The Sunday Post 38; It's Monday! What are you reading? 38

 The Sunday Post - a chance for bloggers to have a catch-up - is hosted by Kimberly, here: https://caffeinatedbookreviewer.com/ and It's Monday! What are you reading is hosted by Kathryn, here: https://thebookdate.wordpress.com/

Let's see ... no quiz last week as the last one for the year was the week before.

Work happened to me though despite my best efforts. 

All of my Christmas shopping is done and wrapped. There's only the 3 of us, and we'll just have a roast chicken dinner tomorrow and a quiet day. I'll get a new book, so will likely spend the day reading. 

Boxing Day is a holiday here as well, so I don't have work until Wednesday.

Spawn and I went to the library yesterday, and then watched Get Santa, which was fun. I also watched Hercule Poirot's Christmas - the one with Sir David Suchet. 

Today Spawn hung out with a friend for a bit, and I watched A Christmas Carol, which I do every year. I watched the Jim Carrey animated version, which isn't bad.  My brother and sister-in-law came for their annual flying Christmas Eve visit, and I've basically been watching Star Trek: TNG in between. I've also been snacking - I finally found cherries (it's summer here) and it's never quite Christmas without cherries.

I'm still reading Labyrinth's Heart, and I'm hoping to finish it this week. And speaking of Agatha Christie, I'm reading Three-Act Tragedy as well.

How about you? How's your week? What are you reading?

And Meri Kirihimete - Merry Christmas!

The Sunday Post 37; It's Monday! What are you reading? 37

 

The Sunday Post - a chance for a catch-up - is hosted by Kimberly, here: https://caffeinatedbookreviewer.com/ and It's Monday! What are you reading? is hosted by Kathryn, here: https://thebookdate.wordpress.com/

Let's see ... .capitalism informed me that Netherfield has been let at last, so I went to work as usual because I remembered I'm not a young, single Jane Austen heroine but a middle-aged modern woman who has to earn her own living.

Anyway. We won at quiz on Wednesday, which was nice, as it was the last one of the year. There was meant to be a work do on Friday night but one of the organisers contracted COVID so that's been postponed until next year.

On Saturday Spawn and I went to the library, and also on a quest to the gaming store, both were completed successfully.

Today we finally put up the tree - it's not much to look at but it's festive and I'm happy.

Now here I am, waiting for dinner to finish cooking.

I gave up on Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow - I'm sure it's a very good book but I could not stand Dov, and didn't want to spend 500 pages with such an awful character. So I returned the digital copy to the library.

I also had to return Making it So, as it had holds on it, so I just need to wait until it becomes available again. In the meantime, I'm still bingeing Star Trek: TNG.

I still have Labyrinth’s Heart on the go, and I'm about halfway through that and seriously the whole series is SO GOOD. Once I've finished it, I'll do a post on the whole thing, I think. I'm also reading Three Act Tragedy by Agatha Christie. I know I must have read it, but I cannot for the life of me remember any of it.

How about you? How's your week? What are you reading?

Review - Hell Bent

 

 Hell Bent by Leigh Bardugo is the sequel to Ninth House.

Alex Stern has survived not only her first year at Yale, but her first year involved with the magic and mystery entwined with the eight Houses of the Ivy League school.

At the end of Ninth House, Alex discovers that Darlington - her mentor and trainer in the way of the Ninth House - Lethe House - a kind of admin organisation designed to ensure the other houses don't abuse their magic privileges - is trapped in Hell.

Alex then decides what she needs to do is break Darlington out of Hell.

Things do not go smoothly.

Alex is contending with mysterious deaths - again - the other Houses (although they don't feature as prominently here as they did in Ninth House) and her own dark past suddenly rising up to haunt her.

Hell Bent does take a  bit to get going. But once it does, all you can really do is hang on for the ride.

I honestly think Alex is one of my favourite fictional characters this year. Her, and Dawes. Dawes has a lot of growth and she's great. 

I haven't read Leigh Bardugo's YA series, so I have no idea how this one stacks up. 

But. I do know it's a whole lot of fun to read.

The Sunday Post 36; It's Monday! What are you reading? 36

 

The Sunday Post - a chance for a catch-up with other bloggers - is hosted by Kimberly, here: https://caffeinatedbookreviewer.com/ and It's Monday! What are you reading? is hosted by Kathryn, here: https://thebookdate.wordpress.com/

Capitalism once again trapped me with its seductive whispers about paying the mortgage and eating food, so I went to work. I didn't marry rich when I was young and skinny and we haven't won Lotto, so working for a living and feeding the machine it is.

I FINALLY managed to corral Lily into kitty jail and take her to the vet. She has hyperthyroidism and needed blood tests. Luckily her thyroid is still stable, so she doesn't need to go back for another 3 months. She was Not Impressed with the jail part, but oddly doesn't seem to mind being at the vet that much.

I did a spot of Christmas shopping yesterday, and just have a few more small things to get for Spawn. 

My sister has COVID, and she's a nurse, so she's isolating at home, so I went on a mission of mercy to the supermarket for her on Thursday and today as well. 

Apart from that I haven't done very much. I went to my friend's last night and we watched TV and stitched as usual.

Today Spawn and I watched the final David Tennant/Catherine Tate Doctor Who special and it was SO GOOD, I'm very happy with the show right now. 

I also did some stitching and watched The Batman, which is a good movie, if a tad long at just under 3 hours.

I finished Hell Bent by Leigh Bardugo, which did take a minute to get going, but once it did it was a great ride.

I'm still reading Making it So, and I've also started Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin and enjoying it quite a lot. I'm ALSO reading Labyrinth's Heart by M A Carrick which is the final book in the Rook & Rose trilogy. It's SUCH a good series, but I never see anyone anywhere talking about it. I might do a separate post on that one, I think.

How about you? How's your week? What are you reading?

The Sunday Post 35; It's Monday! What are you reading? 35

 

The Sunday Post - a chance for bloggers to have a catch-up - is hosted by Kimberly, here: https://caffeinatedbookreviewer.com/ and It's Monday! What are you reading? Is hosted by Kathryn, here: https://thebookdate.wordpress.com/

Let's see.

Once again, I fell for the trap capitalism set for me and I had to go to work in order to pay bills, eat and live in general. One of these days I will escape the maw, but not today.

The team came second at quiz on Wednesday, which we were pleased with, because we felt we had done far worse than we had. 

Nothing else of particular note happened, which is absolutely fine with me. 

I spent my Friday night stitching and watching Star Trek: The Next Generation, which I greatly enjoyed.

Lily again evaded our efforts to take her to the vet for blood tests, which was. Stressful. So I rescheduled the appointment YET AGAIN.

I went to my friend's last night for our usual TV and stitching session, and now here I am on Sunday morning.

I'm about to go make my sandwiches for tomorrow, and some lunch for today. Spawn and I are going to watch some Dr Who, and then I'm meeting a friend for coffee.

I'm still reading Hell Bent by Leigh Bardugo, but will likely finish it today so I can return it to my workmate tomorrow. I'm also still reading Making It So by Patrick Stewart, which I'm greatly enjoying.

How about you? How's your week? What are you reading?