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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 #317
On The Blog Recently
- The End Of The Year Book Tag
- Nonfiction Books I'm Thankful I Read
- Cozy Book Recommendations
- I Made Romance Books (I'm Sorry & You're Welcome)
- Winter Reading Ideas
In My Reading life
I got nothing to tell you. I spent the week living in Christmas chaos and health insurance hell. Very little reading happened.
I'm nearly finished with my reread of Thunderhead by Neal Shusterman. I'm happy I decided to reread this series. I forgot about some of the plot twists (there are a lot of them), so I'm getting surprised all over again. I still love the badass characters, and the gallows humor, and the ethical questions that the series addresses.
Here are some Thunderhead quotes for you:
“Finding easy scapegoats for complicated problems had been a human pastime since the first mob of cavemen struck someone down with a rock.”“There is a fine line between freedom and permission. The former is necessary. The latter is dangerous . . . While freedom gives rise to growth and enlightenment, permission allows evil to flourish in a light of day that would otherwise destroy it. A self-important dictator gives permission for his subjects to blame the world’s ills on those least able to defend themselves. A haughty queen gives permission to slaughter in the name of God. An arrogant head of state gives permission to all nature of hate as long as it feeds his ambition. And the unfortunate truth is, people devour it. Society gorges itself, and rots. Permission is the bloated corpse of freedom.”
Interesting, right?
In The Rest Of My Life
Five things that made me happy last week:
- Running in the early morning. It's dark, icy, and below freezing, but I get to watch the sun come up and see the deer and birds. Also, it's very quiet. If I have cool stuff to look at, I don't think about how much running sucks.
- My Christmas decorations are up! All 4 trees are decorated. Yes, I have 4 Christmas trees because I have too many ornaments.
- My Christmas shopping is done, and the gifts are in the mail. I hope everybody likes them.
- I think I have health insurance for next year. Cross your fingers for me because I don't know for sure yet. Trying to find insurance that fits my needs and doesn't cost $294 a month is a struggle that consumes the entire open enrollment period. I hope I've got it figured out for another year because there's no way I can afford $294 a month.
- Usually, I say "Absolutely not" to retellings, but I will be first in line to read the Grinch retelling that this dude is talking about. Someone needs to write it.
@sheazell #grinch #samiam #drseuss #wubbulousworldofdrseuss #greeneggsandham #conservation #extinction #fantheory #grinchmeat ♬ original sound - Shea Zellweger
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Take care of yourselves and be kind to each other. See you around the blogosphere!
That reminds me I was supposed to go for a run this morning lol. It's so unnaturally cold here today - I just conveniently forgot! :)
ReplyDeleteHealth insurance is such a scam. It's ridiculous to pay so much money each month. My Medicare payment is more than my Social Security check! Crazy, right? I hope you got things figured out.
ReplyDeleteI never liked running. Walking? Yes, absolutely. But that runners' high? Never felt it.
Hope you find some great books to read up next to distract you from Christmas chaos and health insurance hell.
I hope you'll get your health insurance AJ! Also that dog with the fainted tree made me laugh so hard!
ReplyDeleteI get health insurance through my job, but I don't think I pay less than $294 a month (and I work for a gigantic company). It's just spread out by pay period. It went up for next year too. It's one of those necessary evils. Wow! Four trees. You go hard for Christmas. Good on you getting out running.
ReplyDeleteHealth insurance is horrible. Even with it through my job I pay $200 a month. And I have a high deductible. And that dog meme is why I don't have a tree this year! hahaha!!
ReplyDeleteyes health insurance is hell. I can barely manage one tree so good for you. Luckily our Lulu never bothers the tree, or anything that isn't hers. Wishing you peace and joy for your holidays!
ReplyDeleteAnne - Books of My Heart This is my Sunday Post
Glad you enjoy running in any weather. It's sure not for me. I'll walk anywhere, anytime, but just could NOT get excited about running! I have a friend that puts up 4 trees too....gotta admire the effort! And don't get me started on health insurance. If we had a functioning government, they could try to deal with that, but unfortunately, they are so dysfunctional, I'll be amazed if they accomplish anything at all. Which is depressing. :( In spite of that, I'm glad you found something and are set. I'm still working and have decent coverage there, but retirement is coming up and all that will change. Sigh.
ReplyDeleteHappy Holidays!
Terrie @ Bookshelf Journeys
https://www.bookshelfjourneys.com/post/sunday-post-29
Christmas is turning out to be chaotic here too. Can the holidays just be over? :) And health insurance. We do things so silly here.
ReplyDelete4 trees is awesome. We have one main one but a couple little ones too, and it is nice to have different trees around the house.
Okay we need stories set in the Suessiverse now. :)
Love that meme with such an innocent expression on the dog’s face! Those quotes from Thunderhead are fabulous!
ReplyDeleteI am no longer able to run, but I sure appreciated your thoughts on early morning runs.
