MickyFine Is in the Corner Reading, Thread 3

I'm Micky, 37 years old, librarian, and generally bookish nerd. I usually have a good mix of reads going on every year with strong doses of romance, sff, historicals, and a dash of non-fiction. I'm largely kicking around without any goals this year beyond a list of 12 books off my own shelves that I want to (re)read. We'll see where my reading mood takes me!

I do my best to be chatty on my own thread and in addition to my reading, I'll also discuss highlights of my craft projects (check out my NeedleArts thread if you like more details), board games, what we're watching, and general life goings on often featuring my husband, Mr. Fine, and our two cats, Ash and Smee. Posters and lurkers alike are welcome.

January
1. Word to the Wise - Jenn McKinlay
2. The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald (adapted by Anna Lyse Erickson)
3. No Words - Meg Cabot
4. The Hooktionary - Brenda K.B. Anderson
5. The Confession of Henry Jekyll, M.D. - David Rambo
6. The Titan's Curse - Rick Riordan
7. Ten Thousand Stitches - Olivia Atwater
8. A Court of Thorns and Roses - Sarah J. Maas
9. Like, Literally, Dude - Valerie Fridland
10. The Road to Roswell - Connie Willis
11. Fantastic Four: Whatever Happened to the Fantastic Four? - Ryan North et. al.
Favourite(s):


February
12. The Battle of the Labyrinth - Rick Riordan
13. Longshadow - Olivia Atwater
14. A Court of Mist and Fury - Sarah J. Maas
15. The Love Hypothesis - Ali Hazelwood (re-read)
16. The Last Olympian - Rick Riordan
17. The Imaginary Corpse - Tyler Hayes
Favourite(s):


March
18. A Court of Wings and Ruin - Sarah J. Maas
19. At First Spite - Olivia Dade
20. The Untold Story - Genevieve Cogman
21. The Lost Hero - Rick Riordan
22. Squirrel Girl: Universe - Tristan Palmgren
23. A Court of Frost and Starlight - Sarah J. Maas
24. Other Birds - Sarah Addison Allen
25. The True Love Experiment - Christina Lauren
Favourite(s):

April
26. An Unexpected Peril - Deanna Raybourn
27. Cat + Gamer Vol. 4 - Wataru Nadatani
28. Brunch at Bittersweet Cafe - Carla Larueano
29. Teach Me - Olivia Dade
30. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society - Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
31. A Cup of Silver Linings - Karen Hawkins
32. Cat Massage Therapy - Haru Hisakawa
33. Novel Advice - Jay Bushman
34. Truly Devious - Maureen Johnson
35. Hana Khan Carries On - Uzma Jalaluddin
36. In an Absent Dream - Seanan McGuire
Favourite(s):


May
37. Hook, Line, and Sinker - Tessa Bailey
38. A Court of Silver Flames - Sarah J. Maas
39. This Is How You Lose the Time War - Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone
40. Untitled - AK
Favourite(s):

June
Favourite(s)

My rating system:

/ = Ran screaming in the other direction (aka did not finish)
* = Suffered through it for reasons I'm still not sure of
** = Had far more flaws than virtues
*** = A read I don't regret but could use some improvement
**** = A good, solid read that I might revisit
***** = Loved it beyond reason and will probably re-read in short order

My only goal for myself this year is to read these books off my own shelves. I'll be aiming for one a month but we'll see how it goes.

From My Shelves
The Galaxy and the Ground Within
Any Duchess Will Do (re-read)
Lost in a Good Book (re-read)
The Love Hypothesis (re-read)
Molly of the Mall (re-read)
Babel
The Switch
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (re-read)
To Say Nothing of the Dog (re-read)
The Dark Is Rising
The Golden Key (DNF)
Squirrel Girl Universe

This thread is officially open for business. Come on in and feel free to share what flower(s) you most like to buy for yourself (or someone else).

Happy new thread, Micky

Happy new thread, Micky!

From the last one, it sounds like you had a nice staycation.

I have Hana Khan Carries On on tap for this year.

Happy new thread Micky!

