Sunday, January 08, 2017

Sunday Post: Difficult Women & My January TBR List Winner

I hope everyone's New Year has gotten off to a good start. The first week is behind us already, which seems crazy. My Christmas tree is still up, but I hope to get it down within a week or two. Unless my husband and daughter convince me to keep it up through March like we have the last couple of years. We shall see.

We have been getting so much rain as of late. Not that I am complaining. I love the rain, and we get so little of it as it is. My mom left earlier than planned in order to avoid the worst of the storms up in her part of the state. We were all sad to see her go. Mouse enjoyed spending her Christmas break with her grandmother.

What have you been up to this weekend?

New on the Shelves: The January My Lit Box theme is "Short But Not So Sweet," and from the goodies inside my subscription box this month, I see just what that means.


Roxane Gay's Difficult Women, a Survivor note card, a "Burn the Ex" candle which smells like Aged Kentucky Bourbon (no kidding!), and a book mark with an image of artist Frida Kahlo.


I also recently purchased an e-copy of Hidden Figures: The Untold Story of the African American Women Who Helped Win the Space Race by Margot Lee Shetterly, which was a Kindle daily deal I just couldn't pass up.

What I Am Reading: I just finished reading Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen, and I will likely be picking up Uprooted by Naomi Novik next.

What I Am Listening To: I plan to start listening to my TBR List winner tomorrow morning on my way to work. Thanks again to all who voted!

What I Am Watching: I recently watched Batman v Superman: The Dawn of Justice, which turned out to be much better than I expected. I also finally got around to watching Allegiant based on Veronica Roth's novel with the same title, the third in the Divergent series. What a difference from the book!

This Week In Reading Mews:

Tell me about what you have been up to! What are you reading, listening to and watching? How was your week? Do you have anything planned for this coming week?


Thank you for helping me decide what book from my TBR collection I should read next:


My TBR List is a meme hosted by the awesome Michelle at Because Reading. It’s a fun way to choose a book from your TBR pile to read. The 1st Sunday of every month, I will list 3 books I am considering reading and take a poll as to which you think I should read. I will read the winner that month, and my review will follow. While I will attempt to post my review that same month, I make no promises--it may go up the following month. 




After having seen the winner's title pop up on a number of blogs in recent months, I had a good idea of which book would win, but all three are ones I am excited about listening to and each received a good number of votes. Thank you everyone who took the time to vote!

  • Yes, Please by Amy Poehler received 23.1% of the votes.
  • Year of Yes: How to Dance It Out, Stand in the Sun and Be Your Own Person by Shonda Rhimes received 30.8%
  • As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales From the Making of The Princess Bride by Carey Elwes with Joe Layden received 46.2%

The winner is:


As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales From the Making of The Princess Bride by Carey Elwes with Joe Layden
Goodreads Summary: 
From actor Cary Elwes, who played the iconic role of Westley in The Princess Bride, comes a first-person account and behind-the-scenes look at the making of the cult classic film filled with never-before-told stories, exclusive photographs, and interviews with costars Robin Wright, Wallace Shawn, Billy Crystal, Christopher Guest, and Mandy Patinkin, as well as author and screenwriter William Goldman, producer Norman Lear, and director Rob Reiner.

Thank you again for voting!

I hope you all have a great week! Happy Reading!




The Sunday Post is hosted by the wonderful Kimba, the Caffeinated Book Reviewer, and gives us all a chance to recap our week, talk about what we are reading, share any new books that have come our way, and whatever else we want to talk about. 

© 2017, Wendy Runyon of Musings of a Bookish Kitty. All Rights Reserved. If you're reading this on a site other than Musings of a Bookish Kitty or Wendy's feed, be aware that this post has been stolen and is used without permission.

50 comments:

  1. Yay for As You Wish! It's been snowy here, I wouldn't mind if it rained instead. :) Hope you're having a great week! And Allegiant was different, I didn't care much for the movie and have only gotten about halfway through the book- I should finish it.

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    1. Greg - I just finished As You Wish this past Friday. :-) Our temps are starting to warm up again; maybe yours will too! Hopefully. :-) I don't think the movie version of Allegiant turned out well. It left a lot to be desired. The book wasn't my favorite of the trilogy.

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  2. We've had really strange weather - it's been damp, but we haven't gotten much rain, if that makes sense. I'm so glad Mouse got to spend so much time with her grandmother!

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    1. Kathy - Did you eventually get some rain? We have had days like that too--damp, but no rain. Mouse very much enjoyed her time with her grandmother. :-)

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  3. As You Wish has been on my TBR for a while, particularly in the audio! I hope you enjoy it. My Christmas Tree came down on Monday, which is a day later than usual. I tend to be a January 1st girl. I have a schedule, day after thanksgiving - January 1. This year our tree went up a little earlier too though, because of the kids.

    Have a great week!

