Get Lost in Literature

Happy Sunday! I hope everyone’s having a good weekend and if you are in the US, I hope you had a great 4th of July. The Sunday Post is a news meme created by CaffeinatedReviewer . I'm also linking up with Sunday Salon at ReaderBuzz . I will be posting on the first Sunday of each month and I hope you'll join me. I normally do a weather report for the past month, but June was perfectly normal weather-wise, and I’d rather state the obvious that the first few days of July were flippin’ hot. And not just in the Northeast, across the country. So I hope everyone is drinking plenty of fluids and respecting their local fire and water bans and regulations. My vacation was perfect, exactly what I wanted. I lounged on the beach in Maine with a book in my hand… I finished two actually. We had a couple of rainy days but it didn’t rain until after 3pm when we were wrapping things up at the beach anyways. I only posted one review in June: The Oracle of Maracoor by Gregory Maguire But I’ve got ...

 Happy Sunday! I hope everyone’s having a good weekend! The Sunday Post is a news meme created by CaffeinatedReviewer . I'm also linking up with Sunday Salon at ReaderBuzz . I will be posting on the first Sunday of each month and I hope you'll join me. The weather in May was as weird as the weather in April. Hot then cold, dry then rainy. Sometimes all of the above on the same day. I couldn’t figure out if I should wear long sleeves or short. My butterfly/hummingbird garden has started to grow and I planted some annuals for filler; I think we’re well past the point of frost at the very least. It’s probably warm enough for me to store away my long-underwear too. I’m super excited that I’ve had so much time this year to read some great stories. Last year I struggled, but this year I’m finding little pockets of time here and there. My GoodReads Challenge was to read at least 15 and so far, I’ve read 8. I’m more than halfway through! My goal for the Speccy Fiction Challenge was to ...

  Happy Sunday! I hope you are all doing well and enjoying your weekend. The Sunday Post is a news meme created by CaffeinatedReviewer . I'm also linking up with Sunday Salon at ReaderBuzz . I will be posting on the first Sunday of each month and I hope you'll join me. The weather has been wild this month for this time of year. We got a heatwave of 80 degrees and then we dropped right down to a more normal 50-60 with rain. It is environmentally concerning, but at the same time, I’m so ready for the summer heat. This year I finished my A-Z Challenge . You can find a complete list of my topics here if you’re interested. I considered it a semi-success. I did manage to post for every letter of the alphabet, and I tried to visit all of those who visited me, but I didn’t have the time I wanted to visit every blog I wanted. When I did visit blogs, I stuck mostly to Blogspot/Blogger blogs because they load easier on my computer and I was a bit frustrated that some blogs I liked ...

Happy Sunday! I hope you are all doing well and enjoying your weekend. The Sunday Post is a news meme created by Caffeinated Reviewer . I'm also linking up with Sunday Salon at ReaderBuzz . I will be posting on the first Sunday of each month and I hope you'll join me. That super ridiculous amount of snow we got hit with last month is already gone. We had a heat wave, the temperature spiking from 30 to 70 almost overnight paired with a couple rainy days, and 30-something inches of snow just vanished. But the week of warmth gave way to cold weather again, just as quickly as it came...But Spring is here and the warm weather won't be far behind. My blog is finally getting a little more action; that is to say I've been posting again and gone back to responding to comments. The A-Z Challenge has finally begun, and while I enjoy blog hopping, I'm a little wowed to think of how much prep-work I put in for it to all be over in a month. The idea for this year's challenge...

Happy Sunday! I hope you are all doing well and enjoying your weekend. The Sunday Post is a news meme created by Caffeinated Reviewer . I'm also linking up with Sunday Salon at ReaderBuzz . I will be posting on the first Sunday of each month and I hope you'll join me. Punxsutawney Phil predicted 6 more weeks of winter and he nailed it. We got a blizzard. Everything was closed, there was a travel ban, and it took about two days for us to shovel out. I think the weatherman said before the storm we'd be getting about two feet, I think we got more than that... Someone said they thought we got 37 inches? But I'm not sure on our exact measurement. And it was on top of the snow we already had from a couple of weeks ago, so we have a lot of snow. My blog has really taken a boring turn, not that it was so exciting before. I haven't kept up with comments this past month, I haven't been as involved with my usual blog memes as I have been, and it took me forever to work up ...

