Tag: Hecate T. Cat

The Sunday Post AKA What’s on my (Mostly Virtual) Nightstand 4-14-24

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

It’s time to bid this year’s Blogo-Birthday Celebration farewell. The posts have posted, the giveaways have all found winners, so it’s back to the usual here at Chez Reading Reality for another year.

Although the usual isn’t quite so usual this past week, as one of my rare ‘D’ graded reviews spewed itself over the blog earlier in the week. There have been a few books over the years that I detested every page but couldn’t put down – and then couldn’t get out of my head – and Space Holes absolutely was one of THOSE. Hence Wednesday’s rant-fest. I’ve heard that the audio makes it better, but I can’t even. I’d rather listen to something I’m actually enjoying – which I am at the moment with The Murder of Mr. Ma.

Staying with that enjoyment topic, we were treated to a rare sighting of the girl cats coexisting peacefully even as they are clearly exhibiting the traits that make that sight so very rare. Luna is looking up, all bright eyed and eager for any attention or her next adventure, while Hecate’s face is firmly fixed in a glower, declaring wordlessly but with a VERY speaking glance that she would much rather be alone – or at least alone with her humans and without any squeaky little interlopers harshing her not exactly mellow.

 

 

Current Giveaways:

$10 Gift Card or $10 Book in the Honey Bunny Giveaway Hop (ENDS TOMORROW!!!)
$10 Gift Card or $10 Book in the Spring 2024 Seasons of Books Giveaway Hop

Winner Announcements:

The winner of ANY BOOK BY MARTY WINGATE is Betty
The winner of ANY BOOK IN THE BARKER & LLEWELYN SERIES is Leela
The winner of ANY BEST BOOKS OF 2024 SO FAR is Cali
The winners of the LUCKY 13 BLOGO BIRTHDAY GIVEAWAY are Anne, Billie, Carolyn, Lisa, Shelly, and Susan

Blog Recap:

A- #BookReview: The House on Widows Hill by Simon R. Green
B #AudioBookReview: No One Goes Alone by Erik Larson
D #BookReview: Space Holes: First Transmission by B.R. Louis
Grade A #BookReview: A Short Walk Through a Wide World by Douglas Westerbeke
A++ #BookReview: Court of Wanderers by Rin Chupeco
Stacking the Shelves (596)

Coming This Week:

Mal Goes to War by Edward Ashton (#BookReview)
Rain Drops on Roses Giveaway Hop
The Practice, the Horizon, and the Chain by Sofia Samatar (#BookReview)
The Dead Cat Tail Assassins by P. Djèlí Clark (#BookReview)
What Cannot Be Said by C.S. Harris (#BookReview)

The Sunday Post AKA What’s on my (Mostly Virtual) Nightstand 3-31-24

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

Today is Easter, so Happy Easter (or Hoppy Easter) to those who celebrate!

Speaking of celebrations, this week marks Reading Reality’s LUCKY 13th Annual Blogo-Birthday Celebration. Reading Reality began on April 4, 2011, as Escape Reality, Read Fiction. April 5 is my own birthday, hence “Blogo-Birthday”. This is, as it has been from the beginning, a Hobbit birthday for both the blog and yours truly, so I’ll be giving books and gift cards away every day this week, starting tomorrow with the Honey Bunny Giveaway Hop.

Today’s cat picture is a close up of Hecate and her very pretty copper eyes. It’s also as appropriate for Easter as anything ever gets around here. We have a ritual, involving eggs, that is ALL for Hecate. On Sunday mornings, Galen makes hard boiled eggs for us for breakfast, a process which involves a big bowl of chilled water. Hecate makes a bee line for the bowl of “egg water” the minute the eggs are out of it. It’s just water, with maybe the wisp of essence of egg, but no egg. No salt, no flavoring that we can sense. But it’s all hers! Unless she catches Tuna ‘poaching’ it, that is.

Current Giveaways:

$10 Gift Card or $10 Book in the Spring 2024 Seasons of Books Giveaway Hop

Blog Recap:

Grade A #AudioBookReview: What You Are Looking For Is In the Library by Michiko Aoyama, translated by Alison Watts
B+ #BookReview: A Cast of Falcons by Sarah Yarwood-Lovett
Cover Reveal: Shoestring Theory by Mariana Costa
A- #BookReview: The Emperor and the Endless Palace by Justinian Huang
A- #AudioBookReview: The Annual Migration of Clouds by Premee Mohamed
Stacking the Shelves (594)

Coming This Week:

Honey Bunny Giveaway Hop
A Body at the Dance Hall by Marty Wingate (#BookReview)
The Black Hand by Will Thomas (#BookReview)
THIRTEENTH Annual Blogo-Birthday Celebration and Giveaway
Blogo-Birthday Birthday Celebration and Giveaway

The Sunday Post AKA What’s on my (Mostly Virtual) Nightstand 2-4-24

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

Well, that old groundhog did not see his shadow on Friday, so he’s predicting an early spring. YAY! Not that it has been all that terribly wintry here in Atlanta, but my friends up in Anchorage have seen over 100 inches of snow – SO FAR! There’s plenty of winter left for more to fall. (If you are wondering, and I wouldn’t be AT ALL surprised if you were, Anchorage gets 75 inches of snow in an average winter. It’s plenty cold up there, but the air is often too dry AND COLD for actual snowfall.)

