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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: The joy of choosing what to read

The Sunday 
Salon.com

Good morning Saloners! It's been a few weeks since I've done any kind of blogging, though I did have a strong desire to post my I am Malala review this past week. I am slowly beginning to recover from my one-hobby-only obsession phase (knitting this time) and doing other things too. My husband loves to say that when I get involved with a hobby, I am fully involved in it - there is nothing else I can direct my attention to. I always take that as a compliment, though I know he is trying to tell me that I need to focus on my other responsibilities (I pretend I don't know that's what he is actually trying to tell me). Still, it's good to be over that phase and just try to be more disciplined with my hobbies. Knitting during Fall-Winter only is what is getting me re-obsessed during these months.

Anyways, it is nice to start thinking of books. I decided that the books I had borrowed from the library had to go back right away and that I need to ignore my read-now shelf (ARCs, e-galleys, planned books). I also decided to stop all my currently-reading books that have remained... currently-reading... and just pick the first book that catches my fancy from my shelves. I have some ideas on what books I want to read - mostly books or authors I have been hoping to read but never got to, such as Oryx and Crake, Cloud Atlas, and A Fine Balance. I have also been thinking of re-reading the Harry Potter books, mainly thanks to playing HP trivia in my phone's Quizup app, but it's been years since I last read those books and they always feel to me as the perfect Fall season books to read. I actually have visions of sitting in a stone tower with a nice warm fire in the hearth and a cup of hot chocolate beside me and reading the books. Yes, I'm borrowing this scene heavily the HP books themselves.

Luckily, I am listening to audiobooks every day and that makes me feel that I am still reading. I am almost finishing up Switching Time - a fascinating account of a psychiatrist's treatment of a woman with Multiple Personality Disorder. This woman had 17 alters, all born to help her deal with child abuse, rapes, and harassment by religious cult members. It's horrifying listening to all the ways she has been tortured - it made me wonder whether it is all invented, but a person doesn't create 17 alters out of pure fun. The book could have benefited from some better editing but it makes for great listening. I will be talking more about this in my review, but I have been itching to mention this book here for a while because of how much it has intrigued me.

I don't have any major plans for today. We woke up feeling the season's shill. Our thermostat is still set to the AC mode but it isn't running since it's too cold most of the time. I'm happy to welcome the cold (hey, I'm knitting, aren't I?) but I feel that it has been a really short summer. I'm expecting this week to be very busy at work, and next weekend we are driving to New Jersey to meet some friends and drop the husband's father closer to the NY airport. For the rest of the day, I'm hoping to catch up on my Feedly, do some knitting, and start reading something. How's your day/week going?

Comments

bermudaonion(Kathy) said…
Our air conditioner is still running but I'm not complaining. I'm not ready for summer to end. I've been reading whatever I want whenever I want for a few months now and it's so refreshing.
Day so far, so good except for my mouse isn't working and I'm having to use a touchpad, but if that's the worst this day brings, then I'll take it. The week? I should be knitting as cold as it is getting, but do have the windows open in the house right now and it feels kind of good. I'm hoping to finish a book this afternoon too. Nothing complicated, just a Kathy Reichs' Bones book.
Aw yeah, reread the Harry Potter books! I love rereading them, though for me, the season for them is summer. I used to reread the whole series before a new book would come out, so May/June always feels like the time for Harry Potter.
bellezza said…
I know what you mean about tending to focus on one hobby at a time...we do that to give it the full attention it deserves, right?

I haven't read Harry potter since my son was a boy at home, years ago, and I think I would like to revisit them, too. Which isn't to say I don't also have A Fine Balance and Cloud Atlas on my lists...
Lisa Sheppard said…
My middle son read Atwood's trilogy and has been supposed to bring me Oryx and Crake since he finished because he insists I need to read it. Hope to soon!
Ti Reed said…
I've had a good year with reading what I want to read. I do have ARCs in the mix but they are only ones that I would have read anyway on my own.

This morning it was 53 degrees and a little chilly for me. The weather report said it will be 100 degrees by the end of the week again though. I am so sick of the heat. I want to take out my fall stuff but it just doesn't feel right when it's so hot and you've got candles burning.
literaryfeline said…
Sometimes I have so many ideas of what I want to read that I can't actually seem to settle on anything. :-) I also know what it's like to get so single focused that other things fall by the wayside. That isn't my problem right now. My problem is wanting to do so much all at once . . .


I hope you have a great week!
Vasilly said…
It's good to see you around! :-) I'm trying to focus on reading SOMETHING right now but it hasn't happened lately. I hope you share pictures of your knitting with us.
Sheila DeChantal said…
I am thinking about re-reading Harry Potter this winter too... we should discuss this... maybe make it a thing :)
Athira / Aths said…
I agree with you. I think I am going to try refraining from commitments for a few months and see how it goes. I like making plans but the plans change to work soon.
Athira / Aths said…
Do you knit too? What do you like to make?
Athira / Aths said…
The HP books are usually Fall-Winter for me because the books start in the Fall. Whenever I think of each of the books, I remember the beginning more than the end, so somehow the book is associated with Fall/Winter.
Athira / Aths said…
Too many books, too little time...

I should try to read more from my bookshelves and rotate them so that I feel more like Too little books, too much time.
I don't knit. That was autocorrect. I really don't know what I was trying to say, but what I did say was funny. Hope this message makes it without any autocorrect. ;)
Athira / Aths said…
I haven't read anything by Atwood, so I hope I will get to this one soon!
Athira / Aths said…
We got a bit of warmer weather last week and I haven't been happy about it either. I am ready for the Fall and the Winter!
Athira / Aths said…
I can drop whatever I am currently reading only if I haven't been reading it in a long time. Otherwise I try to plod on. Or I don't read it for a long time so that I can guiltlessly drop it, haha.
Athira / Aths said…
Oh yeah, the two extremes! Both are equally annoying. One keeps you away from all other things, the other gives you very little opportunity to enjoy it all.
Athira / Aths said…
I'm hoping to start reading SOMETHING soon too. Maybe Atwood or David Mitchell. Definitely Harry Potter. We'll see.
Athira / Aths said…
Yes, we should! I am definitely in. I did start with the first book but haven't gotten past the first few chapters. Are you planning to read it? We should do a yearly readlong.
Athira / Aths said…
Your sentence as it is makes so much sense that my head is refusing to substitute words and make other sentences. Oh well. To me, you are probably always going to be a knitter, lol.
Oops, looking back at your post,in context, I was being a smart ass as in it's so cold that I should be knitting a sweater.
I go with my son to Harry Potter World the end of this month. I would like to kick off a read-a-long in November and maybe work our way through the books between then and March or April. I would like to think of a fun meme logo to entice others... feel free to email me if you want to team up on this -journeythroughbooks@gmail.com. I think it could be fun!
Helen Murdoch said…
The 17 personalities book sounds fascinating! I remember readying Sybil and seeing the movie starring Sally Fields (I think) and being amazed. I love the images you conjured up about the HP books; it still makes me feel good just thinking about them!