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How’s everyone doing living in this strange new world? Social distancing, no school, working from home or not being able to work at all, who would have imagined this even a few months ago? From what I hear many of us are feeling a lot of anxiety and are finding it hard to stay focused on much. I know that’s the case for me. Today we begin distance learning with students and I’m very nervous about how it’s going to actually work. We got NO training, just some general guidelines and then basically had to figure it out ourselves. So, it’s not going to be perfect and we anticipate a lot of glitches this first week. If you’re a parent please go easy on teachers. We’re doing our best!
When it comes to books I struggled a little finding something to hold my interest, finally finding that lighter books worked best. And now, I’ve moved into books from my Spring Preview 2020. If you missed it last week, please take a look!
Hosted by Kathryn at Book Date
Last Week’s Reads
- I had so looked forward to Bill Clegg’s new book, The End of the Day, that I read it very early. It pains me to say it, but I didn’t care for the story. It just didn’t have the deep emotional pull that he gave us in Did You Ever Have a Family. My review won’t be until the book is released in June.
- When I first started listening to In Five Years by Rebecca Serle, I was worried it was going to be too much of a romance story for me, but it was easy to listen to, so I kept going. So glad I did because I ended up liking it very much. I have a mini-review (along with 5 other mini-reviews) posting tomorrow.
- After flipping through several books and dismissing them without even really giving them a try, I finally settled into The Holdout by Graham Moore. It was perfect for my head space – enough to keep me engaged, without being too serious. I’ll have a review coming soon.
Currently Reading
- The weather here this last week has been gorgeous and so I’ve been taking advantage of it to get out of the house and take a long walk each day. I needed a new audiobook and knew something on the lighter side would work best for me right now. I remembered seeing American Royals by Katherine McGee all over the place last fall. A few hours in, I’m enjoying the story, but it’s definitely a YA book!
- I’ve barely begun The Beauty of Your Face by Sahar Mustafah, so can’t say much about it yet. Featured on my Spring Preview 2020, I’m hoping this more serious book about a shooter and the principal of a Muslim girl’s school won’t be too dark for me right now.
Likely to Read Next
- Mood reading reigns supreme right now, so I’m not sure what I’ll read next, but Godshot by Chelsea Bieker might be it. A drought, a cult leader, and a 14-year old girl in search of her mother sounds good, but could also be a little heavy, so we’ll see!
- Another possibility is A Tender Thing by Emily Neuberger. Set in the 1950’s on Broadway, this story features a love story between a young white actress and a black composer.
Good luck with the new distance learning.
Crazy times for sure. I haven’t been able to read this week. I’m stuck at 50% in THE END OF THE DAY and I agree with you. I too loved DID YOU EVER HAVE A FAMILY. Disappointing!
I don’t know what’s up next for me. Something light but not fluffy.
I’ll be curious to hear your final thoughts on The End of the Day. So far this year his book and The Glass Hotel, both books I was so highly anticipating, have been disappointments. Ah, well. Stay well, Jan.
I read In Five Years two weeks back. I liked it OK but I didn’t love it. I discovered the Unsub series by Meg Gardiner. I started with book 3 which, is this years release called ” The Dark Corners Of The Night” it was the most engrossing book, that I’ve read this month kept me turning the pages so far this month.
I am on my 7th book of the month, and like you I have had a hard time settling down enough to read but here and there I have been able to read for a couple hours at a time. The new normal doesn’t feel normal at all!
Hopefully, anxiety levels will settle down soon and we can all get back to a little more focus in our reading. In the meantime, carry on and stay safe!
Good luck with the distance learning. I’m glad I’m retired. I have a bunch of April 7 releases on my Review stack that I need to read but am consumed by listening to a series I love on audio. Staying home is not particularly new to me but I keep thinking of reasons to make a quick trip to the grocery store which is about the only thing open anyway. Come see my week here. Happy reading!
After last week, I’m beginning to wish I was retired. The first week was hard…really hard! Stay well.
I finally finished a book that I put off reading the end of for months, because I felt I didn’t have the concentration for it, what with one thing and another. Then the coronavirus exploded and my ability to focus without distraction got exponentially worse. The staying in (although I usually love staying home) has been problematic for me, because up until now, we were still being told to come into work and had to call in sick if we weren’t going to come in. Now, it looks like it is going to be resolved this week and we will all be staying home. I hope we’ll still be able to get paid, but either way, I didn’t want to take my chances. As with anything, no matter how careful we might be ourselves, we have no control over how others are behaving.
I’m enjoying the normalcy of visiting book blogs today and seeing what everyone is up to. Surreal is the word that keeps coming to mind for me, too!
Surreal is the perfect word to describe our current reality. I thought when they first cancelled schools that the online learning might still give me a little more reading tie. Maybe that will happen in the future, but this first week was insane. I worked way longer hours than I ever do normally and all that is screen time which I’m not used to so much of either. Fingers crossed things will settle down a little for all of us as we find routines and ways to make this work.
Oh good I’m glad The Holdout held your interest. I liked it enough too. Plenty of characters, yet easy to follow & the writing was active & engaging. It seems you are still able to finish quite a few …. in this very distracting new world. My reading is slow. Good luck with your teaching online — that’s tough to do with no training!
The only reason I finished three books last week is because the first two were almost finished as the week began. My reading is definitely slower and I find I’m up and down all the time, finding it hard to just settle into a story. It could be the books, but I think it’s me. Stay well!
Loved In Five Years because it WASN’T as I imagined it.Just finished One Day You’ll Burn by Joseph Schneider,hopefully the beginning of an excellent,different crime series,and started The Operator by Gretchen Berg,also excellent.All from my last batch of library books.Just gone in to full lockdown here in NZ so really looking forward to making a dent in my own stash.
Stay safe and well,people,wherever you are.x
You were smart to load up on library books. I actually popped into the library the last day it was open just to grab a book I’d put on hold. I didn’t see any signs saying it was closing the next day, but when I got home I had an email notifying me. Luckily, I have a lot of spring eARC’s to get through. Stay safe!