Dickens and His Carol by Samantha Silva

Gettysburg: A Testing of Courage 

by Noah Andre Trudeau

The Lost Colony Murder on the Outer Banks: Seeking Justice for Brenda Joyce Holland

 by John Railey

Upcoming Events

• Whispers by J. Herman Kleiger - Jul 18 (First Chapter Review)
• Shooting Stars Above by Patricia Leavy, PhD - Jul 24 (Author Interview)
• Arabesque by M G da Mota - Jul 31 (Book Spotlight)
• Gone to the Ground by Morgan Hatch - Aug 7 (First Chapter Review)
• Like Driftwood on the Salish Sea by Richard Levine - Aug 12 (Author Interview)
• What Lies We Keep by Janet Roberts - Aug 20 (First Chapter Review)
• Whatever it Takes by Alan Brenham - Sep 2 (First Chapter Review)
• Like Driftwood on the Salish Sea by Richard Levine - Sep 15 (Review)

New Christmas... in the news talks about a new Hallmark movie in the works, Pittsburgh is in the process of finding its official tree, and QVC launching a star-studded 'Christmas in July' event this month. Check out more details here. Tomorrow, I will be posting "Three Things to Do in July to Prepare for Christmas."

The Children's and Teens' Book Connection has my review of Ten Nesting Swallows (link above). 

Laura's Little Houses has a review of The Three Faces of Nellie, which I provided a link for above. 

That's it for this week. Wow! That was a lot. Looking forward to checking out your blogs today.