Friday Fun: Five Things.

I need to be better about adding photos to my posts.  This one if from the elementary school track meet (there is only one per year) yesterday.  We walked (parking is horrible) so got 11,000+ steps in yesterday.  

 1. No one, human or guinea pig, is taking antibiotics for the first time in 3.5 weeks, in our house right now.  Sticking ear drops in my own ears three times a day was not enjoyable.  Trying to stuff 3 ml of pink goo in a guinea pig's mouth twice a day was also not enjoyable.  Here [hear] to healthy ears.  

2. I am trying to eat healthier recently.  Not that my diet was that unhealthy to start with (besides too much snacking...)  Yesterday, I made yogurt in my instant pot, which will be turned into frozen yogurt which will be turned into popsicles whenever my popsicle molds get here.   

3. I dug my compost bin out of the shrubbery overtaking the side yard of my house, and moved it to where it's easy to get to and use.  I also have a worm bin, but that hasn't produced the worm goodness I thought it would...  Now I want to compost everything!

4. I wrote 1200+ words recently.  Granted, I've had this stupid story in my head since 2009, but maybe this time I'll actually get somewhere...  

5. I have been playing way too much StardewValley lately...  

Happy weekend!

Writing Wednesday

 Dear Brianna,

Congratulations on opening Word and reading the partial bits of three different novels you started during Nanowrimo back in November.  They were not as bad as you expected.  They were also not that good either.  If you actually open up your Word document and work on them, you might be on to something with the plot of the 3rd one.  Yay you.

Congratulations again, for actually doing something writerly.  

Sincerely, 

Yourself

DNF: Into the Deep by Ken Grimwood

 

Background: I read Replay by Ken Grimwood in 2018 and LOVED it.  Time travel with a twist is my thing.  So, then of course, I had to look up the author, and besides the fact that he died in 2003, he wrote other books!  Not so easy to find books... but I managed to get ahold of one of them, and then never read it.  Until now, as part of my 2024 reading ocean/boat related books goal.

The plot is basically something to do with a marine biologist studying dolphins, and the dolphins warning the world disaster is imminent.  OK, that sounds kind of interesting or different.  So I added it to my ocean book pile, and this month decided to try it out.  

Around page 80, I decided maybe this is not the book for me...  

The writing is fine.  Unfortunately-- one of the POV is a character who grew up speaking Portuguese  and uses many many phrases in the language, and they are not translated.  If I didn't know a little Spanish (which is similar) and could get the general gist of it, I would be missing key parts of the story.  

Second, there are chapters in the point-of-view of dolphins.  Yes, dolphins. And all the dolphins have names like Ch*tsk (yes written with the asterisk) and I found myself skipping entire portions of the book (is it over, nope asterisks everywhere, keep skipping) because who knew, dolphins talking to each other is not very interesting.  Supposedly, according to people who actually read the entire book there's a dolphin orgy somewhere in the novel too.  Um no thank you, I'll pass.  

Maybe I'm in the wrong mood.  Maybe I'll be in the mood for dolphin communication fun later.  Maybe I will learn Portuguese and not feel like I'm missing important sentences in the novel at a later date... Who knows.

I don't think I'll get rid of the book quite yet as it was not easy to get a hold of, but for now I'm marking this one as did-not-finish.  

If you would like to read a Ken Grimwood book, I'd recommend Replay.  Also, if you have read Into the Deep, and think I should finish it, let me know.  

Some books are just not for me.

In Honor of Memorial Day

 Summer reading potential plans 2024:

I think it's time for a reread of my favorite novel of all time, Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir... I read it in 2021 and immediately wanted to start over, but I restrained myself.  It has been long enough! 

I was reading (ok listening to...) The Stand but the audio is 48 hours long and I'd probably actually be able to finish it by September if I read it and didn't listen to it...  It is also a reread, and I said I was going to read 3 (or was it 5?) 450+ page books this year.  It's over 900 pages, does it count as two 450 page books?

Swan Song by Robert McCammon has been on my to-read list since 1993... I don't know why I haven't read it yet.  Apparently I'm in an end-of-the-world mood... and this book has been compared to The Stand, and not just because it's also really long.

I think I'm going to read The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah and why not The Grapes of Wrath as well.  Both are not rereads.  I don't know I guess I'm feeling very dustbowly for some reason... The Four Winds is 448 pages, two pages short of 450 :( 

And since four of those five books kind of resemble each other, maybe I should read another sci-fi to go with Project Hail Mary... any suggestions?  Also, if you happen to know Andy Weir could you tell him to write a new book, I've read all three and need more.  

Everything else summer reading will be mood reading, or from my spinny wheel thing.  Where will the summer reading take me?  Who knows.

Happy Memorial Day and the unofficial start of summer!    

