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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

When the Going Gets Tough | Weekly Snapshot

Remember the cold and cough I mentioned couple of weeks back? It took two weeks for it to complete its round through our house. I was the last to get hit but also took longest to recover - a very busy work week meant I couldn't rest much either. Thankfully that's behind us and hopefully we are done for this season.


Frustrated about

Last year has been one of our most expensive years ever. On top of all the usual expenses like bills, taxes, school expenses, and living expenses, we've also had to replace our roof (thankfully covered by insurance), buy a whole new A/C unit (gah! have you ever noticed how much these things cost?), get a new car, a new fridge, and a new dishwasher. The car was the lone leisure expense, everything else was a necessity because things broke. It got to a state where if each of these items weren't expensive, we would have laughed at the coincidence and ridiculousness of it all.

And then, yesterday, our wall microwave decided to join its old buddies. Rrright. We are about done, at this point.

Truth be told, these expenses weren't unexpected. Our house (as are almost every other house in this community) is at the age when everything is reaching its end-of-life. What's killing is the closeness of all these expenses.

We'll figure this out. At least, we have replaced almost everything at this point, so we can rest somewhat easy, knowing it should be couple of decades before next time.

Looking ahead

After the very busy last two weeks, I'm very much looking forward to next week. I don't have a whole lot going on so I'm hoping to get caught up on some persistent to-do's and maybe even score a get-ahead on next week. We'll see - I generally love month-ends for the opportunity to cancel unnecessary distractions and start planning for the new month.

Reading

I didn't do much reading for one whole week thanks to the flu and then spent much of the following week playing catch up. So I'm still working through Michelle Obama's Becoming but closer to the end than the beginning. I also started reading Elena Ferrante's My Brilliant Friend, and although I initially got lost in the sea of names, I love just how readable this book is.

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Watching

Image result for the mentalist" Still watching the fourth season of The Mentalist, though very close to season-end right now. I almost miss the innocence of the characters that was present all through Seasons 1 to 3. Something happens at the end of Season 3 that changes most of them. Although that does make them more complicated and thus very realistic characters, it also means that they are more brutal sometimes and at other times, more empathetic than before.

On the blog

When I decided to come back to the blog, I wasn't expecting it to be an easy transition by any measure. I expected to appear and disappear a few times before I made up my mind. But so far, this has been doable. Having a steady bedtime routine with the kids helps tremendously. Of course, there are quite a few of my interests now jostling for my attention and progress in each is much slower that I'd like but I'm still here so far.

This Week

From the Archives


Linking with The Sunday Salon at Readerbuzz and The Sunday Post at Caffeinated Reviewer.

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