MickyFine's 2025 Reads. Part 2

Ross Fountain with Edinburgh Castle in background. Photo credit: EthelRedthePetrolHead on Flickr.

I'm Micky, 38 years old, librarian, and generally bookish nerd. I usually have a good mix of reads going on every year with strong doses of romance, sff, historicals, and a dash of non-fiction. I'm largely kicking around without any goals this year beyond a list of 12 books off my own shelves that I want to (re)read. We'll see where my reading mood takes me!

I do my best to be chatty on my own thread (these days I pop in weekly-ish) and in addition to my reading, I'll also discuss highlights of my craft projects (check out my NeedleArts thread if you like more details), board games, what we're watching, and general life goings on, often featuring my husband, Mr. Fine, and our two cats, Ash and Smee. Posters and lurkers alike are welcome.

This year's toppers will all be photos of Scotland in celebration of the fact that Mr. Fine and I are planning to go in the fall of 2025. I'm so excited!

January
1. Starter Villain - John Scalzi
2. I'm Afraid You've Got Dragons - Peter S. Beagle
3. First Comes Scandal - Julia Quinn
4. Northanger Abbey - Jane Austen (re-read)
5. Chilling Effect - Valerie Valdes
6. Blithe Spirit - Noel Coward (re-read)
7. People We Meet on Vacation - Emily Henry
8. Highly Irregular: Why Tough, Through, and Dough Don't Rhyme and Other Oddities of the English Language - Arika Okrent
9. Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen (re-read)
10. The Great Dating Fake Off - Livy Hart
11. Just Like Heaven - Julia Quinn
Favourite(s):


February
12. You Sexy Thing - Cat Rambo
13. Nora Goes Off Script - Annabel Monaghan
14. One for the Books - Jenn McKinlay
15. All Things Bright and Beautiful - James Herriot
16. You, Again - Kate Goldbeck
17. The Well of Lost Plots - Jasper Fforde (re-read)
18. The Ornithologist's Field Guide to Love - India Holton
19. Hench - Natalie Zina Walschots
20. Emma - Jane Austen (re-read)
21. Yours From the Tower - Sally Nicholls
22. A Psalm for the Wild-Built - Becky Chambers
Favourite(s):


March
23. How Would You Like Your Mammoth?: 12,000 Years of Culinary History in 50 Bite-Size Essays - Uta Seeburg
24. Uprooted - Naomi Novik
25. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams (re-read)
26. Bringing Down the Duke - Evie Dunmore
27. Nevermoor: The Trials of Morrigan Crow - Jessica Townsend (re-read)
28. A Prayer for the Crown-Shy - Becky Chambers
29. The Restaurant at the End of the Universe - Douglas Adams (re-read)
30. The Other Side of Disappearing - Kate Clayborn
31. No Ordinary Duchess - Elizabeth Hoyt
32. Incense and Sensibility - Sonali Dev
33. 84, Charing Cross Road - Helene Hanff
Favourite(s):

April
34. The Author's Guide to Murder - Beatriz Williams, Lauren Willig, and Karen White
35. Mansfield Park - Jane Austen (re-read)
36. On Book Banning - Ira Wells
37. Prime Deceptions - Valerie Valdes
38. Summer Knight - Jim Butcher
39. When the Moon Hits Your Eye - John Scalzi
40. Chitty Chitty Bang Bang: The Magical Car - Ian Fleming
41. The Bodyguard - Katherine Center
42. Great Big Beautiful Life - Emily Henry
43. The Body in the Library - Agatha Christie (re-read)
44. Wundersmith: The Calling of Morrigan Crow - Jessica Townsend (re-read)
Favourite(s):


May
45. Everything Is Tuberculosis - John Green
46. Eight Perfect Murders - Peter Swanson
47. Into the Woods - Jenny Holiday
48. Forever Young - Hayley Mills
49. The Seven Measures of the World - Piero Martin
50. The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue - V.E. Schwab (re-read)
51. The Darcy Myth - Rachel Feder
52. Summer Reading - Jenn McKinlay
53. A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking - T. Kingfisher (re-read)
54. Othello - William Shakespeare (re-read)
55. Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent - Judi Dench with Brendan O'Hea
Favourite(s):


June
56. Earls Trip - Jenny Holiday
57. Vera Wong's Guide to Snooping (on a Dead Man) - Jesse Q. Sutanto
58. The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett (re-read)
59. Hollowpox: The Hunt for Morrigan Crow - Jessica Townsend (re-read)
60. Silverborn: The Mystery of Morrigan Crow - Jessica Townsend
61. Fault Tolerance - Valerie Valdes
62. Home - Julie Andrews
63. Soulless - Gail Carriger (re-read)
Favourite(s):

July
Favourite(s):

August
Favourite(s):

September
Favourite(s):

October
Favourite(s):

November
Favourite(s):

December
Favourite(s):

My rating system:

/ = Ran screaming in the other direction (aka did not finish)
* = Suffered through it for reasons I'm still not sure of
** = Had far more flaws than virtues
*** = A read I don't regret but could use some improvement
**** = A good, solid read that I might revisit
***** = Loved it beyond reason and will probably re-read in short order

Last year, I set a list of 12 books off my own shelf to (re)read and that went so well, I'm doing it again this year. I'll be aiming for one a month but we'll see how it goes.

From My Shelves
Soulless (re-read)
Caliban's War
Bringing Down the Duke
The Well of Lost Plots (re-read)
Just Like Heaven
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue (re-read)
Blackout (re-read)
All Clear (re-read)
Anne of Green Gables (re-read)
Making It So
Star Trek Picard: Last Best Hope
Summer Knight

This thread is officially open for business. Feel free to come in, get cozy, and if you feel like chiming in, tell me where you'd love to live that isn't where you currently live (assuming the financial and housing sides of things were magically all taken care of)?

With my upcoming trip, the social media algorithms are feeing me a lot of Scotland related content and I feel like I'd be quite happy living on a small Scottish island. I'd want to be in a village (farm life is nice to visit but not the level of work I want to sign up for) in a cozy cottage. Would the rain and wind eventually drive me batty? Likely. But it's nice to daydream about.

New-thread smoochings, Micky dear lady. I hope your finished with shoveling snow until after Yule.

Happy new thread!

Happy new thread Mickey!

The trip to Scotland sound wonderful!

Happy new thread, Micky.

I must join in the Edinburgh adoration. Yasmyne my oldest daughter/child studied in Edinburgh and I have spent a lot of happy time there. By the fall I should also be in the UK and it would be good to rustle up a few of the 75er Brits to come along and meet you and Mr. Fine.

>9 richardderus: After Yule is a bit late for here. I'd settle for until after All Hallow's Eve.

>10 figsfromthistle: Thanks, Figs!

>11 quondame: Nice to see you, Susan. I'm really looking forward to it.

>12 PaulCranswick: I'm glad to hear another recommendation for Edinburgh.

Happy new one, Micky!

>14 katiekrug: Thanks, Katie!

Happy new thread, Micky!

>16 atozgrl: Thanks, Irene!

Happy new thread, Micky!

Happy new thread, Micky!

Happy new thread! Agreed, a cozy cottage somewhere in the UK sounds great to me, too.

Happy new thread, Micky! Love the topper photo.

>8 MickyFine: I think I would also love a cozy Scottish cottage :) I also loved the vibe of Wellington, New Zealand when I visited in 2019.

Happy new thread, Mickie!

>18 bell7: Thanks, Mary.

>19 Ravenwoodwitch: Thanks, Raven.

>20 foggidawn: Right? It just seems so lovely.

>21 curioussquared: Thanks, Natalie! Ooh living the hobbit life would be great too.

>22 drneutron: Thanks, Jim!

Happy new thread, Micky. If I had my druthers I would live in the UK. I probably should have moved back there at some point but my wanderings took me to various places in North America instead.

>24 Familyhistorian: Thanks for stopping by, Meg. The UK does seem like a great place to be an expat, although then I remember how much it rains there and wonder if this prairie girl could handle way less sunshine.

The weekly life update.

Last Saturday we opted to stay home as Mr. Fine had a long week at work and was peopled out. We watched church online, went for a walk in the snow (our favourite walk had yet to be cleared by the County so it was just a packed single file path), had mac n cheese from scratch for dinner, and played Windward as our table game. In the evening I picked Picture This on Prime as our evening viewing. As rom coms go, it had some cute moments but it felt like it needed another editing pass at the scriptwriting stage to make it really cohesive.

On Sunday, I had my monthly hang out with my friend, A. Mr. Fine and I got up early to power through cleaning before she arrived. She and I had intended to start season two of Timeless but ended up just having breakfast and chatting, which was lovely. After she left, I thought about doing more baking but didn't feel like it in the end and just did bill stuff and then mucked about on my phone. I skipped lunch though and by the time I realized I should eat it was too close to dinner so I felt a little gross in the late afternoon.

