September's Book of the Month

 

Hello Everyone! I chose the picture posted above because it reminds me of reading to my daughter Mareena when she was little. Every afternoon until she was about eight or nine years old, we would take one of her books that she wanted to read or that she was reading and we would curl up together on my big bed. 

We would spend an hour or so reading a chapter of her book, and then take a nap together. Her absolutely favorite author at that time was an English author named Enid Blyton. Ahh, nice memories... 

My picks for 'Books of the Month' will be decidedly more adult these days, but they will be from almost any genre. September's Book of the Month is:

The Rector's Wife by Joanna Trollope

  Published as: The Rector's Wife in June 1991

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing, PLC

Birth Name: Joanna Trollope

Born: 9 December 1943 in Minchinhampton, Gloucestershire, England (The Cotwolds)

Canonical Name: Joanna Trollope
Pseudonyms: Caroline Harvey

The Rector's Wife by Joanna Trollope was the forty-sixth book that I read in 2016. I have had this book on my TBR shelf since June 21, 2012 and my reread of it took me a total of four days to read. This book is currently on several book swapping sites waiting to go to another good home.

Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight

I Can't Believe That I Have Only Managed to Read One Book This Month!

Hello everyone! I hope that you're all just fine this morning - I certainly am! :) Anyway, I just wanted to give you an update on how I'm doing so far.

Despite everything that has happened to me recently, I'm doing surprisingly well. My injuries from when I bashed my head on Thursday, September 15th are definitely still with me, but after thirteen days there has been a noticeable improvement. To be perfectly honest, I haven't been doing anything too strenuous beyond reading, sum-doku puzzles, and watching television.

My black eyes are finally turning yellow, which means that the bruises are in the final stage of healing. Thank goodness - because it certainly took them long enough! As regards my sum-doku puzzle quota, as of Wednesday, September 28th, I've done 29 puzzles in the book that I'm currently concentrating on. Having said that, I've only managed to finish reading one book for this entire month - The Rector's Wife by Joanna Trollope.

So, starting on Friday night, September 23rd, Mareena and I tuned in to watch the premiere episode of the new television series based on The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty. We've seen the 1973 film starring Ellen Burstyn and Linda Blair, of course - several times, actually - but then who hasn't seen the movie, it's that popular! The series is very different, and while there may be some things about the plot that are slightly confusing to watch, the first episode was surprisingly creepy - all in all, it was a really intriguing start! I just hope that the series stays that way.

As regards my own reading, I actually started A Map of the World by Jane Hamilton on Monday, September 19th. According to Goodreads, as of this morning - Wednesday, September 28th - I'm currently on page 103 of 400; or approximately 25 percent into the story. Since my own copy of A Map of the World by Jane Hamilton is actually 390 pages; reading 103 pages means that I have read approximately 26 percent of the story so far. Actually, I'm finding this book much slower to read than when I read it the first time.

Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight

This Should be an Interesting Season For Television!

Hello everyone! I hope that you're all just fine this morning - I certainly am! :) Anyway, I just wanted to give you an update on how I'm doing so far.

Despite everything that has happened to me recently, I'm doing surprisingly well. My injuries from when I bashed my head on Thursday, September 15th are definitely still with me, but after ten days there has been a noticeable improvement. To be perfectly honest, I haven't been doing anything too strenuous beyond reading, sum-doku puzzles, and watching television.

I've finished approximately 16 sum-doku puzzles as of Friday, September 16th! I have also been watching some pretty good television shows and continuously reading books - on Monday afternoon, September 12th, I watched the premiere episode of this season of 'Dr. Phil'. It was the first of a three-part conversation with Burke Ramsey - Jonbenet Ramsey's older brother.

Then on Tuesday night, September 20th, Mareena and I watched the series premiere of 'Bull', which follows the career of a fictional jury consultant named Dr. Jason Bull. It's actually a television show loosely based on the previous career of Dr. Phil. Apparently, before he became a talk show host, he had a successful career as a jury consultant. I must say that I can really see some of the similarities!

As regards my own reading, I actually started A Map of the World by Jane Hamilton on Monday, September 19th. According to Goodreads, as of yesterday morning - Saturday, September 24th - I'm on page 85 of 400; or approximately 21 percent into the story. Since my own copy of A Map of the World by Jane Hamilton is actually 390 pages; reading 85 pages means that I have read approximately 22 percent of the story so far. Actually, thinking about how long it has been since I last read this book, I would say that it's been a little over a decade ago!

Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight

They Always Say That Reading Can be Soothing For Whatever Ails You - or is That Music?

Hello everyone! I hope that you're all just fine this morning - I certainly am! :) Anyway, I just wanted to give you an update on how I'm doing so far.

Despite everything that has happened to me recently, I'm doing surprisingly well. Since I finished the last jigsaw puzzle I was doing on Friday morning, September 16th, I have switched from jigsaw puzzles to sum-doku puzzles. The puzzle book that I started was completely new, one of the package of six that I had originally received on Friday afternoon, March 4th!

Although, having said that, there is one other sum-doku puzzle book that I have left half-finished. So far, from the absolutely fresh puzzle book that I started on Friday, September 16th, I've done approximately 11 puzzles in the book. Actually, since Monday, May 30th, I haven't completed another sum-doku puzzle book!

As regards my own reading, I actually started A Map of the World by Jane Hamilton on Monday, September 19th. According to Goodreads, as of the next morning - Tuesday, September 20th - I was on page 68 of 400; or approximately 17 percent into the story. Since my own copy of A Map of the World by Jane Hamilton is actually 390 pages; reading 68 pages means that I have read almost 18 percent of the story so far. This is actually a reread for me from almost a decade ago.

Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight

I Guess the Other Guy Won!

