Spring has arrived at last! We’ve had a string of sunny days with warm temperatures, and the trees are starting to bud and blossom. The birds are singing (though right now, some blue jays are fighting, which is less melodious), and the squirrels are everywhere. It seems that winter has gone away at last!

My cold is going away, too! I have energy again! My desire to create has come back, too. I’ve been wanting to go out and make photographs again instead of thinking, “I should go out and photograph something,” and then not having the energy or will to do it. Last night I did some baking and make a loaf of Irish soda bread and a batch of chocolate chip cookies while watching The Great British Baking Show on Netflix. I’ve also been cooking a lot more this week instead of getting takeout or eating iffy heat-and-serve soup.

Isn’t it amazing what a little energy will do for you!

Too bad my reading moodiness has increased along with my energy level. I’ve started and stopped three different books this week. Not because they were bad, but because I just couldn’t get into them. I wanted to read something light and witty, but I didn’t find that in C.J. Cherryh’s Foreigner or Tim Wu’s The Attention Merchants. And while I normally love ‘an ex-pat’s quirky life in France’ memoirs, I wasn’t in the mood for one this week, so I returned David Leibowitz’s L’Appart to the library.

So what am I reading right now?

• The Conference of the Birds by Farid ud-Din Attar.  (Still)
• A  Novel Bookstore by Laurence Cosse. (Finally)

I managed to finish a couple of books this week:

• The White Dragon by Anne McCaffery
• Dragonsdawn by Anne McCaffery
   
  

  

   

This week, I’ll keep working on A Novel Bookstore and see if I can get a little more read of The Conference of the Birds. I was making decent progress until the most recent cold, which killed my energy. Because I’ve been trying to read it at night before bed and because I’d been falling asleep the second I looked at my bed, progress simply didn’t happen. But now I’m new and improved, with more energy! So we’ll see how far I get through The Conference of the Birds this week as compared to the rest of the month.

A Novel Bookstore is going to be my ‘read at lunch’ book, so progress is almost guaranteed. Unless I find a book I like more, which is entirely within the realm of possibility.

I managed to get a few reviews written and posted last week, thanks to abundant time while home sick on Sunday and WordPress’s scheduling capability:

• Book Review- Cryoburn (Vorkosigan Saga, Chronological #15)
• Book Review- Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen (Vorkosigan Saga, Chronological #16)
• Book Review- Dragonflight (The Dragonriders of Pern #1)

Aside from reading the books I’m still in the midst of, I have no plans to read anything in particular this week. I don’t have a lot going on, but given that my bookish plans keep getting shot down by illness or reading moodiness, I’m going to pass on making plans for now. I might have a hold or two arriving at the library for me this week, and assuming my order ever processes on my Barnes and Noble account online, I’ll be getting book one of C.S. Friedman’s Coldfire Trilogy this week. I guess we’ll see what happens.

In the meantime, the first Farmer’s Market of the year is calling my name, and I have plans with a friend this afternoon, so I’d better corral my hair, change out of my pajamas, and get moving!