Happy New Years Eve

Tuesday

I have a new intention for the coming year. 

Each day a Shakespeare scene in the morning and one in the evening followed by viewing that scene performed via YouTube. I started last night. The scene was from MacBeth. Then I watched it done by very young Judi Dench and Ian McKellan. Very sexed up. Then I did another performance that was still handsy but made more plot sense. This morning was the epilogue from The Tempest. The performance was by the great John Gielgud. I'm hoping doing it this way will help me keep doing it. 

My usual New Year's Eve tradition is to watch Casablanca. I may have to do it tomorrow. 

No plans for food or celebrating. We've got leftovers. Steve has a cold and didn't sleep well last night so he'll probably sleep a lot (reminds me of NYE 1999). Sprints tonight until 10pm so I can see EST hit midnight. 

Have a happy New Year

Much love,

PK the Bookeemonster

Sitting. Staring at nothing. Monday.

Monday

The weekend was pretty ok. I worked on the gift crochet project. The new garage door is looking better every time I look at it. And ... Steve has gotten sick. 

On the reading front, I have always had a strange habit of putting extra meaning into the first book I finish in the new year. 

Here's my choice. Started a nonfiction, WHAT W.H. AUDEN CAN DO FOR YOU by Alexander McCall Smith. Stand alone.

When facing a moral dilemma, Isabel Dalhousie — Edinburgh philosopher, amateur detective, and title character of a series of novels by best-selling author Alexander McCall Smith — often refers to the great twentieth-century poet W. H. Auden. This is no accident: McCall Smith has long been fascinated by Auden. Indeed, the novelist, best known for his No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series, calls the poet not only the greatest literary discovery of his life but also the best of guides on how to live. In this book, McCall Smith has written a charming personal account about what Auden has done for him — and what he just might do for you. Part self-portrait, part literary appreciation, the book tells how McCall Smith first came across the poet's work in the 1970s, while teaching law in Belfast, a violently divided city where Auden's "September 1, 1939," a poem about the outbreak of World War II, strongly resonated. McCall Smith goes on to reveal how his life has related to and been inspired by other Auden poems ever since. For example, he describes how he has found an invaluable reflection on life's transience in "As I Walked Out One Evening," while "The More Loving One" has provided an instructive meditation on unrequited love. McCall Smith shows how Auden can speak to us throughout life, suggesting how, despite difficulties and change, we can celebrate understanding, acceptance, and love for others. An enchanting story about how art can help us live, this book will appeal to McCall Smith's fans and anyone curious about Auden.

Published 2013; 152 pages.

It's that time of year again. New Year, plans, goals, resolutions. I'm going back on my food plan however, my body knows the Ridiculously Big Salad trick so I'm doing the Eat Like a Bear warm food options - lots of soups and stuff. Growing my hair out as best I can. Writing. Crocheting projects for myself after the gifts in February and March. Also, as previously mentioned, I'm planning on practicing deliberate reading; reading the chunky monkeys on my TBR, reading what I own, and having a smaller books-read goal. 

Though I'm currently reading four books.

No sprints tonight. Crochet. Reading. Bedtime.

Have a good day

Much love,

PK the Bookeemonster

Another 2 days off? Run for it!

TGIF

I made the Bookeemonsters January thumbnails for the YouTube lives. 

Yeah, I like them a lot.

Taking this book out for a test drive for possible scavenger hunt prompt. KNIFE SKILLS FOR BEGINNERS by Orlando Murrin. 1st in a new series.

“Some people are natural dancers, others marvelous in bed, but—not wishing to boast—I’m good with a knife. Most chefs are.”

The Chester Square Cookery School in the heart of London offers students a refined setting in which to master the fine art of choux pastry and hone their hollandaise. True, the ornate mansion doesn’t quite sparkle the way it used to—a feeling chef Paul Delamare is familiar with these days. Worn out and newly broke, he’d be tempted to turn down the request to fill in as teacher for a week-long residential course, if anyone other than Christian Wagner were asking. Christian is one of Paul’s oldest friends, as well as the former recipient of two Michelin stars and host of Pass the Gravy! Thanks to a broken arm, he’s unable to teach the upcoming session himself, and recruits Paul as stand-in. The students are a motley crew, most of whom seem more interested in ogling the surroundings (including handsome Christian) than learning the best ways to temper chocolate. Yet despite his misgivings, Paul starts to enjoy imparting his extensive knowledge to the recruits—until someone turns up dead, murdered with a cleaver Paul used earlier that day to prep a pair of squabs. Did one of his students take the lesson on knife techniques too much to heart, or was this the result of a long-simmering grudge? In between clearing his own name and teaching his class how to perfectly poach a chicken, he’ll have to figure out who’s the killer, and avoid being the next one to get butchered.

Published 2024; 320 pages.

I've also started A DEADLY VOW by Carla Simpson. 5th of 11 in historical mystery series. 

A THIRTY YEAR OLD MURDER...

Old Town, Edinburgh, in a squalid tenement where poverty, rats, and disease are rampant, a young woman who worked in a local tavern lies dying. Just another number and bound for a pauper's grave in Greyfriar's kirkyard

A BOY FOUND STANDING IN HIS MOTHER'S BLOOD...

Alone, his grandmother the only family left, young Angus Brodie hides in the shadows nearby, the bronze medallion his dying mother pressed into his hand clenched in a tight fist as the constables carry her body from the tenement. And a name overheard--the man who was there that night, seen by the woman who collected the rents. As his mother lay dying, Angus Brodie vowed that he would find the one responsible for her death no matter how long it took.

Published 2023; 275 pages. Of course, January is Bookeemonsters MidWinter HistMyst so gotta crank up those. 

And also ...... 

.....I've been holding off as long as possible but ....

... and I've read some in between to try to stall ....

But I'm probably going to be starting the next book in the Stormlight Archive series by Brandon Sanderson.

Six years ago, the Assassin in White, a hireling of the inscrutable Parshendi, assassinated the Alethi king on the very night a treaty between men and Parshendi was being celebrated. So began the Vengeance Pact among the highprinces of Alethkar and the War of Reckoning against the Parshendi. Now the Assassin is active again, murdering rulers all over the world of Roshar, using his baffling powers to thwart every bodyguard and elude all pursuers. Among his prime targets is Highprince Dalinar, widely considered the power behind the Alethi throne. His leading role in the war would seem reason enough, but the Assassin's master has much deeper motives. Expected by his enemies to die the miserable death of a military slave, Kaladin survived to be given command of the royal bodyguards, a controversial first for a low-status "darkeyes." Now he must protect the king and Dalinar from every common peril as well as the distinctly uncommon threat of the Assassin, all while secretly struggling to master remarkable new powers that are somehow linked to his honorspren, Syl. Brilliant but troubled Shallan strives along a parallel path. Despite being broken in ways she refuses to acknowledge, she bears a terrible burden: to somehow prevent the return of the legendary Voidbringers and the civilization-ending Desolation that will follow. The secrets she needs can be found at the Shattered Plains, but just arriving there proves more difficult than she could have imagined. Meanwhile, at the heart of the Shattered Plains, the Parshendi are making an epochal decision. Hard pressed by years of Alethi attacks, their numbers ever shrinking, they are convinced by their war leader, Eshonai, to risk everything on a desperate gamble with the very supernatural forces they once fled. The possible consequences for Parshendi and humans alike, indeed, for Roshar itself, are as dangerous as they are incalculable.

Published 2014; 1088 pages (come on, Sanderson, only 1088 pages?)

Sprints tomorrow afternoon. Crocheting gift and reading. Making a pot a soup. Taco salad for dinner one of these nights. 

Have a good weekend

Much love,

PK the Bookeemonster

Would you rather...? Yes.

Thursday. I totally enjoyed having the two days off. And we're back again for two days.

I finished and gifted the afghan for our neighbor Mark. I left it on his doorstep. 

I finished SEEKING SOLACE by M.L. Hamilton. 1st of four in series. I wanted to give it two stars but because it's Christmas, I gave it three.  The MC solved a 30-year-old cold case in a handful of days. It was just too short for a story like this - under 200 pages - so there wasn't much development as there could have been. 

I started THE CAREFUL USE OF COMPLIMENTS by Alexander McCall Smith. 4th in series. 

In addition to being the nosiest and most sympathetic philosopher you are likely to meet, Isabel is now a mother. Charlies, her newborn son, presents her with a myriad wonders of a new life, and doting father Jamie presents her with an intriguing proposal: marriage. In the midst of all this, she receives a disturbing letter announcing that she has been ousted as editor of the Review of Applied Ethics by the ambitious Professor Dove. None of these things, however, in any way diminshes Isabel's curiosity. And when she attends an art auction, she finds an irresistible puzzle: two paintings attributed to a now-deceased artist appear on the market at the same time, and both of them exhibit some unusual characteristics. Are these paintings forgeries? This proves to be sufficient fodder for Isabel's inquisitiveness. So she begins an investigation... and soon finds herself diverging from her philosophical musings about fatherhood onto a path that leads her into the mysteries of the art world and the soul of an artist.

Published 2007; 260 pages.

Perhaps I'll read a historical mystery after this one. 

Sprints tonight. Back to the crocheting February gift and March wedding projects. And I'll read.

Have a good day

Much love,

PK the Bookeemonster

Merry Christmas Eve Eve

Monday. 

I finished THE WAY OF KINGS by Brandon Sanderson. 5 stars. 

I'm facetiously saying it's a 1100 page meet cute between two of the main characters. I'm definitely reading the next one ... in fact, yes, I'll be reading the entire series to date in 2025, I'm sure of it. I don't quite know what to read next. I skim read ELIZABETH SAILS by Owens. Main character was too much. 

In the meantime, a little early perhaps but here's what I read in 2024:

I'll do the tops and disappointments in the coming days. 

It's looking like we'll have tomorrow off as well as Wednesday. I won't be doing a post for those days. I also won't be doing a morning show those days because not much has been published this week other than cozy mysteries. I will be having sprints as regularly scheduled. I suppose I'll be checking in with Santa's flight on Christmas Eve via Norad. So reading, crocheting, munching, napping, sprinting, etc. 

Have a good Christmas or Hanukkah!

Much love,

PK the Bookeemonster