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Sunday Matters

My reading pace continues to be good and I am really happy about it. Just keep those books coming. Review writing has been good too but mostly because I have to write my reviews right after I finish a book. For those who review, do you do that too?

Why do the weekends fly by? Here it is, Sunday and I am already thinking about work.

Right Now:

Not a lot happening. I am just easing into my day. I will try to get a walk in and then later a short meet-up with my youth group. With masks, outside in the cold, distanced. All the safety stuff in place.

My daughter has another audition later but this one is kind of fun. I will hold off on details for now.

This Week:

Nothing on the schedule besides work stuff. Nice!

Reading:

This week my reviews for The Wife Upstairs and Interior Chinatown will post on the blog. I liked them both very much. I will be writing up my review of Are We There Yet? to post next week. So that leaves me with two new books to read, both are review copies.

I am super excited about both of them. The first comes out in March and the second in April but I can’t wait until then to read them.

And… King is coming out with a new book!

Billy Summers — Photo Credit: Stephen King’s Newsletter

Watching:

When the show 9-1-1 first came out, I thought it was cheesy and poorly done. But these past two weeks, the show has centered around a dam break in the Hollywood Hills. Given that Hollywood was my stomping ground as a kid, I had to watch. Not bad. It’s better now since they added some different actors. Not sure I will watch it regularly but I do have next week’s episode set to record because it’s a crossover with 9-1-1 Lone Star with Rob Lowe! Might as well watch that one too.

Grateful for:

The rain we’ve gotten. If you don’t live in California or the desert it’s hard to comprehend just how dry we are. We didn’t get as much as they predicated, at least not where I live but I could literally hear the ground drinking it in. It’s like every plant went, “ahhhh”.
I am still grateful for being able to work from home. It’s been a really good thing. I’m not sure what the pup will do when I have to go back. She’s become so used to me being here and follows me everywhere.
Comfy sweats. I clearly need more.

Tell me how you are. Are you keeping busy? Have you added any new hobbies? I keep seeing people do embroidery and it looks interesting.

Between you and I, I am obsessing over the Little Free Library down the street. My old neighbors kept it looking pretty nice but they sold their house and the new people have let it go. I am tempted to reorganize it like a total creeper. I would really like one of my own but don’t want to spend the money. They are spendy.

The Dreamers
By Karen Thompson Walker
Random House Trade Paperbacks, 9780812984668, November 2019, 336pp.

The Short of It:

This book originally came out in January 2019, way before our own pandemic hit and yet, the pandemic detailed in this story could have been taken right out of the headlines of today, minus the sleeping illness, of course.

The Rest of It:

The story takes place in the fictional town of Santa Lora, California. Santa Lora is a sleepy little college town (pun intended). Many of its residents work at the local university or at the very least know someone who goes there. In the dorms one day, Mei notices that her roommate is still sleeping although morning has come and gone. Her attempts to wake her are futile. The girl will not wake.

In another part of town, people are falling asleep where they are whether that is in the middle of a jog or walking the family dog. As more and more victims are discovered, the government is called in along with several medical professionals to determine what is actually happening. Is it psychological? Is the water contaminated?

As the story unfolds and the situation becomes more dire, Walker introduces us to the survivors as well as those who will eventually succumb to the sickness. What does it all mean? Why do some wake and others don’t and why are they different after surviving?

So much of this story resonates with me, given the pandemic that we are currently living with. The way the sickness spreads, the lack of understanding in the early days of the sickness, the conspiracy theories hinting at government control. The true winner here is the way Walker plays with dreams and memory. Some of the survivors remember vivid dreams that they had while sleeping. Some feel they are premonitions of the future, others believe they are memories from the past. What’s real anyway?

There are a lot of characters but they are all so distinct and their situations unique enough where I never felt confused over who was who or what was going on. It’s very well done. I cared enough about each of them to worry about their survival and that says a lot.

If you can tolerate a book about a pandemic, and I must say a sleeping sickness sounds a lot better than what we are dealing with now, then pick it up. Someone on FB said that when they read fiction now, they feel uncomfortable when reading about gatherings without masks and the like since they are so conditioned now to meet safely. Well, you won’t have that issue here because masks are the norm in this story.

Source: Review copy provided by the publisher.
Disclosure: This post contains Indiebound affiliate links.

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