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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

A Very Slow January | A Month in Review

Reading

I barely read a book in January. Even though I started the month with very good intentions, by the time the first week was over, I pretty much abandoned my reading. It's not that I passed through a rut but other things came up and I found it easier to just put aside my books and, at the end of each day, watch TV. So that's what I did.



I did finish one book though - Michael Pollan's Food Rules, which I blazed through in less than an hour, while the baby toddler napped. It's that short. Besides, this is the first time in a long period that I carved out some time to read a physical book. Of course, that was in the first week of January, followed by three weeks of nothing. Ha!

I'm not complaining, honest. This is what worked for me in 2016 - I had months when I read nothing and months when I read a ton of books. So I expect more of the same this year, and frankly? I liked that approach much more than when I used to plan my reading.

Blogging

Blogging also didn't happen much this past month. I just about managed to post my 2016 review and 2016 favorites before the month ended. But I am working on some review posts currently so I may have something coming up soon. I've also been thinking about where I want to take my blogging this year, as I always wonder at the start of each year. I will likely shake some things up to suit my routine, cut out some kinds of posts, add some other kind of posts, but nothing too drastic.


Watching

I am still watching Star Trek Voyager. This is the longest I have spent with any TV show. I love it and am savoring every minute of it. You could almost accuse me of intentionally watching it slowly just so that it doesn't end soon. Right now, I am halfway through Season 5 with two more seasons left.


Work

Work was alright. There were some frustrating days and some rewarding days - not too different from everyone else's workdays. We’ve been through some very rough months in the past so any month that's only frustrating and nothing more is okay by me.

Life

We had just returned from a week-long vacation to Boston at the end of last year, so much of the first week was spent mostly playing catchup. We did make a short weekend trip to Cincinnati because that's where the husband's client is based in and that's where he travels to every other week. It was more of a meet-and-greet friends kind of trip but we did head to downtown one day and enjoyed walking along the Ohio river.

The other thing that happened this month was that the husband and I started the Game on Diet! game. Do you guys remember that one? A few years ago, lots of us did the game with several others. Even though I only did it for one month five years ago, I liked the ideas behind it so we along with his brother and sister-in-law decided to start a slightly modified version of it, in an effort to lose weight and keep some healthy habits. So far, it's working like a charm. It has also prompted me to get in 10-11k steps every day - nothing close to what Kathy gets in daily but it’s still something.

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