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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...

The Sunday Salon: (Lack of) Plans for 2013


The Sunday 
Salon.com

I'm typing up this post late Saturday night because the rest of the family (read husband, his brother and our fathers) are busy drilling holes in the house to set up our home theater system. Since I can be prone to the enlarged-eyeball-sickness and panicky-heartbeat-syndrome when I see things like holes in the wall and hear loud sounds, I am staying in the home office reading books and blog posts.

I've been reading quite a bit and trying to write reviews which I plan to post only in the new year. My current read is Brain on Fire, about a woman who had a mystery brain illness and whose experiences are quite similar to what my brother went through couple of years ago (making this read a very personal experience for me). I also went and got my new library card from the county that I now reside in and immediately left with a book - Reamde by Neal Stephenson. My new library has a four-week withdrawal period as opposed to three in my previous library - how awesome is that?

Lately, I've been thinking about my reading plans for 2013. Or rather my intention not to have any plans. Last couple of years, I joined a few challenges, but never completed any. Being a heavy mood-reader, my reading tastes change rapidly over even a month, making it hard to want to read a title I always wanted to read until a month ago. Sometimes, all I want to read are cookbooks or home design journals.

But I still like to have some plan, some structure or direction for my reading. My big mantra lately has been declutter. It started when I began to pack before my move to the new place, but I've been applying it to even my online junk - the newsletters I no longer read and automatically delete, the many emails that come brandishing a 10% coupon, the many feeds in my Google Reader that I overlook without a second thought. The less stuff, the better.

Books I hope to read in 2013

Of course, that doesn't apply to books. The more books, the better. While I don't have too many books, it's still a lot, considering I haven't read a good chunk of them. I love the idea that I have many unread books at home - it's like having a home library but I should probably make an attempt to read more of them. When I started shelving my books, I decided to use a shelf only for books I will regret not reading on my deathbed (talk about morbid incentives). I wanted to keep the number of books on the minimum side but I am not sure I really succeeded. But whatever the case may be, I hope the above shelf slims down over the next year.

And that, I hope is my only resolution for 2013. More importantly, I hope it doesn't end up joining the countless other challenges that went up in smoke.


Comments

bermudaonion(Kathy) said…
I hear you on the drilling of the holes - I always ask Carl if he knows what he's doing and he always rolls his eyes.


I need to declutter some as well as get rid of some books. It's painful for me.
shannon @ Reading Has Purpose said…
I like your 2013 plans and am feeling much the same way. And now that you mention it, I need to add cleaning out my Google reader to the list of things to finish by years end. I do need to figure out in what order I'd like to shelve my books but that can be put on hold until i actually buy shelves.
Tanya Patrice said…
I've been thinking about my reading in 2013 too - and I really want to read more freely and get back to the art of browsing for books - enhance the bookish experience :-)


Tanya Patrice
Girlxoxo.com
I desperately need to declutter my life too.

I have Brain on Fire on my TBR list. I processed it at the library I work at and thought it sounded intriguing!
I refuse to have a reading plan. I think reading should ebb and flow and change as I do. Merry Christmas!
Helen Murdoch said…
I hope you have a wonderful holiday with your family and that the holes in the walls (cringe!) are successful. I also hope you find good books under the tree!
Athira / Aths said…
Yeah, my husband does the eye rolling too. I just stay out of his way and tell him that I will come for the finished product so I don't need to know where all there are holes that I need to worry about.
Athira / Aths said…
I feel so much better after cutting down on my IN tray in my google reader and email accounts. Boy, the junk that used to accumulate!
Athira / Aths said…
Ah, the experience of browsing! It is certainly the best way to find a book to read because there is a great chance you will pick the book you want as opposed to the book you should read!
Athira / Aths said…
Brain on Fire is great! You should read it. I just finished it last night.
Athira / Aths said…
I agree with you! It took me a while to get there, but I love to just pick a book I want to and even if I have a plan, then not feel bad if the plan doesn't work. I like to make plans for guidance and not for homework!
Athira / Aths said…
Everyone did a great job on the drilling! Phew! Anxiety attack averted! Have a great holiday, Helen! :)
Tina Reed said…
I am like you. I can't stand to see anyone working on anything in my house. I like to just show up and see the end result!
Athira / Aths said…
It's so much better not to know where the gaps and the holes are!