Catchint Up On What I #AmReading

I’ve done a lot of reading, between audiobooks and a friend who is reading to me.  So, here’s what I’ve been reading.

 

NOTE: this is in reverse order, because that’s how they show up on Goodreads, and I can’t be bothered to rearrange them.

 

 

A Case of Cat and Mouse by Sofie Kelly

A Night's Tail by Sofie Kelly

Of Noble Family by Mary Robinette Kowal

The Shadow of What Was Lost by James  Islington

The Cats Came Back by Sofie Kelly

A Tale of Two Kitties by Sofie Kelly

Paws and Effect by Sofie Kelly

Faux Paw by Sofie Kelly

Critical Role by Madeleine Roux

A Midwinter's Tail by Sofie Kelly

Valour and Vanity by Ma    ry Robinette Kowal

Without a Summer by Mary Robinette Kowal

Glamour in Glass by Mary Robinette Kowal

Final Catcall by Sofie Kelly

Shades of Milk and Honey by Mary Robinette Kowal

Cat Trick by Sofie Kelly

The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss

 

***

 

I long since passed my Goodreads 2024 reading goal.

 

My original goal was for 12 books.  When I could see I was going to pass that I changed it to 18.

 

I'm not changing it again, despite having read about 27 books so far this year with more than half the year left.

 

I just want to let everything else I read be a bonus.

Looking Back At 2023 And Ahead To 2024

Belated Happy New Year!

It’s that time of year, when people are reflecting on the past year, and looking ahead to the new one.

 

Last year was a tough year.  I lost my Mam in August, and found out two months later I’m dealing with liver failure myself now.  Not any easy thing to hear, especially after having watched your Mother go through it.

 

And the coming year will be dealing with whatever happens regarding my health.

 

Still, I’m trying to find those hygge moments where I can; I’m trying to find the joy in those little moments.  Despite pain, exhaustion, and general poor health.  And I’ll keep trying to embrace those hygge moments.

 

 

One way I’ve been doing this is with reading.

 

I’ve not been reading as much as is normal to me.  And – despite having been far ahead with it at one point – didn’t make my reading challenge goal.  But I did read several books, and enjoyed most of them a lot, which is the most important thing.  To see what I read this year, go to https://www.goodreads.com/user/year_in_books/2023/9194956

 

 This year I'm setting a very low goal of just 12 books.  Because it would feel wrong not to set a Goodreads reading challenge goal, but I don't want to try and push myself too hard. 

 

How was your 2023? And do you have any goals for 2024? Or, perhaps, a word for the  year?

#AmReading - The Books Of The First Half Of 2023

We're half way through the year, and so far it's been a pretty productive reading year for me.  I'm something like 13 books ahead of schedule on my Goodreads reading challenge goal, having now read 38 of the 52 books I pledged to read in 2023.  At least, that's how it stands at the cut-off point for this post.

 

Anyway, since I keep forgetting to post what I’ve been reading each month, I thought I’d catch you up on what I read during the first half of the year all in one post.  Though I’m not going to include my ratings and reviews, or the post will get way too long.  So, if you want to know what I thought of a particular book, you can either check out my reviews over on Goodreads (which you don’t need to be a member of to see my reviews) by going to my Goodreads page, or ask me about it in the comments section of this post or something.

 

There's quite a variety of genres on the list, such as historical, classics, mystery, children's stories, poetry, fantasy, paranormal romance, and post apocalyptic, for example.  In other words, this post is a perfect example of how diverse and eclectic my reading tastes are.

 

Anyhow, here’s what I’ve read so far this year, whether for book clubs, because I was given a copy in exchange for an honest review, or just because I felt like it, in the order I read them.

