WEEKLY UPDATES: BLOGGIESTA, READING, & SKYPE CHATTING…

Good morning! Today’s post will link up to The Sunday Salon, The Sunday Post and Stacking the Shelves, for weekly updates.

**Mailbox Monday is hosted at the home site: Mailbox Monday.

And let’s join Kathryn, our leader in It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?, at Book Date.

 

What a week!  Two out of three of the books I read and reviewed were great fiction.  The third book was nonfiction, and had to be swallowed in small bites only.

I managed to start off the weekend with a wonderful 2-1/2 hour Skype chat with my eldest son, who lives in Prague.  It was an uplifting experience, as we needed a major catch up on life and events.  Here is a recent photo of him with Gabi, his wife (right) and Aubrey, my granddaughter (left), who just finished her Prague semester there.

 

The week was devoted mainly to reading and blogging…Bloggiesta begins next weekend, February 3-4,  but I’ve already made progress with my blog tasks.  I’ve chosen An Interior Journey as the primary blog to “fix,” but I’ve given facelifts to some of my other blogs, too.

So…let’s grab more coffee and take a closer look at last week…

 

LAST WEEK ON THE BLOGS:

Sunday Potpourri:  Books, Netflix, & a Family Tree…

Mini-Bloggiesta:  Sign-Up Post

Rainy Day Excerpts:  “Lie With Me”

Tuesday Potpourri:  New Book Release Tuesday!

A Week of Lovely Books…

Coffee Chat:  Books, Bloggiesta, & Netflix

Thursday Potpourri:  Blogging & Reading Experiences…

Bookish Friday:  “The Sixth Window”

Review:  Seeing Red (e-book), by Sandra BrownReview:  The Great Alone (e-book), by Kristin Hannah (NetGalley – 2/6)Review:  Fire & Fury (e-book), by Michael Wolff

 INCOMING BOOKS: (Titles/Covers Linked to Amazon)

No books came in my physical mailbox!  However, I received a NetGalley e-ARC…and then I downloaded two purchased e-books.

After Anna (e-book), by Lisa Scottoline – NetGalley – 4/10/18

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Purchased Downloads:

Fates & Furies (e-book), by Lauren Groff

The Wife (e-book), by Alafair Burke

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WHAT’S NEXT?

The Almost Sisters (e-book), by Joshilyn Jackson

Promise Not to Tell (e-book), by Jayne Ann Krentz

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That was my week…what did yours look like?  Take a peek at a delicious dessert I enjoyed last weekend…Key Lime Pie…

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SUNDAY/MONDAY UPDATES: I AM READY TO GREET OCTOBER!

 

Good morning!  Today’s post will link up to Sunday Salon, The Sunday Post,  and Book Journey, for  Weekly Updates.

**Mailbox Monday is now hosted at the home site:  Mailbox Monday.

Good morning, Bloggers!  Grab some coffee (or a mimosa), and let’s talk about our weeks.

 

 

I find myself writing this post much earlier than usual this weekend.  The hours ahead will be full of family time, a get-together that is a celebration of new beginnings.  My youngest son and his wife are moving farther north, and my daughter will be moving into their house here.  We will be lifting our glasses to what lies ahead!

Meanwhile, here’s a quick nod to last week…

ON THE BLOGS:

Bloggiesta Finish Line:  Success!

Tuesday Potpourri:  Intros/Teasers – “Hello from the Gillespies”

Reprising My Review of “The Banks of Certain Rivers” – Paperback Release

Hump Day Potpourri:  Waiting for “Unbecoming”

Reshuffling the Interiors:  A Touch of OCDD

My Bookish (and Not So Bookish) Thoughts:  Reshuffling, Renewing

Serendipitous Friday:  Book Beginnings/Friday 56 – “Friendswood”

From the Interior:  My Seven Deadly Sins

Creative Expressions on a Saturday:  Saturday Snapshots

Meadow Returns:  An Excerpt from “Interior Designs”

Review:  Quiet (e-book), by Susan Cain (For Mt. TBR Challenge)

Review:  Safe Keeping, by Barbara Taylor Sissel (Amazon Vine Review)

Review:  Friendswood, by Rene Steinke (Amaon Vine Review)

 

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INCOMING BOOKS (Titles/Covers Linked to Amazon)

No books came in the mailbox!  But Sparky is happily feasting on the three downloads I found.