Fun Friday: Picking Junes Author-of-the-Month

 So far this year:

January: Diane Chamberlain

February: T. Greenwood

March: Robert Dugoni

April: John Irving

May: Susanna Kearsley

June: ?

Possibilities include: Emily Henry, Stephen King, Riley Sager, Larry McMurtry, Blake Crouch, T. Kingfisher, and Patrick O'Brian.  I thought Kate Morton was on the wheel but I guess not.  Anyway, kinda hoping for one of the lighter authors this month.  I own at least two books by all of them, so no excuses or long library holds list to deal with.

And the winner is... drumroll...

Emily Henry.  

A rom-com in June.  I think I can handle that.  My choices of books of hers to read are: Love that Split the World (YA, I think) or People We Meet on Vacation.  Which one will I choose?   Find out at the end of June.  

I am considering doing this spinner thing again next year, but it really only works because I already own the books.  Maybe I should go book shopping...

Also, I'm considering a 2nd spinner for authors I need to try, probably that one would be library dependent...

Spinners are fun!

Writing Wednesday

 Optimist me: today I will write.

Pessimist me: yeah, sure you're going to do that.

Realist me: ha ha ha.

Which one of me will win?

Recent Reads

I finished two books recently, and the reading experience can tell you a lot.  The Shadowy Horses took me 14 days to read.  I finished The Last House on the street in two days.

I enjoyed the Susanna Kearsley book, but by the last 100 pages (of 400) I was ready for it to be over already.  I enjoyed the archaeology parts, but the actual plot was slow.  Not a lot happened, and the big reveal was kind of meh.  I will read the other book by the author that is on my shelves, but not right now.

The story is about an archaeology dig in Scotland in the late 1990s, a lost Roman army, and ghosts.  

The Last House on the Street however, is my 4th or 5th Diane Chamberlain book, and I am looking forward to reading her other 20 or so books asap. I flew threw this because it had shorter chapters, alternating POVS, and stuff kept happening.  I now might have a book hangover, it was so good.  If all books were like this one, I'd read 200 books a year...

The story is about the SCOPE project, which helped registered African American people to vote in 1965, and two seemingly unrelated characters one who lived on the street when she was younger, and one who just built a house on the street in a new development in current times.

If it's not obvious, I highly recommend the Diane Chamberlain book.  

Fun Friday Five

Five authors I need to try sooner rather than later:

Jo Nesbo.  

Sally Hepworth

Richard Osman

Ariel Lawhon

Anthony Horowitz

I see Jo Nesbo books for sale at various used book establishments all.the.time, the others I do not, what does that say about the authors?  

If you have read any of these authors, which one do you recommend, and what book should I start with?

Thanks!  

Writing Wednesday

 Oh yeah, I call myself a writer...

Well, as of the writing of this post (Tuesday morning) I have a doctor appointment today because I think I have an ear infection (never had one of those before) which started on Sunday. I mean the intermittent  stabbing pain in my ear could be something else....  but chances are, I'm not going to be doing any writing between today and tomorrow.  I've been thinking about writing, which is better than nothing, I guess.  

Maybe next week I'll have positive writing news.  

Books in Progress May 13

 

This is the book I am currently reading.  It is one of two Susanna Kearsley books I own. For some reason, I thought this was historical fiction, but it's actually contemporary (well 1997...).  Except for the fact that I keep confusing myself that it's really not historical fiction (see that cover Brianna, is the woman looking away?  It's not historical fiction! I'm enjoying the story.  

I wanted to be an archaeologist when I grew up... but my college didn't offer it as a major :(  so all the details about sifting dirt and radar imaging the terrain are fascinating to me.  

I am also listening to The Stand on audio but it's 48 hours long, and I'm not spending as much time in the car, so it's slow going. 

That is all.  What are you reading?

Fun Friday

Things I have done this week --needing to feel accomplished...

Taken the guinea pig to the vet, and done 4/10 days of antibiotics (fun, love giving cats pills?  Try giving a guinea pig liquid from a syringe) twice a day.

Dropped off a birthday present at a friend's house

Taken a kid to his yearly doctor appointment

Taken K#3 to an AP test, which was not at his school for some reason

Grocery shopped

Bought stuff for the 4th grader's school carnival

Bought stuff for the 4th grader's teacher's snack hoard

Took the oldest to driving class

Went to the grocery store while I waited during driving class (so if you are counting, I've been to the grocery store three times this week and counting.) Having someone else teach her to drive is worth every penny.

Slugs ate all my cucumber and zucchini plants, so I put out slug traps, and bought replacement plants (I grew the originals from seeds.)

Bought my mom's Mother's Day present (she's coming over today.)

Sold two books on Pango, wrapped them up, and mailed them.

Did a lot of yardwork as it finally stopped raining and went from mid 50s to almost 80 degrees overnight.

Wondered how it can be May 10th already, May just started...

TGIF!