Hello everyone! I hope that you're all just fine this morning - I certainly am! :) Anyway, I just wanted to give you an update on how I'm doing so far.

So, Mareena and I went to the radio station on Sunday, September 18th to do the show. We had a guest in to chat about their upcoming event and since he is also a good friend of ours, naturally we were catching up with each other. Suddenly, he asked about what happened to me and I told him the story about my accident at the doctor's office. He joked that I might have to change my doctor since I looked like I had been in fight with him.

After the show, we came home and Mareena looked at my face. She said everything looked alright to her, except that I apparently had acquired two black eyes overnight. She said that she was sorry that she hadn't said anything to me, but that I didn't have any bruises on Thursday afternoon, September 15th when I got home from the doctor's appointment.

I originally had Mareena feel the knot on my head when I was telling her what happened to me, but apart from the swelling on the side of my head nothing else was actually apparent. Well, now something else is apparent: the swelling on the side of my head has gone down slightly, but the bruise seems to spread up into my hairline. It looks awful, but actually doesn't feel too sore. My two black eyes are beginning to make me look like a raccoon; either that or some sort of prize fighter!

To be perfectly honest, I think that my black eyes are maybe affecting my reading just the slightest bit. I can still read, however my eyesight makes the writing on the pages appear much lighter than usual. This seems like a temporary problem, but it certainly is annoying while it lasts.

So, on Friday, September 16th, I actually set aside the book that I was reading: The Rite: The Making of a Modern Exorcist by Matt Baglio. After reading this book for about eight days, I haven't managed to get any further into the story than 20 pages. Since my copy of the book has 294 pages in it; reading 20 pages of the story means that I have read approximately 7 percent of the book. So, I just picked up A Map of the World by Jane Hamilton; which actually is another reread for me from about ten years ago.

Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight

I Thought That I Would be Safe in my Doctor's Office!

Hello everyone! I hope that you're all just fine this morning - I certainly am! :) Anyway, I just wanted to give you an update on how I'm doing so far.

Well, I suppose that if I were to be completely honest, I would have to say that I'm not feeling absolutely wonderful right now - but certainly much better than I was feeling yesterday. I went to my doctor's office for a checkup appointment on Thursday afternoon, September 15th. I was sitting right next to the check-in desk in the waiting room and my name was called. I leaned forward in order to get up from the chair, and the next thing I knew I had whacked my head against the desk.

While it was a serious enough whack for me to pause - and it did hurt a little bit at the time that it happened - I stood up and went into the exam room. The nurse took my blood pressure - which was higher than usual - so she questioned what was wrong with me. I mentioned that I had just bashed my head in the waiting room, so she immediately decided to check my head - which seemed to have developed a substantial lump by the time I had arrived in the exam room.

I finally got home from the doctor's appointment at about 4:00 PM, with a cold compress and strict instructions to keep an eye on my head injury. I was also told that I had to watch out for any possible bleeding on the brain - well, there's a cheery thought. Even Mareena had to wake me up every couple of hours all throughout the night to check on my condition. So all in all, it was quite a busy night!

Given that my head has begun to ache slightly - although, only if I touch the knot on my head too much - I have found that I can't really concentrate too much on anything all that complicated. As a result of circumstances, I just wanted to finish the jigsaw puzzle which I started on Monday afternoon, September 12th! So, it's only taken me a total of four days, but I finished the entire jigsaw puzzle today - Friday, September 16th!

As regards my reading, I've noticed that I haven't gotten all that far into The Rite: The Making of a Modern Exorcist by Matt Baglio. Actually, by Sunday, September 11th, I had only read six more pages than when I started reading the book on Thursday night, September 8th! Since that means that I have only read a total of 20 pages into a book that according to Goodreads has 304 pages in it, I'm thinking of setting the book aside for a while.

So, according to Goodreads - as of Sunday, September 11th - I've read 20 pages into The Rite: The Making of a Modern Exorcist by Matt Baglio. As the book has approximately 304 pages in it, reading 20 pages into the story means that I have read about 6 percent of it. Since my own copy of this book actually has 294 pages, reading 20 pages into it means that I have read approximately 7 percent of the story.

The synopsis is definitely interesting, and having watched the movie with Mareena back in June of 2014 - I'm really looking forward to reading this book. However, I may have to set aside the book for a while, or at least until my head gets better. I might have to see if I can read another book!

Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight

I Seem to be Doing an Amazing Number of Jigsaw Puzzles - Although, Not Much Else!

Hello everyone! I hope that you're all just fine this morning - I certainly am! :) Anyway, I just wanted to give you an update on how I'm doing so far.

So, to be perfectly honest, I've been sort of keeping a relatively low profile these days. It isn't so much that I haven't been doing anything, it's just that I haven't been spending too much time online, lately. For the past few days, I just haven't been doing anything all that noteworthy, I suppose.

Actually, since Saturday afternoon, September 3rd, I've started doing jigsaw puzzles - and as of Tuesday, September 13th - I have finished a total of three jigsaw puzzles. I finished the 1,000-piece puzzle of the sailboat in the harbor on Sunday night, September 11th. Then, I started another jigsaw puzzle that I had previously done several years ago - a 1,000-piece puzzle of an old-fashioned town square. Since I started doing it on Monday afternoon, September 12th, I don't expect I'll finish the puzzle for a few more days!

As regards my reading, I just started reading a book that I received through the mail on Tuesday afternoon, September 6th! I started reading The Rite: The Making of a Modern Exorcist by Matt Baglio on Thursday night, September 8th! According to Goodreads, as of Saturday afternoon, September 10th - I'm on page 14 of 304; or approximately 4 percent into the story. Since my copy of The Rite: The Making of a Modern Exorcist by Matt Baglio actually has 294 pages to it, reading 14 pages of the book means that I have read approximately 5 percent of the story.

Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight