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Welcome to my weekly update for November 14, 2021!
My little sister turns 40 today! I can’t believe it! She’s with her husband visiting an old friend at her home in St. Croix, USVI for two weeks. There are worse places to spend your 40th birthday.
As I write this on Friday night, I have plans to attend YALLfest in Charleston tomorrow. My husband has the day off work so he’s going to keep me company. Yay! He’s not remotely interested in books but he’s being a good sport. He promised himself some good food as a reward. Charleston is definitely a foodie town!
Last weekend was cold and rainy so we haven’t done much exploring. We did have dinner with a friend we both used to work with and haven’t seen in almost ten years. He and his wife retired down here and invited us out as soon as they realized where we are. He was kind of my work dad at one point so it was so nice to see them and reminisce and catch up! One of our best friends committed suicide six years ago so we enjoyed talking about him with someone else who knew him. It’s always bittersweet to revisit good memories with others who share your loss.
Posted:
Nonfiction/Fiction Book Pairings for Nonfiction November
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How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America by Clint Smith, read by the author–Hopefully I’ll review this soon, but I’ll say now that this is going to be one of my top books of the year. 5 Stars
Almost American Girl by Robin Ha–4 Stars
They Better Call Me Sugar: My Journey from the Hood to the Hardwood by Sugar Rodgers (Cybils Nomination) 4 Stars
Ambushed! The Assassination Plot Against President Garfield by Gail Jarrow (Cybils Nomination) 3 Stars
You Can’t Say That! Writers for Young People Talk About Censorship, Free Expression, and the Stories They Have to Tell, edited by Leonard S. Marcus (Cybils Nomination) 4 Stars
The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks (Young Readers’ Edition) by Jeanne Theoharis, adapted by Brandy Colbert and the author (Cybils Nomination) 4 Stars? 4.5 Stars? The more I think about this one, the higher my rating creeps.
Currently Reading:
We Are Not Broken (Cybils Nomination) by George M. Johnson
The Enchanted Castle by E. Nesbit, read by Virginia Leishman
Watching:
Black Widow on Disney+–I’m not a huge fan of Scarlett Johansson for whatever reason but we do love the Marvel movies so we watched this installment. I actually liked it more than I expected. The supporting cast was great and I liked getting some of Natasha’s back story. I hope we see more of the other characters!
Up Next:
I’ll be reading more high school nonfiction from the Cybils nominations. I’m trying to mix up the nonfiction print books with some lighthearted audiobooks. Any suggestions?
I’ll also be posting for week three of Nonfiction November, hosted by The Thousand Book Project. I’m not sure if I’ll ask, be, or become an expert but I’ll figure something out. I hope you’ll join in !
What did your week look like?
Deb Nance at Readerbuzz hosts The Sunday Salon and Kimberly at Caffeinated Book Reviewer hosts Sunday Post. Kathryn at Book Date hosts It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?
17 Comments
I just picked up How the Word is Passed on audio recently, too, and I hope to read it soon. It sounds like a really important book.
I read and enjoy nonfiction, but I had too many obligations to make to the switch for nonfiction November. I am glad you are enjoying it. You have a lot of interesting titles there 🙂
Nice looking assortment of books. Sounds like you had a good week. I hope you enjoy YALLfest and find some good places to eat. Come see my week here. Happy reading!
I am drawn to The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks. Enjoy! Thanks for sharing, and here are my WEEKLY UPDATES
I hope you had a great time at YALLfest, Id have no hope of convincing my husband to join me at something like that. I enjoyed Black Widow too. We are planning to watch Shang-Chi this week.
Wishing you a great reading week
Two weeks in St. Croix?! What a great way for your sister to celebrate a milestone birthday! I’ve never done anything like that, although I turn 60 next month and my husband turns 70 in May, so our trip to Alaska (for 2 months!) will be our big combined celebration.
Your dinner out with your friends sounds like it was enjoyable and cathartic. Yes, it’s always good to be able to talk about the loss of a friend with people who share similar memories.
Have a great time at YALLfest! So sweet of your husband to tag along and keep you company.
I was pleasantly surprised that I enjoyed Black Widow. My husband loves both DC and Marvel movies, but I lean more toward Marvel, so I shouldn’t have been surprised about Black Widow. It would be fun to someday binge on all of them!
Enjoy the reading and the conference. Fair exchange with great food for books.
Happy birthday to your sister! And yeah St. Croix… there ARE worse places haha! Hope you had a great time at YALLfest!
Ooh Black Widow… I thought that was surprisingly good as well!
I just picked up How the Word id Passed at the library this week… plan to start it tomorrow. Even more excited now that I now it’ll be one of your favorites this year!
You had some interesting reading this week! They all look good. I’ve read lots of Edith Nesbit, but never The Enchanted Castle.
Have a good week!
I’m glad you went to Yall Fest! I hope you have a good time, and that your husband got some good food out of the deal. It’s also great that you were able to reconnect with some former co-workers.
It’s exciting to see you get out and explore a new area. I look forward to more thoughts on Charleston.
Anne – Books of My Heart This is my Sunday Post
Glad you are enjoying non-fiction November and the Cybil books. I hope you love Gilded on audio. It sounds like I need to try her next series on audio.
I am so excited for you that you’re reading the CYBILS books! I am really looking forward to seeing the graphic novel finalists and diving in to them in January.
How nice to be able to reconnect with a friend from your past and be able to remember those you’ve lost. I think that’s healing.
Have a fantastic time at YALLfest! I am jealous.
I follow your Instagram page daily and I love your non-fiction picks this year. Good job! Glad you had a good visit with an old friend.
Have a good week Jen and good luck with all your books.
I just watched black widow it was interesting. I need to add some more Non Fiction books to my list for November. Do cookbooks count? Have a great week.
The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks and How the Word is Passed both sound like great reads. I think it’s a great idea to mix up the nonfiction with some light audiobooks. You may have already read this, but I enjoyed Parnassus on Wheels a lot.
I’m eager to hear about YALLfest. It sounds like it will be delightful. And good for you getting your husband to join you. My husband’s not a reader and sometimes I have to hold out the carrot of a good meal out, too.