SUNDAY POST – 9th October, 2022 #Brainfluffbookblog #SundayPost

This is part of the weekly meme over at the Caffeinated Reviewer, where book bloggers can share the books they’ve read and share what they have got up to during the last week.

It’s been another busy week. Poor Ethan lost his wallet on his train journey into college – but fortunately, one of his friends lent him the money for a ticket home. We told him it was a rite of passage – we all lose purses/wallets/keys and now he’s coped with it, doing all the right things, including promptly phoning the bank to cancel his card, he has one more adult experience in his arsenal to help his resilience.

Oscar has recently become interested in football (soccer) again, so yesterday Himself took him for a training session with one of the local youth teams – and ended up retrieving balls and helping to put up a temporary goal. He came home very tired and with wet feet, having been up since 2 am due to an early shift. He really is a keeper… We also got Oscar’s bike properly serviced, having the brake and gear cables replaced, the chain tightened and fully oiled so that on the days that he rides to and from school, we know he’s as safe as possible. He isn’t quite big enough for an adult bike, though it won’t be long at the rate he’s now growing – so it doesn’t make sense to buy him something new and shiny right now, when I think he’ll need something bigger in less than a year.

We finally got some new blinds for the kitchen – yay!! The house has been disgracefully neglected, what with one thing and another, over the last couple of years and our previous blinds were long past their sell-by date. So we finally got some new ones. I’m very pleased at how well they go with our colour scheme😊.

As for me, I’ve been struggling somewhat this week. Typical, having written that I’m largely over the Long Covid that has blighted my life for the past eighteen months, that halfway around Tesco last week on the weekly supermarket shop, I was suddenly overwhelmed by the all-too-familiar wave of nausea and tiredness. But the big plus is that it didn’t result in my legs giving way in the middle of the aisle, or having to stagger to the nearest chair. Instead, I was able to continue the task with the help of the boys, though I felt very wiped out afterwards and throughout the week, I’ve been nursing my energy levels as I’ve been really tired. Knowing how this goes, so long as I look after myself, this dragging feeling should ease up in the next day or so. But so far, I haven’t needed to take to my bed for the duration – and that’s a massive win. However, that’s also been reflected in my reading this week as whenever I pick up my Kindle, I end up dozing off.

Last week I read:-

AUDIOBOOK – Ithaca – Book 1 of the Penelope series by Claire North
Seventeen years ago, King Odysseus sailed to war with Troy, taking with him every man of fighting age from the island of Ithaca. None of them has returned, and the women of Ithaca have been left behind to run the kingdom.

Penelope was barely into womanhood when she wed Odysseus. While he lived, her position was secure. But now, years on, speculation is mounting that her husband is dead, and suitors are beginning to knock at her door.

No one man is strong enough to claim Odysseus’ empty throne—not yet. But everyone waits for the balance of power to tip, and Penelope knows that any choice she makes could plunge Ithaca into bloody civil war. Only through cunning, wit, and her trusted circle of maids, can she maintain the tenuous peace needed for the kingdom to survive.

This is the story of Penelope of Ithaca, famed wife of Odysseus, as it has never been told before. Beyond Ithaca’s shores, the whims of gods dictate the wars of men. But on the isle, it is the choices of the abandoned women—and their goddesses— that will change the course of the world.
Oh my goodness! What an amazing listen… For those of you suffering withdrawal symptoms after Madeline Miller’s wonderful Circe and Songs of Achilles and Pat Barker’s The Silence of the Girls – here is another powerful, moving depiction of the Greek myths from the feminine viewpoint. I absolutely loved it. Review to follow.

My posts last week:

LIVING WITH LONG COVID – My Journey from 6th March 2021 to September 2022

Review of NETGALLEY AUDIOBOOK Death Among the Diamonds – Book 1 of the Cressida Fawcett Mystery series by Fliss Chester

Can’t-Wait-Wednesday featuring Tread of Angels by Rebecca Roanhorse

Sunday Post – 2nd October, 2022

Interesting blogs and articles that have caught my attention during last couple of weeks, in no particular order:

Friday Faceoff: Guess Who’s Back – Vampires – popular again? – I regularly used to enjoy and take part in Friday Faceoff, and in due course I’m hoping to get back to joining in. Which covers do you prefer?

Quarterly Challenge Update: September 2022 – Carla’s reading stats frankly awed me. I haven’t generally joined in any of the regular book blogging challenges, although they always look like great fun. Do you – and do they inspire you to stretch your reading?

Gloria! – I love reading Jennie’s regular updates on what happens in her classroom – and this is just one example of her inspired teaching…

Can’t-Wait-Wednesday – The Boys from Biloxi by John Grisham – I haven’t read one of Grisham’s books for a very long time… So I was intrigued to see this upcoming release pop up.

What’s On My Plate: 15 SFF Books to Read in October 2022 – Tammy always has some of the coolest new releases around, so I always enjoy visiting her site. Though I’m now tussling with the impulse to get hold of the audiobook of Station Eternity, despite being stacked out with books I still haven’t yet listened to!

Wishing you all a happy, health week😊.