Sunday Post: A Jump Start on Spring

New to My Shelves: The March  My Lit Box came my way this month. It's always a treat to find my subscription box in the mail. This box included a copy of Angie Thomas's The Hate U Give, which has been getting good reviews. The subject matter is very relevant to today.

What I Am Reading: I stayed up Friday night finishing The Book Club Murders by Leslie Nagel. Those of you voted for it as my March read, have good taste! I am in the middle of Allen Esken's The Life We Bury, which is also very good. I am not reading as much as I had hoped this month, but then, I kind of expected that. I went five days without cracking open a book--not even on my e-reader. How terrible is that?! When I finally did find time to read after that long absence away, I felt such joy and peace when I settled into my book.

What I Am Watching: We went to see the new Beauty and the Beast this weekend after Mouse's soccer class. Oh my gosh, what fun! We all enjoyed it very much. 

What's Going On Off the Blog: While some of you have been buried under more snow, spring has definitely decided to push winter aside early here. The weather has been beautiful. Most days we open our windows now. It did reach over 90 one day this past week, but we decided against starting up the air conditioner just yet. We are expecting more rain this coming week.

One of the trees in my yard

Mouse had a blast at her birthday party last weekend. We hosted it at a local pizza/game restaurant, and it was worth every penny. We had family in from out of town to celebrate as well. Things are just now getting back to normal.

Making birthday cupcakes for her class

 Mouse's family birthday cake

Since we last "talked" there was a Girl Scout meeting, soccer classes, homework, mailing my postcards on the 15th, work meetings, and all the other usual activities. Mouse brought her report card home this past week. Parker isn't feeling too well as of late, and a visit to the veterinarian may be in order soon. That's really about all the news I have right now.

Tell me about what you have been up to! What are you reading, listening to and watching? How was your week? Do you have anything planned for this coming week?

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Every Friday Coffee Addicted Writer from Coffee Addicted Writer poses a question which participants respond on their own blogs within the week (Friday through Thursday). They then share their links at the main site and visit other participants blogs.

Do you read a lot of diverse or own voices books? Why or why not?

While I enjoy reading books in which I share a similar world view or lifestyle, I also really like to read books featuring diversity or by diverse authors. I love stepping outside my own reality and lifestyle through books and seeing the world a bit differently than what I'm used  to. I confess I do not read as many books of diversity as I would like to, but I am making an effort to do so. It is one of the reasons I subscribe to the  My Lit Box, which focuses on promoting authors of color. I do not have a good excuse for not reading more diversely than I do, other than perhaps the sheer volume of books out there I want to read, many of which don't fall into the diverse category. And frankly, the genres I gravitate most toward could use more diversity. It's there if you look, but not always easy to find.

For a number of years, particularly before I began blogging, it was something I never thought about at all. It wasn't until I started more closely tracking my reading that I began paying more attention to diversity in my reading. I think reading outside one's own "voice" or experience is important, especially in this day and age. Gaining insight and learning about other ways of life, cultures, beliefs, traditions, and ideas only benefits us. Reading diversely challenges me to think differently and more compassionately. Diversity in books empower and normalize those who may feel forgotten, invisible or marginalized by providing voices that are sorely lacking in the majority of mainstream literature. And, most importantly, reading diversely isn't just about acknowledging and celebrating differences, but also in recognizing how alike we are deep down inside. We are all humans, after all. Diversity in books is a good thing, and I am glad to see more of a movement out there to bring diversity in books to the forefront.

What about you? Do you read a lot of diverse books?

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Every Sunday, Kendra Allen of Reads and Treats comes up with a theme for a Sunday list  of 5 things (because making lists are fun!) and asks participants to share.


Today's 5 Things on Sunday theme is my favorite songs. Always a tough one because my favorites are always changing. I'm going to go with the current top five songs on my playlist. At least for this week.

1. Demons by Imagine Dragons

2. Anyway by Martina McBride

3. Hello by Adele

4. Piece by Piece by Kelly Clarkson

5. Girl on Fire by Alicia Keys

What songs are you listening to a lot these days?

I hope you all have a great week! Happy Reading!

The Sunday Post is hosted by the wonderful Kimba, the Caffeinated Book Reviewer, and gives us all a chance to recap our week, talk about what we are reading, share any new books that have come our way, and whatever else we want to talk about. 

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© 2017, Wendy Runyon of Musings of a Bookish Kitty. 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.