 

~

 

The Amish Groom (The Men of Lancaster County, #1) by Mindy Starns Clark & Susan Meissner

The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling by Henry Fielding

Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder (Hannah Swensen, #1) by Joanne Fluke

American Demon (The Hollows, #14) by Kim Harrison

Magical Selection by Katrina Cope

A Sicilian Romance by Ann Radcliffe

The Amish Blacksmith (The Men of Lancaster County, #2) by Mindy Starns Clark & Susan Meissner

Dragon Moon (Dragoria: The Lost Dragon Realm, #1) by Katrina Cope

The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole

Million Dollar Demon (The Hollows, #15) by Kim Harrison

Immortal Rising (Argeneau, #34) by Lynsay Sands

The Lost Lands (The Horn’s Hoax, #2) by Hector Cantu Kalifa

Trouble with the Cursed (The Hollows, #16) by Kim Harrison

The Amish Clockmaker (The Men of Lancaster County, #3) by Mindy Starns Clark & Susan Meissner

Conduct Books and the History of the Ideal Woman by Tabitha Kenlon

Demon’s Reign (The Bloodwood Saga, #1) by David Estes & Ben Galley

The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg

The Borrowers Afield (The Borrowers, #2) by Mary Norton

The Amish Widower (The Men of Lancaster County, #4) by Virginia Smith

The Borrowers Afloat (The Borrowers, #3) by Mary Norton

More Poetic Meanderings by K. Morris

King of the Wastes (Hell Divers, #8) by Nicholas Sansbury Smith

The Borrowers Aloft (The Borrowers, #4) by Mary Norton

Poor Stainless by Mary Norton

Ivanhoe by Walter Scott

Go Tell the Bees That I Am Gone (Outlander, #9) by Diana Gabaldon

After the Bite (Argeneau, #35) by Lynsay Sands

Shadebound (The Last King, #1) by David Estes & G.D. Penman

Bloodbound (The Last King, #2) by David Estes & G.D. Penman

The Chocolate Cat Caper (A Chocoholic Mystery, #1) by JoAnna Carl

Radioactive (Hell Divers, #9) by Nicholas Sansbury Smith

Fallout (Hell Divers, #10) by Nicholas Sansbury Smith

Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks

The Borrowers Avenged (The Borrowers, #5) by Mary Norton, Joe Krush, & Beth Krush

Demons of Good and Evil (The Hollows, #17) by Kim Harrison

 The Chocolate Bear Burglary (A Chocoholic Mystery, #2) by JoAnna Carl

My Friend's Robot Girlfriend and Other Humorous Verses by K Morris

False Colours by Georgette Heyer

April 7th 2023's Random Ramblings

The weather can't make its mind up.  It doesn't know if it wants to be warm or cold, wet or dry, or somewhere in between.  So it keeps changing.  It almost seems like from one minute to the next, though I know that's not quite accurate.  This is normal for Spring, even the warm weather is in my comfortable temperature range, and we're not seeing any of the terrible storms and severe weather some places are, so I'm making an observation rather than complaining.  Although, my asthma wishes it would quit, since it always takes me some time to adjust to weather changes, and when the weather keeps changing I don't get to finish adjusting to one kind of weather before it changes again and I'm back to square one.  I know I'm not alone in dealing with this right now though.  'Tis the season for allergies and asthma to be aggravated after all.

 

Anyway, we're already a week in to April.  Can you believe that? A quarter of the year has gone already!

 

During the last week in March I had a dentist appointment and Kelly had a hospital appointment.  Both just for routine checks, and both went smoothly.  Kelly also had to go for a routine blood test this past Wednesday (and it really is routine for him, since he’s one of those people who they have no trouble taking blood from, so is in and out in five minutes; it takes them longer to process his paperwork than to take the blood).

 

I’ve also been pretty busy with Zoom calls, between the ones I go to regularly just because I want to, ones I do jobs on, ones I was hosting, and a couple where I stepped in to fill in for someone who was away somewhere for a few days.

 

Plus, I went through some fabric, set aside the kinds that would work well for me for a project I have planned, and packed up the rest for my Aunt Bev to take, since she’s involved in a charity upcycling project where they make use of any spare fabric to make things like special pillows for people who have had mastectomies, tearing up what can’t be used for outer layers to make filling.  My Dad told me about it, and I thought it would be a good way to reduce the amount of fabric I have lying around.  Especially since some of the stuff I was unlikely to want to use, and only had because it came with the stuff Dad gave me with Nan’s old craft stuff.

