I wish I had more to say than I do. The week has had many ups and downs. But let's not go into that. I would rather talk about books.I am enjoying my short story reading. I think even those who are not generally into short stories would appreciate many of Sana Krasikov's stories in the collection, One More Year. I have been reading the book in short spurts, usually during my lunch break at work throughout the week. For a brief moment I considered the idea of keeping a short story book at work and only reading that while there and then having a book at home that I am reading during my home time. Some of you do that now and find it works well. But then I realized that had I not had my short story book at home with me yesterday when I was in the mood to read a story or two, I would not have been very happy. I'll stick to my current method. The book(s) I am reading will travel with me. Why mess with a system that works well?
A friend of mine is pushing me to read Dead and Gone by Charlaine Harris. Now. Not later. She read it soon after it was released and wants someone to discuss it with. I told her I would try and read it this weekend, but I haven't been able to fit it in like I had hoped. Okay, so I could have started it yesterday instead of continuing with Sana Krasikov's book. Sometimes, though, I have to go where my reading mood takes me, and unfortunately for my friend, Sookie Stackhouse had to wait.
That same friend is trying to pressure me into catching up with Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series. She said she'd loan me the latest book. And the one before it if I need it. She doesn't like it when I get behind in the series we both follow, I've discovered. She is not above making threats. Soon she'll be caught up in Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blake series and be begging me to get with the program and catch up on that one too. Let's not mention that one to her though. Maybe it will escape her notice.
I have not made much headway in The Welsh Girl by Peter Ho Davies, but it has nothing to do with lack of interest. It's not a title you would associate with a World War II era novel, is it? A prison camp is erected near a Welsh village and a high-up Nazi official is being held there. I have mostly been reading the book before falling asleep at night, and ,unfortunately, sometimes sleep comes sooner than I expect and I don't make much progress. My only excuse is that it's been a long week and it's taken a toll on me.
I will say goodbye for now. My husband and I are celebrating our 11th wedding anniversary today. I will not be getting around to visit you as I might like, and, for that, I apologize. I hope you all have a wonderful day and a great week. Happy Reading!
In Reading Mews:
Book reviews posted this past week:
The Missing Ink by Karen E. Olson (and a word from the author)
Short Story Saturday: "Asal" and "Better Half" by Sana Krasikov
Currently Reading:
The Welsh Girl by Peter Ho Davies
Dead and Gone by Charlaine Harris
New Additions to my TBR collection:
Coupon resistance is futile, I've discovered. Recent bookstore acquisitions:
Old Man's War by John Scalzi
What's So Funny? by Donald E. Westlake (I picked this one up for Anjin, but I hope to read it too.)
Florida Road Kill by Tim Dorsey (Another book for Anjin, but one I wouldn't mind reading myself.)
Burn This Book edited by Toni Morrison
Dead and Gone by Charlaine Harris
Books that came in the mail:
A Disobedient Girl by Ru Freeman (TLC Book Tour)
The Promised World by Lisa Tucker (TLC Book Tour)
Other Posts of Interest This Week:
Movie Mondays: Public Enemies & Subtitles
Wordless Wednesday: Riding the Highway (Part 5)
The Spoiler Odyssey (Well, Sort of)
TGIF: Friday Meme Fun
(Many thanks to Florinda of The 3 R's: Reading, 'Riting, and Randomness for allowing me to copy her status report idea. And an added thank you to Anya who helped my husband and I come up with the title of my status review report.)
© Wendy Runyon of Musings of a Bookish Kitty 2009. All rights reserved.
If you're reading this on a site other than Musings of a Bookish Kitty or Wendy's feed, be aware that this post has been stolen and is used without permission.
Congrats on your anniversary! Lucky girl!
ReplyDeleteDon't let that friend bug ya' about Stephanie Plum. You'll get to it!
I had a horrible week. I'm wondering if you're a Scorpio like me!?!
Have a good one!
