July's Book of the Month

Hello Everyone! I chose the picture posted above because it reminds me of reading to my daughter Mareena when she was little. Every afternoon until she was about eight or nine years old, we would take one of her books that she wanted to read or that she was reading and we would curl up together on my big bed. 

We would spend an hour or so reading a chapter of her book, and then take a nap together. Her absolutely favorite author at that time was an English author named Enid Blyton. Ahh, nice memories...

My picks for 'Books of the Month' will be decidedly more adult these days, but they will be from almost any genre. July's Book of the Month is: 

Night in Jerusalem: A Novel by Gaelle Lehrer Kennedy

Published as: Night in Jerusalem in October 2016

Publisher: PKZ

Birth Name: Gaelle Lehrer

Born: 1946 in New York, New York

Canonical Name: Gaelle Lehrer Kennedy

Pseudonyms: None

Night in Jerusalem: A Novel by Gaelle Lehrer Kennedy was the sixteenth book that I read in 2017. I have had this book on my TBR shelf since July 12, 2017 and it took me seven days to read. Since Mareena recently received this book for a book blog tour that she is reviewing for soon, I will be returning it to her.

Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight

Mareena Has Found One of the Books That I Want to Read!

Hello everyone! I hope that you're all just fine this morning - I certainly am! :) Anyway, I just wanted to give you an update on how I'm doing so far.

I'm beginning to think that I am taking one step forward and two steps back as regards the pace of my reading. I only mean that I thought I was doing so well last month having read two books, then this month I've been stumped by what I wanted to read next. I have at least four books on my radar at the moment, but I can't seem to choose which one to read.

Granted three of the books are rereads for me, but I think the oldest one is from about twenty years ago. So, that's almost like reading an entirely new book. I'm just in the process of locating at least one of these four books. I'm immersing myself in sum-doku puzzles as well: I'm happy to say that I finally finished one of my sum-doku puzzle books eight days ago - a book that I started on Tuesday, May 9th! I have also done 52 sum-doku puzzles in the book that I'm currently working through.

As regards my own reading, the most recent book that I've read was Night in Jerusalem: A Novel by Gaelle Lehrer Kennedy, which I finished on Saturday, July 22nd. Although I have been trying to figure out what to read next, I did receive another six-pack of sum-doku puzzles through the mail yesterday afternoon - Monday, July 24th!

Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight

Like I Said Before: One Step Forward, Two Steps Back!

Hello everyone! I hope that you're all just fine this morning - I certainly am! :) Anyway, I just wanted to give you an update on how I'm doing so far.

I'm beginning to think that I am taking one step forward and two steps back as regards the pace of my reading. I only mean that I thought I was doing so well last month having read two books, then this month I've been stumped by what I wanted to read next. I have at least four books on my radar at the moment, but I can't seem to choose which one to read.

Granted three of the books are rereads for me, but I think the oldest one is from about twenty years ago. So, that's almost like reading an entirely new book. I'm just in the process of locating at least one of these four books. I'm immersing myself in sum-doku puzzles as well: I'm happy to say that I finally finished one of my sum-doku puzzle books five days ago - a book that I started on Tuesday, May 9th! I have also done 46 sum-doku puzzles in the book that I'm currently working through.

As regards my own reading, the most recent book that I've read was Night in Jerusalem: A Novel by Gaelle Lehrer Kennedy, which I finished on Saturday, July 22nd. Although I have been trying to figure out what to read next, I did receive another six-pack of sum-doku puzzles through the mail yesterday afternoon - Monday, July 24th!

Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight

Gaelle Lehrer Kennedy - Night in Jerusalem: A Novel

16. Night in Jerusalem: A Novel by Gaelle Lehrer Kennedy (2016)
Length: 236 pages
Genre: Historical Fiction
Started: 15 July 2017
Finished: 22 July 2017
Where did it come from? Mareena received this book to read and review for a book tour that she had signed up to take part in later on in the year. Since I was trying to find something else to read, I asked her if I could borrow it to read and she said yes.
How long has it been on my TBR pile? Since 12 July 2016
Why do I have it? I like historical fiction and Gaelle Lehrer Kennedy is a new author for me.

This book arrived because Mareena had signed up to take part in a virtual book tour that is currently going on. She is going to post a review sometime later in the year, but the book was sent several months earlier than her review date. I was looking for something else to read, so I asked her if I could borrow the book to read it first and she said that I could. I thought that this was a remarkably well-written and poignant story and I really enjoyed it.

Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight

I May Not be Reading at the Same Pace, But I'm Still Reading!

Hello everyone! I hope that you're all just fine this morning - I certainly am! :) Anyway, I just wanted to give you an update on how I'm doing so far.

I'm beginning to think that I am taking one step forward and two steps back as regards the pace of my reading. I only mean that I thought I was doing so well last month having read two books, then this month I've been stumped by what I wanted to read next. I have at least four books on my radar at the moment, but I can't seem to choose which one to read.

Granted three of the books are rereads for me, but I think the oldest one is from about twenty years ago. So, that's almost like reading an entirely new book. I'm just in the process of locating at least one of these four books.

I'm immersing myself in sum-doku puzzles as well: I'm happy to say that I finally finished one of my sum-doku puzzle books this morning - Thursday, July 20th. This was a book that I started on Tuesday, May 9th! I have also done 36 sum-doku puzzles in the book that I'm currently working through.

As regards my own reading, the most recent book that I've read was The Ladies of Covington Send Their Love: A Novel by Joan Mendlicott, which I finished on Monday, June 18th! I just recently stopped reading Tutankhamun: The Untold Story by Thomas Hoving and will probably pick it up again soon. I started reading Night in Jerusalem: A Novel by Gaelle Lehrer Kennedy on Saturday, July 15th.

According to Goodreads - as of Wednesday, July 19th - I've read 147 pages out of 246 or 60 percent of the story. Since my copy of Night in Jerusalem: A Novel by Gaelle Lehrer Kennedy actually has 236 pages in it, reading 147 pages means that I've read 62 percent of the story. So far, this book is really good!

Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight

I Think I've Accepted That I'm Reading Much Slower These Days!

Hello everyone! I hope that you're all just fine this morning - I certainly am! :) Anyway, I just wanted to give you an update on how I'm doing so far.

I'm beginning to think that I am taking one step forward and two steps back as regards the pace of my reading. I only mean that I thought I was doing so well last month having read two books, then this month I've been stumped by what I wanted to read next. I have at least four books on my radar at the moment, but I can't seem to choose which one to read.

Granted three of the books are rereads for me, but I think the oldest one is from about twenty years ago. So, that's almost like reading an entirely new book. I'm just in the process of locating at least one of these four books. I'm immersing myself in sum-doku puzzles as well: I've done approximately 99 puzzles in one book and 34 in the other.

As regards my own reading, the most recent book that I've read was The Ladies of Covington Send Their Love: A Novel by Joan Mendlicott, which I finished on Monday, June 18th! I just recently stopped reading Tutankhamun: The Untold Story by Thomas Hoving and will probably pick it up again soon. I started reading Night in Jerusalem: A Novel by Gaelle Lehrer Kennedy on Saturday, July 15th.

According to Goodreads - as of Tuesday, July 18th - I've read 73 pages out of 246 or 30 percent of the story. Since my copy of Night in Jerusalem: A Novel by Gaelle Lehrer Kennedy actually has 236 pages in it, reading 73 pages means that I've read 31 percent of the story. So far, this book is really good!

Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight

Rest In Peace, Tutankhamun - at Least For the Next Few Days!

Hello everyone! I hope that you're all just fine this morning - I certainly am! :) Anyway, I just wanted to give you an update on how I'm doing so far.

I'm beginning to think that I am taking one step forward and two steps back as regards the pace of my reading. I only mean that I thought I was doing so well last month having read two books, then this month I've been stumped by what I wanted to read next. I have at least four books on my radar at the moment, but I can't seem to choose which one to read.

Granted three of the books are rereads for me, but I think the oldest one is from about twenty years ago. So, that's almost like reading an entirely new book. I'm just in the process of locating at least one of these four books. I'm immersing myself in sum-doku puzzles as well: I've done approximately 96 puzzles in one book and 31 in the other.

As regards my own reading, the most recent book that I've read was The Ladies of Covington Send Their Love: A Novel by Joan Mendlicott, which I finished on Monday, June 18th! I just recently stopped reading Tutankhamun: The Untold Story by Thomas Hoving and will probably pick it up again soon. I've started reading Night in Jerusalem: A Novel by Gaelle Lehrer Kennedy this morning.

Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight

Surprisingly, Mareena Isn't Having Much Luck so Far!

Hello everyone! I hope that you're all just fine this morning - I certainly am! :) Anyway, I just wanted to give you an update on how I'm doing so far.

I'm beginning to think that I am taking one step forward and two steps back as regards the pace of my reading. I only mean that I thought I was doing so well last month having read two books, then this month I've been stumped by what I wanted to read next. I have at least four books on my radar at the moment, but I can't seem to choose which one to read.

Granted three of the books are rereads for me, but I think the oldest one is from about twenty years ago. So, that's almost like reading an entirely new book. I'm just in the process of locating at least one of these four books. I'm immersing myself in sum-doku puzzles as well: I've done approximately 94 puzzles in one book and 29 in the other.

As regards my own reading, the most recent book that I've read was The Ladies of Covington Send Their Love: A Novel by Joan Mendlicott, which I finished on Monday, June 18th! I just started reading Tutankhamun: The Untold Story by Thomas Hoving on Monday, July 3rd and am really enjoying reading it so far. It's very intriguing. According to Goodreads - as of today, July 13th - I've actually read 61 pages out of 384 in Tutankhamun: The Untold Story by Thomas Hoving; or approximately 16 percent.

Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight

Mareena Told me That She Will Help me to Search Through my Huge Personal Library!

Hello everyone! I hope that you're all just fine this morning - I certainly am! :) Anyway, I just wanted to give you an update on how I'm doing so far.

I'm beginning to think that I am taking one step forward and two steps back as regards the pace of my reading. I only mean that I thought I was doing so well last month having read two books, then this month I've been stumped by what I wanted to read next. I have at least four books on my radar at the moment, but I can't seem to choose which one to read.

Granted three of the books are rereads for me, but I think the oldest one is from about twenty years ago. So, that's almost like reading an entirely new book. I'm just in the process of locating at least one of these four books. I'm immersing myself in sum-doku puzzles as well: I've done approximately 94 puzzles in one book and 27 in the other.

As regards my own reading, the most recent book that I've read was The Ladies of Covington Send Their Love: A Novel by Joan Mendlicott, which I finished on Monday, June 18th! I just started reading Tutankhamun: The Untold Story by Thomas Hoving on Monday, July 3rd and am really enjoying reading it so far. It's very intriguing. According to Goodreads - as of today, July 11th - I've actually read 42 pages out of 384 in Tutankhamun: The Untold Story by Thomas Hoving; or approximately 11 percent.

Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight

I Should be Able to Finish a Book One of These Days!

Hello everyone! I hope that you're all just fine this morning - I certainly am! :) Anyway, I just wanted to give you an update on how I'm doing so far.

I'm beginning to think that I am taking one step forward and two steps back as regards the pace of my reading. I only mean that I thought I was doing so well last month having read two books, then this month I've been stumped by what I wanted to read next. I have at least four books on my radar at the moment, but I can't seem to choose which one to read.

Granted three of the books are rereads for me, but I think the oldest one is from about twenty years ago. So, that's almost like reading an entirely new book. I'm just in the process of locating at least one of these four books. I'm immersing myself in sum-doku puzzles as well: I've done approximately 94 puzzles in one book and 24 in the other.

As regards my own reading, the most recent book that I've read was The Ladies of Covington Send Their Love: A Novel by Joan Mendlicott, which I finished on Monday, June 18th! I just started reading Tutankhamun: The Untold Story by Thomas Hoving on Monday, July 3rd and am really enjoying reading it so far. It's very intriguing.

Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight

I've Always Liked Books About 'Hidden History' - the Facts You Don't Know Anything About!

Hello everyone! I hope that you're all just fine this morning - I certainly am! :) Anyway, I just wanted to give you an update on how I'm doing so far.

I'm beginning to think that I am taking one step forward and two steps back as regards the pace of my reading. I only mean that I thought I was doing so well last month having read two books, then this month I've been stumped by what I wanted to read next. I have at least four books on my radar at the moment, but I can't seem to choose which one to read.

I'm actually still working through an amazing backlog of crossword puzzles and sudoku puzzles from the newspaper. So far, I've done approximately 243 sudoku and crossword puzzles from the newspaper, although I have also done some sum-doku puzzles from my puzzle books, too! As a matter of fact, I just received another six-pack of sum-doku puzzles through the afternoon mail on Tuesday, May 9th! So far, I've done 94 sum-doku puzzles in one book and 18 in a completely fresh book that I started ten days ago - on Sunday, June 25th!

While we usually don't do much to celebrate the 4th of July, Mareena and I do have hotdogs for lunch and watch a movie every year. I suppose that it's become something of a tradition for us. Well, the movie that we chose to watch on Tuesday, July 4th was a horror movie released in 2017 called Camera Obscura. The movie was actually much better than we were both expecting, and although the ending was slightly 'obscure', I think that it was a deliberate choice to do so.

As regards my own reading, the most recent book that I've read was The Ladies of Covington Send Their Love: A Novel by Joan Mendlicott, which I finished on Monday, June 18th! I just started reading Tutankhamun: The Untold Story by Thomas Hoving on Monday, July 3rd and am really enjoying reading it so far. It's very intriguing.

Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight

It Isn't a Case of Not Having Anything to Read!

Hello everyone! I hope that you're all just fine this morning - I certainly am! :) Anyway, I just wanted to give you an update on how I'm doing so far.

I'm finally getting back into a fairly regular reading routine this month, thank goodness for that! Granted, my reading pace isn't completely back to normal yet, but at least I'm reading more than a book a month - lol! I actually don't know how many books I will read this year, but I know it's going to be a way less total than I'd planned for.

I'm actually still working through an amazing backlog of crossword puzzles and sudoku puzzles from the newspaper. So far, I've done approximately 240 sudoku and crossword puzzles from the newspaper, although I have also done some sum-doku puzzles from my puzzle books, too! As a matter of fact, I just received another six-pack of sum-doku puzzles through the afternoon mail on Tuesday, May 9th! So far, I've done 94 sum-doku puzzles in one book and 14 in a completely fresh book that I started eight days ago - on Sunday, June 25th!

I just might take a hiatus from doing jigsaw puzzles for a while. I feel like I have so much planned that I need to get done each day, but I don't usually get much more done than reading and doing jigsaw puzzles. Oh well, 'the best plans of mice of men often go astray', I suppose!

As regards my own reading, the most recent book that I've read was The Ladies of Covington Send Their Love: A Novel by Joan Mendlicott, which I finished on Monday, June 18th! I still haven't chosen another book to read yet, although it isn't because of lack of interest or anything, it's basically because I can't count the number of books that are so intriguing to me that I just can't choose one right now. Having said that, I just started reading Tutankhamun: The Untold Story by Thomas Hoving this morning - on Monday, July 3rd!

Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight

Reading Wrap-up For June at Moonshine and Rosefire

Hello everyone out there and I hope that you all had a terrific reading month for yourselves. I am known as Rosefire around the Internet and this is my new personal reading blog. I originally posted my reviews over at my daughter's blog, Emeraldfire's Bookmark but am now in the process of transferring them all over to my own blog. My daughter makes blogging look like so much fun that I thought that I would try it out for myself! :)

Anyway, I started out June with 1,062 books lying around the house and ended the month with 1,060 books unread. All the books that I acquired this month came from Bookmooch and an author.

Let me try to break down the influx for you:

Changes to the TBR pile

Read from my TBR pile (Yes! I am a reading machine :))
- Celestial Navigation by Anne Tyler
- The Ladies of Covington Send Their Love: A Novel by Joan Medlicott

Added to my TBR pile (oh well, you win some and you lose some! Not too bad though, I suppose:))
- Morgan's Passing by Anne Tyler
- Digging to America: A Novel by Anne Tyler
- The Policewoman by Justin W. M. Roberts

Taken off my TBR pile and sent to a new home (Yay! Happy Dance! :))

- The Shroud Key by Vincent Zandri
- The Art of Seeing: A Novel by Cammie McGovern

Well, there it is...the breakdown! All in all, a very good reading month for me. Here's a further breakdown:

Books Read: 2
Pages Read: 619
Grade Range: A!

So, there you go! The reading month that was June. I hope that you all had an equally good reading month; if not a little better. :) See you all next month! :)

Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight