The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimberly @ Caffeinated Reviewer. It’s a chance to share news~ A post to recap the past week, and showcase books and things we have received.
Stacking The Shelves is also a weekly meme hosted by Tynga’s Reviews and Marlene from Reading Reality. It’s all about sharing the books you are adding to your shelves, may it be physical or virtual. This means you can include books you buy in physical store or online, books you borrow from friends or the library, review books, gifts and of course ebooks!
Don’t forget to look at my giveaways on the right sidebar.
Sunday, I did some blog visiting. Then I made the Ilona Andrews recipe posted- homemade ice cream with fresh strawberries. So yummy! It makes a half gallon. I bought 2 special quart containers so we can make 2 flavors next time.
I also spent a few hours looking at Feedly and Bloglovin and trying to add the buttons for them. I added the buttons. The Bloglovin one worked but the Feedly one didn’t. I found I do already have subscribers on those readers! I subscribed to several blogs on each to see how they work for me. I will eventually only use one when I see what I like. Someone also recommended Inoreader.
This week was a “do what has to be done at the last minute” week. Monday I finished my reading for my Tuesday review. Tuesday, I mowed the front yard and did some more reading. Wednesday, I did a Walmart pickup, mowed the back yard and finished my book for Thursday. I picked fresh lettuce from the garden for a salad for dinner.
Thursday, I messed around trying to figure out how to get my Feedly button to work. I tried reading support forums, and trial and error. After seeing the URL which went to the right place, I then researched html codes and got it to work. The total time was about 30 minutes with less than 5 minutes once I researched the html codes. Sigh. My daughter had an afternoon doc appt, only her 2nd time out since March 16 and again a doc appt. I had to finish reading for Friday’s review and juggle the next week or so. I hope to be much more ahead of schedule for next week. Whew!
Friday I devoted to catching up on emails and blog visiting through email, Bloglovin and Feedly. I also worked on my month end info and updating challenge links and creating posts for new ARCs. It was a very satisfying day of catching up.
Saturday, I worked on the long neglected flannel sort and designing a new baby quilt. I also found some more fabric to make some face masks with elastic instead of ties. We didn’t enjoy the ties and they tended to fray. At least, I’m progressing well with my review books for next week.
How do I do it?
Is there an audio player people use for MP3 files from the publisher other than Itunes? Just curious. I like the way it works when I get it in there correctly. But when something goes wrong, it’s very difficult to modify. I wish the audiobooks came up with covers like music albums do.
If you have any tips for me, please comment.
Things I Learned This Week:
OK if I’m asking for help, I’m also going to share the cool things I learn. You may already know them but hopefully it will help someone.
People suggested some more ways to follow blogs including Feedly and Bloglovin. I added a Bloglovin subscription option on the right sidebar (it’s the heart) and one for Feedly (it’s the green square with the angled F). (Thanks new subscribers!)
I personally prefer Feedly so far. If anyone wants to know how to set up the URL for Feedly, I finally figured it out, by myself. Just comment or email me. The widget was already there in UBB, I just had to figure out the URL to put in it. I’m trying both and figuring out what will work best for me in the long-term.
April Reading: I had another good reading month. I managed to read 29 books. Some count for more than one challenge. I listened to 15 audiobooks, read 7 library books, 21 COYER reads, and 2 books which I already own.
All Library books (including ones not reviewed on the blog) 2020 Library Love Challenge
Bookish Resolutions update: I’m still behind because I hoped I would have broken down my goals more into tasks. I read library books I just wanted to read, however. I created post shells as I got ARCs.
I only managed to read 2 books I own (goal is 3 per month):
- The Stranger by Harlan Coben (audio)
- River Marked by Patricia Briggs
Stacking the Shelves is hosted by Tynga’s Reviews and Reading Reality. These are the exciting ARCs I received this week (If you click on the cover, it will take you to the Goodreads entry):
Thanks so much to Berkley, Montlake Romance, and Tantor Audio,
(If you click on the cover, it will take you to the Goodreads entry)
I couldn’t pass this one up with 3 audiobooks, Shane East and Andi Arndt! The link is Audible since it doesn’t seem to be on Goodreads yet.
Now the really scary one. This is all the Kindle and Audible freebies I grabbed this past week. You can see why I need to do Thrifty Thursday to be sure I read a few at least one each month.
I really meant to cut back on freebies BUT they are free so I guess that won’t be happening.
I’m not including things like reviews posted or upcoming as they are always in the right sidebar. And, my challenge status is also there.
If you like this and want to see me do the Sunday post, as often as I can manage, leave me a comment and let me know.
