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The Sunday Post is a chance to recap the past week, talk about next week, tell you what I’m reading, and share news. It’s hosted by The Caffeinated Book Reviewer, Readerbuzz, and Book Date.

 

 

 

The Sunday Post #255

 

 

 

 

On The Blog Last Week

 

• On Tuesday I talked about the 2020 releases I’m still desperate to read.

 

 

 

 

On The Blog This Week

 

• On Tuesday I share my favorite books of 2020.
• On Thursday we figure out if my 2020 five-star predictions actually came true.

 

 

 

 

In My Reading Life

 

Brace yourself. I’m about to ramble. Last week’s reading gave me thoughts.

I finished Children Of The Cave by Virve Sammalkorpi. It’s historical science fiction about two scientists who discover a group of feral children living in a cave. It’s a quick read with strong Jules Verne vibes, so if you’re a fan of his stuff, check this book out. The novel is written like a diary. The writing style is extremely realistic for a fake, fantastical journal. The diarist doesn’t explain everything because he’s writing the entries for himself. Then things go wrong, and he can’t always write consistently. Just like with a real diary, the reader is left to piece together what happened between the diary entries. The book also has interesting observations about human behavior. When the scientists first see the “children,” they’re not sure if they’re humans or animals. They kill some of the children and preserve their bodies for science, but then they panic because they don’t know if they just committed murder. The wilderness guides who travel with the scientists want to kill all the children because the creatures don’t fit with the guides’ religion or understanding of the world. It’s a thought-provoking book. It shows that humans are terrible at dealing with the unknown. We destroy things before we can truly understand them.

My only complaint is about the character development. There are a lot of characters, and the diary format doesn’t allow for all of them to be fully developed. Since I didn’t feel anything for the characters, I had a hard time caring about the science-and-love-and-murder dilemma. It’s an intellectually fascinating dilemma. I just wasn’t emotionally invested in the characters’ lives.

 

Then I read Imaginary Friend by Stephen Chbosky. OMG, people, this book is a chunky beast. Luckily, it’s fast paced, so I could happily read a few hundred pages in one sitting without getting bored. It’s a horror story about a kid who goes missing in the forest. When he’s found, he has a dangerous imaginary friend and an obsession with building treehouses. Chaos ensues. The plot and characters are reminiscent of IT by Stephen King. A supernatural creature is threatening a town; a kid is trying to stop it. When Imaginary Friend first came out, I saw it described as “Weird Catholic fanfiction.” I’d agree with that description. There are virgin births, snake women, kids trying to free people from Hell, stuff like that. It’s very bizarre. The characters are all Catholic, and church is an important part of their lives. Toward the end, I think the religion stuff got a bit heavy handed. I wasn’t always sure if I was reading a horror story or an inspirational morality tale. Maybe it’s both? It’s definitely an odd combination. I didn’t hate it.

There’s actually a lot I love about this book. The beginning hooked me right away. I adore the characters and appreciate how much they love their friends and family. Most of the kids have competent, normal parents! That rarely happens in books! There’s a kid who the bullies nickname “Special Ed,” which was my nickname in elementary school. So . . . memoires. Ed is relatable. Except, I was confused about why his friends call him “Special Ed.” I know why the bullies do it, but why would his friends constantly call him a mean name? Especially when his friends are in the exact same special education class as him? I don’t know. This wasn’t explained and is not relevant to the story. It just bothered me.

Overall, I enjoyed Imaginary Friend. I flew through the pages and didn’t see the plot twists coming. My biggest complaint is the length. Watching badass god-children slay deer-demons in a Hell-forest is fun, but after 700+ pages of it, I was ready for it to be over. There’s a ton of action, but it’s repetitive action.

On Christmas Eve, I reread A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. I don’t know how many times I’ve read this book. A lot. I love it. Usually, I’m not a Dickens fan because I can tell he got paid by the word and stuffed as many words into his books as possible, but A Christmas Carol is pretty succinct. I love Christmas, and I love spooky stuff, so this is a perfect “Me” book. It was also the 100^th book I read in 2020.

Right now, I’m reading Foxlowe by Eleanor Wasserberg. I have no clue what’s happening in this book, but there’s a commune and a spooky house, so I’m intrigued. I’m also reading Finders Keepers by Stephen King. It starts with several murders. Of course I’m hooked.

 

 

 

In The Rest Of My Life

 

Five things that made me happy last week:

 

1. My book shopping spree giveaway is over! I won't talk about it incessantly anymore! If you’re curious about the winner, check the Rafflecopter widget here.
2. Christmas cookies! Lots of them.
3. I started watching The Queen’s Gambit on Netflix. I know nothing about chess, but it’s a super-interesting show.
4. Baby Brooklyn had an excellent Christmas. Well, except when she barfed all over her cute Christmas outfit, but aside from the barf, it was a successful day. She loves to play “cooking,” so her grandparents got her fake food. You do not understand how many plastic tacos I’ve assembled in the past 72 hours. It’s A LOT of tacos. She got other toys, but she just wants to play “cooking tacos.” I might lose my mind if I have to cook one more imaginary taco.
5. My parents got me a new computer! No more decade-old laptop for me! I feel very modern. And Twitter doesn’t freeze all the time because the new computer can handle the Internet’s gif obsession. Bring on the ridiculous gifs, Twitter! I want to see them all.

 

 

 

 

Tweet Gifs At Me, Friends

 

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