Memorial Day Weekend

This is has been a tough spring but so happy that summer is almost here and G is out of school. Online schooling is done and over. Such a weird and crazy school year. G is halfway vaccinated...two more weeks till his next dose. We're slowly getting used to no masks...very slowly. We still mask up indoors with lots of people but the summer is opening up and we're close to eating out as a family in a restaurant again! 

My neighbor also threw a little end of school party for her kids and invited some neighbors, her friends, and all the kids too. The kids got wet, adults had a few drinks, ate hamburgers and junk food and sat around the fire pit when the sun went down. It was a great feeling to hang out with friends again and relax.

It's been a tough few weeks for one reason or another and I have not posted much this month. I'm hoping I can get back into a better schedule and visiting other blogs as well.

Reading Life:

I'm reading a couple of bigger books so I have not finished anything the last two weeks. It's been a slower reading month. I'm ok with that but sometimes I get anxious about it!

I'm about 2/3 done with The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco, still reading The Trespasser by Tana French, Dust Tracks on the Road by Zora Neale Hurston, and I just started a book-for-review from Quirk Books. It's an interesting sci-fi thriller.

G and I are almost done with The Book Thief. Now that it's summer we're planning on doing a little comparative religion course/reading adventure. I think it'll be fun and informative. Hopefully he does too...

I also finished off the May reading schedule for The Count of Monte Cristo! One more month left and I will be done with that behemoth!

I'm about 45% done with The Second Sex by Simone De Beauvoir so I'm still holding out hope I'll get it all done by December 31st.

This week I'll be starting my sci-fi reading marathon for June. I've got a few on my pile!

Watching Life:

Basically, all I've been watching is NBA Playoffs! I'll watch a little Call the Midwife in between and Mare of Easttown finishes off tonight (Sunday) so...I did start High on the Hog, a Netflix limited food documentary based off the book with the same name, tracking how the African food diaspora has influenced American cuisine. So fascinating. Really good.

My son and I have been watching the Conjuring series to gear up for the new one coming out...The Woman in the Window was not great but it was somewhat entertaining. I definitely have no desire to read the book now...Saint Maud is another horror that I didn't love yet I enjoyed its ambition. And another great horror is The Vigil about an ex-Orthodox Jew trying to come to terms with his grief and religious transition. Great Jewish horror. Loved it!

Looking forward to:

Memorial Day should be fun. DH gets the day off. We'll be bbqing up some kebabs and corn and then playing games in the evening. It'll be good structured family time! lol. It needs to be planned or else it doesn't happen. Amiright?

I hope everyone has a wonderful Memorial Day!

Joining in with Deb from Readerbuzz's Sunday Salon

MidMay Already?!

 I don't know where the time goes! I've been wanting to get a post up since Mother's Day and now it's almost two weeks since. And it may be two weeks by the time I get this up and posted....

Mother's Day was really nice and low-key. I made up a very yummy tres leches cake for my own mother the night before. My son and DH made me French toast, blueberry muffins, and bacon for breakfast. G even made me a homemade card. I wonder how long I'll get those? I'll keep them close because I know one day I either won't get a card or it'll be store bought...

We finally got G a new bike. He learned last year during the pandemic in the spring but it was too small and heavy. Now he's got a nice big boy bike and we've been going out once or twice a week with the beautiful weather. He's almost taller than me and his feet are bigger than mine! He'll probably outgrow me by the end of summer!

We finally got out our fire pit and invited some neighbors to sit with us. It was so nice. We burned lots of extra wood we had from building the ramp for my mother earlier this year. It was kind of like burning away all those winter blues and troubles.

I thought I took more pics...but I didn't. Oh well. Such is life. But the buds on trees have been gorgeous. One of the things I love about Spring.