Sher
Congrats to you and your hubby! Hope you celebrated in style! I am a Plum-o-holic, but haven't read Finger-Licking Fifteen yet. They are usually quick, fun reads, so I may pick it up just as a break from everything else I'm reading. Yet another diversion in my summer reading. I have yet to read one Sookie book. I did not join the reading challenge. I am resisting. I'm scared I'll get drawn in and everything else will go to hell.
ReplyDeleteIt seems like the population (at least the book blogging population) has been suffering from a malaise lately. Or maybe its just the lazies. I blame mine on the barometric pressure! Ha!
Have a great Sunday!
Congratulations to you and your husband :-) Eleven years is the new 25, right? lol...
ReplyDeleteI'm just starting on the Sookie Stackhouse series, as well as Anita Blake, and I'm in Three to Get Deadly, so tell your friend it could be worse... you could be tied up with me :-)
Happy anniversary!
ReplyDelete--Anna
Diary of an Eccentric
Today is our anniversary too, although it is our first.
ReplyDeleteHappy Anniversary! Have wonderful day! And when you catch up to all of those series let us know so I can feel guilty too! Just too many books and so little time!
ReplyDeleteTake care,
Suzanne
Happy anniversary! I'm doing the Sookie challenge but haven't read any of the books yet. I didn't realize there was enough to them to discuss anything about them. I'm intrigued now.
ReplyDeleteHope you have a wonderfully romantic anniversary!
ReplyDeleteI echo Stacy's sentiments. Have a great anniversary.
ReplyDeleteAnd I love reading shoert stories. Those make good inbetween reads.
Here is my TSS post
Happy Anniversary!!
ReplyDeleteLezlie
Sheri - Thanks, Sheri! I'm sure she'll survive if I don't get caught up as soon as she wants me to. :-)
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry you had a horrible week too. :-( No fun. I'm actually a Virgo. But maybe I switched over for the week to Scorpio. Here's hoping this week is much better!
Sandy - Thank you! Yes, both the Sookie and Plum books are fairly quick reads. That's why I figured I could sneak in Dead and Gone this weekend. I'm sure I'll get it done early this week sometime, just maybe not by tomorrow. Some series book just have a way of grabbing hold and not wanting to let go until you're caught up, don't they?
I think you're right. The Summer is definitely in full swing for many. It's starting to get hotter again here. Thank goodness for air conditioning.
Alisha - Thanks! In today's society, I imagine 11 is equal to 25 of yester year. LOL
I hope you enjoy all three of the series. I think she'll live if I don't manage to get caught up as quickly as she'd like. :-)
Anna - Thank you! :-)
Jen - Congratulations and happy anniversary!
Happy Anniversary, Wendy!
ReplyDeleteI have the Krasikov book on my stacks but haven't started it yet (good to know you are enjoying it!).
Looks like we are both touring the same books for TLC :)
Suzanne - Thank you! I'll be sure and let you know when I do catch up so you can feel guilty also! LOL
ReplyDeleteKathy - Thanks!
Good luck with the Sookie challenge. I hope you enjoy the books. As for discussion material, I think a lot depends on the reader and what you expect from the books. I think every book can foster discussion really.
Stacy & Lezlie - Thank you so much!
Gautami - Thanks for the anniversary wishes! Short stories are perfect for those in between moments, I agree.
Wendy - Thank you! I think you will like One More Year.
I noticed we were on both tours together. I like it when I am reviewing it along side other bloggers I know--we can compare notes. :-)
I don't like being under pressure to read books. My husband sometimes sees me reading a book and refuses to let me put it up on PB Swap because he wants to read and discuss it with me, but then he never does... and I just sneak it out in the post when he's not looking.
ReplyDeleteHappy Anniversary and many more. Hope next week is better for you.
ReplyDeleteI'm trying to get caught up on some of my series, too. I love the Plum books, but I'm behind. I joined the Sookie challenge and I'm hoping that will help catch me up.
