Saturday, July 4, 2020

Bedtime Story: America the Beautiful by Katharine Lee Bates & Illustrated by Wendell Minor



Synopsis: "Katharine Lee Bates's timeless and beloved poem alongside art by award-winning author and artist Wendell Minor, who captures the magnificent beauty of the United States. Celebrate America's ideals of togetherness and marvel at classic illustrations of her natural and historical wonders: from Yosemite National Park and the Garden of the Gods, to Mount Rushmore and Plymouth Plantation. This reissued edition includes an updated introduction, information about the poet, the composer of the song, the sheet music, a map and brief information about all twenty-one American locations depicted in the book."

My Review: I was looking for something that was patriotic to share with Munchkin for the 4th of July holiday and I came across this one at the library. I don't think I have ever actually seen the words to this song written down, and it was magical. The illustrations are stunning and add so much to the lyrics. This is definitely a beautiful book and a perfect way to celebrate our nation.

My Rating: This would make a great bedtime story to help soothe the little ones to sleep on this exciting day and leave them with beautiful images of our great country.  I give this one a rating of Four Paws!


Good Night! Sweet Dreams!

And Stay safe this Independence Day!

Thursday, July 2, 2020

June 2020 Wrap Up & July TBR

We are now officially half way through the year, and good lordy what a year it has been so far. I could really use a little let up. June ended up kind of all over the place. I ended up mood reading more this month than in the past.  I pretty much dropped my TBR in favor of all romance all month long.  I needed something a little lighter and always with a happy ending for a bit. I am so far behind on my Requested Reviews and ARCs though, I am really going to have to focus on that in July. 

First and foremost is my only actual challenge for the  year . . .

TBR Books from the Past 3 Years:
I only read 1 book off the TBR list from the last 3 years.




I also read 3 books off my older TBR (not included in the last 3 years of hauls):

 




2020 Books added to TBR & Read:
Since I am also limiting my book purchases this year and trying to keep up with reading them, I figured I better add a section to show you the new additions I have read.  I actually read a lot more new releases this month than usual but it was nice to read so many of my new additions instead of just adding them to the massive TBR count.
 
 
 





June Additions:
So I have clearly been completely failing at the whole buying only 1 book per week thing, but you know what, it was my anniversary this month and it was an emotional rollercoaster, so I am giving myself a little slack with a push to start getting back on track next month.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Yeah, see things got a little out of hand this month.  3 of these books were gifts and 2 more have been read.  The one good thing about all these new books is that most of them will be pretty quick reads.



In other reading I am tracking this year, I read . . .

Re-Reads:
None


Borrowed Books:


Books Over 500 Pages:
None


Requested Reviews:
Banned Book Club  (Netgalley)


January Reading Stats:
I read a total of 18 books this month
2,281 pages read and 3 days, 11 hours and 53 minute of listening


Resolutions Check in:
1. Read that TBR: I am still not even close to hitting my target for the past 3 years of hauls, but that said I did do a bit of an unhaul of some of my shelves and removed 5 TBR books. - :(
2. Purchase Less Books:Last year I had purchased 22 books in June, this year it was 19. Less, definitely, 1 book a week? Definitely not. I still want to get the incoming books to be lower! - CHECK
3. Read Big Books:Even though I had best intentions to read 2 big books in June, the month had other plans for me. I do feel like I am ready to tackle a few in July though. - :(
4. Interact: Again, another month of barely keeping up with real life has led to much less online interactions. - :/ 

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With having most of my June TBR tossed to the wind, I was a little hesitant about doing a TBR for July. But I know there are books I need to focus on, mostly books for upcoming tours and releases.  So here is a very tentative TBR for July.

For TBR List
The Mum Who'd Had Enough
A Heart of Blood and Ash
The Phoenix Empress
The Summer Dragon
Books 1-4 of The Great Library Series
Homicide in Hardcover
Life on the Leash
Kill the Farm Boy
No Country for Old Gnomes
How is everyone doing? Are you escaping into books or having a hard time fitting it into your new schedules?

