It's Monday 1/6! What Are You Reading?

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Life

 I know this weekly update is getting pretty boring, but I am still stuck in this relapse of my immune disorder, still with flu-like aches every day, and typing this from the couch, lying flat. The good news is that I have had some better days mixed in with the worse ones (today is a bad one). I am still experimenting with my medications and looking for something that helps, but the ups and downs–as always–seem pretty random, something my very logical mind isn’t happy with!

It’s snowing outside right now, the first real snow we’ve had here in Delaware in a couple of years. It’s very pretty, looking out the windows, and cozy inside.

Still, clear sky last night before the storm

Our feeder is busy this morning, with the birds all fluffed up!

Pretty snowfall from our back deck

My husband and I enjoyed our usual quiet New Year’s Eve. I love our traditions: staying home together, having a delicious dinner (filet mignon with roasted Brussels’ sprouts), watching two movies, and counting down as the ball drops on TV. It is always a big victory for me to make it till midnight!

Happy New Year!

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Next Exit - this unique movie combines drama and comedy set against a science fiction backdrop; while the premise sounds dark, it is actually a warm, uplifting movie about hope, meaning, and connections. We both enjoyed it. My review and a trailer at the link.

And be sure to check out Sheila’s annual First Book of the Year post at Book Journey! See if you can spot me

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Christmas Book Haul! The Books We Gave and Received for Christmas – including a bit about each one and why they were chosen

Friday Reads 1/2/24 – Last Books of 2024 and First Books of 2025

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I decided to stop writing TV and movie reviews in October last year … but I still want to tell you about the great shows and movies we discover! As evidenced by last week’s movie review – I couldn’t help myself. But I really don’t have the time/energy to devote to full reviews, so instead I am adding this short section to my Monday post.

We enjoyed these two movies on New Year’s Eve and thought both were excellent:

Win Win – This funny, heartwarming drama starring Paul Giamatti is all about family, with a twisty plot, a good guy who does something bad, characters to cheer for, and a happy ending. It’s available for under $4 on many streaming platforms (we watched it on Amazon).

Thelma – I’ve been meaning to watch this one ever since it was released in June! It’s the hilarious and heart-warming story of an elderly woman, played by June Squibb, who gets scammed and sets out on a mission to get her money back. She’s great in the role, and it’s a very entertaining movie. Available free on Hulu or for a fee on other platforms ($4.99 on Amazon).

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My first book of the new year is Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times by Katherine May. It’s a memoir in which the author describes one particularly difficult winter for her family, using “winter” both literally and figuratively, explaining that everyone encounters a personal winter at some point(s) in their lives. She uses the months from September through March as jumping off points to discuss topics like metamorphosis, light, dark, slumber, survival, and more. This is the perfect book for me right now, as I am in the midst of my own personal winter with this relapse, as I hibernate in our home with snow and cold outside. I’m a little past the halfway mark now, with lots of passages tabbed!

On audio, I just started listening to The Briar Club by Kate Quinn, my book group’s pick for January. I’ve heard great things about this book, and I enjoyed Quinn’s The Diamond Eye. She has a talent for historical fiction, taking real-life people and events and building rich, full stories around them. Unlike some of her others, this novel is not based on a real person, but it centers on a real time and place and the world events that defined it. The focus here is on the Briarwood House, a rundown boarding house for women in Washington, DC, in 1954. I’ve only just started it, so I’m getting to know the widely different cast of women living in the home, as well as the cranky, strict woman who runs the house, and her children, Leah, and 13-year-old Pete. It’s great so far, with in-depth characters set against the backdrop of the paranoia of the McCarthy hearings and the beginning of the Korean War.

My husband, Ken, is reading The Searcher by Tana French, a birthday gift from me, though he is still spending more time watching football than reading (he’s a big fan of college football and an Oklahoma State alum)! We are both huge fans of Tana French and have loved her Dublin Murder Squad series, including In the Woods, The Likeness (my favorite), Faithful Place, and Broken Harbor. This is the start of a new series, featuring a retired American police detective now living in Ireland. He says it’s great so far.

Let’s see … a week ago, our son, 30, was rereading Marshal Arcane, book 15 of the Spellmonger series by Terry Mancour, so I am guessing he has moved onto book 16, Preceptor by now (or will soon!). I’m hoping he can come visit next weekend for his brother’s birthday, but his work schedule has been tough.

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