News of the World by Paulette Jiles

I read News of the World by Paulette Jiles in a last minute effort to get the book that features an unlikely friendship prompt of the Pop Sugar Reading Challenge. Little did I know that this book would be such a perfect fit for me.

Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd is a drifter. In the aftermath of his time in the military in the War of 1812 and the Civil War, he wanders from town to town reading the news. Captain, a former printer who is now widowed, knows that his life could be more, but he keeps on going. It was crazy to think of all things that this man had seen in his life. 

In Wichita Falls, Captain is offered a fifty-dollar gold piece to deliver a ten-year-old girl, Johanna, to her relatives in San Antonio. The catch is that four years earlier this little girl had been kidnapped by the Kiowa after killing her parents and sister. The Kiowa had raised her and she doesn't remember her family, her language, or even how to hold a fork. She is constantly trying to run away, but Captain is patient and they slowly make their way south. 

I was unaware of the phenomenon of child captives in the frontier. Children who were captured by Native Americans assimilated into the culture and didn't adjust well when they were returned to their biological families. From the author's note:

They always wished to return to their adoptive families, even when they had been with their Indian families for less than a year. This was true for both the Anglo, German-Anglo, and Mexican children taken. (page 211)

Johanna and Captain made such a delightful pair. I was so pleased with them and wanted to spend as much time with them as possible. I am not really a western reader, but between this and the gloriousness of Lonesome Dove, maybe I should read more westerns. Also, SO MANY HATS. 4/5 stars

Lines of note:

Laughter is good for the soul and all your interior works. (page 176)

Things I looked up:

polar exploration ship Hansa (page 2) - embarked from Bremen, Germany on June 15, 1869, with the east coast of Greenland as their destination. Two ships made the journey: Captain Karl Koldewey’s Germania, a screw steamer of 140 tons, and the Hansa, commanded by Captain P.F.A. Hegemann. Only one ship returned. The Hansa was crushed in polar ice after being separated from the Germania, but her crew disembarked and survived for six months, drifting more than 1,000 miles on an ice floe. Eventually, they reached the Moravian mission station of Friedriksthal, to the west of Cape Farewell, in early June 1870. 

Cynthia Parker (page 124) - a woman who had been kidnapped around age nine by a Comanche band during the Fort Parker massacre in 1836, where several of her relatives were killed. She was taken with several of her family members, including her younger brother John Richard Parker. Parker was taken into the tribe, eventually having three children with a chief. Twenty-four years later she was relocated and taken captive by Texas Rangers, aged approximately 33, and unwillingly forced to separate from her sons and conform to European-American society.

Temple Friend (page 124) - Lee Temple Friend was kidnapped during what became know as the Legion Valley Massacre in Llano, Texas when he was just eight years old. He was returned to his parents in El Dorado, Kansas when he was twelve, but he did not readapt well and he died in their care a few years later.

galluses (page 132) - During the nineteenth century, suspenders were sometimes called galluses.

Lola Montez (page 138) - an Irish dancer and actress who became famous as a Spanish dancer, courtesan, and mistress of King Ludwig I of Bavaria 

Isn't it crazy how people can be an household name and then within 150 years, no one has ever heard of them?!

Hat mentions (why hats?):
held their hats (page 2, 90)
lifted his hat (page 4)
took off his hat (page 6, 100, 165, 182, 185, 204)
It was black, like his frock coat and vest and his trousers and his hat and his blunt boots. (page 10)
traveling hat (page 15, 134)
good black hat (page 15, 74)
hat can (page 15)
shadow of their hats (page 29)
old field hat (page 32, 51, 157)
tossed their heads and their hats (page 33)
He put his hat over his face (page 39)
settled his hat more firmly (page 42)
blew off people's hats (page 48)
grasping his hat brim (page 50)
walked by with his hat (page 53)
silk hat (page 61)
lifted his hat (page 70, 134 x 2, 139)
pancake hat(s) (page 90, 156)
put on his hat (page 91)
put on his own hat (page 92)
touch(ed) his hat (page 93, 161x2, 162)
removed his hat (page 93)
crown of a hat (page 107)
under his hat (page 107)
jerked off his hat (page 117)
shabby hats (page 126)
wavy brim of his old hat (page 127)
hat with a very tall crown (page 130)
straw hats (page 132)
hat brim (page 148)
broad-brimmed hats (page 159)
sat his hat lower (page 162)
none of their hats seemed to fit (page 165)
replaced his hat (page 166)
lifted their hats (page 200)
his hat shading his face (page 203)
his hat between her two hands (page 206)
Heah is you hat. (page 206)

