The Sunday Post #389

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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

On The Blog Recently

• Books About Book Nerds
• Quarter Year Reading Check In
• Some Things Have Happened Since We Last Spoke
• Rapid Reviews Of All The Books I Read Last Summer
• My Year In Nonfiction

In My Reading Life

Last week, I read The Cold Vanish: Seeking The Missing In North America's Wilderness by Jon Billman. It's nonfiction about what happens when people disappear in nature. I have mixed feelings about this one. I love the book because I'm fascinated by the topic of missing people. The author interviews search and rescue experts and the families of missing people to uncover what really goes on when someone vanishes.

When a person goes missing, the person's family is left in an agonizing limbo. Is their family member alive? Dead? Kidnapped? Injured and suffering? Lost and surviving? Did the missing person choose to disappear and start a new life elsewhere? These questions become all-consuming for family members. It's easy to see how they could become desperate enough to consult psychics and bigfoot hunters. The author does a great job of showing the toll that a missing person case takes on a family.

I wasn't thrilled with the structure of the book. The author bounces between a few different missing-person stories. It makes the book feel rambling and disjointed. 

Also, when I Googled the book, I discovered that the family of Jacob Gray—one of the missing people whose story is told—object to how he's portrayed in the narrative. They don't think the author did enough research.

If you're interested in wilderness search and rescue, I recommend this one. However, I did get bored a few times because the story is unfocused.

In The Rest Of My Life

Five things that made me happy last week:

1. It's Nonfiction November! For the rest of November, I'll hopefully have a new blog post every Sunday and Monday.
2. I bought some books to read during Nonfiction November.
3. I ate an excellent burrito.
4. When I was coming home from work on Halloween night, I saw something huge and shiny walking down the side of the road. Turns out, it was a person in a knight costume riding a horse. They looked fully prepared for a jousting tournament. Later, I saw a ton of kids speeding around in a golf cart. Back in my day, we didn't have horses or golf carts. If we wanted to trick-or-treat at high speed, we wore rollerblades.
5. Baby Brooklyn had fun trick-or-treating, even though it was freezing outside. She dressed as a black cat. She was a very chubby cat because she had to wear a winter coat under her costume. Once again, she cared more about petting dogs than getting candy. Someone should invent a holiday where you go door-to-door and meet all the neighborhood dogs.

Halloween Is Over! I Went To Walgreens And Discovered That It's Christmas Now. Merry Christmas!

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