WEEKLY UPDATES: SERENITY?

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.

 

Well….the week  brought good and bad things, but it’s all a matter of perspective, I guess.  For the good things:  I read and reviewed FIVE books (and two were nonfiction!)…and now have 84 books completed for my Read the Books You Buy Challenge.

As for the rest….I will store it all in that place inside where things must go, until I can shift my perspective enough to accept what I cannot change…which could bring a little serenity.  Enough said.

Weather has been consistently cooler, but all the Christmas shows on Hallmark are making me silently protest…wait!  Thanksgiving hasn’t even happened yet.  But, of course, they had started all of that before Halloween.  So…what else is new?

I’m loving seeing the fall TV shows again, and in a week, The Affair (on Showtime) returns.  My Netflix viewing this week was…nonexistent.  Maybe that will change this weekend.

For now…let’s grab another cup of coffee…and maybe a Mimosa…and chat.

 

 

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LAST WEEK ON THE BLOGS:

Sunday Potpourri:  Falling Back…

Tuesday Sparks:  Excerpting “Inheriting Edith”

It’s Hump Day!  What Are You Reading?

Thursday Potpourri:  Moving On….

Bookish Friday:  “Echoes of Family”

Review:  American Heiress, by Jeffrey ToobinReview:  Stealing Jason Wilde (e-book), by Dee ErnstReview:  The Two-Family House (e-book), by Lynda Cohen LoigmanReview:  Unsinkable, by Debbie ReynoldsReview:  Results May Vary (e-book), by Bethany Chase

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INCOMING BOOKS:  (Titles/Covers Linked to Amazon)

Empty mailbox, and no approved e-ARCs this week.

Purchased Downloads:  Two!

In a Dark, Dark Wood (e-book), by Ruth Ware

 

 

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Hillbilly Elegy (e-book), by J. D. Vance

 

 

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

This week, I made a list, hoping to steer myself toward books I need to read soon….Here’s what I came up with:

Currently Reading:  Rosemary:  The Hidden Kennedy Daughter, by Kate Clifford Larson

 

 

 

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And then….because I need a light mystery….

Send in the Clowns (e-book), by Julie Mulhern

 

 

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How about this one?

 

Sting (e-book), by Sandra Brown

 

 

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That’s all, folks!  And, because I’m still dealing with stuff that makes me sad, I think I’ll go to one of my favorite neighborhood places where I can hide in my book…and eat and drink something like this:

 

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What did your week look like?  I hope you’ll come on by and share!

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WEEKLY UPDATES: FAMILY, BOOKS, & SOME SADNESS…

 

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 new leader in It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?, at The Book Date.

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The week got off to a plodding start, with two books that just dragged.  They almost zapped away my Reading Mojo….but I prevailed.  I reviewed them, 3.5 stars each, which I hardly ever do.  Then I was saved, after grabbing one of my NetGalley books; I was back!  On the reading fast track.  Its review won’t be up for a couple of weeks, since its release date is early January.

I’m still bingeing on Netflix…and watching movies on the DVR.  Yesterday my daughter and I caught up on all of our gossip during my hair styling appointment.  She is a fun daughter, usually, but then our conversation turned dark as we talked about the sadness in San Bernardino.

Finally I saved my mood by turning my thoughts to a family get-together last Saturday, with just some of my family…my second son and his daughter Aubrey; and two of my grandkids,  Dominic and Fiona, with their friends.  That cheered me up, just thinking about it.

 

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LAST WEEK ON THE BLOGS:

Musings: Books that Engage Me

November Wrap-Up: Celebrating the Holidays

From the Interior: “The Guest Room”

How a Novel Came to Be: “An Accidental Life”

Hump Day Potpourri: Waiting for “She’s Not There”

My Year in Books: Numbers, Favorites, & Patterns

Dealing with the Consequences…& Distractions

Thirsty Thursday & Hungry Hearts: “Where We Belong”

Quotes from the Interior: “Where We Belong”

A Potpourri of Celebratory Moments

Read:

Review:  All the Houses, by Karen Olsson

Review:  All the Stars in the Heavens, by Adriana Trigiani

Review:  The Guest Room, by Chris Bohjalian-(Release date – 1/5/16).

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INCOMING BOOKS (Titles/Covers Linked to Amazon)

Empty mailbox!  But I did download two review books from NetGalley…and purchased two downloads.

Missing Pieces (e-book), by Heather Gudenkauf (NetGalley – Release Date – 2/5/16)

 

 

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The Widow (e-book), by Fiona Barton (NetGalley – Release Date – 2/16)

 

 

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Books I Purchased:

What She Knew (e-book), by Gilly MacMillan

 

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The Broken String (e-book, novella), by Diane Chamberlain

 

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AROUND THE BLOGOSPHERE:

How to Burst Through a Reading Slump, from Trish, at Between My Lines

First Book of the Year 2016, from Sheila, at Book Journey.

 

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

Lately I have been all over the place, picking up books here and there.  I’m hoping to establish a tiny bit of order in my bookish world, so perhaps I will try to stick to these choices:

Angels Burning (e-book), by Tawni O’Dell (NetGalley)

 

 

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Forever, Interrupted (e-book), by Taylor Jenkins Reid

 

 

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November 9 (e-book), by Colleen Hoover

 

 

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And maybe….

Wildflower, by Drew Barrymore

 

And just for fun, because I love Drew Barrymore, I ordered (and received) an old movie from her childhood:  Irreconcilable Differences, starring Drew, of course; Ryan O’Neal; Shelley Long; and wait for it!  Sharon Stone.

 

I used to have a copy….but I lent it out to someone, back before I started keeping a list of borrowers…LOL.

I think I’ll watch it today!

So…that was my week…what did yours look like?  Join me in a cup of coffee!

 

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