Category: The Sunday Post

The Sunday Post AKA What’s on my (Mostly Virtual) Nightstand 12-3-23

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | The Sunday Post> Virtual Nightstand> Winner announcement

I had a bit of a “bail and flail” this week, and it made me think of an opinion piece on a review blog that I follow, Crossing the Pond Reviews. The author of the piece was talking about when it’s time NOT to read a book, and that fit perfectly with one of the books I intended to read this week – because I’d read the first two in the series – and I finally came to the conclusion that this particular book needed to go in my ‘Not Finished Yet’ or NFY pile. I DID read the first two, and I did like them both in the end, but I just wasn’t in the mood this week – or possibly this month – for a dystopia that was just that far down the road. I do want to find out how it ends, but not right now.

I kind of had the same reaction this week as one of the books I was planning to review this week got yeeted to the NFY pile before you even saw the list. The tone was just too arch, like way, way too high of an arch, and I’m not in the mood. We’ll see if what you see here is what you get later by this time next week!

The above picture is Hecate, posing in a very pretty little curl. But not nearly so little as the first time we captured her picture in this kind of curl – which Galen actually has on a t-shirt. Still, she’s a very pretty cat, albeit more than a bit on the round side these days, and this curl pose shows off all the beautiful colors on her hidden side.

Current Giveaways:

$10 Gift Card or $10 Book in the Holly Jolly Giveaway Hop
$10 Gift Card or $10 Book in the Fall 2023 Seasons of Books Giveaway Hop

Winner Announcements:

The winner of the Black Friday Giveaway is Carolyn D.
The winner of the In All Things Give Thanks Giveaway Hop is Debbi W.
The winner of the Super Stocking Stuffer Giveaway Hop is Peggy N.

Blog Recap:

A- Review: Anything with Nothing edited by Mercedes Lackey
B+ Review: Uncanny Vows by Laura Anne Gilman
B- Review: Hercule Poirot’s Silent Night by Sophie Hannah
A+ Review: Shards of Glass by Michelle Sagara
Holly Jolly Giveaway Hop
Stacking the Shelves (577)

Coming This Week:

Role Playing by Cathy Yardley (review)
Murder Crossed Her Mind by Stephen Spotswood (review)
The Christmas Appeal by Janice Hallett (review)
Let it Snow Giveaway Hop
The Hero She Needs by Anna Hackett (review)

The Sunday Post AKA What’s on my (Mostly Virtual) Nightstand 11-26-23

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | The Sunday Post> Virtual Nightstand

It feels like Thanksgiving was early this year. So early, in fact, that there’s nearly and entire additional week of November coming this post-Thanksgiving Day week!

But I couldn’t let the week pass without giving away a little extra something, so Friday’s review of the seasonally apropos Evergreen Chase included a bit of a giveaway to mark the unofficial yet official beginning of the holiday season.

Before this weekend completely slips away, here’s a picture of Tuna being very Tuna, whether he’s showing off his own version of a turkey coma or just being his usual silly self, this was a pose that I absolutely could not resist!

Current Giveaways:

$5 Gift Card or $5 Book in Reading Reality’s Black Friday Giveaway
$10 Gift Card or $10 Book in the In All Things Give Thanks Giveaway Hop
$10 Gift Card or $10 Book in the Super Stocking Stuffer Giveaway Hop
$10 Gift Card or $10 Book in the Fall 2023 Seasons of Books Giveaway Hop

Blog Recap:

A+ Review: Some Danger Involved by Will Thomas
B- Review: Stephen Leeds: Death and Faxes by Brandon Sanderson
B Review: Chaos Terminal by Mur Lafferty
Thanksgiving 2023 (Guest Post by Galen)
B Review: Evergreen Chase by Juneau Black + Giveaway
Stacking the Shelves (576)

Coming This Week:

Anything with Nothing edited by Mercedes Lackey (review)
Uncanny Vows by Laura Anne Gilman
Hercule Poirot’s Silent Night by Sophie Hannah
Sunset, Water City by Chris McKinney
Holly Jolly Giveaway Hop

The Sunday Post AKA What’s on my (Mostly Virtual) Nightstand 11-19-23

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | The Sunday Post> Virtual Nightstand> Winner announcement

This was one of those weeks where what I thought I was going to post was what I actually posted. Admittedly, that’s mostly because it was already mostly done at the beginning of the week. It was just that kind of week. This coming week has a bit more uncertainty in it, but I’ve already finished Monday’s book and DAMN that was good. You’ll see.

