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Nov. 23rd, 2016 11:38 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tvordljNot a lot to report. The baby shower was good, love to have snuggles with a newborn. He was passed from lap to lap most of the afternoon without a complaint. Our gift of the Star Trek "Kirk" onesie and black trousers was met with appreciation. The Ping didn't happen, there was a mixup with the booking dates with the pub so the ping will be this Sunday instead. We didn't know until we got there so we stayed for lunch anyway.
Getting Mom to take me out Christmas shopping on Saturday so I can get G.'s gift, which she will then hide at her apartment. Our Christmas project, well, it's his really, is done and ready to proceed to the next step, printing. I don't want to say more because I never know who's lurking in the shadows here! My sister knows about it and my mom has a suspicion about the nature of it but nobody else does.
I'm late getting my Christmas shopping done this year though because of the project, there aren't many to actually purchase which lessens the pressure. I have one thing to mail to the UK and I have to get that off this week. The other thing will not have to be sent far and I have to get some DVD labels printed up for that and I better get on that. I don't want to give them the dvds with just the name of the movie scrawled on it in Sharpie black. I also have to make the turtle candy but I can do that on a weekend afternoon. We also have to do something with the stack of boxes which sits right where the Christmas Tree has to go. I have no idea where we're going to put them. G. can go through the boxes and we might be able to unpack some stuff like his dvd box sets and cds but much of it has to stay packed because there's no room anywhere until we eventually get a larger apartment.
The Lightless Sky - Gulwali Passarlay
A 12 year old Afghani boy and his brother were caught in the middle of the Taliban and the US occupyers, each wanting to use the children for their own ends (revenge and spying respectively). The parents found the money to smuggle them out of the country. The boys got separated almost immediately and this is the story of one of them, his journey across half the world on his own. It's harrowing and eye opening what these people have to go through at the hands of those paid to smuggle them through the borders. It gives you a very real appreciation and sympathy for the refugees our western countries are taking in. And you don't realize what they go through once they do reach safety, how they have to adjust to a whole new culture and reconcile it with what they knew, especially for a child.
Angel Catbird - Margaret Atwood
Atwood can do no wrong. She has written a graphic novel, and there will be further episodes. Graphic novels are not really my thing but I wanted to give this a go and it's pretty good. It's about a man who has an accident and his blood gets mixed with a serum that merges his dna with that of an owl and a cat. The villain of the piece is a man-rat, one of a species of people that are part animal/bird by nature, not by dna manipulation. Not sure I will buy the rest of the episodes but I might look for them in the library.
The Nightingale - Kristin Hannah
Two sisters in France WWII, one working with the Resistance and one trying to survive in a village occupied by Nazis. Pretty good story, kind of a nice companion to a non fiction account of women in the French resistance that I read earlier in the year. Not nearly as brutal, though.
Tides of Honour - Genevieve Graham
Romance in Halifax during WWI, set just before, during and in the aftermath of the Halifax Explosion. Not bad. fairly predictable.
Cometh the Hour - Jeffrey Archer
Another episode in the ongoing saga of the Cliftons and Barringtons. One more to go. I'll have to finish it now. Easy read.
Amazing Grace - Lesley Crewe
Grandmother is asked by her son to sort out his daughter. Lots of tension and anger from the son towards his mother and in the course of the book, she looks back on her life and we find out why. Really enjoyed it. Have a stack of books by this author now that my cousin lent me. Many take place in Cape Breton or Nova Scotia where the author lives. Really liked this one.
Crossing on the Paris - Dana Gynther
three women on an ocean liner making the crossing from Europe to New York. One is an employee, one is an older woman at the end of her life, one is a woman who has a husband and children but may be discontent with her life. Takes place in 1921. Not bad.
The Witches of New York - Ami McKay
Bought this prior to an appearance by the author here and book signing. She's written two others that I really enjoyed and I liked this quite a bit too, though it's light on plot, more to do with characters, and a journey of discovery for one of them. Late 19th c. New York.
Getting Mom to take me out Christmas shopping on Saturday so I can get G.'s gift, which she will then hide at her apartment. Our Christmas project, well, it's his really, is done and ready to proceed to the next step, printing. I don't want to say more because I never know who's lurking in the shadows here! My sister knows about it and my mom has a suspicion about the nature of it but nobody else does.
I'm late getting my Christmas shopping done this year though because of the project, there aren't many to actually purchase which lessens the pressure. I have one thing to mail to the UK and I have to get that off this week. The other thing will not have to be sent far and I have to get some DVD labels printed up for that and I better get on that. I don't want to give them the dvds with just the name of the movie scrawled on it in Sharpie black. I also have to make the turtle candy but I can do that on a weekend afternoon. We also have to do something with the stack of boxes which sits right where the Christmas Tree has to go. I have no idea where we're going to put them. G. can go through the boxes and we might be able to unpack some stuff like his dvd box sets and cds but much of it has to stay packed because there's no room anywhere until we eventually get a larger apartment.
The Lightless Sky - Gulwali Passarlay
A 12 year old Afghani boy and his brother were caught in the middle of the Taliban and the US occupyers, each wanting to use the children for their own ends (revenge and spying respectively). The parents found the money to smuggle them out of the country. The boys got separated almost immediately and this is the story of one of them, his journey across half the world on his own. It's harrowing and eye opening what these people have to go through at the hands of those paid to smuggle them through the borders. It gives you a very real appreciation and sympathy for the refugees our western countries are taking in. And you don't realize what they go through once they do reach safety, how they have to adjust to a whole new culture and reconcile it with what they knew, especially for a child.
Angel Catbird - Margaret Atwood
Atwood can do no wrong. She has written a graphic novel, and there will be further episodes. Graphic novels are not really my thing but I wanted to give this a go and it's pretty good. It's about a man who has an accident and his blood gets mixed with a serum that merges his dna with that of an owl and a cat. The villain of the piece is a man-rat, one of a species of people that are part animal/bird by nature, not by dna manipulation. Not sure I will buy the rest of the episodes but I might look for them in the library.
The Nightingale - Kristin Hannah
Two sisters in France WWII, one working with the Resistance and one trying to survive in a village occupied by Nazis. Pretty good story, kind of a nice companion to a non fiction account of women in the French resistance that I read earlier in the year. Not nearly as brutal, though.
Tides of Honour - Genevieve Graham
Romance in Halifax during WWI, set just before, during and in the aftermath of the Halifax Explosion. Not bad. fairly predictable.
Cometh the Hour - Jeffrey Archer
Another episode in the ongoing saga of the Cliftons and Barringtons. One more to go. I'll have to finish it now. Easy read.
Amazing Grace - Lesley Crewe
Grandmother is asked by her son to sort out his daughter. Lots of tension and anger from the son towards his mother and in the course of the book, she looks back on her life and we find out why. Really enjoyed it. Have a stack of books by this author now that my cousin lent me. Many take place in Cape Breton or Nova Scotia where the author lives. Really liked this one.
Crossing on the Paris - Dana Gynther
three women on an ocean liner making the crossing from Europe to New York. One is an employee, one is an older woman at the end of her life, one is a woman who has a husband and children but may be discontent with her life. Takes place in 1921. Not bad.
The Witches of New York - Ami McKay
Bought this prior to an appearance by the author here and book signing. She's written two others that I really enjoyed and I liked this quite a bit too, though it's light on plot, more to do with characters, and a journey of discovery for one of them. Late 19th c. New York.
