Tag: Sunday Post

The Sunday Post AKA What’s on my (Mostly Virtual) Nightstand 10-29-23

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | The Sunday Post> Virtual Nightstand> Winner announcement

It turned out to be a FANTASTIC reading week. Everything I picked up was really, really, good, and an excellent reading time was definitely had by moi. That they all turned out to be “A-” reads makes it seem like they all fell short in one way or another, but I think that was mostly because all but one of the books was a continuation in a series that may not have risen above its predecessors but didn’t fall below them either. They were each just what I expected, no more but no less, either.

The problem, however, is that I usually chose which book cover to feature next to the recap based on which book got the highest grade – and that’s a bit of a conundrum this time around!

Howloween is the day after tomorrow, and after that we’ll all be falling towards the holidays at breakneck speed. And it’s going to start getting dark too damn early next Sunday – not that it hasn’t already been trending in that direction.

But there’s been a bit of a theme going on here at Reading Reality. I’ve been reviewing horror or at least horror-adjacent books for the last few days, and that trend will continue through Halloween. Then we’ll have a blog hop to get the month started right.

Of course, I have a cat picture for this spooky season. If you’ve ever seen the meme of the little black bat as the darkness who gives cuddles, at left (or above left) there’s a picture of Lucifer proudly sitting in front with Hecate hiding below. That little bat may be the darkness that GIVES cuddles, but Lucifer and Hecate are the darkness that DEMANDS cuddles.

Happy Halloween!

Current Giveaways:

$10 Gift Card or $10 Book in the Silly Pumpkins Giveaway Hop  
$10 Gift Card or $10 Book in the Fall Seasons of Books 2023 Giveaway Hop

Winner Announcements:

The winner of the Howl-O-Ween Giveaway Hop is Alisa

Blog Recap:

A- Review: Under the Smokestrewn Sky by A. Deborah Baker
A- Review: A Duke’s Lesson in Charm by Sophie Barnes
A- Review: The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy and Horror: Volume Four edited by Paula Guran
A- Review: Phantom Pond by Juneau Black
A- Review: Night Train to Murder by Simon R. Green
Stacking the Shelves (572)

Coming This Week:

A Season of Monstrous Conceptions by Lina Rather (review)
The Dead Take the A Train by Richard Kadrey and Cassandra Khaw (audiobook review)
Thanks a Latte Giveaway Hop
Long Past Dues by James J. Butcher (review)
The Wolfe at the Door by Gene Wolfe (review)

The Sunday Post AKA What’s on my (Mostly Virtual) Nightstand 10-22-23

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | The Sunday Post> Virtual Nightstand

I did switch up one thing last week. I had originally planned to post my review of The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy and Horror this past week – at least until all the candy displays at Publix hit me with the clue-by-four that Howloween is coming up SOON and that I had enough horror or at least horror-adjacent books to do a bit of a theme around the howliday. So a switcheroo was made.

Last Sunday’s cat picture was a bit of ‘Tall Tuna is Tall – and confuddled!’ so this week’s picture is ‘Long Luna is Long’ – just not as long as Tuna. We need to get a picture of Tuna with some perspective in it to show just how big he is, but so far he has NOT been cooperative!

Current Giveaways:

$10 Gift Card or $10 Book in the Howl-O-Ween Giveaway Hop
$10 Gift Card or $10 Book in the Silly Pumpkins Giveaway Hop
$10 Gift Card or $10 Book in the Fall Seasons of Books 2023 Giveaway Hop

Blog Recap:

Silly Pumpkins Giveaway Hop
A++ Review: Generation Ship by Michael Mammay
A+ Review: Bookshops and Bonedust by Travis Baldree
A- Review: Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2023 edited by R.F. Kuang
B+ Review: Keep by Anna Hackett
Stacking the Shelves (571)

Coming This Week:

Under the Smokestrewn Sky by (Seanan McGuire writing as) A. Deborah Baker (audio review)
A Duke’s Lesson in Charm by Sophie Barnes (blog tour review)
The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy and Horror: Volume Four edited by Paula Guran (review)
Phantom Pond by Juneau Black (review)
Night Train to Murder by Simon R. Green (review)

The Sunday Post AKA What’s on my (Mostly Virtual) Nightstand 10-15-23

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | The Sunday Post> Virtual Nightstand

In this picture, it looks a LOT like Tuna has seen his own shadow and is wide-eyed surprised by the whole thing.