Also if  you’re wondering, I miss my peeps up in Anchorage. The weather – not so much.

Speaking of chilly weather – or at least chilly enough for the leaves to fall, here’s a peek at the bare tree trunks in our backyard over Luna’s prettily posing purrson. Meanwhile, Hecate is in her favorite window perch, behind the probably empty can of sparkling water, looking on suspiciously and grumping at the world. As she does.

Current Giveaways:

$10 Gift Card or $10 Book in the Heart 2 Heart Giveaway Hop
$10 Gift Card or $10 Book in the Winter 2024 Seasons of Books Giveaway Hop

Winner Announcements:

The winner of the Winter Wishes Giveaway Hop is Cindy M.

Blog Recap:

Spotlight + Excerpt: A Quantum Love Story by Mike Chen
A- #BookReview: A Body at the Séance by Marty Wingate
#BookReview: Remember Me by Mary Balogh
Heart 2 Heart Giveaway Hop
#BookReview: That Time I Got Drunk and Yeeted a Love Potion at a Werewolf by Kimberly Lemming
Stacking the Shelves (586)

Coming This Week:

The Holy Terrors by Simon R. Green (#BookReview)
A Murder of Crows by Sarah Yarwood-Lovett (#BookReview)
The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett (#BookReview)
A Quantum Love Story by Mike Chen (#BookReview)
Love is in the Air Giveaway Hop (#BlogHop)

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 10-8-23

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 9-3-23

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

Last week I was not exactly in the village of Running-on-Time when I put the Sunday Post together and I neglected to include a cat picture. Therefore, this week’s picture includes not one but two cats. As an added treat, it’s a picture of the very rare sighting of Hecate and Luna co-existing peaceably and in proximity. They don’t really fight the way the boys do, they just generally refuse to occupy the same space at the same time. The kitty television outside the windows must have been particularly good that day!

This was the first week in quite a while where the books I thought I was going to read were the books I actually read. This coming week is probably the same, if only because there are only three of them. Galen is continuing his series of holiday guest posts tomorrow for Labor Day, and there’s a blog hop on Thursday.

Friday’s book is the second book in the Star Trek: Department of Temporal Investigations series, after the previously reviewed Watching the Clock. It’s the kind of book I normally pick up at the last minute because I’m desperate – or at least desperately flailing – but this time it’s a deliberate choice because Friday, September 8 is Star Trek Day. I thought about reading more of the Star Trek Autobiographies series (I loved The Autobiography of James T. Kirk, after all) but I’m feeling a bit weirded out by them now because they were all published before Star Trek: Picard and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds happened. Which means those ‘autobiographies’ have been superseded by events that were not yet revealed when they were written. Which led me back to the Department of Temporal Investigations because even though some of those events may have been superseded by later reveals, we wouldn’t know anyway because the whole point of the Department is to smooth over that kind of thing. And the first book was  oodles of fun, so I expect a good reading time no matter what.

Current Giveaways:

$10 Gift Card or $10 Book in the Glam and Glits Giveaway Hop
$10 Gift Card or $10 Book in the Summer 2023 Seasons of Books Giveaway Hop

Winner Announcements:

The winner of the Old School Giveaway Hop is Brigette

Blog Recap:

B+ Review: Big Little Spells by Hazel Beck
A- Review: A Duke’s Guide to Romance by Sophie Barnes
B Review: Devil’s Gun by Cat Rambo
A- Review: The Bullet That Missed by Richard Osman
Glam and Glits Giveaway Hop
Stacking the Shelves (564)

Coming This Week:

Labor Day 2023 (Guest Post by Galen!)
Payback in Death by J.D. Robb (review)
Assistant to the Villain by Hannah Nicole Maehrer (review)
Holiday Kickoff Giveaway Hop
Forgotten History by Christopher L. Bennett (review)

The Sunday Post AKA What’s on my (Mostly Virtual) Nightstand 8-13-23

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

If you take a look at last Sunday’s Sunday Post, you can see that I intended to finish out this week with three thrillers in a row. Which was not terribly good planning on my part, as, while I like the occasional thriller, particularly by authors I’m already familiar with, that’s well, a bit much in one week for me. Some genres I can read all week long, but horror or thrillers, and this would have been both, one at a time is enough. Hence the week ending flail.

This week may be the same, although for different reasons. I’m sure about the first three days, because they’re already done. Thursday and Friday – not so much. We’ll see.

