Sunday, September 6, 2020

The Sunday Post #240


The Sunday Post is a chance to recap the past week, talk about next week, tell you what I’m reading, and share news. It’s hosted by The Caffeinated Book ReviewerReaderbuzz, and Book Date.

*This post contains affiliate links. I earn a commission from qualifying purchases.





The Sunday Post #240





On The Blog Last Week







On The Blog This Week


  • I swear there will be a blog post. I haven’t finished it yet because I am struggling with the "new and improved" Blogger platform.





In My Reading Life


Last week, I finished a short story collection called The Refugees by Viet Thanh Nguyen. The stories are set in the 1970s and feature characters who are Vietnam War refugees. The characters and writing are great. My favorite story is about a professor and his wife. The professor is losing his memory and starts calling his wife by a different name and talking about things she doesn’t remember. He thinks she’s a different woman. She wonders if her husband invented this woman or if she’s someone from his past who he never mentioned before. Like most short story collections, this one is a mixed bag. Some of the stories are entertaining, and some of the plots didn’t come together for me.




Then I reread Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins. This is the second book in The Hunger Games series. I love this series because it’s unpredictable and action-packed, but I don’t love the sequels as much as the first in the series. I think the beginning of the second book has too much summary. It feels a bit directionless. Once the characters get into the Hunger Games arena, the book becomes focused and brilliant. Now I really want to reread the third book.




I decided to give up on Bunk: The Rise Of Hoaxes, Humbug, Plagiarists, Phonies, Post-Facts, and Fake News by Kevin Young. I read 100-something pages. It’s a fascinating topic, but the writing style is too dry and academic for me. I need recommendations for similar books.




I seem to be in a rereading mood, so I’m currently rereading Number The Stars by Lois Lowry. This was one of my favorite books when I was a young teenager. I checked it out from my middle school's library a thousand times. It’s about two ten-year-old girls who live in Nazi-occupied Denmark. I haven’t reread this novel in years. I wonder if I’ll still like it.






In The Rest Of My Life


Five things that made me happy last week:

  1. I have now done yoga every day for 7 months. I’m still terrible at it. I’m a lot more flexible than I was at the start of lockdown, though!
  2. The weather was actually cold for a few days last week. It’s back to being 90 degrees, but the cold was nice while it lasted. Also, it’s supposed to snow on Tuesday. I don’t like summer, but I’m not ready for winter! I just want fall.
  3. I’m watching a lot of hockey. The Avalanche got knocked out of the playoffs, which is disappointing, but with all of their injuries, I’m not surprised. I hope they’re able to do better next year. I guess I’m a Golden Knights fan now, so . . . go Vegas!
  4. I sorted my bookshelf and picked out 22 books that I want to read before the end of 2020. Wish me luck. I’ve never been this organized.
  5. I had to take a screenshot of my Pinterest stats because I don’t know if this will ever happen again. Can you believe that 2.5 million people looked at this blog’s Pinterest account last month? Who are all these people? If you want to be Pinterest friends, I follow back book blog accounts. Here’s my Pinterest.








Insert Shameless Self Promotion Here















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








25 comments:

  1. I know a Pinterest superstar. Look at that! Congratulations! I am with you about wanting fall. Your state has the unfortunate ability to have all four seasons in one day. I thought I saw snow in the forecast for your neck of the woods. Snow in September would actually make me cry. Maybe you're not going to open a yoga studio, but you are seeing results and that's awesome.

    ReplyDelete
  2. "I am struggling with the "new and improved" Blogger platform." You are not the only one, who has some issues with it. Good luck with the reading of all those books before the end of the year. And congrats on being so organized. I am missing that at the moment totally *lol* My shelves look like a mess ...

    ReplyDelete
  3. Congratulations on reaching 2.5m monthly views on Pinterest. That's a huge number! =D I'm tired of Summer. Can it just be Autumn already?

    Happy readings!
    Tânia @MyLovelySecret


    ReplyDelete
  4. Jousting! Yes. That's what we need in 2020. :D Good luck on reading those 22 books from your own shelves. That's an awesome goal.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Jeanie at The Marmelade Gypsy did a great post recently about the Blogger changes. It's here, if you'd like to take a look: https://themarmeladegypsy.blogspot.com/2020/09/i-asked-you-answered-blogger-survey.html It was very helpful for me.

    Congratulations on your Pinterest stats! Pinterest is a great go-to place for me whenever I get ready to do a project.

