Sunday, August 21, 2016

The Sunday Post #61


The Sunday Post is hosted by The Caffeinated Book Reviewer. It’s a chance to recap the past week, talk about next week, and share news. It’s Monday, What Are You Reading? is hosted by Book Date. I get to tell you what I’ve read recently.



Public Service Announcement


Last week, someone I went to high school with committed suicide. Please take care of yourselves and be kind to each other.




On The Blog Last Week






On The Blog This Week


  • On Monday I review The Game of Love and Death by Martha Brockenbrough.
  • On Tuesday I show you some books I’ve failed to read.
  • On Wednesday I review A Love Like Blood by Marcus Sedgwick.
  • On Thursday I tell you what I did in August.





In My Reading Life


A whole lot of life happened last week, and most of it was unpleasant, so I didn’t get much reading done. I finished The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. Now I’m trying to work up the courage to read the new Harry Potter book. I’m scared, guys. What if I hate it?





In My Blogging Life


You may have noticed that my recent book reviews have been giant walls of text. I assume most people skim them, so I may start experimenting with ways to make them more skimmable (that’s totally a word). Don’t be alarmed if they start looking a bit different.




In The Rest Of My Life


Five things that made me happy last week:

  1. A horse danced to Santana’s “Smooth” in the Olympics, and it was epic. For reasons I don’t understand, the horse wasn’t instantly awarded a gold medal.
  2. My grandpa bought me the new Harry Potter book.
  3. Cake!
  4. I wrote a lecture. I’ve never written one before and enjoyed figuring out how. My lecture is about nonlinear narrative structure, of course.
  5. It has been getting cooler at night. I sleep a lot better when I’m not sweating like a pig and angry about it.





I hope you had a great week! See you around the blogosphere!










26 comments:

  1. Loved your comment about the horse dancing. LOL I 'speed read' (skim) reviews a lot. I look for those things that jump out at me and then decide whether to read every word.
    sherry @ fundinmental My Sunday Memes

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    1. That’s exactly how I read reviews. I skim first to see if the book appeals to me. If it does, I read the review more carefully.

      Aj @ Read All The Things!

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  2. So sad about the person you went to high school with. Can't wait to see what you thought of the Night Circus. I skim a lot of people's reviews to be honest unless they are super short. Cake always makes me happy :) Have a great week!

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    1. Thanks! I was underwhelmed by The Night Circus. Maybe my expectations were too high?

      Aj @ Read All The Things!

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  3. I'm sorry to hear about your peer from high school. I didn't watch the Olympics but would have loved to see a horse dance to Santana -- I bet it was a hoot. Have a nice week.

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    1. Thanks. I didn’t watch very much of the Olympics, either, but the horse dancing was pretty interesting.

      Aj @ Read All The Things!

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  4. I love dancing horses, especially when the do it together. So enchanting and wonderful. Have you seen when they put the lights on them and darken the arena. It's fabulous. Wish I had some links handy for you. Sorry to hear about the person who took their life. So sad.

    My Sunday Post

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    1. Yes, I know exactly what you’re talking about. I’ve seen freestyle reining demonstrations where the arena was dark and the horses were in a spotlight. It’s really pretty.

      Aj @ Read All The Things!

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  5. I'm sorry to hear that about your schoolmate. How awful. I liked your 5 things though- I'm not sure I'd have a clue how to write a lecture. And cooler weather- yes please. Have the windows open today and it's cooler out, after weeks of mugginess. That gets old. :)

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    1. Thanks. YES to cooler weather. I’m not a summer person. I hate being hot.

      Aj @ Read All The Things!

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  6. So sad about the person you went to school with - certainly makes you stop and take stock of things, right?

    Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction

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    1. Yeah, it was shocking to hear. I lost contact with him after high school, but it’s still strange to know that he’s dead now. It feels really wrong.

      Aj @ Read All The Things!

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  7. I'm sorry to hear about your high school acquaintance. :/ It's definitely sobering when you realize how fragile life is. I'm interested to see what you thought of The Night Circus!

    Here's my Weekly Recap!

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    1. Thanks. I think my expectations for The Night Circus were too high. I was underwhelmed.

      Aj @ Read All The Things!

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  8. I'm so sorry about your classmate.

    If it helps you decide in any way, my 8 year old son is a HUGE Harry Potter fan and he really liked The Cursed Child. I don't know if a kid opinion is a vote for or against, though... :)

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    1. Lol, I’m glad your son liked it. I read it on Sunday and had some serious mixed feelings.

      Aj @ Read All The Things!

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  9. I enjoyed the Olympics equestrian events that I saw but missed this one. I mostly caught jumping. Our weather has been like yours. Cooler nights and mornings do make sleeping easier. Come see my week here. Happy reading!

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    1. Thanks. I wanted to watch all the horse events, but I ended up missing most of them.

      Aj @ Read All The Things!

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  10. I missed the dancing horse. The Night Circus is on my list. Happy Reading!

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  11. I'm so sorry to hear about your high school friend...that's tough. And I revamped my full reviews awhile back to make them more skimmable as well. It also made them easier to write!

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    1. Thanks. My reviews are massively long, so something has to change or nobody’s going to read them.

      Aj @ Read All The Things!

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  12. Is it weird that I want to read your lecture? And/or your dissertation? I think your field of study sounds fascinating.

    The Shattering Stigmas series is one small thing this community can do to help take care of all those who may be considering suicide. So sorry.

    I made cake this week and it is SO GOOD.

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    1. A video of my lecture might be posted online at some point. I’m not very good with technology, so I’m not sure how this will work. I know a video of it will exist somewhere.

      Aj @ Read All The Things!

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  13. Yum, cake!
    I love writing lectures, it's fun to consolidate everything then teach it.

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    1. Writing the lecture has been an interesting experience. I like seeing all my research come together in one place.

      Aj @ Read All The Things!

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