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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 #260

 

 

 

 

On The Blog Last Week

 

• On Saturday there was a book haul.

 

 

 

 

On The Blog This Week

 

• On Tuesday I talk about old books that don’t suck.
• On Wednesday I list the February releases I’m excited to read.
• On Thursday I (hopefully) wrap up January.

 

 

 

 

In My Reading Life

 

I read 4 books last week! Don’t be too proud of me: They were all short.

I finished Surviving The Extremes: What Happens To The Body And Mind At The Limits Of Human Endurance by Kenneth Kamler, M.D. This is my second 5-star book of 2021! If you’re interested in medical nonfiction, it’s completely captivating. And completely horrifying. It kept me awake for several nights because I couldn’t stop reading. The book is exactly what it says on the cover. The author is an “extreme medicine” doctor who works with astronauts, deep ocean divers, and mountain climbers. The book is about what happens to humans in environments that are not human friendly. The stories the author tells are simultaneously terrifying and amazing. That’s why I couldn’t stop reading them. I liked every chapter, but I think my favorite is the one about Everest. I’m never going to climb that mountain. Nope, nope, not worth the potentially horrific side effects.

Then I read Elevation by Stephen King. If you want to get into King but are afraid of gore, I recommend this novella. There’s no blood or guts or bizarre sex scenes. It’s about a man who looks overweight, but the scale says he’s losing weight at an un-survivable rate. He recruits his neighbors to help solve his weight-loss mystery. Nobody knows what will happen when his weight reaches 0. I finished this book in two nights because it’s suspenseful. What happens if someone has no weight?! The end is devastating, as you’d expect from a horror author. My only complaint is that I wanted more. It’s such a tiny book! I would have liked more exploration of the misfit neighbors theme. At its core, the story is about outcasts standing up for each other, so more character development would have been appreciated. Most of the characters are one-dimensional or small-town stereotypes. It’s an entertaining story, though! Its tone feels different from most of King’s other books.

 

Then I read Lily And Dunkin by Donna Gephart. This middlegrade novel is adorable. Also, it made me crave doughnuts so bad! The kids basically live at a doughnut shop. I couldn’t handle the food descriptions. They made me hungry. Anyway, the book is about a transgender girl—Lily—who befriends a boy with bipolar disorder—Dunkin. The author does an amazing job of writing realistic middle school relationships. Dunkin is a popular kid; Lily is not. I loved watching Dunkin try to navigate his complicated social life. It definitely brought back bad middle school memoires of kids being tortured by their “friends” if they were seen talking to the “wrong” person. Lily and Dunkin both make selfish mistakes that are understandable and realistic for their ages. I like the main characters, but they both have giant, complicated life problems, and I think it’s too much for one book. Some of the smaller plotlines are dropped or overlooked. For example, Lily has a friend named Dare who is always pushing her to wear dresses and makeup. Lily doesn’t feel comfortable wearing dresses to school. I was hoping Lily would stand up to Dare and tell her to stop pushing, but nope. Lily just feels bad for not dressing how Dare wants her to dress. I guess that’s realistic for thirteen-year-old girls, but I was impatiently waiting for the moment when Lily would tell Dare to shut her trap and stop telling other people how to dress. That moment never came. There were a lot of moments that never came. I think there was just too much stuff happening to explore it all in depth.

Then I read the graphic novel version of The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood and Renée Nault. Of course I loved it! The Handmaid’s Tale is one of my favorite novels ever. The graphic novel adaptation is both colorful and profoundly creepy. I raced through it in a few hours. I know that graphic novel adaptations sometimes get hate from readers, but personally, I’m thrilled that artists are making classics accessible to people who can’t or won’t read the originals. I’m a fan of anything that encourages reading. The Handmaid’s Tale is a dystopia about a society where most people are infertile. The last fertile women are called Handmaids and are owned by rich men who want children. As you’d expect, the plot is relentlessly bleak, but I love the writing style and the narrative structure. The graphic novel manages to capture those elements from the original. I was pleased! I do wonder if the end of the graphic novel would be confusing to someone who hasn’t read the original. I thought the ending was rushed and disjointed. There isn’t much room for explanation in a graphic novel because it’s mostly pictures. I still highly recommend the graphic adaptation. The illustrations are beautiful.

 

Right now, I’m reading Things In Jars by Jess Kidd. It’s pretty good so far. I’m intrigued. It’s historical fantasy about a psychic detective and her ghost friend who are trying to solve the kidnapping of a (possible) mermaid. It’s frivolous and escapist. I’m having fun.

 

 

 

In The Rest Of My Life

 

Five things that made me happy last week:

 

1. I’m still loving the Cold Bernie Sanders memes. I may have saved too many of them. You’re going to be seeing Cold Bernie in my Sunday Posts for a long time. I’m not sorry.
2. It snowed a ton. I had to skip a few runs on my half-marathon training schedule, which means training will take longer, but my body got a chance to heal. I’m happy to be slightly less sore!
3. There are no more unread books from 2019 on my TBR shelf. All my unread books are from last year or this year.
4. . . . Of course I ordered a box of new books to celebrate finishing all my 2019 books.
5. I’m planning what I want to eat for the Super Bowl. I don’t care about football. I just want party snacks. Lots and lots of party snacks. Are you eating anything delicious for the Super Bowl?

 

 

 

 

I Occasionally Have Interesting Thoughts

 

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