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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 Birthday Weekend | Weekly Snapshot

Happy Independence Day to those in the US! 

Celebrating

My birthday was this past Friday, which was a day off at my workplace to celebrate the Fourth of July holiday. We didn't do anything big this time. The husband and the girl baked and decorated me a birthday cake, and that was delicious. We also ordered takeout for lunch, beyond that, we didn't do anything major, unlike past birthdays, when we would at least hang outside. July is also when the girl is celebrating her birthday (in another couple of weeks). Earlier this year, I had my eyes set on a bouncy play place to celebrate her birthday with her friends. Sadly, that's scratched off obviously but I'd still like to see if there's something special we can do. She does want a unicorn cake that she once saw at a local bakery so we'll be ordering that. 

Working on

It's been a busy weekend so far, working through several projects at the house. The husband added a few shelves to our laundry room closet - it's been begging for extra storage room. We also spent couple of hours clearing out our garage, I swear junk just piles up there without even trying. I'm sure it won't be long before it's messy again. I've got more housework I'd like to do today but we'll see - a day of rest sounds good too. 

Excited About

A few of my neighbors and I have gone ahead and decided to try a book club. After recommending a few choices, we voted for The Pearl That Broke Its Shell. It's one of the books I picked at the library this week so I'm hoping to start it soon.

Weeks after everything in the county had opened up, our library finally opened for holds pickup. (As an aside, the ridiculousness of that is boggling my mind. The library already had all the books checked out ahead of time, they called to schedule the pickup time, and everyone wore masks. A place like this which has very low contact involved is among the last to open! On the other hand, I stopped at the corner gas station this past week, where not a single person barring employees wore masks. There were no social distancing guidelines followed and everyone was almost bumping into each other. Ugh.)

Anyways, I was glad to finally be able to get some books from the library. I'm anticipating another library run this week for those holds I placed too late to make last week's bag.

Not Excited About

I'm rethinking about which school to send the girl to, this Fall. She is currently registered at the Montessori school where she did her preschool. Theirs is a three-year program that ends with Kindergarten and I wanted her to complete her Kinder year there before moving her to the public school to start her first grade. Well, guess what - Montessori isn't something you can do well remotely, so I wasn't very pleased with the last two months of school, when I had to do a bulk of the work. Going into Fall, the schools here are offering a choice of remote learning or in-school learning (with a mask worn through the day). My preference is to keep her home but if that's what we choose to do, I'd rather register her at the public school, which has been much praised for their remote curriculum. So, I'm honestly torn here, not to mention, I do have a big attachment to the school where Shreya has spent her last two years. I'll likely make a decision this week - so we have a month to prepare for whatever format at whichever school we pick. 

I didn't expect to be this stressed out about school for a five-year old. Can't wait to see what choosing college with her is going to be like. Not.

Reading

I had another good week of reading. The downside of all this reading is that I am woefully behind on my reviews. I'm going to have to block a few hours this week to get some reviews written - at least the ones I want to rave about. 


This past week, I completed Lucy Knisley's Something New and Frances Cha's If I Had Your Face. I liked both of them though neither were page turners. While browsing through the library Overdrive catalog this week, I chanced upon a copy of Circe - last I checked, there was a long waiting list for that book so they may have recently increased the number of copies for that book. I know this book comes highly recommended but in a way, it's also a kind of book I haven't read much of. So far, it's good.

On the blog


What have you done this weekend so far?

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

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