Sunday Post/Mailbox Monday 3/19/23: Random Updates and Crochet

the bookworm crochet, Otis , , ,

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimba @ Caffeinated Book Reviewer. It’s a chance to share news. A post to recap the past week, showcase books and things we have received and share news about what is coming up for the week on our blog.

Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came in their mailbox during the last week. Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles and humongous wish lists…

Another week has flown right by, I’m so glad March is more than halfway over with. I had a busy week so my blogging took the backburner. Last Sunday I volunteered my morning with work to pack meals for the hungry. There were hundreds of volunteers and we packaged thousands of meals to be shipped to Ukraine and Newark, NJ as well which felt awesome. We had snow mid-week and it didn’t stick so that was good.

On Thursday I got my hair ends trimmed at the salon after work. I took Friday off to give myself a 3-day weekend so I spent most of Friday crocheting and watching movies.

Onto my bookish updates….

in my mailbox:
Nothing! But that’s good, I need to catch up on my current books.

recently on the blog:
Nothing! I’m hoping to blog more this upcoming week. I’ve been in a reading slump and reading in slow motion since last month.

watching
The Last of Us season finale gutted me. I’m ready for season 2 please.
Since I was off on Friday I lounged around the house and re-watched Hostiles and Misery because there’s something comforting about re-watching favorites.


crochet:
I finished my hexagon cardigan, its super cozy. I’m already planning on making another one in blue and I need to choose alternating colors for it. I also made Otis a matching sweater since I had yarn leftover and he looks so cute in his. I still need to model my cardigan along with Otis.






This is how I get Otis to model for me, his tiny treats lol.



That wraps up my updates for now. How was your week?


Disclaimer: Nothing in this post is available for download. The photos here are my own and not be to be removed from this post.

Sunday Post/Mailbox Monday 3/12/23: Updates and Crochet

the bookworm crochet, discussion, Otis , , ,

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimba @ Caffeinated Book Reviewer. It’s a chance to share news. A post to recap the past week, showcase books and things we have received and share news about what is coming up for the week on our blog.

Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came in their mailbox during the last week. Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles and humongous wish lists…


Happy weekend, I hope this post finds you well. This past week really dragged on. At least we had some sunny albeit very cold and windy days and we had pretty flurries yesterday. Also of note, I tried Wendy’s breakfast for the first time yesterday and their coffee and French toast sticks were very delish so now I’ve found a new favorite thing.

Here’s Otis at his favorite spot by the window while I was typing up this post on my laptop this morning. He likes to sit here on his blanket for napping as well as people watching. It’s nice being Otis lol.

Onto my updates….


recently on the blog:

I shared the Bookish People I’d Like to Meet.


I shared my thoughts on Our Wolves by Luanne Castle.

in my mailbox:

Raw Flesh Flash: The Incomplete, Unfinished Documenting Of by Donovan Hufnagle arrived for a May review.


watching:
The Last of Us continues to be really good and the season finale is coming up.
I watched the documentary The Plane That disappeared about the Boeing 777 that seemed to disappear out of thin air in 2014. This was a sad and scary documentary, and I had no idea so many conspiracy theories were involved with this. It is definitely nuts that they don’t really know what happened.
I also watched Fall which although you need to suspend disbelief for was pretty good. However, they left one major thing unexplained at the end which left me feeling cheated.


crochet:
My hexagon cardigan is coming along nicely and I’m nearly done. I finished one sleeve and am working on the second sleeve now. I added ribbing on the cuff to make it fitted to my wrist while also giving it some stretch.




That wraps up my updates for now I do have a review coming this week finally. What are you up to? Reading? Watching? Enjoy your week ahead!

Disclaimer: Nothing in this post is available for download. The photos here are my own and not be to be removed from this post.

