Category: Uncategorized

Top 10 Tuesday: Week 8

That Artsy Reader Girl hosts a weekly meme in which we respond to a pre-determined prompt. This week’s prompt is books that take place in another country. I am writing this on my phone while walking, so forgive any typos.

I recently read this rather meh book that took place in Bulgaria. Despite the rather meh plot and the over-length, Kostova did a fantastic job of bringing Bulgaria to life.

This is one of my favorite books. It takes place in Nigeria during the Biafra war. Great historical novel with memorable characters. Makes a strong point of how we in first world countries don’t give a poo about genocide of Africans.

Also taking place in Nigeria, this classic novel is set during the colonization period. It shows heart-breakingly how the lives of villagers were torn apart by introduction of missionaries and Western ways.

I usually don’t read celebrity memiors, but I heard great things about this one. The rumors were true. Taking place in apartheid South Africa, it is both educational and funny. I especially loved the story about his friend named Hitler. The audiobook is read by Trevor Noah, and is fantastic.

(Phew! 4.5 miles down, 1.5 left!)

This well-known contemporary police procedural takes place in Ireland. I wasn’t thrilled by the unlikable anti-hero’s behavior, but it was still pretty good.

This classic is about the British colonization period in India and the difficulty in communication between the two peoples. It is also well worth reading.

This memior/biography follows the lives of three generations of women in China. It was heart-breaking and educational.

Some of this teen horror book takes place in Japan. Chupeco is a fantastic author, and I quite enjoyed the book.

This is an extremely violent and vivid account of the Japanese occupation of China during WWII. I had a hard time reading it. The researching and writing of this book is rumored to have had such an impact on Ms. Chang that she later killed herself. Regardless of the violence, it was a well-written and eye-opening book.

This is a very dark Swedish vampire horror. It has some objectionable activities in it, and is therefore difficult for some to read, but it was quite good.

(Made it home!)

Sunday Update Week 7

This week was very productive. I took a job as a Direct Support Professional in a mental health assistance housing program. I’m on-call, which means I can choose my own hours (there will always be hours as mental health is an understaffed field), and I plan on working approximately every other weekend to earn a little extra money for doing fun stuff with the family. My orientation won’t be till April 14th, so stay tuned.

On Thursday, I left town for a road-trip to Texas to see my cousins. My nephew J and father join me. Friday was a lot of fun. We started out going to the John Brown museum:

Dad seemed especially excited. Dad was even more excited to eat steak and pose by a wooden bear in Oklahoma:

Then was the really fun part. J got to have a movie date with his internet friend N. They’ve known each other for a while on the internet, but he’d never met her. He was really nervous and excited. It was adorable. I wish I could have taken a picture, but they didn’t ask, and I didn’t want to impose. She was cute, and she obviously was impressed with J, because she kept covering her mouth in a nervous little gesture. It was so cute.

Saturday, we stopped in Waco, TX for a trip to a trampoline park. J saw his second cousins there:

I saw my first cousins:

While the boys jumped, my cousins and I headed to see some silos that are apparently really awesome if you watch reality TV.

Fun stuff.

Currently reading

Same as last week.