Which is kind of where I was at the end of the week bouncing hard off the final book I intended to review. Starling House was just plain creepy, which I totally expected from that gorgeous cover, but I was still listening to it while starting Blood Sisters and the combination of Gothic creepy but with contemporary thriller aspects of Starling House AND the all-too-real but equally creepy suspense thriller aspects of Blood Sisters was just too much of a fright fest for one week’s reading. Which led me straight to my current comfort read series, Wrexford & Sloane, as historical murders frighten me less than contemporary corporate and bureaucratic skullduggery. Your reading mileage, as always, may vary.

Current Giveaways:

$10 Gift Card or $10 Book in the Howl-O-Ween Giveaway Hop
$10 Gift Card or $10 Book in the Fall Seasons of Books 2023 Giveaway Hop

Blog Recap:

Indigenous People’s Day 2023: Two Courts
B+ Review: An Inheritance of Magic by Benedict Jacka
B Review: A Stroke of the Pen by Terry Pratchett
A- Review: Starling House by Alix E. Harrow
A Review: Murder at Queen’s Landing by Andrea Penrose
Stacking the Shelves (570)

Coming This Week:

Silly Pumpkins Giveaway Hop
Generation Ship by Michael Mammay (review)
Bookshops and Bonedust by Travis Baldree (review)
The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy and Horror: Volume Four edited by Paula Guran (review)
Keep by Anna Hackett (review)

The Sunday Post AKA What’s on my (Mostly Virtual) Nightstand 10-8-23

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | The Sunday Post> Virtual Nightstand

The backyard doesn’t look quite like that at the moment, because Fall is pretty much falling all over the place. The tree cover behind the house is lush for a lot of the year, but now is the time when the leaves start falling with a vengeance and suddenly we have neighbors again.

The cats, of course, find the whole falling leaves thing utterly fascinating. George was in these very seats a couple of nights ago, chirping at the falling leaves in the hopes that they were birds he could lure in. Meanwhile, the catio has become an all-day place for kitties to lounge as the temperatures have begun falling in as much earnest as they ever do around here.

Current Giveaways:

$10 Gift Card or $10 Book in the Howl-O-Ween Giveaway Hop
$10 Gift Card or $10 Book in the Fall Seasons of Books 2023 Giveaway Hop

Blog Recap:

A Review: The Hunter’s Apprentice by Lindsay Schopfer
A- Review: Shadow Speaker by Nnedi Okorafor
B Review: The Circumference of the World by Lavie Tidhar
Howl-O-Ween Giveaway Hop
A- Review: The 272: The Families Who Were Enslaved and Sold to Build the American Catholic Church by Rachel L. Swarns
Stacking the Shelves (569)

Coming This Week:

Indigenous People’s Day 2023: Two Courts (guest post by Galen)
An Inheritance of Magic by Benedict Jacka (blog tour review)
Blood Sisters by Vanessa Lillie (review)
A Stroke of the Pen by Terry Pratchett (review)
Starling House by Alix E. Harrow (audio review)

The Sunday Post AKA What’s on my (Mostly Virtual) Nightstand 10-1-23

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | Banned Books> The Sunday Post> Virtual Nightstand> Winner announcement

Today is the start of Banned Books Week, an event which has always called attention to the books that are challenged and banned in school and public libraries across the country. It’s an event that has become increasingly both important and fraught with meaning in this moment, as the number of challenges has increased exponentially in the last few years while the themes of those challenges have emerged as being ever more chilling as, no matter what the challenges may claim, the overall desire that emerges is the need of some to erase the voices of those who are different from themselves, with the goal of not merely erasing those voices, but ultimately, the people behind those voices.

