Reading on a Rainy Day

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Indulging in lots of different things | Weekly Snapshot

For whatever reason, it's been somewhat busy the past couple of weeks. I'm actually not sure where the past two weeks went but judging from the blank my memory is drawing, they were either boring or routine.
LifeAlong with the majority of the country, the case count in my area is going up. It does feel as if everyone is now in fatigue and letting their guard down. It's not easy to live like this even for a few months and here we are at the end of the year and things are getting out of control. We're continuing to try to stay mostly indoors and socially distance when with company. I'm encouraged that the schools in the area have been able to keep the case trend at extremely low levels. My daughter's school has not had any cases so I'm considering sending her and my son to school/daycare during Spring. But with the rising cases, it feels difficult to take that step.
Not looking forward toWe're getting to the point where all my appointments are due soon. I …

My troubles with Indian fiction | Notes from my Reading

I've been going through a reading spree. Over the past four weeks. I completed five books and am halfway through my sixth. This is huge for me. I'm not sure how long it will last, but if a slump comes through, that's alright - at least I'm having a good run at the moment.
Indian fictionI don't read as many books written by Indian-origin authors or set in India or featuring Indian-origin characters as I want to. Part of it is due to poor track record so far - a lot of the same tropes keep showing up. When you know something intimately, it gets hard to look past the tropes. There are some books that I have loved and I could find more books by those authors, so part of the blame is on me and not the books. I've also not done well about reading Indian authors though I have quite a large collection of such books.This past week, I spent some time to find a book featuring Indian-American characters. I was intentionally looking for a light and fun read. (Mainly I was c…

The Memory Police by Yoko Ogawa | Thoughts

Published in: 1994, translated into English in 2019
Format read in: ebook / print
Location: Unknown location
Rating: 5/5Why I read it: I’ve had The Housekeeper and the Professor in my TBR for a long time so when I found another book by the same author available to borrow at Overdrive, I decided to go for it.One line review: This book about forgetting and disappearance will make you wonder how much you take for granted about the little things. Who should read it: If you don't mind a little dystopian fiction in your already dystopian life and if you are okay with open endings, you may enjoy this book. Men who start by burning books end by burning other menThoughts:Yoko Ogawa's The Housekeeper and The Professor has been in my wishlist since around the time I started tracking my reading. And yet, it is The Memory Police that I started reading first. I found this available on Overdrive when I was browsing something new and something unexpected. It definitely fit both expectations and m…

Reading in bite sizes | Notes from my Reading

I'm currently in the middle of three delightful books - which is something that doesn't happen often. I rarely have multiple books in progress, mainly because my reading time is so scattered that it's hard enough to pick one book back up and three would be nightmare to manage. Somehow for the three books in progress - intermittent reading just works plus, they all have their time and place to be picked up. Last week, I started waking up an hour earlier than usual, hoping to get some reading time before the kids wake up. While a couple of times, they decided to ruin the reading retreat, most days, this change in schedule worked. Hopefully, it's something I can keep continuing, going into winter.
Nonfiction in bite-sized piecesI don't read as much nonfiction as I would like to but currently, I have two going on in parallel that I read a few pages of throughout the day. One thing I like about most nonfiction is their readability and hence suitability to be read even i…

Whew, what a week! | Weekly Snapshot

How tuned have you been to the US news this week, and especially this weekend? I've heard this echoed by many and I agree - if the events here this week were part of plot in some fiction book, I would have called it too unrealistic, too manipulative, and a really bad story. And yet, isn't that how reality develops sometimes? Whatever my political opinions, it's distressing to see this unfold on the national stage - I wonder how many other staff, reporters, and passersby also test positive in relation.
Life Halloween is just around the corner. While we are most likely not going to participate in trick o' treating this year, I'm still trying to find ways that my kids can celebrate it. I don't have a lot of ideas yet but I'll hopefully come up with something in time. Over here, the sweaters have come out, which I love, but on the other hand, I still have the yard and garden to clean up and prepare for the winter. That's probably going to keep me busy during …

In mood for a vacation | Weekly Snapshot

Yet another week has gone by with no end in sight for the pandemic. Being able to distinguish weeks became a challenge months ago, so no surprises there. But the weather is getting colder and winter is coming (hopefully not Martin's winter - we had enough of that this year already). I used to love winter, I used to look forward to it. But for the past few years, it has tended to be a very gloomy season. I'm usually just looking forward to it ending. So, this year, it's going to be harder to get through the season, especially since we are all still mostly at home. Mind you, I don't mind the restrictions as they do have a useful purpose, but wish more people followed them well and that we had done a better job when the weather was warmer to keep the virus at bay so that it didn't have to last this long. But that argument probably won't stick anyways, as many countries are now facing second waves. At the end of the day, we really need a vaccine but I hope that isn…