It's Monday! (12/14/15)

It's Monday! is sponsored by Sheila at Book Journey.

 

Spent the weekend on the couch, ill. Not the time of year when you can afford a weekend like that, exactly. But, Christmas shopping is mostly done, the Christmas letter is mostly done, end-of-year blog posts are half-written. And I only have one more week of work this year. Never before have I needed a two-week break quite like this.

 

 

Last week, I finished three books:

 

 

 

I enjoyed Jen Lancaster's My Fair Lazy. It's not my favorite of her books, and I think all of her books could use tighter editing, but I enjoy them just the way they are. This one was about her quest for culture.

 

I've always thought I should read A Christmas Carol, and I'm glad I did, but it's a story so familiar to me, it didn't really pack much of a punch.

 

And I finished my audio edition of Jim Gaffigan's Dad Is Fat. I enjoyed the book--and the audio version--very much. I think it's as simple as this: if you think Gaffigan is funny, you'll love it, if you don't, you won't.

 

 

I'm reading these this week:

 

Bryson's Notes from a Small Island is equal parts boring English travelogue and witty commentary on England and its people. I think this book probably would mean more to the English or folks who've traveled in England. I'm finding it interesting for the most part, but not always. Still, I wanted to read it in anticipation of his forthcoming The Road to Little Dribbling.

 

And to break up the monotony of Bryson's book, I threw Leah Remini's Troublemaker into the mix this weekend. It's about Remini's life as a Scientologist. Interesting so far.

 

 

And I'm listening to:

 

 

 

I finally made some headway on The Best-Loved Poems of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis this weekend. It's a pretty good collection of American poetry. The readers are very good as well.

 

And I'm listening to Michael Perry's Coop. I love this book, and I really wanted to hear it read by Perry. It does not disappoint. This morning I heard him read the part about bovine artificial insemination, and it took me back to my childhood. (If that isn't the weirdest sentence I've written in awhile....) When I miss my dad, I think of the farm, and when I think of the farm, I think of this book.

 

 

I don't know what I'll pick up next, but probably one of my re-reads. Maybe this one: