Monday Mailbox is hosted by Vicki at I'd Rather Be at the Beach. This is a weekly event to share books we added to our collections.
The library came through for me with two books I have been wanting. As I had been caught up on the Vera Stanhope mysteries I needed the latest from Ann Cleeves to round out that series. Also a very cool book called Atlas of Abandoned Places.
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When I saw this book by Lonely Planet titled Hidden Libraries I couldn't resist checking it out. There are 50 libraries here that would make a good international travel list for those of us who love books. Exotic locations and more.
"Book swap your latest read in a cool 1950s style fridge in New Zealand or hike through the ethereal woodlands of Eas Mor in Scotland where a hidden library in a small log cabin awaits. Each entry shares the library's mission and impact on the local community and offers fascinating stories from its resident caretaker."
Here is an excerpt from the Kenyan mobile library:
"Every morning the Kenyan Library Service prepare three camels for travel. The party consists of a librarian in charge, two assistants and a skilled camel herdsman who knew how to keep the moody beasts healthy and in check. One camel is tasked with carrying a whopping 400 books, another is packed with a tent, reading mat and chairs. The third just waits for one of the other two to fall apart so it could sub for it. They work Monday through Thursday and travel 7 miles in any direction from home base."
Nice photos accompany the stories and it's well worth a browse if you like books and travel. I particularly liked this one of a phone booth library. This one is in Somerset England and according to the book, Queen Camilla has been known to drop off books at these unique box libraries for others to enjoy. There are many other locations in the British Isles which would make a good U.K. travel vacation for a few weeks.
This book is shared with:
Shelleyrae at Book'd Out for the 2025 Nonfiction Reader Challenge. Category: Travel
Readerbuzz for Sunday Salon
Vicki for Monday Mailbox
Joy for British Isles Friday
It's been raining off and on for days and my flowers are thriving. I suppose I will plant more at the new house next week as I love the vibrant colors.
Library Loot
I was not expecting Frozen River to be available to me for weeks as I was number 22 on the hold list so I didn't think to suspend it. The library does rent books when one is popular so I suppose that's what happened here. Either way, I will tuck into this fat novel and hope to finish in my timeframe allotted.
That's my week's Mailbox Monday and Sunday Salon. Hope you received some goodies this week.
Sharing with Vicki for Mailbox Monday and Deb at Readerbuzz.
Mailbox Monday is hosted by Vicki and gives us a chance to share what we have gotten in this week.
Katherine at I Wish I Lived in a Library had posted about this book But Have You Read the Book? See her post here. Fortunately my library had a copy.
It was fun going through the titles and seeing which ones I'd read, which I had watched but not read and which ones I'd read and watched.
That's my week's Mailbox Monday. Hope you received some goodies this week.
Sharing with Vicki for Mailbox Monday
Just a quick post taking a break from packing. After 33 years in this house I am still amazed by how much we have accumulated. Car loads have been taken to a charity shop yet there is still all this...stuff. I posted about the sale of our home Here and since then we've managed to get a moving quote, pack up the immense quantity of music CDs, just about all the DVDs and many books.
It will certainly be weird yet cool to have access to the Internet but in the meantime, this is what I have entertainment wise this week.
Library Loot - I'd not seen either of these series and but started Poldark last night and like it. Poldark's time period is just after the American Revolutionary War and the setting is Cornwall. Ross Poldark returns to his home in Cornwall after serving as a soldier only to find his father has died and the woman he loves engaged to his cousin.
Does your library sell magazines? People kindly donate magazines, books and DVDs for the library sale table. It's like shopping locally :-) I picked up this issue of Better Homes and Gardens called Global Flavors. We tried the steak and snow pea yakisoba.
Next time I will add water chestnuts. It was good and I see you could replace the sirloin with boneless chicken if desired.
I received Good Night, Mr. Tom by Michelle Magorian, shown here with one of my spider plants and ferns. It's one of the titles on my classics list so I will get to that in the next few months for sure. Perhaps I'll watch the movie afterwards.
That's my week's Mailbox Monday. Hope you received some goodies this week.
Sharing with Vicki for Mailbox Monday
Sunday already. This week has flown by for me. The temps have been up and down so one day we are sitting on the porch while Loki suns himself and the next I have the heater going and I'm inside working on a puzzle.
I have a new puzzle, courtesy of my son, so I started sorting the colors on Monday evening. It's the World of Jane Austen with a photo key on the back describing each character and which book they belong with. Very cool.
A fox visited us this week to eat the birdseed. Sometimes I think I am feeding everyone but birds here :-)
Books finished this week
The Backyard Bird Chronicles by Amy Tan
The Snow Goose by Paul Gallico
The Book Club by Roisin Meaney
Currently reading / Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh and Eight Hundred Grapes by Laura Dave.
Sharing with:
Deb at Readerbuzz for Sunday Salon
It's Sunday and the rain has been coming down since last night. We have a mini pond out front where the water is collecting. I expect to see ducks before too long!
I am still adhering to the No Buy 2025 and making purchases only as needed. I don't buy books now either - I use the library and if they don't have my book/DVD, I utilize their inter library loan program to borrow a book from a participating source.
“When I win, I will immediately bring prices down, starting on Day One,” Trump said at a press conference in August 2024, targeting voters who have been dissatisfied with the price of goods.
How's that going? 👆
This week....
Watching / We are still enjoying MASH and are on to season two now.
Just in from the library is season three of London Kills. We had watched the first two seasons a few years ago and never got back to it. Will see if it still appeals.
Reading / I just finished James Rebanks second book Pastoral Song.
