Sunday, August 8, 2021

The Sunday Post #276

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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 ReviewerReaderbuzz, and Book Date.

 



The Sunday Post #276

 




Public Service Announcement

 

Attention, bookworms! Two of my favorite things have collided! A bookstore is hosting a readathon! That’s right, Book Depository is running a readathon. They're doing a stunningly terrible job of advertising it, so I thought I advertise for them. The 'thon goes from August 23 to August 30. To celebrate, Book Depository is offering a 10% discount + free international shipping on books that fit the readathon prompts. Check out the readathon details and all the sweet deals.

 

 


 

 


On The Blog Recently


 

 

 

 

In My Reading Life


I read The Field Guide To The North American Teenager by Ben Philippe. I have mixed feelings about this one. Mostly, I loved it. It's like the movie Mean Girls (which is one of my favorite movies) but instead of mean girls, the book has mean boys. It stars a Black French-Canadian teenage hockey fan who moves to Texas. The main character, Norris, is sarcastic and snarky. I laughed a lot. I love him and the side characters. They're all complex and believable. I enjoyed the characters, but I was less thrilled with the plot. As soon as Norris starts writing a "Field Guide" that contains mean, judgmental comments about his classmates, I knew what would happen. I've seen Mean Girls a thousand times. I also think the end is a bit anti-climatic. It's realistic, but I guess I was expecting more resolution. (Like what happens in Mean Girls.) I don't know. I did like the themes the book explores. You should never make snap judgments about people. Strangers are more complicated than you imagine. Also, if you have mean thoughts about someone, NEVER PUT EVIDENCE OF YOUR THOUGHTS IN WRITING! You know what will happen. You've probably seen Mean Girls.




Then I finished Ramona Blue by Julie Murphy. I want to read everything Julie Murphy has written. The writing in this novel is stunning. The author really brings small-town Mississippi to life. This is a young adult contemporary book with a lot of brilliant characters and no plot. The characters are definitely the focus. I appreciate that Ramona is still figuring out her life. She thinks she knows what the future will bring, but maybe she has the power to change it. Ramona is also still figuring out her sexuality. She has only dated girls in the past, but then she reconnects with long-lost-friend Freddie, and . . . stuff gets confusing. Sometimes, it takes a while to figure out who you are and what you want from the future. Don't trap yourself. Go out and explore. This book is very long and very romance-focused, which means I got a little bored with it. Not enough happens for me, and what did happen seems tropey. For example, Ramona and Freddie get in arguments for stupid reasons because that's just what happens in YA contemporary fiction. I wish the drama had been fresher. (Actually, I have that same wish about most YA contemporary fiction.)




Finally, I finished The Lost City Of Z: A Tale Of Deadly Obsession In The Amazon by David Grann. I was searching for a biography of an explorer who wasn't an arctic explorer, and I found one! This is the story of British explorer Percy Fawcett. In 1925, Percy and his 21-year-old son trekked into the Amazon to find an ancient city called El Dorado. Father and son were never seen again. Mostly, this book taught me to stay out of the Amazon. There are too many bugs! Everything is gross and deadly. I'm too fluffy for that nonsense.

This is one of those books that's impossible to review because how do you review a person's life? I can't critique the plot or characters. The writing gets the job done. It's not anything special. Percy Fawcett was an intense dude with fascinating ideas about ancient Amazon civilizations. Like many old-time explorers, he was very selfish. He just left his wife and kids and went gallivanting around the wilderness for years at a time without the ability to contact them. I wouldn't let my husband get away with that. Percy's disappearance is a compelling mystery that kept me flying through the pages. I couldn't put this book down, even though I knew the mystery wouldn't be solved. I appreciate the end of the book where the author talks about how our understanding of the Amazon has changed. When Percy Fawcett was exploring, many people thought his ideas about lost Amazon cities were ridiculous. Nowadays, we're not so sure. Maybe Percy was on to something . . . . (I'd search for El Dorado myself, but, you know, there's all that gross and deadly stuff. Maybe it's best to let the city be lost.)




 

 

In The Rest Of My Life

 

Five things that made me happy recently:

 

  1. I reached my Goodreads goal! I set it low, so don’t be too impressed. I also haven't updated Goodreads in forever, so nobody knows I reached my goal.
  2. Baby Brooklyn thinks I know everything. It’s amusing. She points at random strangers and asks me their names. I don’t know their names, but I invent names for them because it might be advantageous for Brooklyn to think I’m omniscient.
  3. I got new fans! I don't mean "people who love me." I mean, "ceiling fans." The ceiling fans in two rooms of my house were broken. It gets stupidly hot in my house. Now my rooms will be slightly cooler than the surface of the sun. Also, shout out to my dad for installing the things.
  4. Who's watching the Olympics? I'm watching a marathon right now as I type this. I love seeing all the different sports. The track sports are my favorite because I can usually tell who won. I don't like sports with judges because I never know how to judge stuff.
  5. It was employee appreciation day at work. The bosses kept bringing me cake. I ate so much cake.

 

 

 

 

Please Be My (Non-Ceiling) Fan

 

 

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




29 comments:

  1. The Lost City of Z was such an unsettling read - it's crazy how much we still don't know about the Amazon!

    I love that little kids are so easily impressed!

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  2. Huh! Would never have thought of Book Depository doing a Readathon but it makes sense from a marketing standpoint, I suppose.