Our Wolves by Luanne Castle

the bookworm book reviews, discussion, poetry , , ,

source: review copy courtesy of Poetic Book Tours
title: Our Wolves
author: Luanne Castle (Twitter)
genre: poetry/nonfiction
published: 2023
pages: 37
first line: Inside the cabin it’s woodsy and warm near the woodstove.

about
In Our Wolves, poet Luanne Castle navigates the timeless story of “Little Red Riding Hood” in a compelling collection of sharp, memorable poetry. Familiar tales are ageless for a reason. Their magic is that they can easily be transformed to explore subjects of abuse, danger, sexuality, self-sufficiency, and interpersonal relationships in a way that makes these challenging topics palatable to readers. Trying to find the reasoning behind Red’s traumatic adventure, as well as using it to comment on contemporary events, Castle creates taut narratives and sympathetic monologues to show how the story shapeshifts with the teller. Here, we hear from the wolf, the huntsman/woodcutter, Grandmother, townspeople, and Red herself. Not just a victimized or innocent child, Castle’s Red also appears in wiser (and sometimes older) incarnations that are knowing, rebellious, resilient, and clever. This technique subverts stereotypical conventions and shows that Red’s story “is not so very different from yours / and yours and yours and yours and yours.” Filled with atmospheric power, dynamic portrayals, and bright imagery, Our Wolves will haunt you long after you’ve returned from its woods. -Christine Butterworth-McDermott, author of The Spellbook of Fruit & Flowers

my thoughts:

I love reading poetry and when I heard about Our Wolves by Luanne Castle it sounded like an interesting collection to enjoy. These poems tell the story of Little Red Riding hood and the characters from the children’s fairy tale. The story told through this set is a coming-of-age story for Red and the lessons she learns in life.

“Fools need classes. So do the so-called smart
girls who answer long equations on the board.
How do they know not to trust their hearts
if they aren’t warned by books and teachers?”- from School for Girls Who Shouldn’t Trust

 I enjoyed reading Our Wolves very much. As usual when reading poetry, I read the poems twice and out loud to get a feel for them. I recommend this collection, I especially like the imagery Luanne Castle creates and I could easily envision Red, the wolf and her grandmother as I read. I also like that Red Riding Hood is portrayed as a strong female lead here, the quote below was my favorite.

“What is a wolf if not
the hungry wildness in the heart?
That feeling inborn to the girl, visceral and unexplored.”- Human Origin

Special thanks to Poetic Book Tours and Luanne Castle for making this possible! Click here for the rest of the tour stops.

Blog Tour Schedule:

March 7: The Book Lover’s Boudoir (review)

March 9: the bookworm (review)

March 13: Books Parlour (review)

March 16: Anthony Avina’s blog (review)

March 20: True Book Addict (review)

March 23: A Bookish Way of Life (review)

April 14: Impressions in Ink (review)




About the Author:
Luanne Castle lives in Arizona, next to a wash that wildlife use as a thoroughfare. She has published two full-length poetry collections, Rooted and Winged (Finishing Line Press 2022) and Doll God (Aldrich/Kelsay 2015), which won the New Mexico-Arizona Book Award for Poetry. Kin Types (Finishing Line Press 2017), a chapbook of poetry and flash nonfiction, was a finalist for the Eric Hoffer Award. Our Wolves (Alien Buddha Press 2023) is her second chapbook. Luanne’s Pushcart and Best of the Net-nominated poetry and prose have appeared in Copper Nickel, American Journal of Poetry, Pleiades, River Teeth, TAB, Verse Daily, Saranac Review, and other journals.


Disclaimer: This review is my honest opinion. I did not receive any kind of compensation for reading and reviewing this book. I am under no obligation to write a positive review. My copy of Our Wolves by Luanne Castle came via Poetic Book tours.

Top Ten Tuesday 3/7/23: Bookish People I’d Like to Meet

the bookworm discussion


Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.


Happy Tuesday. This week’s topic is another really fun one: Bookish People I’d Like To Meet (These can be authors, book characters, book bloggers/influencers, cover designers, cover models, etc.)

