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2022 Reading Challenge:

* Read 24 books

That's it.

Statistics:

Books read: 63
Pages read: 20499
Rereads: 1
New authors: 14
Audio books: 0
Books abandoned: 1

August 2022 challenge:

Read only books that are already on my Kindle. I'm not allowed to put any new books on my Kindle.

* A Perfect Plan - Jeffery Deaver
* The Monster of Elendhaven - Jennifer Giesbrecht
* Ropes in the Attic - Edward J Flora
* Tales from the Folly - Ben Aaronovitch
* Snowflake - Ruth Ware
* Life with the Afterlife - Amy Bruni
* What Abigail Did That Summer - Ben Aaronovitch
* Nightingale House - Steve Frech
* Bloodless - Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child
* Influencer - Ambrose Ibsen
* The Watchers - A.M. Shine

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First!! :)

Good luck on your reading year!

Here's to a great year of reading with no duds.

I've finally set up my Sheets document for 2022 and updated my monthly overview.

To my defense, I did have my appendix removed on the 28th. And since it had already perforated my recovery has been slower than with a non burst appendix.

I did do some reading when I was in the hospital, but not much. My attention span has completely gone and I've been so tired. Only since yesterday do I feel like some energy is returning. I'm miffed because I had a good flow with exercising and now I need to start all over again (in a couple of weeks).

Bianca wrote: "To my defense, I did have my appendix removed on the 28th. And since it had already perforated my recovery has been..."

My goodness! I hope you have a relaxing and speedy recovery! Take care!

Get well soon Bianca.

Thanks.

I'm doing well, I just get tired easily and two of the three incisions are itchy AF (in a healing kind of way, not in and infected kind of way).

I'm planning to start working again next week. The Netherlands is still in a lockdown and non-essential shops are only allowed to offer click/call & collect. Which means it isn't too busy, which is a nice way to get started again.

Next month I'm going on my annual Reading Retreat, I'm really looking forward to that after a tough couple of months.

An Artless Demise by Anna Lee Huber

The first book of the year! It took me a bit longer than planned but I enjoyed the book.

First the appendicitis kept me from reading a lot, despite taking time off work to recover. During the first two weeks after surgery I found it hard to concentrate on anything for long.

Then when I finally was ready to get back to normal my SI joint started acting up. Which is literally a pain in the butt. Last week there were a couple of days the pain was so bad that I couldn't concentrate on anything. But the last couple of days it's been getting better.

Even though I'm enjoying my current book I'm fairly certain I won't finish it before the end of the month. Hopefully I can catch up when I'm going on my reading retreat in two weeks.

Wishing you recovery from all of the aches and pains soon.
Congratulations on completing the first read of the year.

Darker Than Night by Owl Goingback
Okay, not as good as Goingback's debut novel Crota. The build-up to the ending just didn't really work for me.

It's only my second book, which means that I'm one book behind (I can remember a time with I read an average of 10 books a month!). This weeks I'm on vacation, my annual Reading Retreat so I'm hoping to catch up. Although I also plan to do some cross stitching and gaming on my new gaming laptop.

Enjoy your vacation; the reading will come. Have fun, be safe!

I hope you have a good, relaxing Reading Retreat! And congrats on the new gaming laptop! I got a new one in November, a Lenovo Gaming 3, and I love it.

I also got a Lenovo, from the Legion 5 Pro series (white with turquoise keyboard and lid logo lighting). I promised myself I could buy a new game this week. But I can't decide which. Either a Nancy Drew game or a horror game (the point-and-click/puzzle kind).

Tonight I finished the cross stitch project I've been working on for over a year. It's a re-imagining of the I Want to Believe poster from The X-Files, but as an old fashioned travel poster. My first full cover project. Tomorrow I'll start gridding my fabric for the next project. A quote saying " Wash Your Damn Hands" surrounded by a flower ring/wreath. My sister would like it for her WC.

Bianca, are you willing to share a pic of the one you completed tonight. It sounds really cool.

I can't get get images to work.

This is a link to the picture in Dropbox to work. And GoodReads prohibits links to other websites. So this is the link you can copy and paste:

The colours of the UFO are greener, since the manufacturer of the embroidery floss changed the colour. The colour of the words "I Want to" were also a different green, too close to the background, so I changed it to a lighter green.

That's lovely!

As for GR, it seems only to like jpegs.

Murder in the Mansion by Faith Martin
I always enjoy these Hillary Greene books, this one is no exception.

I'm now back on schedule again, hopefully I can keep it that way. Continuing with another horror book.

Nice!

I have read most if not all of the Hillary Greene novels. They are all well written by Faith Martin (J. Walton). Hillary is believable as a woman and a cop. I'm currently reading JM Dagliesh, also an English author, writing murder mysteries/detective stories.

