The Sunday Post AKA What’s on my (Mostly Virtual) Nightstand 6-30-24

Posted on June 30, 2024June 27, 2024 by Marlene Harris | Author : Marlene Harris | The Sunday Post> Virtual Nightstand

It was a very ‘B’ week, with one notable exception. Ivy, Angelica, Bay by C.L. Polk was exceptional, as was the podcast of St. Valentine, St. Abigail, St. Brigid, the short story that sets it up. Which also led to my discovery of the podcast Levar Burton Reads and now I’m totally hooked.

As you read this, I’m in San Diego for this year’s American Library Association Conference, no doubt adding to the height of my already towering TBR pile. The cats are being taken care of – but we know they still miss us based on how clingy they are when we get back. And we certainly miss them.

But none of us are missing the kitty interloper (kittyloper?) on the outside of the catio screen in this picture – and the number of screen patches has quadrupled since this was taken! Clearly this cat can see that our clowder has a good thing going and he wants to be part of it!

Stacking the Shelves (607)

Posted on June 29, 2024July 5, 2024 by Marlene Harris | Author : Marlene Harris | Stacking the Shelves

All of the books in this stack will be published in August. I’ve been saving this list for a bit, because, well, August. But I haven’t picked up much this week, so it seemed like a good time to add all of these books – and naturally their covers – to the official stacking.

The two prettiest covers in this batch – at least this time IMHO – are The Singer Sisters and Transgenesis. The books I’m most curious about are Einstein in Kafkaland, because graphic novel, and A Promised Land because the American Revolution is one of those eras that has always fascinated me.

What are your thoughts and what did you add to YOUR stack this week?

For Review:
Einstein in Kafkaland by Ken Krimstein
Eugene Nadelman by Michael Weingrad
Globetrotter by Mark Jacob and Matthew Jacob
Life After Kafka by Magdalena Platzová, translated by Alex Zucker
Once Upon Argentina by Andres Neuman
A Promised Land by Adam Jortner
Simone Weil: A Life in Letters edited by Robert Chenavier and Andre A Devaux
The Singer Sisters by Sarah Seltzer
Tablets Shattered by Joshua Leifer
Transgenesis by Ava Nathaniel Winter
Uncommon Allies by Alan M. Shore

If you want to find out more about Stacking The Shelves, please visit the official launch page

Please link your STS post in the linky below:

The Sunday Post AKA What’s on my (Mostly Virtual) Nightstand 6-23-24

Posted on June 23, 2024June 22, 2024 by Marlene Harris | Author : Marlene Harris | The Sunday Post> Virtual Nightstand> Winner announcement

This week’s books turned out to be good to excellent! And Galen did one of his guest posts and a blog hop started this week so it was a bit of an easy week – also good!

Speaking of good, I’ve been going through this year’s Hugo nominations and picking one nominee per week that I hadn’t already read to read and review. Between Library Journal and Reading Reality it turned out that I’d read a fair number of the novels and novellas during the year, but I don’t read a lot of short fiction unless it’s in a collection – and that usually happens well after the fact. So far, the short stories and novelettes have ranged from OK to great, so I’m just making my final selections more difficult even if they will be better informed!

The above picture is a combination of “if I fits I sits” – writ rather large – and “possession is 9/10ths of the cat”. There are three cat beds on top of my dresser – as shown above. Lucifer has firm possession of the heated bed on the right as he glares at anyone who even thinks about ousting him from it. The middle cushion is only used when Lucifer doesn’t have possession of HIS bed, so he has a comfy place from which to glare at the interloper. That’s Tuna on the left, the biggest cat in the house in the smallest bed. Because he wants to be Lucifer’s buddy and Lucifer is barely tolerant of that fact. And because Tuna seems to enjoy overflowing his sleeping spots – as his other favorite bed is equally under proportioned to his generous purrson.

Current Giveaways:

$10 Gift Card or $10 Book PLUS EVENT-WIDE AMAZON/PAYPAL PRIZE in the Early Summer Giveaway Event
$10 Gift Card or $10 Book in the SUMMER 2024 Seasons of Books Giveaway Hop

Winner Announcements:

The winner of the Spring 2024 Seasons of Books Giveaway Hop is Lisa

Blog Recap:

Grade A #BookReview: The Year Without Sunshine by Naomi Kritzer
A- #BookReview: The Comfort of Ghosts by Jacqueline Winspear
Guest Post by Galen: Juneteenth 2024: Ron’s Piece
Summer 2024 Seasons of Books Giveaway Hop
B #AudioBookReview: The Most Human by Adam Nimoy
Stacking the Shelves (606)

Coming This Week:

A Ruse of Shadows by Sherry Thomas (#BookReview)
Unexploded Remnants by Elaine Gallagher (#BookReview)
Pets and the City by Amy Attas (#BookReview)
Ivy, Angelica, Bay by C.L. Polk (#BookReview, #HugoReview)
Requiem for a Mouse by Miranda James (#BookReview)

Stacking the Shelves (606)

Posted on June 22, 2024June 21, 2024 by Marlene Harris | Author : Marlene Harris | Stacking the Shelves

IMNSHO (In my not so humble opinion) – at least when it comes to book covers, there are two sets of pretty covers here. One set consists of The Lost Bookshop and The Story Collector, because they are both pictures of very pretty fictional libraries, and well, if we didn’t all like books we wouldn’t be here to talk about them. The other set contains the outer space covers, How to Steal a Galaxy and Rumor Has It. Not only are they both pretty science fiction covers, but they are both parts of really good series that I can’t wait to get back into!

And I’m curious as all get out about Death of the Author, because I love the author and the book sounds like it’s going to be really meta. So I’m hoping for good things but I also have my fingers crossed because meta can go all sorts of places and not all of them work for me. I’m worried it’s going to be like Magpie Murders for me, a story within a story where I adored the story within but wasn’t nearly so thrilled with the framing story wrapped around it. We’ll see.

sound of a thousand stars by rachel robbins

adrift in currents clean and clear by seanan mcguire

at the fount of creation by tobi ogundiran

For Review:
Adrift in Currents Clean and Clear (Wayward Children #10) by Seanan McGuire
At the Fount of Creation (Guardian of the Gods #2) by Tobi Ogundiran
Cabinet of Curiosities by Aaron Mahnke
Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor
The Gates of Gaza by Amir Tibon
How to Steal a Galaxy (Chaotic Orbits #2) by Beth Revis
Rumor Has It (Disco Space Opera #3) by Cat Rambo
The Sound of a Thousand Stars by Rachel Robbins
The Story Collector by Evie Woods

Purchased from Amazon/Audible/Etc.:

The Lost Bookshop by Evie Woods

If you want to find out more about Stacking The Shelves, please visit the official launch page

Please link your STS post in the linky below:

The Sunday Post AKA What’s on my (Mostly Virtual) Nightstand 6-16-24

Posted on June 16, 2024June 15, 2024 by Marlene Harris | Author : Marlene Harris | The Sunday Post> Virtual Nightstand

Today is Father’s Day, at least in the United States and a whole lot of other countries. So Happy Father’s Day to all the dads out there!

Galen is a Cat Dad, so this picture of two of the boys investigating something – possibly the location of his Father’s Day present, although that’s a bit of a scary thought. George and Tuna are always adorable, no matter what they are doing!

This week’s reviews weren’t quite as collectively awesome as last week, but there were still plenty of excellent reads. I’m just still bummed that Ghostdrift is the last book in the Finder Chronicles, and this coming week’s The Comfort of Ghosts is the last book in the Maisie Dobbs series. I know that all good things must come to an end – but I don’t have to actually LIKE that fact.