Saturday, July 01, 2023

Weekly Mews: Summer Book Downsizing & My Latest Bookish Mewsings (Please Vote in My July TBR Poll!)

I am linking up to the Sunday Post hosted by Kim of Caffeinated Book Reviewer and The Sunday Salon (TSS) hosted by Deb Nance of Readerbuzz  where participants 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. I am also linking It's Monday! What Are you Reading? hosted by Kathryn of Book Date where readers talk about what they have been, are and will be reading.

I am linking up Stacking the Shelves hosted by Marlene of Reading Reality a meme in which participants share what new books came their way recently.  



I had not planned to be away from my blog so long this time, but I ended up with allergic conjunctivitis, which was quite uncomfortable for awhile there. Prescription eye drops helped where over the counter ones didn't.  Mostly though, I think time and rest helped. I am all better now, fortunately. 

Mouse enjoyed her time this past month at musical theater camp. They ended with a performance of several Disney songs they all performed to. Mouse had a featured role as Mrs. Potts in their performance of "Be Our Guest". I love to hear her sing. All of the kids did an amazing job. 

It feels like summer is finally making an appearance in my part of the world with rising temperatures. We spent the afternoon at an early Independence Day celebration. My mom is a member of her community Masquer's Theatre Club, and they put on a very nice presentation for everyone in attendance. I am glad we were able to go! 

I have to work this coming holiday and so it will be a regular work week for me. For all my American friends, I hope you have a happy and safe 4th of July, whatever you have planned!


In the middle of reading
Untangled: Guiding Teenage Girls Through the Seven Transitions into Adulthood by Lisa Damour
Neverseen (Keeper of the Lost Cities #4) by Shannon Messenger




My TBR List is 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 Saturday of every month, I will list 3 books I am considering reading and let you vote for my next read during that month. My review will follow (unfortunately, not likely in the same month, but eventually--that's all I can promise). 

I could use your help deciding which book to read next! I am terribly behind on my cozy mystery reading, especially considering I took on the Cruisin' Thru the Cozies challenge this year. This month, I have selected three historical cozy mysteries for you to choose from. One is a new to me series while the other two are series I have already started. Which of these three books do you think I should read next? Have you read any of them? If so, what did you think? 


Murder in Postscript
(Lady of Letters #1) by Mary Winters
When one of her readers asks for advice following a suspected murder, Victorian countess Amelia Amesbury, who secretly pens the popular Lady Agony column, has no choice but to investigate in this first book in a charming new historical mystery series.

Amelia Amesbury—widow, mother, and countess—has a secret. Amelia writes for a London penny paper, doling out advice on fashion, relationships, and manners under the pen name Lady Agony. But when a lady’s maid writes Amelia to ask for advice when she believes her mistress has been murdered—and then ends up a victim herself—Amelia is determined to solve the case.

With the help of her best friend and a handsome marquis, Amelia begins to piece together the puzzle, but as each new thread of inquiry ends with a different suspect, the investigation grows ever more daunting. From London’s docks and ballrooms to grand country houses, Amelia tracks a killer, putting her reputation—and her life—on the line.
[Goodreads Summary]

A Botanist's Guide to Flowers and Fatality
(Saffron Everleigh #2) by Kate Khavari
1920s London isn’t the ideal place for a brilliant woman with lofty ambitions. But research assistant Saffron Everleigh is determined to beat the odds in a male-dominated field at the University College of London. Saffron embarks on her first research study alongside the insufferably charming Dr. Michael Lee, traveling the countryside with him in response to reports of poisonings. But when Detective Inspector Green is given a case with a set of unusual clues, he asks for Saffron’s assistance.

The victims, all women, received bouquets filled with poisonous flowers. Digging deeper, Saffron discovers that the bouquets may be more than just unpleasant flowers— there may be a hidden message within them, revealed through the use of the old Victorian practice of floriography. A dire message, indeed, as each woman who received the flowers has turned up dead.

Alongside Dr. Lee and her best friend, Elizabeth, Saffron trails a group of suspects through a dark jazz club, a lavish country estate, and a glittering theatre, delving deeper into a part of society she thought she’d left behind forever.

Will Saffron be able to catch the killer before they send their next bouquet, or will she find herself with fatal flowers of her own in Kate Khavari’s second intoxicating installment.
[Goodreads Summary]

Death of an Unsung Hero
(Lady Montfort #4) by Tessa Arlen

In 1916, the world is at war and the energetic Lady Montfort has persuaded her husband to offer his family’s dower house to the War Office as an auxiliary hospital for officers recovering from shell-shock with their redoubtable housekeeper Mrs. Jackson contributing to the war effort as the hospital’s quartermaster.

Despite the hospital’s success, the farming community of Haversham, led by the Montfort’s neighbor Sir Winchell Meacham, does not approve of a country-house hospital for men they consider to be cowards. When Captain Sir Evelyn Bray, one of the patients, is found lying face down in the vegetable garden with his head bashed in, both Lady Montfort and Mrs. Jackson have every reason to fear that the War Office will close their hospital. Once again the two women unite their diverse talents to discover who would have reason to murder a war hero suffering from amnesia.

Brimming with intrigue, Tessa Arlen's Death of an Unsung Hero brings more secrets and more charming descriptions of the English countryside to the wonderful Lady Montfort and Mrs. Jackson series.
[Goodreads Summary]

Thank you for voting!


Finished reading recently


Falling by T.J. Newman (Avid Reader Press/Simon Shuster, 2022; 320 pages)
When the shoe dropped into her lap the foot was still in it. [opening of Falling]
A pilot is put in an impossible situation when his family is held hostage. He is given a choice. Crash the commercial airliner he is flying or his wife and two children will die. The book takes place over the course of a six hour flight from Los Angeles to New York. This fast paced thriller kept me turning pages as fast as I could; it was intense right from the start. Talk about a harrowing read! The perspective changes back and forth over the course of the novel, from what is going on on the ground to events occurring in the sky, with occasional flashbacks into the characters' lives. I loved the way the flight crew pulled together in the most direst of circumstances. Falling was an entertaining and suspenseful read. I can see this one translating well to the big screen. 


The London Séance Society by Sarah Penner (Park Row, 2023; 350 pgs)
At an abandoned château on the wooded outskirts of Paris, a dark séance was about to take place. [opening of The London Séance Society]
Lenna Wickes takes an apprentice position with the world renowned spiritualist Vaudeline D'Allaire in Paris, intending to learn what it will take to talk to her dead sister and find out who killed her and why. Vaudeline herself has made a career out of conjuring spirits of murder victims to discover who killed them, and Lenna's own sister had once been a devote student of the spiritualist's.

When Vaudeline is asked to come to London, a place she fled after her life was threatened, to help solve the murder of a friend and fellow spiritualist, she reluctantly does so, with Lenna serving as her understudy. Lenna's own sister had died in London and perhaps this will be her chance to get some answers. The two women join forces with Mr. Morley, a high ranking member of the exclusive all men's club, the London Séance Society, in an effort to find the truth, only to find themselves getting more tangled in a web of lies and deceit, not to mention murder. Lenna's story is interspersed with the narrative of Mr. Morley's, which makes it an even more compelling read.

Although the novel got off to a slow start, heavy in set up, once Lenna and Vaudeline arrived in London, the book really took off for me, and I was hooked. Given Lenna's background and skepticism in the occult, her training under a famous spiritualist may seem out of character. Her guilt over her ongoing argument with her sister about the validity of the occult, however, weighs heavily on her, not to mention her desperation to find out what happened to her sister and why. The two women made an interesting team, to say the least, and I appreciated seeing their relationship evolve over the course of the novel. 

While I suspected early on the direction the novel would go, it was such fun to see the many paths the author took the mystery elements. The plot is extremely well crafted, wrapped in the perfect setting--Victorian Paris and London, at the height of of the spiritualist movement. The Gothic atmosphere, complex characters . . . I liked it all. 

Thank you to everyone who voted for The London Séance Society in my June TBR poll! 

Challenge Met: Historical Fiction Reading Challenge / COYER

What are you reading right now? What do you plan to read next? 


I have slowly been working my way through the short stories in Reader, I Married Him. Some stand out favorites were Francine Prose's "The Mirror", where Mr. Rochester attempts to convince Jane that Bertha was a parrot, and "A Migrating Bird" by Elif Shafak, about a young Muslim student who falls for a outsider, a visiting student. It's a story about love, hope, and loss. I also really liked "Behind the Mountain" by Evie Wyld about a housewife who has recently moved to a new town, going through the motions of living while longing for something different. And then she meets Annie. 

The ending of Joanna Briscoe's "To Hold" made that particular short story for me. I wasn't too taken with "Dangerous Dog" by Kirsty Gunn, unfortunately. I also read "It's A Man's Life, Ladies" by Jane Gardam and "Reader, I Married Him" by Susan Hill, neither of which made much of an impression on me. 

Emma Donoghue's "Since First I Saw Your Face" is based loosely on the real life Mary "Minnie" Sidgwick Benson. Set in 1872-3, about an affair between two women while convalescing at a boarding house, one of whom (Minnie) was married and had given birth to child after child and the other who had fell hopelessly in love with the other.   

I also read a couple of stories in Kim Harrison's Into the Woods anthology, both in the Beyond the Hollows section. This section of the book is made up of stories outside of Rachel Morgan's world. She sets up each of her stories in the collection by sharing a little backstory about them, which I appreciate quite a bit. It was no different with the two stories I read recently. "Pet Shop Boys" is a vampire-fae horror story about an unwitting pet store clerk who gets more than he bargained for when he goes on a date with mysterious woman. It is one of those stories that creeps up on you and then bang! I much preferred "Temson Estates", however, which is about a man who inherits a plot of woodland from his grandfather. A wrench is thrown into his plans to sell the land for logging when his great aunt introduces him to a well-kept secret about the woods and it's inhabitants. I liked the mythology of this one, but felt the story was way too short. 

Have you read any good short stories recently? Please share!


After our optometry appointments earlier this week, Mouse and I stopped at Barnes and Nobles and brought home these three books:


Spellbinders: The Not-So-Chosen Ones by Andrew Auseon
Yellowface by R. F. Kuang
Pegasus: The Flame of Olympus (Pegasus #1) by Kate O'Hearn

What new books made it onto your shelf recently? 


I am in the process of downsizing my physical book collection (again), this time trying to be more ruthless. Since my husband's books are mixed in as well, he has some say. Although most are mine. My mom took a few bags full of books to give away, and hopefully I can get the rest to the  local library in good time. I still have a few more shelves to go through, mostly in other parts of the house, but I feel like I have made good progress so far! I even have empty shelves! As tempting as it will be to fill them with more books, I want to get some pet-friendly plants (that hopefully the cats won't actually get into) to maybe place in strategic locations on the shelves. (I apologize in advance for the angle these photos are taken from--there was some standing on couches required.)


Two empty shelves! I will likely rearrange the books a bit so the empty spaces are higher or more central--away from the cats as best I can manage.


I still have a couple of shelves on this side of the library to go through as you can see (both full of my daughter's books--we won't mention the giant basket of her books off camera in the corner), but I cleared one whole shelf (currently with owls keeping watch) and have space on a couple of others. 


This is my cats' favorite shelf to sit on to look out the window, especially when it's open. 


I also went through the bookcase by my bedside, which is where I keep most of my unread graphic novels and poetry books. A few of Mouse's books have found a home there as well for the time being, as I make my way through them. 

Many of the books I am letting go are books I have read (and do not feel the need to keep) or got so long ago I have lost interest in. I kept them in anticipation that my interest would swing back in their direction, but, truth be told, I have so many other books that I am eager to read--and the ones I'm less interested in just keep getting pushed farther back on my priority to read list. And of course there are favorites I cannot bring myself to part with. My next project will be to tackle the shelves in the spare bedroom . . . We're also hoping to get my daughter a new bookshelf for her room as her current one is overflowing and then some. 

Do you catalog your books? I have been using Goodreads for a number of years now to record the books I read,* but I use LibraryThing as a catalog for as all the books I own. I haven't been the best at keeping it updated, other than adding physical books that come in, and so one of my goals over the next few months (years?) is to slowly get that updated: add tags, remove books I no longer own or move them to the donated collection, and add e-books that haven't already been added (I'm sure there are a lot--I always forget to record my e-books). This will be an ongoing project for a long while, I imagine. 

*I have been using the free version of Storygraph  to record the books I read for about a year and a half as well to  see if I like it better than Goodreads,, but I am not sold on it. It has the neatest graphs and tables though. Here's my favorite one depicting the moods of the books I have read so far this year: 



I recently watched the first season of Invasion, a mix of a psychological drama and alien invasion series featuring an ensemble cast. It got off to a slow start for me, but it grew on me, and I would like to see the second season when it comes out.

Although I haven't read Wool by Hugh Howey, I watched the first season of Silo, which I really enjoyed. This science fiction dystopian series has me intrigued, and I have so many questions! Enough to read the books? I am still undecided. Have you read them? If so, what did you think?

My husband talked me into starting Severance, a science fiction psychological thriller, about a group of people who underwent a procedure separating their lives in such a way that their work self and personal life self  have no memory of each other and what the other does. We are almost half way through the first season and I am still not sure what I think of it, but my husband is enjoying it.

I am glad The Wonder Years is back for a second season. It is one of our favorite family shows. Remakes of shows do not always work out, but this one has its own charm and has won us over. 

What have you watched recently?


I hope you have a great week! 
Let me know what you have been up to!

© 2023, 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.

67 comments:

  1. I hope you're feeling better - allergic conjunctivitis doesn't sound like fun at all!

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    1. Maree - Fortunately, yes. I am feeling much better. Thank you for visiting!

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  2. I am glad that you feel better now! My eyes are itching bad since months now and it's also allergy. I have eyedrops that relieve the itching but it's so annoying!

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    1. Sophie - My eyes usually don't get so bad when my allergies act up, but this time it was really bad. My eyes felt so gritty and hurt quite a bit. Thank you for stopping by!

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  3. Oh, the possibilities of two empty shelves! Hope you are feeling better soon too!

    I voted for A Botanist's Guide to Flowers and Fatality because I love the cover.

    Have a great week!

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    1. Marg - I am feeling better, thank you. Thank you too for voting and visiting today! I hope you have a great week as well.

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  4. Oof my SIL just had that! Her eye looked....not good. Glad to hear that you are doing better!

    I can't wait to read A Botanist's Guide to Flowers and Fatality!

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    1. Erin - I didn't even know there was such a thing as allergic conjunctivitis until I saw the doctor. I had heard of viral and bacterial conjunctivitis, but didn't know there was an allergy related one too. It makes sense though. I'm just glad it's cleared up! Thank you for voting and stopping by!

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  5. The book of short stories edited by Tracy Chevalier sounds very good.
    I hope your eye problems are over and done with!
    best, mae at maefood.blogspot.com

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    1. Mae - I have been enjoying the stories in Reader, I Married Him. I still have quite a few more to go and am looking forward to reading them. My eyes are feeling much better, fortunately. I still managed to work through it, but I had to frequently take breaks to rest my eyes because it was painful. Thank you for visiting!

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  6. I am so glad your conjunctivitis has cleared up, that sounds pretty awful. Clearing out books is time consuming, refreshing, and overwhelming all at once to kudos to you for doing it!

