Books Read List, New Zealand Book, and the Sinkholes of Life

ooks! and sinkholes...

I'm having some real problems with my Books Read list below; Blogger is playing up and not letting me add to the list, choose the order of the list, or correct items that are already on there.

I need to correct the entry for Cross Stitch -- I didn't end up reading Cross Stitch but got a copy of the original, unadulterated version Outlander instead, and rereading that (luckily!). I'm hoping to blog about my rereads soon!

Other additions to the list are as follows:

The Worst Witch by Jill Murphy

Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon (reread)

Voyager by Diana Gabaldon (reread)

Drums of Autumn by Diana Gabaldon (reread)

The Fiery Cross by Diana Gabaldon (reread)

Baby-sitters Club Super Special 11: Baby-sitters Remember by Ann M Martin

Baby-sitters Club Friends Forever 1: Everything Changes by Ann M Martin

Baby-sitters Little Sister: Karen's Little Sister by Ann M Martin

Baby-sitters Little Sister: Karen's Birthday by Ann M Martin

Baby-sitters Little Sister: Karen's Haircut by Ann M Martin

Switzerland in Tolkien’s Middle-Earth by MS Monsch

Don’t You Wanna Stay by Kait Nolan

The Actual Star by Monica Byrne (ARC for Patrons!)

Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott

Forgiven by AA Milne (poem; reread)

Summer of the Swans by betsy Byars

Socks by Beverly Cleary (read by E)

Yesterday’s Doll by Cora Taylor (read by E)

As you can maybe see, the list (with all the books already listed below) has not only ballooned this year, but become convoluted, with the books I've read or reread mixed up with the books that my daughter has read (and which I didn't reread this time). My year-end round-up is going to be insane this year, unless I change the format completely. Ideas for how to do this are percolating, but if you have any suggestions for items you'd like to see in a book list, please let me know!

Here's a new release that I'd love to get!

Fresh Ink A Collection of Voices from Aotearoa New Zealand, 2021

A gorilla in the supermarket queue, trapped birds, a refugee child's drawing of an elephant with orthopedic shoes, pandemic anecdotes, small bowls that catch the sun, a flaking Elvis statue and an Antipodean sky.
fresh ink 2021 is an anthology of new writing presenting the varied voices of New Zealand writers as they respond to the experience of Covid-19 that has touched us all in some way.
Established and award-winning authors sit alongside some lively ‘fresh ink’ from previously-unpublished voices. The third in this popular series, fresh ink 2021 is an exciting anthology presenting new work from a diverse group of New Zealand writers, poets and artists as they reflect upon the Covid-19 pandemic.
FEATURING: Crispin Anderlini, Tom Baragwanath, Bronwyn Calder, Brent Cantwell, Janet Charman, Alastair Clarke, Lilla Csorgo, Michelle Elvy, Kim Fulton, Nicholas Fairclough, Norman Franke, Michael Giacon, Pamela Gordon, Michael Gould, Siobhan Harvey, Trevor Hayes, Thalia Henry, Lily Holloway, Peta Hudson, Amanda Hurley, Adrienne Jansen, Stacey Kokaua, Wes Lee, Helen McNeil, Jenni Mandeno, Zoë Meager, Khadro Mohamed, Keith Nunes, Gerard O’Brien, Jackson C. Payne, Kirsty Powell, Jenny Purchase, Pepper Raccoon, Vaughan Rapatahana, Jess Richards, Dougal Rillstone, Ruth Russ, Comfrey Sanders, Sarah Scott, Taarn Scott, Ila Selwyn, Erica Stretton, Miliama Tapusoa, Kirsteen Ure, Sophia Wilson and Pippi Woolston.

inkholes!

Nearly a decade ago, I blogged about sinkholes, based on a blog by then-editor of Real Simple magazine, Kristin van Ogtrop.

Quite a few of my sinkholes have changed. Here they are:

1. Sinkhole at the office/in the closet. Where all the daily papers go in one big teetering pile: books, bank statements, to do lists, printed ebooks, brochures, bits and pieces on research and craft, latest knitting project, Folio Society and Tolkien Society newsletters, story drafts to edit on paper, and so on.

2. Sinkhole within the To Do list. This is the part of the list where the truly long term projects flounder, such as projects for the house, writing for the Tolkien Society newsletter, and various blog, Wikipedia, and knitting-related goals, as well as plot bunnies that scamper way down in the deeps of the list.

3. Sinkhole of social media. Behold the endless Trello boards and pins not synchronised across my blog, and Tweets I'd like to sort and items to look up or explore! The spiral grows longer and longer...

4. Skinkhole in the storage space. Eventually, someday, I'm going to tidy all the bins, ship the stuff still at our families' houses, and FINISH THE LIBRARY CATALOGUE (all the ones I have catalogued are down at the bottom of the blog in those LibraryThing widgets). My previous goal was to tidy ALL THE THINGS (CDs, scrapbooking supplies, musical instruments, photo albums, etc.) and I must admit, that 90 per cent of this has actually been accomplished since the start of working from home.

This is still one of my favourite sleep aids. Try it: lie there and begin the mental process of sorting and moving and repackaging and purging. I guarantee by the time you reach the second room you'll be fast asleep!

5. Sinkhole in my wishlists and playlists. I have wishlists scattered across two Amazon and three separate email accounts. Rant: What makes the wishlists and YouTube playlists a sinkhole is the truly annoying habit that Amazon and YouTube have of deleting books and videos at random. I understand that some books go out of print or stock and that videos are removed by users or for copyright purposes. But why must they delete the name of the book or song when they remove the actual link? Leave the name so that I can remember what it was! Grr. Also, Spotify is NOT good at synchronising from YouTube playlists.

6. Sinkhole in my blog. Contains: copyrighted photos that need to be replaced (I've made a list of all the posts requiring this operation), tags that don't exist, and so on. The main new task is to populate my new Wordpress blog and link it better with this one, especially with regard to my published books!

7. Sinkhole of reading and writing. Mainly because I've been rereading a lot these days, and the Books To Read mountain is growing! I have so many of my own stories that I need to edit. I wonder if I could develop the ability to knit while reading!

Where are your sinkholes?

Do you keep track of the books you've read and, if so, how?