Since my last review post I've posted only three times:

Spring Into Horror Wrap-up

Review of Braiding Sweetgrass

Mini Book Reviews: Fiction

Reading Life:

It's been a bit slower this month with my reading...I just finished off The Self-Driven Child: The Science and Sense of Giving Your Kids More Control Over Their Lives by William Stixrud and Ned Johnson. I've been reading it off and on for 6 months now! It's been really good but I've been digesting it in chunks. I highly recommend it for parents of teenagers and younger.

And I just started Mindset: The New Psychology of Success: How We Can Learn to Fulfill Our Potential by Carol Dweck.

I've been listening to World Travel: An Irreverent Guide by Anthony Bourdain and Laurie Woolever. Makes me miss Bourdain that much more. I'm loving his tidbits from the food and travels around the world. His brother reads his quotes. Highly recommend if you were a fan.

I'm still making my way through The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco, Jane Austen: A Life by Claire Tomalin, Dust Tracks on a Road by Zora Neale Hurston, and with G The Book Thief by Markus Zusak.

And I just started the sixth installment of the Dublin Murder Squad The Trespasser by Tana French. I just read an article from Lit Hub on some big themes in French's novels. Like what's a home and what owning one means...she dives into almost each book. So read with caution if you haven't read her books already. But it gave me a new appreciation on French and the books she writes.

I have plans to finish off her most recent book The Searcher right after The Trespasser and then I'll be all caught up on French! I'd also like to read through all of Octavia Butler's books this summer. I need to finish up her Xenogenesis series and then on to her Patternmaster series and The Fledgling. She has some short stories but I don't think I'll get to those this summer. 

Watching Life:

I've been enjoying Mare of Easttown on HBO starring Kate Winslet. Really great mystery with lots of red herrings!

I just started Call the Midwife and am loving it!

Enjoying NBA basketball. The playoffs have just started and my team is numero uno! Very excited.

Movies: Saint Maud (Indie horror, weird but worth a watch) on Amazon and Mitchells Vs. the Machines (Netflix), we really enjoyed this one as a family. The Woman in the Window on Netflix...not great but fun to watch, overall. The pacing was really off on it, though. The climax was a big letdown.

Making and Doing:

I made a amigurumi crochet cat a couple of weeks ago. I'm trying to make the whole lot and a few furniture items for them. I'll see how my collection comes along over the summer.

Made a new recipe bibimbap bowls last night! They were really good and hearty and healthy. I'll definitely be making those again!

Oh, and I bought flowers, a cherry tomato plant, and a jalapeno plant over the weekend! Hopefully they get established over the next week or so and do well! Fingers crossed.

Looking forward to:

G gets his Covid jab today (Wednesday)! He's nervous but we're both excited to have it done! Well, one more to go after today...

G is almost done with school. Next week is his last week. And what a whirlwind of having school done online all year due to a pandemic...It'll be nice to be done and to focus on other things this summer.

Mini Book Reviews: Broken Harbor...

Faithful Place by Tana French

Published: July 13th, 2010 by Viking

Genre: Mystery

Format: Kindle, 416 Pages, Own

Rating: 4 stars

Publisher's Summary:

Back in 1985, Frank Mackey was nineteen, growing up poor in Dublin's inner city and living crammed into a small flat with his family on Faithful Place. But he had his sights set on a lot more. He and his girl, Rosie Daly, were all set to run away to London together, get married, get good jobs, break away from factory work and poverty and their old lives.

But on the winter night when they were supposed to leave, Rosie didn't show. Frank took it for granted that she'd given him the brush-off--probably because of his alcoholic father, nutcase mother, and generally dysfunctional family. He never went home again.

Neither did Rosie. Everyone thought she had gone to England on her own and was over there living a shiny new life. Then, twenty-two years later, Rosie's suitcase shows up behind a fireplace in a derelict house on Faithful Place, and Frank is going home whether he likes it or not.

Getting sucked in is a lot easier than getting out again. Frank finds himself straight back in the dark tangle of relationships he left behind. The cops working the case want him out of the way, in case loyalty to his family and community makes him a liability. Faithful Place wants him out because he’s a detective now, and the Place has never liked cops. Frank just wants to find out what happened to Rosie Daly-and he’s willing to do whatever it takes, to himself or anyone else, to get the job done.

My Thoughts:

Another excellent mystery that's heavily character-driven rather than plot-drive from Ms. French. Her plots don't quite make a lot of sense but I still enjoy my way getting there. Mackey and his family came alive for me. I loved getting a better sense of his history and what has made him tick. I loved her exploration of families. How messy and complicated they are and why. Sometimes I had to set the book down because the dysfunction felt a little too familiar...

Bridge of Souls by Victoria Schwab

Published: March 2nd, 2021 by Scholastic Press

Genre: Horror, Middle Grade

Format: Hardcover, 304 Pages, Own

Rating: 4 stars

Publisher's Summary:

Where there are ghosts, Cassidy Blake follows...unless it's the other way around?

Cass thinks she might have this ghost-hunting thing down. After all, she and her ghost best friend, Jacob, have survived two haunted cities while travelling for her parents' TV show.

But nothing can prepare Cass for New Orleans, which wears all of its hauntings on its sleeve. In a city of ghost tours and tombs, raucous music and all kinds of magic, Cass could get lost in all the colourful, grisly local legends. And the city's biggest surprise is a foe Cass never expected to face: a servant of Death itself.

Cass takes on her most dangerous challenge yet...

My Thoughts:

This is another fantastic instalment by Schwab. Loved reading about Cass and her antics in New Orleans. How her parents are still clueless about her supernatural abilities. But I love her friendships and how she solves each problem with help. And of course, her kitty is always super cute!

Broken Harbor by Tana French

Published: April 28th, 2013 by Penguin

Genre: Mystery

Format: Hardcover, 450 Pages, Library

Rating: 3.5 stars

Publisher's Summary:

Mick “Scorcher" Kennedy is the star of the Dublin Murder Squad. He plays by the books and plays hard, and that's how the biggest case of the year ends up in his hands.

On one of the half-abandoned "luxury" developments that litter Ireland, Patrick Spain and his two young children have been murdered. His wife, Jenny, is in intensive care. At first, Scorcher thinks it's going to be an easy solve, but too many small things can't be explained: the half-dozen baby monitors pointed at holes smashed in the Spains' walls, the files erased from the family's computer, the story Jenny told her sister about a shadowy intruder slipping past the house's locks. And this neighborhood—once called Broken Harbor—holds memories for Scorcher and his troubled sister, Dina: childhood memories that Scorcher thought he had tightly under control.

My Thoughts:

The plot was a bit better in this one. But...overall, this one wasn't as good as I was hoping but she still knows how to pack a punch. And such a different take from her other books, taking on class and the economic downturn on the global scale but especially in Ireland. I also enjoyed getting to know Scorcher Kennedy that we were introduced to in "Faithful Place." I love that she fleshes everyone out eventually. Everyone's a bit different and I love that she can write them so vividly. It's another great reason to read this series since she doesn't focus on one detective each book. I'd say one of the big explorations in this one is despair and the horrors one can do when there are no lights at the end of the tunnel.

The Secret Place by Tana French

Published: September 2nd, 2014 by Penguin Books

Genre: Mystery

Format: Kindle, 541 Pages, Own

Rating: 4 stars

Publisher's Summary:

A year ago a boy was found murdered at a girlsʼ boarding school, and the case was never solved. Detective Stephen Moran has been waiting for his chance to join Dublin’s Murder Squad when sixteen-year-old Holly Mackey arrives in his office with a photo of the boy with the caption: “I KNOW WHO KILLED HIM.” Stephen joins with Detective Antoinette Conway to reopen the case—beneath the watchful eye of Holly’s father, fellow detective Frank Mackey.

With the clues leading back to Holly’s close-knit group of friends, to their rival clique, and to the tangle of relationships that bound them all to the murdered boy, the private underworld of teenage girls turns out to be more mysterious and more dangerous than the detectives imagined.