 

With my energy levels pretty low lately, those things – along with those day to day tasks that always need doing, making sure the petkids get attention, etc – have been enough to have me taking advantage of as many opportunities to rest as I can most days.  Something Logan is a lot more enthusiastic about than Lilie, since he’s much more of a fan of nap time than she is.  LOL!

 

Although, I have managed to get some crafting in (mostly the stuff I’ve worked on during the Zoom calls, but I’ve also made some progress with the crochet blanket I’m slowly working on) as well as managed to fit in enough reading time that I’m slightly ahead on my 2023 reading challenge goal (I’ve read 18 of 52 books) including being ahead with reading April’s book of the month for the ACB Crafters book club, and being on track with the book we’re working our way through as part of the 18^th and 19^th century book club I also attend.  Admittedly this is mostly because I can listen to an audiobook while either doing day to day tasks like housework, or during those times when I’m resting but not sleeping.  But it all adds up, and it all counts, right?

 

Interesting how it all seems somehow to be a lot and very little at the same time when written down in a blog post like this.  I mean, on the one hand the fact there’s enough for a blog post that’s a few paragraphs long makes it seem like so much I can’t help feeling it’s no wonder I’m tired, while on the other hand I wonder how I can have done so little that I can sum up two weeks in just a few paragraphs.  Funny how that works.

Looking Back At 2022 & Ahead To 2023

 

~Above photo shows Logan the Cavapoo on the back of the sofa, and was taken on December 30th 2022.

 

I know we're already almost a week in to January, but I wanted to post about my holiday celebrations first.  Now though, it's time to take a look back at 2022, and start thinking about the coming year.

*~*

I kept my goal list for 2022 practically non-existent.  Other than my plan to read 52 books as part of the Goodreads reading challenge, my plan for 2022 was to see where the year took me, and enjoy as many hygge moments throughout the year as possible; hygge being my word for 2022.

So, how did that work out?? 

2022 was an eventful year, and I never could have predicted how it turned out.  I think though, other than us losing the last of the rodent gang, Mollie the chinchilla, during the first half of the year (in April, to be exact) and some rough times healthwise (in particular dental disasters with infections that had me with mouth pain for a couple of months) it was a pretty good year.  I mean, there were definitely some rather stressful parts of it I'd like to forget, but there was enough of the good to stop me dwelling on those things, and to make me feel like 2022 wasn't too bad of a year.  Certainly not one of the best I've had, but most definitely not one of the worst either.

Unfortunately, though my website is now more up to date, writing took a bit of a backseat, with my only publications for this year being the "Poetry Treasures" and "Stand Together" anthologies I was involved with.  And I have yet to finish getting "Pawfect Pet Poems" and "Jelena" made available in audio (though both are listed on ACX in various stages of production).  I've been slowly working on writing things I plan to publish in the future, but writing sessions have been few and far between, and none of my works in progress ended up being finished in 2022, let alone published.  I'd hoped to have at least published one of them at some point during 2022, but I won't publish anything until it's ready and, as it stands at the moment, nothing new is even finished being written, let alone ready for publication.

However, that doesn't mean I didn't have a busy year.

 

I started getting involved with ACB (American Council of the Blind) Zoom calls in 2021, but ended up more involved than I ever could have imagined even wanting to be.  I'm now a trained Zoom host and Clubhouse moderator, and do both things regularly for ACB calls.  I've hosted for conventions and community-a-thons, helped teach skills with cooking and crafting, and am finishing up the year not only as an active participant and host, but also an ACB member at large, as well as a member of the ACB Crafters admin team, and part of the ACB Presents The Daily Schedule morning crew.  Not to mention, I've gotten to know some people through my work with the ACB who I now consider good friends.  I'm not a big fan of socializing usually, but apparently my reluctance to socialize doesn't extend to people who live inside my computer and phone.

