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Weekly Monday Round-up (August 29, 2016)



Book I finished reading last  week:
The Affair of the Mutilated Mink by James Anderson.
(A review is in the works)


Book I started reading last week but haven't finished:
Show Me the Magic: Travels Round Benin by Taxi by Annie Caulfield



Last week's DNF books:
The Bloodied Cravat by Rosemary Stevens. It always upsets me when I can't finish a book, but this one was boring, so I saw no reason to finish it after I gave it the 50 page test (see the Terminology Glossary).


The step-back for
Lord of Fire. Delicious!






Lord of Fire by Gaelen Foley started out well but I lost interest after three chapters and set it aside. I may pick it up later and finish it, as it wasn't so much the book itself but my mood that was wrong. I'm more inclined to read non-fiction than novels these days.
 

 Last week's book haul:


  • Tulip had been on my TBR list since I first heard of it. 
  • The Canada guide book was a nice addition to my guide book collection (more of that anon).
  • I decided to buy The Stolen Child after reading the blurb.
  • The British Museum book is a photo guide to the museum and will be good to have the next time I visit it.
  • Courage at Sea was a freebie, and I can never resist adventure stories, especially if they are true.
  • Crazy Quilting is a good addition to my collection of quilting books. 
  • Finally, Tapestries of Life, which is a collection of quotations and poems, will make a nice bathroom read.




Reading challenge progress:
I have now read 4 of 6 books for the What's in a Name challenge and posted reviews for three of them (I'm writing the fourth). I have read 3 books for the Nonfiction Reading Challenge, which means I have 2 more to go before I can move up to the next level.


DVDs I watched last week: 

I remembered a gift card I had at a bookshop and went there with the plan of using it, but couldn't find any books I wanted to own, so I bought The Hobbit trilogy box set and have been watching the appendixes for the first film. I plan to finish watching all the appendixes before I tackle the films. I don't think I'll make it a marathon, but I do plan to watch The Hobbit films and then The Lord of the Rings films.







  Earworm that got stuck in my head:
Whistle for the Choir by The Fratellis was stuck in my head from Tuesday night through  all of Wednesday. I suppose it could be worse: it could have been Macarena or the Ketchup Song.



Other things I did last week:
Went to a big family get-together on Saturday. I swear I didn't know half the people there, and those I did were all around my age and older. We all got along splendidly none the less. 

Comments

maria helena said…
I shouldn't have watched that video. Now I have Whistle for the Choir stuck in my head. Hope you have a great week!
Wait. Is the entire Hobbit finished and out? Or is that just in your country? Or did I miss something?! Eek.

http://readerbuzz.blogspot.com/2016/08/my-twentieth-first-day-of-school-as.html
Beth F said…
I need to get that boxed Hobbit set!
Bibliophile said…
Maria Helena, hehe, may I should have included a warning ;-)

Deb, The Hobbit is indeed finished and the documentary material that's included with the boxed set is highly interesting. I'm still hoping for a one film cut of the story, but that's probably a forlorn hope.

Beth, do. It's worth it if only for the documentary material. The movies are just a bonus.
Greg said…
Aw, that's too bad about The Bloodied Cravat. I always like those covers where you see the country house grounds through a window. :) And that Hobbit set looks nice (and massive!). I'm ashamed to admit I've only seen a few minutes of the first Hobbit movie- I need to watch all three. I should set aside a day and binge them maybe. :)
Bibliophile said…
Greg, I think it was just my mood. At another time I might actually enjoy the book. The covers are quite gorgeous and I think they all feature the samecat in various different scenes.

As for The Hobbit, I got this particular set mostly for the documentary material. The set contains the extended versions of what were already quite bloated films. It is my hope that the extra material in the films themselves consists mostly of new scenes rather than extended scenes that were in the cinematic version, because some of them were already too long (e.g. the escape from the elves' stronghold in Mirkwood).
Kathryn T said…
I went to one Hobbit movie just because they made here in NZ by Peter Jackson who grew up near where i live! I enjoyed it, but can't say I am a fan but I know much of the world is!
Bibliophile said…
Kathryn, I felt the films were hugely bloated, and I would like to see them condensed into one nice, tight film. The documentaries that come with them are lovely and I have learned quite a lot not just about film-making, but about New Zealand as well.
Nise' said…
You are doing great on your challenges.

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