Monday Malarkey

Recent arrivals (all purchased, top to bottom):

• In Persuasion Nation by George Saunders
• Remarkable Creatures by Tracy Chevalier
• My One Square Inch of Alaska by Sharon Short
• Challenger Deep by Neal Shusterman
• Jane Steele by Lyndsay Faye
• Seventeen by Hideo Yokoyama
• Bowlaway by Elizabeth McCracken
• Golden State by Ben H. Winters
• The Wartime Sisters by Lynda Cohen Loigman
• Trumpocracy by David Frum

A lot of these have been on my wish list for some time, so I went a little hog wild on a day I was feeling down in the dumps. Apparently, this is a common thing for book lovers. Someone in one of my book groups on Facebook asked people to admit how many books they have coming in the mail *right at this moment* and one woman said, "I have 48 in my cart at Book Outlet."


Books finished since last Malarkey:

• Bubble Kisses by Vanessa Williams and Tara Nicole Whitaker
• Stranger Planet by Nathan W. Pyle
• Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
• The End of October by Lawrence Wright
• Artificial Condition by Martha Wells
• I Am I Am I Am by Maggie O'Farrell
• The Good Girl by Mary Kubica
• Stop! Bot! by James Yang
• Tales from Outer Suburbia by Shaun Tan
• The War I Finally Won by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley
• The Plains by Gerald Murnane
• They Called Us Enemy by Takei, Elsinger, Scott, and Becker
• Too Much and Never Enough by Mary L. Trump
• Dominicana by Angie Cruz

I guess it's been a while since I did a Monday Malarkey post. I'm planning to do them every other week, so there will not be a Monday Malarkey next week but I'll post one two weeks from today. In case you're wondering, part of the reason I managed to read so many books in the past few weeks was my participation in the "Laid-back reading challenge" via Instagram. I enjoyed being in a small group reading for a week together and chatting. It inspired me.


Currently reading:

• Pride, Prejudice, and Other Flavors by Sonali Dev
• Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? by Beverly Daniel Tatum

I'm still not even past the introduction of the Tatum book so I imagine it will be one of those books I put in my "currently reading" category a couple of times and then potentially drop, even though I'm still reading it because saying I'm still reading it makes me cringe. But, I'm sure I'll eventually finish it. It's just going to take some time.


Posts since last Malarkey:

• Bubble Kisses by Vanessa Williams and Tara Nicole Whitaker (book review)
• Stranger Planet by Nathan W. Pyle (book review)
• Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen (book review)
• The End of October by Lawrence Wright (book review)
• Fiona Friday: Just pointing this out (cat photos)
• Artificial Condition by Martha Wells (book review)
• I Am I Am I Am by Maggie O'Farrell (book review)
• The Good Girl by Mary Kubica (book review)
• Stop! Bot! by James Yang (book review)
• Fiona Friday (cat photo)

I decided I like doing a sort of "round-up" post of what I've read and posted, now and then, so while I considered getting rid of Monday Malarkey, I've wholly rejected the notion, now. It will continue, just spaced out a bit more.


In other news:

This week, Huz and I were watching a medical professional on the news. He said that even after the human trials for COVID-19 vaccines are finished, a vaccine will have to be mass produced and then somehow distributed to the public and because all of that takes time, he couldn't imagine that it would be less than a year before we can go back to normal. Huz turned to me and said, "Another year with you? Ugh," and I laughed because I know when he's joking. Seriously, kids, this is the best thing about a long marriage. Get yourself a partner who can insult you and make you laugh because you know he's kidding.

Anyway . . . a year. What an awful thought. We are introverts and we're doing okay but we still occasionally get a little stir crazy. Yesterday, we drove the 30 miles back to Vicksburg to go through a drive-through Mexican place, really just to get out of the house. The girl in the drive-through window wasn't wearing a mask (against local mandate). I don't know if I'll go there, again.

The worst news of the week is that I have finally reached the stage of knowing someone personally who died from COVID-19. I knew that time would come. First, it was knowing people who knew people who had the virus, then knowing someone personally, then knowing a bunch of people who had it personally, and now . . . my favorite childhood Sunday School teacher, the mother of one of my best friends has passed away.

Please wear a mask and socially distance.

Here's a behind the scenes photo of Fiona with my books because . . . of course she had to check them out:

The purple is a tumbling mat I use for yoga because a yoga mat is too thin for me, now.

I'm on my last week of that painting class, Postwar Abstract Expressionism. It has been the most amazing learning experience. I've taken some so-so classes through Coursera but Postwar Abstract Expressionism was first rate. The only problem I had with it was the inability to ask questions of the instructor. There was no common board where that kind of interaction could take place. But, I learned a lot and have had so much fun with the painting lessons. While I'm working on the final lesson, I'm already scouting around to see what kind of class I can find to participate in, next.

Have you found anything wonderful to help fill your time with new learning experiences during the pandemic?

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