    Grats on the Goodreads goal! I decided to increase mine a little this week because I was getting close to completing it... and at 7 books I was only to happy to increase it to 10. 😂

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  3. Cake is always a good way to celebrate, and I hope your new fans bring you some comfort. Speaking of fans, that's adorable that your niece thinks that highly of you. My mother tends to google-check me on most things which I really find annoying especially when it comes to science. I LOVED Field Notes. I did want a follow up book or an epilogue though. I clearly remember that. Ramona Blue was such a wonderful book that was drown in the drama surrounding it. I am glad I read it.

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  4. Have fun during the readathon! And congrats on the Goodreads goal!

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  5. You can never go wrong with cake!

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  6. I need to update my book count for the year.

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  7. Wha ha ha!! Yea for new fans!! And of course you know everything...

    I'm actually one or two books behind on my Goodreads challenge. Maybe I should stop picking up books that are about 1000 pages.

    I don't recognize any of your books, but I will take a look!

    Have a good week AJ.

    Lots of love,

    An old Fan Elza Reads

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  8. Interesting to hear that The Book Depository are doing a readathon. I might have a look at it and take part. Congrats on reaching your GR goal! I'm almost there too and I also set a pretty low one.

    My Sunday Post

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  9. You made me laugh with baby Brooklyn! Also with all that cake it's time to run AJ LOL

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  10. That Book Depository readathon looks like fun. I like reading to a theme.

    I haven't read Ramona Blue, but my book club and I loved Dumplin'. It was clever and poignant.

    No Olympics for me. Not even one clip. I don't have a way to watch it, sadly.

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  11. Oh man...that's the one and only thing I miss about working IN the office. FREE FOOD.

    Adding Lost City of Z to my TBR, if it's not already on there. I see a 2016 film with an all-hottie cast. Guess I'll add that to my TBW list while I'm at it.

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  12. The Lost City of Z has been on my tbr list for years... really need to get to it. Sounds fascinating!

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  13. That's interesting about the BD readathon! Thank goodness they have you for their marketing department. :) Sounds fun.

    I've been totally watching the Olympics. Oh my gosh it's been ridiculous here the last two weeks. Always streaming some new sport. Like cycling- never watched before but now I'm all about the mountain biking and races. BMX too. Sailing was a fail though.

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  14. Thanks for the heads-up on the Book Depository readathon! I'm not sure if I will participate, but I might.

    I haven't been watching the Olympics. I just couldn't summon the enthusiasm for them this year. I'll probably watch some of the 2022 Winter Olympics, if they hold them. I love the figure skating and ice dancing, and some of the skiing and bobsled competitions.

    The Amazon is high on my list of places to avoid. I mean, on the one hand, it sound interesting, but as you say, there are too many bugs. And poisonous frogs. And other nasty critters. No, thank you.

    Baby Brooklyn sounds adorable!

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  15. I love your 5 things. Also I knew about Lost City of the Z because ... Charlie Hunnam! (That's Charlie with me in my avatar.) He plays Percy in the movie so OF COURSE I saw it. Things are such these days I want to read books that have mysteries which get solved.

    Anne - Books of My Heart This is my Sunday Post

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  16. Cake sounds like a really good idea, especially if it's because you are being appreciated!

    I love the Olympics and just need to watch the closing ceremony tonight.

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  17. I'm a big fan of cake! The Book Depository readathon sounds fun and I hadn't seen anything about it so thanks for sharing! Brooklyn sounds like a cutie and always good to be the all-knower! Have a wonderful week!

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  18. Yay for cake! I hadn't heard of the Book Depository readathon either!

    Have a great week!

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  19. Keep the mystique for as long as you can, sadly by the time they are preteens they are sure you know nothing about anything!
    Yay for fans and cake!

    Wishing you a great reading week

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  20. How cute is baby Brooklyn! Enjoy.

    And how great to have ceiling fans in the heat.

    Thanks for sharing your favorite things, and here are my WEEKLY UPDATES

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  21. The Lost City of Z is a story I've been interested in for a long time, but never got around to reading. I totally agree with you! I would NOT be okay with my husband taking off like that. Yikes.

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  22. How kind of your bosses to bring you cake! And yay for ceiling fans. My house gets way too hot if we don't have AC or fans or something.
    I love that Brooklyn asks you the names of strangers. LOL

    -Lauren
    www.shootingstarsmag.net

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  23. Cake and new ceiling fans? Sounds like an excellent week. Interesting assortment of books too. I'm getting relatively close to my Goodreads goal and will likely be increasing it since I also tend to set it low. I want to be sure to accomplish it. Come see my week here. Happy reading!

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  24. I am jealous of your ceiling fans. For FOURTEEN YEARS I've been asking my husband to install one in our bedroom! Lately, I've resorted to using a noisy little fan, hoping it will annoy him enough to install the ceiling fan--fingers crossed!

    Have a great week!

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  25. I could really go for some cake right now. I'm still watching Olympics even though it's over! There's so much recorded in the cloud. I could probably continue watching it for months!

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  26. I love the idea of you randomly giving strangers names for Brooklyn. So funny!

    Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction

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  27. I loved The Lost City of Z, I will read any book about explorers that I can get my hands on, and the Amazon is one of those locations that always has more and more to learn about. Ceiling fans are the best. I've been in apartments the last few years without ceiling fans and it's weird how much I miss them.

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  28. Mmmm, cake. And yay for new ceiling fans. Hope they're keeping you cool. I'm a big fan of Julie Murphy's writing too. Her characters are pretty unforgettable.

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  29. LoL - your fans. Now I want cake ;-)

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