Books in Progress, postponed

 First because the list pretty much looks exactly the same as last week.

Second because I spent my morning at the vet, with a guinea pig with an ear infection.

Here's a photo instead. 

Also, if your guinea pig is a girl, but has a name that ends in 'o' everyone will assume she's a boy. I'm sure it's more annoying if you're a human, so something to think about when naming future children.  If I had to correct people my entire life, as opposed to at one vet appointment, my head might figuratively explode.     

The Itinerary: A Review

My review for my first NetGalley book.

 I chose to read this book because the cover looked cute, and the blurb (a grieving woman goes on a tour of Europe) sounded fun.

The book is on the shorter side at about 150 pages which I did not know when I downloaded it to read the copy from NetGalley.

Lisa (Elisabeth) is grieving the loss of both of her parents,  When her dad died, her mom and Lisa had planned a trip to Europe (Italy, Germany, and France to name a few countries) but sadly Lisa's mom died before the trip could happen.  Lisa, armed with her mom's travel guidebook and notes heads off on the trip on her own.  

Along the way, a man comes to Lisa's rescue, and then she encounters him again and again as she travels. Romance ensues.  But who is this guy and why does he keep showing up everywhere?

I enjoyed the travel aspects of the story, and would have liked more details on all the things Lisa was seeing and eating.  The story didn't really dwell on anything, Lisa arrived at a location, found her accommodations, ate food, and then moved on to the next stop on the itinerary. 

I found the romance in the story to be a little too easy/insta-lovey for my taste but the answer to the question about why Lisa keeps running into her romantic interest was satisfying.  I didn't quite connect with the characters as much as I normally like for a romance.  Because the story was so short there really wasn't room for a lot of backstory or details to connect me with the characters.

Now I want to go to Italy and France.  I am glad I read this novel.  Thank NetGalley :)    

Favorite Friday

 My 10 favorite board games.  At the moment.  Subject to change.  In no particular order.

Love Letter-- small (a deck of cards) game where each card has a character with a "rule." You have two cards, and have to guess what cards everyone else has without revealing what you have.  Quick, fun, can play repeatedly.

Wingspan--collect birds, get stuff, get more birds.  More fun than it sounds.

Near and Far--My kids hate it for no apparent reason... story based adventure game.

Viticulture-- you own a vineyard and make wine.  Make the most wine, and win...  Mmmmm wine.

Thunder Road Vendetta-- race cars, try to knock your opponents off the board, get to the end of the race with your car still alive, win.

Isle of Cats-- kind of like Tetris but also rescuing cats.  

Fluxx--another card game.  Silly, can be 5 minutes long or an hour.  I put this on here because it's the only game one of my kids will play with me.  We own the Star Trek version.

Castles of Burgundy-- build your kingdom... We also have the app version, I prefer the actual game...

Lost Ruins of Arnak-- collect stuff to complete missions, to get more stuff, and get more stuff than anyone else.  What I like is you can always do something no matter what pieces you have.

Azul--tile drafting, abstract puzzle game.

And those are my current 10 favorite board games.  

Honorable mention, also not a board game...

Jack Box.  My kids might reject playing board games, but 3/4 of come out of hiding in their rooms to play Jackbox.  It's a computer/app/group of games (trivia, drawing or word based) that you play on your laptop/phone/i-pad together.  My favorite game is Job Job, but recently The Wheel of Enormous Proportions has been the kids' favorite... There's also one called Survive the Internet that we like.  And Murder whatever party... is hilarious.

May Reading Plans

 What I might be reading in May:

Ocean related book: The Lifeboat by Charlotte Rogan, because I didn't get to it in April, and another book I haven't decided yet for May. 

Author-of-the-month: Susanna Kearsley.  Either the Shadowy Horses or the Rose Garden, both of which have very similar 3.5 ish ratings on the Storygraph...

NetGalley:

The Itinerary by Penny Pentley unless I finish it in April (it's only 150 pages.)

Beat-the-Backlist:

prominently features a desert: I admit I am not thrilled about this prompt, and having just watched both Dune movies and did not particularly enjoy either of them, so I do not want to read Dune!  I think I own The Alchemist by Paul Coelho which is 1) short and 2) takes place in Egypt... maybe that book.

name that tune: One-Hit Wonder by Lisa Jewell

Series progress:  

probably finish up the Space Case Trilogy by Stuart Gibbs.  

I am going to keep the list short this month.  I am also listening to The Stand by Stephen King on audio (48 hours) and know I'm probably going to have to renew it 2-3 times and won't finish it any time soon...  

Writing Wednesday...

 Yeah, that...

Today I have a husband going into work at 7, and four kids needing to be dropped off at specific times in four different directions between 7:15 and 7:45.  Maybe, having the house to myself until 9:30 will inspire me to open Word, or I might just sit in silence and do nothing...

Stay tuned.