Work this week was... work? I finally caught up on customer suggestions. I got feedback from my department's director on my report which requires adding in a whole new section and using the expertise of several other people in the organization, which is going to take at least a month based on their workloads (which we figured out at a meeting on Friday to discuss logistics). It was a meeting heavy week for me (if I have more than a three meetings in a week, it's unusual), although thankfully never more than two a day. One was with the head of collections at another large urban Canadian library to discuss our respective experiences with local author collections, but of course we ended up chatting other collections issues as well and it was a really interesting discussion.

Date night this week was my choice and we decided to try the other Boston Pizza location in our 'burb. While we didn't have a terrible experience, it wasn't great either and we definitely will be going to the location we tried first in future. Service at this location was slow and not great and the kitchen was not doing well that evening. My dessert of fresh-baked cookie topped with ice cream had the smallest scoop of ice cream I've ever seen. Picture a scoop that was made by a 1 tsp cookie dough ball scoop and that would give you an idea.

Oh and because this crowd will appreciate this bit of news, while doing plotting for our Scotland trip recently, I was delighted to learn that 2025 is the centenary of the National Library of Scotland. Library nerd that I am, I'd have been visiting anyway but I'm extra excited for it now (and for the likelihood of centenary swag, lol).

Crafting continues to be slow but steady progress. One of these days I've got to pick a small, fast project rather than the intricate large ones I constantly go for. But I doubt it will be any time soon *snort*.

Viewing rotation had no new changes this week. Mr. Fine's pick for a movie on Friday night was Jurassic Park III (you can probably guess what his movie night picks for the next three weeks will be by now, lol).

I finished 3 books this week with reviews to come shortly.

Book 32

Book 33

And that wraps up books completed in March, so a few month end wrap-up stats.

March
Books read : 11 (8 physical, 3 audio)
Re-reads: 3
Off My Shelf read: Bringing Down the Duke
Favourite new to me read(s): Uprooted

Somehow I've managed to complete 11 books every month so far this year. At some point this streak will probably break, but it's enjoyably symmetrical.

Sounds like a busy week! I enjoyed your last couple of book reviews. I liked Incense and Sensibility more than you did, but I wonder what I would think if I were to reread it... the weakest of the series for me was Recipe for Persuasion. And hooray for 84, Charing Cross Road love! I've reread it a few times and still find it as perfect as ever.

>30 bell7: The week definitely kept me occupied.

I skipped Recipe for Persuasion as the blurb had no appeal for me and I only liked her first novel in the series so-so. This one ended up on The List because of a list of recommended romances by Christina Lauren I found recently. I could see that if you read Incense and Sensibility close to its publication, its escapism might have suited your tastes more. In the current political climate, it's just so hard to suspend disbelief for that ending.

But yes, all the cheers for 84, Charing Cross Road. I'm contemplating adding it to my personal collection.

Book 34

>28 MickyFine: One of my all-time favorite books! Glad to see you enjoyed it.

>32 MickyFine: Adding that one to the BlackHole. Thanks for the review and recommendation, Micky.

BTW - I am currently reading a book that you recommended a while ago, The Bookshop on the Shore, and enjoying it, so thank you for that recommendation.

Happy new thread!

>28 MickyFine: Buy one! I'm famously reluctant to re-read as my eyeblink hoard is low, and getting lower. I make time for a re-read every single year. I think you'll experience a similar sense of peace and homecoming if you re-read it, too.

I loved her CARE packages' unboxings in the film so much.

The meeting-wall of the week past actually sounds like it had some of those rarities, the productive and helpful meeting. Happy for you as the other sort are soul-draining.

Happy week-ahead's reads!

>33 alcottacre: I hope you have a grand time with it whenever it surfaces from the Black Hole.

And yay for enjoying the Colgan. I've enjoyed several of her novels now and am happy to spread the love for her writing.

>34 richardderus: I am lucky that relatively few of the meetings I attend could have been emails.

Happy new thread, Micky.

Your question…hmm. I’d love to live in any of the following:

Cape Cod, Massachusetts
Boston, Massachusetts
Nova Scotia
Vashon Island, state of Washington
and, perhaps, a Scottish island.

I love rain. Currently I live in a ridiculously sunny state. Weather-wise, I mean

tell me where you'd love to live that isn't where you currently live (assuming the financial and housing sides of things were magically all taken care of)?

My very boring answer is that I'd love to live in Philadelphia. I like the neighborhood-y feel of DC but I wouldn't mind getting slightly away from the politics.
Really I think I'd be happy in any medium-sized, non-car-centric city that isn't too hot.

Howdy Mickey!
Hm.
I'm not sure on specifics but I know I wanna live in a forest. Or just some facsimile of it where I'm surrounded by trees and wake up to the sounds of birds, mammals and such. My therapist said "Vermont" so maybe there?

>36 Matke: Sounds like you know what you like. 😊

>37 norabelle414: Not boring at all! I think that's all great criteria.

>38 Ravenwoodwitch: I can definitely see the appeal of that although I'm pretty attached to the conveniences of urban living. 😊

>35 MickyFine: I just now finished the Colgan book, which I liked quite a bit, so I will definitely read more of her in future. Thanks again for the recommendation, Micky!

>40 alcottacre: Oh excellent. I was quite fond of Close Knit, if you're looking for other suggestions.

Weekly life update.

Last weekend was relatively quiet. We went to church, which ran long. I ignored a headache too long and it verged into migraine territory so we left right after service ended. I dropped off Mr. Fine at the gym and then sat quietly until the Advil took the edge off. We finally are having some beautiful spring weather so when Mr. Fine got home, we went for a walk. Then dinner and a board game. In the evening I opted for a rewatch of The Wedding Date (with Debra Messing).

Sunday we were super good adults. We got up early to try and keep our sleep schedules on track and did the regular house cleaning. Then we finally went to the enviro station to drop off a bunch of no longer functioning electronics. We'd been leaving things in the garage since we moved in so the visit was long overdue, and was actually super painless. Then I came home and baked cookies and gave my brother a call for his birthday. Followed all of that excitement up with sorting bill stuff before having a chill early evening.

Work this week was a bit of a slog. My regular tasks all ticked along as usual, and were largely fine. On Wednesday, I co-taught another session of the weeding course for staff (we offer them twice a year), which was well-received as usual. However, that afternoon ended up making it a not good day. I had made edits to a report and then my manager made edits to my edits that did not reflect things we had discussed and immediately passed it on to our director. Which is how life is sometimes but may have also led to venting feelings in the supply closet. That afternoon was also a bit of a gong show as there was a leak in the pipe that feeds water to the branch where I work. So water and washroom access was intermittent much of the afternoon - and when the water was on there was a bunch of gross sediment in it. Potentially related to the leak, an LRT was stuck in the intersection right in front of the library which obstructed my usual bus stop. The next stop wasn't too far away and despite my worries, the bus wasn't too packed. But then there was a car accident on the route as well. It definitely had no good, very bad day vibes. However, I had a haircut booked for when I got back to the 'burbs and I enjoyed every second of my scalp massage after all the stresses of the day. Plus Mr. Fine bought me a chocolate croisssant as a treat. We also picked up new raincoats as there was a sale, so we're feeling more prepped for Scotland in terms of waterproof wear.

While the water issues at work continue, I happily was work from home for the rest of the week. Grateful that (so far) I haven't had to go traipsing to the bathroom trailer they brought in for staff use, which they put outside the building on one corner (they brought in portable toilets for the public that they've put on another corner). Crossing all my fingers that things are completely fixed before I go in to the office on Monday. We're having a potluck in my department to celebrate the retirement of a colleague and not having access to clean running water could be a real nuisance.

This evening Mr. Fine has a friend over for board games, so I've been enjoying solo time in my library. I made myself frozen pizza and watched the ridiculous, Hallmark-esque rom com As Gouda As It Gets. It was full of cheese puns and delightfully stupid. If you like these types of movies (or like to make fun of them), it's a fine way to spend 90 minutes (it's on Prime in Canada). Then I crafted in front of a couple episodes of Gilmore girls.

Crafting continues to go well. I think I might be over halfway done the current pattern page of the cross-stitch project. And on the sweater side of things, I've started doing decrease rows for the waist shaping.

Only change on the viewing front is that I've moved on to season 4 of Gilmore girls.

I completed two books since my last update. Reviews to come soon.

Book 35

Book 36

Sorry about the no good, very bad day, Micky. They do make one appreciate regular days, though :)

I've always rather liked Mansfield Park, though it's not in my top Austen reads. I am pretty sure I have the Stevenson narration on tap for when it comes up in my re-read schedule this year.