I’d need to time travel for some of these but a girl can dream. Here’s my list….



1. Jane Austen
She’s one of my favorites and how interesting would it be to meet her to know what her daily life was like. I’ve watched Becoming Jane so many times.

2. Ulysses S. Grant
My favorite president and he was a reader and wrote a memoir before passing away. It’s amazing we don’t know what so many of these older historical figures sounded like since tape recorders weren’t invented during their time.

3. Stephen King
I’m a huge King fan and I tried to get tickets to one of his speaking events in Massachusetts pre-pandemic. I went onto the venue website once the purchase link went live but with the amount of people trying to buy tickets at once, the site crashed. I was willing to drive the nearly 5 hours there just to hear him speak about his latest book.

4. My fellow book bloggers
And I’ve known some of you online for several years, we’ve been chatting books and visiting each other’s blog for so long. Much of my reading selection is due to my fellow blog blogging friends.


5. J.K. Rowling
I’d love to meet her, I read the HP series 2x.

6. Kahlil Gibran
The Prophet is one of my favorite books. I think a conversation with him would be really interesting.

7. Dean Koontz
I’d like to meet Dean Koontz. He seems so nice and like he has a great sense of humor.

8. Pablo Neruda
I love his poetry. My copy of Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair is well read.

9. Vincent van Gogh
How amazing would it be to speak with Van Gogh? I have a book of his insightful thoughts and quotes.

10. Emily Brontë
Wuthering Heights is a favorite classic, I want to talk about Heathcliff with her.


That wraps up my list of bookish people I’d love to meet. Who would be on your list?

Sunday Post/Mailbox Monday 3/5/23: Hello March

the bookworm crochet, discussion, Otis , , ,

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimba @ Caffeinated Book Reviewer. It’s a chance to share news. A post to recap the past week, showcase books and things we have received and share news about what is coming up for the week on our blog.

Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came in their mailbox during the last week. Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles and humongous wish lists…


Happy Sunday and happy March. We had a few inches of snow this past week but since it was the first real snowfall of the season I didn’t mind it much. It was pretty to see and I worked remotely so I didn’t have to drive out in it. I’m still waiting for Spring and warmer temps. I miss reading and crocheting outside.


onto my bookish updates….


recently on the blog:


I shared my Top 10 Favorite Thrillers for TTT. I added a few new books to my wish list also after blog hopping.



I took part in the book blast for Book Blast and Giveaway: Love You Now by Julia Kent


in my mailbox:

Author Sheila Roberts emailed me a copy of her latest Mermaid Beach for a book tour. This one looks so good.


watching:
I’m still GoT hungover. I discussed the series with my SIL this week since she watched the series a few years ago and we both had the same issues with several things and with the ending.
This week I started watching The Last of Us and it is fantastic and scary and I do have to look away during some of the scenes. I would never survive in that kind of apocalyptic setting, I’d have a better chance of surviving a regular zombie apocalypse. Have you watched this yet? New episodes are on Sundays with the last episode coming on March 12. I’m on episode 5 so far.


crochet:
I’m working on a hexagon cardigan following one of my fav crochet designer’s tutorials. I like this pattern because you make 2 matching hexagons then fold and seam them together then make the sleeves as long as you want. I’ve made one of these before but it turned out a little bit too bulky for my taste, so this time I’m using a category 3 baby yarn for the main grey color and a cotton yarn for the contrasting pink. This yarn is lighter so this will be nice for the Spring. Both left and right sides are ready now, then after I seam them together I can start making the sleeves longer and add the cuffs.





That wraps up my updates for now. I need to do a self-imposed read-a-thon. I have no reading motivation these past few weeks! What are you up to lately? Enjoy your week ahead.

I took this photo this morning of Otis on our walk by the lake.




Disclaimer: Nothing in this post is available for download. The photos here are my own and not be to be removed from this post.