This week’s Top Ten Tuesday topic at That Artsy Reader Girl invites us to share the things that keep us from our books, whether good or bad:

1. Volleyball: Although I do keep a novella in my volleyball bag, it doesn’t get dipped into all that often.
2. Gardening: I know I could plug in my audiobook, but time in my plot is more a “listen to a baseball game or music” sort of activity.
3. Hanging out with friends: The very best reason not to read.
4. Streaming tv: Once upon a time, when nothing appealed, I’d turn off the tv. Now there always can be *some*thing on.
5. Sleeping: More napping than actually sleeping. Sleep is important, or, at least, that’s what they keep telling me.
6. Shopping: Again, another activity that could be done whilst listening to an audiobook, but I just usually don’t.
7. Riding a bike: One of the major drawbacks of this mode of transportation.
8. Thinking: My brain processes information audibly, which means it’s really hard to layer written words on top if I’m thinking about something too much.
9. Driving locally: I can listen to audiobooks on long, highway-based trips, but not if I’m driving somewhere that’s direction-intensive.
10. Playing games on my phone: This is probably my least excusable interference.

How about you? What gets in the way of your reading time?

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. This was a good week of volunteering, with the kids being attentive and having fun.

2. I harvested a pint of strawberries from the garden. They were delicious!

3. Most of the team went for drinks after the game on Monday. It was really good to catch up with folks!

How about you? What’s been beautiful in your world lately?

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. Purple irises for the kitchen

2. I’m hanging out at our local yuppie grocery store/cafe, and they bring out bags of sourdough bread to take home for free.

3. Rudi makes a frittata from seasonal nettles, asparagus, and spring onions.

How about you? What’s been beautiful in your world lately?

This week’s Top Ten Tuesday from That Artsy Reader Girl invites us to share the first ten books we pull from our shelves.

Here are the first ten I grabbed from piles/bags near our couch (which admittedly include a good number of my library books):

1. In the Lives of Puppets by T.J. Klune
2. Portrait of a Thief by Grace D. Li
3. The Mostly True Story of Tanner and Louise by Colleen Oakley
4. An Elderly Lady Is Up to No Good by Helene Tursten
5. Check, Please!: Sticks and Scones by Ngozi Uzaku
6. Not Your Villain by C.B. Lee
7. The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame
8. I Came All This Way to Meet You by Jami Attenberg
9. Lark and Kasim Start a Revolution by Kacen Callender
10. She-Hulk: Jen, Again by Rainbow Rowell, with illustrations by Rogê Antônio & Luca Maresca

The Wind in the Willows, which I’m behind on a readalong for, is the only one of these I’ve finished. Have you read any of them and do you recommend them?