Did I embrace my word of "Hygge" in 2022?Well, there were definitely times when I did.  Times when I put self care first, enjoyed a hygge moment by myself, with the petkids, or even with another person.  But I feel like I didn't embrace the concept as fully as I planned to.  I feel like I could have done more to make 2022 a hygge year for me.  Maybe I'd feel like that no matter how many hygge moments I enjoyed? Maybe I really could have done more? Who knows.  Either way, I feel like I was only partially successful in embracing my word for the year.  But a partial success is still a success, right? And I'll take what I can get when it comes to successes.

As for my reading goal: it was a slow reading year for me, but I did manage to read 52 books in 2022.  If you want to see what I read, you can see my year in books here.  Yes, it does take you to Goodreads, but you don't have to be a member to check it out.  It's just the easiest way for me to share all the information about what I read, which books I enjoyed and which I didn't, etc, since I record those things on Goodreads throughout the year when it's fresher in my mind.  So, for those who want to know what I read, and what I thought of those books, please check out that link to my year in books.

~

Now it's the start of another year.  We're starting 2023, and most people are setting goals and resolutions.  Or maybe picking words for the year.  But after some serious thought, I decided I didn't want to be among them.

 

So, that's why, other than setting my reading goal on Goodreads to 52 books again, I’m not making any any goals or plans for the coming year.  I’m not even picking a word for 2023.  There were some goals and words I considered, and there are some things I hope will happen in 2023.  But I ultimately decided I’m just going to forget about trying to make goals I may or may not be able to achieve, not worry about deciding on which of the words is right for me, and just see where the year takes me.

 

It just feels like the right way forward for me.

 

If you want to see where 2023 takes me, make sure you check back here each Friday for my weekly blog posts.

 

*~*

How about you? How was your 2022? Did you have any goals or resolutions? Did you have a word for the year? Do you have any of those things for 2023? Whatever the case, I'd love to hear about it in the comments, so please share.

Catching Up And Checking In

I'm back to my normal now - for what it's worth - and, thanks to things piling up while I was too feverish and in too much pain to do anything about them (or even care that I wasn't) it's been a busy week of trying to catch up with things I got behind on while sick.  But I got caught up... I think.  And even at one point actually achieved inbox zero.

 

At least, I appear to be caught up on everything other than the reading I want and need to get done.  And I say both want and need here because there are some books I need to read - or need to read a certain amount of - for book club reading, and then there are some books I just want to read because they're ones I like the sound of, or new books by authors I love, or continuations of a series I started earlier in the year for the crafting book club and now want to read the rest of.  But I am on track for my Goodreads reading goal, so that's something.

I've also been busy doing things with the ACB, of course.  I mean, not only do I join some calls as a participant, but I now co-facilitate two calls, am trained to host not just regular Zoom calls but also webinar calls and calls with breakout rooms, I'm part of the ACB Crafters admin team, and now also part of the ACB Presents morning crew.  Since I was doing so much with them, I also decided to become an official member of ACB itself.

Speaking of the calls: you can check out some of the videos from the cooking call I co-facilitate on YouTube now, since Herbie's started putting them up on there.  The call is "Herbie's Cooking Corner" and if you'd like to check it out, just click here for the "Herbie's Cooking Corner" playlist Herbie has on his channel.  There are several episodes not up yet, but Herbie's working on it, and will get them uploaded when he can.

And, speaking of YouTube: I've been doing a load of karaoke songs (often, but not exclusively, songs from Disney movies) because I do karaoke with the ACB Community most Saturdays, and each time I've done them I've put them on my YouTube channel.  If you've missed them but would like to check them out and give them a listen, click here to check out my YouTube channel.

The petkids are doing well.  We're still keeping an eye on things with Lilie's legs, but she seems happy enough for now, and at least her skin irritation is under control.  But beyond that all is well with all three of the petkids we still have (Lilie the Westie, Logan the Cavapoo, and Artemis the Hermann's Tortoise - for anyone new here, or unsure).

That essentially covers what's been going on around here, so I'll let this do for today.

 

I hope you're safe, well, and happy, whatever you may be keeping yourself busy with these days.

