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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

January and February in review


At the beginning of the year, I promised not to make any goals and just let my reading take me on its own journey. I did have a little hiccup in January trying to decide what to read next. Even when there are no goals, or especially when there are no goals, I find it very hard to decide what I want to read next. I got through only 3 books in January, but by February, I had a scheme set up which worked very well for me when it came to deciding what to read next. The "scheme" involved a little bit of random.org but mostly building a running list of recommendations I get every day through blogs or book sites. I managed to read 8 books in February in the end.

My favorites of the 11 books are


Stuff was quite fascinating - more than I expected it to be. Family was a moving book to read.


The other books I read during these two months are:
Letters in the Attic by Bonnie Shimko
Lost in Shangri-La by Mitchell Zukoff (Nonfiction)
The Strange Library by Haruki Murakami
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
Marbles by Ellen Forney (Graphic memoir)
The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga
Calling Dr. Laura by Nicole Georges (Graphic memoir)
Anatomy of a Disappearance by Hisham Matar
This One Summer by Mariko Tamaki (Graphic fiction)

Blog highlights from the January and February:
2015 bookish plans, or lack of
Four Strange Books I've Enjoyed
Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz (review)
The Martian by Andy Weir (review)
The Bookshop by Penelope Fitzgerald (review)

And on the personal side...
A trip to Richmond and DC
Our Little Secret
And it's a...

Comments

I've been doing some free range reading myself, and I must admit, I like having a plan. I like to know what my next book will be before I'm done the current one. I've been requesting more books from the library and that has helped my situation some. And I have a bunch of ARCs piling up, so it will be back to what needs to be read.
I always have to much I want to read next - whenever a new book comes in the house i want it to be that one...lol
iliana said…
Look at you, your plan worked and you read a lot in February! I try not to make reading goals or I guess I should say I don't like calling them goals :) I have a good start of the year with my reading plans and just hope it continues. Here's to great books ahead!
literaryfeline said…
I am glad your plan for February worked, Athira! I read 8 books in February too, which surprised me. I am luckly to average 5 or 6 a month generally. Admittedly, some of those were short and fast reads.


I hope you have a wonderful March!
Charlie (The Worm Hole) said…
I relented a little this week and made a rough short list of books I want to read soon - I agree with you that sometimes no plan equals difficulty.

That's a good number of books. You've reminded me to read more about Stuff. Hope March goes well for you!
Andi said…
Now I'm tasked with trying to decide which J. California Cooper book to read next. #sigh