Hope you all had an awesome Fourth of July/Canada Day/ordinary weekend because you don't live in these countries. Thor has decided Fourth of July is his least favorite holiday and is currently refusing to move unless offered treats. Something I didn't discover through experimentation, obviously.
Currently reading:
The Black Tulip by Alexandre Dumas: I knew I had to read this as soon as I saw Chrisbookarama's review at The Project Gutenberg Project. So far there's a lot of history and politics. Which honestly makes me extremely glad I don't live in 17th-century Holland. If you think America's government is bad... trust me, it could be a lot worse!
The English Spy by Daniel Silva: Got this on Tuesday and have been desperate to read it ever since.
Pretty Baby by Mary Kubica: For a Bookspan report. Was it Elmore Leonard who said, "Cut out all the parts people skip," or something like that? Well, Kubica's writing philosophy seems to be the opposite of that.
Posted this week:
I spent the week working on Book Bloggers International's upcoming newsletter (first edition will be released tomorrow!) and Bookstagram Month.
When not busy with that, I reviewed three more foodie books: Taste Test by Kelly Fiore, The Red Notebook by Antoine Laurain, and Mastering the Art of French Eating by Ann Mah.
The Best of Book Riot is also running this week, and my list of Female Characters Who Are Way More Awesome In Books–as opposed to their on-screen counterparts–went up today.
Subscription boxes received:
I got Book Riot's last Quarterly box this week and I loooooove the flask. Although I did have a moment when I realized we didn't have a funnel small enough to fit the mouth of the flask. But! Amazon to the rescue: they have special flask funnels you can get for less than $2. In the meantime, I guess I can hack it by cutting the corner off a plastic bag.
I think the regular price of Book Riot's box ($50) is pretty steep. But for $25, getting an awesome flask, one book I'll probably never read and another book I'll *definitely* never read, a bookmark and some random notebook paper seems reasonable.
I also got my third and definitely last Stitch Fix. I was sooo flummoxed by this one. I asked for sleeveless tops I could wear to work, since I realized they numbered zero after I KonMari'd my closet. So I was expecting, you know, five nice sleeveless tops. What I got was one maxi skirt (wtf?), and four sleeveless tops, two of which were a little too casual for work, one of which was butt-ugly–seriously, it was eye-searingly ugly, I can't even look at it, it looks like a mime threw up–and another that was like something my grandma would wear. Try to see if you can guess which is which from the picture. Stitch Fix seems to have an obsession with sending me grandma clothes and maxi everything.
Anyway, I know other people enjoy this service, but personally I don't feel listened to AT ALL. The Fixes have gotten progressively worse instead of better, and this particular one felt like they just sent me a bunch of leftover shit people returned because it was terrible. This is definitely going to be a cancel. I might lay off clothing subscription boxes for a while, since I tallied all the money I've been spending on them and it's way above my budget.
Theme of the week:
Was it just me, or did every day feel like Friday this week? Anyway, I didn't have a lot of deadlines to meet, so I spent most of my time at the gun store trying to will the website to go live. I swear this process has been like an obstacle course.
Thor is still limping. Add in all the scarey explodey sounds last night and he's a pretty sad little pup.
Bonus:
I'm currently binge watching Mind of Chef (my version of binge watching is watching one episode a day, though, so it takes a while), and my favorite thing I've learned so far is this historical curiosity. It is CRAZY PANTS!
The watermelon they talk about in the video was thought to be extinct until the Bradford family reintroduced it to the marketplace. You can now buy Bradford watermelon seeds on their website (when available, that is, which they currently aren't). If you live in South Carolina you can also buy them at, like, one farmer's market, if you get there before they sell out. Bonne chance.
Have a great week, everyone!
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