My Thoughts:

French takes on teen girls in an upper crust boarding school. While the dialogues of the teens weren't especially convincing, the emotions were. And the plot. This is one where I could see it. It seemed plausible. And I just learned French puts a bit of supernatural stuff into each of her books based off of Celtic myth/folklore. This book had it the most abundant, which wasn't my favorite. But overall, I liked the plot and the teen emotions exploration. I wasn't a big fan of the detectives...but they came through in the end. 

The Luminous Dead by Caitlin Starling

Published: April 2nd, 2019 by Harper Voyager

Genre: Sci-fi, Horror

Format: Kindle, 432 Pages, Own

Rating: 4 stars

Publisher's Summary:

A thrilling, atmospheric debut with the intensive drive of The Martian and Gravity and the creeping dread of Annihilation, in which a caver on a foreign planet finds herself on a terrifying psychological and emotional journey for survival.

When Gyre Price lied her way into this expedition, she thought she’d be mapping mineral deposits, and that her biggest problems would be cave collapses and gear malfunctions. She also thought that the fat paycheck—enough to get her off-planet and on the trail of her mother—meant she’d get a skilled surface team, monitoring her suit and environment, keeping her safe. Keeping her sane.

Instead, she got Em.

Em sees nothing wrong with controlling Gyre’s body with drugs or withholding critical information to “ensure the smooth operation” of her expedition. Em knows all about Gyre’s falsified credentials, and has no qualms using them as a leash—and a lash. And Em has secrets, too . . .

As Gyre descends, little inconsistencies—missing supplies, unexpected changes in the route, and, worst of all, shifts in Em’s motivations—drive her out of her depths. Lost and disoriented, Gyre finds her sense of control giving way to paranoia and anger. On her own in this mysterious, deadly place, surrounded by darkness and the unknown, Gyre must overcome more than just the dangerous terrain and the Tunneler which calls underground its home if she wants to make it out alive—she must confront the ghosts in her own head.

My Thoughts:

This was gripping! I read this for April's Spring Into Horror readathon and boy oh boy. It delivered. Sci-fi horror that can make me feel claustrophobic. It felt like a combo of Alien and The Descent. Two of my fave horror films of all-time. And add in some lesbian romance and boom. I really enjoyed this one. There were only a couple of places where it dragged but overall an engaging story and one I wouldn't mind returning to.

Floating Staircase by Ronald Malfi

Published: October 2010 by Leisure Books

Genre: Horror

Format: Kindle, 448 Pages, Own

Rating: 4 stars

Publisher's Summary:

Soon after Travis and his wife move into their new house by the lake, he becomes convinced the house is haunted. Is it the ghost of a child who was murdered there years before - or is there a deeper mystery?

My Thoughts:

This is my first book by Malfi. I also read this one for my Spring Into Horror readathon. I'll definitely be returning to another of his books soon. 

Travis and his wife move into a secluded home by his brother. He soon becomes convinced the house is haunted. He begins to become obsessed with the house, the history, and the ghost. As he delves in, it brings up his own baggage from when he was a child and the death of his little brother. I really enjoyed the exploration of grief and obsession. How do we process all of that? It's one of the reasons I love horror. We can explore all of this stuff in interesting ways. 

*all images taken from Goodreads.com

Read in part for Spring Into Horror Readathon.

Nonfiction Book Reviews: Braiding Sweetgrass...

Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer

Published: October 15th, 2013 by Milkweed Editions

Genre: Nonfiction, Science

Format: Paperback, 391 Pages, Own

Rating: 5 stars

Publisher's Summary:

As a botanist, Robin Wall Kimmerer has been trained to ask questions of nature with the tools of science. As a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, she embraces the notion that plants and animals are our oldest teachers. In Braiding Sweetgrass, Kimmerer brings these lenses of knowledge together to show that the awakening of a wider ecological consciousness requires the acknowledgment and celebration of our reciprocal relationship with the rest of the living world. For only when we can hear the languages of other beings are we capable of understanding the generosity of the earth, and learning to give our own gifts in return. 