On the subject of seeing and not seeing, I realized that you’d all been seeing a lot of pictures of Luna and Tuna because they’re willing to pose – or at least sit still – for the human in ‘camera position’. But I caught Lucifer dozing on top of my gaming pillow, and he was too comfy to run off as Galen and I fiddled with lights and camera phones in order to get a shot where it at least looked like he had eyes. Without extra lights his handsome face was just a void. Which, may be a perfect description but not nearly as photogenic as what I had in mind!

Current Giveaways:

$10 Gift Card or $10 Book in the Super Stocking Stuffer Giveaway Hop
$10 Gift Card or $10 Book in the In All Things Give Thanks Giveaway Hop
$10 Gift Card or $10 Book in the Fall Seasons of Books 2023 Giveaway Hop

Winner Announcements:

The winner of the Thanks a Latte Giveaway Hop is Heather

Blog Recap:

A- Review: System Collapse by Martha Wells
A- Review: The Star and the Strange Moon by Constance Sayers
A+ Review: Calamity by Constance Fay
In All Things Give Thanks Giveaway Hop
B+ Review: The Wishing Bridge by Viola Shipman
Stacking the Shelves (575)

Coming This Week:

Some Danger Involved by Will Thomas (review)
Chaos Terminal by Mur Lafferty (review)
Stephen Leeds: Death and Faxes by Brandon Sanderson (audio review)
Thanksgiving 2023 (Guest Post by Galen)
Evergreen Chase by Juneau Black (review)

The Sunday Post AKA What’s on my (Mostly Virtual) Nightstand 11-12-23

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | The Sunday Post> Virtual Nightstand

I’m in the midst of a ‘reading weekend’ for Library Journal, so this past week fell apart at the end because my ’round tuit’ broke and that ‘so many books, so little time’ thing absolutely bit me in the ass. I needed to get started earlier than I planned and I just didn’t have another book in me, so the results of a previous LJ reading weekend appeared on Friday. I still plan to get to Chaos Terminal, but it will be later in the month.

Today’s cat picture is Luna, who both looks like she’s posing for her closeup AND reminding everyone that cat people are never permitted to go to the bathroom alone. She’s multitasking – that thing I kind of failed at earlier this week.

Current Giveaways:

$10 Gift Card or $10 Book in the Thanks a Latte Giveaway Hop (ENDS WEDNESDAY!)
$10 Gift Card or $10 Book in the Super Stocking Stuffer Giveaway Hop
$10 Gift Card or $10 Book in the Fall Seasons of Books 2023 Giveaway Hop

Blog Recap:

A- Review: Twilight Falls by Juneau Black
Spotlight + Excerpt: The Wishing Bridge by Viola Shipman
B Review: A Power Unbound by Freya Marske
Super Stocking Stuffer Giveaway Hop
B Review: The Lost Cause by Cory Doctorow
Stacking the Shelves (574)

Coming This Week:

System Collapse by Martha Wells (review)
The Star and the Strange Moon by Constance Sayers (review)
Calamity by Constance Fay (review)
In All Things Give Thanks Giveaway Hop
The Wishing Bridge by Viola Shipman (blog tour review)

The Sunday Post AKA What’s on my (Mostly Virtual) Nightstand 11-5-23

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | The Sunday Post> Virtual Nightstand> Winner announcement

Did you remember to “fall back” last night? And just how badly do you end up wishing they’d just make up their damn minds and stick to one or the other? I wish we stayed on Daylight Saving Time all year round, but then I’d also enjoy the day more if it started later. People who have to put kids on school buses seem to prefer Standard Time because it’s dark in the morning when they have to get the kids on the bus. I honestly don’t care enough to even argue the point. I’d be thrilled if they’d just pick one and stick to it even if it’s not the one I’d personally prefer. You’d think this would be a popular enough thing that even Congress could pass something, but NOOOOOO.

