Sunday, February 16, 2020

The Sunday Post #212




The Sunday Post is a chance to recap the past week, talk about next week, tell you what I’m reading, and share news. I’m linking up with The Caffeinated Book Reviewer, Readerbuzz, and Book Date. This post contains affiliate links. I earn a commission from qualifying purchases.




On The Blog Last Week











On The Blog This Week


  • On Tuesday I talk about some books I’ll never forget.
  • On Saturday there’s a book haul.









In My Reading Life


Last week, I finished The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid. It lives up to the hype! It’s about a female movie star in the 1950s who goes to great lengths to hide her romance with another female movie star. I love Evelyn Hugo. She’s unapologetically ruthless. She’ll manipulate anyone to get what she wants. If you like morally gray characters, you need to read this book. I guess my only complaint would be the reporter, Monique. Her story wasn’t developed enough for me, so I had a hard time caring about it.




Right now, I’m reading Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. One of the characters, Ifemelu, is too judgmental for me, but I’m curious about what’s going to happen next. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is a brilliant writer. She can bring people and places to life.








In The Rest Of My Life


Five things that made me happy last week:

  1. It’s baby Brooklyn’s birthday today! A year ago, I was riding through a blizzard to a far-away hospital to meet my new niece. I can’t believe we’ve kept a baby alive for a whole year. Most days, my sister and I can barely keep ourselves alive.
  2. Valentine’s Day! I spent the day writing blog posts, so I guess this blog was my Valentine. I hope your day was full of love and/or chocolate.
  3. I’m halfway through my 30-day yoga challenge. I still fall a lot.
  4. Is anyone watching McMillions? It’s a funny and fascinating documentary series. It’s about how a criminal mastermind rigged the McDonald's Monopoly game so that all the big prizes went to his distant relatives. Do you remember McDonald's Monopoly? I played when I was a kid. I never won anything cool (because the game was rigged for a decade, apparently).
  5. Crispy survived another Pondathon quest! She has now collected 4 adorable war medals. Unfortunately, she has no uniform to pin them to because fish don’t wear clothes.











Hello?















Take care of yourselves and be kind to each other! See you around the blogosphere!





31 comments:

  1. Wait! The McD's game was rigged? Wow! I collected those pieces religiously. We frequented McD's, because my grandmother lived across the street from it, and she thought it was very American to eat there. I am actually impressed that it was rigged. That had to take some real planning. Congratulations on keeping Brooklyn alive for a year. I knew you could do it.

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  2. Such a vivacious post! thank you.

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  3. *high five to you and your sister* keeping a baby alive is no joke. I look at my kid (who is almost nine) and often marvel that we've got him this far!

    Evelyn Hugo is one I have on my list to read. Plan on getting to it soon.

    I love the Valentines meme! That is me when it comes to Valentine's Day. I like my romance in a book, in real life I think I'm allergic, lol. Thankfully, the husband is too! 😆

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  4. Happy birthday to your little niece! My grandbaby, Wyatt, will be one next month. I raised two babies myself, and Wyatt is startlingly easy. They come how they come, I think.

    I admit that I love my blog. It gives me more than chocolate and flowers.

    I'm glad you liked Evelyn Hugo so much. With all the yuckiness in the political world, I'm still in search of peace and calmness in my reading, so I'll probably pass on a morally ambiguous character. I see too many of those folks who have been put in charge of my world.

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  5. Happy Birthday to your niece - yes... it's surprising just how tough babies actually are - thank goodness! Glad you enjoyed Evelyn Hugo so much, I haven't yet got around to that one, yet:)

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  6. Awwww, yay for baby Brooklyn's birthday! Good job for keeping her alive so long. :-)

    Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction

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  7. "If you like morally gray characters, you need to read this book." I guess that pretty much nails it for me haha- I love a good morally gray character so Evelyn Hugo needs t go on my list I guess.

    Happy birthday to Brooklyn!

    McD's Monopoly was rigged?? Why am I not surprised lol? :)

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  8. Happy Birthday to your niece. One year old!! My baby girl is one and a half and there are days that I wonder how on earth I got old enough to have a kid. LOL!
    Have a great week and happy reading.

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  9. I remember the year the McDonald's scandal broke. I didn't realize there was a documentary about it.