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Do you regularly read westerns? Do you have a favorite? 

Five for Friday, Edition #32

In the spirit of San's list of five things for NaBloPoMo, I'm going to simply write five things I am planning on doing today on my day off. 

1) Put up Christmas decorations - the tree, the outside lights, and everything. It's supposed to be windy and cold, so we might nix the outside stuff if it's too bad and do that later if we have to.

2) Order my holiday cards - I already have THREE (THREE!) holiday cards, including ones from Elisabeth and J. I bought stamps already, so now it's just figuring out what photos to use from 2025 and order a card.

3) Buy some gifts. Not all of them, but I need to get started. Here's who I think I might be buying for this year. Honestly, just typing this out made me feel better. The list is reasonable.

• My husband
• The 2-3 niblings we get in the draw
• Bestest Friend
• TJC
• My peer mentor 
• The lady who coordinates yoga at the student union - She's retiring and her last day is January 2. *sigh* Guess who's taking over coordinating yoga?
• The mail carrier 
• I'll grab a tag or two off an angel tree

4) Take Hannah on an adventure. Last weekend we went to the dog park for the first time in 2025. There are reasons I stopped taking her, but she had a blast and maybe I should be better about taking her to places she can run around off-leash more often.

Dog park last Sunday. I love her furrowed brow. What does she have to be worried about?

5) When I came back from my cleaning my mother's stuff, I had two totes with me. One of those totes is mostly photographs. The other tote is stuff - paper products, knickknacks, craft supplies, etc. I did a first pass on Wednesday and organized it, but I'd like to get the rest of that tote put away/dealt with. The tote with the photographs is a longer project, but it does remind me that maybe I should put a photograph album or two on my holiday list.

Bonus

6) Write a holiday wish list. Right now, I'm thinking I want a fancy new hair dryer and maybe a flat iron. Maybe. 

Mr. President, How Long Must We Wait? by Tina Cassidy

Mr. President, How Long Must We Wait?: Alice Paul, Woodrow Wilson, and the Fight for the Right to Vote by Tina Cassidy is a non-fiction book in which the subtitle is the entire description of the book. 

I've read Tina Cassidy before. Remember when I read Birth and it became my personality for a long time? Well, I'm publishing this on Thanksgiving Day because I am so grateful for Alice Paul and all she did for women in this country. I don't think there's been a conversation I've had in the last week that didn't start with "In the Alice Paul book..."

Where to start? Alice Paul was a Quaker. She was in England and heard Christabel and Emmeline Pankhurst speak and became radicalized into the suffragette cause in England. During some protests and marches in England Paul was beaten by police and was arrested. She learned tactics of civil disobedience from the Pankhursts, including demanding to be treated as a political prisoner upon arrest, going on hunger strikes, and refusing to put on prisoner's clothing. Paul was force fed in a prison during this time and it led to lifelong health issues.

When Paul returned back to the United States, she became an active member of the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) who were pursuing a state by state strategy of obtaining the vote for women. She and Lucy Burns wanted a national amendment and the NAWSA folks did not like this. Paul eventually had to splinter off into her own group. 

Meanwhile, Woodrow Wilson was born on a plantation and came of age during the Civil War and Reconstruction. He was racist and sexist. He earned a doctorate in political science (fun fact: Wilson is the only political scientist who went on to become president). He taught for a bit, particularly at Princeton where he denied Paul admission based on her sex. Then he was governor of New Jersey before he was elected as the 28th President of these United States.

