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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 #314

On The Blog Recently

• Magical Book Recommendations
• "Dark" Nonfiction Book Recommendations
• Young Adult Book Series Recommendations
• The End Of The Year Book Tag
• Nonfiction Books I'm Thankful I Read

In My Reading Life

I did it! I finished one of my stupidly huge history books. I started reading two chunky beasts on November 1, so I feel like I accomplished something by finishing one of them.

I read A People's History Of The United States by Howard Zinn. It's an upside-down look at US history. Instead of focusing on presidents and business leaders, it tells the story of working-class people. I have mixed feelings about it. If you're interested in US history, then it's a must-read because it focuses on events and topics that other history books overlook. I'm glad I read it. I learned a lot, but the writing style is bland and boring! This book is a complete slog. It took me a month to read because I'd fall asleep after 10 pages.

I pushed through because the information is interesting. The book highlights how the US government almost always sides with money and businesses over humans. If working-class people want something (such as child labor laws or leaving the doors of a factory unlocked so workers don't die in fires), then the working-class people have to do more than vote. Historically, US politicians don't care about people until those people disrupt the money and businesses. Then the politicians will notice and (occasionally) fix the problems.

I found the end of the book way more readable than the beginning. Once it started talking about events that happened during my lifetime, it became easier to stay engaged in the story. I guess this just proves that I'm selfish and think of myself as the main character of the universe. Nothing interesting happened before me!

Speaking of nothing interesting, the other book I'm slogging through is The Life Of Elizabeth I by Alison Weir. It's exactly what it says on the cover. It's a biography of Queen Elizabeth I, who ruled England in the late 1500s. I have less than 100 pages left to read. I can make it!

I'm also finding the end of this book more engaging than the beginning. Elizabeth is old at the end, so her advisors have given up on forcing her into a marriage and are just letting her rule the country. Reading 300+ pages of men shoving other men at the queen is tedious. I'm probably the only person on earth who saw the word "menopause" and went, "OMG, FINALLY! This is your moment, Elizabeth! Live your best life!"

In The Rest Of My Life

Five things that made me happy last week:

1. If you celebrated Thanksgiving, I hope it was awesome. My parents spent all morning cooking tons of different foods. Baby Brooklyn ate one slice of turkey and massive quantities of cheese. No other foods. Good times.
2. The finale of The Great British Bake Off. My favorite contestant actually won. That hardly ever happens.
3. The prairie dogs have gone fluffy! I love when they grow their winter fur and get cute and chubby. I'd want to cuddle them if they weren't full of rabies and bubonic plague fleas.
4. Walking around my neighborhood and looking at decorations. The houses have a mixture of Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and generic fall/winter stuff. It's like nobody knows what holiday it is, so we're celebrating all of them.
5. I had a boxing lesson on Thanksgiving morning, and my trainer put Christmas music on the gym speakers. I don't think the other gym patrons were as excited as I was.

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