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Welcome to my weekly update for November 29, 2020!
I hope all my fellow American readers had a wonderful Thanksgiving and the rest of you had good weeks as well! We had a very lowkey holiday because my husband was on call at his hospital. When he’s on call he has to be able to get there within 30 minutes. That makes dining out or exploring difficult. He did get called in for one procedure but the rest of the day we relaxed and ate and watched TV. No complaints here!
Last Saturday, we met my husband’s cousin and his wife in La Jolla for brunch. We went for a walk along the shore while we were there and got to see beautiful coastline, lots of birds, and even sea lions!
Posted:
A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik Book Review–3 Stars
True or False: A CIA Analyst’s Guide to Spotting Fake News by Cindy L. Otis Book Review–4 Stars
New to My TBR: Nonfiction November
Read:
Hounded by Kevin Hearne (The Iron Druid Chronicles #1) by Kevin Hearne
Brave Chef Brianna by Sam Sykes, illustrated by Selina Espiritu
No Country for Old Gnomes (The Tales of Pell #2) by Delilah S. Dawson and Kevin Hearne, read by Luke Daniels
True or False: A CIA Analyst’s Guide to Spotting Fake News by Cindy L. Otis
Currently Reading:
Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Ready Player Two by Ernest Cline, read by Wil Wheaton
Watching:
Star Trek: Picard–We’ve never been huge Trekkies but we do watch the movies. Eventually. Star Trek: The Next Generation is the exception. I used to watch that with my sister back in the day. It’s the only iteration of the show that I’ve ever watched with regularity. When my husband and I signed up for a free trial of CBS All Access so that we could watch the fourth season of One Day at a Time (LOVE this show, by the way. Go watch it!), we made the mistake of also watching an episode of Picard. We were hooked right away. Now we need to binge all the episodes before our trial expires.
Up Next:
I was first in line for A Promised Land by Barack Obama on the digital library but I had too many other books going to check that chunkster out too. I delayed my checkout by a week or two so I’m trying to limit the number and lengths of books I have going while I wait for my turn again. When I picked up my new library care the other day, I checked out seven graphic novels so I’ll be working on those. And can I just say what a joy it was to actually set foot in a library again for the first time since the pandemic again? Portland libraries were only open for holds pickup, so wandering the stacks here felt like heaven!
What did your week look like?
Deb Nance at Readerbuzz hosts The Sunday Salon and Kimberly at Caffeinated Book Reviewer hosts Sunday Post. Kathryn at Book Date hosts It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?
I have an affiliate relationship with Malaprop’s Bookstore/Cafe in beautiful Asheville, NC. I will earn a small commission at no additional cost to you if you purchase merchandise through links on my site.
38 Comments
Glad you got to spend a little time on the beach and with family and enjoyed a nice relaxing Thanksgiving! Looks like you read some great books. I love the Iron Druid Chronicles. I took a break from them and need to reread and finish the series. I’m also planning on finishing the True or False CIA book this month. Looks really good. I hope you love Mexican Gothic. Hands down one of my faves if not my favorite fiction read of the year!
Star Trek: TNG is my favorite but I do love all things Star Trek and have watched all seasons of every iteration out there! Picard was so good. I do hope they get a second season in soon. I forgot One Day at a Time went to CBS All Access. I need to pay for a month to get Discovery in when all the episodes are out and then I’ll watch that last season. Thanks for the reminder.
I hope you have a great week!
Sounds like you are settling in wonderfully. I have A Promised Land but haven’t started listening to it yet. Come see my week here. Happy reading!
How nice that you had a relaxing day and that you got a chance to walk on the beach.
Nice pics. I like how Wil Wheaton was chosen to read Ready Player Two. I enjoyed his reading of Ready Player One. And now that I know, I’ll get the audio version for Two 🙂 Have a good week.
I’m looking forward to Ready Player Two. I bought it with an Audbile credit but haven’t read it yet. Such a lovely walk in La Jolla. I’m jealous of the lovely sunny skies.
I am just emerging from my politic hangover and looking toward 2021 with hope. My Sunday Post
I’m really enjoying Ready Player Two so far. We could have stayed in Oregon for another 3 months but I didn’t think I could mentally take all the rain and gray skies. I’m infinitely happier in the sunshine!
It’s wonderful that traveling like this is working out for you. I’m not sure I would want to travel right now but you seem to be doing well. Gorgeous photos! Happy reading!
Anne – Books of My Heart This is my Sunday Post
We’re trying to be as smart about traveling as we can. Since we’re on the road with my husband’s job, we don’t have any choice about that part. But at least we live in our own RV and we try to choose outdoor activities. We always have our masks on and try to stay away from others. I have to say that most people we come across are wearing their masks too.
Your time sounds wonderful! I hope you have a great week, and I’m curious about True or False.
True or False was very informative. It should be required reading for everyone.
Glad you had a nice holiday! Your pictures are beautiful!
Thank you!
La Jolla is beautiful! So nice that you have plenty of outdoor options available to you. I’m in the Chicago suburbs, so there’s no particularly pretty scenery and it’s already too cold to do much outdoors.
La Jolla is beautiful! I dislike cold weather so I would never leave my house if I lived where you do. I’m a wimp!
Ah, there are so many great restaurants in La Jolla! Actually, San Diego county is full of great places to eat. I’m jealous!
