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Infinite Country by Patricia Engel | Thoughts

   Published : 2021   ||    Format : print   ||    Location : Colombia ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆   What was it about the country that kept everyone hostage to its fantasy? The previous month, on its own soil, an American man went to his job at a plant and gunned down fourteen coworkers, and last spring alone there were four different school shootings. A nation at war with itself, yet people still spoke of it as some kind of paradise.. Thoughts : Infinite Country follows two characters - young Talia, who at the beginning of this book, escapes a girl’s reform school in North Colombia so that she can make her previously booked flight to the US. Before she can do that, she needs to travel many miles to reach her father and get her ticket to the rest of her family. As we follow Talia’s treacherous journey south, we learn about how she ended up in the reform school in the first place and why half her family resides in the US. Infinite Country tells the story of her family through the other protagonist, El

The Sunday Salon (Wow, my first TSS of the year) -- January 16, 2011


The Sunday 
Salon.com

I was looking for the Sunday Salon post template when I noticed that my last TSS post went up a month ago. That got me thinking about what I was doing the last four Sundays! Two of them disappeared in my lovely vacation, the other two must have got obscured in sheer laziness. My resolution this year was is to be less procrastinating. Obviously, I'm still having trouble with it. Or maybe not. It's definitely easy to be less procrastinating, so long as I don't say how less. Maybe I will actually be successful at a resolution this year!

It's been two weeks since I got back from my vacation, but I had a really wonderful time. It's great to be back to routine also - for the first time in months, I'm having some semblance of a schedule.


I'm sure you have seen this before - If you entered your birth date into BibliOZ, you can see the books that were on the NY Times bestsellers list the week you were born. I had been looking for something of the sort for a while, so I was quite excited to see "my" list. And here's what I found:

Fiction Nonfiction
1 And the Ladies of the Club by Helen Hooven Santmeyer Wired by Bob Woodward
2 Full Circle by Danielle Steel The Kennedys: An American Drama by Peter Collier and David Horowitz
3 The Aquitaine Progression by Robert Ludlum The Nightmare Years: 1930-1940 by William L. Shirer
4 Lincoln by Gore Vidal The Fire from Within by Carlos Castaneda
5 The Walking Drum by Louis L'Amour In God's Name by David A. Yallop
6 The Haj by Leon Uris First Lady from Plains by Rosalynn Carter
7 Deep Six by Clive Cussler The March of Folly by Barbara W. Tuchman
8 The Witches of Eastwick by John Updike One Writer's Beginnings by Eudora Welty
9 The Butter Battle Book by Dr. Seuss Motherhood: The Second Oldest Profession by Erma Bombeck
10 The Wheel of Fortune by Susan Howatch Past Imperfect by Joan Collins
11 Heretics of Dune by Frank Herbert Balls by Graig Nettles and Peter Golenbock
12 Him with his Foot in his Mouth and Other Stories by Saul Bellow Mayor by Edward I. Koch with William Rauch
13 Possessions by Judith Michael Powerplay by Mary Cunningham with Fran Schumer
14 Descent from Xanadu by Harold Robbins Caveat by Alexander M. Haig Jr
15 Warday by Whitley Strieber and James W. Kunetka Good Morning Merry Sunshine by Bob Greene

I was surprised to see that I have actually read one book from the list, and heard of a few others. I read Full Circle by Danielle Steel, during my teen years, when I worshiped her. I don't read her books anymore, but every time I see one of her books in the book stands at Walmart or Target, it gets me nostalgic. I didn't have the time to check out any of the other books, so I thought I'll ask you all instead - have you heard of any of these books?

Before I put my pen down, guess what has been keeping me busy for the past two days?

Right! Another social media app that I could easily do without, since I don't stay in the buzzing NY boroughs or LA district! I'm hoping the foursquare honeymoon won't last long, because I could certainly do with more reading time. But at least it's got me more eager to get out of the house more often, instead of curling up with the net or books.

Question for you: Because I'm gearing up for Bloggiesta next weekend, I'm beginning to make a list of changes I plan to make on my blog. One of them is about third-party commenting system. If you have used IntenseDebate or Disqus or any other comment plugin on your blog, what is your opinion about it. Do you like it, or is it too much of a hassle? Do you prefer any particular comment system?

Comments

The months do have a way of flying by don't they? That is very cool seeing the books that were top sellers when you were born.

Have a great week Aths.
I am gonna do that too!

As I had mentioned last week, I have started a weekly feature on Sunday, Sharing Poetry With You, where I would be sharing any poem that has made an impact on me. It could be a classic one or a contemporary one, and anything in between. Do check out what poem I share today by clicking on Sunday Salon: Sharing Poetry With You. You are invited to convey your thoughts on the poem posted. In one word or many words..your choice!
Hillary said…
I use foursqaure also. It is addicting I must admit.
I also use Intense debate on my blog. I love it. I hate blogger system so this is perfect way of having a commenting system on my blog while still being able to stay with blogger.
bermudaonion said…
I've heard of most of the books on your list, but I think the only one I've read is And the Ladies of the Club, which I thoroughly enjoyed. Doctor Zhivago was number 1 when I was born.
samantha.1020 said…
How interesting...I'll have to check it out myself. And I find that Sundays call for me to be more lazy or relaxed as I like to put it :) Hope you get some quality reading in this week :)
Ash said…
This is my first Sunday Salon too! And for basically the same reasons haha. I got into Foursquare over the summer when it was still pretty new. I liked it, but it was also annoying to remember to "check in" every time you visited a place. I quit using it and now I keep getting friend requests on it.
I've read the same Steel book you read, plus Possessions, by Judith Michael. I noticed that I even have a couple of newer Steel books on my stacks, but I really don't enjoy her books anymore. When I read them, I spend most of my time critiquing her choices of words and plots (often regurgitated ones!). I have enjoyed Judith Michaels and all of the books read (it's actually a husband & wife writing team with a pseudonym).

But since I have them, I'll probably read them at some point.

I haven't used Intense Debate, but when I comment with it, it works out fine. With Blogger, I like when people set it up for Name/URL options at the bottom, because then you can click the name to get to the link.

Here's my salon:


http://accidentalmoments.wordpress.com/2011/01/16/the-sunday-salon-jan-16/
Athira said…
Diane, I loved looking at the NY Times list from the week I was born - really cool, right?

Gautami, I'm coming over to check your new feature! It sounds cool!

Hillary, foursquare sure is addicting! I'm having a hard time convincing myself that I don't need to go out anywhere today. I'm inclined towards Intense Debate, glad to read that you like it!

Kathy, so that's one more book on my TBR! I really should consider reading Dr. Zhivago sometime!

Samantha, Sunday = Laziness Uninterrupted! LOL!

Ash, I did hear about foursquare over the summer, but I somehow managed not to do it - I was toooo busy then. Now though, sigh... Welcome back, Ash!

Laurel, my problem with Steel's books is the same - recycled plots, similar emotions. It's so disappointing!
Cool list, I am going to do that with my birth year after leaving this comment. I had Intense Debate on my blog until I changed the design and I never put it back up. I loved that it allows me to have a conversation in the comments, but some people didn't like that they had to sign in... I don't mind using it on the blogs that have it
Aarti said…
I looked my birthday best seller list up and hadn't heard of most of the books! However, I *have* read and enjoyed The Mists of Avalon, which was on there :-)
Athira said…
Helen, I think I will move to IntenseDebate, though I know it's going to be cumbersome for everyone to add their blog names. I don't like that either. Hmm, let me explore this a bit.

Aarti, disappointing, isn't it, when you haven't heard of even half the books on a list?
audreygeddes said…
Motherhood looks like a great book to read, especially after having just finished a positive book about aging by Sondra Wright called, 40+ and Fabulous: Moving Forward Fierce, Focused, and Full of Life!, which focuses on positive role models of women who have gone through or are going through mid life. I highly recommend this one.

For a third party commenting system I have noticed that Discuss is easy to use and has quick access to social networks like Twitter and Facebook.
Athira said…
Audreygeddes, I like the interface of Disqus - it feels smooth and uncluttered. I need to play around with it and decide. Thanks for suggesting!
Lisa said…
Since I still use the regular Blogger template, I can't use Intense Debate. Every time I try to do anything with it, it freezes up my whole system!
Mitchoxzen said…
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