Sunday, January 5, 2020

The Sunday Post #206





The Sunday Post is hosted by The Caffeinated Book Reviewer, and The Sunday Salon is hosted by Readerbuzz. They’re 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.




On The Blog Last Week











On The Blog This Week


  • On Tuesday I talk about 2020 adult book releases.
  • On Thursday I wrap up 2019 (with delicious pie graphs).









In My Reading Life


I survived Scandinavia and Northern Europe in Best-Loved Folktales of the World by Joanna Cole. My favorite stories from that region were “Peter Bull” (Denmark) and “The Tinderbox” (also Denmark). I like them because they’re unique. This book has taught me that most European folktales have very similar themes and characters. Right now, I’m reading tales from Eastern Europe. Then I get to move on to a whole new continent!

I finished Caddie Woodlawn by Carol Ryrie Brink. It was okay. It took me a while to get into it because it’s very episodic. For a book published in the 1930s, parts of it feel modern. Caddie does what she thinks is right, even if it goes against her family’s wishes. She learns that all work is valuable, and that “men’s work” and “women’s work” are myths. Anybody can learn how to do anything.



On New Year’s Eve, I read Almost Midnight by Rainbow Rowell. I felt clever because I finished it at almost midnight. It’s a cute, tiny book that contains two illustrated short stories. I’ve never seen Star Wars, so I liked “Midnights” more than “Kindred Spirits.”



Right now, I’m reading Where The Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens. It’s brilliant so far. Totally living up to the hype.








In The Rest Of My Life


Five things that made me happy last week:

  1. Happy 2020!
  2. My new reading spreadsheets. I have 2 complicated ones this year. One tracks the books I’m reading, and the other tracks my TBR shelf and book budget.
  3. Speaking of my ridiculous spreadsheets, I finished my 2019 reading stats post. It’ll be up on Thursday. That’s always my most time-consuming post of the year. It takes days to do the math and make the graphics. I’ll be very happy if people look at it.
  4. I love all the “best books of 2019” posts. I’ve been spending all my free time searching the internet for those. I filled 2 pages of my notebook with books that I want to know more about.
  5. I’m eating Twix right now. It is delicious.









My New Year’s Resolution Is To Acquire Friends












Take care of yourselves and be kind to each other! See you around the blogosphere!






48 comments:

  1. Twix really are delicious. Glad to hear you enjoyed it. I love those year end posts. I added several books to my TBR too, but mostly, I fangirled about books I loved with others who loved them too. I don't remember Caddie Woodlawn too vividly, as I believe I read it in 1979/1980 (a while ago), but it is interesting to hear parts felt modern. Kudos to you for doing the year recap. I think I did it once, and it was a lot of work. So, I just did Best of lists again this year. Can't wait to see how your broke it down for us, though.

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  2. Happy New Year, AJ! =D Two spreadsheets?! I really need to start using reading spreadsheets to organize my reading life. I can't wait for your 2019 recap - love graphics. ;) Twix always makes everything better. =P

    Happy readings!
    Tânia @MyLovelySecret

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  3. I was laughing about the Twix *smile* Had to think about the time when its name was changed from the old one into Twis. Gosh, how time flies.... Happy reading and looking forward to your stats and graphics!

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  4. I love the idea of finishing Almost Midnight just before midnight - that's really cute :)

    I've also heard great things about Where The Crawdads Sing. Hope you enjoy it.

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  5. I always love all the end of year posts too! And I also made my spreadsheet even more complicated than last year---but I love it!!

    Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction

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  6. I need to sit down and do a wrap up post AND a 2020 post. I travelled for most of break and am now playing catch up. Mine definitely won't have graphs and math, though, lol. Happy reading!

    Nat @ Natflix&Books

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  7. I look forward to your post with pie charts. I hated statistics in school, but when it comes to books and reading I don't mind so much. Haha. It sounds like your reading has gotten off to a good start this year. I love that you finished Almost Midnight at, well, almost midnight. :-) Enjoy Where the Crawdads Sing. I admit I've been avoiding that one like the plague. I think because it has gotten so much hype. It's funny because some books I'm all over when they get so much praise, but others I stay away from as long as I can resist. I'm not sure why the contradiction . . .

