Sunday, November 15, 2015

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

 

It's Monday! What Are You Reading is hosted by Kathryn at Book Date

The weather turned gusty and blustery and rainy for a few days last week, but it was worth making it through, as today was another gorgeous day. I can't imagine we will have many more, but who knows, Michigan be crazy sometimes.

I spent today actually roasting and pureeing the millions of pumpkins I had. Before Halloween, our local farm market had a sale - buy one, get three free. So I had four full size pumpkins, and four pie pumpkins sitting around. We carved three full size pumpkins for Halloween, and saved the fourth for puree, and pureed the pie pumpkins as well. It was my first time doing something like this, but I am looking forward to pulling some of that puree out of the freezer in the winter to make soup or bread or pancakes! I even found a recipe for pumpkin sugar cookies! Yummers, as I say to Wyatt!

Read Last Week:



Beneath the Bonfire by Nickolas Butler: A short story collection that started out strong for me, but then I had to abandon. Every single story was so bleak and sad; it was depressing me. Butler's writing is so descriptive and haunting and beautiful, bur stark. Which is ok, but these stories didn't make me feel hopeful for any of the characters - except one short story, about a grandfather, that still made me cry.

The Grownup by Gillian Flynn: I really liked this tiny little story! It was very short but very good. It kind of scared me! 

Not Tonight Darling, I'm Knitting: I checked this out for my Stitch and Bitch night, and the only book I actually read cover to cover. I loved it! More anecdotal than an instruction book, I loved reading all the little knitting tidbits it contained.


Reading this Week:

  

A Cold Creek Christmas Story by RaeAnne Thayne: I am taking a chance assuming my husband bought me the e reader I wanted for my birthday (#40! Yikes!!) - but I think my odds are pretty good! 

Stitches in Time by Barbara Michaels: I'm on a Michaels roll, might as well keep it up. This is an old favorite as well.

Posted Last Week:


Watching:

Grimm, The Vampire Diaries, iZombie, The Originals, and The Walking Dead - everything has really hit the ground running this year! We are also watching The Middle, which is hilarious.


26 comments:

  1. Those were a couple of blustery days for sure! We had waves like I haven't seen in a long while. Looking forward to A Cold Creek Christmas Story.

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    1. I read that Lake Michigan was getting crazy sized waves! That weather was wild. We had thunder, an ice storm, and blue skies all within 15 minutes. Ah Michigan. Lol.

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  2. Thursday and Friday were fun, weren't they? It was blustery over here too, with sleet- we even saw a few snow flurries but not for long. But then the weekend was pretty nice. :) I'm sorta between shows at the moment, but there are a few on netflix I'm intrigued about. I seem to have become a Netflix addict...

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    1. The weather was nutty!! It was very Winnie-the-Pooh and the blustery day out!

      My husband just started watching Da Vinci's Demons - he seemed to really like it! We cut the cord on our cable a few months ago, and bought a Gbox. We ended up not even needing Netflix or Hulu anymore! We are binge watchers like crazy people over here.

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  3. I love Barbara Michaels books, I need to read some of hers again sometime.

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    1. I seem to get a hankering to read her books in the fall and spring. She is one of my favorite go-to authors!

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  4. Love the sound of the knitting book. I also love to have pumpkin soup in the winter, bit of garlic and ginger in it and served with sour cream. Yum. I loved The Language of Flowers, I am not reviewing it, but just going to take a peek at yours.

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    1. The knitting book was pretty cool! I learned some nifty facts from it.

      I have never actually had pumpkin soup but I am looking forward to eating lots of it this winter!

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  5. The knitting book sounds like fun and I've heard good things about The Grownup, it's on my wishlist. Have a great week and happy reading. I make batches of pumpkin soup and freeze it whenever we have a glut of pumpkin ... yum!

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    1. The Grownup was really good!! It will only take you about 20-30 minutes to read it, it is so short - if that even! It was super quick but good.

      I am looking forward to pumpkin soup all winter long! For some reason processing and freezing all that pumpkin puree made me feel very Laura Ingalls Wilder. Lol.

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  6. I haven't read any of these, but The Grownup sounds so good!

    My It's Monday!

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  7. Good to see that you enjoyed The Grownup. I recall binge-reading Gone Girl a year ago. :)

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  8. The knitting book sounds like a lot of fun!

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    1. It really was interesting. I loved reading all the little facts.

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  9. It's a shame Beneath The Bonfire didn't entirely work out for you... Short story collections can be enjoyable, but variety goes along with them.

    You know, I've never had anything pumpkin flavoured. Here in the UK it just isn't as popular as it seems to be in the US. We carve pumpkins and all for Halloween, but beyond that, they're basically non existent.

    Happy reading!

    Reading With Jade

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    1. I was pretty bummed. :( Nickolas Butler is such an amazing author and has a way with words but that book was making me just too sad.

      Interesting!! I never thought of pumpkins as being an American thing, but I can see how they might be. I am not a big fan of pumpkin drinks but pumpkin pie and bread - yum!

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  10. We are having beautiful but chilly days in Pennsylvania too.

    Sun is out...Yeah...a rare sight here. :)

    You will love the pumpkin this winter. I never did anything like that.

    Looks like a great reading week for you.

    I am sure you loved The Language of Flowers.

    ENJOY your week.

    Elizabeth
    Silver's Reviews
    My It's Monday, What Are You Reading

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    1. The past few days have been nice here - slight chill, sunny - but I know that freezing temps could arrive anytime!

      This was my first time! I am really kind of excited about it!

      Thanks Elizabeth!

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  11. The knitting cover made me laugh. This Barbara Michaels series seems unique and good.

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    1. Omg I know right? Lol. I had to check it out. You should see the one for Domiknitrix! Lol.

      The Barbara Michaels books are dated but fun. I think that is partly why I like them! I like the easy little mystery they have going on, and usually every book has a part that freaks me out, no matter how times I have read it. Lol.

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  12. I loved Beneath the Bonfire, but definitely more for the gorgeous writing than his upbeat themes! I loved Shotgun Lovesongs by Butler so much that I would probably read anything he writes.

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    1. I know, his writing is amazing. I can virtually put myself in the scene, his words are so evocative. I had to stop after the story Morels though- I just couldn't go any further. :( I loved Shotgun Lovesongs, but this one didn't do it for me. :( I know what you are saying though. I love Robert Goolrick and would read anything by him, even though his books are also pretty tragic.

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  13. We had a beautiful weekend but are back to rain again for the next three days. I comfort myself with the fact that it could be snow. I love your ambition to deal with those pumpkins. Enjoy your reading this week. Check out my week here. Happy reading!

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    1. I actually think we have snow in our upcoming forecast... :( That was the first time I had done anything like that and it was pretty fun once I figured out a system. :)

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