My own weekend readathon

In the midst of the busyness, the chaos, sometimes it is just good to step back, step down and relax, read. That is what I am planning to do most of this weekend, my own weekend readathon.

I need it as this past week has been full of medical appointments and this coming week promises more of the same, for both me and my wife. In short, we’re both OK or will be in the not too distant future, thanks to a change in diet, physical therapy, and medication, with the latter being not as much as the others. And on Thursday, we’re getting away for the day to a winery up on Seneca Lake in New York, where my wife already has said the rule of the day is no medical talk…which I’m more than fine with.

So here are the potentials:

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• The Death of Mrs. Westaway by Ruth Ware, which I started last night and probably will continue this afternoon. I have checked this out several times in print and on ebook, but haven’t gotten to yet. Maybe this time I will.
• Black Diamond, the third in the Bruno, Chief of Police series, by Martin Walker: I renewed this one after not getting to it the first go-around. Now I’m going to try again.
• How Did It Begin?: The Origins of Our Curious Customs and Superstitions by Dr. R & L. Brason: One of my coworkers lent me a copy of this, thinking I might be interested.
• Mrs. Byrne’s Dictionary of Unusual, Obscure, and Preposterous Words by Josefa A. Heifetz Byrne: I mentioned this one last week and it’s more one I’ll dip into from time to time, probably like the one listed right before this.
• Unsettling America: An Anthology of Contemporary Multicultural Poetry, edited by Maria Mazziotti Gillan and Jennifer Gillan, which I also had in another readathon list recently. It will be another that I most likely will just dip into periodically throughout the weekend.

At the end of each day, I’ll try to keep you updated here on the blog. We’ll see how that goes too.

6 p.m., Saturday night

I finished The Death of Mrs. Westaway. Here is what I wrote on Goodreads:

I kept getting this one out of the library and then not reading, mainly just because I didn’t get to it. I think I also probably blanched at the use of italicized flashbacks, but I was pleasantly surprised that they didn’t reveal everything, unlike in other books I’ve read.

Of course, I forgot until I started typing in the quote block here on WordPress.com that it also would appear in italics, but it seems apropos, does it not? While on Goodreads, I looked back and noted that I read The Woman in Cabin 10 and In A Dark, Dark Wood, both in 2016, and that I also liked them. I have not read The Lying Game yet or her latest The Turn of the Key.

4 p.m., Sunday afternoon

I haven’t done as much reading as I wanted to today, but I am still doing a little. This morning and earlier this afternoon, I dipped into How Did It Begin? which I am about halfway through. I probably won’t finish it today as it is more a book to dip into than to read in one sitting or in one day. Here are my thoughts on Goodreads:

Not to be read in one sitting. As for other reviewers’ comments that the book is outdated and doesn’t cite sources, author was in his 80s when he wrote book and did research for Enclyopedia Brittanica. My main critique is with the subtitle of “curious customs” and his overuse of exclamation marks. Some customs he describes really aren’t that curious and does he really need to use that many exclamation points?!!

I now am reading Black Diamond, but only am about 50 pages in. So far, though, so good.

10:30 p.m., Sunday night

I didn’t read tonight. Instead, I watched two episodes of Midsomer Murders, but I’ve decided to continue my readathon tomorrow morning since the rest of my week is pretty full.

Reading anything good lately? How about this weekend? Have you ever read any Ruth Ware? What did you think, if you have?