The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimberly @ Caffeinated Book Reviewer. It’s a post to recap the past week, showcase books and things we have received and share news about what is coming up on our blog for the week ahead. It's Monday, What Are You Reading is a fun weekly meme now hosted by Kathryn at Book Date, where we share what we've read and reviewed over the past week and what we plan to read next.
Happy New Year! I can't believe 2015 is nearly over. This year just flew by! My New Year's Eve plans involve getting together with my evening book group for lunch and watching A Walk in the Woods (we read the book this summer) and then reading my First Book of the Year in the evening.
I had a wonderful Christmas with my family and just got back this evening. It was nice to just relax and watch movies and spend time together. I did have some kitchen disasters. I burned my first batch of saltine toffee and the yule log my mom and I planned to take to my sister's for Christmas ended up being an epic fail (I rolled up the cake and when I unrolled it later to fill it, it had cracked clean in two). Thankfully my second batch of saltine toffee turned out well and I took that and some pumpkin spice Oreo truffles for our dessert offering. Mom and I also made some samosas with phyllo dough. I've never worked with phyllo but I was shocked that I didn't ruin it and they tasted fantastic. I definitely gained a few pounds between those and the truffles and all the chocolate my dad kept buying. (I know where I got my sweet tooth!)
I took some books home with me to read during my week off but I didn't get much reading done at all. I was kind of hoping to make it to 150 books by the end of the year but I really slowed down this month. I'm not sure if that was due to other distractions or just picking books that didn't hold my attention. This week I need to finalize my pick for First Book of the Year. I may just have to go with one of the books I'm currently reading. I'd planned to finish both before the new year but I don't know if that will happen!
#FitReaders Weekly Check In
#Fitreaders is hosted by Felicia at The Geeky Blogger and Jen at That's What I'm Talking About
I am still trying to get the hang of using my FitBit One (if you want to add me as a friend, I'm c_thurairatnam at hotmail dot com), which I started wearing on Wednesday evening after I got it charged. I really want to get the FitBit Charge HR (it seems more convenient and I like the heart rate feature) so maybe I'll save up for that next year and alternate devices. If I had eaten healthy, I'd be happy with my exercise amount but as I was indulging in cookies and candy and cheesecake, this is not a very good week!
Sunday--nothing
Monday--nothing
Tuesday--nothing
Wednesday--4,242 steps walked on the treadmill
Thursday--7,478 steps, walked on the treadmill
Friday--4,739 steps, walked a mile
Saturday--2,258 steps
Last week on my blog:
A Winter Wedding by Brenda Novak (review)
Mrs. Roosevelt's Confidante by Susan Elia MacNeal (review)
Books read:
Star Wars: The Force Awakens by Alan Dean Foster
Don't worry--no spoilers here!I've enjoyed some of the other novelizations of Star Wars movies but this one wasn't very well written. It did have some scenes not in the movie so I did gain something from reading it but the writing style didn't really expand much on the script. I'd recommend borrowing this from the library instead of purchasing and definitely see the movie first!
Currently reading:
The Great Christmas Knit-Off by Alexandra Brown
This book is really cute and a nice holiday read but it is a little slow. I guess that is in keeping with the cozy village setting!
A Step Toward Falling by Cammie McGovern
I really like this YA contemporary so far. It is thought provoking. The story is told from the perspective of Belinda, a young woman with disabilities who was accosted at a football game and Emily, another student at the school who saw what happened but didn't do enough to help (she thought someone else would come to Belinda's rescue).
What I might read next:
The Things We Keep by Sally Hepworth
I've heard this is really good but also sad (it deals with early onset dementia and the protagonist is in her late 30s like me). I'm not sure if I want this to be my first book of 2016 or if I want to go with something not as heavy.
Sword and Verse by Kathy MacMillan
The premise of this book reminds me of both Ink and Bone and An Ember in the Ashes and other similar fantasy novels. One blogger said it is a little like the Girl of Fire and Thorns trilogy which is a favorite of mine.
How to Be Brave by E. Katherine Kottaras
It seems to me you have some very good plans for New Year's Eve. Hope you enjoy. Have copied your email and hope to add you to my fitbit dashboard. So good to keep me on track, all the best with yours. Yes I found The Things We Keep sad, i needed a light book to read afterwards, but it still was really heartwarming as well.
ReplyDeleteooh the saltine toffee & samosas sound good. Bummer about the yule log but you can't win them all. One of the new salads I made was disgusting lol. Happy to see you on fitbit ... don't be too hard on yourself, you can build up your steps. No point burning out in a blaze of glory haha
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year and happy reading :)
PS The Things We Keep is sad, early onset Alzheimer's is devastating but it also has light and funny moments.
ReplyDeleteThose truffles sound delicious! And the toffee...yum!
ReplyDeleteGood for you. You moved forward even after some cooking difficulties!
ReplyDeletehttp://readerbuzz.blogspot.com/2015/12/christmas-cookies-my-secret-santa-box.html
I avoided kitchen disasters by not cooking at all this Christmas. I'm glad you overcame yours. I enjoyed Sword and Verse and hope you do too. Here is what I read last week. Happy reading!
ReplyDeleteSaltine toffee sounds DELISH!!
ReplyDeleteWill be looking to see what you think about The Things We Keep. I liked it, but liked her other book better.
Have a great last week of 2015....may you get a lot of reading done.
Elizabeth
Silver's Reviews
My It's Monday, What Are You Reading
So glad you had a nice Christmas! I did too and got to see lots of family. It's so nice to just be together and watch movies and hang out. :) Your New Years plans sound good, reading is always a win!
ReplyDeleteThat's good to know about the Star Wars novelization, I was really curious about that since as you know I had some issues with the movie. :) I was hoping for a little more background on the Republic and just the general state of things. I'll go in with my expectations not too high. I saw the movie again over the holiday (my uncle wanted to go)and I enjoyed it more I think, it helped that I knew what was coming and just enjoyed it without worrying about my issues. :)
The goodies sound good. Sorry they were a bit difficult to get made. I did not try anything new this year. I do want to try a couple of things for New Years. Hope you have a great celebration.
ReplyDeleteYou just made me hungry and you should see all the chocolate wrappers strewn around me! :-) It is that time of year, unfortunately. Enjoy your week, and whatever you choose for your first book of the year!
ReplyDeleteYea for the new FitBit. And you found me on Fitbit. I hope you enjoy using it. After the start of the year, we'll have to do a challenge. Hope you have a lovely NYE!
ReplyDelete