Leaves (e-book), by Michael Baron

 

 

 

 

 

Owen’s Daughter (e-book), by Jo-Ann Mapson

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

River Road (e-book), by Jayne Ann Krentz

 

 

 

 

 

 

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WHAT’S UP NEXT? (Titles/Covers Linked to Amazon)

Currently Reading:  Crooked River, by Valerie Geary (Amazon Vine Review)

 

 

 

 

 

Then I hope to read these books…and maybe more; we shall see!

 

Hello from the Gillespies, by Monica McInerney  (Vine Review)

 

 

 

 

Dance the Eagle to Sleep, by Marge Piercy (From Mt. TBR)

 

 

 

 

The Corn Maiden (and Other Nightmares), by Joyce Carol Oates (From Mt. TBR)

 

 

 

 

 

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With only a few more days left in September, I am feeling the fall…finally.  The temperature has slid down to the eighties and even mid-seventies on occasion.  I pulled some pumpkin and other autumn tidbits from the closets.  I am ready!

 

 

 

 

 

 

WELCOME TO OCTOBER!!

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WEEKLY SUNDAY/MONDAY UPDATES: HAPPY LABOR DAY WEEKEND!

 

Good morning!  Today’s post will link up to Sunday Salon, The Sunday Post,  and Book Journey, for  Weekly Updates.

**Mailbox Monday is now hosted at the home site:  Mailbox Monday.

Good morning, Bloggers!  Grab some coffee (or a mimosa), and let’s talk about our weeks.

 

 

 

And Happy Labor Day to those who celebrate it!  For those who are going on the road, have safe, happy trips!

I plan to spend the weekend reading and watching movies/DVDs/Netflix.  Here’s one on my list:  Fading Gigolo.  I don’t think I’ve ever seen Woody Allen in a movie that wasn’t directed and produced by him!

 

 

 

 

LAST WEEK ON THE BLOGS:

Sunday Potpourri:  Blissful Euphoria

Curl up with Books, Movies, & Our Routines

Out on a Limb with Intros/Teasers:  “An Italian Wife”

Tuesday Potpourri:  Contemplations

Creative Wednesday:  Waiting for “Ruth’s Journey”

My Bookish (And Not So Bookish) Thoughts:  An Unsettling Week

Thursday Potpourri:  Released!

From the Interior:  Book Beginnings/Friday 56 – “The Home Place”

Creative Saturday:  Back to School!

A Darkness Hovers Overhead:  An Excerpt from “Interior Designs”

Weekend Potpourri:  Going outside my Comfort Zone

Review:  Falling Into Place, by Amy Zhang

Review:  The Silent Sister, by Diane Chamberlain

Review:  The House on Mermaid Point (e-book), by Wendy Wax

 

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INCOMING BOOKS:  (Titles/Covers Linked to Amazon)

One lone book arrived in my mailbox…BUT I downloaded FIVE e-books to feed Sparky!

 

A Wedding and a Killing, by Lauren Carr (From the Author)

 

 

 

Downloads:

 

The Next Time You See Me (e-book), by Holly Goddard Jones

 

 

 

 

A Long Time Gone (e-book), by Karen White

 

 

 

In the Woods (e-book), by Tana French

 

 

 

 

The Murderer’s Daughters (e-book), by Randy Susan Meyers

 

 

 

Silver Bay (e-book), by JoJo Moyes

 

 

 

 

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WHAT’S UP NEXT? (Titles/Covers Linked to Amazon)

 

An Italian Wife, by Ann Hood (Amazon Vine Review)

 

 

 

 

 

The Home Place, by Carrie La Seur (Amazon Vine Review)

 

 

 

 

This Is Where I Leave You (e-book), by Jonathan Tropper (Movie coming soon!)

 

 

 

 

The Good Girl (e-book), by Mary Kubica

 

 

 

 

 

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And, like the book listed above, THIS IS WHERE I LEAVE YOU…but we will be connecting throughout the week.  Enjoy the holiday, if you are celebrating it!

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WEEKLY SUNDAY/MONDAY UPDATES: WELCOME TO DECEMBER!