    I really liked Falling and her second novel, Drowning, is equally as good and harrowing.

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    1. Helen - Clearing out books is all those things, I agree! I go through my shelves about twice a year already, but I tried to be more ruthless this time. I know I could have been more so. Baby steps. LOL

      I am looking forward to reading Drowning. I may have to put some distance between that one and Falling though since they are both about planes in perilous situations.

      Thank you for stopping by!

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  7. Two empty shelves? That's some good weeding you've been doing. I need to go through my bookshelves again sometime soon. And I'm glad you got your conjunctivitis cleared up. Eye problems are the worst. And The London Seance Society is another book on my TBR list, so it was good to read your review and see that you enjoyed it. Hope you have a good week! :D

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    1. Lark - Usually, I'm lucky to fit the overflow books in when I do my book weeding. I am really proud of myself for managing to end up with empty shelf space. It's the little things. LOL

      I hope you do get a chance to read The London Séance Society and enjoy it. Have a good week too and thank you for visiting!

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  8. I voted for death of an unsung hero. I love your bookshelves they're big, I just rearranged two of them that I have in my bedroom I like them a lot better now that they're not cluttered. I'm so glad that you're feeling better.

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    1. Mary - I prefer my shelves uncluttered too. I really need to figure out what to do with my daughter's books. She picked up my book collecting habit. which I am not sure is a good thing. LOL Thank you for your kind thoughts and for voting! Have a great week.

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  9. Glad to hear your feeling better. Going through your shelves must be such a daunting task, good for you tacking it.

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    1. SJ - Thank you. My eyes are feeling much better. I try to go through my shelves twice a year and weed out books I no longer want to keep, but I am trying to be more discerning about the books I keep this time. One good thing that has come out of this (besides more bookshelf space) is rediscovering books I really want to read that I haven't gotten to yet on my own shelves. Thank you for stopping by!

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  10. I am so glad you are feeling better. That's amazing you have been decluttering / organizing your books shelves. Mine are pretty stable because I only seem to buy digital books / audiobooks these days. I do still have cookbooks / knitting and quilting books and gardening books. I have my books that are signed by authors. My books are stored by genre mostly. My daughter loved a theater camp she did one year.

    Anne - Books of My Heart This is my Sunday Post


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    1. Anne - Thank you. Most of the books I bring in nowadays are e-books too (NetGalley is my bane). I probably should go through my e-reader apps and weed those out too. At least with my physical books, I can see them in front of me--so they are easier to keep track of.

      Mouse enjoyed the theater camp quite a bit. She's decided against doing a fall show for now. With the transition of moving up to middle school, I can't blame her. Girl Scouts keeps her fairly busy too.

      Thank you for visiting!

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  11. Forgot to say that so far I am only using Goodreads as I have it well organized for my needs.

    Anne - Books of My Heart

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    1. Anne - I discovered and joined LibraryThing long before I discovered Goodreads, so I had already entered all my books there. I tried to import them from one site to the other but it was a mess. As a result, I decided to just stick with my catalog on LibraryThing. And decided to use Goodreads just to track books I have read. I like LibraryThing better for their cataloging qualities anyway, so it has worked out for me. I used to keep all my books on a spreadsheet, but when my computer was stolen years ago in a break in to our old house (and I hadn't back anything up--boy, did I learn a lesson then!), I lost the original document. LibraryThing was my alternative to avoid that happening again.

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  12. It's so fun to see the mood graph for the books you have read this year. It's interesting that the most common mood of the books you are reading is hopeful.

    You have really been working on your bookshelves. Whew. That's a project.

    A Botanist's Guide to Flowers and Fatality sounds interesting to me. I hope that one is chosen for you.

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    1. Deb - I found that interesting about the mood graph too. :-) Thank you for stopping by and voting!

