It's Monday 2/28! What Are You Reading?

Book date organizer

It was a very late Monday and I was very tired after a stormy week and a very long day.

For the most part, we remain focused on the deterioration of my father-in-law at the local nursing home. We visited her every day and spent a lot of time managing her care and trying to give her what she needs (a problem in a busy nursing home still understaffed due to COVID). Last weekend, my husband and youngest son were collecting grandfather's things from his nursing home all day, which was very sad. Our basement now looks like a pantry with all the things of the son (it is between the apartments) and with all the things of the stepfather. Follow us in the next issue of Hoarders!

The highlight of the week, despite the fact that we were all exhausted, was our tradition of celebrating carnival on Saturday night. On Saturdays, I cook jambalaya in a large pot and then trade it for a delicious bread pudding made by our friends (we all lived in New Orleans). We usually have a big party on the Saturday night before Mardi Gras, but the second time we have a celebration on Zoom. We met virtually our closest friends, including those who were living in New Orleans at the time. We haven't seen them in a while, so it was fun to catch them! I didn't take any photos, but I will include some food photos from years past.

Jambalaya

Bread pudding and king pie

If YOU want to celebrate Mardi Gras (tomorrow, March 1st is Mardi Gras day), check out my tips: Celebrate Mardi Gras at home! , which includes a list of movies, TV shows, and books set in Louisiana, foods to cook or buy, and even travel tips if you're planning a trip down south. Tomorrow we'll be at the house of our oldest friend (the guy who makes the bread pudding) for our annual Popeye Mardi Gras Dinner (yes, the real Popeye!).

Somehow I managed to upload two new videos last week:

All About Me Tags - new fun videos to get to know me

Friday Reads 2-25-22 - my weekly update of what I've read

Here's what we've all read this week:

After reading Relatives by Octavia Butler (amazing!!), I moved on to another Pick Group book, The Editor by Stephen Rowley. This is a delightful story about an aspiring writer in the 1990s whose book was bought by a publisher. James goes to his first editorial meeting and discovers that Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis has become his new editor! This book is fun with that premise (he was the editor in the 90s), but it also has a lot of emotional depth. James's novels are autobiographical and deal with the complicated relationship between mother and daughter. His mother was not happy about this, and James had a lot of work to do before the novel received a satisfactory ending.

I included Beyond the Mountains by Edwie Dandicat as the final audiobook of Black History Month, a civic book set in Haiti and New York. Seliana (13) lives with her mother and older brother in a remote village in the mountains of Haiti, while her father lives in New York where she can raise money to send home. During a visit to Port-au-Prince, Selian and her mother were injured in a bomb blast due to political unrest, and their U.S. visas were eventually approved. The first half of the autobiographical novel is set in Haiti, while the second half is set in Brooklyn as Selian and his family adjust to immigrant life in the United States. I really enjoyed listening to this fascinating story with a unique setting.

For my husband Ken's next book, he chose Snowstorm of the Polar Bears by Alice Henderson (seems like a good choice for February). Last year he really liked the author's novel La solitude des carcajous , so I gave him this second novel for Christmas. Both books feature Alex Carter, a wildlife biologist who studies endangered species, while the second part takes him to the Canadian Arctic. I want to read this too!

Our 27 year old son read Storm! He eventually completed Glen Cook's Chronicles of the Black Company , a volume containing the first books in a series (of which he was very fond).

 

He then took over the beloved Spellslinger series. He rereads volume two, Shadowblack , to move on to volume three, Charmcaster , which I gave him for his birthday last year. Today he told me all about the show in the car and he loved it because he has both magic and a great sense of humor, including a magical squirrel cat that acts as the main character's sidekick! Another literary blogger, Beth Fish Reeds , was the first to tell me about this wonderful series!

And now our son is back with another favorite series , Shutter Magic. He is reading the fourth volume of The Military Order , which we gave him for Christmas. There are 22 books in this epic fantasy series, so it will take some time!

Blog post from last week:

Art criticism: Colson Whitehead's Harlem Shuffle -

Memory Review: Richard Wright's Black Boy -

Celebrate Carnival at home! - Books, TV, Movies and Food this week!

"What You Read On Monday" is hosted by Katherine on Book Date, so check out her blog and join in on the Monday fun! You can also join the kids/teen/YES version hosted by Unleashing Readers.

You can follow me on Twitter @SueBookByBook or on Facebook on my blog page.

What did you and your family read this week?