It's Monday! What Are You Reading? (February 6, 2023)

 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.

Want to See What I Added to My Stack? links to Stacking the Shelves hosted by Marlene at Reading Reality.

Other Than Reading...

This was another quiet winter week. We had bone-chilling cold in the middle of the week. The lowest windchill number I saw was -45F but that happened in the middle of the night. Temperatures are much better now. They are even predicting a high near 37F for Wednesday. However, there is a chance for light snow today and Monday. It isn't snowing at my house as I write this Sunday late morning though. 

I had a great reading week. I also finished setting up my posts for March. I wrote my monthly State of the Stack post for February 1 and saw that I had a really big number of March releases on my stack. While mostly concentrating on review books until the March ones are read and reviewed, I will be taking a break when Encore in Death by J. D. Robb arrives on my Kindle Tuesday. 

I made Chicken Parmesan one night this past week and my brother made a beef stir-fry another night giving us a sort of international menu this past week. Today he's cooking a pork roast that was put in the freezer in 2020. Things do sometimes get lost in our two freezers since we mostly pull out the same things (hamburger, pork chops, chicken, and salmon) when we are planning our meals. He found a new recipe on the internet for the pork which he wants to try. I'm okay with that as long as he does the cooking.

My audiobook for the week is a Classic Science Fiction title that has been on my stack November 6, 1997, and which I haven't read before. I recently added the Kindle and Audiobook since the print is pretty small in my paperback copy. At more than 19 hours, it will take me a while to complete.

January Reading

I read 42 books in January with 13950 pages. My total included 26 of my books of which nine were from the TBR Pile (added to my collection before 2022) and six were rereads. Also among the number of my books were 14 audiobooks (164 and a quarter hours). And I read 16 review books. 

According to LibraryThing, I added 51 books to my stack in January which is a bit misleading because nine of them were books I found on my physical TBR shelves that weren't on LibraryThing. Most of them were actually added to the stack when I added all my books to LibraryThing in 2008 according to their publication dates. 

Of the eight audiobooks I added, four were audiobook copies of books I already own and have read or am reading like Downbelow Station. While I haven't actually listened to the audiobook, I don't put these additional formats in the To Read collection. 

I added six new review titles too in January. They all have May, June or July release dates. 

Not including the review books, I have 36 January additions that are still on the TBR pile. My total TBR pile is 2420 books tall though 2012 are actually Kindle copies and 151 are audiobooks. I don't know how many of these are unique titles because I often buy both the Kindle and audiobook versions of a title. And, not infrequently, I buy a Kindle copy to supplement a print copy since I prefer Kindle copies to print books these days. 

I did some additional clean-up of my LibraryThing account in January too. I deleted all the books in the Read but Unowned collection from before 2020. Most were review books but there were others that I had borrowed or read and decided not to keep. My entire LibraryThing account now stands at 6867 books. That collection was useful mainly because it kept me from buying books I'd already read but didn't have a copy of. I think that if I read it before 2020 and didn't recall doing so, it would likely be okay to buy a new copy if it caught my eye again.

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.)

• Dark in Death by J. D. Robb (Mine; Reread) -- This was an excellent episode in the Eve Dallas/In Death series. 
• Blood Red by Mercedes Lackey (Audiobook; mine since September 28, 2021) -- This episode in the Elemental Masters fantasy series starts out as a retelling of Little Red Riding Hood and expands upon that story. My review will be posted on February 21.
• Cold-Blooded Liar by Karen Rose (Review; February 28) -- Excellent start to a new romantic suspense series. My review will be posted on February 23)

• The Fire's Stone by Tanya Huff (Audiobook; Mine since August 29, 2021) -- Excellent fantasy/coming of age story. My review will be posted on February 23.
• Marked in Flesh by Anne Bishop (Mine; Audiobook Reread)

• Standing Dead by Margaret Mizushima (Review; March 7) -- 8th in the Timber Creek K-9 Mysteries. Nice addition to the series. My review will be posted on February 28.
• The Bullet Catch by John Gaspard (Audiobook; Mine since August 3, 2021) - Nice mystery set in Minneapolis with a magician as the amateur detective. My review will be posted on February 28.
• Royal Blood by Aimee Carter (Review; March 7) -- This excellent YA alternate history title is the story of the King of England's 17-year-old illegitimate daughter who has to solve a mystery when she's dumped into the Royal Family. My review will be posted March 1.

• What Have We Done by Alex Finlay (Review; March 7) -- Excellent new thriller. My review will be posted on March 2.
• Smoke and Mirrors by Barbara Michaels (Mine) -- Somewhat dated romantic suspense from an author I used to have on auto-buy. My review will be posted on February 25.

Currently

• Downbelow Station by MarcC. J. Cherryh -- I own the paperback and have since before 2008; I also have the Kindle and Audible versions. I have just begun to listen to this Science Fiction Classic. 
• A Sinister Revenge by Deanna Raybourn (Review; March 7)

Next Week

• Red Queen by Juan Gomez-Jurado (Review; March 14)
• Good Dog, Bad Cop by David Rosenfelt (Review; March 14)
• Bones Under the Ice by Mary Ann Miller (Review; March 21)

• Relative Fortunes by Marlow Benn (Audiobook; mine since November 3, 2020)
• Death at Victoria Dock by Kerry Greenwood (Audiobook; mine since January 3, 2021)
• Not That Kind of Ever After by Luci Adams (Review; March 14)

Reviews Posted

• The Cipher by Isabella Maldonado
• Wined and Died in New Orleans by Ellen Byron
• Three Can Keep a Secret by M. E. Hilliard

• Murder at an Irish Castle by Ellie Brannigan
• Of Manners and Murder by Anastasia Hastings
• Every Missing Girl by Leanne Kale Sparks

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

Review:

• North of Nowhere by Allison Brennan (Review; August 8)

Bought:

• Primary Inversion by Catherine Asaro (BookBub, $1.99)
• Scraps of Paper by Kathryn Meyer Griffiths (BookBub, Free)
• Smoke and Mirrors by Barbara Michaels (Kindle Daily Deal, $1.99)

What was your week like?