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  13. I'm glad the conjunctivitis has cleared and you are back to normal. Hope it was better in time to fully enjoy Mouse's last show... love Beauty and the Beast. Your books all look good. I recently added Yellowface to my tbr list and am pretty close to the top of the library hold list now. Have a good week!

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    1. JoAnn - Yes, fortunately, the drops had started to work by the time of Mouse's performance. :-) I hope we both will enjoy Yellowface when we read it! I hope you have a good week too. Thank you for visiting!

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  14. Love the bookshelf pics! Hope you have a great holiday. Botanist's Guide looks good.

    I've been wondering about Invasion. I thought the trailer looked great but then people said it was slow. Should I try? I LOVED Silo. Just watched the finale. and severance is a TRIP.

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    1. Greg - I wish the shelves were in a better position for photographing. Too much furniture in the way. :-) Invasion was definitely a slow starter. I did like it, but I didn't love it. I did love Silo, however. Trip is a good word to describe Severance. :-) Thank you for stopping by!

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  15. I'm so sorry to hear you weren't feeling well, but I'm glad you are better. I picked Murder in Postscript although I haven't read it. It's one I've been wanting to read and it's the first in a series. I hope you have a great week!

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    1. Yvonne - Thank you for the kind thoughts. I hope we both enjoy Murder in Postscript when we read it! I hope you have a great week too. Thank you for visiting!

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  16. I love TJ Newman’s books! If you loved Falling you will enjoy her latest Drowning which is my fave book so far in 2023! I’m sorry you have to work the holiday but I hope you have a wonderful week ahead.

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    1. Jodie - Falling was a great read and I am looking forward to Drowning. Thank you for stopping by!

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  17. I'm sorry to hear about your conjunctivitis. But I'm glad to hear that you're feeling better now! By the way, I use The Storygraph to keep track of my readings. I need to update my list with the latest ones I've acquired.

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    1. Sara - I am glad Storygraph works well for you! I do like their charts and graphs. Thank you for your kind thoughts and for visiting!

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  18. I'm sorry to hear that you had allergic conjunctivitis! Have you looked into hypoallergenic eyedrops for after your prescription ones have ended? My mum has found that to be better than the OTC ones as they are more soothing/less likely to irritate.

    Glad Mouse had a good time at music theatre camp!

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    1. Eustacia - Thank you. I actually use the hypallergenic eyedrops when needed as I don't like all the extra chemicals that come in other OTC eyedrops. My eyes have never gotten that bad before and I was worried I had contracted a bacterial or viral conjunctivitis. I am glad that wasn't the case! Thank you for stopping by!

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  19. I use Goodreads and Storygraph. I have LibraryThing downloaded, but I haven't used it yet. Looks like you've been a nice assortment of books! Have a great week. :-)

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    1. Meezan - The book sites are all so different in their own ways and have features I like. I'm most used to LibraryThing and Goodreads though, which gives them the edge. I hope you have a great week too! Thank you for visiting!

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  20. Sorry to hear about the conjunctivitis; it sounds miserable. I'm glad you finally got some drops that are working. Mouse's musical theater camp sounds amazing!

    All three of your historical mysteries look good, and all three series are on my radar, but I haven't started any yet. I'm currently working my way through Andrea Penrose's Wrexford & Sloane series (highly recommend) and Anna Lee Huber's Lady Darby series (also highly recommend.)

    I need to prune my books, too, and rearrange them a bit. And catalog them, because I'm way behind on that, too. I use Book Collectorz software to catalog my books. That's a project for later this year, I think.

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    1. Lark - Thank you. It was definitely not pleasant! I am so glad my eyes are better now.

      I am looking forward to reading both the Wrexford/Sloane series and the Lady Darby series at some point. I've reader the first book in Huber's Verity series and loved it.

      The need to book prune never seems to end sometimes. Then the cataloging is a completely different project all together, isn't it? It's a lot of work, but it's kind of stress relieving, I find.

      Thank you for stopping by!