Happy Sunday! I hope you are all doing well and enjoying your weekend. The Sunday Post is a news meme created by Caffeinated Reviewer . I'm also linking up with Sunday Salon at ReaderBuzz. I will be posting on the first Sunday of each month and I hope you'll join me. Today’s post is a recap of 2025 and my upcoming plans for 2026. January's weather has been positively glacial. We've had snow, we've had sub-zero temperatures, we've had everything but penguins. But according to the weatherman that seems to be going on all across the country right now. If you live in a state where snowy winters are not the norm: drive slowly if you have to go out, take aspirin for your back after shoveling, and curl up under a blanket with a good book and a hot chocolate when your day is over. I almost didn't post anything today. My blog has been inactive for a month. I normally do something in between reviews, and I've never really gone a whole month without posting a revi...

Happy New Year to you all!  I hope everyone’s holiday season was filled with positive vibes. The Sunday Post is a news meme created by Caffeinated Reviewer.  I'm also be linking up with Sunday Salon at ReaderBuzz . I will be posting on the first Sunday of each month and I hope you'll join me. Today’s post is a recap of 2025 and my upcoming plans for 2026. My month of December contained very little reading so I don't really have anything to share on the final month of 2025. Instead, I'm going to jump right into my yearly recap. 2025 In 2025 I gave myself two challenges: My Good Reads Challenge was to read at least 12 books, and my second challenge was to participate in the Pick Your Poison Challenge (a challenge that was discontinued this year) by reading at least 13 books off the list of subjects. (the list of books I read for the challenge can be found here ). I wasn’t sure I could read more than twelve books, but not only did I achieve the 13 books required for PYP...

Happy Sunday! I hope you all had a warm and wonderful Thanksgiving (assuming you celebrated it). The Sunday Post is a news meme hosted by TheCaffeinatedReviewer . I will be posting on the first Sunday of each month and I hope you'll join me. I thought the weather in November was relatively mild for the season. The one disappointment was that when it was sunny it was also cold and windy but when it was warm we had rain. But now that its December the temperature is plunging fast. I read three books in November: Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros 1984 by George Orwell (which was a politically loaded review) The Midnight Library by Matt Haig I did manage to find time to resume the book blog memes I participate in, and it's nice to be back connecting with the community. Everyone posts unique answers to the prompts, it's always so fun to read the answers. I haven't read a horror novel all year, so I picked up a copy of Hidden Pictures by Jason Rekulak . So far, it's about a li...

Hi all! I hope you are having a fabulous weekend! The Sunday Post is a weekly news meme hosted by TheCaffeinatedReviewer . I will be posting on the first Sunday of each month and I hope you will join me. The weather in October was completely October weather. It was chill enough to suggest long sleeves and sweatshirts were a necessity, but just warm enough that people unwilling to admit summer was over (by people I mean me) could still wear t-shirts and pretend like they weren't getting cold. My reading successes were unambitious, only having the time to get through two books: Kiss the Girls by James Patterson Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros But I didn't have time to post a review for Iron Flame  so that will be posted tomorrow morning. I will say I loved it so much, I've already purchased book 3 of the Empyrean series, Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros . The Empyrean series is not my first romantasy, but the plot isn't obsessively fixated on the romance... Which is kind of re...

Happy Sunday! I hope you all are enjoying your weekend! The Sunday Post is a weekly news meme hosted by the CaffeinatedReviewer. I will be posting on the first Sunday of each month and I hope you'll join me. The weather in September was perfect. Not too much rain, plenty of sunshine. The days were warm enough to be jacket free but not so hot that sweat dripped down the small of your back and into your... Well, it wasn't hot. We even had a few nights warm enough to sleep with a window open. In September, life went back to normal, and I was finally able to complete The Book of Night by Holly Black . It was a pretty good read, and it's just received a sequel... I probably won't pick up book number two until it's released in paperback (maybe next year?) but I look forward to it. September was a good reading month for me having completed 3 books: The Book of Night by Holly Black The Hallmarked Man by Robert Galbraith Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury But I have been woeful...