Happy new thread Micky!

Happy new one, Micky!

May Day orisons, Micky! New thread ones, too. *smooch*

Happy new thread!

Happy new thread, Micky! Love that cozy reading spot in your topper.

>7 ArlieS: Thanks, Arlie.

>8 katiekrug: It was a great staycation but too short. I definitely was not feeling work today. 😝

I'll be interested to see how you like Hana Khan.

>9 quondame: Thanks, Susan.

>10 Owltherian: Thanks, Lily.

>11 drneutron: Thank you, Jim.

>12 richardderus: Thanks, Richard. We woke up to yet more snow to start off May (although it at least had the kindness to turn to rain later in the morning).

>13 foggidawn: Thanks, Foggi.

>14 curioussquared: Thanks, Natalie. I'm definitely having fun looking at reading nooks every time I start a new thread.

>16 MickyFine: ...and I'm here in gym shorts and a t-shirt sweating...

>18 richardderus: Flannel pj pants and wool shawl here. 😝

>19 MickyFine: I overheat even reading the words.

Happy new thread, Micky! >16 MickyFine: Your weather is the exact opposite of what we're getting here. It's been sunny this week and in the 80's. I'd prefer if it stayed a tad cooler for a while.

Happy new thread, Micky!

>6 MickyFine: The bouquet with tulips in the topper are lovely. My favorite flowers to give or get are peonies.

>20 richardderus: My apologies. *hands over iced beverage*

>21 atozgrl: General rule of thumb here is that you're not safe from snow until after May long (third Monday in May in Canada) although it's decidedly spring-like now.

>22 FAMeulstee: Thanks, Anita. Peonies are so lovely. I have some in my flower beds that are just starting to send up shoots.

What's been going on lately: First three days back at work after vacation were pretty decent. I came back to 165 emails and 155 customer suggestions, which wasn't too bad for almost a week off. Lots of meetings in the first couple days but a chill day to myself to power through all my catch up on Friday.

Thursday's date night we went to Canadian Brewhouse because they have a pretty wide-ranging menu and all the food is decent (and happily the local hockey team did not have a game that night). I had brisket grilled cheese with salad and we shared their garlic knots (all delicious).

Today we went to church in person although ended up leaving early as the guest speaker was... not great. Dropped Mr. Fine off at the gym and watched a sermon online instead. I'll have a bit of chill time to myself this afternoon with reading and crafting likely. This evening we're off to M&A's for our monthly game night. As it's May the Fourth, we're bringing a couple Star Wars related games.

Tomorrow will be the regular Sunday cleaning and maybe some deep cleaning of the kitchen. We'll see what energy levels are like.

What I'm crafting: The cross-stitch project continues. Now that I'm past the halfway mark, it definitely feels like I'm on the downhill slide.

What we're watching: Some X-Files season 3, the newest episode of The Rookie, an episode of Supernatural, and some Bluey. Our Friday double-feature was the fifth Pirates of the Caribbean movie (I'd never seen it before and feel no desire to ever see it again either :P) and the first episode of series 2 of Sherlock (my favourite series of the show).

What I'm reading: Mentally girding my loins to start A Court of Silver Flames.

Book 37



Hook, Line, and Sinker - Tessa Bailey

Hannah Bellinger and Fox Thornton have been texting almost daily since she left the small fishing village of Westport, Washington to return to her day job as a production assistant for a small film company in LA. The two have become unlikely close friends and so when Hannah comes back to Westport, this time to work on a film, she's more than happy to stay with Fox as her sister's guest room is full with other family. Being in close proximity again, however, highlights that Hannah and Fox's friendship might be more than that. But Fox's baggage from a lifetime being seen as the town's lady's man may be more than their fledgling romance can take.

