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
I'm getting an extremely late start to this post. After the long drive yesterday back home and then a late evening meetup with our neighbors, I was out of juice very fast and needed to crash. And what does Sunday morning mean after a busy week? Tis a day full of chores. Ugh.
Life
We spent this past week in Boston with my brother-in-law and his wife. We all got the break we needed - we did some shopping, watched lots of TV, and enjoyed lots of family time. I started writing this post on our drive back but didn't get to schedule in advance. We opted to drive the 13-hour route so although it made for some very long days, it felt good to get out of the house and enjoy a road trip. The weather cooperated all the days in all the places we were in those days so that was a plus.
As always after a long vacation, we have come back to a lot to do. I have so much to catch up with and need to do some of that today as there's just as much to do on the work front from tomorrow.
Renovation updates
So much got done while we were out this week. I joked to our contractor that maybe we need to take more vacations. Of course, part of it is because of not seeing daily progress, so it feels like a lot changed in five days. The great news is that our island cabinets arrived in the right color before we left for our trip - this was 3 weeks ahead of schedule (unheard of in this era of supply chain delays though possibly there was a cushion in that schedule - anyways I'm not complaining). This is great news because they were able to install the granite countertops and sink, and complete the backsplash this past week. Next up in the kitchen is to connect the plumbing, then install the stove and hood, and finally patch and paint. We are almost done! That said, some part of this week will go into laying hardwood floors in the master bedroom - that was the one room not done yet due to work in the master bathroom. So we still have 2-3 weeks of work left but I'm relieved that most of that will be off the main living area after this week.
If you're wondering why I'm stressing out about the schedule so much knowing what we've gotten ourselves into, my parents will be arriving from India on December 9th and I really really really really truly deeply need the living and kitchen areas back by then. That's the kicker and the contractors have been awesome in working with us with that timeline in mind. Right now, the kids, the husband, and I are mostly hanging out in the basement and it does get very depressing staying in a room that doesn't get much natural light. (Speaking of parents, this is the third time we are trying to arrange the trip and we are crossing our fingers and toes that nothing delays it this time. I say this as I watch the news about the omicron variant. So much to say and write about this but all I'll say is that the pandemic has been so exhausting.)
Reading
My reading spree has continued and I'm relieved to once again be turning a lot of pages. Over the last two weeks, I finished 4 books - Rogue Protocol, Shape Up (which I read for work), I was their American Dream, and Infinite Country.
Rogue Protocol by Martha Wells: This was a fun continuation of the Murderbot series. Just like the previous two, this is a short and fast read as well. I won't say a whole lot here because anything at this point is spoiler-ish if you plan to read the book. I'll just say that I wish there was more ART here. Other than that, Murderbot is still the fun character they are and I loved all the human bonding they tried to dabble in.
Currently, I am reading Hyperbole and a Half by Allie Brosh and Elantris by Brandon Sanderson. I'm late to reading a book by Allie Brosh. I had tried reading Hyperbole and a Half when it first came out and struggled with the format then. For whatever reason, I'm digging the format now.
As for Elantris, I've been yearning to start a new epic fantasy series but never found the right time as I didn't want to commit to chunksters or the wait between books previously. Hopefully, now's the time.
Watching
Star Trek Discovery returned to screens last week. Although it feels a little underwhelming so far, I’m looking forward to where it goes from here. We are continuing to watch Star Trek Prodigy with my kids. Both of them are following along though only my daughter is old enough to get context. We also started watching two new shows that premiered last week. We had been waiting for Hawkeye for a while now and the first two episodes did not disappoint. The unplanned show that we started watching was The Wheel of Time. I had been forever planning to read the books but now that the show is airing, I may not get to them. While the first episode was meh, the next three picked up the place several notches. At this point, The Wheel of Time is the one I cannot wait to continue watching.
On the Blog
With only one month left in the year, how do you plan to use it and round out 2022?
Linking with The Sunday Salon at Readerbuzz and The Sunday Post at Caffeinated Reviewer.
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