    I like how you have pulled twenty-two books to try to read before the end of the year. Yes, quite organized.

    Have a good week!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Whoa, that's a lot of views! Congrats! I see that Blogger recently forced me to start using the new platform, and I'm not excited. It feels like I have to learn everything again.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I've been rereading books lately too. This week I picked up my copy of James Heriott's Cat Stories. It was like visiting an old friend. My Sunday Salon posting

    ReplyDelete
  8. Good for you on the yoga. Flexibility is a plus :-) Have a good week.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Go Golden Knights! Sorry to hear that "Bunk" was so bad... I had put it on a TBR list. "Refugees" is also on my list.

    www.thepulpitandthepen.com

    ReplyDelete
  10. Snow already AJ???? And good luck with your 22 books!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Well done on Pinterest! That is amazing, I love Pinterest but my monthly views fluctuate, I think I need to sit down and sort it out.

    I’ve seen a lot of unhappy comments about the new blogger, I’m not overly happy with it but I don’t like Wordpress so I’m going to live with it.

    Have a good week.

    ReplyDelete
  12. The new and improved blogger is the worst!

    ReplyDelete
  13. The "new and improved" Blogger- yeah I've been struggling a bit too. Everything seems to take longer for me, even though I should be used to it by now? Anyway- yeah it's been cooler here too, and while I kinda like it I'm also gonna miss warm temps, I know. Oh well what can you do? The way time's flying tomorrow will probably be October or something... And yay for Pinterest!!!

    ReplyDelete
  14. I'm slowly getting used to the new blogger platform. It's improved since I first started using it. I'm sure I read Number The Stars by Lois Lowry when I was a kid but I don't remember too much about it. Enjoy your reading week!

    ReplyDelete
  15. Ooh you should do a post on the 22 books you want to read by the end of the year. I love lists, and I'm so curious. LOL

    Yay for doing Yoga every day. I bow down before you. I really need to be more active. I did well for awhile, but being sick and all that has really made that difficult. Sigh. I'm hoping I'm on the right track though.

    I love Number the Stars. I think I re-read it in grad school and I still loved it.

    -Lauren
    www.shootingstarsmag.net

    ReplyDelete
  16. I'll be curious to see if you still love Number the Stars. I've never read that one. Oh, and congrats on your Pinterest success!!!

    Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction

    ReplyDelete
  17. Why do the blogger platforms have to "fix" things that aren't broken, making blogging more difficult? WP makes changes that are impossible, too, IMO. So far, though, we are still able to use the "classic method." Knock wood.

    Kudos for organizing your bookshelves. The lockdown is good for something. I have been organizing my interiors...obsessively. LOL.

    Enjoy your week, and here are my WEEKLY UPDATES

    ReplyDelete
  18. I haven't read the Lois Lowery book but I love books about WWII. It is quite chilly here this morning - I had to put on a sweatshirt when I got out of bed. It's great sleeping weather.

    ReplyDelete
  19. I know nothing about Pinterest but 2.5 millions viewers is impressive. Congrats! I am not impressed by change in general and the blogger changes are just maddening. My bookshelves are a nightmare right now. When we moved, I just threw books on the shelves randomly so we could move on to something else and I haven't had a chance to fix it yet. Have a great week!

    ReplyDelete
  20. We are in a cool snap here which I hate. Summer is my favorite season by far. Come see my week here. Happy reading!

    ReplyDelete
  21. Wow, that's amazing about your Pinterest views. Congrats! I haven't read that Lois Lowry book yet but I'm actually reading The Giver with my son right now because he has to read it for his English class.

    ReplyDelete
  22. I've been hearing that Blogger is a struggle lately, I hope you get the hang of it soon!

    Yoga every day, I'm impressed! I was supposed to do that when I was pregnant...just never got around to it.

    ReplyDelete
  23. I really want to reread The Hunger Games too! I loved it so much back when I read it. I went back to old blogger. If they force me to use the new one I'll probably just cave and switch to Wordpress.

    ReplyDelete
  24. I really want to re-read The Hunger Games series and I also have the trilogy on audio cd and the new prequel on ebook. I just can't concentrate on fiction at the moment though, which is holding me back a bit!

    ReplyDelete
  25. Bunk sounds like such an interesting read--at least content wise. That's too bad about it being so dry. Good luck with your reading goal for the rest of the year! I am not sure I want to re-read The Hunger Games books, but I have been thinking of re-watching the movies.

    ReplyDelete