Good morning! Today’s post will link up to The Sunday Salon, The Sunday Post and Stacking the Shelves, for weekly updates.
**Mailbox Monday is hosted at the home site: Mailbox Monday.
And let’s join Kathryn, our leader in It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?, at Book Date.
Another great week! During this one, we celebrated First Book of the Year on New Year’s Day, and while I was getting ready for that event, I read another book on New Year’s Eve. By the end of January 1, I had two books read and reviewed…which when added to the book I read earlier in the week, brought my total to three books. Nine blog posts, too.
I’ve been finishing up some projects in my apartment…shredding the last bag of stuff. And then I brought an old chest of drawers from my previous place, since my closet and other set of drawers were overflowing. It looks a bit battered, in my vintage style of distressed furnishings. But it serves its purpose, and now I can tuck things away easily.
So…today will bring more errands and tasks to organize some things. Let’s grab some coffee and take a closer look at the past week.
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LAST WEEK ON THE BLOGS:
Sunday Potpourri: Savoring My Favorite Things…
Tuesday Excerpts: “All the Flowers in Paris”
Goodbye to December and Hello to January 2020…
Curling up with New Year Tasks…
Coffee Chat: A New Year for All of Us!
Bookish Friday: “Normal People”
Review: All the Flowers in Paris, by Sarah JioReview: Kiss the Girls and Make Them Cry, by Mary Higgins Clark (First Book)Review: The Look-Alike, by Erica Spindler (NG – 1/28/20)
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INCOMING BOOKS:
Empty mailbox! I did purchase three books: two e-books and one hardcover.
Downloads:
The Playground by Jane Shemilt
Such a Perfect Wife, by Kate White
Hardcover:
Christmas Shopaholic, by Sophie Kinsella
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CURRENTLY READING: Normal People, by Sally Rooney
Now that the New Year has begun, I will also be participating in a Nonfiction Reading Challenge, hosted by Shelleyrae at Book’d Out. Here are a stack of books coming to my reading list soon.
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That was my week. What did yours look like? After such a great week, I rewarded myself with tonight’s strawberry rhubarb pie.
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Sounds like your year has gotten off to a good start, Laurel-Rain. It sounds like you’ve been productive! My mom and her dog left for their home today, and I have my house back. I really need to do some major cleaning, but instead I am catching up on blogging and blog visits. I haven’t been able to do much in recent weeks.
I hope you enjoy your new books! I love the cover for Such a Perfect Wife. Good look with the nonfiction challenge!
I hope you have a wonderful weekend, Laurel-Rain. Happy New Year!
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Thanks, Wendy, I have enjoyed my recent activities and feeling productive. I especially loved weeding out the paperwork that needed shredding. Finally bringing my extra little dresser into the mix has made a big difference already.
I hope you enjoy getting back into your routines.
Have a great week.
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You certainly got your reading off to a great start! Your apartment looks great! Enjoy your books and have a great week!
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Thanks, Yvonne, I’m really feeling more settled now, and the reading was energized by the First Book of the Year event…and that I had two great thrillers.
Enjoy your week.
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Ooh you sound like you’re off to a great New Year of reading! Love the pics too.
Looks like a nice mix of new stuff coming up too. Happy reading!!
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Thanks, Greg, I really enjoyed this week of good reading, blogging, etc. Hope your upcoming week is great.
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I love the drawers. So cute. I’ve heard such wonderful things about Normal People. How you’re loving it!
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Thanks, Barb, so far I’m enjoying the book…and I am glad for the extra drawers.
Enjoy your week.
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That pie sure looks mouth watering. Seems like you are getting out and about and getting more of what you want which is great. Amazing reading and blogging week.
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Thanks, Kathryn, I think it’s been a good start for the year, with reading, blogging, and organizing my place. I love getting out more, too.
Enjoy your week and your books.
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Sounds like a terrific start to New Year. And the dresser looks pretty and as long as it suits your needs, oh well. Happy New year!
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Thanks, Gayathri, I do enjoy surrounding myself with old favorites, lol. OLD emphasized, but that is what works for me.
Enjoy your week.
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You’re doing great with 2020 reading already! I like vntage/antiques, they can look and feel so much more cozy I think.
Enjoy your week!
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Thanks, Nai, I think so, too. I have photographed all of my things over the years, so bringing more of what I love into my space is definitely cozy.
Enjoy your week and your books.
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I love the green chest of drawers – nice pop of color! I’m a fan of strawberry-rhubarb anything so that slice of pie makes me want some. Have a great week!
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Thanks, Mary, when I discovered that the green chest was still available to me, I went a little nuts texting my daughter and arranging to have it again, lol.
I think the strawberry-rhubarb pie is my all-time favorite lately, even more than apple pie. Pumpkin pie is competing with it, mainly because it is hard to get now at local restaurants, since Marie Callender’s left the area, sigh.
