It's Monday! What Are You Reading? (September 6, 2021)

 It's Monday, What Are You Reading? is now hosted by Kathryn at The Book Date.

It’s Monday!  What Are You Reading is where we gather to share what we have read this past week and what we plan to read this week.  It is a great way to network with other bloggers, see some wonderful blogs, and put new titles on your reading list.

I will be combining my YA and adult reading and purchases on this one weekly roundup.

Other Than Reading...

This has been another quiet week. I did go outside and walk a couple of days and walked on my treadmill a couple more. I still need to find a way to fit more exercise into my lifestyle. Brief walks around the grocery store aren't doing the job. And winter is coming...

I have been busy listening to the Heartstrikers series by Rachel Aaron and am enjoying them. Each one seems to be getting longer than the one before. The first one was 13 hours and 31 minutes; the second was 18 hours and 35 minutes; the third was 18 hours and 41 minutes; the fourth is 21 hours and 25 minutes; the fifth will be only 13 hours and 12 minutes. I do walk or play computer games while listening but it's still a major time commitment. 

I tried a new recipe this week for lasagna rollups which my brother and I both enjoyed. I tried to make it healthier by making my own marinara sauce and using some Italian Sausage crumbles that I made a while ago but still it had lots and lots of cheese and even the low-fat versions still add substantial fat and sodium. It did make four meals though - one for later in the week and two for the freezer. 

This coming week I have an oil change scheduled which I think is silly since I only have 1200 miles on my car. I'm leasing the car and they strongly recommend oil changes every six months regardless of miles driven. I'm a few months late for this oil change as it is. I've had the car since March 2020 and have only filled the gas tank four times.

I haven't decided what I'm going to be reading next week beyond finishing the Heartstriker series and reading the new In Death novel. I should look for something that has been on my TBR pile for a while. I'm (very) gradually lowering my physical TBR stack. I did box up a couple of series that have been on the pile for a while but that I have completely lost interest in reading. I could easily get rid of quite a few more. My next task is figuring out what to do with the books I'm culling. The Public Library would take them for their Friends' Annual Sale but it means driving downtown, finding parking, paying for parking, and carrying bags of books to the Returns Desk. Way too much work!

August Report

I read 34 books in August with a total of 12,018 pages. Twelve were review books and 20 were audiobooks. Sixteen of the books I read were rereads and nothing came off my long-term TBR pile. Nineteen of the books I read this month were either paranormal or urban fantasy and 14 were in the mystery/thriller category.

I added 49 books to my stack this past month. Included were 20 audiobooks and 11 review books. I still have 35 of them marked TBR. My total TBR stack sits at 2352 and my review stack at 27.

Read Last Week

If you can't wait until the review shows up on my blog, reviews are posted to LibraryThing and Goodreads as soon as I write them (usually right after I finish reading a book.)

• Grave Reservations by Cherie Priest (Review; October 26) -- Fun psychic mystery with engaging characters. My revew will be posted on October 20.
• Crime & Punctuation by Kaitlyn Dunnett (Mine; Audiobook) -- Interesting beginning to a series where a 68-year-old freelance editor moves back to her hometown and solves mysteries. My review will be posted on October 26.
• Scales & Sensibility by Stephanie Burgis (Mine) -- The beginning of a Regency Paranormal Romance series was an entertaining story with shades of Jane Austen but with dragons. My review will be posted on October 4.

• Archangel's Light by Nalini Singh (Review; October 26) -- Latest in the Guild Hunter series tells the long story of Illium and Aodhan. My review will be posted on October 21.
• Buried in a Bog by Sheila Connolly (Mine; Audiobook) -- Maura Donovan heads to Ireland to fulfill the last request of her grandmother in Boston and finds a mystery and a family. My review will be posted on October 30.

• Nice Dragons Finish Last by Rachel Aaron (Mine; Audiobook) -- First in an urban fantasy series with dragons. My review will be posted on September 9.
• One Good Dragon Deserves Another by Rachel Aaron (Mine; Audiobook) -- Second in the Heartstriker Urban Fantasy series. My review will be posted on September 16.
• No Good Dragon Goes Unpunished by Rachel Aaron (Mine; Audiobook) -- Third in the Heartstriker series. My review will be posted on September 23.

Currently

• A Dragon of a Different Color by Rachel Aaron (Mine; Audiobook) -- 4th in the Heartstriker series.

Next Week

• Last Dragon Standing by Rachel Aaron (Mine; Audiobook)
• My Copy of Forgotten in Death by J. D. Robb should download to my Kindle Tuesday night.

Reviews Posted

• Striking Range by Margaret Mizushima
• A Fire in the Night by Christopher Swann

• Tinker by Wen Spencer
• Murder by the Bookend by Laura Gail Black

Want to See What I Added to My Stack Last Week?

Review:

• The Shadow of Memory by Connie Berry (May 10)

Audiobooks:

• Surrender by Amanda Quick (Kindle Daily Deal and I added the audiobook)
• The Fire's Stone by Tanya Huff (The Kindle and Audiobook were each $1.99)

Kindle:

• The Art of Theft by Sherry Thomas (Kindle for $1.99)
• Scales and Sensibility by Stephanie Burgis (Free since I support the author's Patreon)

What was your week like?