Browsing my local library's romance section, I picked this one up on a whim to sample Tessa Bailey's writing. While I'd definitely give another of her books a try, this one didn't quite win me over. Friends to lovers is one of my favourite tropes and while that territory often comes with a bit of angst, this one was VERY angst heavy. Fox spends a LOT of time feeling unworthy of Hannah because of his reputation, which is fair as character trait, but didn't make for particularly fun reading. And there's a bunch of waffling about whether they should get together at all. There were some funny moments and Bailey's writing is decent, which is what kept me sticking with the book to the end. However, the epilogue was pretty saccharine, even for someone who loves a sappy happy ending. Ultimately a read that I'd describe as fine enough but there are much better romances out there.

Rating: ***

>25 MickyFine: YMMV, but after trying ~3 of Bailey's romances including this one I've decided she's not for me.

Happy new one!

>23 MickyFine: I'm not really surprised that you get snow so much later than we do, but it's still hard to imagine snow in May.

My peonies are in full bloom right now, except for a couple of early birds that are already spent. I do love peonies.

>26 curioussquared: That's good to know, Natalie. I'll keep my expectations tempered if I try another Bailey.

>27 figsfromthistle: Thanks, Anita!

>28 atozgrl: To be fair, it's not like there's banks of snow or anything. But temperature fluctuations in May can still be pretty wide. If we get more snow this month (although I'm crossing my fingers we're done), I'll try and take a picture for you. 😆

I think Bailey is pretty angsty. I enjoyed her Window Shopping but that was under 300 pages, so not enough length for the angst to be too drawn out :)

>30 katiekrug: Duly noted. Will approach future Baileys with caution. :)

Hmmm I may not add Bailey to my list of authors to try if it's angsty... I tend to save my angsty books for the YA that I still read occasionally ;)

Hope you have gotten back into the work swing of things and caught up on email.

>29 MickyFine: My sister told me it snowed in Utah yesterday and it was 36 this morning. She was cold!

How nice you can go to a brewhouse for a date. Aaron doesn't drink beer, and there's a new brewhouse in our area. I asked all my mom-friends (since I know what my non-mom friends feel about beer). I finally scrounged up a mom-friend who I hadn't seen in ages because D14 and her daughter don't hang out anymore. So I get to go on the 11th. Yes, I book out that far. 😂🤣

>32 bell7: There are definitely other romance authors I'd put in front of you before this one. And thanks for the work well wishes, I'm largely caught up now.

>33 atozgrl: Thankfully we've been spared snow and instead are getting lots and lots of rain. Not complaining as we need it pretty desperately (lots of talk of likely drought for my part of the country this summer).

>34 The_Hibernator: I don't drink alcohol and Mr. Fine is very picky about beer, so we just go for the food. 😊

Happy new thread, Micky. Definitely drought here and wildfire season has started. It is now 26C.

Happy weekend-ahead's reads, Micky! *smooch*

>36 Familyhistorian: Yes, we've had our first smoky days of the summer (from fires in northeastern BC, Environment Canada says) this weekend.

>37 richardderus: Thanks, Richard!

What's been going on lately: It was my first 5 day work week in ages (April was almost all short weeks due to stat holidays, EDO, and vacation) and it felt so long. I also yo-yoed between WFH and office days so I was perpetually confused as to what day it was since I usually do my in office days in a single stretch.

Work highlights included having amazing luck finding a parking spot near a branch that is notorious for not great parking (I was there giving a presentation) and having an interesting meeting with some other staff to discuss the logistics of building an algorithm to help build some weeding reports for branches.

Due to life logistics, date night was Indian take-out at home after grocery shopping. It was super delicious though. Other life excitement was getting my bangs trimmed, lol.

My Dad has been out of town this week at a birding retreat in the Rockies and my Mom has been saving some Jane Austen themed Hallmark movies on their PVR to watch with me. So Friday I went over after work and we watched the first two, plus she fed me (spaghetti squash with meat sauce and lemon cake for dessert). The movies were just the right mix of ridiculous and sappy, which is all I want from a Hallmark, lol.

Yesterday was church after which I got a bit of reading time. H came over for a visit for a couple hours and it was nice to catch up a bit with her. Mr. Fine then made dinner (a pasta and beef sausage dish that was super tasty) and I finished a book while he cooked. We played a board game after we ate and then I did some yoga as the current smoke levels make outdoor walking unpleasant.

