Grab the Lapels

Sunday Lowdown #47

This Week’s Blog Posts:

To my extreme annoyance, I accidentally scheduled two blog posts to go out at the exact same time, instead of Monday and Wednesday as I had planned. Therefore, both my review of White Elephant by Trish Harnetiaux and my silly post about a peppermint-filled Christmas book and a demon Elf on the Shelf book went out at 6:00AM Monday morning. *sigh* The comments were evenly split between the posts, so I left them both up.

Then, on Friday I shared my 2019 stats. Thanks for all the compliments on my pie charts! They’re very easy to do, as it turns out. Also, thanks for the conversation about how you keep track of your own reading, and what you include in your end-of-the-year stats. Over the years I’ve learned to keep track of stats as I go and NOT to wait until December to try and compile.

Next Week’s Blog Posts:

On Monday I’ll be sharing the last #ReadingValdemar post of the year. Jackie @ Death by Tsundoku and I answer some questions about our year-long experience and what we hope for in 2020 as we take on new fantasy novels by Mercedes Lackey.

Thursday is my first book review of the year, so why not make it one about a fat lady? Misadventures of a Curvy Girl is part of the “Misadventures of ______” series, but I haven’t read any of the other books. Looks like they’re all written by different authors, too. Sierra Simone penned Curvy Girl.

Book I’m Reading Aloud to My Spouse:

We’re almost done with Christmas Days by Jeanette Winterson, which is a lovely collection of 12 short stories and 12 recipes. Inventive, humorous, and perfect for the holiday season, we’re both loving it. The story from last night was about an orphanage that was like a cross between Annie and Mrs. Winterson (the author’s mother). Good cheer came in the form of military-ready silver frogs!

Books Added to the TBR Pile:

Thanks to Bill for his recommendation. Also, I received Siddhartha and Pigeon Feathers at my book club gift exchange party, where we supposed to wrap up a book we recommend. So, thanks to Doug and Sara!

AND, exciting news: a new Zora Neale Hurston book is coming out and I have an ARC!

Published by Grab the Lapels

I'm a graduate of the MFA fiction writing program at the University of Notre Dame, which inspired me to follow along with trends in teaching, publishing, and reviewing. I also have an MA and BS from Central Michigan University. I used to teach composition, creative writing, and literature in higher education, then did a brief stint at a civic theater, followed by two years at a references desk at a public library. I'm now working toward my ASL Interpreter license.

30 comments

  1. Thanks for the mention. I never thought you’d read one of my recommendations before I read one of yours. I have a “week” to run now, but I’d better listen to Snow Queen while I work and get a review up ‘soon’. And that ZNH looks good too.

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    • I’m still reading Moll Flanders. For some reason (probably the end notes, perhaps Christmas travel), it’s taking me longer than I thought it would. I keep thinking, “Oh, I’ll put it down and read something else,” but then I skim a later page and see details that make me interested! It’s a good book, but I hate taking a long time to read something.

      Definitely looking forward to your thoughts on The Snow Queen.

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  3. So that Christmas horror book looks…horrifying. And is it just me, or are there more ads than usual on your site? My site probably looks the exact same, it just seems like wordpress keeps adding more and more…

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  4. So pleased to see two Jesmyn Ward titles added to your TBR! She’s one of my favourite authors, I hope you enjoy her books!

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  5. Nice pile of new books! Terry McMillan for the win – that one’s on my wishlist and once I’ve got through my birthday AND got the TBR down a bit, I’m going to put my book tokens and “Bank of Matthew” gift from my husband to good use!

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  7. I have talked to you so many times about blogging. This is the first time I realized how organized you are about reading and blogging! GOODNESS! I am envious. How far in advance do you schedule your posts? And keeping track of your reading stats all year long — that’s a journey in itself. I’d be nervous I’d get it all wrong. XD

    I’m impressed with your recent additions to your book pile. How many of these books do you own? How do you keep track of your TBR?

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    • Several years ago, I was looking for a book that I SWORE I owned, but I couldn’t find it. Then, I realized that it’s not enough to think I have a book. I spent a weekend pulling all the books I own off the shelves and putting them into a spreadsheet. Next, I went through all of me e-books and added those too. I tried to add a category for date of purchase. Some of the older ones I guessed on, but all new purchases get a specific date. That way, I can organize the spreadsheet by oldest owned, newest owned, and what I’ve read vs TBR.

      Books on the TBR that I don’t own are simply added to Goodreads with a category of which library I get get it at (there are a few library systems near me).

      In past years I’ve tried to gather book data by looking back at Goodreads, but this can be unwieldy. So, in 2019 I created a second spreadsheet with title, gender, and year published. There were some other categories that I ended up deleting. That way, every time I finish a book I just add it to the spreadsheet. Come December when it’s stat time, everything is super easy.

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