Rant over until March 10, 2024.

This week ended with a “flail and bail” where I flailed over the last two books I intended to review this week and bailed on both of them. I just hit a wall of “I can’t even” after several days of horror and horror-adjacency in a row, Halloween was OVER and the new month just screamed for different books. So it goes.

A couple of Sunday Posts ago I mentioned that Tuna’s size is a bit hard to measure because he doesn’t seem to pose for pictures where a size comparison can be made. Galen caught the above picture earlier this week with both Luna and Tuna in the frame. Tuna looks huge and Luna looks tiny by comparison. It’s still not a great way of judging Tuna’s size, as Luna isn’t really a small cat. She’s pretty much an average sized cat – she only looks small in comparison to her brother. Which means that Tuna in photo is even larger than he appears!

Current Giveaways:

$10 Gift Card or $10 Book in the Thanks a Latte Giveaway Hop
$10 Gift Card or $10 Book in the Fall Seasons of Books 2023 Giveaway Hop

Winner Announcements:

The winner of the Silly Pumpkins Giveaway Hop is Will G.

Blog Recap:

A- Review: A Season of Monstrous Conceptions by Lina Rather
B+ Review: The Dead Take the A Train by Richard Kadrey and Cassandra Khaw
Thanks a Latte Giveaway Hop
A- Review: Warriorborn by Jim Butcher
B+ Review: Murder at the Royal Botanic Gardens by Andrea Penrose
Stacking the Shelves (573)

Coming This Week:

Twilight Falls by Juneau Black (review)
The Wishing Bridge by Viola Shipman (spotlight + excerpt)
Chaos Terminal by Mur Lafferty (review)
Super Stocking Stuffer Giveaway Hop
A Power Unbound by Freya Marske (audiobook review)

The Sunday Post AKA What’s on my (Mostly Virtual) Nightstand 10-29-23

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | The Sunday Post> Virtual Nightstand> Winner announcement

It turned out to be a FANTASTIC reading week. Everything I picked up was really, really, good, and an excellent reading time was definitely had by moi. That they all turned out to be “A-” reads makes it seem like they all fell short in one way or another, but I think that was mostly because all but one of the books was a continuation in a series that may not have risen above its predecessors but didn’t fall below them either. They were each just what I expected, no more but no less, either.

The problem, however, is that I usually chose which book cover to feature next to the recap based on which book got the highest grade – and that’s a bit of a conundrum this time around!

Howloween is the day after tomorrow, and after that we’ll all be falling towards the holidays at breakneck speed. And it’s going to start getting dark too damn early next Sunday – not that it hasn’t already been trending in that direction.

But there’s been a bit of a theme going on here at Reading Reality. I’ve been reviewing horror or at least horror-adjacent books for the last few days, and that trend will continue through Halloween. Then we’ll have a blog hop to get the month started right.

Of course, I have a cat picture for this spooky season. If you’ve ever seen the meme of the little black bat as the darkness who gives cuddles, at left (or above left) there’s a picture of Lucifer proudly sitting in front with Hecate hiding below. That little bat may be the darkness that GIVES cuddles, but Lucifer and Hecate are the darkness that DEMANDS cuddles.

Happy Halloween!