Good morning!  Today’s post will link up to Sunday Salon, The Sunday Post,  and Book Journey, for What Are You Reading?

**Mailbox Monday for December will be at Rose City Reader.

We had two great Thanksgiving get-togethers….here’s a favorite photo of Noah enjoying some dessert.

LAST WEEK ON THE BLOGS:

My Interior World of Books:  Both Print & Digital

Pondering the End of the Year Challenges

Tuesday Potpourri:  Intros/Teasers – The Things That Keep Us Here

Waiting Eagerly for “Hidden”

Monthly Reading/Challenges Wrap-Up

Review:  Cartwheel (e-book), by Jennifer Dubois

Review:  Virgin Soul (e-book), by Judy Juanita

Review:  Finding Colin Firth, by Mia March

Review:  Market Street (e-book), by Anita Hughes

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INCOMING BOOKS: (Titles/Covers are linked to Amazon)

Three review books came in the mail; I purchased one book and downloaded two books for Sparky.

Morning Glory (e-book), by Sarah Jio

Lies You Wanted to Hear (e-book), by James Whitfield Thomson

One Hundred Names, by Cecelia Ahern (Amazon Vine)

What I Had Before I Had You, by Sarah Cornwell (Vine)

The Edge of Normal, by Carla Norton

The Rosie Project, by Graeme Simsion (Purchase)

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UPCOMING WEEK ON THE BLOGS:  (Titles/Covers are linked to Amazon)

The Things That Keep Us Here, by Carla Buckley

Invisible, by Carla Buckley

Sense & Sensibility, by Joanna Trollope (Amazon Vine)

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That’s what my week looks like!  Come on by and let’s chat….don’t forget the coffee!

SUNDAY UPDATES/MAILBOX MONDAY: A NEW MONTH! — AUGUST 4

Good morning!  Today’s post will link up to Sunday Salon, The Sunday Post, and head over to Bermudaonion for Mailbox Monday.

We’ve said goodbye to July this past week…and now we’re looking ahead to August and the final weeks of summer.

Here’s what’s been happening around my place(s) in the blogosphere.

ON THE BLOGS:

Serendipitous Tuesdays:  Intros/Teasers – Necessary Lies

Author Interview with Shalanna Collins

Monthly Wrap-up:  Goodbye to July

Thursday Sparks:  First Person or Third Person Voice

Go out on a Limb on Friday with Book Beginnings/The Friday 56

Sweet Saturday Sample:  Second Thoughts?

READING/REVIEWING: (Click Titles for Reviews)

Someone Else’s Love Story, by Joshilyn Jackson

Daddy’s Gone A Hunting (e-book), by Mary Higgins Clark

The Wednesday Daughters (e-book), by Meg Waite Clayton

The First Lie (e-book), by Diane Chamberlain (Prequel)

INCOMING BOOKS:

Amy Falls Down, by Jincy Willett (Amazon Vine Review)

Amy Gallup is an aging novelist and writing instructor living in Escondido, California, with her dog, Alphonse. Since recent unsettling events, she has made some progress. While she still has writer’s block, she doesn’t suffer from it. She’s still a hermit, but she has allowed some of her class members into her life. She is no longer numb, angry, and sardonic: she is merely numb and bemused, which is as close to happy as she plans to get. Amy is calm.

So, when on New Year’s morning she shuffles out to her backyard garden to plant a Norfolk pine, she is wholly unprepared for what happens next.

Amy falls down.

A simple accident, as a result of which something happens, and then something else, and then a number of different things, all as unpredictable as an eight-ball break. At first the changes are small, but as these small events carom off one another, Amy’s life changes in ways that range from ridiculous to frightening to profound.

This most reluctant of adventurers is dragged and propelled by train, plane, and automobile through an outlandish series of antic media events on her way to becoming–to her horror–a kind of celebrity. And along the way, as the numbness begins to wear off, she comes up against something she has avoided all her life: her future, that “sleeping monster, not to be poked.”

Jincy Willett’s Amy Falls Down explores, through the experience of one character, the role that accident plays in all our lives. “You turn a corner and beasts break into arias, gunfire erupts, waking a hundred families, starting a hundred different conversations. You crack your head open and three thousand miles away a stranger with Asperger’s jump-starts your career.”

