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| Hosted by The Book Date |
Life
It's been a very strange, rollercoaster of a holiday season for us! I can finally explain what's been going on at our house this past month, since we've now talked to all of our family and friends. Two weeks before Christmas, my husband was diagnosed with cancer, GIST sarcoma. He had no symptoms other than a mild pain in his lower abdomen when he moved a certain way (which his doctor thought was a hernia), so this was a complete shock to us. We searched online for the top cancer centers and the top surgeons in the nation for this rare form of cancer and were so lucky to find both in nearby Philadelphia at the Fox Chase Cancer Center.
Six days after his diagnosis, we met with that top surgeon, since the first step with this kind of tumor is to remove it. Then, as I explained in my last post two weeks ago, my husband got COVID (probably from our visit to the clinic!), both of our sons got engaged Christmas week, and we had a bizarre, quarantined holiday season, filled with both celebrations and fear.
My husband had surgery last Wednesday (it's been amazing how quickly things have moved with Fox Chase). The surgeon removed the entire tumor, which was quite large, and about four inches of colon, where it was attached and sent the whole thing to Pathology. They will test to find out what genetic type it is, to guide further treatments. I was incredibly grateful to be staying at the Hope Lodge (free lodging for cancer patients & caregivers in cities across the US), right down the road from the clinic. Much to our surprise, my husband was discharged just two days later, and we arrived back home on Saturday, both of us thrilled to be back in our own home!
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| Happy to be home! |
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| Sooo glad to be back on my couch! |
My husband is recovering well, and our friends and family have been incredibly kind and supportive through all of this. Our oldest friends were waiting for us when we got home, with food and to help me carry everything in. One of my cousins sent a bag of food from the local grocery store, and my aunt is staying with us now.
I haven't had much outdoor time, but I got out for a beautiful walk before we went to Philly, and the Fox Chase campus had a peaceful little park, where I took a walk one day - a much-needed respite in nature!
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| We enjoyed a chilly but scenic walk before traveling to Philly |
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| Beautiful blue-sky day! |
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| Beautiful forest and stream on the Fox Chase campus |
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| I SO needed this during long days at the clinic |
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From the last two weeks. I uploaded some before we left, scheduled others, and even managed a short reading update from Hope Lodge!
Reading Shifts Tag - A thoughtful, fun tag about how much reading habits have shifted over the years, seasons, and circumstances.
Weekly Reading Update 12/31/25 - the books I read to finish my reading year!
Christmas Book Haul - the books we received as gifts this Christmas - the best kind of gifts!
My 2025 Reading Wrap-Up - some fun facts about my reading year and my picks for Best Books in different categories (I'm still working on my top 10 videos and a reading wrap-up for the blog).
Weekly Reading Wrap-Up 1-9-26 - Live from the Hope Lodge! The books we are reading to start our reading year.
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One of our favorite shows, Will Trent, came back last week for its 4th season. This crime show about the Georgia Bureau of Investigation has an outstanding cast, including Ramon Rodriguez playing the title role. Through the seasons, the character development has been in-depth so that it is just as much about the characters as about the crimes. You can see my original review and a trailer, from season 1, at the link.
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Catching up on the last two weeks:
I finished reading The Girl's Guide to Hunting and Fishing by Melissa Bank. This one's been on my shelf for ages, since I got it as a prize in my library's summer reading program (7-10 years ago!). It was published in 1999 to great acclaim, and I had heard good things about it, which is why I chose it back then. It follows a young woman's life, from age fourteen through her thirties, as she grapples with identity, dating, love, friendship, and career. It has a coming-of-age flavor (and is perhaps autobiographical, based on what I read about the author) and is warm and funny. Despite the fact that two characters deal with cancer in the book (something I didn't know when I picked it up!), I enjoyed it.
My first book of the new year was one I've been dying to read ever since I first heard about it last year: The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley. If you're a frequent visitor to my blog, you know that I love time travel or any plots dealing with manipulation of time. In this case, the UK has time travel technology and has created this new ministry to manage its pilot program, bringing seven people from the past, from the 1600's to the 1900's, into the present day. They are all people whom the historical record shows would have soon died and each is assigned a "bridge," a ministry employee assigned to live with them and guide their assimilation into the 21st century. The unnamed narrator is a young, female civil servant assigned to be the bridge for "1847," a commander of the Royal Navy who was lost, along with everyone in his crew, during an Arctic exploration when their ship became stuck in the ice. As with all time travel novels, the clash between time periods provides plenty of intrigue and humor, but this novel also has romance, suspense, and lots of dark secrets hiding beneath the ministry's project. It was an outstanding read--gripping, engrossing, warm, and funny. Just what I needed!
Now I am reading Cat's Paw by Heather Blackwood, book 2 in The Time Corps series. I read book 1, The Clockwork Cathedral, last month when I needed some fun escapism. I enjoyed that fast-paced, creative time travel novel (yes, another one! my kind of comfort read) so much that I decided to try book 2. In book 1, a young woman who is a Tulane medical student in present-day New Orleans suddenly finds herself pulled through a rip in time back to 1857. The sequel features the same characters, starting in New Orleans in 1863, six years after the first book ended. I'm enjoying it so far.
My first audio book of the year is The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon, though I had to overcome some challenges to listen to it! I downloaded it from Libro.fm, but their app wouldn't work on my old iPod, so I downloaded the audio files to my laptop, then imported them into my Apple Music/iTunes. Unfortunately, Apple Music put the chapters into alphabetical order, rather than in the order they were in the files! I was SO incredibly confused, and with everything going on, it took me a week to realize what had happened. Now I'm listening to it on my phone through the Libro.fm app, and it makes so much more sense in order! It's the story of a midwife in Maine in the 1700's, after the American Revolution, and the murder of a man that sends their town into an uproar. I'm enjoying it.
My husband finished reading Never Flinch by Stephen King, the next book in the Holly Gibney mystery series, before we went to Philly. He enjoyed it.
Now, Ken is reading the latest book from his favorite author: Exit Strategy by Lee Child and Andrew Child, the latest book (#30!) in the Jack Reacher series. He figured that would be perfect for post-surgery recovery, and he's loving it.
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What are you and your family reading this week?