For Mailbox Monday the library came through for me with three books.
A nonfiction by Terry Gross titled All I Did Was Ask
Rosamunde Pilcher's Voices in Summer
Evelyn Waugh's Brideshead Revisted
I'll most likely start Brideshead Revisited as it's the book selected for The Classics Spin.
Hope your week is going well and you have lots of good books and joy in your life.
Sharing with:
Deb at Readerbuzz for Sunday Salon
I ended up behind this week in everything. Blogging, correspondence and the house is a tip.
Tuesday my husband had a dentist appointment and he was turned away because the blood pressure was something like 200/100 - stroke territory. He's on BP meds so next day we went to the primary care. New meds. There are other reasons for this but suffice it to say he ought to be back to "normal" much later in the year.
Thursday I had my annual opththalmologist appointment - cataract followup and pressure checks. Once I am dilated I am pretty much done for hours as to looking at a tablet or phone. Can't even read. Ugh. OK, old lady talk finished now. haha
Book chat
So....this week I finished Testament of Youth by Vera Brittain. My third book for the Classics Club - review HERE. It was a tough read for me and thankfully I had JoAnn laboring along with me to complete a buddy read.
I also finished The Shepherd's Life by James Rebanks. Very much enjoyed hearing about fell farming life and reading Rebank's memoir.
Library acquisitions
The series Blue Lights, set in Belfast Ireland. It's been a while since we've watched a police drama and we are enjoying this one very much. It has six episodes per season. The tensions in northern Ireland are well represented.
Later today I hope to catch up on emails and do some visiting!
Sharing with:
Deb at Readerbuzz for Sunday Salon
This has been a good week for book and movie arrivals here.
Currently Reading / Testament of Youth by Vera Brittain (buddy read with JoAnn)
Also in bookish updates, The Classics Club. announced their Spin so I made my list of 20 possibilities. It's my first time participating and it was fun making my list. My Spin List is HERE and I see (as of Sunday) the book I'll be reading is Brideshead Revisted by Evelyn Waugh.
Book Accessories / When I am not reading on a Kindle I can read anywhere but physical books require sufficient light in the evenings. Recently I broke out my pretty book light and it's helping me get more book time late.
The horizontal position of this light works better than an older one I had with a vertical drop. It also provides more light across both page surfaces.
My tablet basically died. It was locking up, going to black screen and I couldn't turn it off. As the tablet and blogging are my only interaction with book sites & friends, news, etc.....I had to get a new one. It interfered with some posts I was hoping to get done but...now I am all set.
Very irritating to have to spend the money on it as I was digging in to No Buy 2025. Here are a couple of articles about that Here and Here.
In book news....
Just finished The Thorn Birds by Colleen McCullough which was a buddy read with Deb at Readerbuzz. It's always nice to read with someone :-)
Currently reading / Testament of Youth by Vera Brittain with JoAnn. Also started The Story of a Heart by Dr. Rachel Clarke, a page turner in nonfiction. Fascinating so far.
Sharing a couple of "new" books for Mailbox Monday (hosted by Vicki). I have The Shepherd's Life by James Rebanks from the library and I purchased White Oleander by Janet Fitch for $2 from their sale shelves. Not sure when I will get started on the Rebanks book as I am finishing up the nonfiction right now.
Other posts this week besides the Thorn Birds review was about Loki's birthday/ gotcha day
That's about it. Not a crazy exciting week here but I am getting some good reading in. I hope your week is a good one.
Sharing with:
Deb at Readerbuzz for Sunday Salon
This week we saw unusual snowfall in northern Florida. See post and more photos HERE. Below is a photo of our field. I grew up in Pennsylvania and Michigan so I experienced snowy winters but this is so very unusual for Florida.
Foodie stuff / JoAnn posted about Chicken Tortellini soup HERE. So I have made that, very hearty.
Reading
Upcoming for one of my classics is Testament of Youth by Vera Brittain, a buddy read with JoAnn for February. Currently reading The Thorn Birds with Deb at Readerbuzz, also for my classic club list.
For Mailbox Monday I picked up the following - Orbital by Samantha Harvey, Pastoral Song by James Rebanks and the final season of Madam Secretary.
James Rebanks has a farm in Cumbria England and may be found on IG at Herdyshepherd1. The photos and videos are fantastic and I am looking forward to his book.
Finally, here is Loki soaking up some sun from his bedroom. I think about moving the furniture around but the placement of this bed near the window allows him to get a good view of the field. Spoiled...just a bit.
Sharing with:
Deb at Readerbuzz for Sunday Salon
I know I have mentioned being appreciative for having access to such a good library in previous posts. They keep me in entertainment and I don't spend any money. If a book or movie isn't for me, I just return it. This week's bounty has been good.
This week I finished Blue Sisters by Coco Mellors. Review HERE. My husband wanted the latest Godzilla movie and we watched/read that. It's all subtitled and the special effects were cool.
Into season 5 now of Madam Secretary and will finish that series before the end of January. Alas, I did not get to Moonflower Murders in time but have returned it and placed a new hold.
Today I watched The Quiet Girl, an Irish film based on the book Foster by Claire Keegan. As I said in the review of the book, the themes of kindness, hopefulness and love bring this short story to life, both on film as well as the book.
The Irish country setting was beautiful and reminded me of places we'd visited many years ago.
That's it for the week. Hope your week was good.
Loki‘s in there somewhere!
Sharing with:
Deb at Readerbuzz for Sunday Salon
Hello world. I've been absent for a bit but probably haven't missed anything crucial. I guess. Life got mad at us in November. E...