Current Giveaways:

$10 Gift Card or $10 Book in the Silly Pumpkins Giveaway Hop  
$10 Gift Card or $10 Book in the Fall Seasons of Books 2023 Giveaway Hop

Winner Announcements:

The winner of the Howl-O-Ween Giveaway Hop is Alisa

Blog Recap:

A- Review: Under the Smokestrewn Sky by A. Deborah Baker
A- Review: A Duke’s Lesson in Charm by Sophie Barnes
A- Review: The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy and Horror: Volume Four edited by Paula Guran
A- Review: Phantom Pond by Juneau Black
A- Review: Night Train to Murder by Simon R. Green
Stacking the Shelves (572)

Coming This Week:

A Season of Monstrous Conceptions by Lina Rather (review)
The Dead Take the A Train by Richard Kadrey and Cassandra Khaw (audiobook review)
Thanks a Latte Giveaway Hop
Long Past Dues by James J. Butcher (review)
The Wolfe at the Door by Gene Wolfe (review)

The Sunday Post AKA What’s on my (Mostly Virtual) Nightstand 10-22-23

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | The Sunday Post> Virtual Nightstand

I did switch up one thing last week. I had originally planned to post my review of The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy and Horror this past week – at least until all the candy displays at Publix hit me with the clue-by-four that Howloween is coming up SOON and that I had enough horror or at least horror-adjacent books to do a bit of a theme around the howliday. So a switcheroo was made.

Last Sunday’s cat picture was a bit of ‘Tall Tuna is Tall – and confuddled!’ so this week’s picture is ‘Long Luna is Long’ – just not as long as Tuna. We need to get a picture of Tuna with some perspective in it to show just how big he is, but so far he has NOT been cooperative!

Current Giveaways:

$10 Gift Card or $10 Book in the Howl-O-Ween Giveaway Hop
$10 Gift Card or $10 Book in the Silly Pumpkins Giveaway Hop
$10 Gift Card or $10 Book in the Fall Seasons of Books 2023 Giveaway Hop

Blog Recap:

Silly Pumpkins Giveaway Hop
A++ Review: Generation Ship by Michael Mammay
A+ Review: Bookshops and Bonedust by Travis Baldree
A- Review: Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2023 edited by R.F. Kuang
B+ Review: Keep by Anna Hackett
Stacking the Shelves (571)

Coming This Week:

Under the Smokestrewn Sky by (Seanan McGuire writing as) A. Deborah Baker (audio review)
A Duke’s Lesson in Charm by Sophie Barnes (blog tour review)
The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy and Horror: Volume Four edited by Paula Guran (review)
Phantom Pond by Juneau Black (review)
Night Train to Murder by Simon R. Green (review)

The Sunday Post AKA What’s on my (Mostly Virtual) Nightstand 10-15-23

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | The Sunday Post> Virtual Nightstand

In this picture, it looks a LOT like Tuna has seen his own shadow and is wide-eyed surprised by the whole thing.

Which is kind of where I was at the end of the week bouncing hard off the final book I intended to review. Starling House was just plain creepy, which I totally expected from that gorgeous cover, but I was still listening to it while starting Blood Sisters and the combination of Gothic creepy but with contemporary thriller aspects of Starling House AND the all-too-real but equally creepy suspense thriller aspects of Blood Sisters was just too much of a fright fest for one week’s reading. Which led me straight to my current comfort read series, Wrexford & Sloane, as historical murders frighten me less than contemporary corporate and bureaucratic skullduggery. Your reading mileage, as always, may vary.

Current Giveaways:

$10 Gift Card or $10 Book in the Howl-O-Ween Giveaway Hop
$10 Gift Card or $10 Book in the Fall Seasons of Books 2023 Giveaway Hop

Blog Recap:

Indigenous People’s Day 2023: Two Courts
B+ Review: An Inheritance of Magic by Benedict Jacka
B Review: A Stroke of the Pen by Terry Pratchett
A- Review: Starling House by Alix E. Harrow
A Review: Murder at Queen’s Landing by Andrea Penrose
Stacking the Shelves (570)

Coming This Week:

Silly Pumpkins Giveaway Hop
Generation Ship by Michael Mammay (review)
Bookshops and Bonedust by Travis Baldree (review)
The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy and Horror: Volume Four edited by Paula Guran (review)
Keep by Anna Hackett (review)

The Sunday Post AKA What’s on my (Mostly Virtual) Nightstand 10-8-23

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | The Sunday Post> Virtual Nightstand

The backyard doesn’t look quite like that at the moment, because Fall is pretty much falling all over the place. The tree cover behind the house is lush for a lot of the year, but now is the time when the leaves start falling with a vengeance and suddenly we have neighbors again.

