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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 #296

On The Blog Last Week

• On Tuesday, there was a book haul.

On The Blog This Week

• On Tuesday, we talk about underhyped books that deserve more love.
• On Wednesday, I show you the great books coming out in March.

In My Reading Life

I did it! I finally finished As Meat Loves Salt by Maria McCann. It took me 3 weeks of solid slogging, but I did it. Was the book worth the effort? No, but when have I ever made good decisions?

As Meat Loves Salt is adult historical fiction about an awful dude in 1600s England named Jacob. After raping his own wife and murdering a guy, Jacob joins the military and develops an obsession with a coworker called Ferris. They start a romantic relationship that doesn't go well because Jacob is a control freak with anger management problems.

The beginning and end of the book are strong. I was hooked from page 1. Jacob is a train wreck of a human. I knew he was going to cause chaos and destruction, and I was interested to see how the drama would play out. The ending did not disappoint. Jacob's jealousy and desire for revenge destroys an entire community. If you love reading about irredeemably evil villains, then this novel is for you.

The middle of the book is where I struggled. The pacing is so slow! I realize that being a soldier (and later a farmer) is tedious, but I wanted something to happen. I kept putting the book down and not picking it up for days because nothing was happening. The plot wasn't holding my attention.

The relationship between Jacob and Ferris didn't fully hold my attention either because I didn't understand it. I don't know what Ferris sees in Jacob. Ferris isn't stupid. He often confronts Jacob about being an angry control freak who tries to separate Ferris from his friends. Why does Ferris bother with the relationship? It doesn't seem worth the stress.

So . . . I struggled with this one. It's a long book that feels like a long book.

After As Meat Loves Salt, I needed something short, so I picked up How To Order The Universe by María José Ferrada. This is a weird little story. It starts off cute and quirky and then becomes depressingly relatable. It's adult historical fiction about a child in 1970s Chile who drops out of school to travel the country with her hardware salesman father. The child's whole life is wrapped up in being a traveling saleswoman (saleschild?). She looks at the world through a lens of sales and hardware because that's all she knows. It's hard to explain, but it's fascinating to read.

Then, things change. There's an incident that separates her from her father for years. When they're reunited, Chile is different, and traveling hardware salesmen aren't really a thing anymore. That's where the book becomes depressingly relatable. What happens when your life changes so drastically that you don't understand it anymore? What do you do when your plans for the future collapse? How do you re-order your universe?

I don't think I "got" everything in this book because the writing style is disjointed, and I don't know anything about Chile in the 1970s, but it gave me a lot to think about.

Right now, I'm reading The Bright Ages: A New History Of Medieval Europe by Matthew Gabriele and David Perry. So far, I've only read the first chapter, but it has my attention. It seems like the book will examine the "Bright" advancements that came out of the "Dark" Ages.

In The Rest Of My Life

Five things that made me happy last week:

1. My dad randomly showed up with chocolate croissants. Mmm . . . chocolate.
2. I went to a restaurant! I haven't been to one since the summer because it's too cold for outdoor dining. Then, I saw a restaurant that was big and mostly empty. I was able to eat good nachos with lots of social distance.
3. Who watched The Woman In The House Across The Street From The Girl In The Window? (I hope I got all those words in the right order.) It's on Netflix. It's funny and has ridiculous plot twists. I loved it.
4. So much blogging. I nearly have all of March's posts done. I have 0 ideas for April. Tell me what to blog about.
5. We got lots of snow! I hope it makes up for no-snow December. We need snow because this place tends to start on fire every summer. There's a lot of dry grass.

I Promise I Won't Induce Rage On Your Socials

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