Not sure what #MicroblogMondays is? Read the inaugural post which explains the idea and how you can participate too.

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One of the most amusing things about Quentin is he absolutely hates birds. There was an enormous storm the other day — thunder, lightning, pouring rain — and I went to check on him. But he was just munching on some dry food and looked up at me with curiosity.

But if he hears a bird chirping outside — and he always hears birds chirping outside — he emits a low warning growl. And then I have to remind him that I don’t control the birds. And they can’t harm him. And they’re less annoying than so many other things in life. I don’t think he believes me.

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Are you also doing #MicroblogMondays? Add your link below. The list will be open until Tuesday morning. Link to the post itself, not your blog URL. (Don’t know what that means? Please read the three rules on this post to understand the difference between a permalink to a post and a blog’s main URL.) Only personal blogs can be added to the list. I will remove any posts connected to businesses or sponsored posts.

When I was little, I couldn’t wait to be 19. It’s a fun word to say in another language I speak, and I planned to say my age every chance I got. But I forgot all about it as I aged.

The night before I turned 20, I was getting ready to meet a friend for my birthday dinner. I remembered how much I wanted to be 19 when I was a kid, but I also realized it was the last day I would be 19, and I barely ever told anyone my age. I had wasted 19! I asked everyone to ask my age as much as possible that night. It was going to be the last time I got to tell anyone I was 19.

Luckily, I remembered this in time for my blog to turn 19. I get to have a full year of telling people that this site is 19. You know, for all those times that people stop you and say, “Hey, how old is your blog?”

Thank you for continuing to show up here and read the posts. It means a lot to me, especially now when the internet can sometimes feel very loud. I like my quiet space, and I’m glad you’re here, too.

Every Saturday morning, a bookstore I love sends out an email with a link to notable books published that week. It’s how I choose books for the most part for my TBR. Due to a time difference, I can usually check their site on Friday nights near midnight and see that week’s list, and on particularly hard weeks, I let myself peek at the first six to eight books before I go to bed.

Last Friday was one of those Fridays. I opened the link, but it showed me the books from the week before. Drats. The booklist wouldn’t be up until morning. But the next morning, when I received the newsletter and followed the link, it took me to the previous week’s books. The page hadn’t been updated. I tried multiple devices. I tried clearing caches. I tried powering down my phone and turning it back on. I tried all of the things.

And then, I am embarrassed to admit, I wrote the helpline for the bookstore. Was it an emergency? Absolutely not. But was I panicking, hitting refresh over and over again as if it would summon the list? Yes, I was. I became that person who writes the helpline because she missed her book list.

Someone at the helpdesk wrote me back the next day, thanking me for alerting them to the issue with the page, and they wrote me back a few days after that to let me know the link was ready to go. Happy browsing.

All was well again in the world.

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Stop procrastinating. Go make your backups. Don’t have regrets.

Seriously. Stop what you’re doing for a moment. It will take you fifteen minutes, tops. But you will have peace of mind for days and days. It’s the gift to yourself that keeps on giving.

As always, add any new thoughts to the Friday Backup post and peruse new comments to find out about methods, plug-ins, and devices that help you quickly back up your data and accounts.

And now the blogs…

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But first, second, helpings of the posts that appeared in the open comment thread last week. To read the description before clicking over, please return to the open thread:

• None… sniff.

Okay, now my choices this week.

Infertile Phoenix captures a moving moment on Father’s Day. She was at a restaurant last weekend, sitting at the bar with her boyfriend, surrounded by other local people she knew. A cute child at a nearby table started interacting with one of her friends, who also was sitting at the bar. After the family left, her friend reminded her that it’s not only women who feel wistful when they look at the road not taken: “I’ve done a lot and I’ve seen a lot… [somewhat of a long pause] But I never had kids.” It’s a great reminder, beautifully written.

Lastly, Grumpy Rumbings has a bit of found poetry, capturing a relationship through messages. Loved this.

The roundup to the Roundup: Routine thwarted and fixed. Your weekly backup nudge. And lots of great posts to read. So what did you find this week? Please use a permalink to the blog post (written between June 13 – 20) and not the blog’s main URL. Not understanding why I’m asking you what you found this week. Read the original open thread post here.

Josh and I often go on reading retreats as described in this article. The whole point of the trip is to go somewhere other than our home and read. 95% of the time, we’re going to the beach (even in winter).

But I kind of love the idea of reconnecting with friends or family once a year on a reading retreat. My cousin — a voracious reader — would be the perfect person to plonk down in a cozy place with the sole goal of reading and snacking and napping and talking. Or my sister — we read so many of the same books. And most of my friends are readers. I kind of like the idea of going off-season somewhere so the whole place is quiet and then getting through two or three books.

As I say every month, I’m shamelessly stealing this idea from Jessica Lahey. She has a recurring monthly date where she reviews all the books she reads that month. Book reviews are important for authors, and I want to get better at doing this.

So. I’m going to review them here and also online, but I’m going to do it a little differently. I’m only going to review the stuff I really liked. I don’t see a reason to spend my time writing about something I didn’t love; it’s just using up more of my energy. So only positive reviews.

These are the books I liked (or mostly liked) from May.

The Impossible Thing (Belinda Bauer): This book was a slow burn that sucked you in until it was all you could think or talk about. It is very clever, not only in how everything came together but in how the author makes you care deeply about these eggs, even if you entered reading the story thinking you didn’t really care about eggs. She makes you care. It’s a great story, masterfully written.

Probably Nothing (Lauren Bravo): A perfect, hopeful, kind, heartwarming book. It literally made me feel good while reading it. I loved every character and wished I could get to Ann’s kitchen, too. She would annoy me in the moment but I would be grateful to feel her love. This book is like being squished in the best kind of hug.

A Game of Lies (Clare Mackintosh): This is the second book in a series (third book coming out soon), and you probably need to read the first book to like the second. You cannot go wrong with a Clare Mackintosh book. She writes a solid, page-turning thriller. Not scary. Packed with fun Welsh terms and scenery. This one stretched some believability, but it was still enjoyable and I heard the next book in the series is excellent, so I didn’t want to skip a book.

Count My Lies (Sophie Stava): 3.5 rounded up. I liked the writing, but this book fell into the pit that many thrillers fall into, where the character knows what the reader knows. In other words, they get to conclusions that the reader could get to with their knowledge but which the character could never possibly get to with the character’s knowledge. It’s an enjoyable read but so far-fetched.

The Keeper of Lost Causes (Jussi Adler-Olsen): This is the first Department Q book — I wanted to read them before I heard spoilers from the tv show. Every so often you find a series where you instantly love all of the characters and setting, and your heart fills up with joy for days as you think about how many good books you have ahead of you. This was one of those series. I love Carl. Love Assad. I even love Vigga. It was intense, especially the end, but wonderful. Amazing book. Think Three Pines but more surliness and in Denmark.

The Absent One (Jussi Adler-Olsen): This is the second Department Q book. This one was 4.5 rounded up. I didn’t love the translation style as much as the last one, but it was still an intriguing (and disturbing) plot. And I love these characters so much.

What did you read last month?