It’s Monday – What are you reading? is a place to meet up and share what you have been, are and about to be reading over the week. It’s a great post to organise yourself. It’s an opportunity to visit and comment, and er… add to that ever growing TBR pile! So welcome in everyone. This meme started with J Kaye’s Blog and then was taken up by Sheila from Book Journey. Sheila then passed it on to Kathryn at the Book Date.
It’s been a while since I did a “It’s Monday, What Are You Reading?” Post – I blame it in part to a reading funk, being uber busy at work (and that doesn’t appear as if that is going to change any time soon). But since i’m sitting at home today on a long weekend and catching up on some TV viewing (normally I would be watching the Olympics, but i’m not a huge fan of Ice Hockey) – I felt like it was a good time to do a post. The weather in DC has been fluctuating been freezing cold (with accompanying snow or rain) and low to mid-70’s (its very confused for sure). My poor heater is currently flipping between on and off, wayyy to frequently and my heating bill isn’t appreciating it!
I’ve actually been on a pretty decent blogging roll recently as I have been busy posting my various Audies blogposts. For those of you who aren’t audiobook fans, the Audies are like the Oscars of Audiobooks – where the best of the best narrators are judged against each other to determine the winner. This is the 4th year that I have been participating in the Armchair Audies and this year, I’m psyched to say, that I am going to be co-hosting with Miss Susie from Miss Susies Reading & Observations. If you like listening to audiobooks and want to join in – check out the blog at Armchair Audies. I’ve signed myself up for 3 categories – Romance, Paranormal and Thriller/Suspense – so will be neck deep in those over the next few months (the award ceremony is scheduled for the end of May). Being that I have 16 books to listen to over the next three months (several of which are in the 20+hr range) – I’m currently neck deep in two different nominees – both in the Paranormal category. Silver Silence is a re-listen after I read it in print when it was released last year and Finding My Pack (Lane Whitt) is a new to me author and narrators. Both books run in the 10+hr range, so they should take up most of my listening for the next week and a bit.
My current/upcoming reading choices are as eclectic as always – sometimes I think my ability to jump between different genres is what keeps me partly sane. As example, the top 3 books on my pile right now are a WW2 alternate history, a women’s lit and a criminal suspense/thriller. I’m also looking forward to Rosalind James’ new book that was just released (Just Say (Hell) No, as well as Laura Kaye’s newest Blasphemy book (On His Knees. I’m sure a few other books will move their way up the pile over the next week, but these are the ones I am most looking forward to. I should also finish up I’ll Meet You There by Heather Demetrios as well as read my ARC of Hello Stranger, the newest by Lisa Kleypas.
What about you – what are you reading or looking forward to reading this week?
So i’m currently alternating laying in bed with my feet up and on the couch catching up with some TV viewing (yeah, I’m like uber far behind and just now finishing up Season 2 of Outlander) – recovering from running (and some walking) of the Marine Corps Marathon yesterday. Overall, I was happy with how I did – it was a 35min-ish improvement over last year – but I still missed my goal time of 5:30 by 30minutes (but since I walked the Blue Mile and had a couple of epic potty breaks), I’m happy with h untilow I did. But i’ll be back next year – 2 years down and 3 to go until I hit the MCM runner’s club (meaning I won’t have to go through the lottery to register each year). If you have ever even thought about running a marathon, I HIGHLY recommend the Marine Corps Marathon in DC – you start at the Pentagon, hit many of the tourist attractions (you run by the Capitol, the Lincoln Memorial, and through different parts of the city) – it might not be the easiest course (hello, uphills and mile 3 kind of suck) – but there is a reason why its called the People’s Marathon.
So I discovered Irish author 
Along with 
Happy Second Monday of 2017! I spent the last week participating in Bout of Books 18 (hosted by Amanda Shofner and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal) and while I didn’t hit my reading reading goals (just a tad over 400pgs and I was hoping to hit at least 750pgs), I had a huge number of hours listened to during the course of the week (over 25 to be exact). I also listened to my first re-read in a long while (typically i’m not a re-reader, but a reading challenge required a book that I had read previously). And while I only finished reading 1 books – it was a book that I bought off Amazon in 2009 (and which I dug out of my archives) – so i’m slowly working on my reducing Mt TBR goal.
This week marks the start of a new job (which I’m excited about), but also the fact that I’m going to be back having a longer commute each day – which means, drum roll please…more audiobook listening time (yeah, I’m not excited at all…haha!) My goal for this week is to tackle a few of the books that I have in progress, since that number is starting to creep up (I normally have multiple books in progress, but its starting to get a bit wacky with my number right now). Another goal is to also make progress on at least one of the many challenges that I have in progress (likely the Scattergories challenge in the Goodreads group – 
Now onto what am I reading…in true fashion, I spent most of yesterday in bed reading and finished up my first book of the year – 
On the audiobook side of the house – i’m still slowly chugging away at Les Miserables (you can anticipate seeing this update for the next couple of months). For context, Valjean and Cosette are currently on the run from Javert and have just found themselves in the Convent in Paris. I am also listening to 
On a audiobook front, I’m alternating between three different books to include my third attempt at Les Miserables – I swear one of these days I am going to finish this book! I’m alternating my listening of Les Miserables, with The Poisoner’s Handbook – which is all about the development of forensic chemistry in the 1920’s and different ways that poison’s that killed people (either through murder or incidental causes) were identified and how it influenced the overall body of medical examinations and death investigations. And while at work, I’m listening to the next book in JD Robb’s In Death series – 
On my kindle – i’m working my way through my normal wide variety of books – I’m on a pretty solid contemporary romance kick right now. I’ve had both 
I’d probably term this last week, getting back to old favorites when it came to my reading (also known as comfort reads). I got caught up on Nalini Singh’s Rock Kiss series, reading books 1.5 and 3 in the series; I also returned to visit Mustang Ridge with Jesse Hayworth’s, Harvest at Mustang Ridge and finally, I went back to where it all began with the Quilter’s Apprentice in the Elm Creek series (it was one of those series where I didn’t start at the beginning…naughty reader than I am). For me, all of these were books were like visiting old friends and were perfect for curling up while the snow fell for over a day and a half. Unfortunately, then I had to dig myself out…
I also tried a few new authors who were hiding out on my virtual Mt TBR, or in the new release section at the library (does that count as hiding?). In the new to me authors, it seemed to be the week of businessmen (or is it businesspeople) with 2 CEO’s (one a real estate mogul and one the owner of a jeans company); a bakery owner and the disparate character, a nun(or specifically Mother Superior) in 1920’s Ireland. After reading these four, I know i’ll be checking out more by these authors in the future. I love it when I can add new authors to my massive Mt TBR (being serious here).
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