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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: An Impromptu Long Break


The Sunday 
Salon.com

Hello? Anyone there? I'm still here.

Boy, it's been about three weeks since I posted anything. Last I hollered over here, it was to announce a trip we were making to Miami and Orlando, to check some beaches out and to drink Butterbeer. Something came up during the trip that took away my interest in books and reading but I think it's all finally returning back.

Poor little thing - it must be tired of
its boring job of posing in photos.
The Florida trip was quite fun. The husband's brother just got a job in Miami but when we went there, he was just being interviewed. We spent a couple of days going around Miami - love the beach over there. We went one morning to the Gator Park to check out some gators and take a bragging rights photo holding an alligator (their skin feels creepy! all leathery and scaly).

The Universal Studios was even more fun. Some of the rides were downright madness - we did the Hulk roller coaster ride at least two times. It's been a long time since I sat in a real loopy winding crazy roller coaster and so this was a lot of fun. The Harry Potter section in the park - which is the main reason we went there - was really very well put together. I loved how we could walk into Honeydukes and get Chocolate frogs, Bertie Botts' Every Flavor Beans, Peppermint Toads, Fudge Flies, and many many more. It was hard choosing what to get but I eventually picked the Chocolate Frog and got the Helga Hufflepuff card. (Harry Potter readers will get the reference.) Can you guess how very much like an excited schoolgirl I was inside there? The poor darling husband indulged my fancies as well. The main Harry Potter ride wasn't that big a deal for the amount of hype this place gets but I still thought it was quite charming. You could actually pretend that you're sitting on a broom and having the ride of your non-Muggle life. Butterbeer, on the other hand, was just a soda drink mixed with a faint sweet tasty hint of something frothy on top. I thought the drink was consistent with the way it was described in the books, but there was still a part of me that wished it wasn't soda (which I don't drink).

Chocolate Frog
For the last two weeks, I haven't really read much. I did finish an audiobook (Tina Fey's Bossypants) and put down countless books after reading a page. I just picked up Appointment in Samarra two days back which is - not the best choice of books to read at this time since it moves really slow but is - interesting enough to make me want to read it.

I can't wait to get back to blogging and catching up with whatever I missed.


Comments

bermudaonion said…
Your trip sounds like so much fun! I don't think I could have shown such restraint - I would have bought everything in Honeydukes!
Sam_TinyLibrary said…
Sounds like you had a great break! Love the photo with the gator - do they feel like snakes?
What a great break you had! Hope to see more posts by you in the coming week!
Tina Reed said…
They are leveling a very popular concert venue to put in a Harry Potty world at our Universal and I think it's a little too late for anyone to appreciate it. The books are done. The movies are over and they haven't even broken ground yet. I am already over it.

Sounds like you had a good time though.
Yay! Welcome back! Sounds grand.
And I'm so disappointed about butterbeer.
I have seen some amazing recipes on Pinterest for it.
We should make some!
Athira / Aths said…
If the prices weren't jaw-dropping, I would probably have bought more. In the end, I settled for something I can display on my shelves for a good long time.
Athira / Aths said…
I guess so - a snake's skin looks smooth to me - this one was more leathery than smooth.
Athira / Aths said…
I can't wait to resume blogging.
Athira / Aths said…
It was certainly fun. I think the Harry Potter people are trying to target crazy fans like me. While I won't go to Harry Potter parties or follow along with Pottermore religiously, I definitely go gaga over some other aspects of this culture. I don't know how the concert sounds though. I think I will probably give that a pass.
Athira / Aths said…
It shouldn't be too hard to make it. I hope you have success trying it!
Athira / Aths said…
My husband was quick to point out that I didn't quite understand what you said. That you meant they were tearing down a concert venue whereas I thought they were putting up a Harry Potter concert venue. Gosh - how ridiculous that sounds now. So much for trying to reply to comments via phone - apparently I don't read properly. LOL. Tearing down a concert venue for Harry Potter sounds terrible though!