Today my Mom is coming over for mother's day brunch. She's then going to visit my grandmother. Once she's back from that, I'm going back to her house to watch the other two Hallmark films.

What I'm crafting: There has been a decent amount of cross-stitch happening, but I also made some progress on a crochet cardigan (it was a more portable project to take to a work meeting and to my Mom's). Depending on the choice my Mom makes with her gift today, I might have another crochet project on my hands shortly. I got her some hand-dyed yarn and plan to give her the option of either me getting her a pattern and she can work it up herself or I can do the crocheting for her (it could go either way, I think).

What we're playing: Last weekend we played Outer Rim for Star Wars day. Last night we played Wyrmspan, which continues to be really fun.

What we're watching: Finished season 1 of Downton Abbey, still on season 4 of Castle, season 3 of X-Files, and the last season of Supernatural. Plus we watched the newest episode of The Rookie. The Hallmark movies I watched with my Mom were Paging Mr. Darcy and Love & Jane. The first was definitely the better (as these things go) of the two.

On the reading front, I just finished A Court of Silver Flames yesterday. Next up is This Is How You Lose the Time War.

Book 38



A Court of Silver Flames - Sarah J. Maas

Nesta's family and friends have had enough of her wallowing and give her an ultimatum: live in the House of Wind where she'll train with Cassian in the mornings and work in the Library for the rest of the day or return to the human lands where she'll essentially be an outcast. Nesta is angry but settles into her new routine finding friends and bonds in the least expected places. But old and new enemies lurk on the borders and threaten everything Nesta holds dear.

The temptation to summarize this as "How Nesta got her groove back" is high. Out of the whole ACOTAR series, this one is the best written (don't get me wrong, there were still some bits that had me sending snarky texts to my friend). Nesta is a complex character and watching her heal is compelling. I also was so pleased to finally see a female character with female friends and Maas writes that really well. There are enough plot threads dangling that if Maas writes another ACOTAR book, I'll probably pick it up because I like the characters enough. But I will NOT be diving into the rest of Maas' bibliography, because there's only so much hate reading one can do, lol.

Rating: ***1/2

>40 MickyFine: It's a real pleasure to see someone say something nice about this series...I've been wondering why it got so popular. Cool!

*smooch*

>40 MickyFine: I enjoyed listening to this one, but you are absolutely correct that they are best enjoyed if you have someone to send snarky texts to while reading 😂 I think there was a bit where she was describing a kiss and Cassian's tongue was against the roof of her mouth? I'm sorry, what???? I was frantically snark texting my friend during that bit, lol.

>41 richardderus: I think if I were a younger and less experienced reader, I'd find these more compelling but as the older curmodgeon that I am they don't hold the same appeal.

>42 curioussquared: Oh, I also was sending snarky texts about the kissing because Maas' descriptions of how both Cassian and Nesta tasted left me wondering, "Do you know what tastes ARE?" Snort.

>43 MickyFine: That's the truth...I found the first one offended me with its encoragement for girls to become fixated on boys. That message does not sit well with me. But you pointed out things I just did not see, like her female friends.

What's been going on lately: I had a full five days in the office which felt interminable but I made it. I did my last weeding roadshow session and it was really a fun group, so that felt like a win. I also had some mild amusement watching my manager move the same meeting around in our calendars 5 or 6 times (it's now booked for next week). It's for a project that I'm not super invested in so I'm not at all upset to postpone the discussion for a bit.

It was rainy and a playoff game night on our scheduled date night so we opted to just order in pizza (tres romance, lol).

My brother came to do some plumbing work for us and after a bunch of troubleshooting has determined that two of our toilets are just old and have stopped working properly. So Mr. Fine and I get to go toilet shopping this week and my brother will come back to install them week after next (joys of balancing his schedule and my work from home days to find a slot that works for both of us). The issue isn't terrible and we can get by from now until then. Grateful that we have 3 full bathrooms these days. :)

It's a long weekend here (Victoria Day on Monday) and other than the aforementioned toilet shopping, we don't have any huge plans. As is often the case with May long weekend, the weather is not spectacular although at least it's rain and not snow.