Anne
I read all types of books but my favorites are urban fantasy and romantic suspense.I like some romance and some action / adventure / mystery in everything.I like sex in my books but please, only between TWO people.Intimate conversation is equally important to the sex in a book.It lets me see the characters.The other thing I enjoy is humor.
Friend or follow me at Goodreads.
- 🎧 Devil’s Bargain by Rachel Caine @rachelcaine @jennaquino25@TantorAudio #KindleUnlimited #LoveAudiobooks - November 17, 2024
- Sunday Post – 17 November 2024 @kimbacaffeinate @readingreality@BooksofMyHeart - November 17, 2024
- 🎧 A Question of Navigation by Kevin Hearne @KevinHearne @luckylukeekul#LoveAudiobooks - November 16, 2024
I am really sorry that I am not much good at the techie stuff – best of luck at getting it sorted out, Anne! That ice cream looks criminally delicious… And oh my goodness – 29 books! That is so impressive. I hope the coming reading week is a good one and that you get a chance to put your feet up. Stay safe, Anne.
Thank you I have big plans for this week. I hope to get more back to my sewing and quilting. But the weather looks favorable so I may need to do some more yard work also. Today will be almost 30C but most of the week around 20C with only one day of rain so that’s really perfect.
I hope to get back to a few things too. I may right from the Medium, God willing if I get more courage.
It’s a juggle. There’s always lots to do, lots to read. Have a great week!
Anne, what sort of issues are you having on iTunes? I’m able to modify anything, including the addition of covers. Can you provide some specific examples?
As I mentioned on my post, I’m really looking forward to your feedback about Talk British to Me!
Ooh! I’m off to check out With a Twist!! Love a good romantic comedy. I also wanted to add Hidden but I’m already bursting at the seams with ARCs.
Great post and have a lovely, lovely day, Anne?
Thanks Jonetta. I’ll email you to see if you can tell me how to fix my little issues. I completely understand your issue with too many ARCs. I don’t know when I will get to Talk British to me as it is 3 audiobooks but we will see. Are you most interested in the Louise Bay one? I could try to do that one soonest.
Nice book haul. I also picked up Born of Darkness.
It’s a good call on her part to make Born of Darkness free as it is the first into the next phase of the series I think. I read the first 12 I think which were the initial story arc and haven’t yet gone on to more. But I will.
Thank you! You have a great week! Hang in there.
Look at you being all productive, I feel like a lump with all the nothing I am doing. I am not sure what I am waiting for, lol. I think next week I will start going back to just doing out normal without actually leaving the house. I’m getting behind.
The Ice Cream looks yummy. My daughter and I are going to try Ice Cream Bread today figured this is the best time to try new stuff lol
I hope you have a great week, Anne! Stay Safe and Happy Reading! xx
Thanks Michelle! This was a better week for some reason? I hope I can continue this motivation now. The weather is certainly good. And I have things I WANT to do. I do believe it is helping me to go to bed and get up at more normal times.
I hate it when I’m reading a review book last minute! It happens, though, but I don’t like that pressure. We used to have an ice cream maker, but I’m not sure what happened to it. My husband probably got rid of it while cleaning out the garage or something, which makes me sad because I love homemade ice cream! Glad to hear your recipe turned out so well. Hope we both love Hidden! I’m going to check out that Mary Burton.
It is stress I don’t need to read the day before. We don’t have an ice cream maker. The recipe was easy with only 4 ingredients: heavy cream, sweetened condensed milk and vanilla plus whatever you mix in for flavor. You beat up the cream, mix in the rest and stick it in the freezer for 4-6 hours. Closer to 6 and our freezer is solid, you have to set it out a few minutes to get any ice cream scooped out. I pureed some fresh strawberries for it.
I enjoy Mary Burton. This is the 3rd in the series but none of them have related characters so you’d be fine if you haven’t read the first two.
You had a really busy week, Anne! I hope the doctor’s visit went well for your daughter.
It sounds really yummy to have salad from your garden. I am planting peppers next week, it just had to dry up a little here, it’s been raining all last week, and now the sun finally came out.
Your new books look really good, too.
Have a wonderful week ahead, stay safe and healthy 🙂
Thank you Linda! I was worrying that all my comments were going to spam since they never seem to show up anymore when I comment on your blog. The doctor’s visit was just an annual checkup and it went very well. I think I always get the best books but that’s because I chose them and want to read them. lol Oh I should add a pepper plant to our garden.
You have some tempting titles. I also love the look of that ice cream! I am craving it right now.
Enjoy your week and your books.
Thank you. The ice cream was really easy to make so I may not buy ice cream any more.
I think that I spend every week running around trying to finish things at the last moment 🙂 I love homemade ice cream! So yummy! I have an android phone and love Smart Audiobook Player and love it! I use it whenever I can. I even use it for my library ebooks. There is a free version but I paid the $2 for the full version. I do like the fact that you can add the cover and it is really easy to use. I am not sure if it is available for Apple products though. I hope you enjoy all of your new books and have a wonderful week!
I do that a little bit but this week was the worst on being behind. The ice cream recipe was super easy, only 4 ingredients. Thanks for the info. As far as I can tell, it isn’t available. Do you know the developer? Maybe they call it something different on iOS. Thank you Carole! At least, the weather looks nice this week.
I just googled it and found that the app is only available on android. It is developed by Alex Kravchencko and not a company. I am sorry that I couldn’t be of more help. It is such a great app that I use it to listen to any MP3 audiobooks that I get – even ones that have an app like library books, eStories purchases, and ones that I have on disc.
Ever since the update and iTunes doesn’t handle audiobooks anymore, I have had issues. Sometimes, everything works (usually the files I get from Tantor are fine). Other times, I creates a separate book for each file, all with the same name. Its a mess. I have tried to find another way but no luck yet. I hope someone has an idea to share!!
I’ll let you know if I get any good info.
There’s nothing like homemade ice cream! My grandfather used to make his own ice cream–but always only one flavor. For the longest time I thought the only type of homemade ice cream made was lemon flavored. LOL
It sounds like you had a great reading month, Anne! I hope you enjoy all your new books. Hidden is one I have my eye on. But the Burton book looks good too.
Have a great week!
Thanks! When I used to ride RAGBRAI in Iowa I remember getting homemade ice cream once and it was lemon!
My grandfather was from Iowa originally. I wonder if there is a connection between Iowa and lemon ice cream. Haha
One of my coworker/friends has ridden RAGBRAI a couple times. She was hoping to do it again this year, but, well, you know how that’s turned out.
I too want that ice cream now Anne! And this week it’s also been do what’s needed to be done. Sigh…
Our ice cream is almost gone. I’m planning fresh raspberry, fresh blueberry and maybe mint choc chip or caramel for other batches. We do the best we can.
Glad your iced cream turned out delicious. It sounds good. LOL, yay for getting your review reads done in the nick of time. I feel like that lately b/c as soon as I commit to a book on a list, I’d rather read something else. Looks like you got several other tasks and chores done. Congrats for getting on Bloglovin and Feedly.
Looks like some good books in your haul. I thought about that Laura Griffin, but then limited myself since I grabbed others.
Have a good week, Anne!
I think you are doing a great job with limiting yourself compared to me. Have a wonderful week! It looks like you had a fun celebration today.
Homemade ice cream – the best! With a Twist looks like a cute one. Enjoy 🙂
I haven’t tried Staci Hart yet but I’ve gotten a few of her books as freebies so many I will read some over the next few months.
I just followed you on Bloglovin’. Have a great week!
Thanks for the follow! I find it is a much easier way to handle the posts and I seem to be following and commenting on MORE blogs without the email overwhelming.
I’ll have to check out Feedly! I use Bloglovin but it has its downsides.
Have a great week and happy reading!
So far I really prefer Feedly. Once you mark things as read it is off the screen. Also you can choose to share something to fb or twitter or save it for later. You can create different feeds. I created one for authors and one for book blogs. Bloglovin was easier to set up and seems to be more widely used. It does also send a daily or weekly email. But the posts stayed on the screen even after they were read, so maybe I didn’t understand how to mark them.
I always follow blogs by email, do you find that a lot of people would rather use Bloglovin’ or Feedly? I offer all three options, and of course a lot of other WordPress users simply follow by WordPress reader. Whenever I do go to a Bloglovin’ link, I try to click OUT of Bloglovin and go to the actual blog’s URL. I heard the blog doesn’t get the stats if you don’t do that. I’m not sure if that’s true or not.
I am finding people like the readers because with Bloglovin there is jusst one email a day or a week for the all the blogs you follow. With Feedly there is no email that I can figure out how to send myself, I just go in it and it shows me everything the people I follow have posted today. It does about 6 per page, you can save them for later. I usually go to the website (actual URL) and I expect you have to do that to add to things like pageviews. But feedly and Bloglovin do have subscriber totals to add in to that statistic. I find so far subscribing by email to my very favorite blogs where I want to see every post and putting the rest on Feedly works best for me. It really is cutting down on the emails which used to overwhelm a bit. I actually have more in Feedly but because I can read and then it clears it is easier. You can also share to Twitter or facebook in Feedly also. WordPress following is really the same as following by email although you can set immediate, daily or weekly. But still an email for each blog you follow.
29 books read last month? WOW. I like Bloglovin though I don’t use it as often as I should. Sorry I can’t help with the tech stuff; I’m usually looking for help with that stuff too.
Happy reading and have a good week!
Thank you! Yes I pretty much read a ebook every 1-2 days and an audio every 1-2 days so it averages out to 1 a day. This was a slightly slower month since I read some longer books. But I still can’t read everything I want to read so I’d like to be able to read faster! lol
Well I hope by asking and sharing my tech questions someone is helped. Tammy asked some good questions which are another thing to try to understand if I had unlimited research time.
Wow 29 books is amazing. How many books do you read per week?
Well it depends on how long they are and sometimes if they are ebook or audio. I tend to read an ebook or audio in 1-2 days. So generally 6-7 books a week but I have been reading some really long ones lately. I make up for it with shorter or regular audios that I can listen to in 1 day or with books that I read in a sitting.
That ice cream sounds delightful!! Yum!!!
I need to play around with those features! It sounds like you made some great headway.
Stay safe!
After a week, the ice cream is nearly gone. I’m thinking of making a new batch with 2 flavors. Maybe raspberry and caramel or mint choc chip.
I love it when I can get the computer set up in a way that is more efficient or easier for me and readers. It seems to be working for me to get some emails and some Feedly depending on the blog. I even set up Feedly for following some authors instead of email.
Wow you had a great reading month! It’s always good to catch up on things, it’s a relief.
The icecream looks delicious. Stay well and enjoy your week ahead.
Thank you. Sadly, the ice cream is about gone and we will have to make another batch.
That’s a lot of books! I’m finally getting my reading mojo back somewhat. Nice to be able to focus and enjoy a good story. That ice cream sounds delicious!
I’ve been very moody. But since I like so many genres I can keep reading. We’re about out of ice cream and I’ll have to make a new batch.
That homemade ice cream sounds like perfection! I hope you get the issue with the audiobooks sorted out. I’ve never gotten any from publishers so I didn’t even realize the files played in iTunes.
The issues aren’t making it unusable just a lot more work to achieve what I want. Some publishers have their own app, others just give you files and leave it to you to setup in a player.
You had such a busy week, Anne, but it looks like you also were able to play some catching up. I remember how hard it was to add the bloglovin’ button when I was really new to blogging and had no idea what I was doing. I also remember how horrible it was to add it again when I changed templates. I don’t plan to change templates again any time soon. ? I’m going to remember to reach out to you if I need to do it again, though I think I should remember the trick this time.
I do what I can. I’m not any expert on HTML but I know people to ask and how to google things. I do have a degree and experience in computer science so I’m not afraid of programming or anything.
It was really a good week. The busier you are the more you accomplish.
I am not techie so I can’t help you…lol. I listen to my MP3s from publishers on the computer using Windows Media Player while blogging or cleaning up in my room. 🙂
You did great reading wise in April that is a lot of books! 🙂
Have a safe week and happy reading!
Stormi
Thanks for the info. Wow well I used to get CDs and listen to them on a boombox, or in the car.
I didn’t stop and read the comments – but if you still are looking for a way to play audiobooks from the publisher, let me know. I can help with Mac/iPhone products… I don’t know if there is an Android/Google product that is similar. I stopped using iTunes/Books back when Apple converted to their newest OS. Email or text me.
That ice cream looked really good. Maybe I’ll try it once we warm up a bit. Thanks!
I’ll email you. I have an iphone. I like itunes mostly but there are a few issues. I’m going to make another batch of ice cream in the next few days. It was yummy.
The ice cream looks so yummy!!! And glad you were able to add Bloglovin’ (I’ve been following there) – hopefully you’ll figure Feedly out!
Yes, thanks. The Feedly and Bloglovin all work now. I prefer the Feedly view for my personal use but either will work for blog feed. I hope to make more ice cream in the next few days.
I’m glad you were able to figure out feedly and bloglovin! I used to subscribe to blogs via bloglovin, but I’ve found feedly much easier because I can use it really well on my phone. I visit posts while watching Dante and I can set it down/pick it back up quickly and easily.
For audiobooks (besides audible and overdrive obviously) I use smart audiobook player. I don’t even have it downloaded right now because I have so few books that I listen to that way right now. One of the things I like about it though, is that you can select a cover (from a Google image search) and then it’s there while you listen. It has many of the features that audible has (bookmarks, speed changing, sleep timer). I hope you find something you like.
I’m super late visiting this week – I hope it’s been a good one! Hugs!
I’m happy to have you visit! Every week is different and that’s not all bad. I think Bloglovin is easier to set set up but I also prefer Feedly for actually looking through blogs. It does a better job of keeping track of what you have read and haven’t.
I’m still working on the audiobook thing. It’s not so bad, but I’d like something better.
[…] 12th – Anne @ Books of My Heart‘s […]