>43 MickyFine: >45 katiekrug: I will say my appreciation for Mansfield Park is more cerebral than that for Pride and Prejudice. The creation of a mc who embodies the modesty and generosity of the ideal period young woman, who cannot be honestly faulted for her firmness and resolution is magnificent. I found Fanny very relatable which is even more of a feat.

Hi Micky!

Hmm, maybe I should give Mansfield Park a second chance. I did not like it when I read it many many years ago, but I know I have a tendency to be fairly hash towards female characters that are “softer” so it’s perfectly possible that I judged Fanny too harshly.

>45 katiekrug: Agreed, Katie. I'm always fine with a ho-hum day. 😊

I think you'll have a grand time with Stevenson's narration.

>46 quondame: Cerebral appreciation is a great way to describe it, Susan.

>47 PawsforThought: I'll be interested to see if you like it better on a second attempt, Paws. Fanny is definitely a very mild-mannered character and she doesn't sparkle like other Austen heroines, but I like her all the same.

>41 MickyFine: Other suggestions are always welcome, Micky! I will see if I can find a copy of Close Knit.

>43 MickyFine: If I had not just read all of Austen a couple of years ago, I would be tempted to pull out my copy of that one again. I am glad it turned out to be a 5-star read for you!

>44 MickyFine: Adding that one to the BlackHole. The problem of book banning here in Texas sometimes borders on the ridiculous! Thanks for the review and recommendation, Micky.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend and that the migraines stay away!

>48 MickyFine: If I ever get around to reading it again, I’ll try to remember to tell you about my thoughts on it.

>49 alcottacre: Jane Austen is my favourite author so all her books are five stars for me, even the ones I like less than my all-time faves. 😊

Yes, Texas often crops up in the librarian newsletters I get that cover censorship. But it's pretty widespread across the US and we get occasional bouts on this side of the border too.

Weekly life update time.

Last weekend was a full one. We went to church on Saturday morning and then in the afternoon Mr. Fine's cousin stopped by for a visit. In the evening we had our monthly board game night with M&A, during which we played Wingspan with Easter candy (when you pay an egg, you get to eat it, lol). I lost miserably but I did win a round of Go Fish that we played with M&A's kiddo earlier in the evening.

On Sunday, A and I had our monthly hang out and we went on a field trip this time. We met up at one of the library branches that's equally distant for us and then carpooled for going to breakfast and a visit to the new, expanded location of the local romance bookstore. Breakfast was delicious and the location was super cute as it's in a historic brick house that's been converted into a cafe. The bookstore was fun and while I was a little disappointed that they've leaned in hard to stocking predominantly romantasy and dark romance (understandably given current booktok trends), I still came out with two books. I was also very proud as I had to parallel park at the bookstore and I did it on the first try, with my friend in the car, and with traffic coming up behind me. *happy dance* After our outing, I came home and finished up cleaning I started before I left and made lemon cookies.

Work was largely fine and it was a short week with the holiday on Good Friday. My manager's edits on my report were mostly accepted by my director, which led to some grumbling but I'll live. My manager also noticed that I'm a couple months overdue for my year-end performance appraisal so that's booked for the end of April and I started putting together my notes for it. PAs make me anxious (even though I know I'm a good employee) and as this is a new to me manager, I don't really know what to expect so that doesn't help.

I did a bunch of stuff for our mortgage renewal this week (hard to believe we've been in our house almost five years already). I had been waiting on the Canadian central bank to do their latest interest rate announcement on April 16 in hopes it would drop a bit more (it stayed steady). So after getting an update from our current mortgage provider on their renewal rate (since the last number we had was from February), I then reached out to a mortgage broker to see if we could get something better. We can so now I've started rounding up all the paperwork we need for doing the application process again. Yay adulting?

We did our family Easter gathering on Good Friday this year so we had a full house with 14 of us yesterday. We had a lovely lunch and also did a bit of birthday celebrating for my brother and my oldest niece (on my side), who both have April birthdays. Happily, while my Dad was on call (he works maintenance in a care facility) he was able to join us for the whole time and only got asked to come in to work right as he was getting ready to leave. After a big lunch and lots of peopling, Mr. Fine and I had a chill evening. We went for a walk and enjoyed the warmish spring weather. I popped out briefly to get some sour cream and was seduced into buying a gorgeous bunch of tulips. Then we had popcorn for dinner, watched Jurassic World, and played a round of Mario Party before bed.

Crafting continues to go smoothly. I've been filling in a section on the cross-stitch stitch project that has a bunch of stitches in the same colour, which I always find satisfying. On the sweater, I'm nearly done decreasing rows for waist shaping, which feels like an achievement.

On the viewing front, we're on to season two of The Diplomat. I am enjoying the heck out of this show and it took a lot of restraint not to stay up late and binge watch episodes.

I've been reading a little slow this week so only one print and one audiobook completed this week. Hopefully I'll get some good reading time this long weekend. Reviews for my completed books likely coming this afternoon.

Sounds like a good week, minus the performance appraisal anxiety! Have you had a look at Finspan yet? It interests me more than Wyrmspan but I still don't think I'll enjoy it as much as Wingspan

>53 norabelle414: Oh we have all three games in our house and like them all. Finspan has a really fun twist on the mechanics, so it doesn't feel too same-y (I'll say the same for Wyrmspan too). Also the scuba diver meeples are very cute.

>44 MickyFine: I need to get a copy of this one. Thanks for the review, Micky! Unfortunately, our state legislature has a bill before them to establish a procedure that would ban books in schools. It's supposed to be aimed at content of a sexual nature, but who knows how far the challenges would go. Sigh.

>43 MickyFine: Mansfield Park was the one Jane Austen book that I didn't care for, but of course I was pretty young when I read it. I need to read it again and see what I think of it now.

>52 MickyFine: I always hated PAs too. My own were bad enough, but I felt more stress when I was a manager and had to do my staff's as well. Good luck with yours!

And I wish you more luck with the mortgage process. I hope it all goes well! But the paperwork is not much fun, is it?

Have a great rest of your weekend!

Book 37

>55 atozgrl: I hope you find On Book Banning an informative read, Irene.

I think Mansfield Park definitely improves in my appreciation as I get older. I appreciate more all the sly humour I didn't see as a teen (when I first read it) and I can also appreciate all of the foibles of the various inhabitants and visitors to the Park much more.

Thanks for the well wishes on the PA and mortgage front. The mortgage I'm not worried about - buying a house during the early months of the pandemic really set the bar for a stressful application process. The renewal, while our first go-round, is much more chill, thankfully.

Book 38

Book 39

Performance appraisals are probably the thing I miss least about working :) Though, like you, I was a good employee and they were always fine.

I still haven't started season 2 of The Diplomat; I loved the first season, and I am hoping to get The Wayne to do a re-watch with me (it would be his first time), but I might just forget it and continue on without him...

>60 katiekrug: Ah to dream of the day without PAs. Or work, for that matter, lol.

I initially tried the first episode of The Diplomat thinking it would be a background show while crafting and then discovered how good it is. Mr. Fine caught fifteen minutes of it and was also intrigued, so it went into the regular viewing rotation. Season 2 (after watching 1 episode) has been really good so far.

>61 MickyFine: Ooh, I’ve had The Diplomat on my list of things to check out, but I have a few things to check off first (and I keep getting sidetracked by watching Poirot and Marple as escapism instead of planned watches).

Your enthusiasm about The Diplomat makes me want to try it!!

>62 PawsforThought: I totally understand going for comfort watches, Paws. I do a fair amount of that as well. But when you're ready for something new, I highly recommend The Diplomat.

>63 curioussquared: Do it! I am enjoying the heck out of it. We binged 4 episodes this evening and I'm sad we only have one unwatched episode left. It is smart but also full of drama that makes it fun. Plus I'm invested in all the characters (even the ones I love to hate). If you try it, I hope you enjoy it as much as me.

I finally got The Wayne to commit to 'The Diplomat' tonight, and we watched the first episode of season 1. It was just as good as I remembered, and he really enjoyed it. It took us a while to get through, as I had to keep pausing so we could each make comments about whether certain things were realistic or not :)

>65 katiekrug: Yay! I'm glad you both had a good time. I'm sure it would be extra fun to watch with you since you have some (adjacent?) experience in that sphere.

>66 MickyFine: - Only a tiny bit adjacent experience, but I know a lot, as I almost joined the Foreign Service. And TW knows all about military stuff...

Life update time.