Thank you for the link of non-fiction books you’re grateful you read. I’ve heard of most of them and Born a Crime is high on my TBR list. The Stranger in the Woods is now on my TBR. If you like evicted, you might enjoy Nickeled and Dimed. It’s an older book, but very relevant. I enjoyed Educated so much that I purchased it brand new – not something I do very often. Never Split the Difference is another book I’m looking forward to reading!
Thank you for sharing such great reads!
I have been blessed with insurance my whole life, but I still think we could do better as a nation. It is absurd how much people pay for insurance. Have you checked out the options for Twitter?
ReplyDeleteHealth insurance is such a nightmare. We've been tying to help our kids and it's so difficult. I hope you have a great week!
ReplyDeleteI need four trees (at least). I just don't have room for them in my condo. Not sure I've have the time to put them up, either.
ReplyDeleteI love the idea of running in the quiet with the sun coming up but I can neither run nor get up early! It sounds lovely though. I love the picture with the tree and the dog! The dog's expression is so priceless though I'm sure I would have lots of ugly words to say if I came home to that though! Have a great week!
ReplyDeleteFingers crossed on insurance for you. I am not reading at all either. Too busy with Christmas.
ReplyDeleteI love this guy's idea about the Grinch, even if it is a bit creepy.
Hope you have a wonderful holiday.
https://thebookconnectionccm.blogspot.com/2022/12/its-monday-what-are-you-reading-and_19.html
The health insurance stuff really is a pain. I went through that too. 4 Christmas trees? You are definitely ready for the holiday! Merry Christmas! Have a great week!
ReplyDeleteFiguring out health insurance is crazy. I hope you have it, and at a good price. Yay for finishing Christmas shopping. I'm ALMOST there!! And 4 trees!! I love it!
ReplyDeleteLauren @ www.shootingstarsmag.net
Yep, fainted! Good luck with the health insurance. I think mine is arranged but am still waiting for the 2023 cards. Come see my week here. Happy reading!
ReplyDeleteYikes way to much for health insurance. What a worry. Sounds like you are well organised for Christmas. I love rereading and being surprised all over again. And if we loved it the first time we are sure to love it again.
ReplyDeleteI haven't put up any of our decorations, I've just been too busy/tired, but we did just get our first tree! And of course, Henry just wants to play with it!
ReplyDeleteWe finally put up our Christmas tree today so it’s finally looking festive here!
ReplyDeleteI’m sorry about your health insurance woes, we pay about that much a year for universal healthcare.
Wishing you a great reading week, and a very merry Christmas!
Yes,I feel your pain! I have a 50/50 split and an HMO plan and it's still a big monthly deduction, and my husband is self-employed, so his costs are even worse. Christmas prep and parttes eat up a lot of reading time in December! Last night I started to get a sore throat so I'm bargaining with the germ gods that I won't complain anymore if I can just stay healthy through the holidays!
ReplyDeleteI'm a huge fan of Neal Schusterman, and I have STILL not read the Scythe series!! :o I know, crazy. I hope to get to it in the new year. Wow, those quotes from Thunderhead. That's part of what I love about Schusterman - his stories are gripping but his writing is also very thought-provoking.
ReplyDeleteOMG - that Grinch video!!! Every year, we have a Cookie/Grinch party with our best/oldest friends - we've been doing it since our kids were all tiny (they're now all in their 20's). We decorate cookies and then watch The Grinch (the original animated version, of course - we're purists). So, I sent the video to them yesterday. My friend said she'll never look at the Grinch the same way again! lol
So glad you worked out your insurance. I get it!!! My husband retired in September, so we lost the health insurance we'd had for 30 years. It took me 2+ months of almost daily phone calls to finally straighten out the coverage for him (on Medicare plus supplemental) and for me and our son. It's insane how complicated it all is.
Hope you have a wonderful Christmas with your family!
Sue
Book By Book
I hope your reread of the Scythe series will end with reading Gleanings the most recent one to come out. I finished it a couple weeks ago and really enjoyed it.
ReplyDelete4 trees! I'm impressed! Are the all natural! It took us nearly 3 weeks to decorate our 1 tree, so we have a way to go to catch up with your holiday spirit! - Melinda @ A Web of Stories
ReplyDeleteNice cover and quotes from Thunderhead.
ReplyDeleteThe cat I had in high school took our tree down like that several times. My dad finally learned to tie a rope around it and anchor it to the wall. She was not going to stop climbing it! :-) And only about the top half was decorated because she knocked down and ate anything that hung lower. Cats. They're such loveable little jerks!
Health insurance is a scam. We pay and pay and pay and then we need it and we're expected to pay some more, or the tests we need are denied, or some BS like that. *sigh*
We have one 3' Christmas tree because we live in our RV while my husband is working away from home. I should have had it decorated in about 10 minutes but I got frustrated with the way the pre-strung lights were all clumped up so I redid all of that. And it probably didn't look any better in the end!
Merry Christmas to you and your family!
Happy holidays and Merry Christmas! I'm listening to The Gleanings right now and it has made me laugh so many times because of the gallows humor. I love Shusterman so much.
ReplyDelete