ReplyDeleteFirst : Happy anniversary!! :D
ReplyDeleteYour post made me laugh : I act a lot like your friend with the Man of the House here! I get a little pushy for him to finish the book so we can talk about it without me spoiling it for him. Luckily he reads fast enough ;)
Happy Anniversary!!!
ReplyDeleteI hope this week will be much better!
Happy Anniversary.
ReplyDeleteI wish I could catch up on Evanovich (just one behind) and Sookie (I think two behind.) Hamilton I gave up on.
Happy Anniversary! 11 years: wonderful!
ReplyDeleteI go back and forth with Evanovich. I think the last one I read was 12, but I hadn't read them since 9, but it doesn't much matter. They're pretty much all the same.
Can't read those Sookie books. Absolutely hate the TV series.
Happy anniversary!I'm glad you're letting your mood dictate your reading. I hope this week is better than last week.
ReplyDeleteI think I'll use your method to start reading short stories.
Happy anniversary, Wendy! And I hope you have a week with only ups!
ReplyDeleteI've seen The Welsh Girl around, and neither the title nor the cover would make me think of WW2.
I'm not much of a shrot story reader. In fact, I don't even like teaching them in my classes! And I haven't figured out why. Maybe because they're...well, short! I get disappointed when they end so soon.
ReplyDeleteHope you get to do something special for your anniversary!
I haven't pick up the 2nd book of the Sookie Stackhouse series, and I need to catch up on that one since I enjoyed reading the first installment!
ReplyDeleteHappy Anniversary, Wendy!! I hope you and your husband have a great weekend! :)
Happy anniversary! Wow, 11 years still seems like a long time to me--my hubby and I only recently celebrated our first anniversary :-)
ReplyDeleteHope you have a wonderful day tomorrow!!
Happy anniversary! Hope it's a great one.
ReplyDeleteJeane - For me, I think it depends in the type of pressure. If I put it on myself it's one thing--although sometimes I balk at that even, but I don't especially like it coming from the outside. My friend is just teasing me, of course, although I'm sure there's truth to it as well. LOL
ReplyDeleteThat's too funny about your husband and the PB books. I bet he doesn't even notice the book is gone!
Diane & Dar - Thank you so much for the anniversary wishes. I hope this next week is much better too! It's gotten off to a good start.
Yvonne - I used to be better about keeping up with my series reading. Luckily I'm not terribly behind on the Plum series. And once I read Dead and Gone, I'll be caught up with that one too.
infiniteshelf - Thank you! I've been known to put the pressure on my husband too in that regard. :-) He's pretty good about not keeping me waiting too long.
Lisa - Thanks! You're almost all caught up. :-)
Happy Anniversary!!! I hope your day together was beautiful!!!
ReplyDeleteHappy Anniversary! Congratulations! :)
ReplyDeleteMy whims dictate my current reading. Even my favorite authors have to wait if I'm on a binge of something else.
Oh, Happy 11th! My husband and I just celebrated our 8th. The days fly, don't they? It's good to have books and husbands, though, and not always in that order.
ReplyDeleteHappy anniversary, Wendy! Let me know what you think of Harris- I have seen many people reading her on the train recently.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on your wedding anniversary! Have a good time with husband!
ReplyDeleteI am all geared up on the Charlaine Harris' Sookie Stackhouse challenge. Can't wait!
I agree. Friends mean well when they want us to read a certain book within a certain time frame but the way I handle it is just by telling them that I want to be able to focus all of my attention on it so the timing has to be right for me.
ReplyDeleteHappy Anniversary!
Congrats on your anniversary!
ReplyDeleteI see that you are reading quite a few books too. Sometimes one will just call to you more that the other will. I am reading a collection of shorts stories now as well that I forget to mention, by Melanie Haney. I am loving her stories!
Congrats on your anniversary Wendy
ReplyDeleteHappy Anniversary!
ReplyDeleteDont give in to peer pressure :)
Congrats on your 11th anniversary! Hope you have fun!
