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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 #298

On The Blog Last Week

• On Tuesday, I shared my favorite books with villains as main characters.

On The Blog This Week

• On Tuesday, I talk about the books I'm (hopefully) going to read this spring.

In My Reading Life

Last week, I finished The Bright Ages: A New History Of Medieval Europe by Matthew Gabriele and David Perry. It's the history of medieval Europe (obviously), but it goes beyond medieval stereotypes. Yes, medieval Europe was a violent and superstitious place, but humans were still making advancements. This book talks about the "Bright" spots in the "Dark" ages.

I'm not sure how I feel about this one. It's an okay history book. The information interested me, but the writing style is pretty lifeless. It's a textbook. Lots of names, dates, and places. Sometimes it was hard to keep up with who's who and what's what. Most of the book is surface-level because it races through hundreds of years in 300 pages.

I did learn things! Did you know that bubonic plague was endemic on 3 continents for 500 to 600 years? Every few years, it would pop up, kill thousands, and die down again. That's why we should be grateful for vaccines.

I also like the parts about democracy in medieval cities and the parts about trade routes. The plague spread to multiple continents because people and stuff were constantly moving between Europe, Asia, and Africa. The white supremist fantasy of an isolated, Christian medieval Europe is not true. There was a lot of racial and religious mingling, especially in cities.

So . . . I'm not sure what to think about this book. If you want to learn about medieval Europe, then it's worth reading, but it'll bring back memories of boring high school history lectures.

Then I read The King Of Crows by Libba Bray. This is the fourth and final Diviners novel! What will I do with my life now that I'm not spending it reading these massive books? Overall, I enjoyed this series. It's a funny, spooky, escapist romp.

The Diviners is a young adult historical fantasy series set in the 1920s. It stars a (too large) posse of psychic characters who use their abilities to defeat ghosts that are attacking the US. In the fourth novel, the characters go on a spontaneous road trip from New York to California. Of course, chaos happens along the way.

The first book in the series is my favorite. The fourth is my least favorite. I think there are too many characters and plot lines. This book is bloated. The plot meanders and bounces around for hundreds of pages, and then the final battle with the bad guy is . . . meh. I didn't hate the ending! It's entertaining enough. I just think it's hard for an author to write a satisfying battle after that much buildup. My expectations were unrealistically massive. I wanted a big payoff after reading a very long road trip journey. I didn't get everything I wanted. That's probably my own fault.

Like many young adult books, this series is heavy handed with its morals, but the author does bring up some thought-provoking points. The series is about how all of us are making history right now. Are you making good history?

I know I just criticized this novel a whole bunch, but I still highly recommend the series. It's exactly what I needed. It's a fun paranormal adventure with memorable characters who don't take themselves too seriously.

Currently, I'm reading another nonfiction book. It's Let's Talk About Hard Things by Anna Sale. It's exactly what it says on the cover. It's a self-help book for how to talk about crappy topics. So far, I've only read the "Death" chapter. I don't feel like I learned much, but that's probably because I've had too much experience with death. Talking about it doesn't destroy me. I'm interested to see what the other chapters bring.

In The Rest Of My Life

Five things that made me happy last week:

1. Who watched The Courtship? It's a dating show like The Bachelor, but it's set during Jane Austen times. I thought it was silly and awkward. I'll definitely be watching the next episode because I'm trash. And the dresses are pretty.
2. While I was walking home from the grocery store, a partially deflated Happy Birthday balloon floated across my path. My first thought was, Pennywise? Is that you? Then I grabbed the balloon because it's my birthday on Friday. This is my birthday gift from the sky. (As soon as I got home, my balloon was claimed by Baby Brooklyn, but whatever. I felt special while walking home with it.)
3. After 107 years, the Endurance shipwreck has been found in Antarctica. I'm surprised by how nicely it's preserved. I thought it would be a few twigs and bits of metal, but you can actually tell it's a ship!
4. The Little Free Library was good to us. Usually, the books in my neighborhood's LFL are Christian books, Fox News Cinematic Universe nonsense books, or get rich quick schemes. Last week, someone filled the LFL with classics! I found 3 books for me and 1 for Baby Brooklyn. Good times.
5. This tweet reminded me that the song "Stacy's Mom" exists. My friends and I would rewrite the lyrics to that song when we were in high school. I'm glad to see that the rewriting tradition continues.

You will not regret spending 1 minute and 9 seconds of your life on this video. pic.twitter.com/3LGixLgNN1

— Nathan (@NathansPuns) March 2, 2022

I Want Friends For My Birthday!

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