Wonderful Wordy Wednesday

 Books checked out during March 2022. The top two books by Jeffrey B Burton, The Finders and The Keepers, are about a K-9 and handler who works with the Chicago Police. I found them to be way more violent that I like. Many people and animals getting hurt or killed. Won't be reading any more of his stuff.

While Justice Sleeps by Stacey Abrams is fictional account of a US Supreme Court justice. Tricky and twisted plot. Quiet in Her Bones is set in New Zealand as a son tries to figure out why his mother was murdered and by whom. 

I didn't make it through Pug Actually, The Bombay Prince or London's Number One Dog-Walking Agency.

I stopped in yesterday to pick up my latest book requests, so for the first half year I have checked out over $2,800 worth of books. I have read 107 books so far this year, well ahead of last year. Last year at this time I had read 80 and didn't hit 107 until August 11th.

I don't like to clean in the first place, used to keep things under control and good enough that no one would call the health department. But, things could be better so just about a year ago I started using a cleaning service. They come once a month and things look so much better!

Happy July 4th or Independence Day here in the US. I know there are many who are not feeling it this year, but I will keep politics out of this blog. 

Mini-ManCat Monday

The cat of the slums and alleys, starved, outcast, harried, still keeps amid the prowlings of its adversity the bold, free, panther-tread with which it paced of yore the temple courts of Thebes, still displays the self-reliant watchfulness which man has never taught it to lay aside. - Saki

Self reliant and watchful. Well, I could be more self reliant if I could open the food cans! MOL. 

Plus today is a party day cuz tomorrow is my purrthday! Yep, I am going to be 14 years old! So mum has extra foods and special foods out so we can party!

Drinks, a buffet, cake and our own special ham! Yum!

Mum took some time for herself this weekend and went to play with racy cars. Rainy on Caturday but nice and sunny on Sunday. Mum said the weather Sunday was PURR-FECT!

When mum got home and got all her junk inside the house, then I sat on her to get my loves!

So let us all have a happy week and celly-brate!

Wonderful Wordy Wednesday

Summer time and the reading is easy.  Several hot and humid days means not outside work for me. Yesterday we reach 100 F, first time in 10 years we reached triple digits. Today is supposed to be not as hot or humid.

Next two pics are books from mid February. Good mix of fiction authors that I have been reading and non-fiction on topics I like. 

The Deborah Crombie book is the last one currently available. New one to be published later this year. I have read the entire Duncan Kincaid / Gemma Jones books. I like the characters, they work for London Metropolitan Police or Scotland Yard in the early books. 

The Light of Days is about women working in the resistance in eastern Europe in World War II. 

I sort of did the above years ago after my Dad died. I needed time to unwind, decompress. I went to a local resort place, took lots of books and wine with me. I did spa treatments too. Room service etc. It was only three days but it was wonderful. Maybe I should look into doing this again. Need to check out a few places in addition to the place I went before. 

Happy reading. 

Mini-ManCat Monday

A home without a cat is only a house.

Me and mum have a nice HOME! Yep it is a nice house, roomy, lots of windows for light to come in and to let air inside too. 

Mum says we won't be letting the air outside inside this week. The hots are coming back and we don't want to make the air chiller work harder than it has to. 

 

Some guys came and painted the metal monster drive. It is now all super dark black again. Mum says it helps make it last longer and the darker it is the faster it helps melt the snow in the winter! They did this on a really hot day last week and mum was surprized to see one guy in long sleeves with his hoodie up!

Me hanging out on mum's lap while she was watching a basey-ball game. That is about all that is on the moving picture box these days worth watching. Mum doesn't have all those fancy things to stream stuff. She says she would rather read a book or ten!

You all have a really good week. Stay cool.

Wonderful Wordy Wednesday 2022

A short stack from one pickup. Must have been slow coming in from other libraries. While I live close to the library I don't feel I have to be there every week. Usually with the way I get through things I am there about every 2-3 weeks. Our normal check out period is three weeks.

Early February check outs. Mostly my usual mystery types, so all of these were read.

The Duke Undone was too much of a romance novel for me, didn't make it through. The Women of Chateau Lafayette, also in interesting premise, but not to my taste after the first bit.  The Windsor Knot is a cute who done it with the Queen doing the investigation of a crime at Windsor Castle.

I am reading my 100th book of the year. Started it on Tuesday. Last year I didn't hit 100 until July28th.

They forgot chocolate! The non-messy kind you can eat while reading. 

The hots are here, staying inside, staying cool and reading!

Mini-ManCat Monday

A cat allows you to sleep on the bed. On the edge. - Jenny de Vries

Mum has a big bed so I can let her have more than just the edge. Heck, sometimes I sleep on top of her. Pin her inside her bed. Other times I sleep on the pillow, curled around her head. Or I get under the covers and lay along side her for a nice snuggle. Mum does not take the flashy box to bed, so no pics!

Me sitting on mum, keeping her company while she reads or watches the moving picture box. 

 

The Pee-o-kees are blooming. here are two of our nicer blooms for the year. 

The hots are supposed to be here for a few days. Me and mum will stay inside and be cool. Mum sat outside reading last night until it got too dark to read. First time this year she has done this. 

Have a wonderful week everyone. 

Wonderful Wordy Wednesday

I did not make it through the big fat book on the left. Seemed like a book about decadence would be decadent and exciting. I felt it was rather dull and ponderous. Great for putting yourself to sleep. Had a hard time just getting through the introduction. Oh well. 

I do see Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid, another favorite author and I have liked all of her books. Her books are not a series. The first book I read of hers was The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. It got me hooked on the author. I was initially drawn to the book by the bright green color of the book jacket.

Gill Paul is a newer author I have found and so far have liked her books. David Handler is another one where he has a series but didn't publish any books in the series for years, it is the Stewart Hoag Mysteries. Cute and shorter reads.

The Maidens by Alex Michaledes is related to his first book The Silent Patient. Both were interesting reads. Probably good to read in order.

 I don't have quite a library in my house but have three rooms with bookshelves in them to hold my books. Plus I know I have books boxed up in the basement as well. I rarely buy books now and I probably should think about donating some of the books I do have since I am not likely to read them again. 

No I do not have enough books to start a library! Having been on the local library board years ago I learned there are standards that have to be met based upon the population of the community you are located in. For me that would mean having over 200K items, being open 64 hours a week and having 22 full time equivalent employees if I wanted to get any kind of governmental monetary support. Oh yeah, and spending lots of money each year to get new stuff. The standards keep people from saying they are a library and expecting money. Even some actual libraries have trouble meeting some of the standards. 

Had lunch yesterday with our retired library director and the retired business manager. We talk books, library stuff and whatever else. Then we watched Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore. I wasn't that into it as I hadn't seen the second movie, so some of the plot was lost on me. I also think that Eddie Redmayne mumbles his dialog. If I was watching at home I probably would have turned on the close captioning. 

Supposed to be a rainy day which means reading for me!

 

Mini-ManCat Monday

One fact that never remains hidden from cats is the sentiment a person holds towards them.

Yeah, I knows that mum loves me. She tried very hard on Caturday to give me hugs since it was Hug Your Cat Day. I wasn't in the mood for hugs, so when mum tried, I walked away! Now I was in the mood for hugs yesterday, so I got lots of them on Sunday!

See! Me and mum all cuddled together. I loves it when I can just sit on her like this. I know she likes it too.

Mum is starting to crow-shay hats. She got silly and put the start of a hat on me. She had that color and you can see two more large balls of yarns for hats on the table.

We had purr-fect weather for two days last week. Thursday and Friday. Sunny, warm but not hot, a gently breeze, no humidity. Mum wants lots more days like this. Me too! That means I would get lots of open windows. 

Plus mum has a couple of anniversaries to amember. She moved into this house 20 years ago, and 36 years ago she moved into her first house. Interesting she moved in on the same day for both houses. Plus in big history it is the 78th anniversary of D-Day. A couple of pics from when mum was in Normandy France a few years ago.

Have a good week everyone.

Wonderful Wordy Wednesday

Happy June!

 No actual stacks of books today. I thought I would show you how I keep track of my to be read books. Where I find the books I read. 

I think I mentioned earlier that I don't do GoodReads. I am old fashioned. I keep a list in Word that is currently 8 pages long of stuff I want to read. I update the list as I get the books from the library. I insert the start of the month so I can see how far behind I am from when I added the books to the list. I took the next picture on Sunday, so about 9 months behind! The highlighted ones are those I have put a request to have the item pulled for me.

I have a section for my favorite authors and those I am reading their series. I can go and check to see if they have something new out. 

Plus an area of authors or book series I want to try or have tried and just didn't put them in the month list. If they are highlighted in green I like them, yellow yet to try.

I also took some time this weekend to scrub the list. Checking book descriptions and deciding that maybe I'm not that really interested in the book that I thought might be good a few months ago. Also, I check to see if the book is available through my local library system of 24 libraries. If it isn't available I might just skip the book. Not like I don't have other items to read. Also, I found a few books I had on the list more than once. Don't need to read it twice!

Our library gets this magazine each month. I pick up a copy to see what is new, although not every book they list is a new release. Sometimes I find things, sometimes I don't. But another source to check. I also look at the list of best sellers in the paper or online. Anytime they come out with lists of books to read/buy for presents or beach reads I go through them too. Never know when you might find a good author. I also check out books that people mention to me. 

Also under the previous library director they did a list of books called "Staff Picks" so you could see what the librarians were reading. When she left it stopped. I miss it as I had similar reading tastes to a couple of the librarians. 

Last weekend the Sunday paper had two sections for summer reading. During the week the online New York Times had a section of 88 books in various genre. Here are a some links to various lists.

New York Times  appears you have to be a subscriber to see list. I do have a digital subscription to the NYT.

NPR

Wall Street Journal  appears you have to be a subscriber to see list, currently you can subscribe to the digital version for $4 a month and cancel anytime. I subscribed for now.

Atlantic

 

I also recently discovered the website The Duchess of Cornwall Reading Room. Yes, Camilla! She is an avid reader and there are lots of books here, old and new. I found a few that I might add to my list. She started this during the pandemic to give people suggestions to read to keep themselves occupied.

Summer time is here, outside work to be done but I still take time daily to read. I would rather read than watch TV or a streaming service. I do watch some TV, at this time of year, mostly baseball. Although I did take myself to the movies last week to see the new Downton Abbey movie.