Sunday, December 13, 2020

The Sunday Post #253

 

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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.

 

 

 

The Sunday Post #253

 

 

 

 

Public Service Announcement

 

Do you have young children in your life? Do they need holiday gifts? Check out LillyPost! It’s a children’s book subscription service. They deliver books for kids up to age 7. Every month, you get 4 board books, 3 picture books, or a mixture of both delivered to your mailbox. The books are yours to keep forever. LillyPost is run by parents who are passionate about children’s literature, so you know they’ll pick the best stories for your little ones. The company also donates books. For every box sold, they gift a book to an underprivileged child. So far, they’ve donated 140,000 books. That’s super cool. Please consider supporting them this holiday season. They’re a great company. Click here to see what they have to offer.




 

 

On The Blog Last Week

 

 

 

 

 

On The Blog This Week

 

  • On Tuesday I show you what I’m (hopefully) going to read this winter.

 

 

 

 

In My Reading Life

 

Last week, I read two chunky books. I finally finished Lady Audley’s Secret by Mary Elizabeth Braddon. People, I started this book on Thanksgiving! It usually doesn’t take me 3 weeks to read any book. Lady Audley’s Secret is a classic from the mid-1800s. It stars a lawyer whose best friend goes missing and is presumed murdered. The lawyer sets out to find him. Or his corpse. This book took me forever to read because parts of it are brilliant, and other parts are complete slogs. The plot is twisty and full of scandals, like a Victorian-era soap opera. Everybody is hiding something, and the characters have giant reactions to every bit of news. I enjoyed those parts. They’re fun. I didn’t like the author’s rambling writing style. She’d go on tangents or describe the minutiae of a character’s daily life. That’s when I’d put the book down and not pick it up for a few days. The plot did not need 500 pages. I just wanted to get on with the murder investigation! I’m glad I read it, though. Overall, I enjoyed it. I definitely want to read more from the Victorian sensation novel genre. So . . . recommendations, please!




The other chunkster I finished was Doctor Sleep by Stephen King. This is a sequel to The Shining and follows the main character from that book, Dan Torrance. He’s a grown-up now. I enjoyed Doctor Sleep immensely. I actually liked it more than The Shining. It’s about vampires who travel around the US in motorhomes and feed on children who “shine.” One of the vampires wears a fancy hat, so the book automatically gets bonus points from me. I love a good fancy hat. Doctor Sleep is disturbing and faster paced than many of King’s other books. The creepy creatures from The Shining make a comeback. Even the Overlook Hotel makes an appearance. I loved revisiting the familiar spooks from the first book. The plot is intense, as you’d expect. I didn’t know how two old dudes and a child would defeat a vampire clan, but they did it. And not in a way that I saw coming. The ending is clever. Stephen King still has a problem with sexualizing every female character, even when sex scenes and descriptions of boobs and pubic hair don’t add anything to the story. If you can look past that, I recommend this book. I didn’t sleep much last week because I wanted to read this novel. I couldn’t put it down.




Right now, I’m reading Brooding YA Hero: Becoming A Main Character (Almost) As Awesome As Me by Carrie Ann DiRisio and Linnea Gear. It’s satire that makes fun of young adult literature. I’m also reading Imaginary Friend by Stephen Chbosky because apparently I want to read horror right now. Both books are okay so far. I haven’t read very much of them.





 

In The Rest Of My Life

 

Five things that made me happy last week:

 

  1. Thank you to everyone who has entered my giveaway so far. I’m giving away a $100 book shopping spree. You still have time to enter.
  2. I ran 10k without walking up the big hills. Usually I chicken out on the hills and walk. Not this time! It was below freezing when I did it, too. I felt like a badass. A cold, exhausted badass who was questioning my life choices while alone in the wilderness.
  3. We finally dug the Christmas decorations out of the basement and put them up. Now the inside of the house is decorated! I’d like to acquire or unearth more decorations for the outside, but who knows if that’s going to happen. I’m lazy.
  4. I mailed my Christmas gifts, including my Secret Santa gift. The post office wasn’t crowded! It was packed on the day I went to pick up flat rate boxes. I was worried I’d have to spend an hour in line with potentially diseased strangers. No one wants that. I got to the post office 19 minutes after it opened, and I was 3rd in line. Victory. Go early, my friends.
  5. Christmas cards from my bookish friends:

 


 


 

I’m Overflowing With Holiday Spirit

 

 

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





28 comments:

  1. If you are an early riser, it's always good to get to the post office right when it opens. I have never waited very long using that as my strategy. You are quite a hardy person. I don't even want to walk to my car when it's cold out, never mind running up hills. Cheers to you! When YA Hero was on twitter, I found the tweets amusing. The book was fun, but repetitive.

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  2. Go early is definitely my mantra these days!
    I am missing all my walking as I am limiting myself on going out.

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  3. We finally put up our decorations, too! Not a ton of time to enjoy them, but at least it feels a little more festive!

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  4. If I had a place to walk like you did I would do it every day...at least that is what I am telling myself as the reason i don't walk!
    Yay for decorations! I am obsessed with mine so they go up early.