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    1. Berls - I enjoyed listening to As You Wish. I had to re-watch the movie after finishing it. :-) I hope you like it when you get to it. Our tree is still up. I think I'm the only one who wants it down, but since I hurt my back, I can't do it myself and no one wants to help me. Ho hum.

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  4. We haven't had very much rain, but this last few days have been bitter cold. Hate that. We need the rain to knock the pollen down and help with allergies. So glad that AS YOU WISH! won. I loved listening to that one. Hope your Mom had a good trip home and wonderful that she got to spend time with you guys.

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    1. Kay - The rain was wonderful. We've got sunshine this week, and I'm a little sad there will not be any more rain for a while. My mom's trip home was a bit stressful because of the weather, but she made it safely. :-) As You Wish was an enjoyable listen!

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  5. Can't believe it's already the second week of the new year. I'm glad to hear Mouse had a wonderful time with her grandmother. Hope you've a great week ahead and happy reading, Wendy!

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    1. Melody - And now February is just a couple days away! I am not sure I'm ready yet. LOL

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  6. I got Hidden Figures for myself for Christmas after it wasn't on sale all last year. And then of course it goes on sale. lol I started it last night, actually, but still only early in.

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    1. Kelly - That seems to be the way, doesn't it? We buy a book at full price and then it goes on sale . . . I hope you enjoyed Hidden Figures!

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  7. I want Hidden Figures, too! I loved Uprooted and hope you like it as well. Cold here, but none of the bad weather that has caused so many accidents elsewhere. Enjoy As You Wish!

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    1. Jenclair - I am glad your weather hadn't turned bad, despite the cold. Hopefully that remained true the rest of the month! I enjoyed Uprooted and am looking forward to reading more by Novik now.

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  8. Hidden Figures, the book and the film, looks very good. A few years ago I read a few books on human space exploration. I have always been interested in it. This is a story that I never knew. I guess that an important message here is that most people never knew this story but that we should have known it.

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    1. Brian - Hidden Figures is good in both formats, although I do wish I had read the book first. The movie distorts history a bit, and my brain kept trying to impose it on the book. It's an amazing story regardless, one that I'm sad more people didn't know about.

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  9. Ahhh man, Hidden Figures was a daily deal and I missed it? Darn it. I took my tree down this weekend and was kind of sad about it. It adds such a happy vibe to the house.

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    1. Christy - I usually miss the daily deals but am so glad I caught this one! I'm ready for our tree to go, but my husband and daughter say no. Haha

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  10. I bought Hidden Figures, too! I agree that was a pretty great daily deal :-)

    And Uprooted is SO GOOD. I hope you enjoy it. I can't wait to hear your thoughts, no matter what!

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    1. Aarti - Yay! I am glad you were able to get Hidden Figures too. I look forward to reading your thoughts on it when you finish. I hope to post my review this coming month.

      Uprooted was good. I enjoyed it too, fortunately. :-)

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  11. Yay for As You Wish! Love the movie but haven't read the book yet. Our tree is down but the rest of the decorations are still up and I'm not looking forward to putting everything up. I love all the decorations but it's so much work to pack them up. Unpacking them is work too but I don't mind it nearly as much because I enjoy looking at the stuff! Looking forward to seeing your thoughts on Northanger Abbey. I read it years ago and it didn't take and I've been debating rereading it. Have a great week!

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    1. Katherine - I had to re-watch the movie after reading the book. :-) Our decorations are STILL up. I haven't been exactly able to do much as of late because of my back, and expecting my husband and daughter to do it obviously hasn't worked. LOL

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  12. Why didn't I think to look for the book Hidden Figures I am going to grab it. LOL, our tree is down, but sometimes my grandmother would keep her's up until Valentine's Day.

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    1. Kim - I think that's my husband and daughter's goal--to keep it up until after Valentine's Day. Oh well. LOL

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  13. I hope you like Uprooted! I thought it was a great fantasy read. :)

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  14. I must admit I know nothing about the story behind Hidden Figures (which I realise is the point of the story!!!) but still...

    I love Jane Austen and have read all of her work but listened to Northanger Abbey just recently and enjoyed it.

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    1. Deborah - It seems that the women in Hidden Figures were a well kept secret--which is so sad. I'm glad we finally know their stories.

      I still am working my way through Jane Austen's work. I have loved what I've read by her so far though. :-)

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  15. Happy new year Wendy! I hope you'll have a great one!
    Your Christmas tree till March? Wow!! I took ours down on January 1st. :D
    I love the look of your subscription box. I looked into those a while back but they are just to expensive to ship here.
    Have a great week and happy reading!

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    1. Maureen - Thank you! I hope your New Year has gotten off to a great start. Yeah, the last two years my daughter asked us to keep the tree up until her birthday. We decorated it for all the holidays in between, which was fun to do. I'm not especially feeling it this year, but my husband and daughter are trying to convince me stil.

      I imagine the postage for the lit boxes would be high to send overseas. That's too bad too because they are fun and worthwhile. But I don't think I would be able to do it either if it was coming in from overseas.