And on a lighter note that began as a heavier note, I call this picture ‘Return of the Monster Vacuum’, in tribute to Purina’s Dear Kitten videos – which have been rebooted – so if you love cats and haven’t seen them, they’re awesome and they’re back. In the Dear Kitten series, an older cat is passing on his words of wisdom to a kitten he’s not too sure is worth the trouble but he thinks so highly of himself (as they do) and enjoys expounding so much that he can’t resist the impulse. In those videos the older cat teaches the kitten about, among many other things, the dreaded ‘MONSTER VACUUM’. This picture was taken during the monthly houseclean, as Lucifer, Hecate and George instinctually ‘treed’ themselves in the cats’ room while the Monster Vacuum did it’s terrible work.

Current Giveaways:

$10 Gift Card or $10 Book in the Apple A Day Giveaway Hop (ENDS TUESDAY!!!)
$10 Gift Card or $10 Book in the Back to School Giveaway Hop
$10 Gift Card or $10 Book in the Summer 2023 Seasons of Books Giveaway Hop

Blog Recap:

B Review: The Archive Undying by Emma Mieko Candon
Back to School Giveaway Hop
A- Review: Blind Fear by Brandon Webb and John David Mann
A- Review: Who Buries the Dead by C.S. Harris
B- Review: Shark Heart by Emily Habeck
Stacking the Shelves (561)

Coming This Week:

Thornhedge by T. Kingfisher (audio review)
Wild Spaces by S.L. Coney (audio review)
Old School Giveaway Hop
A Right Worthy Woman by Ruth P. Watson (review)
Witness by Jamel Brinkley (review)

The Sunday Post AKA What’s on my (Mostly Virtual) Nightstand 7-16-23

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

It was clearly a VERY good reading week here at Chez Reading Reality. I do so love it when a plan comes together! Not that I planned the ratings at all, just that I was really in the mood for a spot of murder at the beginning of the week and everything just fell into place!

Something else fell into place – Miss Hecate. Here she is posing on her favorite window perch, showing all off the interesting colors on her underside. Unfortunately, this picture also displays just how much damage George and Tuna have done to the very same window seat. It IS made to be damaged but the big divots have developed holes big enough to show daylight, so its replacement is already on hand. Not that it isn’t a hilarious scene when one of the big guys jumps on the seat and it collapses underneath them!

Current Giveaways:

$10 Gift Card or $10 Book in the Christmas in July Giveaway Hop
$10 Gift Card or $10 Book in the Summer 2023 Seasons of Books Giveaway Hop

Blog Recap:

A Review: A Disappearance in Fiji by Nilima Rao
A- Review: Murder on Black Swan Lane by Andrea Penrose
A- Review: The Wayward Prince by Leonard Goldberg
A- Review: Days at the Morisaki Bookshop by Satoshi Yagisawa
A- Review: The Only Purple House in Town by Ann Aguirre
Stacking the Shelves (557)

Coming This Week:

Montego by Brian McClellan (review)
Ebony Gate by Julia Vee and Ken Bebelle (audio review)
Emergent Properties by Aimee Ogden (review)
Camp Damascus by Chuck Tingle (review)
Women of the Post by Joshunda Sanders (blog tour review)

The Sunday Post AKA What’s on my (Mostly Virtual) Nightstand 11-27-22

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

I hope you had a wonderful Turkey Day, where the bird was moist, the sides were tasty, and the company was excellent. We had turkey by ourselves on THE DAY, and chili with friends on Saturday – so an excellent holiday weekend at Chez Reading Reality.

I also hope that you had an opportunity – or two or three – to visit ALL the stops on the Thankful for Books Giveaway Hop and enter as many times as allowed! I’m always thankful for books and reading – and laughing a bit that one of the gamification badges in this season’s Kindle Challenge is to “READ INSTEAD” of shopping this Black Friday weekend.

And here’s a picture of Miss Hecate. I should say she’s sleeping off HER turkey coma, but this is a picture of her regularly scheduled afternoon nap in Galen’s office. Hecate naps in Galen’s office while Luna naps in mine. Everybody has their own spot and that’s just the way they like it!

Current Giveaways:

$10 Gift Card or $10 Book in the Thankful for Books Giveaway Hop (ENDS TOMORROW!!!!!)
$10 Gift Card or $10 Book in the Super Stocking Stuffer Giveaway Hop (ENDS TUESDAY!!!)
$10 Gift Card or $10 Book in the In All Things Give Thanks Giveaway Hop (ENDS WEDNESDAY!)
$10 Gift Card or $10 Book in the Fall 2022 Seasons of Books Giveaway Hop

Blog Recap:

Thankful for Books Giveaway Hop 2022
B+ Review: Mr. Clarke’s Deepest Desire by Sophie Barnes
A- Review: Ship Wrecked by Olivia Dade
Thanksgiving 2022 (Guest post by Galen! – with Luna pictures!)
A Review: The Wedding Dress Sewing Circle by Jennifer Ryan
Stacking the Shelves (524)

Coming This Week:

The Three Dahlias by Katy Watson
The Twist of a Knife by Anthony Horowitz (review)
Partners in Crime by Alisha Rai (review)
A Wish for Winter by Viola Shipman (review)
Holly Jolly Giveaway Hop