It's Monday! What Are You Reading? & Mailbox Monday - Jul 27

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. 

We are settling on the last Monday of July today. How is summer moving so quickly? Before we know it, the local kids will be back in school. 

Another zany week in real estate, but lots of good things too. This week might be more manageable. 

Here are a few recent photos:

Travis and Dwight 

Friday night out

Me preparing to record for the Bucket List Challenge

Theo finds grooming exhausting

Two gifts I bought from Modern Prairie to treat myself

In my reading world, I had finished The Ledger by Steven Manchester earlier. 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 didn't pick up The Eyes of River last week. 

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

Need to get moving on Staged by Caitlin Rother, which is the sequel to Hooked.

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

Also need to read:

• A Christmas Carol Devotional: 25 Advent Reflections from Charles Dickens's Beloved Classic by Rachel Dodge
• The Christmas Yes List by Melissa Ferguson
• Food is Medicine by Dariush Mozaffarian, MD, DRPH
• Beginner's Guide to Using an AI Assistant by Hank Quense

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. 

This week, two hardcover copies of books I own on Audible arrived, both by Oliver Burkeman: Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals and Meditations for Mortals: Four Weeks to Embrace Your Limitations and Make Time for What Counts. 

Upcoming Events

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 is about Christmas 1783, the first Christmas as an independent nation. You can find that here.

The Children's and Teens' Book Connection

At The Children's and Teens' Book Connection, I reviewed In the Wide, Wild World by Natalie Horseman. You can read that here.

Laura's Little Houses

I am talking about the new Little House on the Prairie adaptation this week. You can see my comments here. No real spoilers here if you haven't watched it yet. 

That's it for me. I am feeling more accomplished, but still have a way to go if I plan to hit my reading goal this year. See you around the blogosphere!

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 - Sep 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, 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. Did you do anything special for National Read a Book Day over the weekend? I read the first chapter of Ride A Dark Trail by Winter Austin. Though I am now four weeks into not having a day off, it seems my schedule might ease up a bit toward the end of this week. Fingers crossed.

Here are photos from this week:

Travis likes to nap under my jewelry case.

Met my sister for breakfast, and she brought me treats. Loved that after a long day of work. 

Theo is sitting in the yard after his surgery to remove lipomas. 

On Sunday, he was feeling good enough to create mischief. 

In my reading world, I drafted my review for "Like Driftwood on the Salish Sea" by Richard Levine. This is such a deeply emotional novel. Look for the review on September 15. 

I didn't read Behind the Scenes by Elizabeth Hobbs Keckley on my Kindle this week. 

My First Chapter Review of Whatever It Takes by Alan Benham appeared on Tuesday. You can read it here. 

Look for my First Chapter Review of Ride a Dark Trail by Winter Austin coming toward the end of September. 

I need to write reviews for all three of these books.

364 Days Until Halloween by Allison Edwards, which deals with children's fear of this holiday. 

Little Angel's Christmas Song by Kerstin Hau. Love the artwork on this one. 

Never Let a Unicorn Meet A Reindeer by Diane Alber. This one is funny!

I am waiting for three books to arrive for future reviews, but I also want to read Old Flames, New Beginnings by Lea Schizas during the holiday season. 

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. 

Last week, I downloaded The Curiosities by W. H. Eatons, a middle-grade story from NetGalley.

My mail carrier delivered a book that I pre-ordered, Creating a Writing Life by Jill Kemerer. 

After the next three books for review in October and November arrive, I will stop taking requests for the year... unless a Christmas romance stumbles my way. 

Upcoming Events

• Like Driftwood on the Salish Sea by Richard Levine - Sep 15 (Review)
• Ride a Dark Trail by Winter Austin - Sep 23 (First Chapter Review)
• The Bell Tolls at Traeger Hall by Jaime Jo Wright - Oct 29 (Review)
• The Man Next Door by Sheila Roberts - Oct 31 (Review)
• Singing the Forge by G. H. Mosson - Nov 25 (Review)

The latest Christmas... in the news post is up at Christmas Year Round. Talking about a Christmas tree farm for sale, Adopt-A-Family registrations, and the upcoming Jonas Brothers movie for Disney+ coming in November. Check it out here.

The only new post at The Children's and Teens' Book Connection is my announcement that the three books I read above will be reviewed. 

I am working on a post for Laura's Little Houses that shares my favorite episodes from Season 1 of Little House on the Prairie. I am also continuing with the Season 9 rewrite, but I will be adding an editing job to my schedule, so I won't get to finish the next part of the rewrite anytime soon. 

That's it for me. Looking forward to visiting your blogs.