Family, Friends, Movies and Books
Yesterday I went out to lunch with Amy, my niece Krystle and my sister Margie for the first time since COVID started back in early 2020. It was so great to sit in a restaurant -- IN A RESTAURANT -- and just relax and chat again. Following a long lunch we went our separate ways, which for me meant taking in a movie. IN A THEATRE. Again, first time since February 2020. I've said all along that I believe I will feel safest in a theatre and that was the truth. My local cinema is not letting anyone sit within two chairs on either side or the two chairs in front of or behind where a person is sitting. Combine that with a Monday matinee and there was at least 25 feet between me and the next person. YAY!
I saw "Free Guy", btw. Very funny! Ryan Reynolds plays an NPC (non-player character) in an ultra-violent video game who gains sentience and decides that he's not going to be a background character any longer. Tons of great lines and funny moments, and even the more secondary characters give standout performances.
Regarding my sister Helen, things are... up in the air, I guess you could say. But better than they were? I don't know. Helen's heart failure is causing fluid to build up around the heart (and lungs?) They give water pills/IV for that, but because her organs are failing they can't continue to do that. The possibly good-ish news is that they are considering putting her on dialysis. This would (hopefully) allow them to then use the water pills/IV to stop the fluid build-up around the heart. BUT she also has MRSA, a blood infection and another infection that I can't remember and she's delirious, and I really can't imagine them starting dialysis on top of all that. Margie had to give the docs permission to put a PICC line in Helen's chest so that antibiotics could go straight there (or something. It's so confusing.)
So. It's like the dialysis -- as bad as going on dialysis for the rest of your life could be -- is this little light at the end of the tunnel, except I don't really think that we're going to get there. She just has SO much wrong with her at this point. I'm honestly trying to steel myself for the worst while hoping for the best.
Whew.
And now, a book review. This is book 60, which was my original goal for the YEAR. Go me!
60. Moon of the Crusted Snow by Waubgeshie Rice
When society collapses, the people of an isolated Northern Ontario reservation struggle to get through their first winter.
While I understand what the writer was going for here, I just feel it fell well short of the mark. The dialogue is fairly boring and rudimentary. The transitions are clunky. The threat of an outsider, a white man named Scott, is ambiguous at best, mostly because we are told vaguely of his growing influence in the community instead of being shown what he is doing. The protagonist and his family are idealized and romanticized.
This is a slim volume, at only 180 pages. Fleshing out the people and writing the scenes that we are only told about in passing would have done wonders to bring the story to life.
2/5 stars
Popsugar Challenge 30 - indigenous author
180 pages
Books Read: 60/85
Popsugar Challenge: 35/50
Goodreads Challenge: 52/52
LJ Book Bingo Jan-March: 12/12
LJ Book Bingo April-June 20: 9/9
LJ Book Bingo June 20-August 31: 9/9
Goodreads Summer Challenge: 12/12
Total Page Count: 18179 pages
.
I saw "Free Guy", btw. Very funny! Ryan Reynolds plays an NPC (non-player character) in an ultra-violent video game who gains sentience and decides that he's not going to be a background character any longer. Tons of great lines and funny moments, and even the more secondary characters give standout performances.
Regarding my sister Helen, things are... up in the air, I guess you could say. But better than they were? I don't know. Helen's heart failure is causing fluid to build up around the heart (and lungs?) They give water pills/IV for that, but because her organs are failing they can't continue to do that. The possibly good-ish news is that they are considering putting her on dialysis. This would (hopefully) allow them to then use the water pills/IV to stop the fluid build-up around the heart. BUT she also has MRSA, a blood infection and another infection that I can't remember and she's delirious, and I really can't imagine them starting dialysis on top of all that. Margie had to give the docs permission to put a PICC line in Helen's chest so that antibiotics could go straight there (or something. It's so confusing.)
So. It's like the dialysis -- as bad as going on dialysis for the rest of your life could be -- is this little light at the end of the tunnel, except I don't really think that we're going to get there. She just has SO much wrong with her at this point. I'm honestly trying to steel myself for the worst while hoping for the best.
Whew.
And now, a book review. This is book 60, which was my original goal for the YEAR. Go me!
60. Moon of the Crusted Snow by Waubgeshie Rice
When society collapses, the people of an isolated Northern Ontario reservation struggle to get through their first winter.
While I understand what the writer was going for here, I just feel it fell well short of the mark. The dialogue is fairly boring and rudimentary. The transitions are clunky. The threat of an outsider, a white man named Scott, is ambiguous at best, mostly because we are told vaguely of his growing influence in the community instead of being shown what he is doing. The protagonist and his family are idealized and romanticized.
This is a slim volume, at only 180 pages. Fleshing out the people and writing the scenes that we are only told about in passing would have done wonders to bring the story to life.
2/5 stars
Popsugar Challenge 30 - indigenous author
180 pages
Books Read: 60/85
Popsugar Challenge: 35/50
Goodreads Challenge: 52/52
LJ Book Bingo Jan-March: 12/12
LJ Book Bingo April-June 20: 9/9
LJ Book Bingo June 20-August 31: 9/9
Goodreads Summer Challenge: 12/12
Total Page Count: 18179 pages
.