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Sunday, March 2, 2025

What a week......

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.

Also plan to start Pastoral Song by James Rebanks, the secord book he has written about farming the fells in Cumbria.

Later today I hope to catch up on emails and do some visiting!

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Saturday, February 22, 2025

Reading, watching and library loot

This has been a good week for book and movie arrivals here.

Currently Reading / Testament of Youth by Vera Brittain (buddy read with JoAnn)

Just finished The Shepherd's Life by James Rebanks - review here and plan to read Pastoral Song soon.

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.

Watching

Part of my library loot this week was Force of Nature and Severance. In the mailbox was Cosmos. Force of Nature followed the Jane Harper book of the same name, the second one in the Aaron Falk series. Set in Australia and I am looking forward to the next one.

Severance was completely weird and in the beginning we almost stopped watching. But wow, after about 15 minutes or so things start coming together and we were hooked. Such cliff hangers. Looking forward to season 2 when the library can order it...I am probably looking at waiting a year so please, no spoilers!

Cosmos was an independent film made on a shoe string budget about amateur astronomers. The newest member of a team makes a discovery using radio signals from an unexpected origin. This is set in England.

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Sunday, February 9, 2025

Presently reading......

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.

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Deb at Readerbuzz for Sunday Salon

Saturday, January 25, 2025

Snow and books and comfort food

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.

I also made a Curtis Stone recipe which is always satisfying. Chicken and Sausage Paella.

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.

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Saturday, January 18, 2025

Reading and Watching

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!

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Saturday, January 11, 2025

Reading and Watching

Reading / I have been inside reading quite a bit and finished several books, all of which I enjoyed. No DNF books so far 😀.

I've joined in for the Nonfiction Reading Challenge hosted by Shelleyrae at Book'd Out and read two memoirs so far. This week I finished The Blue Hour by Paula Hawkins which took us to a remote setting in Scotland. It had quite an intriguing plot.

From Goodreads: Welcome to Eris: An island with only one house, one inhabitant, one way out. Unreachable from the Scottish mainland for twelve hours each day.

Once home to Vanessa: A famous artist whose notoriously unfaithful husband disappeared twenty years ago.

Now home to Grace: A solitary creature of the tides, content in her own isolation.

But when a shocking discovery is made in an art gallery far away in London, a visitor comes calling.

So Eris Island is not a true island but it is very isolated. With a dangerously thin road connecting Eris to the mainland only a mile in length. It's possible to go walk or drive from the small village during a six hour window. Once the tide comes in you are stuck.

The story weaves back-and-forth between present day and the past. There are three main points of view involving current day perspectives and flashbacks to events in the past.

Vanessa Chapman was a brillant artist who died of cancer, leaving her entire collection of art to The Fairburn Foundation. This was a surprise as she'd had a huge falling out with Douglas Fairburn, pulling her show out at the last minute and thus, starting a lengthy legal battle. Besides being famous for her artwork she is also associated with the mysterious disappearance of her ex husband Julian Chapman. He visited her island one day and afterwards, vanished without a trace.

Grace is a pivital character in the novel. Grace is a doctor and met Vanessa when she struggled into the practice with a broken wrist. You could say they became friends or you could also see Grace positioning herself into Vanessa's life as friend/caretaker/medical professional.

As more of the character development is revealed you will come to realize Grace had a very lonely life. In one flashback to her college life I felt very sorry for her when she was put in the hospital and no one came to visit. Her roommates disappeared. Abandonment. But there is more to Grace than meets the eye.

Becker is the third narrator. He is a curator for the Fairburn Foundation and obessesed with Vanessa's work. He is in an awkward position at the foundation, a down to earth type who wants to do the right thing. Then he discovers some sordid secrets.

Without spoilers I will say this is a slow burn and the revelations sometimes contradict each other, depending on perspective of the character narrating. Toward the end you see all the pieces fit together. I was never tempted to bail but I didn't like how it ended. 3.5 stars

Watching / A series new to us is Madam Secretary and we are enjoying it. Just finished season four and looking forward to the last two seasons. Please don't give me spoilers! We tend to lose interest in series after a while but this one has kept our attention.

No books in the mail but a Kindle purchase at good sale price and of course my wonderful public library providing me with loads of book, magazines and DVDs.

I hope your week was a good one. Thoughts out to all those in California who are experiencing devastating fire damage. Horrible what is on the news. I am very worried about Jinjer.

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