When I was in middle or high school, I wrote a paper on Edith Bolling Galt Wilson, Woodrow Wilson's second wife. Wilson's first wife died while he was in the White House and he met Edith and married her before his first term was up. Men really move on quickly when their wives die, don't they? Anyway, I wrote this paper on her because she basically ran the White House when Wilson had a stroke and I thought their love story was swoony romantic when I was a tween/teen, but listening to this audiobook made me think her internalized misogyny and her adoration of Woodrow was the opposite of swoony romantic. 

This book walks you through Wilson and Paul butting heads. Wilson comes off like a jackass and Paul comes off like a bit of a cold fish, but eventually the 20th Amendment was passed and women could vote in the 1920 election. Suck it, NAWSA. Your strategy didn't work.

Look, this book made me feel so much better about our own world. There are leaders out there. And they can lead to real change in the world. Maybe I wouldn't want to have had dinner with Alice Paul, but I am definitely happy that she was around when she was. 5/5 stars

Things I looked up:

Wilson had the first press conference while president 

1913 Suffrage Procession sounds amazing 

The modern State of the Union began with Wilson - he delivered his before a joint session of Congress - before this, it had been a written report

The planting of cherry trees in Washington DC originated in 1912 as a gift of friendship to the People of the United States from the People of Japan.

Hat mentions (why hats?):

waving their hats, sticks, and handkerchiefs provocatively (Chapter 1)

wearing glasses and a hat  (Chapter 1)

plucked his hat from his head and pelted him with it (Chapter 1)

broad straw hats (Chapter 1)

"You know, no lady goes out without having a hat and a coat and gloves and so on." (Chapter 2) 

beaver tricorn hat (Chapter 2)

hat tipping hand gestures (Chapter 5)

silk top hat (Chapter 5)

dandy hat (Chapter 5)

Paul wore her hat and coat indoors (Chapter 5)

use their hat pins in self-defense (Chapter 6) - I listened to the audio, so I don't know if this was written as hatpins or hat pins

held hats across their hearts (Chapter 6)

high hats from the military, Congress, and several churches (Chapter 6)

pulled on a hat (Chapter 7)

fancy hats decorated with black, white, and iridescent feathers (Chapter 9)

coats, hats, and gloves (Chapter 13)

removed his hat (Chapter 13)

tipped his hat (Chapter 13 x 2)

dropped his hat (Chapter 14)

straw hats (Chapter 15)

broad brimmed hats (Chapter 16)

tipping his hat (Chapter 17)

took off his hat (Chapter 17)

put on their hats and left (Chapter 19)

removed his top hat in their honor (Chapter 20)

tip of his hat (Chapter 20)

yellow rose in her hat (Chapter 21)

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Happy Thanksgiving to my American friends. What is something you are thankful for today?

Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northup

I read Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northup in an attempt to fill one of the Pop Sugar Reading Challenge's prompt. To be more precise, I listened to the audiobook read by Louis Gossett, Jr. and it seemed to make a lot of sense to read it in the gloom of November. 

Northup was born free in New York. He was married with three children when he was kidnapped and sold into slavery in the southern United States. This memoir is the tale of his imprisonment for the next twelve years of his life. The story has been corroborated by documents Northrup cites, testimony from people who saw Northup on plantations he claimed to be enslaved at, and seems to be as true as possible.

It was certainly eye opening to read this book, but I have to admit to being a tiny bit disappointed. I feel like this kind of whitewashed the reality of slavery a bit with a lot of violence happening off page. I also feel like Northup is keeping the readers at a distance, but there were times I really wanted to know what he was thinking. When he left the plantation and other slaves who he had lived and worked with for years, how did he feel, knowing they'd continue on with their own plights? How did he feel when he saw his wife and children again? 

