Stacked-Up Book Thoughts: One Slow Reading Week

This past weekend was a good news, bad news kind of affair. The good is that I'm finally finding some sanity with my workload, which meant I was looking forward to a weekend of reading, reading, reading.

The bad is that, well, after months of hard work all the chores, all the errands, and all the yard work were there staring at me in the face. Sigh.

The more good is that the flower beds are weeded, the deck plants are bought and potted, the room A/C units are installed, and I'm all ready for summer. Oh, and I even got a long walk in.

One of my slowest reading weeks ever, but I still think I came out ahead!

What I read last week

The Death of Dulgarth by Michael J. Sullivan (Mascot Books, 2016). Oh the mixed feelings of being caught up in a beloved series. One thing I really liked about this last installment in the second trilogy of the Riyria books, is that it revealed a more emotionally vulnerable side of our main characters, ex-assassin Royce and ex-soldier Hadrian. At the same time, it had the expected good humor, snappy dialogue, fast action, and meddling by the Nyphron Church we fans have come to expect. This book could almost be read as a standalone because it contains a full story line, but it is best enjoyed after you're already familiar with the characters and their universe. The audiobook (Audio Studios; 13 h, 57 min) was brilliantly read by Tim Gerard Reynolds. As I've said many times before, the pairing of Sullivan's writing and Reynolds's performance is a match made in heaven. The audiobook concludes with a preview of The Age of Myth, Sullivan's new series, which takes place centuries before the Riyria books, but in the same world.

Mars: The Pristine Beauty of the Red Planet by Alfred S. McEwen, Candice Hansen-Koharcheck, and Ari Espinoza (University of Arizona Press, 2017). Attention all space lovers, photography buffs, and art enthusiasts and everyone who's ever looked into the night sky and wondered what it would be like to see another planet up close and through the seasons. In 2005 the HiRISE camera was launched into space aboard a Mars orbiter with the sole purpose of taking high-resolution photographs of the surface of Mars. This recently published oversize book contains hundreds of stunning images of the planet. We can see the expected craters and ridges and valleys, but we also see the movement -- flowing material, avalanches -- texture, colors, and patterns of our nearest neighbor. I can't tell you how beautiful this book is and how inspiring it is. If you are involved in any of the visual arts and crafts (including needlework, quilting, potting, and more), you'll be especially stuck by these images, gathering ideas for new projects. I just can't stop looking through this book, and hope that if we do indeed ever colonize Mars, we will be able to preserve its "pristine beauty."

What's on my reading stack? Here's a photo I shared on Litsy a couple of days ago when I thought I was going to be able to spend two whole uninterrupted days reading. No, I wasn't going to read a gazillion books in 48 hours, but these are some of the books I want to read soon and/or include in one of my upcoming weekly round-ups.

Let's hope we all have a great reading week. I plan to make headway through my stacks. After all, BookExpo is right around the corner, and I'll be distracted excited by everything new and shiny!