My Thoughts:

I loved everything about this book! She asks some tough questions about what it means to be apart of nature. How can we take what science has to offer and what her ancestors' wisdom has to offer us about how to take care Mother Earth? She weaves her own background, her ancestors' stories, science, and what plants can teach in how to do this.

Her first story is about Skywoman. She's fallen from the sky and immediately receives help from a goose, a turtle, until they realize she needs land to rest upon permanently. But no animal can make it all the way down to the bottom of the water to bring her some land...except for the muskrat, who sacrifices itself for her and brings up some mud only to lose its own life.

"Skywoman bent and spread the mud with her hands across the shell of the turtle. Moved by the extraordinary gifts of the animals, she sang in thanksgiving and then began to dance, her feet caressing the earth. The land grew and grew as she danced her thanks, form the dab of mud on Turtle's back until the whole earth was made. Not by Skywoman alone, but from the alchemy of all the animals' gifts coupled with her deep gratitude. Together they formed what we know today as Turtle Island, our home."

She compares this with another story from across the waters...a woman with a garden and a tree...

"But for tasting its fruit, she was banished from the garden and the gates clanged shut behind her. That mother of men was made to wander in the wilderness and earn her bread by the sweat of her brow, not by filling her mouth with the sweet juicy fruits that bend the branches low. In order to eat, she was instructed to subdue the wilderness into which she was cast."

"One story leads to the generous embrace of the living world, the other to banishment. One woman is our ancestral gardener, a cocreator of the good green world that would be the home of her descendants. The other was an exile, just passing through an alien world on a rough road to her real home in heaven...And then they met--the offspring of Skywoman and the children of Eve--and the land around us bears the scars of that meeting, the echoes of our stories."

Stories are powerful. This sets up the rest of the book. How do Westerners with creation stories like these respond to a land that our ancestors have taken? Do we listen to those who've cultivated for centuries and millennia or do we assume we know best because we take and never give back? How do we treat the earth like we are truly indigenous to it?

Each section and each essay within that section dissects exactly this. This is one I'll be going to again and again. I can't recommend it highly enough!

Source: Goodreads

Poetry for Young People: Langston Hughes edited by David Roessel

Published: January 1st, 2006 by Sterling

Genre: Nonfiction, Poetry, Juvenile

Format: Hardcover, 48 Pages, Own

Rating: 5 stars

My Thoughts:

I read this one aloud with G for Poetry month in April. We really enjoyed learning more about Langston Hughes and his poetry. The Illustrations were also vivid and dynamic. They really brought the poems to life. I love this Poetry for Young People series. I've never been a big poetry reader except for high school and a bit in college so I really love diving in this way.

Spring Into Horror Readathon Wrapup

Thank you, Michelle! I had a great time focusing in on some horror and mystery this month. It's just what I needed.

I finished off 4 books:

Faithful Place and Broken Harbor by Tana French (3 and 4 in the Dublin Murder Squad.) The Luminous Dead by Caitlin Starling and Floating Staircase by Ronald Malfi.

Week-in-Review: Covid Jab!

I wanted to post this last weekend...but I got my second Covid jab and it really put me under all weekend. So I got nothing done except some movies and reading...My symptoms were mild fatigue a few hours after on Friday and then my muscles started to ache a bit before bed. I woke up around 2 AM with chills and a fever. Then it was hot sweats and chills and really weird dreams all night. Saturday was aches and pains and a headache all day. Sunday my aches and pains were done but I was just worn out from it all and so so tired. Finally felt human again on Monday! I feel terribly behind on all the things...

But oh what a feeling! Jack Black's video explains it all!

 Nala gave me some comfort after my jab Friday.

Last week we got out on a little walk as a family before spring weather hit again here in Utah and we had three days of clouds, rain, and cold. And a little family game night. Takenoko is a winner! You can play up to 4 players. It's perfect for our little family.