 I hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend! The Sunday Post is a weekly news meme hosted by TheCaffienatedReviewer . I'll be posting on the first Sunday of each month and I hope you'll join me. The weather in August was delightful. It was sunny and hot but not too hot. The nights were getting cooler signaling the end of summer, even though I'm not ready for it to end. And as much as I like October weather, I'm hoping September brings a few more hot days before we have to break out the windbreakers. I'm sorry to say this is probably my most boring Sunday Post ever. I've had a lot to be preoccupied by in the month of August and have not had time to post a darn thing. My blog was inactive for a whole month, and the number of books I finished is 0. In July I started The Book of Night by Holly Black and it's wound up paused at the halfway point for the month of August. I did just finish it though, I sped through it in the first week of September. I'm ho...

Happy Sunday! The Sunday Post is a weekly news meme, hosted by The Caffeinated Reviewer . I'll be posting the first Sunday of each month and I hope you'll join me. The weather in July was beautiful, perfect for outdoor activities. The occasional thunderstorm rolled through mostly at night, a couple times while I was at work, and never on the weekends, so that was a highlight of the month. I've been reading Book of Night by Holly Black  but I'm a bit distracted. I found out that the barn where I board my horse will be sold, and I'm a bit too panicked over that to concentrate on my book. Who will it sell to? I've been downgraded to a pleasure rider due to my horse's age and health problems so we'd probably be evicted from a show barn were one to move in. And if the property ever sold to a developer we'd absolutely be told to get out. So I've been looking at alternative housing options, but the reality is I don't want to leave... I just might ha...

Happy Sunday! I hope you are all having a great weekend! The Sunday Post is a weekly news meme hosted by The Caffeinated Reviewer. I'll be posting on the first Sunday of each month and I hope you'll join me. We had thirteen rainy weekends in a row, but the weather gods must have been looking out for me because it all cleared up in time for my vacation. We had a perfect weekend followed by a heatwave, which was fine with me because we were at a scenic coastal town, enjoying the breeze off the ocean. (This last photo isn't just a pretty view, it's an accurate depiction of the whale watch I went on.) I'm not usually much for heatwaves, but I can't say I hated my lazy days at the beach; reading and swimming and reading some more. And even though there were no whales on my whale watch, it was a pretty nice boat ride. And what was I reading? Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo . It will be my first review of July, so be sure to drop by tomorrow if you want to know more ab...

Happy Sunday! I hope you're all having a great weekend! The Sunday Post is a weekly news meme hosted by The Caffeinated Reviewer . I'll be posting on the first Sunday of each month and I hope you'll join me. I swear it has rained every weekend since my last Sunday Post. I couldn't hold off working on my garden any longer, so I worked outside in the wet and dreary weather when I usually spend those days in my rocking chair with a book. But it's the first day in June and June is a very busy month (and usually beautiful, so here's hoping). Father's Day is headed our way, as is mine and my brother's birthdays, and the annual family vacation. Hopefully the vacation is rain free because I don't want to be trapped in a hotel room for the better part of a week. It does look like I'm reducing my reading time to one book a month right now, having taken most of May to finish Circe by Madeline Miller , which wasn't that big a book. I've stopped work...

Happy Sunday! I hope you are all having a great weekend! The Sunday Post is a weekly news meme created by the Caffeinated Reviewer. I'll be posting on the first Sunday of each month and I'll hope you'll join me. Spring is going to bleed seamlessly into Summer in my neck of the woods, jumping in temps from 40 degrees to 80... and I sense the summer is going to be a hot one (that's climate change for you) so I'll take extra enjoyment in cool summer nights out by the firepit. Yesterday I went for my once-a-year gambling excursion. Every year I try my luck, betting the Kentucky Derby. The secret is I have no luck. Whatever horse I pick usually comes in last. This year I picked up two Win, Place or Show tickets... One for Sandman and the other for Luxor Cafe. I'm the curse they never saw coming. Sandman wound up in 7th, Luxor Cafe 12th. In the month of April, I competed in the A-Z Challenge and completed it. Yay me! If you are interested in what books I posted about...