    I hope you have a great week, AJ!

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  8. Happy New Year!
    The paltry graphs I included in my post were created with scratch marks on a piece of paper and my husband reminding me how to work out percentages on a calculator lol. Spreadsheets are beyond me.

    Wishing you a great reading week, and more Twix’s

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  9. Happy New Year! My brother is also reading Where the Crawdads Sing. I hope you enjoy it! I can't wait to see your reading stats post!

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  10. It's great fun to read the end of year posts, isn't it? I look forward to reading your stats for 2019 and I hope you have far more delicious moments in the coming week, though not necessarily Twix-based...

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  11. I love Twix :) End of year stats are always the best.
    I have been wanting to make a spreadsheet for my reads but I am so much better writing it down but I can't figure out how to do that. lol

    I hope you have a great week, AJ! Happy Reading!

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  12. Isn't filling out spreadsheets so satisfying? I keep a spreadsheet of what I read, but I'm sure it's not as complex as yours!

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  13. I adored Where teh Crawdads Sing AJ! So I am happy that so far you are enjoying it!

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  14. I can't wait to see what you think about Crawdads, AJ. I thought the first chapter was one of the best chapters of any book I've ever read, but I wasn't as convinced about the character development.

    Caddie's quite the modern girl (for her time). All the girl characters in the old Newbery books are strong characters. I like that about them.

    When I was reading Italian Folktales, it felt like many of the tales were simply slight alterations of other stories. I want to read the Joanna Cole book.

    Have a great week!

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  15. I read Where the Crawdads Sing as Well and I liked it....but I wasn't in LOVE with it.

    I love a good twix, haha!

    Amber Elise @ Du Livre

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  16. Mmmm, I like Twix. They've released a white chocolate one here in the UK but it isn't as nice as the milk chocolate one.
    Happy New Year!
    Fingers crossed it's another good one.

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  17. Glad you're enjoying Crawdads... I was going to skip it because of all the hype, but ended up reading it for a book club. It turned out to be a 2019 favorite. I love Twix!!

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  18. Happy New Year!! LOL!! Twix.. they are definitely good!! I love all chocolate though.. it's truly an addiction of mine! Sigh..
    Have a great week and happy reading!

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  19. I used to have reading spreadsheets...but then one year I just stopped. I hope you have another great reading year!

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  20. I totally forgot to do a monthly wrap-up in December because I was so distracted by end-of-decade stuff. Whoops! I've tweaked my spreadsheet/form for next year, and am curious about your TBR and budget sheet. I always remember Caddie Woodlawn, for what I think is the opening scene, when she wades a river holding her clothes over her head in a bundle so they don't get wet. I had to do that with shoes once at the beach, and I was giggling the whole time because I felt like her.

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  21. Happy New Year AJ! I love that you finished reading Almost Midnight by midnight New Years! Brilliant and clever indeed.

    My Sunday Post

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  22. I LOVE reading your Sunday post. You say the best things. :) See this is why I want to have everyone link to my Top 10 meme so I don't have to do any searching. I have a whole week of different Top 10 including for 2019 and that I want in 2020. Anyway, I love that you do spreadsheets. I have developed one over the last year which is so very helpful in reading and scheduling reviews for the blog. I love it and I don't know how I did without it.

    Have a wonderful week! I'll definitely swing back for the graphics.

    Anne - Books of My Heart Here is my Sunday Post   

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  23. Twix is one of my favorite candy bars! And now I want one. I can't wait to see your stats roundup. I love stats and charts almost as much as I love Twix. Have a great week!

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  24. Happy New Year (I didn't make it, went to bed at 11 PM). The folktale book sounds interesting and delightful.

    www.thepulpitandthepen.com

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  25. Ooh Scandi/ Northern Europe folktales sound fun. But then Eastern european does too. And I liked Midnights- thought it was a cute story. I need to read more Rainbow Rowell.