G made his first dinner of turkey burgers last week as well! Yum!

Grateful For:

1. G decided he wanted to start making meals on a semi-regular basis. America's Test Kitchen put out a great little book for young bakers/cooks that I picked up. He's been picking recipes from out of there and his first was super yummy! I helped cut the fixings up but other than that it was all him. This week is homemade pizza!

2. Covid vaccine! So exciting.

3. We enjoyed a nice birthday dinner at my mom and dad's house Monday. We brought in some takeout and enjoyed chatting and eating since everyone in the house is now vaccinated we felt comfortable going over and spending a couple hours there to celebrate.

Reading Life:

I finished up Broken Harbor (#4 in the Dublin Murder Squad series)(read for my spring into horror challenge) by Tana French, Poetry for Young People: Langston Hughes edited by David Roessel, Floating Staircase by Ronald Malfi (read for my spring into horror challenge), and The Luminous Dead by Caitlin Starling (read for my horror challenge in the scary cover prompt.)

My ebook The Deep by Alma Katsu was returned to the library. I wasn't able to finish it in time, unfortunately. But it wasn't quite what I wanted right now anyway. I have plans to finish it maybe in the fall, though.

I'm 3/4 done with The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas for my French Lit challenge! Two more months and I'll be done!

G and I are still reading through The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. We're a little over halfway now. I bet we'll be done mid-May. G is also learning a lot about World War II in his history class so he's really enjoying it in a new way.

I'm currently reading Jane Austen: A Life by Claire Tomalin (really interesting!), The Secret Place (#5 in the Dublin Murder Squad series) by Tana French, and The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco.

Watching Life:

I started Mare of Easttown on HBO Max. I'm really liking it. Kate Winslet is stellar! I love seeing her weekly.

Also caught the Oscars on Sunday last. I liked the quaint feel of it this year. I enjoyed all of the films I was able to catch before the big night. I have a few more to see still. Really happy Nomadland got best picture. Happy to see Chloe Zhao get best director!

Source Wall Street Journal

Also, I loved her simple dress, no make up, and her braids!

Source Reuters

Go Youn Yuh-Jung for best supporting actress who has no f's to give for Hollywood!

I watched The Mole Agent on Hulu and PBS. It's a documentary about an elderly gentleman in Chile who goes into a nursing home in Santiago undercover. A PI hires him for a client who feels her mother is being abused. But it doesn't go where you think it will. Insights and just some great footage. A lot of thought on how we take care of or don't our elderly community and who truly makes up a family? Good stuff in there. It was nominated for Best Documentary in Oscars.

Source IMDB

Never, Rarely, Sometimes, Always was a great little Indie film on HBO Max. About a teen girl and her cousin who head to New York City to get an abortion. It's about all the things along the way. It's quiet and introspective. Highly recommended! I really feel this one should have gotten a nod at the Oscars.

Source IMDB

Run is a fantasticly creepy horror film on Hulu starring Sarah Poulson. The main protagonist is actually a person who has disabilities. She was able to collaborate on the film and make sure things were done right and not in an ableist way. Loved everything about this!

Boys from County Hell is a fun Irish horror comedy about a Celtic vampire who run amok in their quaint little town. Lots of blood and humor. 

Looking forward to:

A new Japanese-style donut shop opened up close by so me and my brunch ladies are going to hit it this Saturday morning. We're all vaccinated and feeling frisky! Japan's donuts are the best! I'm hoping it lives up to its name or heads will roll. I haven't had a fantastic donut since I lived there so I have high hopes...

Mother's Day should be nice. My boys are planning on making me breakfast. I may even talk them into a hike! We'll also stop by my mom's and visit for a bit in the evening.

Hope you all have a lovely week! Any plans for Mother's Day? Anybody watch the Oscars?

Joining in with Deb from Readerbuzz's Sunday Salon