Rookwood Asylum by David Longhorn
Good horror story, nice and quick. There's a second book in the series, so I'll have to get that too.

Now onwards with Asimov's Foundation. My sister and I watched the series recently and loved it. So I decided to see if the books are good. I decided to go with publication order instead of chronological order. I might have read this first book, I read a lot of books in my teens I can't remember. But since I'm not sure I'm counting it as a first read and a new to me author.

Foundation by Isaac Asimov
Surprisingly I loved it. I'm usually not that into sci-fi (except Peter F. Hamilton), but this was a quick and easy read. I wanted to read it after watching the first season of the TV series, which I loved. And it's totally different. But I don't mind.

Up next is Sarah J. Maas' House of Earth and Blood. It's just over 800 pages, the last time I read a book that long was in April last year (it was just under 800 pages). I've been wanting to read it for a while now, but kept putting it off because of the length. But I read good reviews, so I'm going to give it a try.

I've almost finished House of Earth and Blood, by Sarah J. Maas. And I'm loving it! It's been a shitty couple of weeks (my father is in hospital and has to get a bypass surgery in the next couple of weeks), so I'm escaping reality through books again.

I only have 70 pages left and I had to do my best tonight to stop reading. I want to save it for tomorrow, when I'm on my own in the store again. The weather's going to be nice, so I'm hoping it won't be too busy and I'm able to finish the book between customers.

House of Earth and Blood by Sarah J. Maas
Great story, I wish I had read it sooner, but I was afraid of its length. The second book in the series has recently been released. So I'll get that soonish, probably.

Devil's Door by Lee Mountford.
Okay second book in the series. It's the prequel to the first book, so we already knew mostly what happened. I'm looking forward to the next in the series. I started this book shortly before Christmas, but only read a couple of pages. Shortly after I had my appendectomy and wasn't in the mood for this type of book. I'm glad I've finally finished it.

The Locked Room by Elly Griffiths
I loved this book. It's set at the start of the pandemic and it's weird to read about it and about how people thought of and acted during that time.

My father is still in hospital, but his bypass surgery is now scheduled for next Tuesday. Due to the good weather and no shipments coming in at the moment I have time to read between customers. It's a good distraction from everything going on.

I finally got myself a new credit card. Which means I can buy books again. I treated myself to the second book in the Crescent City series by Sarah J. Maas and the eight book, The Atonement, by Bill Thompson.

I had moved my Kindle account to my Dutch Amazon account, in the hopes I could buy books with a gift card (gift cards can be bought using iDeal, a Dutch payment system). But unfortunately ebooks can still only be bought with a credit card. Which is annoying, since iDeal is much more often used to pay online in the Netherlands and you can just use your debit card with it.

But now I'm getting back into reading, however long that will last, there was a need for new books, so I took some time to arrange that earlier this week.

I hope everything goes smoothly with your father's surgery and recovery. <3 And yes, reading is a fantastic distraction from life's stresses.

It's very strange that Dutch Amazon doesn't let you use a dominant payment method for your region.

With iDeal the one click payment wouldn't work. You have to use your bank's app or a little electronic device paired with your debit card to pay. But having the option would be nice. The fact that you can't use a gift card to pay for ebooks is more baffling, and annoying.

In the past, when I bought a lot of books, I would get myself a giftcard once a month on the US Amazon and that would be my book-budget for whatever time I had in mind. It helped me not to overspend.

But Amazon is known for it's sometimes strange choices (why no Paypall?).

Talking about Amazon's strange choices: on the Dutch Amazon you cannot add ebooks to your wishlist.

So I now keep my ebook wishlist on the .com website, while I buy my ebooks on the .nl website.

Diablo Mesa by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child
A good, solid story. I feel that their Agent Pendergast series is getting very ridiculous and they should either end it or pull it together again. Mostly because there is very little character development of the main character.

In March I read four books and 2000 pages. I haven't read this much in a year. And not only is it a great escapism I am also enjoying myself.

It will remain to be seen if I can continue this when my father gets home, since I'll have to take care of him, at least for a little while. The operation went well, though he has some minor, very common complication (water retention and a too fast heart rate).

But when he gets home I expect I'll have less time to myself for at least a couple of weeks when I'm juggling the store, the care for both my parents and all the household chores.

Congratulations on enjoying a good reading month. :)

Best wishes to you and your family; may your dad have a full and speedy recovery.

Don’t forget to take the time to eat, sleep, and care for yourself as well.

The Atonement by Bill Thompson
Very enjoyable, the last one with the current main character (who goes on in a new series), it'll be interesting to see where the series goes next.

Crowbones by Anne Bishop
I loved this one. I love the main character Vicky.

I'm five books ahead of schedule! I hadn't thought that would happen this year.

Dressed in Smoke by Ambrose Ibsen
Okay, the main character, Harlan Ulrich, is annoying like in the previous books. Especially at the start of the story. He usually mellows out over the course of the book.

Give Unto Others by Donna Leon
The latest in the Guido Brunetti series. Okay, nothing special compared to the rest of the series.

Bianca wrote: "Crowbones by Anne Bishop
I loved this one. I love the main character Vicky.

I'm five books ahead of schedule! I hadn't thought that would happen this year.

1. Congratulations on pulling ahead!! Hoping you continue to have GoodReads! :)
Also, continued best wishes to the family. I hope your dad is doing okay.

2. I read the first four books from The Others series and enjoyed them very much. I'm assuming I stopped due to something going on in real life, which is usually what stops me in my tracks.
I hope to return to the series sooner than later.

So much to read - so little time!

Nyssa wrote: "1. Congratulations on pulling ahead!! Hoping you continue to have GoodReads! :)
Also, continued best wishes to the family. I hope your dad is doing okay.

2. I read the first four books from The Others series and enjoyed them very much. I'm assuming I stopped due to something going on in real life, which is usually what stops me in my tracks.
I hope to return to the series sooner than later.

So much to read - so little time!"

Thank you.

My father is finally doing a lot better. He's still in hospital, but next week he will be moved to a medical rehabilitation facility where he can get the care he needs to build up strength again to come home. Now he's really bored, he only gets 10 minutes of physical therapy a day, which only consists of walking up and down the hallway a couple of times with a walker. At the facility he can get the physical therapy he really needs.

I really like The Other series and it's continuation in The World of Others. For me it's great escapism.

I'm glad to hear that he is improving and will be getting the care he needs. :)

The Haunting of Hardlocke House by Amy Cross
Okay. As usual an entertaining and quick read. Amy Cross is a very prolific writer and sometimes that is noticeable in her writing, little mistakes aren't caught. As happened with this book. But nothing too glaring.

I started James Rollins' The Starless Crown, thinking it would be similar to his Sigma Force series (action/thriller/adventure), but it looks like it will be a fantasy novel.

The Starless Crown by James Rollins.
The first book in the Moon Fall series. I thought it would be a similar series to Rollins' Sigma Force books. I was wrong. This is a fantasy novel. I did really enjoy it, although it wasn't a fast read for me. He takes his time introducing the characters, only towards the end do they come together. This gives the reader time to get to know them better as individuals, which I like. This book feels more like an introduction to the characters and a set-up of the story to come. The problem the heroes will have to solve is unfolded and, I assume, in the next book they will work towards the goal.

I'm now reading The Witch of Willow Hall, by Hester Fox. I thought I wouldn't be in the mood for it, but I was wrong. I'm enjoying the book, though it's also a slow burner.

The Witch of Willow Hall by Hester Fox
Okay, a bit slow for my taste and I found it predictable. I did like the characters.

Next weekend I'm going away for a couple of days with my sister, from Friday evening until Tuesday morning. The store's also closed the Wednesday and Thursday, since Thursday is a bank holiday and after three months of stress I deserved a couple of days extra off IMHO.

This means it's time to find books to read. I'm not sure how much reading time I get during the weekend, if the weather's good my sister and I plan to go on walks in the woods in the morning, watch movies and play games in the evening. But in the afternoon we plan to chill, so I'll have at least some reading time.

This week I'll be going through my reading wishlists and select a couple of books to purchase. It'll probably be horror, most likely set in the woods.

Safe travels and have a fantastic time!

Nyssa wrote: "Safe travels and have a fantastic time!"

Thanks, we're staying close to home. It's only a 30-40 minute drive away.

At the moment it looks like I might have more time to read than I thought a couple of days ago; the weather prediction has changed from sunny and dry to very wet. Both my sister and I are good weather hikers/walkers.

I just selected three books to read: one by Ambrose Ibsen (horror/ghosts, though not set in the woods), a fantasy novel by Ann Leckie and the first in The Wheel of Time series. I'll be glad to finish just one, but I selected two fantasy novels because those can be very hit or miss with me.

I'll be taking my laptop with me, so I have access to my entire library if the selected books don't work for me.

Purgatory by Lee Mountford
A good book, I liked it better than it's predecessors. There are another 3 books available in this series, so I'll continue with it.

My problem now is that I'm reading the next Hillary Greene book and I had hoped I wouldn't finish it until next Thursday or Friday. But I'm already 38% in. So I could probably finish it on Tuesday. So then I need a short book to tide me over until my vacation on Friday. Since I don't want to start my vacation reading too early.

Murder in the Garden by Faith Martin
Even after nine books Martin keeps the story interesting. The fact that the officers who work for Hilary Greene occasionally move on and new ones are added to the team helps. But each of these supportive characters are well rounded and have their own lives and problems.

Now a quicky Amy Cross book, I should be able to finish that tomorrow and after that I'll allow myself to start on the books I selected for my vacation.