We are all like Amy. We are all wholly unprepared for what happens next.

Also, there’s a basset hound.

Innocent, by Scott Turow (Purchased)   (Sequel to Presumed Innocent)

The sequel to the genre-defining, landmark bestseller Presumed Innocent, INNOCENT continues the story of Rusty Sabich and Tommy Molto who are, once again, twenty years later, pitted against each other in a riveting psychological match after the mysterious death of Rusty’s wife.

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The mailbox was very quiet…which is probably a good thing after the bonanza of books I received last week.  Now I just have to settle down and get some reading done!

SUNDAY UPDATES/MAILBOX MONDAY — A PRODUCTIVE WEEK! — JUNE 16

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Good morning!  Today’s post will link up to Sunday Salon, The Sunday Post, and Mailbox Monday!

I had a very busy week, between hanging out with grandson Noah, who is on summer vacation now, and purging my bookshelves.  Here are some boxes I filled from my shelves.

 

 

I thoroughly enjoyed my blogging and reading, in between these activities.  Here’s what went on at my blogs.

ON THE BLOGS:

Musing About a Delicious Read:  W is for Wasted

Tuesday Potpourri:  Intros/Teasers – The Glass Wives

The Journey Continues:  An Excerpt

Book Hoarding:  A Plan to Curb Those Impulses

Serendipitous Wednesdays:  Dark Witch

Friday Potpourri:  More Book Purging

Friday Sparks:  Book Beginnings/56 – Innocent Little Crimes

Sweet Saturday Sample:  Homeward Bound

 

Reading: (Click Titles for Reviews)

Flora, by Gail Godwin

Coming Clean:  A Memoir, by Kimberly Rae Miller

44 Charles Street, by Danielle Steel (From Mt. TBR)

No Child of Mine (e-book), by Susan Lewis

 

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And now for incoming books!  I did not receive any in the mail, but downloaded one e-book (my purchase).

Is This Tomorrow? (e-book), by Caroline Leavitt

In 1956, Ava Lark rents a house with her twelve-year-old son, Lewis, in a desirable Boston suburb. Ava is beautiful, divorced, Jewish, and a working mom. She finds her neighbors less than welcoming. Lewis yearns for his absent father, befriending the only other fatherless kids: Jimmy and Rose. One afternoon, Jimmy goes missing. The neighborhood—in the throes of Cold War paranoia—seizes the opportunity to further ostracize Ava and her son.

Years later, when Lewis and Rose reunite to untangle the final pieces of the tragic puzzle, they must decide: Should you tell the truth even if it hurts those you love, or should some secrets remain buried?

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Today I’m reading a book I borrowed from the library:  Stay, by Deb Caletti.  I thoroughly enjoyed He’s Gone, which I read a couple of weeks ago.

What was your week like?  What’s coming up for you?  I hope you’ll stop by to chat.

 

TSS: A GREAT READING/BLOGGING WEEK — JUNE 2

Good morning, and welcome to another Sunday Salon, where we gather around and share tidbits about the past week, and what lies ahead.

Wow, what a great week it was!  For those who remained “behind” during BEA week, we had Armchair BEA, and here are some of those posts:

Armchair BEA Day One, Day Two, and Day Three.

Monday Potpourri:   Musing About Bookish Things

Tuesday Potpourri:  Intros/Teasers – “He’s Gone”

Rolling Out the New for June:  Books, Blog Designs, Etc.

Guest Post with Lisa Ellis (Blog Tour)

Sweet Saturday Sample:  Moving On

May Reading Wrap-Up (16 Books Read in May, 85 YTD)

Reviews: (Click Titles for Reviews)

Finding Lily (e-book), by Lisa Ellis (Blog Tour)

Sweet Salt Air, by Barbara Delinsky

He’s Gone (e-book), by Deb Caletti

The Husband’s Secret, by Liane Moriarty

 

Dark Places (e-book), by Gillian Flynn

 

Every book was hard to put down!  I seemingly whirled through the stack.  And now I’m reading another book that I can’t put down.  After reading The Husband’s Secret, I had to grab What Alice Forgot, by Liane Moriarty.  I got my copy from the library.

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What did your week look like?  What are you planning for today?  I’m taking my breakfast in bed, Sunday style.