We did church yesterday and then had a chill afternoon at home. This morning Mr. Fine made me a Belgian waffle for breakfast that I had with raspberries, chocolate sauce, and whipped cream and then started tackling the day. I cleaned out some planters in prep for going to pick up annuals from Costco this week (probably petunias as usual although I'll keep my eyes peeled for other pretties) and I also put some herb seeds in small pots that I'm going to try growing on our deck. I've got basil, coriander/cilantro, chives, dill, and mint all set to go. Stay tuned for updates. The rest of the day is likely to be pretty chill with gaming and Lego assembly likely, in between laundry loads.

What I'm crafting: My mom loved the yarn I got her for Mother's Day and opted for me crocheting the shawl for her so I've been working on that all week. Hoping I can have it finished by her birthday in mid-June. I'm over halfway but as it's a semi-circle style shawl, the rows get bigger the more I work on it so I'm about to start slowing down soon.

What we're watching: We're on to season 2 of Downton Abbey and season 4 of Castle, season 3 of X-Files, and the final season of Supernatural continue on. We also watched the newest episodes of The Rookie and Doctor Who. Our Friday double feature was a feature and a half as I picked the new animated Disney film Wish and only made it 40 minutes through before turning it off. It was just so meh, sadly. Then we watched Iron Man 2 (Mr. Fine has decided to work his way through the MCU again). And of course, there's often a few episodes of Bluey on most evenings.

On the reading front, I'm starting The Galaxy, and the Ground Within today.

Book 39



This Is How You Lose the Time War - Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone

Agents for opposing groups in a never-ending war across time, Red and Blue have always been well-matched as opponents. But when one of them finds a letter that reads Burn before reading, it starts a correspondence that will irrevocably alter their lives and have an impact on the war as well.

This book has been on my TBR for ages, even before it went viral a year or two ago. It recently crossed my feed on a list of books described as no plot, all vibes and while it isn't quite without plot the description is apt. El-Mohtar and Gladstone have just as much fun providing brief descriptions of locales across time and space where Blue and Red find themselves as they engage in the war and send letters back and forth. A quick read that will be a particular delight all those who enjoy timey wimey narratives.

Rating: ****

And just a quick note that book 40 was a draft novel I beta read for a friend so no review. Mostly including this so no one wonders why my numbers jump from 39 to 41. :)

Happy for you that there are wastw-disposal options that require no outside trips, and the issue will be resolved since that home appliance is just Not Optional.

Happy Victoria Day to come, Micky! *smooch*

Toilet shopping! What a thrill! Heh heh.

But I do enjoy your updates, Micky. The manager shifting the meeting around made me chuckle. During the last few years of my working life I worked for a difficult boss and couldn't help taking pleasure out of situations like that, when he ran into some sort of snag just trying to accomplish something basic.

Is this your first time watching Downton, or a re-watch? We watched the seasons as they were released and really enjoyed it although I think we stopped watching before it all wrapped up.

Happy (? I'm assuming it's a celebratory sort of day and not a solemn sort of day like our upcoming Memorial Day...) Victoria Day!

Enjoy that toilet shopping, LOL.

>48 richardderus: Thanks, Richard!

>49 lauralkeet: Thankfully, I get along with my temp manager well so no schadenfreude here, just the amusement of internally betting with myself about whether it would move again.

I watched the first two seasons of Downton pretty close to when they originally aired but then never made it back to it after that so at this point it's still rewatch for me but all new to Mr. Fine.

>50 katiekrug: Yeah, it's more celebratory although nothing fancy happens locally (in Victoria BC I believe there's a parade, unsurprisingly). Mostly it's the weekend everyone descends on the garden centres as third weekend in May is usually when it starts being safe to put out plants.

And thanks on the toilet shopping front. We're making a date of it and going out for breakfast first, lol.

Yay for Time War and for The Galaxy and the Ground within! Enjoy toilet shopping, lol. And the long weekend :)