It got busy this week! Lots going on at home, work, and otherwise as well. Life My daughter's school decided to close on Friday, along with several other schools in the area, with some being closed from Thursday. Not enough staff. The school had been on a mask mandate since the beginning of the pandemic, dropping it only for one week when the pandemic had appeared to have stabilized last year. And yet, they dropped the mandate completely at the beginning of this year, when cases were exponentially rising, only to bring it back again starting next week. I've gone from being very annoyed to angry to feeling fatigue in these first two weeks already. I won't lie - we all mask around here and try to avoid going where we don't have a need to be in, and still, we are not taking anything close to the extreme precaution we all took at the beginning of the pandemic. I cannot and don't want to keep my kids home - I have at least that much faith in the schools' precautions
Did you hear about the movie adaptation of Lisa See's book Snow Flower and the Secret Fan? I read this book last year and loved it so much, so I'm really excited about it. Here's the trailer if you're interested in it. It looks good, doesn't it? I'm confused by the modernity that I see in it. Maybe that's reflective of the present, in which the protagonist, Lily is narrating the story, but this story is set in the 19th century and even when Lily is 80 years old, it can't have been the late 20th century, right? Unless China advanced pretty early.
Did you see the Orange Prize long list? There are few titles there that I'm really excited about.
- Lyrics Alley by Leila Aboulela
- Jamrach's Menagerie by Carol Birch
- Room by Emma Donoghue
- The Pleasure Seekers by Tishani Doshi
- Whatever You Love by Louise Doughty
- A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan
- The Memory of Love by Aminatta Forna
- The London Train by Tessa Hadley
- Grace Williams Says it Loud by Emma Henderson
- The Seas by Samantha Hunt
- The Birth of Love by Joanna Kavenna
- Great House by Nicole Krauss
- The Road to Wanting by Wendy Law-Yone
- The Tiger's Wife by Téa Obreht
- The Invisible Bridge by Julie Orringer
- Repeat it Today with Tears by Anne Peile
- Swamplandia! by Karen Russell
- The Secret Lives of Baba Segi's Wives by Lola Shoneyin
- The Swimmer by Roma Tearne
- Annabel by Kathleen Winter
I know some of you read books on the long and short lists in anticipation of the awards, so I'd like to hear if you are considering it? I can probably live vicariously through you.
Comments
I have read a few from the Orange Prize longlist and added the rest to my TBR.
I think I only have heard of Room by Emma Donoghue. I keep seeing it at the bookstore.
I haven't read Lisa See yet. I hope to read the book and/or watch the movie.