Monday, November 18, 2024

It's Monday 11/18! What Are You Reading?

Hosted by The Book Date


Life

 Things are a bit chaotic here this morning! I got behind on my e-mail last week (oops), so I didn't realize that the company we hired to remove some dead trees and trim other trees was coming this morning ... at 7 am! I heard the heavy equipment, looked out my bathroom window and thought, "Someone must be having some work done today." Then I put on my glasses and realized it was us! We also had new gutters installed on the house Friday, and since it got dark so early, they had to come back this morning to finish cleaning up. Plus, our monthly cleaning service was scheduled for today. Kind of a three-ring circus here!

Not much to report from last week. I'm still stuck in this relapse of my chronic illness, with flu-like aches every day. I'm still not entirely sure why, which drives me crazy. The changes in diet and medication I mentioned last week helped a little bit but not as much as I'd hoped. I spent a lot of time on the couch and got my dose of nature from our back deck, in my lounge chair!

My favorite spot in my reclining chair on our back deck

My view

Our bird feeder's been popular!


Sunset from my chair (at 4:45 pm!)

 I did get out once, to visit our local library and saw some fall color

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On the Blog

Though I wasn't planning to write any more TV or movie reviews this year, I was moved to review this one because it was so good!

Movie Review: My Old Ass - Featuring our tiny state's hottest star, Aubrey Plaza, this unique movie about an 18-year-old talking to her 39-year-old self was funny, heartwarming, and poignant, leaving my husband and I both in tears! Plus it's in a gorgeous setting. Highly recommended, with a 90% on Rotten Tomatoes.

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On Video

Travel and Outdoor Vlog: Trap Pond State Park - beautiful fall scenery, brilliant colors, and peaceful nature in videos and photos from our last camping trip of the season.

Friday Reads 11-15-24 - my brief weekly update on what I am reading and listening to for Nonfiction November.

Chronic Illness Vlog: A Week in My Life During a Relapse, Plus Time in Nature - Just posted this morning, video clips from my daily life last week, focused on my chronic illness.


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 What We're Reading

We're both enjoying Nonfiction November:

 

I finished reading Leave Only Footprints: My Acadia-to-Zion Journey Through Every National Park by Conor Knighton and loved it! The author, a freelance contractor for CBS Sunday Morning, decided to visit every one of the then-59 U.S. National Parks in one year. He created some pieces for the show throughout that year, but the journey was also a personal one. This isn't a typical travel guide. While Knighton does sometimes focus on interesting geography, flora, or fauna, he also digs into history and focuses heavily on people: those who lived in the areas before the parks, those who created the parks, and those currently live, work, or visit them. He tackles subjects like borders, diversity, God, and love, as well as more traditional nature themes. It's a fascinating, engrossing set of stories, made even better by the author's wonderful sense of humor. My husband and I both enjoyed it so much that this weekend, we watched some of his CBS Sunday Morning national park pieces on YouTube. I'm ready to hit the road!


In between my longer nonfiction books, I squeezed in a fabulous graphic memoir, Sunshine by Jarrett J. Krosoczka. This is a follow-up to his earlier graphic memoir, Hey, Kiddo, about being raised by his grandparents after his father left when he was a baby and his mother struggled with addiction. Here, he recounts his experiences as a high school senior volunteering at a camp for kids with serious illnesses and how that changed his life. He and a few classmates and adult chaperones spend a week at the camp in Maine, working with kids of all ages and their families. Many of those kids had cancer, so yes, there is sorrow here (I was crying toward the end), but this is a book about life, love, and hope, about giving these suffering kids and their families some simple joy and making a difference in their difficult lives. This was a hug-it-to-my-chest book. I talk more about it and share some of the drawings inside in this video (at 6:51).

 

Next, I started Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania by Erik Larson, a book that's been in my November stack for several years! I haven't had a lot of reading time (I want to go camping again!), so I'm only 86 pages into it so far. It's the story of a German submarine sinking a huge passenger ship during WWI, but as always, Larson digs deep into the story to bring us details and aspects that we never learned in history class. We not only get to know some of the passengers and crew of the Lusitania on that fateful voyage but also the captain and crew of the German U-boat. Larson's books are always fascinating and informative, and this one is no different.

 

My first nonfiction audio book is Read Dangerously: The Subversive Power of Literature in Troubled Times by Azar Nafisi, the author of Reading Lolita in Tehran. It's structured as a series of letters to her father in Iran from her home in Washington, DC. It was written in 2019-21 and reflects on the "post-Trump" era (I know) and the parallels between the reign of the Islamic Republic in Iran and what she sees happening in her adopted country more recently. As she writes to her father, she discusses many classic and modern works of literature, as they were accustomed to doing together in earlier years, and how these books relate to events in both Iran and the U.S.: The Satanic Verses, Fahrenheit 451, The Bluest Eye, Their Eyes Were Watching God, A Handmaid's Tale, and more. It's thoughtful, thought-provoking, and powerful, and this seems like exactly the right time to be reading it.

 

My husband, Ken, finished reading his first book for Nonfiction November, The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny, and Murder by David Grann, a gift from me. He enjoyed it and said it was interesting (though a bit gruesome at times).

