 |
| Hosted by The Book Date |
Life
Not much to report this week. I'm still in a very severe relapse of my chronic illness, so I did not go to Booktopia. In fact, I didn't stray far from my couch all week. We had mold remediation going on in our garage and basement, and it ended up taking them all week (it was worse than they thought). I'm hoping this will help my health in the long term.
I did start feeling a bit better on Friday evening and Saturday, so I was hoping the relapse might be lifting. We were able to enjoy a campfire with our oldest, dearest friends (who've also been enduring a major health crisis). It did me so good to see them and catch up. Saturday, I actually drove my car--just a quick trip to Walgreen's and our local bookstore, but it was a thrill to be out! Unfortunately, Sunday and today, I am back to feeling like I have a bad flu - severe sore throat, flu-like aches, and complete exhaustion. The good news is that I have an appointment with my primary care doctor this week to discuss some newer immune treatments I've been reading about that might help me. Fingers crossed!
Even when I'm this bad, I do still try to get outdoors each day, even if it's only to lie in my reclining chair on the deck or take a very short, slow walk around our cul-de-sac (my husband says my next book should be titled, "Beyond the Cul-de-sac" because I was so excited to venture out on Saturday!).
 |
| Blue phlox & anemones in full bloom! |
 |
| Our tiny pagoda dogwood blooming for the first time |
 |
| Blue skies! |
 |
| Lovely view from our back deck. |
Our son came over this weekend with his adorable puppy, Chester, so that lifted my spirits yesterday!
 |
| Chester was happy to see us! |
 |
| Very excitable pup! |
 |
| Already longer than he was last week but still adorable! |
 |
| Chester enjoying some old toys we had from a neighbor's dog |
__________
Top 10 Book Group Books (and 2 Bonus Books!) - From my book group's 38 years and 216 books read! Are any of these YOUR favorites?
Weekly Reading Wrap-Up - Outstanding fiction, including historical, contemporary, middle-grade, and more.
__________
I finished All the World Can Hold by Jung Yun and loved it. It's set on a cruise ship, less than one week after 9/11. Frannie convinced her reluctant husband (they live in NYC) to stick with their plans to celebrate her mother's 70th birthday, a big deal in Korean culture, on the cruise, along with her brother and his girlfriend. Frannie hopes this will finally show her mother what a good daughter she is and how successful she's been. Doug is a washed-up B-list (C-list?) actor who used to co-star as the friendly bartender on a Love Boat-style TV show filmed on this ship. He agreed to come on this cast reunion cruise, though his agent didn't tell him everything. Lucy, with a graduate degree in computer science, gets on the ship in a suit, fresh from a job interview, convinced by her roommate to go on the cruise. She's worried about her interview with a new company with a weird name, Google, and finds that the ship lost her suitcase. You get the perspectives of all of these characters during the cruise, as they each struggle with both their own personal issues (and secrets!), as well as the collective grief of the recent attacks. It's a beautifully written novel with plenty of character development and emotional depth. I very much enjoyed it and wish I could have met the author this weekend!
That was my last Booktopia selection, so I chose something completely different from my to-be-read bookcase: Dig. by A.S. King, a YA novel and winner of the Printz medal. Can you believe I have never read an A.S. King novel before? My husband gave me this one several years ago. I'm about 100 pages in so far, and ... the beginning is fairly confusing! It introduces a bunch of different characters, many of them teens, with short 1-2 page vignettes. Some of the characters aren't named but are referred to as The Freak or The Shoveler. I often read a book without reading the blurb on the back--I like to go in cold--but I turned to the back and found out that it's a novel about 5 cousins. Really? I can see now how the individual stories are gradually coming together, with their grandparents, Marla and Gottfried, a part of the story, too. Despite my early confusion, the writing is excellent, the characters are engaging, and I am eager to see what happens next.
On audio, I have been listening to a middle-grade novel I had on my iPod from Middle-Grade March, Yusef Azeem Is Not a Hero by Saadia Faruqi. I was surprised to find that this is also a novel about 9/11 but set 20 years later, in 2021. Yusef is excited to start middle-school because he will finally be eligible to compete in the Texas Robotics Competition. But from the first day of school in his small town, there is a tension he's never felt before, as he gets anonymous messages in his locker saying things like, "Go home!," and a man brought up in town recently returned and started a White Supremacist group called Patriot Boys (his son is in Yusef's class). As the 20th anniversary of 9/11 approaches, and this group protests the new mosque that the local Muslim families are working hard to build, Yusef is dealing with a mix of emotions, as well as typical middle-school issues, like bullies. Yusef starts talking with his mother and uncle (both born in Texas) about their experiences as kids on 9/11. It's an outstanding novel so far and excellent on audio.
My husband, Ken, is still reading The List by Steve Berry, a book I put in his Easter basket. He is struggling a bit with the premise so far: an evil corporation that kills off its older retirees to save money!
Ken's daytime "slow read" is Moby Dick by Herman Melville, a classic we've both been meaning to read for years. He says he's enjoying it, and he's amazed by how relevant the writing is, given how long ago it was written.
Our son, 31, is re-reading Rhythm of War by Brandon Sanderson, book 4 of his famed Stormlight Archive series, in preparation for reading book 5, which he got for Christmas. Sanderson is one of his favorite authors!
__________
You can follow me on:
What are you and your family reading this week?