The rest of my Easter long weekend was very chill. Mr. Fine and I had no plans, we went almost nowhere, and it was glorious. There was lots of crafting, reading, board gaming, and walking. On the holiday Monday, I had Mr. Fine help me put together a weights routine that I can do with the dumbbells we have at home. So since then I've been doing a set of exercises every other day in addition to my daily walks. Going to do my best to make this habit.

I had one of those rare weeks at work with no meetings at all. I had some frustration with my manager as he committed to a tight timeline for adding some data to the report I've been working on and then afterwards asked the people who are actually doing the work if it was feasible. I'm sure you can imagine how I felt about that. I also finalized my notes in my performance appraisal document and asked if my manager could get me his notes in advance so that I can go into our meeting prepared. He said he would so we'll see if those are waiting for me Tuesday morning (I have an EDO Monday). With no meetings and the report project at a lull for me while other colleagues work on things, I got a bunch of ordering done, which was a nice change.

On the crafting side of things, both projects got lots of attention on the long weekend and are coming along nicely. During the week, I did more crochet in the evenings so the sweater is looking more like a wearable object every day.

On the gaming side of things Mr. Fine and I played Flamecraft and Finspan on the long weekend. Plus, Mr. Fine surprised me yesterday with the new Carmen Sandiego game for the Switch and I had a bunch of fun playing a few missions yesterday.

On the viewing front, we watched a few movies on the long weekend. One of my picks was the adaptation of Mansfield Park with Billie Piper as Fanny (borrowed from the library). It has been ages since I'd watched this one and I forgot how terrible/unfaithful it is. I spent over half of it explaining to Mr. Fine all the ways they mucked up the plot and Fanny's characterization. We also watched Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom and Legally Blonde. Last night, we wrapped up the last Jurassic World movie, which was even more of a mess than Fallen Kingdom (and Fallen Kingdom is Not Good) and the last episode of season 2 of The Diplomat. The latter continues to be so good and I can't wait to watch season 3 whenever it drops.

On the reading side of things, I've finished two books and one audiobook since my last update (and owe two reviews). I lucked out this week and snagged a Bestseller Express copy of Great Big Beautiful Life at my local library this week, which caused a shuffle in the nightstand stack. So far, so good and I'm hoping to wrap it up this weekend.

Great Big Beautiful Life came in at the library earlier this week and a couple of my co-workers were pretty excited. I haven't put a hold on it yet (too many books...) but I'll read it at some point and I'll look forward to your thoughts on it.

Book 40

Book 41

I had to work hard not to let Katherine Center's author blurb colour my review and rating of her book. Usually I read author bios at the end but by chance I happened to read it before I was too far into the book and in between the typical author details there is a sentence to the effect of "She's been compared to Jane Austen and Nora Ephron." And first of all, her writing is fine but nowhere near the quality of either of those writers but also to include it in your bio takes levels of chutzpah I find off-putting. I honestly considered docking half a star for the bio alone but ultimately didn't.

Book 42

For those interested (probably just @katiekrug), I'd probably rank Great Big Beautiful Life as a tie for my second favourite Henry novel with Funny Story.

Book 43
(re-read)

>72 MickyFine: "She's been compared to Jane Austen and Nora Ephron." is actually ambiguous, no? Not necessarily favorably compared.

>76 quondame: True, but if you're citing it in your bio you're aiming for the positive comparison regardless of what the sources actually did.

>53 norabelle414: >54 MickyFine: In case you have not heard, Stonemaier Games, who publishes the "Span" series of games, is suing President Trump. I have no idea if the lawsuit will go anywhere, but I am so happy that they are at least giving it a shot!

>56 MickyFine: Ack! I still have not gotten to the first book!

>59 MickyFine: Oh, I definitely need to read that one. I am a Scalzi fan. Unfortunately, my local library does not have it yet.

>68 MickyFine: Flamecraft and Finspan Nice! A couple of really good games.

>73 MickyFine: Another Emily Henry book into the BlackHole!

>70 MickyFine: I never really liked the CCBB movie, even as a kid, I don't remember why but your description of the story and its vibes probably had a lot to do with it. As much as I adore David Tennant, I don't think that would save it for me.

>72 MickyFine: chutzpah, indeed! Wow.

>70 MickyFine: My mother *begged* my father not to give me that book. I, of course, won, and as Mama feared I talked endlessly about those very details. Strangely, that book didn't make it to Texas when we moved....

I can't resist a Tennant narration, so I might have to look for CCBB.

Thanks for your thoughts on the new Emily Henry. I'm still not in a rush to get to it, but I'm glad it was a good read for you!

>70 MickyFine: >79 lauralkeet: My parents gave me a copy of CCBB when I was a kid, and I really liked the book. This was before the movie was made. When the movie came out, we saw it, and it was a real letdown for me. It just was nowhere near as good as the book, to me. I've still got the book somewhere around here. I might have to do a reread. It has *really* been a long time since I read it.

Ah yes, nothing says I write for the love of writing like comparing your work to the masters, lol.

Sorry to hear about your work struggles, Micky. I too despise performance reviews (despite being a good employee) and not having running water sounds absolutely miserable.

You got me with the Emily Henry. I do like her stuff. Best of luck with the performance review and getting water back in time for the pot luck.

>78 alcottacre: Looks like it was a dangerous visit to my thread for you. I hope you enjoy the BBs whenever you get to them.

>79 lauralkeet: I will always and forever love Dick Van Dyke so the film of CCBB gets a lot of slack from me.

>80 richardderus: Snort. I'm glad all the car details worked for someone. *smooch*

>81 katiekrug: DT is excellent always so I don't blame you. If you do try the new Henry I'll be interested to see how you like it.

>82 atozgrl: Fascinating. I'm always a little worried when I revisit childhood favourites as an adult. Some hold up but others definitely don't.

>83 Ravenwoodwitch: The PA went really well, thankfully.

>84 Familyhistorian: I hope you enjoy the Henry!

Weekly life update.

Last weekend was a good mix of chill and social. On Saturday we went to church and I dropped off Mr. Fine at the gym afterwards. I spent my solo time at home reading a big chunk of the new Emily Henry since I had it on a one week loan. When Mr. Fine got home, we went for a walk and it was warm enough for me to wear shorts. A chill evening of playing Farshore and building some Lego. Sunday we were up early to get cleaning out of the way before meeting friends for buffet brunch. Afterwards our group went for a walk to ward off the food coma and while I wore shorts the day before, Sunday was chilly and I wore a fleece-lined spring/fall jacket and wool scarf. After the walk, we played a game of Libertalia. Then, I spent the afternoon doing bill stuff.

Monday I had an EDO and it was the perfect mix of productive and relaxing. I did a few chores, had physio, and also got in some stitching.

The rest of the week was a mixed bag. Tuesday morning my paternal grandmother passed away and while we had been expecting it, it's still sad. I decided to go to work that day and use my bereavement days for the few days around the service. So I was a little wobbly at work on Tuesday. Making it more complicated, I had my PA that day and a request for reconsideration (the form when a library customer wants us to remove an item from the collection) hit my desk. Happily my manager had nothing but good things to say for my PA and did get his notes to me in advance, so that helped a lot on the stress front. The rest of the work week was fine. Wednesday night we went out for dinner with my parents, grandfather, and my aunt and uncle, the last of whom had come up on the weekend to see my grandmother before she passed. They're all doing as well as can be expected. The service for my grandmother has been scheduled for the end of the month due to availability of extended family so I'll likely be seeing various family members a fair bit over the next few weeks.

With all of that going on, I also continued getting all the ducks in a row for our mortgage renewal. Happily, after a lot of back and forth with both our mortgage and insurance brokers, we've been accepted. I'm just waiting to receive the final paperwork from our new mortgage provider.

I spent more time cross-stitching this week than crocheting and the projects continue to tick along.

On the viewing front, we watched the first episode of the new season of Doctor Who and I wrapped up season 4 of Gilmore Girls.

Since my last update I finished two books and an audiobook and DNFed one book. I owe comments on a couple of those, which I'll probably get to this afternoon.

I'm so sorry about the loss of your grandmother, Micky. Even when expected, it's hard. Hugs to you.

What is a mortgage renewal? It sounds like it's required? Consider this my confused fellow North American question in response to yours about RealID🙂

I'm so sorry to read the news about your grandmother, Micky. Adding my hugs.

Sorry to hear about your grandmother, Micky. I hope the next couple of weeks seeing family is good comfort for all of you. Sorry about the request for reconsideration, that can be super stressful for sure.

Also curious about a mortgage renewal. In the U.S. we have refinancing, is it similar?

>88 katiekrug: Hugs right back, thank you.

Mortgage renewal is basically when you reach the end of your term for your current interest rate (for us it was five years on a 25-year mortgage) and you renew your mortgage at the available interest rate at that point (we opted for another five year term on our now 20-year mortgage). My guess is renewal is just a different term for a similar process that exists on your side of the border, although I know mortgage and banking rules can be pretty different on your side of the 49th.