The cats, of course, find the whole falling leaves thing utterly fascinating. George was in these very seats a couple of nights ago, chirping at the falling leaves in the hopes that they were birds he could lure in. Meanwhile, the catio has become an all-day place for kitties to lounge as the temperatures have begun falling in as much earnest as they ever do around here.

Current Giveaways:

$10 Gift Card or $10 Book in the Howl-O-Ween Giveaway Hop
$10 Gift Card or $10 Book in the Fall Seasons of Books 2023 Giveaway Hop

Blog Recap:

A Review: The Hunter’s Apprentice by Lindsay Schopfer
A- Review: Shadow Speaker by Nnedi Okorafor
B Review: The Circumference of the World by Lavie Tidhar
Howl-O-Ween Giveaway Hop
A- Review: The 272: The Families Who Were Enslaved and Sold to Build the American Catholic Church by Rachel L. Swarns
Stacking the Shelves (569)

Coming This Week:

Indigenous People’s Day 2023: Two Courts (guest post by Galen)
An Inheritance of Magic by Benedict Jacka (blog tour review)
Blood Sisters by Vanessa Lillie (review)
A Stroke of the Pen by Terry Pratchett (review)
Starling House by Alix E. Harrow (audio review)

The Sunday Post AKA What’s on my (Mostly Virtual) Nightstand 10-1-23

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | Banned Books> The Sunday Post> Virtual Nightstand> Winner announcement

Today is the start of Banned Books Week, an event which has always called attention to the books that are challenged and banned in school and public libraries across the country. It’s an event that has become increasingly both important and fraught with meaning in this moment, as the number of challenges has increased exponentially in the last few years while the themes of those challenges have emerged as being ever more chilling as, no matter what the challenges may claim, the overall desire that emerges is the need of some to erase the voices of those who are different from themselves, with the goal of not merely erasing those voices, but ultimately, the people behind those voices.

This has all happened before. Banned Books Week does its very best to drag the issue out of the shadows and into the light, so that it doesn’t happen again.

 

I usually read a book from the Banned and Challenged list this week, but I decided to try something different this year. The 272: The Families Who Were Enslaved and Sold to Build the American Catholic Church by Rachel L. Swarns is not on the Banned and Challenged list YET because it was just published this summer. However, it is exactly the kind of book that will find itself on the list in years to come, because it challenges the traditional perceptions of people and institutions that are considered to be great which got to where they are by abusing the labor and the very persons of people of color. It reminds me a bit of The 1619 Project, which I absolutely considered for this week but wanted to listen to because I’ve heard great things about the audiobook version. So, I bought it instead and plan to plan a little better next year.

Current Giveaways:

$10 Gift Card or $10 Book in the Fall Seasons of Books 2023 Giveaway Hop

Winner Announcements:

The winner of the Holiday Kickoff Giveaway Hop is Cali

Blog Recap:

Fall Seasons of Books 2023 Giveaway Hop
A Review: A Duke’s Introduction to Courtship by Sophie Barnes
B Review: The Scandalous Confessions of Lydia Bennet, Witch by Melinda Taub
A Review: Bad Blood by Lauren Dane
A+ Review: Osprey by M.L. Buchman
Stacking the Shelves (568)

Coming This Week:

The Hunter’s Apprentice by Lindsay Schopfer (review)
Shadow Speaker by Nnedi Okorafor (audio review)
The Circumference of the World by Lavie Tidhar (review)
Howl-O-Ween Giveaway Hop
The 272 by Rachel L. Swarns (review)