Monday Musings

My week: I had fun dressing up with my co-workers at the library for Halloween! It was a nice change to wear a tutu to work instead of my uniform shirt. The rest of the week was pretty quiet... I've been busy at work getting the November bulletin board up (it's 13x9 feet, so it's always an endeavor!). In October I asked patrons to trace their hand and color it in however they liked, and now those hand prints are feathers on a giant turkey.

 

Reading: I tried for a second time to read "The Keeper of Lost Things" and I got stuck at the same spot, about three chapters in. I really wanted to love this book, but I decided to give up on it, at least for now. I think part of the problem is the authors way-overuse of alliteration, but really, I'm surprised I couldn't get into it.

Instead I started working on my list of 2017 releases I want to read  by the end of the year, and I stated with "The Hate U Give" by Angie Thomas. I'm sure you all know the novel has to do with Black Lives Matter and a black teen boy shot by a white policeman. Regardless of your politics or viewpoint, it's a book I recommend because the author did such a good job making me feel connected to the main character, 16-year-old Starr. And it also gave me a glimpse into a life very different from mine -- which is one of the things I most enjoy about reading.

Then I read "Tuck Everlasting," the November book for the 4th and 5th grade book club I do at the library where I work. It started off really cute, but it suffered from exactly what I mentioned above -- I closed the back cover and didn't feel like I knew any of the characters at all. Winnie almost decides to become immortal for Jessie Tuck, a boy she knew for ONE DAY, and I didn't know anything about him other than that he was cute. I imagine the movie version fixes this problem, and since it stars Alexis Bledel (aka Rory Gilmore), I do want to watch it.

And now I'm reading "Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine" by Gail Honeyman, another book from my list of 2017 releases. I'm a little over halfway done and really enjoying it so far. I didn't exactly know what to expect with it, but it's different that the vague idea I had in my head -- in a good way, though! As prickly and awkward as Eleanor is, I'm starting to fall in love with her!

Knitting: I'm finally knitting again! I hardly knit at all in 2017, but I'm back to work on the Newt Scamander scarf for a friend. Perfect timing, since I like to knit while watching TV (see below).

Watching: I had a wake-up call this week when I saw our rather massive DVR only had 10% space remaining! I feel like since I only work part-time I should watch "my" shows when Jarrod isn't around, but all too often I choose reading over watching and now I have entire seasons of shows to catch up on, not to mention a bunch of movies.

So, what am I watching? I'm keeping up with "This Is Us," "Poldark" (which Jarrod watches with me -- yay!) and "Grey's Anatomy." I finished the first season of the new Masterpiece show "My Mother and Other Strangers," which is set in a small Irish town during WWII, where American troops have set up a base, and I picked back up with the final season of "Switched at Birth." It's been my guilty pleasure for years, but this season is way too political for my taste and I had to take a break from it.

I had been recording the "Will and Grace" revival and I finally gave that a try, but after five minutes of audience sounds and canned laughter I just couldn't handle it. It occurred to me how much TV has changed -- growing up, most of the shows I watched were sitcoms "filmed in front of a live studio audience," but now there aren't even many shows like that left, much less ones that I'm interested in (period dramas don't have laugh tracks!). It never bothered me when I was younger, but hearing a bunch of audience laughter every 20 seconds was like nails on a chalkboard, so "Will and Grace" got the delete button.

We're also watching "Stranger Things" season 2 and it's really good!

Signing up for: The Broke and Bookish Secret Santa! It'll be my third year participating and I'm so looking forward to it. Though the real fun for me is buying for my secret buddy, I've had absolutely fabulous Santas the past two years and it's just been a great experience!

Blogging:
Monday Musings
Turning the Page on October 2017
Mini Reviews: The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet, The Alice Network, Origin, Setting Free the Kites & Red Sister
Non-Fiction November Week 2: Five Non-Fiction/Fiction Pairings

Looking forward to: Changing out my display of spooky books and movies to Thanksgiving and Christmas ones at work today!

*I'm linking up with Kathryn of Book Date for It's Monday! What Are You Reading?