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| Hosted by The Book Date |
Life
This is a 2-week catch-up for me. The week after I last posted, I restarted (after a 2-week break) microdosing tirzepatide, a GLP-1 agonist, and thankfully, I was feeling a lot better by the end of that week! What a relief after months of my chronic illness being relapsed. It hasn't all been smooth sailing, unfortunately, because a big chunk of a filling fell out, leaving me with severe tooth pain. I saw the dentist last week, and he put some temporary material in the spot (I have an appointment this week to replace the filling), but the pain worsened over the weekend. Even trying to chew eggs or fish was excruciating! It's a bit better now but still sensitive, and I have another appointment tomorrow morning so he can see what is still bothering me.
But, with my overall improvement, we were able to have some fun! On Halloween, we met our son and his puppy at the farmer's market we visit every fall for hot, fresh apple cider donuts - yum!
Monday, we left for our annual last camping trip of the year to Trap Pond State Park in southern DE, home of the northnmost stand of bald cypress trees on the East Coast. The weather is usually nice the first week of November and fall foliage is at its peak there (the cypress trees turn a brilliant orange), so we return every year. As always, it was a relaxing respite, filled with breathtaking natural beauty--just what I needed after so much time spent on my couch! And the weather was perfect - mid-70's and sunny. Here are a few photos. I'll be posting a video of the trip tomorrow that better captures the peace and tranquility out on the lake.
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| Great Blue Heron at sunset |
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| Nothing like sunset out on the water! |
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| Stunning trees at sunset |
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| Reflections in the water |
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| Cypress knees that look like a creepy hand! |
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| Cypress trees in the water |
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| Enjoying the outdoors! |
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| Another beautiful sunset! |
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| Beautiful views from our campsite |
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| Vibrant fall foliage |
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| Peaceful kayaking |
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| Reflections |
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| LOTS of turtles enjoying the sunshine! |
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| Beautiful sunsets |
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The Cliches of Autumn Tag - a fun seasonal tag that provided some really thoughtful prompts ... that led me to dig deep for some books I don't usually talk about.
November Reading Plans - My reading plans for the month, including Nonfiction November and No Regrets November.
October Reading Wrap-Up - Spooky season reading for RIPXXI, with mysteries, thrillers, intriguing sci fi, ghost stories, and more!
Bald Cypress Trees in Trap Pond State Park - this short 1-minute video gives you a glimpse into the stands of bald cypress trees in the water (love the cypress "knees" sticking up!) that we saw last week.
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I haven't had a chance to post anything here yet, but I am participating in Nonfiction November, as always! The event is hosted by Deb Nance (kick-off post at the link), with four other co-hosts.
The week 1 topic was My Year in Nonfiction So Far. I figured I could easily cover that right in this post because ... prior to November, I had only read (drumroll ...) 2 nonfiction books all year! Yikes, that's even worse than usual for me. They were (links to my Monday mini reviews):
Both are memoirs, though very, very different! And both are favorites of mine. I listened to Travels with Charley on audio, my first time reading it, and I absolutely loved the combination travelogue, memoir, and history by one of my favorite authors.
I reread The Complete Persepolis (first time, I read each volume as it came out; this time I read the omnibus edition). It's a graphic memoir about growing up in Iran during the revolution in the 1970's, a combination of coming-of-age memoir and observations of a place and time in history that everyone should be familiar with. Just as moving and powerful the second time.
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I'm enjoying Nonfiction November this month!
My last book in print in October was perfect for spooky season: Something Rich and Strange by Matty Dalrymple, book 7 in her Ann Kinnear series. Ann can sense--and often communicate with--spirits. Her brother helps run Ann Kinnear Sensing. Their latest client, Adam, is CEO of a family-owned pharmaceutical company that is focused on finding treatments for a rare genetic heart condition that Adam has. His father, Arthur, started the company and just died of the condition while on a cruise, and Adam has some questions for him about the company's future, from both technical and business perspectives. Ann doesn't sense Arthur at his home or at work, so she and Adam go on a cruise on the same ship where Arthur died a few months ago. Arthur loved cruises, and Ann does eventually find him on this one and talk to him, but things are never that simple in these exciting mystery/thrillers! Something much more sinister is going on that will put both Adam's and Ann's lives in danger. As always with this series, it was suspenseful and fast-paced with a twisty plot and that intriguing supernatural element. A great book to be reading during Halloween week!
