Monday Malarkey

Recent arrivals: (top to bottom)

• 100 Sideways Miles by Andrew Smith,
• Earth to Charlie by Justin Olson, and
• The Mueller Report, publ. by The Washington Post, all purchased
• How Not to Die Alone by Richard Roper - from Penguin Random House for review

I ordered 100 Sideways Miles a while ago (from Book Depository) on one of those days that I was thinking about the books I've wanted to buy but put on the back burner. I'd already forgotten about it, so it was a pleasant surprise when it arrived. Earth to Charlie, was an impulse purchase that I looked up when David Abrams (author of Fobbit) wrote about reading it. It sounded right up my alley and I've had a terrible time not diving into it immediately, but I fell behind on my ARC reading so it'll just have to wait. The Mueller Report . . . I started reading that on my phone (you can read it online for free) and within 14 pages two things had happened: 

a) My eyes were screaming. I hate reading electronically also, so I decided I was going to have to either print it out and have it spiral-bound or buy a copy. I don't know where to have things spiral bound, locally, so I opted for the latter. 

b) I'd decided Trump is much guiltier than I realized of accepting Russian help. I thought accepting help from foreign governments was illegal and that aid (money spent on ads, etc.) is considered in-kind donation or something like that? I'm confused. But, anyway, I bought a copy so I can read it at my leisure, mark it up, and be able to respond with knowledge and insight if anyone tries to tell me the investigation was a crock. 

Books finished since last Malarkey:

• On Democracy by E. B. White
• Summer of a Thousand Pies by Margaret Dilloway

On Democracy is a book of E. B. White's essays and poetry, often with oblique yet relevant references to democracy, that span the years 1928-1976. Summer of a Thousand Pies is a middle grade book that includes recipes (pie, cake, frosting). I enjoyed both.

Currently reading

• Last Day by Domenica Ruta
• The Unspeakable Mind by Shaili Jain
• The Free Speech Century by Stone and Bollinger

I'm thinking about adding Inspired by Rachel Held Evans to that list, but not sure if I'm ready to read her writing so soon after her death. We'll see. Last Day is an interesting idea — once a year, everyone celebrates in anticipation of the end of the Earth, which keeps not arriving (till it does, I think, but I haven't gotten there, obviously). Yesterday, I got to a surprisingly glaring error in the book that means I'll have to check a finished copy or connect with a publicist to see if it's been fixed. The Unspeakable Mind (about PTSD) opens with a story about how PTSD effected a former soldier and it was so gripping I hated to put the book down but it was time for bed so I've only read that intro story. I hope the rest of the book is equally fascinating.

And, The Free Speech Century is that book, the one I've been working on for 4 months and only occasionally mention. Some of the essays contain more legalese than others and are harder to read but you should see how many flags I've got in that book. Seriously, I should have found a highlighting pen instead of wasting so many flags! I'm at the point that I feel like, "OK, I've been reading this for too long. Time to wrap it up." It will still be slow going but I'm 2/3 of the way through, now, so the end is in sight.


Posts since last Malarkey:

• The Unlikely Adventures of the Shergill Sisters by Balli Kaur Jaswal (book review)
• Fiona Friday: Sunbeam (cat photo)

I didn't realize I only wrote one review, last week! I remember not feeling much like writing for a couple days, though. I guess a couple of days is a good portion of the week when you only post 5 days a week. Hopefully, this will be a better reviewing week but I'll probably keep the reviews short because I'm a little swamped with chores, this week.


In other news:


I guess you could say it was almost an anti-computer week. I didn't post much, spent most of my online time on the phone, but even had a couple days off from that when a new phone arrived, and then I shut the computer down and unplugged it for Saturday morning storms and didn't plug the computer back in till this morning. That means I didn't get my browser changed from Safari to whatever – probably Chrome — but Huz is home, this week, so maybe he can help me accomplish that in the evening. Most of my commenters are people I can track down elsewhere, so I've started going to other blogs or Facebook, etc., to reply to people who comment. That makes me feel better about being unable to comment directly at the blog.

In TV news, I'm still watching Star Trek: The Original Series, but I think I've only watched 3 episodes. That's because I usually watch a little bit whenever I'm sitting down with a meal and then I stop the episode and continue it the next time I have a few minutes to watch. We finished the second season of The Royal, this week. And, we watched the last 20 minutes or so of O, Brother, Where Art Thou? while I was crying about the news that Rachel Held Evans had died and it helped a little, since the movie is so funny.

After OBWAT, we watched Paris, Wine, and Romance on the Hallmark Channel. I have a feeling Huzzybuns was being kind because he knew I'd been avidly watching the updates about Rachel's health and was so hoping she'd recover. A good, goofy romance movie always helps soften bad news. I read up a little on the movie and the actors, after, because I noticed the heroine looked slightly pregnant and kept holding a coat or purse in front of her belly. I was interested to find out that they filmed their scene in front of Notre Dame just a week-and-a-half before it burned. And, yes, the actress is expecting. Cool.

©2019 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.