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  16. I like the books here. Christmas trees come down by the sixth here and in some areas on the twentieth of January, Feast of St. Sebastian.

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    1. Mystica - Thank you! We're evidently very flexible when it comes to keeping our tree up. Of course, the last couple years, it became a Valentine's Day tree and then a birthday and spring tree . . .

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  17. I've never read or watched The Princess Bride. I know, I'm missing out on something worthwhile :) I didn't vote for that book, but hope you love it.

    I really want to see the film of Hidden Figures since I love 2 of the main character actresses' work. The book will be good for me too, if it doesn't get too technical (math & science sadly are not my friends). Have a good week.

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    1. Rita - I enjoyed listening to As You Wish. I will probably listen to a fiction book next, but I do want to get to the other two this year as well. I didn't love the first time I saw the movie The Princess Bride, but it grew on me. I loved the book. I think reading it helped me appreciate the movie more.

      I hope you get to see Hidden Figures if you haven't already. It's very well done. The book was good as well. It does get somewhat technical at times, but I don't think that can be helped. It's easy to skim over though without sacrificing the purpose of the book if it is too much.

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  18. I saw Hidden Figures over the weekend and I adored it. While I loved The Princess Bride, I am not a cultie. I've watched it enough in my lifetime as a high school Thespian, but I am curious about Carey Elwes 's inside peek. Don't feel bad about your tree - I just took mine down only because I was tired of seeing the boxes that were there still piled in front of my bookcase. The man was not advocating for me to take it down!

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    1. Charlie - I don't think I can be counted as a cultie of The Princess Bride either, but I do enjoy the movie. And I loved the book. :-) I am glad you liked Hidden Figures too! It's definitely one I wouldn't mind adding to my movie library.

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  19. Another great lit box. I keep hearing about Roxanne Gay's book and would love to check it out too. Will look forward to your review of Hidden Figures. I want to see the movie but I think this would be a great book to read too. Hope you have a great week!

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    1. Iliana - I really like the My Lit Box. Every box has been worth it. I am not sure how much longer I'll be able to subscribe though as we need to cut back on expenses. Hidden Figures is good. If you want to read the book and see the movie, I suggest reading the book first.

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  20. I really want to see Hidden Figures. I put the audiobook on hold at the library. Don't feel bad about the tree. I took mine down already only because my Littles thought new presents would show up every day lol.

    I hope you have a wonderful week!

    Tina @ As Told By Tina

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    1. Tina - I hope you enjoy the audio of Hidden Figures, and get a chance to see the movie. Luckily mine doesn't think presents will still show up every day under our tree, but it's become an excuse not to have to put some of her toys away ("I put them away. They're under the tree!"). Now that my back is feeling a bit better, I hope to get ours down.

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  21. Ooh! January sounds like an exciting month. I look forward to reading your thoughts on the months books choice.

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    1. Tracy - January has been a good reading month, I think. Not a good blogging month--although I had planned to take a break anyway.

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  22. Happy new year, Wendy! I remember reading about your tree - St Patrick's Day I think it was?

    I'm looking forward to the film release of Hidden Figures and didn't know there was a book about the time. Northanger, yay! Uprooted is on my list; I'm interested in what you think.

    I've not been reading much yet but have started Margaret Laurence's The Stone Angel. Watching Parks and Rec which I'm loving. This week hasn't been so good so I'm looking forward to the next.

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    1. Charlie - Thank you! I hope you are enjoying your New Year too. Yes, we did decorate the tree for St. Patrick's Day one year. :-) I have never seen Parks and Rec, although I know it's got quite the following. I hope your week got better and your month ends on a high note!

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  23. I didn't even notice Hidden Figures was a Kindle Daily Deal- oh well- I'm a bit over book budget this month anyway. I hope you enjoy it!
    I also want to read As You Wish- I guess you're just causing me book envy. ;) I hope you had a fabulous week!
    ~Litha Nelle

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    1. Litha Nelle - I have bought a few too many Kindle Daily Deals as of recently and probably should step back. I was good about not taking the bait for a long while there.

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  24. Sorry I missed an eGalley of Hidden Figures. I'd like to see how it compares to the movie. Need to check the library. Hope u r having a great weekend Wendy.

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    1. Diane - Those Kindle Daily Deals go fast! It was just luck I noticed it when I did, I think. I enjoyed the book. There are definite differences between the book and movie, but I think that's a given with most book to movie translations.

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  25. Happy reading Wendy, I keep seeing Hidden Figures everywhere and I need to read it. As You Wish sounds good, I love that movie. Happy Sunday! I've been off blogland for a few weeks, but have been trying to catch up this weekend.

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    1. Naida - Thank you! I hope you do get a chance to read Hidden Figures. If you loved the movie The Princess Bride, you would probably really enjoy As You Wish. I'm glad I had a chance to listen to it.

      I've been away too, and am now just starting to come back.

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