After a couple of successful – meaning relatively quiet – supervised visits by the incumbent clowder, Luna and Tuna were officially released into the general population of household cats Thursday evening. As World War III has not yet occurred, this is considered a successful introduction.

In celebration, here’s a picture of George and Tuna comparing whatever it is cats measure when they meet. George’s tail is longer, but Tuna’s is magnificent in its own way. They are both certainly VERY big bois!

Back to books – always a popular subject at chez Reading Reality. After a couple of less than successful books – or at least books that may be popular with plenty of other readers but did not float my boat AT ALL, I decided to dive back into the virtually towering TBR pile a little more this week. The recent death of Eric Flint inspired me to take a look back at his marvelous Ring of Fire series – hence tomorrow’s review of the first book therein, 1632. And I was just in the mood for another hard-boiled mystery, which lead me back to Flavia Albia’s cynical view of Imperial Rome and Deadly Election – a title that is almost a bit too apropos in our troubled times as well as hers.

Current Giveaways:

$10 Gift Card or $10 Book in the Summer 2022 Seasons of Books Giveaway Hop

Winner Announcements:

The winner of the Christmas in July Giveaway Hop is Nancy

Blog Recap:

A Review: Three Miles Down by Harry Turtledove
B Review: Till Sudden Death Do Us Part by Simon R. Green
A- Review: This Place of Wonder by Barbara O’Neal
D Review: The It Girl by Ruth Ware
A- Review: One-Shot Harry by Gary Phillips
Stacking the Shelves (506)

Coming This Week:

1632 by Eric Flint (review)
The Unkept Woman by Allison Montclair (review)
The Lost and Found Girl by Maisey Yates (blog tour review)
Deadly Election by Lindsey Davis (review)
The Stardust Thief by Chelsea Abdullah (audiobook review)

It turned out to be an excellent thing that I had so much of this week pre-prepped because of ALA, since we brought the plague home from ALA. It’s been a long week so it’s great we have a long weekend to recuperate. We are both getting better, with the able assistance of our nurse-kitties. Here’s a picture of Lucifer and George overseeing our progress.

The primary feature of the picture seems to be George showing off his murder mittens again, but it also makes it really clear that George is half-again as big as Lucifer, who has a gigantic head but nowhere near the body to match it.

So, it’s going to be a quieter than usual weekend here at chez Reading Reality, as we’re still quarantining. And we’re beyond grateful that Instacart is a thing, because it’s not good for either of us to be tackling a grocery store run at the moment although the cupboard is getting rather bare. But we’re on the mend enough that reading is back to being a real thing and look to be out of the woods later this week. YAY!

Current Giveaways:

$10 Gift Card or $10 Book in the Sparkle Time Giveaway Hop
$10 Gift Card or $10 Book in the Summer 2022 Seasons of Books Giveaway Hop

Winner Announcements:

The winner of the Dad-O-Mite Giveaway Hop is Laurie D.

Blog Recap:

A Review: The Woman in the Library by Sulari Gentill
A- Review: Of Charms, Ghosts and Grievances by Aliette de Bodard
B Review: The Protector by Anna Hackett
A Review: A Prayer for the Crown-Shy by Becky Chambers
Sparkle Time Giveaway Hop
Stacking the Shelves (503)

Coming This Week:

Fourth of July 2022 (Guest Post by Galen)
The Yeoman’s Tale by M.J. Trow (review)
A Dress of Violet Taffeta by Tessa Arlen (blog tour review)
Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin (reviwe)
Christmas in July Giveaway Hop

Today is Father’s Day in the U.S. and a host of other countries. This year, Father’s Day falls on Juneteenth, which will be observed tomorrow – probably today too. Galen will have one of his guest posts tomorrow for the holiday.

I also have the sad duty to report that Freddie lost his battle with whatever the hell was wrong with him on Wednesday. He started having seizures and just couldn’t stop. He went to the Rainbow Bridge where Mellie is probably taking up his “cat lessons” again. There were a few things he never quite got but she was elderly and he was rambunctious and some of her training didn’t take. Now  she has the opportunity to impart all the lessons he couldn’t quite sit still for.