Enjoy your week.
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Nice little dresser. Fits perfectly in the space.
Looks like you’ve had a great week. Enjoyed your post. 😊
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Thanks, Laurie, I do feel completely cozy now. Enjoy your books and your week!
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What a strong start to the year, Laurel. And I think that chest of drawers looks perfect – you have such good taste. I hope you continue having a lovely reading 2020:)
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Thanks, Sarah, I feel good about the books I’ve read so far…and more complete with that extra chest of drawers, lol.
I do like my old things around me.
Enjoy your week!
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I think we all like our old things around us, Laurel!
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You’ve been very busy already this year, I have been a sloth 🙂
Wishing you a great reading week.
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Thanks, Shelleyrae, some sloth-like behavior seems appropriate right now, lol.
Enjoy the week and your books!
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Wow love the hardwood floors. So Jealous . Great to hear about your goals.
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Thanks, Trin, I like the floors, too.
Enjoy your week.
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Woah laurel! It seems that you began your reading year on a bang here!
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Thanks, Sophie, I do feel good about it; however, my weekend reading has been less productive, lol.
Enjoy your week.
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What a great start to the year! I picked up The Playground from my library and hope to get to it.
I’ve also had Normal People sitting on my shelf forever.
Hope you have a fantastic week!
Check out our Sunday Salon post: https://stuckinthestacks.com/2020/01/05/sunday-salon-new-year-new-books/
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Thanks, Haley, I’m enjoying Normal People and can’t wait to read The Playground.
Have a great week.
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Wow, 9 blog posts and 3 reads of 5 hearts! That is an awesome week. Plus the organizing, which I know is hard work. Strawberry rhubarb pie is my very favorite! Have a great week!
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Thanks, Anne, it has been a great week!
Enjoy your reading and your upcoming week.
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I love to see your beautiful arranging. I’m glad you were able to make use of that nice chest of drawers. We have a small house, and we always have trouble with storage.
I enjoyed Normal People very much. I hope you do, too.
I signed up for the Nonfiction Challenge, too. I am trying to see if I can try to read a little more fiction this year, though, as I have tended in recent years to focus too heavily on nonfiction.
Have a great week!
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Thanks, Deb, I have already been buying a lot of nonfiction, so I’m eager to participate in this challenge.
I’m glad to have the additional storage and enjoy being surrounded by my familiar things.
Enjoy your week.
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Happy New Year Laurel! Sounds like you had a good start of the year. And that pie looks so good.. 😀
Have a great week and happy reading!
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Thanks, Maureen, I am happy with my reading so far.
Enjoy your week.
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Wow, such a productive start to 2020!! I’ll be curious to hear what you think of Normal People. I ended up listening to it. The audio production was amazing and added so much to the experience. But it’s one of those books I’m not sure what my reaction would have been if I’d read it in print. Would I have liked it as much? Almost considering a reread just to find out… but will read her earlier novel, Conversations with Friends, first. Have a good week!
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Thanks, JoAnn, and I am happy with how my year has begun.
The hardest thing about reading Normal People has been the writing style with no quotation marks! I’m adjusting.
Enjoy your week.
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That pie looks fabulous! Happy New Year 🙂
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Thanks, Becki, the pie was delicious!
Enjoy your week and the New Year.
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I’m reading more non-fiction books too in the form of audiobooks on my commute to work. This is the first year I missed First Book of the Year. I took a much needed break from the computer. I hope you have another great blogging year!
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Thanks, Laura, sometimes we do need a break from the computer, but i had already had a big one when I was sick…so now I feel happy to blog a lot. LOL.
Enjoy your week.
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I’ll be interested to hear what you think of Normal People. It doesn’t sound like my kind of book, but everybody loves it, so I’m curious. Have a great week!
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Thanks, AJ, so far Normal People is okay…a break from thrillers, anyway. Enjoy your week.
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Starting the year off with a bang! Started my first book, but we got distracted by Netflix shows. Cute dresser. Pie looks delicious. Have a great week.
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Nice to end the year and/or begin with setting up and tucking away.
I’m glad you enjoyed your books. Happy Reading this week too!
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Thanks, Martha, I’m enjoying my year so far.
Have a great week. Enjoy.
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Yum! Strawberry rhubarb is one of my favorites.
Looks like your year is off to a great start. I didn’t participate in First Read this year, but I’ve enjoyed browsing the internet looking at other people’s choices.
Christmas Shopaholic looks cute. Hope you enjoy your books.
https://thebookconnectionccm.blogspot.com/2020/01/its-monday-what-are-you-reading-jan-6.html
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Thanks, Cheryl, I’m glad you got to visit some First Read posts. I always enjoy participating, but I can see how time and other activities can take priority.
