Happy Sunday everyone! We are in the midst of a holiday weekend here in the US, President’s Day. For those of you outside of the country, this is one of those holidays that most (not all) people have off from work or school, but we don’t do much to actually celebrate it. The biggest attraction for me is a day to sleep in!

Right now, Lillie is off at her very first Fan Expo! She went with a friend because there are going to be a number of Anime voice artists. However, we found out that Pat’s favorite actor (Bruce Campbell) is also going to be there, so Lillie is going to try to get a picture with him. Chris, on the other hand, is going to be concentrating on laundry. Both kids are far, far behind with their laundry–I think it is an intentional attempt to get me to do it for them. In any case, I am going to have to get my laundry done soon, so they need to finish so I can start. I hope we can get Chris mostly done today so Lillie can do all hers tomorrow.

In other news, we went to see Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania on Friday. Pat was convinced it was going to be terrible, but it ended up being quite fun. Chris said he would give it an A+. Personally, I think it deserves more like a B+, but it’s still worth it. The Ant-Man movies have always been silly fun and I was afraid this one was going to make a dark turn, which it did a bit–but there were still much fun to be had. And, surprisingly, it was a great first movie for Phase 5.

And now, onto the books!

As usual, I’m linking up with Kathryn at Book Date and her It’s Monday, What Are You Reading? blog hop.

Last week, I finished:

The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead
Date finished: February 14, 2023
Rating: A ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Oh boy, this book will crawl into your psyche, shake you, and then never leave.

I wasn’t sure I would read this. The only other Colson Whitehead book I’ve read is The Underground Railroad, which did not work for me (in short: I had trouble following the narrative and staying engaged). Given that, I was somewhat expecting this to be a repeat performance. However, I settled in with this immediately and found it difficult to put down.

However, just because I found this book readable doesn’t mean I didn’t find it to be challenging. I was expecting it, of course. I knew that this book took place in an abusive reform school. Given that I read a fair amount of Indigenous literature, which frequently addresses the Indian Schools in North America, I wasn’t overly shocked by anything here because, well, abuse is abuse. Still, some of the scenes were absolutely horrifying reading this.

I was enjoyably surprised by the structure of the book. While I guess you could say it was a dual-timeline book, it didn’t read like all of the other dual-timeline books out there. This was a streamlined narrative that traversed time seamlessly.

Colson Whitehead is deserving of all the accolades he receives and I would like to offer this book up to those who read The Underground Railroad and, like me, thought that he “wasn’t for them.” Trust me, Whitehead should be read by everyone.

The Outcast Dead (Ruth Galloway #6) by Elly Griffiths
Date finished: February 17, 2023
Rating: A

Is it just me, or is this series getting stronger?

This installment in the Ruth Galloway series was surprisingly effective, more so than any of the previous novels. There is a murder, but the actual mystery is about missing children and it is in this area that Griffiths really ramps up the tension.

As with the earlier entries in the series, we have Ruth working on some sort of historical “case” alongside a modern crime. The historical scenario here was especially eerie, at least for me. Griffiths tells the tale well, milking it in a deliciously appropriate way. However, what I really appreciated is how the historical plot and the contemporary plot played well together.

Griffiths uses her entire cast of characters here, yet the story never feels crowded. We even open another window into Ruth’s life and her brother and two nephews come on the scene. While their presence doesn’t play into the mystery, it was effective in growing Ruth’s character in a way that could not have been achieved with the “regulars” of this world.

All in all, this was a treat. There was one minor plot hole, probably resulting from my thinking too hard, that was slightly irritating. Unfortunately, to describe it here would be a spoiler. I only mention it because it did slightly distract me from the story. Other than that, this was everything I want from this series.

What I’m Currently Reading:

I reference in this video that I filmed it Saturday (yesterday) and I may finish some of the books–that didn’t happen. However, I do include a review of Quatumania, so there is that: