It's Monday, and I Read Some Stuff!

Hosted by the ever-awesome Sheila of Book Journey.

Good day, lovelies! How was your weekend???

Mine was super-fab. David came up on Thursday evening and TOTALLY surprised me with an awesome home-cooked meal of chicken-fried steak, gravy, scalloped potatoes, hoppin' John (black-eyed peas, tomatoes, peppers), and a BEAUTIFUL cherry almond cake with his grandmother's hot fudge sauce. He also threw in roses, chocolate covered strawberries, and good hugs because he is a Valentine's Day god.

We had a fun, laid back weekend. We saw a horrible movie (Beautiful Creatures), drank some margaritas, and attended a birthday BBQ. Fun fun fun!

I've also done a spot of reading over the past week -- and you all know that's been in short supply. I'm feeling more of an urge and more of an acceptance that I may have to start and ditch several titles before something "sticks."

First I finished up Caitlin Moran's How to Be a Woman while I was stuck at the car dealership getting a new battery and some recalls fixed. It's amazing what unadulterated free time AWAY from home can incite one to do! It wasn't at all hard to sink into a book when I was staring at a bunch of strangers and creepy salespeople.

You can expect a full review of this one coming up soon.

I'm currently reading from a short story collection called Corsets & Clockwork: 13 Steampunk Romances edited by Trisha Telep. I started it sometime last year, read a few stories, and it wasn't striking the right note with me, so I laid it aside. When I was having trouble choosing a new book recently, I decided some stories might just do the trick to shake up my reading. I was right, and I'm enjoying it much more this time. I'm dipping in and out of it before bedtime, and during daily downtime.

I just finished a story I liked a lot called "Code of Blood" by Dru Pagliassotti. It's set in Venice and is a retelling or a steampunk take-off of a Napoleonic invasion of the city. While I'm not an expert on the time period by any stretch of the imagination, I did enjoy this story of a brave young heroine set on saving her home and family from invaders. That just never gets old, right? And of course, there was romance. I find the romance portion of this collection the weakest part of it and think I might've enjoyed some more straightforward -- sometimes romanceless -- steampunk instead. But whatever. I can overlook it when the romance is underdeveloped or cheesy;  I'm really more interested in the atmosphere and the twists on more traditional tales.

Next up...and y'all are gonna think I'm CRAZY. And I just might be.

Trish of Love, Laughter and a Touch of Insanity along with Melissa of Avid Reader's Musings (link below)  are hosting a Vanity Fair Readalong (#YoureSoVain). Heather and I attempted this one as a buddy read last year sometime, and I think we both flaked pretty quickly. I think that was on the heels of our highly successful Madame Bovary buddy read, and it was just too much of the same time period all squashed together. I'm hoping I have better luck this time, though if it doesn't click I won't put too much pressure on myself to finish. The important thing is to read enjoyable selections and KEEP READING. 

Header over to Melissa's blog to officially sign up!

So what have you read lately???

I still need to download and whip through Me Before You by Jojo Moyes for my book club next week. Think I can do it??? The premise doesn't really blow my skirt up, but I WANT TO DISCUSS with my friends!!!!