 

Ken is now reading another gift from me, Burn by Peter Heller, one of our favorite authors of outdoor thrillers. This novel is a bit of a departure for Heller, as it's post-apocaylptic. Two lifelong friends meet up in the backwoods of Maine for their annual hunting/camping trip. Weeks later, when they leave the woods, they find a devastated world filled with destruction. They begin the long walk home, dragging a wagon, as they try to figure out what's happened. According to the description, it's about male friendship and filled with Heller's usual beautiful nature writing, but also "a blistering warning about a divided country’s political strife and an ode to the salvation found in our chosen families." Sounds great!

 

Our son, 30, has been reading The Heroes by Joe Abercrombie (book 2 in the World of the First Law series) which we gave him for his birthday in August. This is one of his all-time favorite authors, and he said no one writes battle scenes better!

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What Are You Reading Monday is hosted by Kathryn at Book Date, so head over and check out her blog and join the Monday fun! You can also participate in a kid/teen/YA version hosted by Unleashing Readers.

You can follow me on Twitter at @SueBookByBook or on Facebook on my blog's page.
 

What are you and your family reading this week?

Monday, November 11, 2024

Movie Monday: My Old Ass

I'd heard about this new movie with the funny name on Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast, where all the hosts and guests were enthusiastic about it. Plus, it stars our tiny state's hottest star, Aubrey Plaza. So, when my husband and I heard this weekend that My Old Ass was now on Amazon Prime, we decided to watch it. It exceeded our expectations!

Eighteen-year-old Elliott, played by Maisy Stella, loves her family and friends, but she can't wait to leave her tiny hometown and her family's cranberry farm in rural Ontario. In just three weeks, she heads off to the University of Toronto, and she can't wait for her real life to start. Elliott and her two best friends, Ruthie and Ro, go camping one night on an island (where they live, on a series of lakes, they get around mostly by boat). In a last hurrah, Ro has secured some hallucinogenic mushrooms. They each take them around the campfire, and the other two girls seem to be enjoying themselves, while Elliott thinks nothing's happening for her. Then her 39-year-old self, played by Aubrey Plaza, appears next to her on the log. The two of them talk long into the night, and though older Elliott doesn't want to mess anything up, when pressed by young Elliott, she finally gives her some advice and adds a cryptic warning. That encounter (and others that follow) changes Elliott's immediate life in ways she never could have imagined.

We both loved this coming-of-age movie! Yes, it's an odd premise (Aubrey kind of specializes in quirky), but it is executed perfectly. The cast is great, especially Maisy Stella as young Elliott, the writing is top-notch, and the cinematography is wonderful. The setting was so gorgeous that I looked up where it was filmed: Muskoka Lakes, Ontario. It is billed as a comedy, and we both laughed plenty throughout the movie, but at the end, we were both crying (in a good way). It's beautiful, funny, heartwarming, and moving. Highly recommended (so much so that I felt compelled to review it after saying I wasn't going to write any more movie reviews!).

Currently available on Amazon Prime.

I'm grinning again just watching the trailer!

It's Monday 11/11! What Are You Reading?

Hosted by The Book Date


Life

 The bad news is that I have been feeling awful, stuck in a bad flare-up of my chronic illness for the past three weeks. My body's been wracked with constant flu-like aches, which tells me that something has triggered my immune system into overdrive (again). The most likely culprit is my chronic yeast overgrowth, which was well-controlled earlier this year with medications, probiotics, supplements, and a strict diet. My only guess is that my diet had slipped a little bit and maybe my prescription antifungals aren't as effective anymore. I saw my doctor this morning, and she put me on a stronger antifungal, and I've been back to a strict 97% carnivore diet (a few bites of certain veggies with lunch and dinner) for the past few days, so I hope that helps. 

I left the office and burst into tears because a) I felt so bad after being there for an hour and b) my intelligent, compassionate primary care doctor of the past 22 years is retiring! She was close to tears herself. It's not hyperbole to say she saved my life 22 years ago when she accurately diagnosed me after a year of having doctors say, "I have no idea what's wrong with you," and she immediately offered me treatments for a disease in which most doctors still say there's nothing they can do. She's trying to figure out who she can pass me (and a few other similar patients) onto who can continue to provide this kind of care. I've been so fortunate to have her. OK, I'm starting to cry again, so how about ...

Some good news! My husband and I squeezed in one more fabulous three days of camping (he's winterizing the camper now, as I type this). We went to Trap Pond State Park in southern Delaware, one of our favorite spots for late fall. It's home to the northernmost stand of cypress trees in the US, and they turn a brilliant orange color in fall. It was a very low-key visit, since I wasn't feeling well, though we did manage an hour in the kayaks, floating around and enjoying nature. Otherwise, I spent much of the time in my lounge chair reading, with gorgeous views all around me. Here are a few highlights. I'll be posting my vlog of the trip to my YouTube channel tomorrow.

Sunset from the shore on our first night

Morning view from the dock, a few steps from our campsite

Gorgeous fall foliage

Beautiful reflections

Turtle on a log

See the teeny-tiny turtle at the highest point on that log?