I haven’t read a Shopaholic book for a while, so I’m looking forward to this one.
Enjoy your week.
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Christmas Shopaholic is on my wishlist. Your chest of drawers looks good there. My weekly update
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Thanks, Sarah, I’m looking forward to this new Shopaholic book…and the best thing about the chest of drawers, of course, is now my clothes have a little room. LOL.
Enjoy your week.
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I hope Christmas Shopaholic has the charm of the first book in the series. When you’re done organizing there, you can come help me.
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Thanks, Kathy, and yes, ha-ha! I would be a disaster at organizing others, I’m sure. I did read a good book about a character who organized people…it was actually a mystery, by Hallie Ephron: Careful What You Wish For.
Enjoy your books and your week, and I do hope to like Christmas Shopaholic.
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Organizing is always a good thing. I’ve been looking at my TBR mountain and trying to build up the ambition to finally get rid of books I have no intention of ever reading. There are so many books there that I wonder why I ever got them in the first place. Come see my week here and Happy New Year!
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As I go through my lists of books purchased over the past couple of years, I do have to wonder about some of the books I added. I think I’m doing better lately, though, as my 2019 purchases were mostly read…25 of 101 still to go.
Enjoy your week, and thanks for stopping by, Kathy. Happy New Year to you, too.
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Your apartment looks fabulous.
Love your books.
SUCH A PERFECT WIFE looks good.
I hope you have a marvelous week, Laurel.
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Thanks, Elizabeth, I am finally feeling at home in my apartment, and with each little thing I add, I am more content.
I had almost forgotten about Such a Perfect Wife, which I wanted to add a while ago. I had copied the book cover to my image files, and when I was scrolling through them the other day, I thought: wait, that book must be out already! And yes, it was. I love Kate White’s books, and the cover is great, isn’t it?
Enjoy your week, too.
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Yes…I do enjoy Kate White’s books.
Happy to hear you are feeling at home.
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Oooo Normal People. I have a copy of it and keep meaning to pick it up- it sounds very polarizing!
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Thanks, Tina, I just keep reading Normal People, not knowing what will happen to the characters. They seem to be full of ups and downs, going back and forth in their relationships. Like real life, I think. I will keep turning the pages until the end, I’m sure.
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Great start to the year! I always like Sophie Kinsella and I have Normal People on my radar.
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Thanks, Candace, I loved the early Kinsella books, with Becky as that shopaholic girl, but then I sort of zoned out on her. But I am eager to see what she is like now.
Enjoy your reading.
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I’ve heard good things about Normal People. I haven’t (yet) put it on my TBR list, but I’ll be interested in what you think of it.
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Thanks, Mdawnott, it isn’t my favorite book so far, but I keep reading it, so it has good things about it, apparently.
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Yay for organizing! I need to start doing that too – and in all parts of the apart, but especially books!
Such a Perfect Wife looks like a lot of fun! Lately I am into thriller and I cannot stop reading. They seem like my go-to genre for winter.
Have a lovely reading week!
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Thanks, Andreea, I love thrillers, too! When I read them, the pages fly by.
Enjoy your reading!
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Seems like you had a great start for 2020! That chest of drawers is lovely, I would have wanted it with me too! I want to read Normal People too. I hope you enjoy it and your other books. Happy reading and Happy New Year!
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Thanks, Kay, I am really enjoying the extra space afforded by that little chest of drawers.
My books are keeping me engaged, although Normal People wasn’t a favorite. Interesting, though.
Enjoy your week and your New Year.
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That little chest of drawers is adorable! And seriously just my style. Lol. I love making a space work for me – I am glad that you are diving in and making your space yours.
It looks like you have a great list of books lined up for the Nonfiction Challenge!
Have a great week Laurel!
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Thanks, Erin, I do love making my space work for me. I’ve moved a lot over the years, so I’ve had lots of practice, lol.
I’m enjoying the stacks of books I plan to read.
Enjoy your week.
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A lovely look at a lovely beginning for 2020. , too have been reorganzng. (My eye key s sticking–LOL). Out with the old n with the new!
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Thanks, Rae, some of my favorite activities.
Enjoy your week.
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I hope you have a good rest of the week.
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I’m glad you’re off to a good reading start in 2020! That’s interesting that you’re doing a nonfiction challenge this year. You’ll like Michelle Obama’s Becoming for sure. I need to get to the Just Mercy memoir sometime soon … to weave it in with the upcoming movie.
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Thanks, Susan, I started reading Becoming when it first came out, and loved it…but set it aside because of how many other books were calling to me. Glad I can now finish it in this Nonfiction Challenge.
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Glad to hear your New Year is off to a good start! The chest of drawers looks good!
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Thanks, Nicci, I have a good feeling about the New Year and my books! I’m definitely enjoying the extra chest of drawers.
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