Hi dear friends,
Another week went by and we already are Sunday! Time to have our weekly recap!
As usual I am linking to The Sunday Post hosted by Kimberly @caffeinatedbookreviewer
In my private life first
I am back at work and …having a hard time. That’s not that I have very long hours more that I don’t know how I will do all the things that I am supposed to do!
This song is the perfect match for the mood of waking up after YALC wonders and getting back to work 😉
After being overwhelmed I decided not to wallow on it but begin with a list of everything and sorting the “urgent and important” to the “non urgent and non important”.
Second step will also be counting my blessings as I think I focused long enough on what’s not so bright and completely forgot that I am privileged on this earth!
I already feel better having written this 😀
Not much happened this week except that I won a 100 USD giveaway in books to choose at Book Depository thanks to @wonderdame_bookmarks !! See when I spoke about blessings?
So time to shake the gloom and spread the glitter, especially as my birthday will be next week!
Other happy news: I found a new home for many of my babies alias books!
Many speak of unhauling and I wanted to do it but not everyone read in English in my country and libraries where not interested! Sending them for free with only shipping costs would not have been interesting for the buyer either due to shipping costs.
The good news is the Red Cross was interested for our refugees! I went yesterday to a migrant shelter which owns a library and they were really happy to get my books! Not all migrants speak French but most speak English so it was the perfect match. As we know books help us evade and if they can help these poor people to evade reality for some hours I think this is a very good deed!
On the blog (click on the graphic to read the post)
I read and reviewed three books this year with one of them being phenomenal and a direct hit to my Bests of 2019! I am talking of Birthday by Meredith Russo! I read other books too but you’ll have to wait for next week to read the review of the best romcom ever! 😀
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I tried to get back to business on the blog while deciding that I will probably post four times a week not seven times a week, promo excluded!
On Monday Calendar Girls asked us to choose ONE book for 2019 (our best so far). AS IF I could choose only one LOL. I am proud to say that I narrowed it down to three.
Top 5 Tuesday saw me in a very NAUGHTY mood as we had to choose books under 300 pages so basically small books and it had me to think about SIZE and …well you can guess where my naughty mind took me to 😀
The Tuesday discussion was all about “The Art of Blogging in the Rain” or how to go on when you are very busy and tired without getting burned out.
Time for some quizz and posts that I loved IN THE BLOGOSPHERE
Epic Reads asks us if we could pass our YA101 class (I failed!!!!!)
Flora talks about how to write a review
https://florasmusings.com/2019/08/08/writing-book-reviews-how-do-i-start/
Mandy and Sha speak about co-blogging
https://bookprincessreviews.wordpress.com/2019/08/10/are-blogs-better-with-a-co-blogger/
And the Orangutanlibrarian puts the spotlight on other bloggers
https://theorangutanlibrarian.wordpress.com/2019/08/09/bloggers-who-deserve-more-attention-5/
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That’s all for this week folks! What have you been up to?
Thanks for reading
Sophie
Ahh I’m a little late, but I hope you had a fantastic time at YALC and that work has been getting a little bit easier. Congratulations on the win, wow this is so amazing, I hope you’ll get some awesome books and will adore them all 🙂
Have a fantastic week, Sophie! 🙂
Thank you Marie! And you being in Canada it’s understandable that you are “late ” if such a thing exist 😉
Hugs for not being on vacation mode anymore, but I’m so happy for you that you won such an amazing giveaway! YAY! And that’s so incredible you found a place to take your books, it was such a wonderful thing for you to do to help out others ♥!
Thank you Jen!
Woohoo! What a fantastic gift to win right before your bday. Hope you have some amazing days leading up to it.
Exactly Alicia!!! Thank you 😉
Ugh, coming back to work after a vacation is always the worst. I hope you get settled back into a routine soon. Congrats on your giveaway wins!
Thank you Suzan!
Happy Birthday Sophie!! And congrats on your win!! What a dilemma to be in… ❤️ I hope you can work through your list and get everything done. I find a list really helps me to stay on task and not be as distracted. And YAY yo finding a hope for your unhauled books.
Thank you Dani!!!!
I think its really important to focus on the good things in life instead of seeing the bad things. I am always happier when I see the gold in my life instead of the dirt in it. We are blessed with so many things so we should focus on that. Hope you are having a blessed and bright day!!
Thank you so much!!! You too.
Well done on the $100 prize! That’s awesome.
Sorry to hear you’re having a hard time back at work but you seem to have a great mindset to deal with it all! Much better than hiding under the desk and rocking. 🙂
My last unhaul was back when I moved and I halved my stash! It hurt my soul a little bit but was really therapeutic.
Oh I never spotted anyone rocking under his desk Nina LOL And yes it was therapeutic as you said!
Coming back to work after a vacation is the worst 🙁 I hope it settles down for you!
And congrats on the win!! That is awesome <3 And you are awesome for donating your unhauling books <3
Thank you Brittany!!!
When we’re frustrated, it’s always good to stop, take breath, and remind ourselves we are so very lucky, and that life could be so much worse. We have so much to be thankful for. But I’m sending you some hugs, anyway, Sophie! 😀
Oh, I love that you found a home for your “babies”. I ended up doing something similar to the 70+ books I was shedding from my collection. I did try to give them away for just the cost of P&P, but had no takers. In future, I plan to set these unwanted books free, in public, sealed in baggies for anyone to pick up.
I think I will set them free too Alexandra after having checked with Inge if she was not interested! One of my colleague also told me she was interested 😉
That’s a wonderful idea about taking your books to The Red Cross! Hope things get better at work – breaking things down into more manageable piles like you’re doing is a good idea.
Thank you Teri!!!!
Aw I’m sorry to hear you’re struggling, Sophie! Hopefully things get better at work and I mean, you just won such an amazing giveaway!! That’s wonderful news 😀 And the perfect bday gift too <3 <3 Hope you enjoy all your new books ^^
Thank you for your kind words Sophie!!!
What an awesome win! I hope you enjoy all the new books coming to your shelf. I also think it is awesome that you were able to donate your books to the Red Cross. I have a ton of books that I want to unhaul so I may have to look at the shelters around here or kid centers to see if they’d like them.
Happy Early Birthday! I hope you have a wonderful week.
Tina @ As Told By Tina
Thank you Tina you too!!!
I love your outlook Sophie! When things get overwhelming it is good to step back and think about all the things to be grateful for. Also, making a list and prioritizing the to-do’s is very productive and helps your whole mindset. Wonderful that you found such a great place for your books! Being able to escape hard times by losing yourself in a book is a gift.
I loved Making Faces, and Stolen! Have a great week, Sophie! 🙂
Oooh I am so happy to know that you also are a fan of Making Faces and Stolen Rachel!!
Holy moly, what a great win! That has to ease the pain of going back to work a little, right? I never thought of contacting the Red Cross about my books. I’m going to look into that. Thanks!
It totally eases the pain Sam!!!
It is hard going back to work after time off, or especially a good convention! Congrats on the giveaway too.
Ooh quiz time! I’m totally gonna pass that quiz. Right? RIGHT? *crickets*
Hmmm…
Greg, did you survive?????
No, I perished!!!!!!!
Congrats on the win!!!!!!
My fave part of this post was this:
On Monday Calendar Girls asked us to choose ONE book for 2019 (our best so far). AS IF I could choose only one LOL. I am proud to say that I narrowed it down to three.
Three!!! I did laugh!
Happy to have made you laugh Caro!!!
It certainly did make me chuckle!!!
Happy early birthday sweetie. And what a lovely place to bring your books. They will be loved and appreciated for sure.
Thank you Tracey!!
$100 is fantastic!! Congrats, girl!
2 years ago I unhauled ALL of my books because I needed the money. It was super sad for me but it’s something I had to do. Thankfully, it was easy because a lot of people I know love to read and wanted books so the books got sold in no time! And ARCs were free so people were going for those haha
Genesis @ Whispering Chapters
All of your books??? My it must have hurt Genesis!
Oh I’m happy you found a good cause, but have you heard about Flapping Pages, it’s set up by a blogger and it’s a site where you can give books (they’re especially for international bloggers who want to get their hands on books – ARC’s or otherwise). If it’s a cutesy YA novel, I’m always open for a swap or something too you know ;-). Oh I loved Making Faces! Big fan of Amy Harmon and really need to read more books of her. I hope you’ll have a good week Sophie! xxx
Inge thanks for the tips! I will look into Flapping Pages! But you are totally right! I should have thought you might be interested! You know I give them for free ( or a swap if we are both interested in each others books!)! Next time probably in some months I will post a list on the blog and if you want some we could meet in Brussels and get the books. I would be happy to leet you in the flesh
That’s so sweet of you! It would be so great to meet you too! I’ll already try to read some more books in your genre over the coming months then :-). xxx
I love that you found a place for your books! And I’m sure the people there will be so grateful for a distraction from the toils of real life! Thats even better than giving to a library!
That’s what I thought Samantha! Especially as my books talk about love and not war 😉
Great steps in prioritizing while remembering that even if you’re overwhelmed you’re still very blessed. Good for you! Congrats on the win… that’s wonderful! I just did something of an unhaul myself and it felt great to finally purge some books that I knew I was never going to read.
Exactly Tanya! I felt lighter 😉
What a fantastic win! I hope that you enjoy all of those new books that you are going to receive.
I have been trying to unhaul my books as well. What a lovely gift for the Red Cross! I will have to look into whether they have a library near me. Have a great week! 🙂
Thank you so much! And I hope you’ll also find that newo home for your books 😉