I am kind of surprised at how much I am managing to read given everything that is going on, especially with Australia gradually descending into lockdown. I don't have my commute time to mess around anymore, and so in theory that should be cutting into my reading time, but it doesn't seem to at the moment.
What I am reading though is more light hearted, fun style reads rather than anything too heavy.
This week I finished reading If I Never Met You by Mhairi McFarlane (not quite the romance I was expecting but still a lot of fun) and Romancing the Duke by Tessa Dare which was exactly what I expected and needed!
Currently I am reading The Lost Love Song by Minnie Darke and My Italian Bulldozer by Alexander McCall Smith. I chose to read The Lost Love Song after reading lots of really good reviews of it over the last couple of months. I am enjoying it so far, although it did take a turn quite early in the book that I kind of sort of knew was coming but still kind of sort of surprised me.
I decided to read the Alexander McCall Smith in a more roundabout way. I saw mention of a book called The Second Worst Restaurant in France and thought food and France - that's a book for me. However, I then realised that was the second book in the series and so I needed to find the first book. Luckily I find McCall Smith a very calming read most of the time so it is a good read for when I am awake at 4.30 in the morning.
I am still listening to The Rise of Magicks by Nora Roberts which probably doesn't qualify as light and fun but I did start this before the world went a bit crazy!
Not only am I getting to read but I am also getting to watch some shows.
If you asked me what I achieved on Sunday my answer would be going food shopping, doing my nails and watching pretty much all of season 4 of Outlander! I had maybe watched 2 episodes previously, but I knocked all the others out on Sunday. Of course, my husband tells me I am an underachiever because there are still 6 episodes of season 5 recorded to watch in due course but I will get to them. And hopefully it won't take me 18 months to do so.
On Friday night we watched the last episode of Star Trek: Picard. Is it too soon to say that I am already looking forward to season 2. There was a couple of slow spots in the series, but overall I thoroughly enjoyed it. In particular, I enjoyed seeing all the old faces returning and really enjoyed the new characters as well.
I have continued to seek out some of the interesting shows that are available as a result of shows and venues being closed down. On Saturday I watched Oklahoma starring Hugh Jackman and Maureen Lippman. This was a first for me, and I have to say, this show was much darker than I expected it to be. While I know a lot of the songs I don't think I have ever actually seen the show or movie before so some of the story line surprised me.
Tonight I watched the 60 minute Cirque du Soleil special. We were meant to go to Cirque du Soleil a couple of weeks ago but it was postponed. Somehow I have never seen one of these shows live so it was a real treat for me to watch this.
The other show that is quickly becoming must watch for me is the Grand Ole Opry. This week the show feature Vince Gill and Amy Grant as well as two of their daughters.
Life
We are how working from home full time and I think that we are getting used to it. It's interesting listening to my husband talk. Most of the time I have no idea what he is talking about but it is lovely to hear him interacting with his colleagues. Of course, he said to me the other day that he has no idea of what I am talking about either, but that I clearly know what I am talking about. I think that is a compliment!
On the weekend just gone, we should have gone to a couple of Melbourne Comedy Festival shows but, alas, it was not to be.
I think this week is going to be a little difficult in some ways because this time tomorrow we should have been sitting at the airport waiting to get on the plane to go to London. Whilst I know that everything is out of our control, it would have been an amazing holiday.
We have been quite lucky. So far we haven't lost too much money with all of our cancellations. Companies like Airbnb were amazing to deal with and gave us our refunds straight away. We have ended up with vouchers to use from the airline and a couple of other places. I think we will still have trouble with one of the hotels and one of the activities, but overall we will end up being okay.
In other not so great news, we found out today that we may need to spend around $3500 on a new engine for my car. Lots of conversation and no decisions just yet as to what to do. Watch this space.
Posts from the last week
Where There's Music
Weekend Cooking: March Bakes
I've linked this post to It's Monday, what are you reading? as hosted by Book Date
I’m not surprised you are feeling down about missing your holiday but I’m glad you are not losing a heap of money on it, I guess the refunds will be going towards repairing your car though - ouch!
ReplyDeleteMy parents were also disappointed by the Cirque de Soleil postponement, they see them everything time they have a new show.
Wishing you a great reading week and good health.
Shelleyrae, I have no idea how I have never been to see them, but I am going to rectify that when I can.
DeleteI've only seen Cirque de Soleil on TV. I'm sure you are disappointed at seeing them live. I'm glad your trip cancellation isn't resulting in big financial loss. Come see my week here. Happy reading!
ReplyDeleteKathy, mainly resulting in a bit of disappointment but what can we do.
DeleteOh wow, your first experience of Oklahoma! It is VERY dark, but I love that performance of it. The movie plays "People Will Say We're in Love" straight and I never think it works; it's loads better when they're teasing each other. When I was a kid and I would injure myself my dad would sing "poor Jenny's dead, poor Jenny Hamilton's dead" to me in his deepest baritone, so there's a special place in my heart for this musical, flawed and weird as it is. :P
ReplyDeleteAlso, ta for the Minnie Darke recommendation! I'll have to give her a try!
Jenny it really surprised me how dark Oklahoma was!
DeleteSorry about the car and the canceled trip. I’d love to go to London someday. I’ve heard they have amazing bookstores there. Have a good week!
ReplyDeleteAj @ Read All The Things!
AJ, it is definitely a fun place to visit!
DeleteSorry to hear about the canceled holiday. That's no fun. :(
ReplyDeleteI've seen a couple of books by Mhairi McFarlane that looked good but I haven't tried her yet.
This is all outside our control Greg! Just have to suck it up until such time as everything goes back to normal.
DeleteWe've just started season 1 of Outlander and plan to continue on. Well into Picard and loving it. Thank goodness for things to lose yourself in at the moment.
ReplyDeleteWhatever it takes to get through these strange days right Cath?
DeleteI love that you read a variety of books at the same time just like me. Reading is so dependent on my mood at times. I look forward to hearing what you think of The Lost Love Song, I've seen some good reviews about it, but not sure if it's one I'll read. Stay safe and well.
ReplyDeleteI have always been a bit all over the place craneclaire.
DeleteSounds like a good week. I've gotten Starz, but need to get started on the lastest Season of Outlander. We watched the first few episodes of Picard, but then stopped when we heard it wasn't child appropriate anymore. I need to preview it with my husband to see if we'll continue watching it as a family. Your books sound great too. I find myself in a lot of books lately reading what my mood brings me to read!
ReplyDeleteMood reason sounds perfectly reasonable right now Laura
DeleteI'm glad that you have settled into working well with your husband at home. You are also doing well with reading. I've read a lot, but I've strictly read children's books. I don't know why. Stay well.
ReplyDeleteMy husband has always worked partly from home, but more so now and I feel the same way about hearing/watching him interact with clients. He's confident, knowledgeable, really good with people. Who knew? LOL.
ReplyDeleteI'm so sorry about your London trip. Some family members and I are planning to take my parents there (England/Wales/Ireland) for their 50th anniversary. We almost did it this year - now I'm glad we decided to wait until next.
Glad to hear you guys get to work from home. It's so funny because someone asked me if I was spending more time with my husband but in a way I feel like I'm spending less time because we are both constantly on conference calls and have long days. Thank you for sharing this book - I'm definitely in the mood for lighthearted reads! Stay safe!
ReplyDeleteI'm due to take a vacation and though I don't typically go anywher it feels kind of weird to take vacation days. But I might take it so I can focus on my garden in the mornings instead of work. I'm sorry you had to miss your trip. See what I've read at Girl Who Reads
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