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  21. Cozy mysteries are all the rage these days! I normally track my reading through a spreadsheet and goodreads. But as far as my personal library of books I own, I do the Book Buddy app. But before I discovered that App I would use LibraryThing as well. Technically though I cross post my reviews to four different sites lol Hope you have a great week!

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    1. Bonnie - Cozy mysteries have a strong fan base, that's for sure. :-) I use a spreadsheet to track my reading as well--in addition to Goodreads. I can't help myself. I like my book lists. LOL I hope you have a great week too. Thank you for visiting!

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  22. You made some great progress on the book purge! I really need to ruthlessly pick through and get rid of a bin of books I've been holding onto for years thinking "one day" but that one day never arrives. I usually put the discards in the Little Free Library.

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    1. Laurie - Thank you! I know I can do better, but it's progress. Those "one day" books that I'm sure I will get to are the hardest to part with. I tell myself there is always the library if I decide later on to read the book after all. Little Free Libraries are such a great resource! If I was parting with a small few, I might consider that, but boxes and boxes of books is too many. Now that I think about it, I don't think I've ever seen adult books in the closest Little Free Library. They are all children's books. Thank you for stopping by!

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  23. Vicki - I am glad to hear you enjoyed Falling too! I do want to read Drowning, but think I'll wait a bit. Two intense plane thrillers too close together might be a bit much for me. Thank you for visiting!

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  24. Your bookshelves are gorgeous! I'm glad you're feeling better and temps are going up. I'm so ready for summer! :) Have a great week :)

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    1. Marie - It's been such a mild summer here so far as compared to summer pasts. I am enjoying it. I hope you have a great weekend. Thank you for stopping by!

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  25. The eye issues sounds miserable. I hope that's all cleared up now. I've never used an app for tracking the books I own. I depend on my own spreadsheet which works for me. I track my reading on Goodreads as well as with the spreadsheet that Renee (Lover of Romance) shared on her blog. I love how detailed it is - right up my alley. :)

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    1. Tanya - My eyes are much better, thank you. :-) I used to keep my own spreadsheet, pre-Google Drive, of all the books I own, but I lost it when my computer was stolen. Learned my lesson about not backing up my documents! LibraryThing came around at the right time and made it easy for me to scan my books in without having to re-enter everything by hand. I have my own spreadsheet for books I am reading through the year that I use in addition to Goodreads. I started using the Book Riot's spreadsheet last year along with my own which I'd been using for years. I liked Book Riot's enough that I'm using it again this year. Thank you for visiting!

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  26. I had conjunctivitis a couple of months ago, and it was very challenging! Glad you're feeling better.

    Your bookshelf downsizing is familiar to me, having gone through it a couple of times. I also loaded up my car with books for the library. Now I have a much smaller amount of shelves, and that's working for me.

    Enjoy your holiday!

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    1. Laurel-Rain - Thank you! I am sorry you had to suffer through conjunctivitis too.

      I try to go through my shelves a couple times of year, weeding out books. I wish my library would take more than one box at a time so I could get rid of the books all at once--too tempting to change my mind about giving some of the books away. LOL

      Thank you for stopping by!

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  27. I started StoryGraph earlier this year and like it for the most part, but still can't quite let go of Goodreads. I've thought about LibraryThing, but don't have the time to mess with it. I need to do another downsizing of my bookshelf. I have so much trouble getting rid of books that I haven't read yet though! And the books I have read, I like seeing them on my shelves even if I probably won't read them again. So that is a struggle for me. Even as I am able to weed books left and right at work, lol. Glad you are feeling better, that conjunctivitis does NOT sound fun!

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    1. Lisa - If we signed up for all the book related apps out there, we wouldn't get any reading done, would we? LibraryThing was my first and meets most of my needs. Goodreads meets others. Storygraph has the neat charts and graphs, but it doesn't have the same feel that I have come to like about Goodreads. I also don't want to pay for the upgraded services Storygraph offers. So, like you, I'm not willing to give up Goodreads at this time.

      I have a hard time letting go of books too. I love being surrounded by books. I do try to weed out my shelves a couple of times a year just to keep my shelves manageable, but this is the first time in a long while I've been able to create enough space to have empty shelves. Usually there's enough overflow to fill them--and still have overflow.

      Thank you for visiting!

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  28. We built the Exterior Library (a shed) to house most of our books. LOL It really needs organized and tidied though. And I have to get them in a database. Ugh I didn't realize StoryGraph did graphs. I need to check mine out.

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    1. What a great idea! We really need to get a shed, but for other things, not books. We won't talk about the children's books I have that my daughter and I refuse to part with yet but she's grown out of. I really need to buy a tub to put them in. Right now they are stacked in an orderly fashion on the hallway floor.

      Thank you for stopping by!

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  29. I am so sorry to hear that you weren't feeling well. Glad you are feeling better now. I really need to go through my books but it's hard. I would love to get all of my books organized but I usually quit before I make much of a dent.

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    1. Carole - Thank you. I'm with you; going through my books and deciding what to keep and what to let go is hard. And organizing them is an entirely different animal. It's so time consuming. Especially since I have so many books. Thank you for visiting!

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  30. I'm glad to hear you're feeling better now, Wendy.
    Speaking of bookshelves, I've been clearing mine for the past few weeks (and still not done yet. Been procrastinating, hehe) My husband said it'd be an ongoing cycle, since new books will be taking up those empty slots, lol. This is many booklovers' "problems", isn't it? ;) Hope you've a great week!

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    1. Melody - Thank you! Yes! It's an ongoing cycle. I usually have overflow books and this is the first time I was able to add those in and still have empty shelves because I weeded out enough of the older books. I feel so accomplished! LOL Thank you for stopping by!

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  31. I'm glad to hear you are doing better, Wendy. Eye issues are the worst. I haven't read any of the cozies you have on here, but the first one appealed to me the most. I can't wait to get to Falling and The London Seance Society. Both are on my kindle. How great the Mouse got the chance to attend theatre camp. I hope you had a wonderful week, even if you have to work.

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    1. Carla - It made reading and being the computer hard. :-( I hope you get a chance to read Falling and The London Séance Society. Both were enjoyable reads! Thank you for visiting!

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  32. My bookshelves are overflowing and in most every room in the house. I am trying to downsize too and I think I will be donating many of them to a women's shelter.
    sherry @ fundinmental

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    1. Sherry - A women's shelter is a great place to donate books. That is a constant problem for me--overflowing shelves. This is the first time in a long while I was able fit in the overflow books and still have empty shelves thanks to my weeding efforts. We'll see how long it lasts. LOL Thank you for stopping by!

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  33. Wow good update. I'm glad your allergy is gone now. Your reading seems to be going well. I'll be curious to see what you think of Yellowface. I have that on my summer list too. And I will likely be visiting Newport Beach near the end of August to see my parents ... and I'll take my pilgrimage jump into the the Pacific. I hope the algae plume is not there! Enjoy your days.

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    1. Susan - Me too! I have heard mostly good things about Yellowface and look forward to reading it. I hope you have a good time in Newport Beach when you visit next month. We haven't been there in ages. Thank you for visiting!

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  34. So glad your conjunctivitis is gone! Anything with the eyes always makes me absolutely exhausted. I'm also glad to see you enjoyed The London Seance Society. I don't mind a book being a bit predictable if it's enjoyable. I'm on the waitlist for the audio from my library. Love that Mouse was Mrs. Potts! She is probably my favorite character in Beauty and the Beast. I hope you're having a great week and enjoy your reading!

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    1. Katherine - All I really wanted to do was keep my eyes closed and sleep. I did work through it because we were short on coverage, but it made it difficult. I hope you enjoy The London Séance Society when you get a chance to read it. I Mouse had fun being Mrs. Potts. :-) Thank you for stopping by!

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