This has all happened before. Banned Books Week does its very best to drag the issue out of the shadows and into the light, so that it doesn’t happen again.

 

I usually read a book from the Banned and Challenged list this week, but I decided to try something different this year. The 272: The Families Who Were Enslaved and Sold to Build the American Catholic Church by Rachel L. Swarns is not on the Banned and Challenged list YET because it was just published this summer. However, it is exactly the kind of book that will find itself on the list in years to come, because it challenges the traditional perceptions of people and institutions that are considered to be great which got to where they are by abusing the labor and the very persons of people of color. It reminds me a bit of The 1619 Project, which I absolutely considered for this week but wanted to listen to because I’ve heard great things about the audiobook version. So, I bought it instead and plan to plan a little better next year.

Current Giveaways:

$10 Gift Card or $10 Book in the Fall Seasons of Books 2023 Giveaway Hop

Winner Announcements:

The winner of the Holiday Kickoff Giveaway Hop is Cali

Blog Recap:

Fall Seasons of Books 2023 Giveaway Hop
A Review: A Duke’s Introduction to Courtship by Sophie Barnes
B Review: The Scandalous Confessions of Lydia Bennet, Witch by Melinda Taub
A Review: Bad Blood by Lauren Dane
A+ Review: Osprey by M.L. Buchman
Stacking the Shelves (568)

Coming This Week:

The Hunter’s Apprentice by Lindsay Schopfer (review)
Shadow Speaker by Nnedi Okorafor (audio review)
The Circumference of the World by Lavie Tidhar (review)
Howl-O-Ween Giveaway Hop
The 272 by Rachel L. Swarns (review)

The Sunday Post AKA What’s on my (Mostly Virtual) Nightstand 9-24-23

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | The Sunday Post> Virtual Nightstand> Winner announcement

Today’s picture is Tuna again, this time in the midst of executing a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad idea. He’s standing on Galen’s desk, using one of his computer monitors for balance, attempting to reach the overhead fan. Which he can, as dangerous an idea as that sounds. Galen snapped the picture and then executed a Tuna extraction because otherwise the literal fallout was going to be epically bad and full of broken glass from the monitor.

Tuna is just big. He can stand on the kitchen table and bat at the light fixture over head – which he does. Unfortunately, especially for a cat, Tuna possesses the family grace, meaning that he is every bit as klutzy as the rest of the family – both human and feline. His pratfalls tend to shake the house. We may not be in an earthquake zone, but we are absolutely in a cat-quake zone.

As far as bookish and bloggy things go, tomorrow’s Fall Seasons of Books Hop technically starts today, but the organizers are very generous about giving people a few days to hop on board. So tomorrow. Giveaway Hops are the BEST way to start a week!

Current Giveaways:

$10 Gift Card or $10 Book in the Holiday Kickoff Giveaway Hop (ENDS Thursday!)

Winner Announcements:

The winner of the Hello Autumn Giveaway Hop is Piroska
The winner of the Summer Seasons of Books 2023 Giveaway Hop is Suzie

Blog Recap:

B Review: The Quiet Room by Terry Miles
A Review: Starter Villain by John Scalzi
A+ Review: Into the Riverlands by Nghi Vo
B+ Review: The Book Club Hotel by Sarah Morgan
A Review: The Last Devil to Die by Richard Osman
Stacking the Shelves (567)

Coming This Week:

Fall Seasons of Books 2023 Giveaway Hop
A Duke’s Introduction to Courtship by Sophie Barnes (blog tour review)
The Scandalous Confessions of Lydia Bennet, Witch by Melinda Taub (blog tour review)
Osprey by M.L. Buchman (review)
Bad Blood by Lauren Dane (review)

The Sunday Post AKA What’s on my (Mostly Virtual) Nightstand 9-17-23

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | The Sunday Post> Virtual Nightstand> Winner announcement

After last Sunday’s picture of poor Tuna standing lonely on the inside of the house while Luna and George tease him from out on the catio, I had to post this picture this weekend to show that Tuna’s life is actually pretty darn good most of the time.