    I haven't had a Twix in years. No fair.

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  26. Those spreadsheets sound like a good plan...if I could read one, lol.

    I am curious about Almost Midnight, and loved the clever reference to midnight New Year's Eve.

    Enjoy your week, and thanks for sharing.

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  27. What a fun post!! I love this <3 Twix are my FAVORITE!!! Wanna share? lol! Good luck this year with all your reading <3

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  28. I'm loving Where The Crawdads Sing right now as well.

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  29. Love the sound of your complicated spreadsheet! Reminds me another thing I should track is the money spent on books in 2020. I tend to be blasé, I need to just take a look!

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  30. Happy New Year! I used to do spreadsheets now I do thousands of lists. LOL Have a great week!

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  31. I like running the numbers on my reading too. Happy New Year. My weekly update

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  32. I have to happily report that the chocolate situation is pretty good-I have three Terry's Chocolate Oranges and two big tins of Heroes! I'm set for this year for sure! I always do my stats posts at the end of the year so I can then forget about them! I'll be looking forward to your stat post as I love those!

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  33. Finishing "Almost Midnight" at almost midnight is hilarious! Happy New Year! I hope you can stop by:

    https://collettaskitchensink.blogspot.com/2020/01/happy-homemaker-monday-1620.html

    Colletta

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  34. I have been avoiding Best of posts. I am actively trying to lower my TBR mountain and not add to it. Come see my week here and Happy New Year!

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  35. I'm glad you're enjoying Where the Crawdads sing- I read it after it was totally hyped and thought it held up too.

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  36. I'm excited for your posts this week! I love end of the year posts too. :)

    -Lauren
    www.shootingstarsmag.net

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  37. I love seeing everyone's stats and best-of lists.

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  38. I really enjoyed Rowell’’s Midnights. Such a sweet short story. I’ve yet to read Kindred Spirits. So I’m not the only one who gets all happy/excited for a new year’s reading spreadsheet. LOL When I was copying last year’s and tweaking it for this year I was totally in my happy place. :)

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  39. I haven't read Caddie Woodlawn since I was in grade school! Maybe I'll pick it up for my daughter and do a re-read myself!

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  40. Happy New Year, AJ! I'm so glad to hear you're enjoying Where The Crawdads Sing. It was one of my favorite reads in 2019 and I agree, lives up to the hype. I've been thinking about doing a spreadsheet for my TBR too. I always seem to add more books than I actually complete and have wondered if a spreadsheet would make me more aware of that and hopefully swing the behavior in the other direction a bit.

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  41. I have to say that I really enjoy all of the year end wrap up posts. I guess I like stats more than I did in college. I recently bought a copy of Where the Crawdads Sing so I am thrilled to hear that you are enjoying it. Have a happy 2020!

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  42. I love pie graphs! Unfortunately I did not keep up with my spreadsheets in 2019 so no pie graphs for me - but I am excited to see all the other ones!

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  43. I liked the end of Crawdads the best. Twix is delicious. And I'm looking forward to your fancy Thursday post. :)

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  44. I loved Crawdads!!! I was apprehensive because of all the love but then I loved it too. Lol.

    And ha I love stuff like that, reading that book called Almost Midnight and "timing" it like that.

    Have a good one!

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  45. Ahh I admire everyone with spreadsheets and making these wonderful blog posts with pie charts and numbers and all the MATH. I don't have the patience to do that ahah. I can't wait to read your post! :)

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  46. Do you have a blog posts about your spreadsheets? I would love to know more about how you use them to track it. And yes, Twix is delicious! LOL
    Have a great week!

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  47. I am in awe of people who do the math and make graphics for their year end wrap up. I just can't fathom doing math when its not necessary!! Happy new year!

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  48. You haven't seen any Star Wars movies? 😯

    Yes, Twix are goooooood. 😍

    Happy New Year! 🎉🎉🎉

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