I also squeezed in one last audiobook for October, a YA novel, If Anything Happens to Me by Luanne Rice. 16-year-old Oli is still grieving her sister's death nine months ago. Eloise's body was found in a clearing in the woods where Oli now often goes to visit and remember her beloved sister. This time, though, she's in for a surprise: she finds another half-buried teen girl in the exact same spot where Eloise was found! But this girl is still alive. Oli takes her back to the house she shares with her grandmother. The girl doesn't remember who she is or what happened to her, but she keeps repeating, "No police!" As the girl's memory slowly begins to come back, she and Oli begin to investigate the clues as she remembers them. Oli is certain that whoever took this girl also took and killed her sister, and another life is at stake as well. The girls race against time to find the killer and where the girls are being taken. This story took some unexpected twists for me that I never saw coming! It's a very suspenseful mystery/thriller, and I enjoyed it on audio.
Next, I jumped into Nonfiction November with Upstream, a book of essays by Mary Oliver. I'm someone who generally struggles with poetry, but I loved Mary Oliver's book of poetry, A Thousand Mornings. I love her focus on nature and joy. This essay collection includes many beautiful essays about her observations of nature on Cape Cod, where she lived for much of her life, and I very much enjoyed those pieces, which were particularly suited to reading while camping. One part of the collection is a group of essays about various writers and poets who have influenced her life and her work, including Emerson, Whitman, Poe, Wordsworth, and more. These were more of a mixed bag for me: some were interesting and engaging but others I found less so. Overall, I enjoyed the short book and really love her nature writing. I will definitely try more of her poetry.
On audio, I've been listening to Finding Me: An Inspiring Story of Resilience, Self-Discovery, and Finding Your Voice by Viola Davis. I rarely read celebrity memoirs, but this one caught my eye because I love Davis' acting and think she is incredibly talented. It's turning out to be a fascinating and engrossing memoir. She grew up in horrible poverty, amid abuse and bullying. Given that, you might think this is a very dark book, but in spite of all the challenges, she also shares wonderful stories of growing up with her sisters and has a fabulous sense of humor. I'm just getting to where she gets her start in acting. In spite of early successes and clear talent, she struggles with self-acceptance after a lifetime of being told she was less-than. She reads the memoir herself on the audio, and it is a moving, funny, powerful story. Excellent so far, and I now understand how she is able to bring so much emotion to her roles (my husband and I often say she is the best at snotty crying!).
Last night, I just started reading The Boys: A Memoir of Hollywood and Family by Ron Howard and Clint Howard, a memoir I gave my husband for Christmas a couple of years ago. He loved it, and I've been looking forward to it. It's about the two boys' unusual childhood, growing up on television and in movies and the love and support from their parents that kept them grounded. It's very unusual that I'm reading two celebrity memoirs now, but this one is also great so far!
My husband, Ken, finished reading Past Crimes by Glen Erik Hamilton, a thriller I gave him for his birthday recently. He enjoyed it, though he said it wasn't as action-packed as the Reacher novels it was compared to. Now, he's reading Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood, a book I've been wanting to read for years. He has stacks of books waiting to be read here, but he ordered this one out of the blue when he heard about it! Might have to do with us both reading The Testaments and watching the TV series this summer. I definitely want to read it when he finishes.
Last I checked, our son, 32, he was reading Lord of the Isles by David Drake, the first book in a 9-book fantasy series. Sounds right up his alley! I'm sure he hasn't had much reading time. They were in Albany for a Halloween party last weekend, and he was in the Adirondacks visiting his best childhood friend this weekend. He called me for our pumpkin seed "recipe" since they'd carved pumpkins, but we haven't had much time to talk lately.
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