    I saw Evelyn Hugo everywhere for a while but for some reason didn't know what it was about lol

    Karen @ For What It's worth

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  10. Aww, happy birthday to your niece! Now that she's a year old, things are about to get really fun!

    So glad you loved Evelyn Hugo!

    LOL, I've been reading articles all week about that McDonald's Monopoly scandal! Pretty crazy stuff.

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  11. A year old! It seems like yesterday; they grow so fast. Have a lovely week and enjoy your books!

    Anne - Books of My Heart Here is my Sunday Post   

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  12. Happy birthday to Brooklyn! And Congrats to Crispy for surviving another Pondathan quest! :)

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  13. "Morally grey characters" is catnip to many of us. I'll bump that one higher on my TBR. (Not literally; can you imagine me organizing my thousand+ title TBR in order of priority?!?) One of my co-workers had her students write Valentines letters to objects this year, and there were some great and hilarious choices made. That Pondathon thing looked delightful but also far too complex for my teacher/parent brain to figure out. I'm glad Crispy is doing well. Look at you, keeping a niece AND a virtual fish alive!

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  14. I remember the Mc D's game. Had no clue it was rigged. Just assumed I was unlucky all those years. I'm gonna have to look up that documentary now!

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  15. I love morally gray characters and need to make sure Evelyn is on my wish list.
    Congratulations on keeping a human alive for a year. It's harder than it looks!

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  16. A whole year with Brooklyn! Congrats and enjoy many more.

    I am curious about Americanah. Thanks for sharing, and for visiting my blog.

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  17. So glad you enjoyed The Seven Husbands. I had not realized what it was about.
    https://wordsandpeace.com/2020/02/16/sunday-post-25-2-16-2020/

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  18. Adichie is a good writer. The transitions you'll have as your niece goes from being an infant to a toddler! But it's such a fun age as kids are excited about everything.

    www.thepulpitandthepen.com

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  19. Happy birthday to Brooklyn!
    I’ve had Americanah on my shelf for quite some time

    Wishing you a great reading week

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  20. I was so, so tempted to try Pondathon, but I didn't think I could commit to it right now! We just made a big move (like nine states -- ugh, so far), and all of the craziness that goes along with that. I wish Crispy the best of luck! :)

    Lindsi @ Do You Dog-ear? 💬

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  21. Rigged! That explains why I never won anything!

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  22. I tried listening to The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo but it was a DNF but I do want to try again because all I hear is amazing stuff about it!I have mix feelings about Ngozi Adichie's writing. I agree she is brilliant and I love her topics but there is something about her writing style maybe that throws me off and I don't know what it is yet. Good luck with your yoga challenge! I've been staying on top of my yoga as well :) Keep us posted!

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  23. I think I might have won a cheeseburger once on the monopoly game but I'm not surprised to hear it was rigged for so long!

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  24. Love that little toddler age. They're so much fun!

    The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo was my first TJR book and the one that made me such a fan. Glad you liked it, too.

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  25. So glad you enjoyed Evelyn Hugo! It was my favorite of 2018. Such a phenomenal story and I loved the way Evelyn was so completely unapologetic.

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  26. Bwahahaha I so love your humor AJ! First with Sheldon's GIF and with you disbelieving that you kept a baby alive for one year LOL

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  27. Happy birthday to your niece. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo isn't the genre I normally read but it sounds quite intriguing. I heard about the McDonald's Monopoly thing but I thought it was an urban myth!

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  28. Haha, love that meme! I really want to read Americanah, but my copy has such a small font, it always puts me off before I even start. I never understand why publishers think tiny fonts are enjoyable, it's barely even readable.

    The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo is also on my TBR although I'm not al that interested in the story, for some reason. McMillions? sounds good, I don't know the game but the topic is interesting all the same.

    Have a wonderful week!

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  29. It's nice to find a book that lives up to the hype! And I kind of feel that way too, I have no idea how my kids survived when I could/can barely keep myself alive sometimes, lol. Must have done something right since my kids are both grown and amazing! Love the Sheldon meme! :)

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  30. I saw the commercials for McMillions and it looks interesting. I hope you have a great week!

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  31. The Jenkins Reid book sounds great! I didn't know that's what it was about. 📚

    Happy birthday, Brooklyn! 🎂

    I hope you had a wonderful week. 🌞

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