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Showing posts from July, 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

She's Here! (Plus Birth Story)

Shreya, at 8 lbs 1 oz and 21.5" tall, was born on July 20, after a very long labor. Already, she's slightly older than a week and I have become depressingly aware that time is going to fly and she is not going to be the same little peanut that she was even a week ago. Right now, I am exhausted. I have heard many moms use that word and although I believed it then, you need to actually experience this exhaustion to know what it really means. Looking after a newborn is tiring. It's also super rewarding especially when it's 3 AM and you are extremely sleepy but staring at you is this perfect pair of happy eyes that don't look remotely sleepy. I don't even remember the last night I slept properly but it was several days before I went into labor. Birth story I started getting timeable contractions at 11.30 pm on July 18. I had just put my knitting away, ready for a hopefully but unlikely good night of sleep when the first one hit. From then on, they s

Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg

I have never met a woman, or man, who stated emphatically, "Yes, I have it all.'" Because no matter what any of us has—and how grateful we are for what we have—no one has it all. Sheryl Sandberg's Lean In was released at a time when memoirs and self-help books by famous people were quite the rage. That in itself turned me away from this book. Plus, the fact that it was seemed to be catered more towards a woman reader rather than any reader but with an emphasis on women topics made me not want to read it. I prefer to read a feminist book that I can recommend to a male reader as well - there is no way only one half of the world can fix the problems that ail that same half. Last month, however, I went through an increased interest in feminist matters, bordering on obsession. At that point, Lean In came into my radar again. This time, I was keen to read it (interesting how your perceptive or general mood can influence your approach to a book). It was also inter

The Sunday Salon: May and June in review (and a look at July/August)

May and June were probably my slowest reading months this year, which I expected them to be. There were a lot of things to take care of these past few months plus a book wasn't always the respite I was looking forward to at the end of the day. Luckily, I enjoyed all the books I did read these past two months, which doesn't happen often. My favorite read was Lean In , which had never been on my radar until I picked it up impulsively and decided to give it a try. A Visit from the Goon Squad  comes a close second - another book I may not have read this year if not for a readalong . Even though my reading was somewhat patchy, I did blog quite a bit. All the reading I did during the first half of the year built up a huge review backlog that I wanted to take care of. I still have three reviews pending, so the hope is to write them this week and schedule them. Blog highlights from March and April Two readalongs in May On early morning reading in bed On true equal

Sunbolt by Intisar Khanani

Absolutely. Justice served with a side of pineapple. That's what I'm here for. If you told me that I could potentially love a book that featured vampires, werewolves, and other paranormal characters, I would have smiled politely and promptly forgotten the book you were trying to recommend. (I do love Bram Stoker's Dracula though - one of the most original books I've ever read.) If I had spent any amount of time on Sunbolt's Goodreads page and saw that it was categorized under Paranormal Fantasy, I would probably not have given it even a few pages. But Jenny's review couple of months ago and my general lack of awareness regarding what the book was about worked in Sunbolt 's favor. And boy, am I glad I read it! Before you turn away, let me emphasize that although I did mention vampires and werewolves in the above paragraph,  Sunbolt  is less about them than it is about this magical world where many of these kinds of charactes co-exist. (Plus, no one

The Sunday Salon: Almost There!

I started composing this post couple of days ago, but with everything else I was doing during this long weekend, it got sidelined. I am enjoying my five-day weekend and will return to work on Tuesday, thanks to the Independence Day holiday and two vacation days I needed to use up at work. I've been thinking of this long break as the quiet before the storm, because I am expecting the little one to arrive any day now. Actually, I am hoping she will come any day now. I got my last pending work responsibilities settled. (I still have to work until I go into labor.) The baby furniture and items are all ready and waiting for their tenant. Sleeping has been so freaking difficult and painful! At this point, I am ready to be done. About eight months ago, when I found out I was pregnant, I couldn't wait to get here. There is something very beautiful about a belly bump and the idea of carrying a living breathing being inside a body. And while the whole experience has been wonderfu