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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 #257

 

On The Blog Last Week

 

• On Tuesday we talked about 2021 middlegrade book releases.
• On Thursday I wrapped up December.

 

 

 

 

On The Blog This Week

 

• On Tuesday I talk about 2021 young adult book releases.
• Sometime I’ll post my giant 2020 wrap up. I’m working on this post slowly because it takes forever to analyze spreadsheets and make graphics.

 

 

 

 

In My Reading Life

 

I already found my first 5-star book of 2021! It’s Dry by Neal Shusterman and Jarrod Shusterman. They’re a father/son writing team. Dry is a dystopia about what happens when California runs out of water. Reading it was stressful! Probably because I live in a drought-prone place that starts on fire every summer and fall. I can relate to the water restrictions and the constant smell of smoke in the story. This is one of the most realistic dystopias I’ve ever read. I love the pacing. It reads quickly because there’s a lot of action, but you still get to know and love the characters. I felt bad for them every time they hit a dead end in their search for water. (Which was often. These kids just can’t catch a break.) I love that the characters are forced to make hard decisions. They make mistakes. They learn they’re not as badass as they first thought. They’re not heroes. I’m struggling to come up with something to complain about. I need a complaint! Um . . . I guess the bit about the wildfire was predictable. I knew the kids would be rescued, and I knew how they’d be rescued. That didn’t impact my enjoyment of the book at all. If you like dystopias, you need to read this one.

I also finished The Inexplicable Logic Of My Life by Benjamin Alire Sáenz. This book made me very aware that I’m no longer the target audience for young adult stories. It’s a slow, character-driven novel about a sad, angry, spoiled teen boy and his sad, angry, less-spoiled friends. I’m not entirely sure why they’re friends because the girl is mean to the boys and constantly pressures them do things they don’t want to do. I guess that’s realistic for teenagers. The book is basically 500 pages of teens wallowing in their own misery. I think I would have loved it when I was younger because I was also a sad, angry, spoiled teenager. As an adult, the book reads like overwrought tragedy porn. It’s just nonstop misery. Don’t these kids have something to do? They sit around all day and text each other sad, philosophical stuff. There’s a sexual assault that I don’t think is handled well by the author. It happens and then is barely mentioned again. Why is it in the book if the sex assault plotline goes nowhere? There’s more than enough angst without it! I found this book frustrating, but I didn’t hate it. It’s well-written. I like the discussions about cultural identity. The main character is a white kid who was adopted by a Mexican father. He doesn’t feel white or Mexican. I thought those bits of the story were interesting, but the rest got on my nerves. I’m just not the target audience for this novel. I’m way past my teen angst phase. I’m old and don’t have the energy for angst.

 

Right now, I’m reading Stella By Starlight by Sharon M. Draper. I love it so far. It’s a middlegrade novel set in a small town in the 1930s. I think it’s based on the experiences of the author’s parents and grandparents. So far, it’s a vivid slice-of-life story about two Black kids who sneak out of their house at night and accidentally witness a Ku Klux Klan rally. I’m also reading The Wolves Of Winter by Tyrell Johnson. It’s a dystopia set in Yukon Territory and is intense.

 

In The Rest Of My Life

 

Five things that made me happy last week:

 

1. I finished week 1 of training for a half-marathon. The running wasn’t too hard, but I really wish I could run faster. This is going to be a time-consuming project.
2. My parents got me a new computer for Christmas because my old one is near death. Instead of buying myself something practical, like Microsoft Word, I bought myself The Sims 4. I’ve been playing for a few hours every night. I love my perfect Sims world! The worst thing that happens there is lightning storms. No pandemics or coups or homeowners associations that make me take down the Christmas lights. (My Sim’s house is always highly decorated.)
3. It was my sister’s birthday. We had takeout pizza and carrot cake. It’s now been over a year since I last ate inside a restaurant. We went to Chili’s for my sister’s birthday last year. If we’d known that would be our last restaurant, we would have picked a better place to eat. Chili’s is fine, but it’s not last-restaurant fine!
4. There was an adorable fluffy fox in my yard one morning. It was probably in my yard because it was plotting nefarious ways to break into the neighbor’s bee hives or chicken coop—which isn’t nice—but it was a cute fox. We don’t see many foxes. They probably get eaten by the coyotes. We see a lot of those.
5. There are now 1,300 posts on this blog. That’s . . . a lot.

 

 

 

 

My New Year’s Resolution Is To Acquire Friends

 

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