This is one of the first pictures we ever took of Freddie, and it’s the one from which we derived his name. He tended to hang out in the bookshelves when he was feeling insecure, and with his coloring he very much resembled “Frederick the Literate” from the print by Americana artist Charles Wysocki.

We open our doors and our hearts to the little furry monsters, we take care of them for as long as they let us, and we love them forever. Rest in Catnip and Mousies, sweet boy.

Current Giveaways:

$10 Gift Card or $10 Book in the Dad-O-Mite Giveaway Hop

Winner Announcements:

The winner of the Berry Good Giveaway Hop is Kim M.

Blog Recap:

B Review: Kaikeyi by Vaishnavi Patel
B Review: The Blue Diamond by Leonard Goldberg
A Review: Love and Saffron by Kim Fay
Dad-O-Mite Giveaway Hop
B- Review: Her Majesty’s Royal Coven by Juno Dawson
Stacking the Shelves (501)

Coming This Week:

Juneteenth 2022 (Guest Post by Galen!)
Summer 2022 Seasons of Books Giveaway Hop
Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldree (review)
A Quick Trip to Moab by Kevin T. Jones (review)
Last Call at the Nightingale by Katharine Schellman (audiobook review)

This week I have yet another update on poor Freddie. After yet another vet visit on Saturday, it looks like the underlying condition that has been making him act so very off is probably toxoplasmosis. (Not that he didn’t have a urinary blockage, but that’s been cleared up for over a week and he hasn’t been getting better.) It will take a few days for the tests to be run to be certain, but in the meantime we’ve started treatment and he already seems a bit livelier. Now we just have to figure out how the hell he managed to get it. None of our cats go outdoors and we’ve never seen any critter other than the occasional bug in the house. Bugs are not generally a source for this disease, so we’re stumped. We’ll need to get the pest control people in to see if we missed something that he unfortunately didn’t.

Current Giveaways:

$10 Gift Card or $10 Book in the Berry Good Giveaway Hop

Winner Announcements:

The winner of the Moms Rock Giveaway Hop is Bea

Blog Recap:

Memorial Day Post 2022 (by Galen)
A- Review: A Sunlit Weapon by Jacqueline Winspear
Berry Good Giveaway Hop
B+ Review: The Boardwalk Bookshop by Susan Mallery
A Review: The Appeal by Janice Hallett
Stacking the Shelves (499)

Coming This Week:

Lightning by M.L. Buchman (review)
As Seen on TV by Meredith Schorr (review)
A Proposal They Can’t Refuse by Natalie Cana (blog tour review)
Find Me by Alafair Burke (review)
Road of Bones by Christopher Golden (review)

Between Freddie’s weekend vet visit and managing to tweak my entire left leg in Pilates on Friday, this week has certainly been a week. One I’d rather not repeat any time soon. Neither Freddie nor I are back to our usual selves, which goes a long way towards explaining why this past week’s proposed schedule and this past week’s actual schedule turned out to be rather different. I’m on the mend, but I’m still worried about Freddie. He’s strong enough to fight the meds, but he’s still not acting like his old self. From the looks of this picture, Lucifer is also still a bit concerned even if he’s trying to pretend he’s above it all – as he usually does.

Current Giveaways:

Moms Rock Giveaway Hop (ENDS TUESDAY!!!)

Winner Announcements:

The winner of the Life’s a Beach Giveaway Hop is Darlene
The winner of the May Flowers Giveaway Hop is Leonie

Blog Recap:

A Review: Flirting with Fifty by Jane Porter
B Review: Of Dragons, Feasts and Murders by Aliette de Bodard
A- Review: The Honeymoon Cottage by Lori Foster
A- Review: Never Coming Home by Hannah Mary McKinnon
A Review: Start the Chase by M.L. Buchman
Stacking the Shelves (498)

Coming This Week:

Memorial Day (Guest post by Galen!)
A Sunlit Weapon by Jacqueline Winspear (review)
Berry Good Giveaway Hop
The Boardwalk Bookshop by Susan Mallery (blog tour review)
The Appeal by Janice Hallett (review)