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

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  5. Yeah for the not walking the hills! And the not crowded postal location! I don't know if these count as Victorian sensation novel genre or not, but Deanna Raybourn has 2 Victorian mystery series, the Lady Julia Gray series which is finished, and the Veronica Speedwell series which is ongoing. And then Anna Lee Huber has the ongoing Lady Darby Mysteries series. I've enjoyed both of these authors and all 3 series, so if they sound interesting and you check them out, I hope you enjoy them! Thanks for stopping by! Happy reading!

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  6. You ran 10k???? Wow I am amazed AJ! And I sent my Secret Santa box too to the UK and it arrived the day after!!!! This is a first time ever!

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  7. Congrats on the hill run, I don’t think I’d even make it walking up a hill these days.
    I like the idea of Lilypost, I don’t think we have something like that here unfortunately
    Brooding YA Hero sounds fun.

    Wishing you a great reading week

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  8. If I can, I do everything in the early hours nowdays. It is the best way to get everything you want before others come and fill the place. Stay safe and well and happy reading!

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  9. I am also getting into the Christmas Spirit big time! Still need to do shopping though....

    I really want to read Doctor Sleep, but haven't read The Shining yet. Don't know when I'll get to them seeing that both of them are doorstops!

    Have a good week AJ!

    Elza Reads

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  10. You're amazing with your running. Like, seriously. I will never be a runner. LOL

    Yay for getting all your gifts in the mail. I have a few things I still need to mail, but hopefully those will all go out this week and get to the people in time. Fingers crossed. The USPS is definitely overrun more than usual this year.

    -Lauren
    www.shootingstarsmag.net

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  11. Haha! That's my sort of Advent Calendar.

    I like the idea of LillyPost. I remember how much fun it was to get books in the mail when I was a kid....

    I'm going to reveal on Tuesday what I plan to read this winter, too. Of course, plans of mice and men.

    Through hills. And cold. Good job!

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  12. I am curious about Lady Audley's Secret. Enjoy your week, and here are my WEEKLY UPDATES

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  13. I haven't read a chunkster in a awhile. It's almost like I can't seem to commit to so many pages, which is ridiculous because if a book is good what does it matter.:-)

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  14. I need to read some Stephen King soon. I haven't read The Shining and I have a copy so that could be a good choice. I am become an early riser and am finding that you can get so much done in those early hours. I will keep your advice in mind if I have to go to the Post Office soon. Congrats on the 10k! I admire your effort! I hope you have a great week, AJ!

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  15. The post office told me to come Saturday because the hours are longer for December and people don't remember that. I got an Adagio tea and the Aldi cheese advent calendar. We are hopelessly behind like on the 5th and 7th or something.

    Anne - Books of My Heart This is my Sunday Post

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  16. Some of those subscription services are really nice. And haha right about the advent calendars?

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  17. Cute Advent image. Nice happy things!
    Thanks for the Lillypost info. I am going to check it out.
    Have a good week and Happy Reading!

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  18. Interesting assortment of reading for you! I have a chunkster looming and am sort of dreading the time commitment. Come see my week here. Happy reading!

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  19. Wow way to go with the running! That makes me tired reading it. And I will look into that book subscription!!

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  20. Your meme is so funny! My children are too old for the book club, but it sounds a wonderful idea. We relied on the library so much, and always had books to read to/with them. None of them really read books now, though they do read online articles.

    #3 on your list resonated totally with me - I never put all my decorations up. There's always something that I leave because I've run out of the will put it up.

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  21. A 10k run 😱 That's amazing! Congrats :) Also, loving all those Christmas cards!!

    Maura @ A Bookish Star (abookishstar.com)

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  22. You didn't just feel like a badass you ARE a badass! Just the thought of that 10k makes me want to cry. I'm seriously impressed. Lady Audley's Secret sounds really fun though chunkster books have really been scaring me off lately. Hope you're having a great week!

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  23. Sounds like you are more than ready for Christmas! Doctor Sleep sounds good. I haven't read Stephen King in awhile. I hope you have a great week!

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  24. I hadn't realized that Dr Sleep was a sequel to The shining ! I'll soon be reading Lady Audley's secret, so we'll compare notes ? I'm about to read The dead secret by Wilkie Collins, victorian sensational novelist, so I'll let you know how it goes ^^

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  25. I enjoyed Doctor Sleep as well!

    I try to get everywhere as early as I can. I'm not a morning person by nature but my husband and I share a car while we're traveling with his job. If I need the car on a given day, I drop him off at 6:45 and head to the grocery store or whatever and get things done while everyone else is sleeping. It's pretty nice! I was the only person in the store when I mailed my package, although one or two people did come in after me.

    Unfortunately, I'm following your advent calendar! Oh, 2020. Is this ever going to end?

    Enjoy your week!

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  26. I remember the Brooding YA Hero twitter, is the book making you laugh at least?

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  27. Glad you got everything mailed. Way to go on the 10K! I haven't read a Stephen King book in a long time. I'm overdue.

    Thanks for visiting my blog.

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  28. I sort of gave up reading Stephen King as I ended up being bored waiting for something to actually happen! I didn't enjoy The Shining but Doctor Sleep might be a bit more to my taste than his recent books.

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