Tuesday, June 30, 2020

Top 10 Tuesday: Releases for the rest of 2020

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish.  It is now hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl, and you can find the list of topics on her page HERE.


This weeks topic is the top releases we are looking forward to for the rest of the year. So there are a ton of releases coming up, especially with so much being pushed back from the spring.  This isn't even close to all of the ones I am looking forward to (and I have a feeling that my bank account and bookshelves are going to be crying out for relief by the end of the year).  But here are ten of them that I am really looking forward to, I am going to go in order of release.

July 7th
 

August 4th

September 1st

October 6th

November 10th

November 24th

December 1st

December 24th



There are so many more that I can't wait for, but these are the ones that I have pre-ordered so definitely top of the list! 

How about you? Which books are you most excited to finally get into your hands?












Monday, June 29, 2020

Monday Reading List


It is Monday again, and time to update with what I read last week, what I am currently reading and what to look forward to next week.


Reviews Posted Last Week:
Links will take you to my review

Evvie Drake Starts Over by Linda Holmes


 Books Finished Last Week:
Reviews will be posted at a later date

Finding Forever
Kiss Quotient
Undercover Bromance
Beach Read
A Highlander in a Pickup
Pete the Cat's Family Road Trip


Currently Reading:

You Can't F*ck Up Your Kids by Lindsay Powers - Print - on page 98 of 320
Realm by Alexandrea Weis - ebook - on page 46 of 397
The Ranger of Marzanna by Jon Skovron - print/ebook - on page 134 of 528
Sergeant's Christmas Siege by Megan Crane - audio - 58%



Pages Read/ Time Listened
509:36 Hours Listened (28:56 listened this week)
15,336 Pages Read (640 this week)

Books Added to Shelves Recently: TBR
The Eyes of Tamburah (gift)
The Wolf in the Whale
~~~~~~~~~~March Birthday Waiver Books ~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Rain Dragon Rescue
The Order of the Unicorn
#Frankenstein
The Book of Boy - UNHAUL
All the Wandering Light
Life on the Leash
Phoenix Unbound
You Can't F*ck Up Your Kids  (gift)
Mary Shelley Monster Hunter Vol. 1
The Caged Queen
The Mum Who'd Had Enough
Ash and Quill
The Voyage to Magical North
I Needed a Viking
Smoke and Iron
The Overdue Life of Amy Byler
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~End Birthday Waiver~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Red Hood (gift)
Scavenge the Stars
Beefcakes
Hades & Persephone
Finding Forever - READ
Uncommon Type - READ
Red, White & Royal Blue
Beach Read - READ
Dark Skies
No Country for Old Gnomes (gift)
About That Kiss
The Ranger of Marzanna
A Heart of Blood and Ashes (gift)
The Girl and the Stars
A Choir of Lies
Loving Cara
Queen's Peril - READ
This Will Kill That
One to Watch
Woven in Moonlight
Steel Tide
Undercover Bromance - READ
Girl of Fire & Thorns (gift)
Murder Past Due
Books Can Be Deceiving
Due or Die
Book Line and Sinker
Apple Cider Slaying
All My Loving
Fury of a Phoenix
Homicide in Hardcover (gift)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Thank goodness for books! This last week was a really rough one and I was happy to loose myself in some romance books and find some kind of feel good emotions.  My brother-in-law left on deployment and because of Covid he wasn't able to come home at all to say goodbye (we haven't seen him in person since Thanksgiving), everything had to be said on Zoom.  We also found out Niko, our dog, has osteosarcoma, a very aggressive and painful cancer. It has become so far advanced that the only thing we can do is pain management until the rapidly approaching end. Unfortunately, again due to Covid, we are not allowed to go into the vets office with him, so we are really struggling with the choice between letting him go but not being with him, or continuing to try to keep him as comfortable as possible and watching him become in more and more pain so we can be by his side in the end. Neither option is really acceptable and it is breaking our hearts.

Thank goodness for the small comfort that books can bring.