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Bookish Talk, Life

Sunday Matters: Still Plugging Along

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Sunday Matters

Hello! As you can tell from my posting schedule I am still out of sorts health wise. I considered a total break from the blog but it’s the end of the year and you know, there’s still a reading goal to make and some reviews to write. So here I am just doing my best and that’s okay. Just know that my posting may be erratic and depending on the day, may contain a lot of chatter.

Right Now:

I am heading out for my volunteer gig which will keep me busy until 1pm or so. Then, a nap on the couch and an early dinner, whatever that may be.

This Week:

I have my knee MRI this Tuesday.

On Wednesday my book club is meeting for dinner and a book exchange. We normally meet at someone’s home but we are meeting at a restaurant this year. Should be fun.

Reading:

Not a thing. All this medication I am on makes me queasy and gives me a massive headache. I said this exact thing last week and it still applies this week but perhaps I am turning a corner because reading sounds appealing to me now. I will review my review copies and library holds and see if anything jumps out at me.

Watching:

Not much. Lining up the Christmas “must-see” movies so we can get to them before Christmas.

Grateful for:

  • It’s kind of silly but I was really getting into Bible journaling before COVID but I left all my fun pens at work. Well, I just bought new ones so I can journal again from home. I am grateful for all the fun ways to journal these days.
  • Root Beer, the cat. This is the feral cat that my son adopted in Kansas. She has provided hours of entertainment and companionship for my son in that small, dusty little town of 1200 people.

Have a wonderful Sunday and great week!

Book Review

Review: This Tender Land

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This Tender Land

This Tender Land
By William Kent Krueger
Atria Books, 9781476749303, May 2020, 464pp.

The Short of It:

A lot of heartbreak, but these characters quickly pulled me in.

The Rest of It:

In the summer of 1932, on the banks of Minnesota’s Gilead River, Odie O’Banion is an orphan confined to the Lincoln Indian Training School, a pitiless place where his lively nature earns him the superintendent’s wrath. Forced to flee after committing a terrible crime, he and his brother, Albert, their best friend, Mose, and a brokenhearted little girl named Emmy steal away in a canoe, heading for the mighty Mississippi and a place to call their own. ~ Indiebound

This was the book I was reading when I got hit with all my health issues and so the details of the story are not forthcoming and I had to miss my club’s discussion so I have no idea how they felt about the book but here is my take:

I loved these characters but this book is filled with one heartache after another. These kids do not live an easy life and the people they encounter are both filled with good, and bad. It’s been compared to Huckleberry Finn and Where the Crawdad’s Sing and I can see that comparison, but honestly what it reminded me most of is The Wizard of Oz. Everyone is searching for something, mostly a place to call home. But the rhythm of heartache was hard to read over and over again and parts of the story were a tad hard to swallow. Nevertheless, I did enjoy it but felt that it got a little repetitive halfway through and could have been edited down a bit.

Have you read it? I had no idea how many books this author has written. I will absolutely read another book by him because I was really into these characters.

Source: Purchased
Disclosure: This post contains Indiebound affiliate links.