>89 lauralkeet: Thank you, Laura. I appreciate the hugs greatly.

>90 bell7: Thank you for the condolences, Mary.

Yeah, requests for reconsideration can be tricky and I've definitely had ones I found stressful. Thankfully, this one wasn't too bad although I'm still waiting to hear back from my director on the draft I put together. As stressful as the process is, I always take comfort in the fact that my name isn't on the letter and any back and forth after the letter is sent is handled by my director's office.

My guess is renewal and refinancing are probably pretty similar if not the same.

Book 44



Wundersmith: The Calling of Morrigan Crow - Jessica Townsend (re-read)

My re-read in anticipation of the June release of the fourth book of this series continues. While there are always details that stand out from this book, there are also plot elements I completely forgot from previous reads. A completely immersive read, which is what I'm in the mood for these days.

Rating: *****

That's it for April reads, so a few month-end wrap-up stats.

April
Books read : 11 (7 physical, 4 audio)
Re-reads: 3
Off My Shelf read: Summer Knight
Favourite new to me read(s): When the Moon Hits Your Eye

And yet another month where I completed 11 books! I don't think I've ever consistently read the same number of books for this long a stretch.

>91 MickyFine: Oh that's interesting about mortgage renewal. Generally speaking, our interest rate will follow the rules of the mortgage for the duration (usually 15 year, 20 year, or 30 year). There are fixed rate or adjustable rate mortgages. So I had a fixed rate mortgage when interest rates were really low and I wouldn't choose to refinance anytime soon. I daresay the actual process would be similar.

Hope everything goes smoothly with your response. We haven't had a request for reconsideration in awhile, but we did have someone come to a trustees meeting and want us to move all the LGBTQ books to a separate section that anyone under 18 would need parental permission to check out a couple of years ago (that was not done).

>94 bell7: Oh interesting. We also have fixed or variable rates but usually the longest term you can get for an interest rate of either type is 5 years (we had our choice of 3, 4, or 5 year terms). So over the course of our 25-year mortgage, we'll have to renew at least 4 times.

Started off May with a DNF

>87 MickyFine: I'm sorry about your loss, Micky. A good grandmother is a real blessing.

>97 quondame: Thank you, Susan.

>96 MickyFine: Sad with you on your paternal grandmother's loss.

I'm increasingly happy to see readers Pearl-Ruling books, it seems to me a skill I'd've been much better off acquiring decades earlier!

xo

>99 richardderus: Thank you, RDear. *smooches*

The Pearl rule is tremendously useful and I've used it with no remorse since I learned of it in my 20s.

So sorry to hear about your grandmother, Micky.

>101 curioussquared: Thank you, Natalie.

So sorry about your grandmother, Micky. Also sorry about dealing with a request for reconsideration, though it did inspire me to look up my own library's reconsideration policy, which is appropriately onerous.

Condolences on the loss of your grandmother.

>87 MickyFine: I'm so sorry to hear about your grandmother, Micky. I'm glad you can spend time with your family. You have my condolences.

Very sorry to hear about your grandmother.

Thank you, Nora, Foggi, Irene, and Rhian for your condolences.

>103 norabelle414: I'm pleased to hear they have a good system in place.

Weekly update time.

Last weekend was largely uneventful. We went to church on Saturday as usual and then, after dropping off Mr. Fine at the gym, I visited with my grandfather, aunt, and uncle for a bit at my grandfather's house. The rest of the afternoon and evening were pretty chill and Mr. Fine and I played a game of Botany after dinner followed by some Lego assembly. Sunday I had a seasonal tire change appointment, which was more involved than usual as I got new tires. However, it was done much faster than I expected. Around the appointment, I did the usual cleaning and bill stuff at home.

Nothing too exciting on the work front. I had a meeting on the status of the project I'm the lead on. Things are going smoothly so far and I think I'll probably be able to finish edits by the deadline my manager set *touch wood*. On Wednesday I was in a virtual course from Library Journal called Data Fluency Foundations. It was 5 hours of sessions that were largely interesting and useful. Bonus was two of the instructors were British, so there were enjoyable accents. Otherwise, work was lots of ordering as usual.

Our mortgage renewal gave me a bit of stress this week but we're still on track. We should just have to sign off on the final paperwork with the bank next week (I hope).

We had dinner on Friday with my cousin and his wife who are in town for a few days to see my grandfather. My cousin is in the Navy and lives in Nova Scotia so we see each other rarely. It was nice to hang out for a few hours and catch up.

Crafting is going pretty well. With my online course on Wednesday, I did a lot of crochet while listening so I completed several rows of the sweater. Cross-stitch got a little less attention but it's still ticking along well.

I picked up my hold on the fifth season of All Creatures Great and Small at the library on Wednesday so all my viewing evenings are now devoted to that so we can complete it before its due date. We've watched the first couple episodes and I'm delighted with it as ever.

On the reading side of things, I only had one completion as I DNFed a book at 242 pages. Comments on both books likely to appear later today. ETA I forgot I completed an audiobook this week too, so two completions actually.

Book 45

Book 46

Another DNF this month

>111 MickyFine: I loled at "muscular cardboard" 😂

>112 curioussquared: - Same!

>112 curioussquared: >113 katiekrug: I'm delighted this amused. :)

>114 MickyFine: It did amuse, apparently more than the story around it amused you, sadly.

>115 richardderus: Ah well, such is reading sometimes. Happily my current read is much more what I want from a romance novel.

>116 MickyFine: Hooray, dear Micky.

Dropping by to let you know that I just finished The Bookish Life of Nina Hill, one you recommended, and I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. Thanks!

>118 alcottacre: Oh I'm pleased you had a good time with Nina!

Another week, another life update.

Last weekend was pretty busy by our standards. On Saturday we went to church in the morning and then had a relaxed afternoon before heading out to our friends' place for our monthly game night. We got more game time than usual as M's mom and sister were in town and the former did bedtime routine for M&A's kiddo. We played Libertalia and Verdant, both of which I came in second at (usually I'm last). Sunday I was up early to get all my cleaning done before my parents came over for Mother's Day brunch. Mr. Fine made breakfast poutine (hashbrowns mixed with peppers, onions, and turkey bacon, topped with scrambled eggs and hollandaise) and we had a lovely meal. Then my mom and I went on an outing to an antique mall in town (my mom had somehow never been before) and had fun poking around. My mom collects brooches and we found a pretty one for her collection plus I snagged a DVD copy of The Importance of Being Earnest (the Colin Firth one), which last time I checked was out of print. After poking around all the antiques we tried to visit my grandmother but dementia struck and she forgot she was expecting visitors and went out with one of her friends in the residence where she lives. So I took my mom for rolled ice cream before taking her home.

Work this week was full. Monday I made final edits to the report I've been working on for the past few months and sent that off to my manager. Wednesday was the library's big PD day - all the branches were closed and we all met at a hotel for a one-day internal conference. I wasn't a huge fan of the location (it was at the opposite end of town from where I live, which meant driving in rush hour both ways and through a bunch of construction) but the day itself was fine. We have over 500 staff so the volume of people was a little overwhelming for me and I crashed hard when I got home. In between all that I did a bunch of ordering and on Thursday the report went up to my director for review.

I took my EDO on Friday to give myself an extra long weekend (it's Victoria Day weekend in Canada). Mr. Fine had plans with a friend in the evening so I had the house to myself all day and took full advantage. I did chores around the house, worked out, took the car for an oil change, and picked up some annuals from Costco to put in my planters. I got petunias as always and also pansies in memory of my grandmother who passed away recently as they were her favourites. The latter are on our back deck and they look very cheerful in all their yellow and purple glory. After all the adulting was done, I got in some reading time, tried the solo mode for Botany (pretty fun), made myself a dinner Mr. Fine hates, and watched The Parent Trap (the Hayley Mills version). Tried to stay up until Mr. Fine got home but crashed hard about 15 minutes before he came back (I have no memory of him getting into bed, lol).

On the crafting side of things, I got several rows done on the sweater this week while at PD Day (there were colouring and pipe cleaners for fidgeting during keynotes, so I felt fine pulling out my crochet). And I finished another pattern page of the cross-stitch project last night. In terms of pages, that's officially the halfway mark, but in terms of stitches, the project is more bottom-heavy so halfway done is still a ways off, I think.

On the viewing side, we watched the season finale of The Rookie this week, which was pretty solid. Based on IMDb, it looks like it's been renewed for season 8 and we're pleased about that in this house.

I finished one book and two audiobooks this week and I'll try to get those reviews up shortly.

