It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

Book By Book

Hosted by The Book Date

Life

It’s Cyber Monday! I have to do all of my holiday shopping online because of my illness, and I try to do as much as I can today to take advantage of sales …  so I’ll keep this short! 

We had a very nice but typically exhausting weekend in my hometown, running from one gathering to the next (generally two each day, with my nap squeezed in between). We got to see all sides of my family, including cousins I rarely see, and we also connected with some good friends. 

I had hoped my new medication would mean I had more stamina this year. It did help to almost eliminate the flu-like immune symptoms I usually have, which was a huge relief, but my energy and stamina were about the same as they usually are on this busy, late fall weekend. So, I am beat today!

I forgot to take pictures much of the weekend (using all my energy for conversation!), but here are some highlights:

We stayed with my step-mom. We love spending time with her and having a quiet, comfortable place to come back to, to recharge! For the first time ever, both of our son’s girlfriends were able to join us in Rochester for a holiday.

Grandma with 3 of her grandkids!

My husband and I with my step-mom

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving Day at my aunt and uncle’s house. The younger generation of cousins have really bonded and love being together.

The next generation – cousins!

Our younger son with my mom

The whole family!

Our older son & his girlfriend

Our younger son & his girlfriend

Unexpectedly, an aunt who lives in California was visiting. We hadn’t seen her since 2011, so she came over for breakfast Friday. It was great to see her again and catch up. Friday evening, we met at a casual local restaurant with my dad’s side of the family. No aunts were able to make it, unfortunately, but we cousins enjoyed seeing each other, and the “kids” (the youngest are in college now!) caught up, too.

Saturday morning, we had brunch at the home of one of my oldest friends. She was my Maid of Honor in my wedding, and our kids have grown up together, so it was great to see them all again. And later in the afternoon, we attended a biannual Cabin Party that my mom and my uncle host at a park (with a heated indoor pavilion). That gave us a chance to reunite with cousins and other family, plus old friends, that we rarely get to see. 

The clean-up crew at the cabin party!

My mom with 2 of her grandsons (our son and our nephew)

Next Gen cousins at the cabin party

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 The End of the Year Book Tag - How I plan to end my reading year in 2025!

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I am still reading Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer, a book I’ve been hearing rave reviews of for several years. There wasn’t much reading time this weekend! The author, a member of the indigenous Potawatomi Nation, is also a botanist, so she weaves together (see what I did there?) scientific information about plants, stories from her own life, and indigenous stories, myths, and uses for plants. It’s beautifully written, entertaining, and engrossing. I love the whole tone of the book, focused on the indigenous ways of interacting with the natural world in a respectful and reciprocating way. I’m enjoying it very much, especially since she has lived her whole life in upstate New York, close to where I’m from. She has a TED Talk on the Honorable Harvest, which is the chapter I’m reading now (and a recurrent theme throughout the book). 

I finished We Will Be Jaguars: A Memoir of My People by Nemonte Nenquimo and Mitch Anderson, her husband, and it absolutely blew me away. The author grew up in an indigenous tribe in the Amazon rainforest in Ecuador, one of the last to be contacted by Christian missionaries in the 1950′s. Her life and that of her entire village begins to change, first through the missionaries and then through the oil company leaders and employees the missionaries introduce to them. The men of the tribe are enticed to help cut down trees and clear land for airstrips and to reach the oil below. The description of her idyllic village life and the chilling effects of the missionaries (who refer to them as savages) at the beginning is eye-opening and moving, and the suffering and abuses Nemonte endures at their hands at the missionary school are horrifying. As an adult, she teaches for a while but eventually is drawn back to her home in the jungle. She ends up becoming a leader for her people, uniting the various tribes against the oil companies, winning a victory that had me cheering! Wow, what a powerful story. It’s engrossing, angering, poignant, and so important, and it is excellent on audio.  And, yes, she did a TED Talk, too! 

 

My husband, Ken, is still reading one of my favorite books from Big Book Summer this year, Bridge by Lauren Beukes. This is a novel about alternate realities, one of my favorite topics. The main character, Bridget, is grieving after her mother’s death. Her mom struggled with epilepsy and recurring brain cancer since the age of 14, She used to bring Bridge, when she was just a child, along with her on some very strange adventures. Using something her mom called the “dreamworm,” the two would temporarily inhabit other lives, where they were each themselves but different, and everything around them was different. Since then, Bridge’s therapist has convinced her those were just dreams or fantasies, but while cleaning out her mom’s house, Bridge discovers the dreamworm and her mother’s journals, and she begins to realize there really are other realities that she can access. Bridge gets the idea that her mother is still alive in some other reality, so she goes hopping through parallel universes (and into other Bridgets, leaving them very confused and upset). This book was so good! My husband is enjoying it so far.

I have no idea what our son, 31,  is reading because the weekend was so hectic! Last time I asked, he was getting ready to start World’s Edge by David Hair, book 2 in The Tethered Citadel series. He enjoyed book 1, Map’s Edge, a few months ago. 

Similarly, I didn’t have a chance to ask our younger son’s girlfriend this weekend but the last I heard,  she was listening to The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger on audio, based on my recommendation. This is my all-time favorite book, so I am thrilled that she’s enjoying it so far. 

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  What are you and your family reading this week?