Monday check-in
You’ll be relieved I hear I’ve survived the reign of terror unleashed upon my neck of the woods last week to again participate in Sheila’s Monday check in.
Ad yes I am being facetious, but as well as the earthquake (I wrote about in last week’s post), we were faced with a treacherous cyclone. Named after a Brady Buncher. But, first things first…. my reading check in.
What I read
I started the week by finishing The Chimes by Anna Smaill. I’ve already published my review. It was heavy-going but lovely in a way I probably didn’t eloquently explain. Incidentally – Smaill’s replacement of several words with their musical / Latin equivalents would really help diminish my use of adverbs. #orsomething
I also finished What You Can When You Can, and I’ll be posting my review shortly – though the book’s publication date isn’t until April.
I was then seriously excited by the arrival of three new (real) books for review and keen to start turning those paper-like pages.
However… several books I requested from NetGalley were (then) approved all at once and suddenly I had about six new books on my e-shelf. (As you’d see from the little badge in my sidebar, I pride myself on keeping my NetGalley stats nice and high, so….)
I diligently sorted (by publication date) the new reads and tucked into the first book which was one by Sandra Brown. Breath of Scandal was actually published back in 1991 (and again in 2013 and available now for the first time as an ebook!) but one I hadn’t read. I could have easily inhaled it in a sitting, but in a strange turn of events I paced myself and allocated it across two nights.
I also prioritised Three Twisted Stories (released this month) by Karin Slaughter, who’s generally a favourite of mine.
What I wrote
It took forever to write and was excruciatingly long, but I shared my review of The Chimes on the blog last week, as well as my thoughts on Tom Rob Smith’s The Farm and Snowy River Man, a novella by Aussie Lizzy Chandler.
I also wrote about preparing for the apocalypse – a very tongue-in-cheek post about disaster preparedness. I was a tad worried people would think me insensitive or overly glib, but everyone took in the vein in which it was written. The people-who-name-cyclones had inexplicably called the looming cyclone Marcia, which resulted in an array of Brady Bunch memes irreverently shared across social media platforms!
And finally I published my less-than-glowing review of Three Twisted Stories in Goodreads. I try not to be too snarky in my book reviews, but I think I failed in this case.
Other stuff
I’ve already gushed about the cyclone. It actually hit land on the central coast of Queensland as a category 5 and fortunately, although there were buildings damaged, no one was hurt. By the time it reached my part of the world (several hundred kilometres south) it’d fizzled out to some angry winds.
I finished up at work on Friday and had to – very methodically – delete all of the work programs off my home computers and devices, lest I be tempted to ‘just check on stuff’ which I constantly did when not in the office. I’m not sure what’s next but will need to find some form of income fairly quickly. #notpanickingnotpanickingnotpanicking
Reading this week
As for this week’s reading, it’s back to those ‘real’ books which arrived last week… I’ve just started Claiming Noah which will be out in March. But more on that later.
What’s on your agenda this week?
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Char
February 23, 2015I saw the Karin Slaughter book in Dymocks this week and wondered if I should get it (not being a fan of short stories. Glad I didn’t.
Debbish
February 23, 2015Others have been more positive Char but I found it quite distasteful….
thebookdate
February 23, 2015I enjoy Sandra Brown books although haven’t read this one – so many to read! Lucky the cyclone fizzled out as I see there was bad flooding up near Rockhampton. I think you liked Snowy River Man more than me – I liked the writing but the actual story not so much.
Debbish
February 23, 2015I knew early Sandra Brown books had more of a romance bent, but looking at her site, this was one of her early romantic suspense novels.
Nise' (Under the Boardwalk)
February 23, 2015I haven’t read Sandra Brown in quite awhile, not sure why, but do have a couple of her latest books on my stacks. I am intrigued by the title of If She Did It. I try to limit my NetGalley commitments, but did go a bit wild for books releasing in March. Guess I’d better get reading! Have a great week.
Debbish
February 23, 2015I’m the same Nise. I thought I had a bit of a lull, so requested 5 or 6 books and they all arrived at the same time. Getting through the Sandra Brown and Karin Slaughter helped me feel the shelf was a bit more under control though! (I’m anal about keeping my review/approval rating over 90%!)
Deb
Elizabeth
February 23, 2015We don’t get cyclones here on the east coast of the US, hurricanes July-November and blizzards Dec-March and we are having a blizzardlicious winter, which is always good for staying in and reading. Be safe!
Debbish
February 23, 2015Thanks Elizabeth. Hurricanes always look far scarier than cyclones and fortunately we don’t get too many of them either (only in summer). It was surprising it came so far south as usually they remain more in the tropical north of the country!
Deb
Greg
February 23, 2015A cyclone? Never a dull momen in your neck of the woods of late- glad it fizzled when it hit land.
Debbish
February 23, 2015Yes, as I live right on the beach I was a bit worried about the 250km winds they were expecting – so it was a relief. We had really high tides last weekend as well so they even predicted flooding (heavy rain, big winds and high tides) but we’ve mostly escaped unscathed.
Deb
Teddyree
February 23, 2015Glad you survived the apocalypse lol. I somehow overlooked the S&S catalogue for April so I’ve only just requested Inside the O’Briens (fingers crossed they still have copies) and I did ask for Claiming Noah a while back but it never turned up. Not like I don’t still have plenty of books to review though.. I like keeping my netgalley stats up too, my feedback ratio is 98% … I want a badge for that haha
Have a great week and happy reading 🙂
Debbish
February 23, 2015I actually just got Claiming Noah last week Teddyree so yours might still be enroute. I’ve actually not checked publishers’ catalogues which arrived in the last fortnight. My head’s been in a weird place with finishing work etc so I struggled a bit to keep up with everything…
I have A HEAP of unread emails from the last few weeks I need to get to.
Sharon @ faith hope & cherrytea
February 23, 2015glad for the fizzling out stage of that cyclone… nice miss!
I hear you on the netgalley approvals all at once – I have to keep publication dates listed to get them read in order or they’re lost in the shuffle. Glad you had the pb copies to enjoy – my fav reading form – but I got one ebook that needed to be read for a book tour spotlight this week, so priorities…
Have a good week and watching for that new income opp to show up for you!
Debbish
February 23, 2015Thanks Sharon. I still prefer the real (tangible) thing when it comes to books but happy to read anything I guess.
Enjoy your reading week as well!
Deb
Brona
February 23, 2015Glad you survived a torrential Brady Bunch moment – perhaps you could have cried out “I’m a celebrity, get me out of here!” If it had got too bad
Debbish
February 23, 2015Ha! I’ve seen bits of the show and guess they don’t have contact with the outside world, but wonder if anyone told Maureen that she had a cyclonic namesake!?
glambooklounge
February 23, 2015Congrats on the Netgalley approvals! Which reminds me, I need to get cracking on making up the reviews…I went a bit overboard in asking for approvals when I first signed up and so I need to catch up.
Your review of Three Twisted Stories made me giggle. Good luck with your new phase in life and finding a new source of income. Keep us posted on how it goes!
Debbish
February 23, 2015I know I was a bit blunt re Three Twisted Stories. :-/
Deb
CARLA
February 23, 2015checking in on you you you and so glad you are safe and sound.
xo
Debbish
February 23, 2015Thanks Carla! xxxx
readerbuzz
February 23, 2015If a category 5 cyclone is anything like a category 5 hurricane, you are fortunate to have escaped major damage. We suffer from hurricanes here, but I imagine that destruction is similar.
Have a good week!
readerbuzz.blogspot.com
Debbish
February 24, 2015Yes Deb – fortunately we were quite a distance from where it crossed. We also had a lot of time to get ready – days in fact…. (Not sure I still would have been ready had it crossed here, but – I did have my food sorted!) 🙂
yvonne473
February 23, 2015Glad to hear everyone is alright. Wow, you are doing amazing on NetGalley…me? Not so much. I’m embarrassed to say what my ratio is. I need to do more reading and less requesting! LOL
Have a great week!
Debbish
February 24, 2015I tend to go through phases Yvonne. Sometimes I’m incredibly up to date, other times I feel like I’m drowning. At least, the more you read on NetGalley, the less your ratio fluctuates! I do get carried away though. If I haven’t checked new listings for a week or two I find lots of things I like and go crazy!
Laura@Library of Clean Reads
February 24, 2015Woah, a cyclone? I thought the extreme cold weather here was bad. I won’t complain now. 🙂 I hope you love Lisa Genova’s latest novel. I enjoyed all of her books to date.
Debbish
February 24, 2015I’m definitely looking forward to it Laura!
Catherine @ Book Club Librarian
February 24, 2015What a great book week for you…I’m drooling over some of your titles. Glad you weren’t too badly impacted by the weather. All of these extreme storms are a bit frightening.
Debbish
February 24, 2015Indeed Catherine!
Deb
laurelrainsnow
February 24, 2015Ooh, storms are scary! Glad this last one left little damage behind.
Enjoy your new books…Claiming Noah caught my eye, and I also have added Inside the O’Briens to my list. Thanks for visiting my blog.
Debbish
February 24, 2015I’ve just finished Claiming Noah. An interesting read…. more on that this week I suspect.
Deb
Lindsey
February 24, 2015Staying on top of those Netgalley reads can be a lot of work! I hope you enjoy all of those books!
Debbish
February 24, 2015Thanks Lindsey!
Jess
February 25, 2015I am excited for your new adventure/ sourcing new work, which is easy for me to say since I only have to read about it. I find change exciting though. Hopefully the crazy weather has chilled out a little for awhile.
Debbish
February 26, 2015Thanks Jess. I was a bit more excited before… probably just nervous now!
shelleyrae @ Book'd Out
February 25, 2015I’m looking forward to reading Claiming Noah and Inside the OBriens soon.
Have a great week,
Shelleyrae
Debbish
February 26, 2015Thanks Shelleyrae.