Febookary Book Tag 2022! (Time For The #Febookary Book Challenge!) - #AmReading

Welcome to Febookary, which started on 1st February, and will take place during the whole of February!

 

~

 

For those that don’t know, Febookary is a reading challenge Cat over at The Strawberry Post created two years ago with the goal of trying to encourage everyone to face their reading ‘fears’ and read something you never would have tried before.  The challenge is a flexible one, which doesn’t have any specific challenge board or mini goals to reach, the goal is simply try during February to read a book in a genre you’ve never read before, a book you’d never normally pick up but which sounds interesting, and for those who are reluctant readers, just try to read anything at all. 🙂
 

I hope you’ll all want to try and take part and get any children who are reluctant to read involved too.  You can read as little as one book for the whole month, but you might discover a new author and genre you’ve never tried before, or even a love of reading if you’ve never enjoyed it before. 🙂
  

~

 

Below is a new Febookary tag Cat created, based on the old one from last year, but with some newer questions.  You can read Cat's answers in her post from last week, which you can find by clicking here, and - as I always say when doing these tags - I'd love to know what your answers to the questions would be, so feel free to join in with both the tag and the challenge.  And, if you do the tag on your blog or social media, make sure I know where to find your answers, because I'd hate to miss them.  For now though, let's check out the questions and my answers.  I hope you enjoy my answers and the whole of Febookary! 😀
 

~

 

1. What books, if any, did you dislike reading when you were younger?
 

None.  I've loved reading since I knew how, and would read anything I could as a child.

 

2. What books, if any, did you like to read when you were younger?

 

I loved reading pretty much anything I could get my hands on, especially if it contained animals.  Bonus points if those animals were horses, since I was absolutely obsessed with horses as a child.  Still love horses a lot, and mention of a story being about a horse will still get my attention.  I also loved - and still love - stories where the children were in boarding schools, for reasons I'm not so clear on, but there you go.

3. What fiction genres, if any, do you enjoy reading?

 

I still enjoy reading pretty much anything I've tried besides Christian Fiction, though Fantasy, Science-Fiction, and Cosy Mystery are my absolute favourites, with Dystopian and Historical Fiction a close second.

4. What non-fiction genres, if any, do you like to read?

 

When it comes to Non-Fiction I enjoy books about any subject that interests me in its own right, so, for example, enjoy reading recipe books and blogs, books and articles on crafting, scientific papers, books and papers about certain periods of history, as well as articles and books on meditation and mindfulness.

 

5. What is the last book you DNF (Did Not Finish) and why?

 

There isn't one.  If I start a book, I finish it.

 

6. Are there any genres/books you just don’t like or have never tried reading?

 

I do not like Christian Fiction, or Christian Non-Fiction.  I'm sure the stories in the books are great - if you like that kind of thing.  But I struggle to enjoy them due to a conflict of beliefs.  Those beliefs sprinkled throughout something else I can deal with, and I have no problem with people believing whatever they want to.  But it's not for me, so I steer clear of anything in those genres.

 

7. What book(s) are you going to try reading for #Febookary this year?
 

The book I'm reading for Febookary this year is "The Artist's Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity" by Julia Cameron, which I'm reading not only because it's one I've hesitated to read for some time - I have no idea why, but have passed over it without adding it to my to-read list or buying a copy several times, despite briefly considering it multiple times - but also because there's an ACB call for people reading it, which started up on February 2nd, so I can combine my reading for that with my reading for Febookary.

 

8. Any other goals for this month?

 

My other February reading goals are to read the review copy I got of "Leaving And Other Poems" by Kevin Morris, and read "Paper, Scissors, Death" (Kiki Lowenstein Mystery Series, Book 1) by Joanna Campbell Slan, which is the book of the month for the newly started ACB Crafters Bookclub, as well as "Critical Role: Vox Machina - Kith & Kin" by the cast of Critical Role, who are a roleplaying group who game live via YouTube and a couple of other streaming platforms, who I've mentioned on here at least once before if I'm not mistaken, since I follow them on YouTube and often watch their sessions.