Happy Sunday! The Sunday Post is a weekly news meme created by the Caffeinated Reviewer . I will be posting on the first Sunday of each month and I hope you'll join me. Spring here has definitely sprung and sprung with a leak. We've been having lots of rain showers, enough to keep me inside, but not enough to end the drought. I wish the water would rise again and cover those gross stains on rocks and shorelines as they normally do, but I also wish the rain would go away and leave me to my outdoor activities. I'm ready for the winter hibernation to be at an end. Right now, I'm reading at a leisurely pace to avoid burning out, spending my current reading time with The Land of Lost Things.  I am enjoying it so far, although time will tell whether or not it's good as its predecessor The Book of Lost Things.  On the subject of aforementioned burn out, I ended last year in a reading slump and am trying to find a better balance between blogging, reading, and life so it doe...

  Happy Sunday! I hope you're all having a wonderful weekend! The Sunday Post is a news meme created by Caffeinated Reviewer . I will be posting on the first Sunday of each month and I hope you'll join me. It's March! In February we got a small snowstorm followed by a bitter, howling wind that froze the snow solid, turning the yard into skating rink. But it's March and that's almost in the past now, as Spring approaches and the yard starts to thaw. Does anyone else think the day of Spring Forward should be a National Holiday? I posted two reviews in the last month: American Pharoah by Joe Drape Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros I feel pretty good about being 5 books into my yearly reading goal of 12. I haven't posted all of the reviews for them because some of them are going to count towards my A-Z Blogging Challenge in April. I'm reading the book for Q now, Quiet Dell by Jayne Anne Phillips , and am using the 'sample' feature on Amazon to audition book...

  Happy Sunday! The Sunday Post is a weekly news meme created by Caffeinated Reviewer . I will be posting on the first Sunday of each month and I hope you'll join me. The month of January was a cold one, and I mean cold ... we had one day with a high of 8 degrees and a real feel of -2. And I know that out there, there are places that get colder. This is not the coldest place on earth, not even the coldest place in the USA, but for us it was 'frickin' freezin' in here, Mr. Bigglesworth.' My reading month has been a bit slow, I've been working a lot of overtime lately. I started reading American Pharoah  by Joe Drape,  but it's slow going; that's got nothing to do with the quality of the story as it's quite good, but with the sentimentality of the reader. (It keeps making me cry.) I'm also reading Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros,  late to the party, I know. I did get at least two reviews posted in January.  Carving Shadows into Gold by Brigid Kemmere...

Happy New Year! The Sunday Post is a weekly news meme created by Caffeinated Reviewer . I will be posting on the first Sunday of each month and I hope you'll join me. I hope you are all doing well, and are as excited about the New Year as I am. I'm welcoming it in with a recap of last year and my goals for 2025. In 2024, I challenged myself to read 12 books. I know it's not a flashy number, but I figure if I'm doing one a month I'm doing alright. I'm happy that not only did I meet my goal of 12 books, I exceeded it by reading 33, a grand total 14,755 pages. Last year I had set aside some reading goals (other than book count) to help keep my reading habits organized. I wanted to read only from my TBR list, except for when following up previously started series, or rereading prequels to their sequels. And while I did read some from my TBR, I added in a few ARCs and a handful of rereads during the busier holiday months. I'm proud to say, even though I didn'...

  Happy Sunday! The Sunday Post is a weekly news meme created by Caffeinated Reviewer. I will be posting on the first Sunday of each month and I hope you'll join me. We're in drought. We live in an area that's never seen forest fires and yet we've seen forest fires. We got a couple of days of rain and it wasn't enough to consider the drought broken. Everybody has been advised not to run their wood stoves or fire pits... and naturally you can't actually advise anyone on anything anymore so people are doing whatever it is they want instead of worrying about burning the woods down (or their neighbor's house.) I feel like we're either going to get no snow at all this year or we're going to get hammered with it. The books I've read in November were both rereads. I reread The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern and A Darker Shade of Magic by VE Schwab. I don't plan to post the review of The Night Circus because it's already been posted.  But A...