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Showing posts from April, 2015

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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

The Walking Dead (Vols. 9 to 23) by Robert Kirkman (No Spoilers)

I just realized that it has been a while since I talked about the Walking Dead books. I posted about the first 8 volumes here , but since then I've caught up to Volume 22, so that's 14 books since Compendium 1. Volume 23 just got released yesterday so it will be a while before I purchase it and then Volume 24 is coming in September. So far I love how far the series has come. We started with the undead being the biggest threat but now, it is the people who are alive who cannot be trusted. No surprise because isn't that the motif of most apocalyptic books? Still, it's interesting how many different ways this idea can be portrayed. I just hope it doesn't become old news. There have been some awfully sad and sometimes very graphic events in these books. Much like in the TV show, but sometimes I feel that even the show doesn't always go to some of the places the books have been to. There is one particular incident concerning the death of a much-loved characte

The Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway

If this city is to die, it won't be because of the men on the hills, it will be because of the people in the valley. When they're content to live with death, to become what the men on the hills want them to be, then Sarajevo will die. The Cellist of Sarajevo has been a book I wanted to read for quite a while. Every time I read a review of this book, I feel compelled to read the book itself but then pretty soon I forget all about it. When I saw this book at my B&N store early this year, I picked it up almost on a whimsy, and a few weeks later, I dived into it. This is a very short book, but it is by no means a fast read. I found myself wanting to stop often, to ponder the passages and their meanings. There is so much depth in this book, which is interesting because plot-wise, there isn't much. I wouldn't even say that this is a character-driven story, which it is. To me, it felt more like an action-driven story - how something you do ends up having a lot of

The Sunday Salon: After the Readathon

The readathon Unexpectedly, I was able to find some time to take part in yesterday's 24 hour readathon. Gone are the days when I did try to stay up all 24 hours to read, but it's still great to carve out some dedicated reading time. Although I feel like I had been reading mostly all day, except for the 3 hours after lunch when we stepped out for some errands, my clock tells me I had only read for 8 hours in total, including one hour this morning. It's funny how when you actually time yourself, you find there's a lot of time that goes into other stuff, necessary or otherwise. Still, 8 hours is longer than I have ever spent reading a whole day, at least in recent times. I had been posting my updates on Tumblr and Twitter , so to summarize my overall stats: Books finished From the Notebooks of a Middle School Princess by Meg Cabot The Walking Dead, Vol 21 by Robert Kirkman Books in progress Dept. of Speculation by Jenny Offill (about 50 pages left) T

Okay readathon, here I come (I think)

I wasn't planning to do the readathon this time. What with a crazy busy week at work and a list of things I would like to get done this weekend before the husband leaves to Dallas for a week of escape from the nesting wife training, it doesn't look like reading was going to be a major highlight today. But I somehow managed to re-evaluate my chores and push some off to tomorrow, because isn't that what we do anyways when a good book calls our name? So today, I'm hoping to spend more time reading than I usually do. I still have a few phone calls to make today, crib-shopping to do, and "support" the husband with some of his more man-tasks. Still, I'm totally thrilled to be doing this. I know once the baby comes, reading is going to be a luxury, at least for a while. And I want to milk it while I can. There's no better time to go into a rut than when you actually cannot read. I probably also won't take part in any of the challenges, although I'd

The Sunday Salon: Where did this week go?

This week... This has been one crazy week, so much so that I was very surprised when Thursday rolled around and then Friday. And of course, it's Sunday already because the weekends go by much faster. I had been having a somewhat uneventful week at work for the first first couple of days but then many big things came up together that swamped the rest of the week. I still have some more work to finish before tomorrow, so I'm going to have to spend some time today on getting that in order. One good aspect of having a week that flew by is that it IS already Sunday and the husband will be back tonight from his short India trip. This time, it was a lot easier being by myself than it was in December because I am not sick anymore (I could barely eat anything in December), the weather is wonderful and cheery, and there is a lot of motivation to do a lot from my self-imposed list of "stuff to do before the baby comes". The baby update... I spent a huge chunk of yest

Stuff: Compulsive Hoarding and the Meaning of Things by Randy Frost

You can't hook up a U-Haul to a hearse. Ever since someone (I forget who) reviewed Stuff years ago, this book has been on my must-read list. I always knew I tend to occasionally pile up stuff (and throw them later) but I was curious to find out if I was a hoarder. Luckily for me, I did learn that my hoarding inclinations are nothing (almost laughable) compared to what many victims mentioned in this book have. I've also realized that to jokingly throw around the word  hoard or hoarding or hoarder , is to insult the people who actually suffer from it, because honestly, I had no idea this could be such a big problem. In Stuff , the author Randy Frost narrates his experiences dealing with and helping some sufferers of this ailment. He starts of by mentioning the famous Collyer brothers , who had so much stuff in their New York apartment that both of them died (in 1947) indirectly thanks to the messy and secluded lives they led. (There are some jaw-dropping photos at  t

The Sunday Salon: Thinking about the nursery

Good morning, fellow readers! Happy Sunday! I've had a really low-key weekend filled with a lot of decluttering and reorganizing - yes, I'm still working on these. I have been trying to get rid of stuff that I no longer need, reduce clutter, and make space for our little one's things. When we bought this house, we were already thinking ahead and trying to plan around one day having a family. But now, after two years here, we have managed to establish non-baby related habits and conventions for every space. It's really hard breaking into them, mostly because those conventions are still very necessary. Still decluttering... I'm still working on the office room, which is our stockpile of all things unwanted, packaged away in neat boxes and drawers. I can be very ruthless when I'm in a decluttering mood. When I'm not, however, I just keep collecting and postpone decision making to another time. (Is there such a thing as bipolar declutterer?) Yesterday, I

Quick Short Thoughts - This One Summer and French Milk

This One Summer  by Mariko Tamaki Every summer, Rose and her parents stay at a lake house in Awago Beach. Once there, Rose and her friend, Windy, who also visits there with her mother and grandmother, explore the Beach and spend a good amount of time swimming, shopping, or watching movies. Except this time, things aren't going to be quite as fun as Rose wants it to be. Her parents have been fighting, her mother has not been getting along with some company, and Rose has been a little too interested in one guy at the only store at the beach. I had mixed reactions to This One Summer . On the one hand, I really enjoyed the story. Rose is at that age when she is extra sensitive to triggers around her. When a girl comes to the store crying about something, she and Windy go to great lengths to find out what the deal was. When her mother starts behaving strangely, she worries that she could be part of the problem. And Windy being an exuberant and lively character, Rose struggles to

The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga

See, the poor dream all their lives of getting enough to eat and looking like the rich. And what do the rich dream of?? Losing weight and looking like the poor. I have been hesitating for a long time to put this review together. But although it's been two months since I finished The White Tiger , I still have such strong feelings about it that I had to try and write my thoughts while the memory is still fresh. So, a lot of my thoughts below are still just coming together and every time I read someone's thoughts on this book, I find myself thinking, oh yeah, that's a good perspective. I can think of one other book that made me feel this strong about it - The Boy in the Striped Pajamas . I didn't like it too much but was there a lot to say about it. I found my thoughts sashaying back and forth, even days after posting my review. This is actually a very good thing - when a book makes you think so much that your thoughts constantly rebel with each other. I like it w

The Sunday Salon: Dealing with Hidden Mess

Happy Easter, to all who celebrate it! I hope you have plenty of Easter egg fun and a wonderful time with family today. After a whole week of 60-70 F degree weather, I woke up many times last night, freezing. It seems we are back in the 25-32 F territory but luckily the day is expected to warm up slowly. Phew. All my winter jackets are at the dry cleaners so I sure hope I won't end up missing them. I spent a good chunk of Saturday decluttering three rooms. I'm still not done but I am close. We generally do decluttering/organization every few months so I was surprised by the amount of stuff I piled into the recycle and the trash bag. Of course, most of them were from the "hidden storage" areas - which is where we I stuff items we I don't yet want to deal with (the husband would rather throw them and that upsets the occasional hoarder in me). Don't we all have one or two drawers/shelves/cabinets like that? My office desk is perpetually cluttered so it

On my Nightstand #3

I have been having a hard time reading anything at all this past week. I doubt it's a rut because I do want to read and happily pick up a book every evening. But, by the time I start reading, which is usually past 9.30 pm on a weeknight, my eyes are ready to shut. Most of my evening before bedtime tends to go into TV, cooking, resting (oh, that nasty back pain), and trying to plan my baby shopping. Hopefully, I'll have some of that shopping plan in order by this weekend, making next week at least a good one for reading. One can always hope. For now, these are the books I'm reading (or trying to read). The House at the End of Hope Street by Menna van Praag: I am in two minds about this book. On the one hand, I love love love this book. I feel the same way about it as I would about a book that is filled with literary characters or references. Except for a passing mention of Virginia Woolf, Beatrix Potter, George Eliot, and Sylvia Plath, there really are not many literary