It's Monday 2/5! What Are You Reading?

Book By Book

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Life

Whew, last week was another stuffed-full busy one! I actually felt a little bit run-down–not a bad relapse like last year but just a bit worn out–so I tried to take it easy. But, I had a haircut (way overdue) and a dermatology check-up (all clear), and continued to help my friend with her move. That involved lots of phone calls, e-mails, and coordination from the recliner, though I did get over to the house this weekend to help with more sorting and trashing! 

Makes the doctor’s waiting room a joy!

I managed a couple of very short walks on my way to my two appointments, while we were still encased in dark, gray, gloomy days, but it was nice just to be surrounded by trees and birdsong. When the sun finally came out this weekend, my friend and I took a break from moving work to walk at our local nature center–first time in a very long time!–and enjoyed those brilliant blue skies and sunshine. And we spotted the first skunk cabbage sprouts–a sure sign that spring is coming!

A long string of dark, gloomy days but a walk in the woods is always nice!

Happy to be in the sunshine!

My favorite view at the nature center!

First sign of spring!

On the Blog

I’m trying to catch up on reviews, though I only managed to get one posted (the other is 75% finished and will go up soon):

Fiction Review: Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt – a warm, compassionate, funny story about loss, family, and connections that received my book group’s second-highest rating! 

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On Video

 Friday Reads 2-2-24 – my quick weekly update of what I am currently reading – this time, two novels for Black History Month

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I finished reading As They Were: Autobiographical Essays by M.F.K. Fisher, a classic memoir I didn’t get to for Nonfiction November. I enjoyed this varied collection of essays. She’s renowned for her food writing, and some of these essays do focus on food. But others are about travel and different places she’s lived and visited. I loved the first essay, about her childhood in California. I talked more about his book in my January Reading Wrap-Up video, which will post to my channel tomorrow. This book fits perfectly for the Mardi Gras Readathon on Booktube, hosted by Kat’s Novel Adventures; it covers two of the bingo spaces: France and food.

I also finished Look on the Bright Side by Lily Williams and Karen Schneemann, a YA graphic novel and sequel to Go with the Flow.  Here, the four best friends are starting their junior year of high school. Brit is recovering from endometriosis surgery (a topic from the first novel), Sasha is juggling (poorly) her first boyfriend and her schoolwork, and Christine has romantic feelings toward Abby but is worried about ruining their friendship. This sequel deals with friendship, first loves, and all the complicated feelings that go along with that. It was excellent!

And then, I kicked off Black History Month right, starting Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi, the highly acclaimed novel that everyone else has read except me! I’m about a third of the way through, and wow, this is such a remarkable, powerful novel! It begins in Ghana in the 1700′s, with two half-sisters, Effia and Esi, who have never met and live in different villages, part of two separate (warring) empires, Fante and Asante. Effia marries a white British officer and moves to Cape Coast Castle (a real place), while Esi is captured and sold into slavery. From there, this incredible story follows Effia’s and Esi’s bloodlines through eight generations, from Africa to a Mississippi plantation through the Civil War and Harlem’s Jazz Age. It’s completely engrossing, and I am learning a lot about history that I’d never heard before.

I finished listening to my first audio for Black History Month, Last Summer on State Street by Toya Wolfe. It’s set during the summer of 1999 (recent history) on the South Side of Chicago and focuses on four young girls, living in the Robert Taylor Homes housing project that summer. One by one the apartment buildings around them (part of the same project) are getting demolished and the residents forced out, while the girls try to hang onto the innocence of childhood and avoid the gang violence (and police violence) that surrounds them.. The audio was excellent, really providing an immersive feeling of that time and place, as the girls jump rope, watch families around them lose their homes, and grow up. Other than choosing this audio to review two years ago, I’d never heard anything about it, but it deserves more attention. It was outstanding.

My husband, Ken, just last night finished The Secret by Lee Child and Andrew Child, book 28 of the Jack Reacher series, my husband’s all-time favorite! He sped through this fast-paced, action-packed novel in record time. We just finished watching season two of the Reacher TV series, too.

Our son, 29, is almost finished reading book 2, Blade Breaker by Victoria Aveyard, book 2 in her Realm Breaker series,, that we gave him for Christmas.

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