Cypress trees in the water

Ahhh ... reading about the natural world in this beautiful place

Our campsite

Happy campers!

Some cypress "knees" that look like a hand reaching out of the ground!

Sunset lights up the cypress trees

Savoring my last moments

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On the Blog

Middle-Grade Review: Not Quite a Ghost by Anne Ursu - I broke my new resolve not to write full-length reviews because I so loved this wonderful new book from one of my favorite authors!

If you're in the need of some laughter, check out my new post on my chronic illness blog, Books, TV, and Movies to Tickle Your Funny Bone

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On Video

Nonfiction November 2024: My Plans - my pile of possibilities for this annual challenge that I look forward to every year (with some interruptions from our Halloween decorations!)

Friday Reads 11-1-24 Halloween edition! - my update of the 5 books I read/finished at the end of October for the R.I.P. Challenge

Kayaking in Trap Pond, Delaware - a quick 45-sec video of the natural beauty

#CurrentlyReading - a 1-minute short about my current read, from the park

Friday Reads 11-8-24 - Nonfiction November - my weekly update

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 What We're Reading

I squeezed in one last print book and one last audio for the R.I.P. season, then jumped into Nonfiction November.

I ended my spooky season reading with a classic: The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler, one of the early authors of detective noir fiction and the first appearance of P.I. Philip Marlowe. I gave this to my husband for his birthday and enjoyed reading it myself. Here, Marlowe takes a case for a dying man whose two young adult daughters (and his heirs) are both wild and out of control. Someone is blackmailing the man (based on his daughters' gambling and sexual escapades), and he wants Marlowe to find out who's behind it. This was a very twisty mystery that was far more complex than first appeared (for the reader and for Marlowe), and soon the bodies begin to pile up. We both enjoyed reading this classic (and now will never get the Jeopardy questions on Chandler and Marlowe wrong again!).

 

And my last audio book for spooky season was the middle-grade horror/thriller, Nightmare Island by Shakirah Bourne. Twelve-year-old Serenity has recurring nightmares of silver butterflies, absolute silence, and other strange, frightening images. She's heard the phrase "face your fears," so she pours herself wholeheartedly into making her own stop-action horror movies. Her little brother, Peace, whom her parents call "the perfect child," often helps her by creating paper figures of the monsters she describes. But Serenity feels out of place in her family, where everyone is always telling her to quiet down and that she's too noisy. When her parents announce they're taking Peace away to a silent retreat on an island, Serenity doesn't go to her grandmother's as planned but stows away on the ferry to the island where her family is headed. What she finds there is more strange--and terrifying--than anything Serenity could dream up in her movies. This unique, twisty, action-packed story draws its inspiration from traditional Caribbean mythology. I enjoyed it--middle-grade horror is about my speed.

 

My first book for Nonfiction November is Leave Only Footprints: My Acadia-to-Zion Journey Through Every National Park by Conor Knighton, and I am loving it! After his fiance left him and he was at loose ends, the author, a freelance contractor for CBS Sunday Morning, decided to visit every one of the 63 U.S. National Parks in one year. He created some pieces for the show throughout that year, but the journey was also a personal one. This isn't a travel guide. While Knighton does sometimes focus on interesting geography, flora, or fauna, he also digs into history and focuses heavily on people: those who lived in the areas before the parks, those who created the parks, and those currently live, work, or visit them. He tackles subjects like borders, diversity, God, and love. It's a fascinating, engrossing set of stories, made even better by the author's wonderful sense of humor. It's kept me riveted--and often reaching for my iPad to look for pictures and more information.


My first nonfiction audio book is Read Dangerously: The Subversive Power of Literature in Troubled Times by Azar Nafisi, the author of Reading Lolita in Tehran. It's structured as a series of letters to her father in Iran from her home in Washington, DC. It was written in 2019-21 and reflects on the "post-Trump" era (I know) and the parallels between the reign of the Ayatollah Khomeni in Iran and what she sees happening in her adopted country more recently. As she writes to her father, she discusses many classic and modern works of literature, as they were accustomed to doing together in earlier years, and how these books relate to events in both Iran and the U.S.: The Satanic Verses, Fahrenheit 451, The Bluest Eye, Their Eyes Were Watching God, and more. It's thoughtful, thought-provoking, and powerful, and this seems like exactly the right time to be reading it.

 

My husband, Ken, finished reading Dracula by Bram Stoker and is now reading his first book for Nonfiction November, The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny, and Murder by David Grann, a gift from me. He's enjoying it so far, though he said it was pretty gruesome at the beginning, as people on the ship began dying of scurvy (apparently, not a good way to go).


Our son, 30, has been reading The Heroes by Joe Abercrombie (book 2 in the World of the First Law series) which we gave him for his birthday in August. This is one of his all-time favorite authors, and he said no one writes battle scenes better!

 __________

What Are You Reading Monday is hosted by Kathryn at Book Date, so head over and check out her blog and join the Monday fun! You can also participate in a kid/teen/YA version hosted by Unleashing Readers.

You can follow me on Twitter at @SueBookByBook or on Facebook on my blog's page.

 

What are you and your family reading this week?