Seriously, is that a face, or is that a face? He’s adorable when he’s being a clown.

Also in reference to last Sunday’s Post, I did manage to actually finish ALL the books I’d planned on reviewing. I think it’s been a while since THAT happened. This week is looking pretty good too, because I’ve already finished the first three books and The Book Club Hotel is for a blog tour so that settles that. I’ve been really looking forward to The Last Devil to Die so I think I’m set but we’ll certainly see in the week ahead!

Current Giveaways:

$10 Gift Card or $10 Book in the Summer 2023 Seasons of Books Giveaway Hop
$10 Gift Card or $10 Book in the Hello Autumn Giveaway Hop
$10 Gift Card or $10 Book in the Holiday Kickoff Giveaway Hop

Winner Announcements:

The winner of the Glam and Glits Giveaway Hop is Darlene

Blog Recap:

9/11 2023: Remember the Sky (Guest Post by Galen)
B Review: Fury Brothers by Anna Hackett
A+ Review: Mammoths at the Gates by Nghi Vo
B Review: An Unsuitable Heiress by Jane Dunn
A+ Review: Prophet by Sin Blaché and Helen MacDonald
Stacking the Shelves (566)

Coming This Week:

The Quiet Room by Terry Miles (review)
Starter Villain by John Scalzi (audio review)
Into the Riverlands by Nghi Vo (audio review)
The Book Club Hotel by Sarah Morgan (blog tour review)
The Last Devil to Die by Richard Osman (review)

The Sunday Post AKA What’s on my (Mostly Virtual) Nightstand 9-10-23

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | The Sunday Post> Virtual Nightstand

I’m sure about every day this week except Wednesday. I’ve already read or listened to all the books, but I didn’t write up Mammoths at the Gates for Reading Reality back when I reviewed it for Library Journal, so I need to do at least a re-skim for this week. It was lovely and adorable and so much fun – like every book in the Singing Hills Cycle so far – but my round tuit just wasn’t fully polished that weekend.

Turning to something  – or someone – else that is rather round, take a look at this recent picture of Luna, Tuna and George. Luna and George are out on the screened-in catio, while Tuna is looking on mournfully from the inside side of the cat door. George and Luna spend a LOT of time out on the catio, especially George, but Tuna doesn’t go out there. We don’t think he actually CAN – or at least that the width of his whiskers is telling him that he won’t fit through the door. Lucifer doesn’t go out because he doesn’t wanna, Hecate doesn’t go out because she’s a grumpy little girl who would much rather be an only child, but it’s pretty clear from Tuna’s face that he wants to REAL BAD but thinks he can’t.

So his sister and her buddy tease him unmercifully about it!

Current Giveaways:

$10 Gift Card or $10 Book in the Glam and Glits Giveaway Hop
$10 Gift Card or $10 Book in the Summer 2023 Seasons of Books Giveaway Hop
$10 Gift Card or $10 Book in the Hello Autumn Giveaway Hop
$10 Gift Card or $10 Book in the Holiday Kickoff Giveaway Hop

Blog Recap:

Labor Day 2023
B Review: Payback in Death by J.D. Robb
Hello Autumn Giveaway Hop
Holiday Kickoff Giveaway Hop
B Review: Forgotten History by Christopher L. Bennett
Stacking the Shelves (565)

Coming This Week:

9/11 (Guest Post by Galen)
Fury by Anna Hackett (review)
Mammoths at the Gates by Nghi Vo (review)
An Unsuitable Heiress by Jane Dunn (blog tour review)
Prophet by Sin Blaché and Helen MacDonald (audiobook review)

The Sunday Post AKA What’s on my (Mostly Virtual) Nightstand 9-3-23

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | The Sunday Post> Virtual Nightstand> Winner announcement

Last week I was not exactly in the village of Running-on-Time when I put the Sunday Post together and I neglected to include a cat picture. Therefore, this week’s picture includes not one but two cats. As an added treat, it’s a picture of the very rare sighting of Hecate and Luna co-existing peaceably and in proximity. They don’t really fight the way the boys do, they just generally refuse to occupy the same space at the same time. The kitty television outside the windows must have been particularly good that day!

This was the first week in quite a while where the books I thought I was going to read were the books I actually read. This coming week is probably the same, if only because there are only three of them. Galen is continuing his series of holiday guest posts tomorrow for Labor Day, and there’s a blog hop on Thursday.

Friday’s book is the second book in the Star Trek: Department of Temporal Investigations series, after the previously reviewed Watching the Clock. It’s the kind of book I normally pick up at the last minute because I’m desperate – or at least desperately flailing – but this time it’s a deliberate choice because Friday, September 8 is Star Trek Day. I thought about reading more of the Star Trek Autobiographies series (I loved The Autobiography of James T. Kirk, after all) but I’m feeling a bit weirded out by them now because they were all published before Star Trek: Picard and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds happened. Which means those ‘autobiographies’ have been superseded by events that were not yet revealed when they were written. Which led me back to the Department of Temporal Investigations because even though some of those events may have been superseded by later reveals, we wouldn’t know anyway because the whole point of the Department is to smooth over that kind of thing. And the first book was  oodles of fun, so I expect a good reading time no matter what.

Current Giveaways:

$10 Gift Card or $10 Book in the Glam and Glits Giveaway Hop
$10 Gift Card or $10 Book in the Summer 2023 Seasons of Books Giveaway Hop

Winner Announcements:

The winner of the Old School Giveaway Hop is Brigette

Blog Recap:

B+ Review: Big Little Spells by Hazel Beck
A- Review: A Duke’s Guide to Romance by Sophie Barnes
B Review: Devil’s Gun by Cat Rambo
A- Review: The Bullet That Missed by Richard Osman
Glam and Glits Giveaway Hop
Stacking the Shelves (564)

Coming This Week:

Labor Day 2023 (Guest Post by Galen!)
Payback in Death by J.D. Robb (review)
Assistant to the Villain by Hannah Nicole Maehrer (review)
Holiday Kickoff Giveaway Hop
Forgotten History by Christopher L. Bennett (review)

The Sunday Post AKA What’s on my (Mostly Virtual) Nightstand 8-27-23

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | The Sunday Post> Virtual Nightstand> Winner announcement

I did better this week than last week on actually reading the books I intended to read. Howsomever, by the time the end of the week closed in – which is actually on Wednesday for the purpose of reading Friday’s book – when I started Wolfsong I just wasn’t feeling it, even though I really wanted to read it. But it’s 500 pages of slow burn and that just wasn’t the mood I was in AT ALL. So that will come back around at some point later when that’s a bit closer to the mood I’m in at the time.

This week’s schedule may actually hold up – even though the name of Friday’s giveaway hop does me in every single year. I want it to be ‘Glitz’ instead of ‘Glits’. I’m not even sure what a ‘glit’ is! But it’s the Glam and Glits Giveaway Hop and that’s just the way it is.

Also it’ll be the OMG first of September and that’s just the way that is as well. It feels like August has lasted FOREVER, melting us all in the hot summer sun.

Current Giveaways:

$10 Gift Card or $10 Book in the Old School Giveaway Hop
$10 Gift Card or $10 Book in the Summer 2023 Seasons of Books Giveaway Hop

Winner Announcements:

The winner of the Back to School Giveaway Hop is Anne

Blog Recap:

A- Review: The Man Who Died Twice by Richard Osman
A- Review: Cursed at Dawn by Heather Graham
B+ Review: Sir Hereward and Mister Fitz by Garth Nix
A- Review: Murder at Kensington Palace by Andrea Penrose
A+ Review: Contrarian by L.E. Modesitt Jr.
Stacking the Shelves (563)

Coming This Week:

Big Little Spells by Hazel Beck (blog tour review)
A Duke’s Guide to Romance by Sophie Barnes (blog tour review)
The Devil’s Gun by Cat Rambo (review)
The Bullet that Missed by Richard Osman (review)
Glam and Glits [sic] Giveaway Hop