Sunday News #26

Sunday Post and Sunday Salon are blog news memes hosted at Caffeinated Reviewer and Reader Buzz, respectively. It’s a chance to share news, recap the past week on your blog, and showcase books and other things.
Feeling

I’m feeling exhausted and excited. We moved into our new place yesterday! Everything that goes along with moving into a new place is so exhausting. Corey and I are the type of people that like to leave the places we move out of better than it was when we moved in. Of course after all the hard work of moving everything and getting our cats situated, we then commenced Operation Clean and cleaned our old place from top to bottom. I’m glad we can finally relax a little bit.

Blogging

This week on the blog:

Reading

I finished rereading both THE MAGICIAN’S NEPHEW and THE LAST BATTLE by CS Lewis this week. I can’t believe I’m done with the Narniathon. I’ll be posting my discussion posts for both books this week.

I’ve also started reading WHERE THE CRAWDADS SING by Delia Owens during my downtime this week. Now that we’re done moving (other than unpacking), I should have much more time to devote to reading. Hopefully, I can finish WHERE THE CRAWDADS SING soon so Corey and I can see the movie.

Listening

I’m love the movie MOULIN ROUGE with Ewan McGregor and Nicole Kidman. It’s the first time I heard Ewan sing and I immediately fell in love with his voice.

I’m not very knowledgeable regarding music unless it’s a movie score. I recognize a lot of songs, but I often have no idea what the name of the song is or who the artist is. And, sometimes, I don’t recognize the song at all. For our entire marriage, Corey’s mission has been to educate me in terms of music.

When I first watched MOULIN ROUGE back in 2001, I thought most of the songs were original to the movie. Now, that I’ve been more educated, I’d realized that most of them are covers to famous songs by The Beatles, Elton John, Queen, David Bowie, etc.

With all that being said, Corey blew my mind this week by sharing the original version of one of my favorite songs from MOULIN ROUGE. I had no idea that Sting sang “Roxanne” nor that it was the original for “El Tango de Roxanne” from the movie. Now, after hearing Sting’s version, I have to say that I like the movie version better. I often like covers better than the originals. Please don’t hate me.

Anyway, I’ve decided to share both versions of the song to let you decide.

Watching

Corey and I finally watched started watching ONLY MURDERS IN THE BUILDING on Hulu with Steve Martin, Martin Short, and Selena Gomez. We love it so far. It’s so funny and really keeps you guessing. Plus it has an all-start cast. Nathan Lane and Sting (hence the song choices) are guest stars in a couple of episodes. I hope Chevy Chase is a guest star too so the Three Amigos can get back together for an episode or two.

We also saw LIGHTYEAR in the theater. We both really enjoyed it. I thought Chris Evans did a great job of voicing Buzz and I loved his cat robot companion, Spot. (Spot was my favorite.) It was a really fun movie.

We had tickets for THOR: LOVE AND THUNDER on Friday, but we completely spaced and missed it. We have tickets for tomorrow now. I’m tempted to look online and see if Hiddles has a cameo.

Loving

I love our new home and I especially love the room for my library. I can’t wait to share pictures once I have it all put together.

Wanting

I want my kitties to feel more comfortable with our new home. One of my cats, Dax, has moved before but it’s been 13 years. I don’t know if she remembers. Plus, she’s almost 19 and is grumpy so change is hard for her. Our other cat, Izzy, has never moved and she’s very skittish. She’s only five years old.

Needing

I need to get LASIK done more than anything. I’m having trouble with my glasses. I have progressive lenses and my up-close vision is wonky. I sometimes can use my glasses, but other times, I can seem without them if I put the thing I’m looking at really close. The problem is I can’t take my glasses off to see up close and still see far away. Writing and taking notes in class has been difficult. I have a consultation on Monday with an eye surgeon.

How was your week? Anything exciting happen?

P.S. I may be slow to reply for a few days since I’ll be unpacking and moving things around.

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Review: Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda

Review: Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens AgendaTitle: Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda
Author: Becky Albertalli
Series: Simonverse #1
Genre(s): Contemporary, LGBTQ+, Romance, YA
Pages: 325
Source: Library
For: Play Book Tag
Rating:
Sexual Content: 1 Flames

Add to Goodreads

There's content in this book that may be triggering to some readers. I've tried to include the possible triggers in this book at end of my review.
Goodreads Synopsis

Sixteen-year-old and not-so-openly gay Simon Spier prefers to save his drama for the school musical. But when an email falls into the wrong hands, his secret is at risk of being thrust into the spotlight.

My Thoughts

I grew up in a very conservative religious family. Like many Christian religions, my religion believes acting on “same-sex attraction” is a sin. Because of this, I knew about SIMON VS. THE HOMO SAPIENS AGENDA. But, because it’s about a closeted gay teenager, I’ve always shied away from reading it. I began questioning my own sexuality about eight years ago and I came out as queer on June 1. I’m now ready to embrace that part of me without feeling shame, which includes reading LGBTQ+ literature.

Last year, I watched LOVE, SIMON on Hulu and fell in love with Simon Spier and his story. Because of the movie, I wanted to read SIMON VS. THE HOMO SAPIENS AGENDA. I decided to read it as part of Pride Month.

Everyone should have to declare one way or another, and it shouldn’t be this big awkward thing whether you’re straight, gay, bi, or whatever.

SIMON VS. THE HOMO SAPIENS AGENDA is a heart-warming story of love and acceptance in all its forms. Simon’s coming out felt familiar. When I read about his fear of rejection and/or disappointing those he loved if he came out, I felt like I understood.

I really felt for him when he was outed without his consent and bullied at the hands of other students in his school. I actually really love how Albertalli used the bullying Simon faced as a way for him to feel supported by his friends, family, and teachers as they rallied around him.

I loved the characters in SIMON VS. THE HOMO SAPIENS AGENDA. I loved the relationship he had with Blue. I loved reading their emails to each other. They were fun and witty. I also loved his relationship with his parents and sisters. His family was protective and supportive, but not without their flaws which made the story more realistic.

Have you read SIMON VS. THE HOMO SAPIENS AGENDA? If so, what did you think?

Trigger Warning

There is a trigger warning for bullying.

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Review: Every Summer After

Review: Every Summer AfterTitle: Every Summer After
Author: Carley Fortune
Genre(s): Contemporary, Romance
Pages: 320
Source: Library
For: Recommended
Rating:
Sexual Content: 3 Flames

Add to Goodreads

There's content in this book that may be triggering to some readers. I've tried to include the possible triggers in this book at end of my review.
Goodreads Synopsis

Six summers to fall in love. One moment to fall apart. A weekend to get it right. They say you can never go home again, and for Persephone Fraser, ever since she made the biggest mistake of her life a decade ago, that has felt too true. Until she receives the call that sends her racing back to Barry’s Bay and into the orbit of Sam Florek--the man she never thought she’d have to live without.

My Thoughts

When I read Wendy’s review of EVERY SUMMER AFTER, I put it on hold right that second at my local library. There was a little bit of a wait, but I finally got it a couple of weeks ago. I’m so happy I read it because I adored this book!

The friends-to-lovers trope is one of my favorites and this one didn’t disappoint. I haven’t read many second-chance romances, but I think I will if they’re anything like EVERY SUMMER AFTER. I thought Fortune was a master at writing sexual tension between her characters, and I loved Percy and Sam’s interactions because of it.

Betrayals don’t cancel each other out. They just hurt more.

EVERY SUMMER AFTER is a heart-warming story of love, betrayal, loss, and redemption. I’m really glad I put my other reads on hold to make sure I got this one read before I had to return it to the library. Not only is it a fun contemporary romance, it also deals with some heavy themes to give the story some depth.

I ended up reading EVERY SUMMER AFTER in two sittings, which isn’t normal for me. If I can read a book that fast, then you know I really love the characters and story. I thought each character had distinct personalities and were fun to get to know. I don’t think there was a character I hated. Besides Percy and Sam, I also really loved Charlie, Sam’s older brother.

I adored the setting of EVERY SUMMER AFTER. It made me think of all the time I’ve spent sailing on Bear Lake with Corey and his family. Whenever the characters were on the dock down at the lake, I could picture it perfectly.

Ever since I finished reading EVERY SUMMER AFTER, I’ve been trying to decide if I want to give it 4 or 5 stars. I’m honestly still torn about it. For now, I’ve given it 4.5 stars, but I may change it to 5.

Have you read EVERY SUMMER AFTER? If so, what did you think?

Trigger Warning

There is a trigger warning for bullying and loss of a parent.

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Six in Six: 2022

I first heard about Six in Six over on Jessica’s blog (The Bookworm Chronicles). I thought it sounded like fun so I decided to join in.

Six in Six is hosted by Jo (The Book Jotter). She’s been doing this since 2012, making this year the 10th anniversary of her first post. Six in Six is about sharing the books we’ve read during the first half of the year, between January and June. In fact, we share 6 books in 6 categories. I’ve decided on the following categories:

  • six books I’ve enjoyed the most,
  • six new authors I’ve discovered in 2022,
  • six favorite places to read,
  • six covers I love,
  • six physical books I’ve read, and
  • six books set in a country other than the US.

As I mentioned in my 2022 Reading Goals Check-In post, I read 23 books by the end of June. My ratings distribution is:

  • 3 books with
  • 2 books with
  • 10 books with
  • 5 books with
  • 3 books with

I’ll mostly be sharing books with at least a four-star rating in this post. You can click each of the covers to go to my review if you’re interested in reading it.

Six Books I’ve Enjoyed the Most
Six New Authors I’ve Discovered in 2022
  • Matt Haig
  • Fredrik Backman
  • Lia Louis
  • Ali Hazelwood
  • Rebecca Ross
  • Fiona Davis
Six Favorite Places to Read
  • Lounging in my armchair in my library
  • In bed
  • On my sailboat
  • In the bathtub
  • With my friends during a readathon
  • At school
Six Covers I Love
Six Physical Books I’ve Read
Six Books Set in a Country Other than the US

What about you? What are some books, authors, or places that would be on your lists?

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Top Ten Tuesday #25

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.
Most Anticipated Books Releasing in the Second Half of 2022

Another prompt that’s hard for me because I don’t really pay attention to release dates unless they’re books I’m REALLY looking forward to. With that being said, here are ten six books I’m looking forward to releasing later this year:

What about you? Which books are you anticipating later this year? Do we have any in common?

I learned in DBT (Dialectical Behavior Therapy) that life is full of dialectics, or two opposing truths. In this case, the two opposing truths are: 1) I don’t agree with JKR’s stance regarding trans people, and 2) I still love Harry Potter.

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