Book 47

Book 48

Book 49

>122 MickyFine: Well, she got her own back...now her partner is twenty years younger than she. I had no idea she'd branched out into alternative healing stuff. Always interesting, Miss Mills.

Sunday orisons, Micky, and a lurvely long weekend to you!

>124 richardderus: I know, right?! Her Wikipedia page is a fascinating read.

Thanks for the long weekend well wishes. *smooch*

>125 MickyFine: It is that! What I most enjoy is her social-media team's massaging of the presentation.

Adding the Holiday to the list... Canadian Boyfriend is already on it, so I need to get going!

>121 MickyFine: Adding this to the list -- do I need to read Canadian Boyfriend first?

>127 katiekrug: Yay! I think you'll have a good time with this one.

>128 foggidawn: I don't think it's mandatory to read Canadian Boyfriend first. In the way of connected romance novels you'll get the mild spoiler that the relationship from the previous book ended happily but you won't feel lost if you haven't read it. That said, I liked Canadian Boyfriend even more than this book so I wouldn't discourage you from reading it, lol.

Hooray for an extra long weekend! Hope the return to work wasn't too painful :)

>130 curioussquared: Thanks, Natalie. It wasn't too bad going back to the office, thankfully.

Hm, I wonder what's worse; A cardboard love interest or a wooden one.

Good to see you and the hubby are keeping on. The flowers in the planters sound lovely. I was looking into getting Marigolds myself.

It's hard when teased with shorts weather to then go back to cooler temps. I hope it has warmed up some for you, Micky. Into the Woods made it onto my reading list.

>132 Ravenwoodwitch: I feel like a wooden one would at least have some personality, lol.

Marigolds are lovely and super happy looking. I've had decent success with them in previous years but I just love petunias so much.

>133 Familyhistorian: It's been cooler and rainy most of the week here, which is fine because we desperately need the moisture. It's supposed to be hot next week though so the shorts will be back soon.

I hope you enjoy the Jenny Holiday!

This week's life update is incoming.

The rest of my long weekend was a good mix of quiet, productive, and social. On Saturday we went to church as usual and then I spent a chunk of the afternoon crafting and reading while Mr. Fine was at the gym. We went for a walk together when he got home and then played board games and assembled Lego in the evening. Sunday we were up a bit early to get chores done first thing. I had brunch plans with a friend and H came over for her monthly hang out date with Mr. Fine. Brunch was delicious and although I'm not usually a bennies person, I had some this time because the restaurant serves theirs on croissants and I had to try that. I had the Florentine which included wilted spinach, tomato jam, and smashed avocado along with the poached egg and their browned butter hollandaise. It was pretty tasty but still doesn't knock my favourite dishes from that restaurant out of their top spots. When I got home H was still hanging around so we chatted a bit before she left and Mr. Fine and I had some quality time before his group of friends came over in the evening for their monthly game night. Our holiday Monday was largely chill, although the pastor from my church came by for a brief visit in the morning to drop off a fruit basket the church wanted to give me because of my grandmother's recent passing. The rest of the day was spent with Lego, board games, some crafting for me, we snuck in a walk while it was cool but not yet rainy (in true May long weekend style, it was largely cool and overcast most of the weekend), and we finished a show.

Work was pretty decent for me this week. I still haven't heard back from my director about the draft report, which is fine by me. I put together my goals for this year's performance appraisal document and had the fun of writing a goal that described something I've technically already done, lol. I wrapped up spending the funs that had been allocated to my selection area for the new expanded branch that is (in theory) opening this summer, and was pretty proud that I was only a few cents over for one budget line (and a few dollars under for the other). The rest of my week was spent doing regular selection, which it feels like it's been ages since I've done it.

After months of it feeling like the crochet sweater was taking forever, I finished the increase section for the waist shaping and did the math of how many more rows I need to do to get to the length I want. I have less than 10 to go! Of course there's still finishing rows for the bottom hem and collar and sleeves still to do so I've got a ways to go but I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. Cross-stitch is also progressing nicely as usual.

On the holiday Monday we finished season 5 of All Creatures Great and Small and I loved it as much as ever. I think I might add this series to my personal collection, if only so I can stare at Helen's jumpers with longing, lol. With that wrapped up, we're back to the new season of Doctor Who although we're still weeks behind of the latest episode. We just watched "The Well" most recently and I loved how it brought back the creature from "Midnight," which is up there as one of the scarier episodes for me, and I thought they did it well and the newer episode didn't suffer in comparison. Our Friday night double feature was Raiders of the Lost Ark and Tangled.

I've finished two books this week and reviews should be up shortly.

Book 50



The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue - V.E. Schwab (re-read)

One of the books from my list of titles from my own shelves I want to read this year. I enjoyed this book on the revisit, possibly more than I did the first time. Schwab, as ever, creates a compelling tale and both Addie and Henry are compelling characters. Going into it, vaguely remembering the plot points gave me hints on things to notice this second time around and I think the novel rewards the re-reader. I still continue to recommend this one to readers of historical fiction or those who like tales such as Faust or The Picture of Dorian Gray.

Book 51

Another week, another life update.

Last Saturday we did our regular routine. Church in the morning, Mr. Fine went to the gym afterwards while I came home and read and crafted. We went for a walk after he came back from the gym. Then it was barbecue for supper followed by board games and Lego. We finished assembling the Bag-End set (from Lord of the Rings). Sunday we were up early to get through chores before my friend, A, arrived for our monthly hang out. We started season 2 of Timeless and continue to have fun mocking it. We're approaching the point where I stopped watching (not because of quality but because I cut the cable cord) so I'm looking forward to getting to new to me episodes. In the afternoon after A left, it was more chores and a walk.

I only worked two days this week. Monday was a quiet WFH day with lots accomplished. Tuesday was one of the rare days I drove to work because of an off-site meeting at the end of the day. My friend, A and I, plus one of the other librarians we're friendly with went for lunch before the meeting so that was fun. And to avoid driving in rush hour on one of the major freeways, Mr. Fine took transit and met me at the branch where my meeting was and we went for dinner at a nearby restaurant.

Wednesday through Friday I took my bereavement days. My grandmother's celebration of life was Thursday morning and it was a lovely service. Saw a bunch of family that live further away, which was nice.

Friday evening Mr. Fine and I did a double feature of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and Romeo + Juliet (the Baz Luhrmann version) and then took a late evening walk. We've had a bit of a heatwave this week with several days of highs around 30°C so it was nice to enjoy the cooler evening.

I'm on what I think will be the last row of the crochet sweater (I need to try it on and confirm I like the length, knowing it will block out a bit longer). Then I'll be on to hems and sleeves. Cross-stitch also coming along nicely. I might be nearing a quarter way done the current pattern page.

No updates on the viewing front, as we're still ticking along through our current slate of shows.

I finished one book and two audiobooks this week. I'm hoping to get through one more book today to continue my trend of reading 11 books per month (apparently four months is the point at which an accidental trend suddenly makes me feel like I must continue). May not get reviews up until tomorrow.

>137 MickyFine: while I have not read this i am familiar with the argument. And I find the comparison of Mr.Grey to Mr.Darcy rather unfair.
Darcy was not a horrific romantacization of an abusive narcissist after all *sips tea*.

>138 MickyFine: I'm glad your Grandmother's send-off went well and was a good occasion of remembrance. The 30C days sound nightmarish to me who stops being happy at 15C and starts being testy at 25C. It was a hugely productive May chez moi, and remains about 14-15C so far, so alleluia and hosanna be sung.

Happy week-ahead's reads, Micky!

>139 Ravenwoodwitch: Yup, and I also think it's unfair to say the buck stops with Darcy. There are plenty of other culturally influential narratives that pre-date Austen with characters who have a similar arc.

>140 richardderus: Thanks, RDear. My perfect temperature is around 23°C but we don't have humidity like you do on the coast, so it probably balances out. I hope you've had an excellent kick off to Pride month.

Book 52

>142 MickyFine: - I think I felt pretty much the same about that one.

We finally finished season 2 of 'The Diplomat' and I did not see that cliff-hanger/finale moment coming. Yowza! Can't wait for the next season...

Book 53



A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking - T. Kingfisher (re-read)

A re-read via audiobook that was just as delightful as my first read. Mona and her dough-based magic continue to charm and Patricia Santomasso does an excellent job of bringing all the characters to life.

Rating:****

>143 katiekrug: So good! In theory, the new season is supposed to arrive this fall. I'm extra excited as Bradley Whitford is showing up. Bring on all The West Wing alums, I say. *heart eyes*

>144 MickyFine: How I enjoyed that read! It might even get in the re-read wagon from my notoriously hard-to-harness self. So comforting.

>146 richardderus: It's a good one and definitely worth revisiting if you find yourself in the mood.

Book 54

Book 55

Now that I've caught up on reviews, a quick May summary.

May
Books read : 11 (6 physical, 5 audio)
Re-reads: 3
Off My Shelf read: The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue
Favourite new to me read(s): Into the Woods

I ended up pushing myself to finish 11 books this month to keep the trend going. We'll see how June shakes out.

>149 MickyFine: I'm happy to see this was a winner for you, Micky.

>150 MickyFine: Brava! Eleven's a nice number to sustain as a trend.

>151 lauralkeet: I had a really good time with it, for sure.

>152 richardderus: At some point I'm going to break the trend but whether it'll be higher or lower... 🤷‍♀️

>153 MickyFine: 132 books for the year has an awfully nice ring, though.

Life update.

Last weekend Mr. Fine and I had no plans and we hermited like the homebody introverts that we are. Saturday included tasty meals, a walk, lots of reading time, watching a sermon online, some crafting and a couple board games (Finspan and Dice Throne). Sunday we did chores and bill things, went for a walk, and I did some crafting.

Work this week was largely chill. It was light on meetings and as I still haven't received feedback on my draft report, I got to focus on all my regular work tasks, which was completely fine by me. I've started digging into fall publisher catalogues, which is always fun.

I have officially finished the torso of my crochet sweater and I'm on to the first sleeve. I've spent less time on cross-stitch this week but one of the flowers is starting to fill in.

On the viewing front, we finished the latest season of Doctor Who this week. I was completely surprised by the end (miraculously, I had seen no spoilers) and I'm looking forward to seeing what Russell T. Davies has up his sleeve next. Friday night's double feature was Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny and Moulin Rouge.

Only one book completed so far this week but I might finish another this afternoon. Reviews probably tomorrow.

Another life update.

Last weekend was full but good. On Saturday we went to church as usual, had a chill afternoon, and then went to M&A's for our monthly game night. We played multiple games of Santorini and a game of Sushi Go Party. Wrapped up a bit early as we all had the same event to go to on Sunday. Sunday we were up early to get chores completed before going to a surprise party for a friend's 50th birthday. Spent most of the afternoon lounging on a private rooftop patio and while it was pretty hazy with wildfire smoke, it was a grand way to spend the day. Neither of us had the energy for cooking after all that so we ordered pizza for dinner.

Monday I had my EDO and it was a pretty perfect day off. I did some crafting, worked out, picked up supplies for a house project I'm tackling in a few weeks, picked up birthday gifts for my three family members with June birthdays plus a father's day gift, went to the yarn store and ordered yarn for a project I'm making for myself to wear to H's wedding in October, and then crafted some more until it was time to go for my monthly massage.

While it was a short work week, it felt kind of long. I had three meetings in a row on Tuesday morning, which was a bit much for my tastes (although one was only 10 minutes). Otherwise it was just me and my tasks, which felt a little boring this week.

Crafting is going pretty well. I'm probably a third of the way done the first sleeve on my sweater and the cross-stitch continues to tick on smoothly.

With Doctor Who wrapped up last week, I added Poldark into our viewing rotation. I've seen the first two (maybe three?) seasons but it's new for Mr. Fine and he liked the first episode (yay!). We finished the last season of Castle, which was rough overall and the finale was... not good. If you're planning to watch, consider it done at the end of season 7. Mr. Fine decided to abandon Lost as shared viewing (I was not having a good time with it) and has switched it out for Smallville. I've never seen it (it's a rewatch for Mr. Fine) but I had a grand time with the first two episodes. It has all the teen angst you'd expect of a WB drama from the early aughts plus campy superhero plots, which is decidedly more my jam.

Reading has treated me well this week and I expect to have a batch of reviews to post here this afternoon.

Sounds like life is pretty good, Micky!

>156 MickyFine: Smallville! I'd forgotten that show entirely. Enjoy it, since it's new to you. And shopping the catalogs is almost always a good time in my experience. My August reading hasn't kicked up a real winner yet, but I live in hope.

Stay well and happy!

Sounds like a pretty good week for you, Micky. I always enjoy your recaps!

>156 MickyFine:
Ross Poldark sucks.
The first few seasons of Smallville are fantastic! Diminishing returns after that but not moreso than, say, Supernatural.

>157 katiekrug: It is at that, Katie. Thanks for popping by!

>158 richardderus: Yes, July and August is usually a bit sparse for good reads, particularly in adult nonfiction, which is my selection area. But there's a few titles in September through November that I'm excited to read.

>159 lauralkeet: Aww thanks, Laura. I'm glad they make good reading.

>160 norabelle414: Oh yes, Ross definitely has his moments. I've read all the books so I know the outlines of what's coming for the whole series. Really, I'm Team Demelza always.

Having made it through SPN, I should be well prepped for the marathon of Smallville.

Sounds like a good week, Micky! I'm still behind on Doctor Who but one of these days I will be in the mood and get all caught up in a couple of weeks. I'll be interested in seeing your take on Smallville. I've seen some episodes and remember enjoying it, but I never went through systematically.

>162 bell7: You'll have an excellent binge watch waiting for you whenever you catch up on Doctor Who, Mary.

I'm already enjoying how very 2001 the soundtrack of Smallville is. The music of my youth! (said the oldster, lol).

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I'm so glad to have your endorsement of this one. I wasn't sure about it, but now I'll move it up the list. 🙂

>165 katiekrug: I did immediately think of you as someone who would have a great time with this book.

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Book 58

Book 59



Hollowpox: The Hunt for Morrigan Crow - Jessica Townsend (re-read)

Morrigan is finally being trained in the Wundrous Arts but throughout the Free State Wunimals are succumbing to a strange disease that is being referred to as Hollowpox.

I'm not certain if I've re-read this third book in the Nevermoor series since its release in 2020 and there were a multitude of surprises awaiting me from plot points I'd forgotten. Admittedly, parts of the Hollowpox plot hit different having lived through a pandemic, but there is also plenty of fun and whimsy in the magical world Townsend has created. And, of course, there's a really excellent fantastical library. The ending of this includes a major development for Morrigan and I'm excited to see what the next book holds.

Rating: *****

And speaking of the next book in the Nevermoor series, I was delighted that my pre-order of Silverborn arrived today (10 days before its official release date in Canada and the US). I'm so excited to dive in!

>167 MickyFine: I am going to have to get to that one soon! I did have a good time with Vera's first outing! Glad to see that you enjoyed the second one too, Micky.

>171 alcottacre: I'm sure you'll have plenty of fun with Vera when you have time to spend with her. :)

You've sold me on Earl's Trip -- I added it to the list. I also need to get to my Morrigan Crow reread, though my copy of Silverborn has not arrived yet. I'll probably binge the series and dive into the new book.

I enjoyed Earl's Trip when I read it last year, I think. Lots of fun! And I can't wait for Silverborn to be here! Jealous that you got it early :)

>173 foggidawn: Huzzah! I hope you have a grand time with Earls Trip when you get to it. Enjoy binging Morrigan Crow, I'm almost 200 pages in to Silverborn and I'm looking forward to what directions Townsend is taking the narrative.

>174 curioussquared: I hope your copy shows up bright and early on release day, Natalie. I was astounded it came so early because when I received the shipping notification the estimated delivery date was July 1. *shrug*

Another week, another life update.

Last Saturday I went to church solo as Mr. Fine went with our friend M to Game Con. Service was good although a little on the long side. I left shortly after it ended as my book mail was delivered towards the end of the service and I didn't want it to be out in the rain long (it was happily undamaged). I went for a walk in the rain and gave both my boots and coat that I purchased with Scotland in mind a thorough test. I spent the rest of the afternoon reading until Mr. Fine got home. After dinner we played Cascadia and some Mario Kart World on Mr. Fine's new Switch 2.

On Sunday we were up early to get chores done before meeting up with M&A and M's sister to carpool to Game Con. It was pretty fun and they had a relatively even mix of space devoted to both video games and tabletop games. We checked out all the vendors and tried a few new games including Excalibur (which Mr. Fine had already backed on Kickstarter but wanted to try) and Wavelength, which is an excellent game for both small and large groups. A and I did a lot of cackling while playing Wavelength as a duo. Afterwards we went for an early dinner at a Chinese buffet then came back to our house and played Wavelength (M's sister's acquisition) and Skyrise. While we were playing there was a thunderstorm with significant volumes of hail. Our house was fine but my petunias took a real beating and there was much dead heading of blooms on Monday. Happily they're bouncing back like the hardy plants I know and love.

Work this week was quietly steady. I finally got comments back from my director on the latest draft of a report. So I spent several hours thinking over those as she made some suggestions that would make everything harder (and also did some bad math). My manager meets with my director next week so we'll see how my talking points for him to make a case for sticking with my recommendation as is go over. Our print vendor dropped their fall bestsellers list (titles with anticipated high demand), so I've been working my way through it.

Cross-stitch was largely neglected this week, but I'm nearly done (I think) the first sleeve of the crochet sweater.

On the viewing front, Mr. Fine has added Andor season 2 into rotation. Despite watching the season 1 recap, there are definitely still holes in my memory of plot points, so I was only sort of invested in the first episode. Our Friday night double feature was Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and The Princess Diaries.

I was savouring the new Morrigan Crow book all week and it was my only completion. Review at some point later today.

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Hi Micky! Oh wow, I've had Silverborn on my Titlewave list for my library for a loooong time, and as the publication date kept being pushed back I would just keep adding it to my next list. Looking forward to it, though I won't be able to place an order until probably September. It will give me time to revisit the first three.

I've been back over your last two threads to get caught up. You got me with a couple titles:
The Ornithologist's Field Guide to Love and Hench. I am SO pleased you loved 84, Charing Cross Road. It is a favorite (no surprise). Marina listened to and enjoyed Everything is Tuberculosis before I was able to climb out of the black hole and visit LT so I alreasy had this on my list.

>74 MickyFine: And me, though I've only only read one Emily Henry. I have a screenshot of your last ranked Henry list.

I had to LOL about your diagram on your last thread that explained second winter. I can't even imagine what a Colorado diagram would look like because our spring can be so crazy. We tend to get our heaviest snow in April and May and no matter what the weather seems to be doing it is a Colorado rule that you don't start your garden outside until after Mother's Day.

When is your Scotland trip?

Finally, I am so very sorry to hear about your grandmother. Even when it's expected it is still a loss to grieve.

>178 AMQS: It's lovely to see you, Anne, and I'm impressed with all the catching up you're doing. :)

I'm sure you'll have a great time with all the Morrigan Crown books whenever you get around to revisiting them and trying the new one.

Excellent choices for your BBs. I think you'll have good reading experiences with both.

Scotland is in mid-September. I've got a countdown widget on my phone and I'm thrilled it's into the double digits. :)

And finally, thank you for the condolences. They're greatly appreciated.

Sounds like a good week! I like Wavelength, but being the person thinking of the word always kind of stresses me out. How do I find the perfect one??

So glad you loved Silverborn! I need to stop by my local indie to pick up my copy. But I also kind of want to reread the other books first, so who knows when I'll get to it. I might try the audiobooks for my reread.

>180 curioussquared: I totally get the stress factor. We were largely playing with no attention to points, so it took that element out.

I hope you enjoy Silverborn just as much when you get to it!

Life update time!

Last Saturday, we opted to skip church and had a laid back day instead. We watched a sermon online and went for a walk. While Mr. Fine was at the gym, I finally knuckled down and put together a rough itinerary for our days in Edinburgh, plus picked out potential restaurant options for our days on the tour. In the evening we played Botany and Dice Throne.

Sunday we were up early to power through chores and then H came over for her monthly hang out with Mr. Fine. She spent most of the day with us as a belated Father's Day celebration. They watched The Hobbit and I tackled mowing the lawn. I haven't mowed grass since I was in my mid-twenties but we have a new (to us) mower that I can actually start, so I thought I'd let Mr. Fine skip a week. I was reminded I'm not a big fan of the chore and I'll happily let him be the one in charge of mowing most of the time. After their movie ended, the three of us went for a walk and then played some Matio Kart World. H took her Dad out for dinner and I ordered pizza.

Work this week was largely uneventful and I finished going through the anticipated fall bestsellers list. My director also reconsidered her ask for my report and has opted to measure something two ways for now (le sigh).

There was a job posting that came out this week at another library organization in the metro area and I've decided to throw my hat in the ring mostly just to see if I can get an interview (it's a manager position, though still collections focused). So I spent some time this week making sure my references were in order as the job ad asks for them in advance. I'll work on the cover letter and resume this coming week.

I did not touch cross-stitch this week and crochet only got a bit of attention, but I have almost finished the first sleeve on my sweater. I just need to do the hem.

I finished two books this week and I'm hoping to wrap up at least one more before the month ends. Reviews in the next few days.

>182 MickyFine: That's exciting, Micky! I will think good thoughts for you.

Can you believe I've never mowed grass? I'm not sure why, but it has never come up as a task we could share. No regrets ha ha.

Good luck with the job application!

I did the mowing (mostly) one summer a couple of years ago. It was okay, but TW said he liked doing it, so I ceded the job to him :)

Good luck with the job application!

The reason I got a paying job as a teen was to hire a yard service so I'd never have to mow the lawn. Horrible job. Hot, sweaty, and tiring without one single compensatory pleasure to excuse it.

Gardens I'll care for and about, lawns never.

Enjoy the week ahead, Micky me deario.

I used to mow my own yard when I was single. I had an old-fashioned reel mower when I lived in a place with a small yard, and then a battery-powered one when I lived where my yard was a little larger. Frankly, I’m frightened of gas-powered mowers. Lucky for me, it’s solidly John’s chore here, and I don’t miss it.

>183 AMQS: Thanks, Anne!

>184 lauralkeet: Mowing was one of the chores I did as a teen and twenty-something while living at home. I got a break for a decade-ish though, lol.

>185 katiekrug: I'm not sure Mr. Fine enjoys it but my hands were tender for 3 days afterwards (pull-start woes), so he's kindly going to do it most of the time.

>186 richardderus: A completely understandable stance. I do like that fresh cut grass smell, though.

>187 foggidawn: I've always used gas-powered but I do dream of a battery powered electric mower.

Also, thanks to all for the job well wishes!

Good luck on that job position!
I confess I've never mowed the lawn. Being near all those blades makes me anxious. Good that you managed. Is the heat bad for your area too? Stay safe and hydrated.

Have a great day, Micky.

>189 Ravenwoodwitch: Thanks, Angela.

We were outside the heat dome of last week (it was largely cooler and rainy here) but today and tomorrow are supposed to be 29-30°C (84-86°F), so I appreciate the staying cool wishes.

>190 PaulCranswick: Thanks, Paul.

>191 MickyFine: 30C is borderline crimes-against-humanity territory. May your Canada Day be more pleasant than expected.

>182 MickyFine: I mowed the lawn at my parents' house in middle school/high school and didn't mind it too much, but we had a plug-in electric mower (I'm not sure if battery powered ones were a thing yet?) so it was easy to start and not so loud and smelly.

Happy Canada Day!

Good luck on the job, Micky!

I am also not a fan of mowing the lawn, and Tim is allergic to grass. Our old place didn't really have a lawn, but the new house does. We have compromised by finding a reasonably priced mowing service :)

>192 richardderus: Yup, 30 and above is not my favourite. But it's been a lovely Canada Day all the same.

>193 norabelle414: I feel like I'd always be worried about running over the cord with a plug in mower, lol.

>194 curioussquared: Seems like an excellent compromise, Natalie.

Thank you Nora and Natalie for the Canada Day well wishes.

>182 MickyFine: We had a totally mechanical rather rusted push mower that I tried to take over for chore money when my brother left for college. Between the heat, push, and grass bits, I ceded that to my younger brother after a couple of weeks.

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>196 quondame: Lol. Highly logical, Susan.

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Book 63



Soulless - Gail Carriger (re-read)

A re-read as this was one of the books I earmarked for my dozen books off my own shelves I wanted to tackle this year. I enjoyed it so much, I plan to dive into a re-read of the rest of the series, so prepare to see those here in the coming weeks.

Original review: Alexia Tarabotti has several problems. She's Italian, she's a spinster, and she has no soul. Her problems get exponentially worse when she kills a vampire and ends up immersed in a larger conspiracy that threatens the supernatural community of Victorian England.

This book has been on my radar since January and having a fairly good idea that I would love it, I saved reading it for a while. I was not disappointed. Carriger's book is a wonderful piece of fiction. Her world-building is elegantly done, her characters are nicely defined, and the plot is suspenseful. But best of all, she is funny. The dry wit that is the backbone of the novel had me smirking and laughing out loud throughout. A delightful piece of fun that mixes genres adeptly. I'm looking forward to reading Alexia's subsequent adventures.

Rating: ****

June
Books read : 8 (6 physical, 2 audio)
Re-reads: 3
Off My Shelf read: Soulless
Favourite new to me read(s): Silverborn: The Mystery of Morrigan Crow

And I've broken the streak of reading 11 books a month. Attributable both to reading a couple chunksters and listening to some longer audiobooks.

And with the second quarter of the year wrapped up, it seems like a grand time for a new thread. Come on over and join me!