Our libraries are still closes for browsing and I don’t know when they’ll re-open. I’ve borrowed a few things here and there for my husband, but I sure do miss scanning the New Release shelves (not that I need to borrow any books when I have so many of my own).
I can’t wait to hear what readers think of Ready Player Two. I loved the audio of the first and will go that route for this new release. Just waiting for the right time.
Enjoy your beautiful weather!
We are doing our best to make our way through all of San Diego’s restaurants, I think! I read Ready Player One in print but remembered that everyone raved about the audio. I did listen to Wil Wheaton read Cline’s book, Armada, so I knew the audio would be a good option for me. It’s good so far!
What a lovely time you had in La Jolla. Those photos are beautiful.
I am a little disappointed that you only found Deadly Education to be a three star read. I think I will pass on it then. I am happy you enjoyed True or False. It seems to be something that all of us need to read, I think.
We would love to watch Picard, but we don’t have access to anything except shows that can be streamed through Roku. We still don’t know enough about Roku to know how to get Picard!
Glad you were able to go to a real library and browse. Our public library is open and it’s very spacious, but I’m in the age bracket where the virus is quite dangerous, so I’m staying away for now.
Have a great week!
A Deadly Education was good but I felt that there was a lot of info dumping. It’s a complicated world so there was a lot to explain. I plan to read the next book but I hope that it can move on more with the actual plot since so much groundwork has been laid in this book.
Our Roku is hooked up to our outside TV, which we rarely watch, so I can’t help much with that. I imagine there should be a CBS All Access channel that you can add though. They were offering a 1-month free trial this week, instead of just 7 days.
I was at my community library. I think I saw one other patron and maybe 3 staff members and of course everyone was wearing a mask. Tables and computers were set up at appropriate distances. They had computers set up for self checkout and the two staff members that I spoke to while I was getting my library card were behind barriers. They close for an hour at lunch to clean everything. They seem to be covering all their bases. I felt safer there than I do at the grocery store! It was so nice to visit and browse.
Beautiful pics! Glad you had a good Thanksgiving! Your brunch idea sounds wonderful.
I’ve only read one Kevin Hearne book but really liked it.
Hope you have a great week!
I enjoyed the Kevin Hearne books. I appreciate his sense of humor.
I agree with you in regards to A Deadly Education, though Im more forgiving on the infodump. I hope you loved Hounded! And Picard is excellent, so is Discovery, you should give Voyager a try too.
Wishing you a great reading week
I really enjoyed Hounded! I’m planning to continue the series.
Discovery caught my attention too. I really liked Sonequa Martin-Green when she was on The Walking Dead.
Jen, it is lovely to hear you enjoyed your quiet Thanksgiving and have been able to spend sometime with your family. I have been hearing great things about Mexican Gothic, so I hope you are enjoying it! Take care and happy reading in the coming week. 🙂
I wasn’t exactly in the mood for Mexican Gothic but I’ve waited so long on the holds list, I read it anyway. It was really good!
Great to hear your really enjoyed Mexican Gothic, Jen. I am very tempted to myself a copy! 😁
I loved your review of A Deadly Education and I also enjoyed Mexican Gothic and Hounded. Glad you had an enjoyable Thanksgiving and thank you so much for the lovely picks of your visit to the seaside – living by the coast it’s always enjoyable to see other folks’ coastlines – those sea lions are amazing! Have a great week, Jan.
Beach pictures never do get old, do they? Just like sunsets and sunrises. When we have time, we like to drive out to the beach and take a sunset walk now that the days are so short.
Yes – it’s horrifying just how quickly the days are shortening at the moment. What a very good idea:))
I completely forgot about Nonfiction November. I didn’t see any bloggers posting about it. I still need to read one more nonfiction book before the end of the year to complete my personal goal. I have a memoir coming so hopefully I will get to it in December. Check out what I read at Girl Who Reads.
I need one more this year as well. I aim low at one nonfiction book a month but I usually manage more than that. This year has messed with my usual reading patterns though.
I’m glad to read you’ve been able to enjoy Thanksgiving, even if you guys couldn’t go out.
That Kevin Hearne book sounds exciting.
Stay safe and happy reading.
The Kevin Hearne book was really good!
I am yet to read Mexican Gothic; but I will get to it by the end of the year! I am glad you had a peaceful week and it hope it continues. Stay safe!
I wasn’t exactly in the right mood for Mexican Gothic but I still enjoyed it! I hope you do too!
No country for old gnomes has such a gorgeous cover! How do you find Mexican Gothic? On my TBR list. My husband is busy reading Reading Player Two and he quite enjoys it.
Glad you could spend some quality time at the coastline. Lovely pictures!
Have a wonderful week and take care!
Elza Reads
I wasn’t quite in the right mood for Mexican Gothic but it was still good! I’m always enjoying Ready Player Two.
I’m glad you were able to spend a mostly peaceful time with your husband 🙂 Our president said the libraries would reopen yesterday, but he didn’t leave them enough time to manage it, so it was click & collect until next week. It gave me the opportunity to rediscover the online library, which is very good : you can read a 1000 pages book on your kindle, less weight, lol ! Thanks for sharing the pictures of the sea, it made me a bit nostalgic, but I love watching the waves.
I love sitting on the beach, listening to the waves, and reading. That’s my idea of heaven.
I have to admit that I do prefer reading big books on my Kindle!