ReplyDeleteHi,
ReplyDeleteYour friend is welcome to email me and discuss Dead and Gone -- I am all caught up with Sookie. I have also read all the Anita Blakes as well. I just started the Stephanie Plum books this weekend, so I won't be able to discuss those. I am also reading The Welsh Girl for book club (meeting is tomorrow night) and I don't know if I will finish. It is a hard book to read in large quantities. I find myself taking a lot of breaks and reading other things (Stephanie Plum for instance). Have a great week of reading!
Happy anniversary!
ReplyDeleteI hope you and Anjin had a wonderful anniversary and that this week goes better for you! Since I missed two days at the office last week due to my mother-in-law's hospitalization, this will be my only full week at work this month.
ReplyDeleteFeeling pressured to read books on other people's schedules is one reason I've been ambivalent about book clubs :-).
I agree that coupon resistance is futile. The only way I manage it is being too busy with other things to make it to the bookstore :-).
I'm a bit late, but I hope you and your husband had a wonderful anniversary!
ReplyDeleteMy fiance always wants me to read the books he's finished as soon as he's finished them. I think it's cute, but I could see how annoying it would be if someone was insistent that I caught up on a variety of series (or if it was anyone but him!). I hope she forgets about the Anita Blake series too, I have not heard kind things. LOL.
Congratulations on your anniversary! I hope you guys had a fabulous time.
ReplyDeleteThat is too funny about your friend wanting you to keep up with the series. I used to have a coworker who was always passing off books to me to read. She'd ask me all the time how it was going, etc. Unfortunately the books were all books I was not interested in at all!
Happy Anniversary! (sorry I'm late ...)
ReplyDeleteI found The Welsh Girl really hard to get into too. In fact, I still have a bookmark in it on page 30 or so 2 years later...
ReplyDeleteYour friend sounds like a PITA but then again, it is fun to discuss books you've read. Just not those, so much! Now if she was talking Harry Dresden, Kate Shugak and Kathy Mallory......
ReplyDeleteHope you're having a wonderful anniversary!
Congratulations on your anniversary! Hope that this week will be an improvement for you!
ReplyDeleteHappy Anniversary!!!
ReplyDeleteOne More Year is one of my favorite recent story collections. :-)
Happy Anniversary, Wendy!
ReplyDeleteI have a friend who is always behind me in the TV series we watch - she DVRs them, and it drives me crazy when a couple weeks go by and she still hasn't watched an episode I want to talk about! She's not into mystery series, though, so we don't hound each other about books. :)
I have The Welsh Girl on one of my toppling stacks - I'll get to it someday.
Karen - Thank you! It's hard to believe it's been that long. It seems like yesterday we were planning out wedding.
ReplyDeleteI know what you mean about Evanovich's Plum series. They are very similar. That's why it's good to space them out. :-) Stephanie gets on my nerves a bit after awhile. The books can still get me to laugh out loud though and I enjoy seeing what Grandma Mazur is up to; so, for now, I'll keep reading them.
Vasilly - Thanks! So far this week has been better, thankfully.
I have quite a few short story collections and anthologies sitting unread on my shelf. I am hoping this will help me get through some of them. Even though I enjoy reading short stories, I have a tendency to pick the full-length novel up instead. Reading a short story during my 1/2 hour lunch break seems to be working out well.
Nymeth - Thank you! My cover of The Welsh girl had me fooled at first, but upon closer inspection, there's definitely hints that it is, in part, a war related novel. Covers can be tricky things, can't they?
Linda - I know what you mean. Many short stories seem too short--and you don't get a chance to really know the characters. Sana Krasikov's stories, however, feel just right. At least to me. :-)
Melody - Thank you so much, Melody! I hope you continue to enjoy the Sookie books. :-)
Melissa - Thank you! Eleven years seems like a long time to me too. LOL Congratulations on your first anniversary. :-)
Lana, Violet, Myckyee, Marie (ratmammy), Heather, Jenclair, & Staci - Thank you all so much for the anniversary wishes!
Matt - Thank you! I sometimes will read by whim, but I'm a planner at heart and so I don't often have problems pre-planning my reading and sticking to my own schedule. It's just finding time to fit it all in that's the problem.
Dolcebellezza - Thanks! And congratulations to you on your 8th!
Aarti - Thank you! I've enjoyed every book I've read by Charlaine Harris, both in this series and the other I've started. I'm glad to see her finally getting more press. Of course, a lot of that has to do with the TV show.
Alice - Thank you! We had a nice anniversary. :-) I hope you enjoy the Sookie books, Alice!
ReplyDeleteTi - It worked out in this case since I really wanted to read Dead and Gone anyway. The Janet Evanovich books will have to wait. My friend's pouting a bit (she's such a tease), but she understands. :-)
It's really only fair play. I rushed her to read a book I loaned her because I'd wanted to read it--only, I still haven't read it.
Thank you for the anniversary wishes, Ti!
Nicole - Thanks! I am not familiar with Melanie Haney. I'll have to check her out. Thanks for the recommendation, Nicole!
Caspette - Thank you! Sometime peer pressure is a good thing. LOL And in this case, it was. :-)
Jess - I finished Dead and Gone yesterday afternoon. It was a quick and fun read. I haven't been so quick to jump into the latest Anita Blake books, I admit. I found the last couple on the disappointing side. I'm sure I'll catch up though eventually. :-)
I've found that too about The Welsh Girl--that I can only read it in snippets. I've been reading it off and on. I think now that I've finished Dead and Gone and the short story book I was reading, I'll try to focus more on The Welsh Girl.
Florinda - Thank you, Florinda! We had a very pleasant anniversary. I hope everything with your mother-in-law is going better. You and your family have been in my thoughts.
I don't mind reading on a schedule as long as there is flexibility and I plan for it.
Keeping busy so you don't have time to go to the bookstore is a smart idea! Let's just hope the coupon isn't good online too.
Meghan - Thank you for the anniversary wishes!
ReplyDeleteMy husband and I sometimes read the same books, but the only time we worry about finishing close together is if it's say the Harry Potter series.
The good thing about the Sookie and Plum series are that I'm not all that far behind. Well, and now I'm all caught up with the Sookie series. I'm a little farther behind in the Blake series, which I do really like (although I've had some issues with the writing in the last few). I think she's actually not quite caught up with it either--so I think I'm safe for a while. ;-)
Iliana - Thank you!
That happens to me too! I have a relative who is constantly loaning me books to read that I really have no interest in reading. Thank goodness she doesn't ask about them!
Leonore - I'm sorry to hear that, Lenore. :-( I have at least made it about half way through at this point. And I am enjoying it for the most part.
Carrie K (Patience) - Thanks!
We'll have to agree to disagree on that--we've had quite a few discussions about all three of those series. I don't read the Kate Shugak or Kathy Mallory series--pretty sure she hasn't either. We do talk about Harry Dresden now and then, but I think we're both behind in that series right now.
Marie - Thank you! It's such a good collection! It's definitely one of my favorites too.
Carrie K. (B&M) - Thank you!
LOL I'm like your friend when it comes to LOST. I record it on the DVR and, because it's on so late, usually don't get to it until the weekend. There have been times I've been a couple of weeks behind, but I try not to let that happen. :-)
I'm a little late, but Happy Anniversary! We're just a few months before you as our 11th was in October. It's so nice to be able to celebrate our relationship with our spouse. Hope your day was special!
ReplyDeleteDebi - Thank you! Happy belated anniversary to you as well. I feel very lucky to have my husband in my life. :-)
ReplyDeleteCongrats on 11 years. My hubby and I will soon reach 7 years in August!
ReplyDeleteSerena - Thank you! Congratulations to your husband and you on your upcoming anniversary!
ReplyDelete