(I am hesitant to type this paragraph, but I'm going to be honest. I was talking about this book with my husband and I mumbled "he didn't make slavery seem that bad." I can see how these types of slave narratives were used by pro-slavery people who would make claims that slaves liked being slaves. Northrup never stopped fighting for his freedom and there were descriptions of abuse and belittlement, so I don't think someone reading this book would think he liked being a slave - far from it - but, to be honest, the whole experience didn't sound that bad. Clearly I'm the problem here.)

I'm glad I listened to this, but I did sort of want more from a slave narrative. Maybe that's just putting my own modern sensibilities on a book from the distant past and that's not fair. I don't know. It's certainly worth reading. 3.5/5 stars

Lines of note:

It was but a short time I closed my eyes that night. Thought was busy in my brain. Could it be possible that I was thousands of miles from home⁠—that I had been driven through the streets like a dumb beast⁠—that I had been chained and beaten without mercy⁠—that I was even then herded with a drove of slaves, a slave myself? Were the events of the last few weeks realities indeed?⁠—or was I passing only through the dismal phases of a long, protracted dream? It was no illusion. My cup of sorrow was full to overflowing. (Chapter 5)

Really, it was difficult to determine which I had most reason to fear⁠—dogs, alligators or men! Chapter 10)

In the course of the forenoon, while sauntering about the gin-house, a tall, good-looking man came to me, and inquired if I was Tibeats’ boy, that youthful appellation being applied indiscriminately to slaves even though they may have passed the number of three score years and ten. (Chapter 11)

Hat mentions (why hats?):

He wore a black frock coat and black hat, and said he resided either at Rochester or at Syracuse. The latter was a young man of fair complexion and light eyes, and, I should judge, had not passed the age of twenty-five. He was tall and slender, dressed in a snuff-colored coat, with glossy hat, and vest of elegant pattern. (Chapter 2)

It consisted in throwing balls, dancing on the rope, frying pancakes in a hat, causing invisible pigs to squeal, and other like feats of ventriloquism and legerdemain. (Chapter 2)

without coat or hat (Chapter 2) x2

They were all cleanly dressed⁠—the men with hats, the women with handkerchiefs tied about their heads. (Chapter 4)

The men had hat, coat, shirt, pants and shoes...(Chapter 6)

Taking off my hat...(Chapter 8)

I was without coat or hat, standing bareheaded, exposed to its burning blaze.  (Chapter 9)

I took off my hat...(Chapter 11)

he would forget where he left his hat, or his hoe, or his basket (Chapter 13)

uncle Abram had found his hat (Chapter 13)

new shoes and coats and hats (Chapter 14)

a rimless or a crownless hat (Chapter 15)

hat in hand (Chapter 18)

twitching off his hat (Chapter 21)

taking off my hat (Chapter 21)

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Have you read this book or any other slave narrative? 

August Lane by Regina Black

 August Lane by Regina Black is a second chance romance. When they were teens, August and Luke wrote a song together. When Luke hit it big with that song, he didn't give her any credit. Meanwhile, August stays at home to care for her grandmother while Luke and August's famous country star mother Jojo become famous. But since Jojo and Luke are black country musicians from the same hometown, eventually all three of them come back.  (Regina Black was an episode of Sarah's Bookshelves recently. Now that I've read the book, I might listen.)

I was sold on this because I heard it was part oral history. That's sort of true, in that there are occasional interviews of Jojo with a podcaster, but it's not the majority of the book. The book hits on things that are very much not my jam, including addiction, people talking about how hard it is to be rich and famous, and things that could be sorted out with a conversation. 

I do think some of the parts that are sort of Wikipedia entries spoken about black musicians in country music (it's not just Charley Pride and Darius Rucker!) were interesting, but maybe I would rather have read those parts in a non-fiction book. However, the author has something to say and I appreciate it when romance novels deal with an issue head-on instead of sugarcoating them. If you like your romances with a little bit of substance and lecture, this might work for you. 

Turns out that I don't have a lot to say about this book, now that I'm typing this. 3/5 stars

Line of note:

...her expression had shifted from mild irritation at Luke to a sour snarl when she spotted August, to a bland smile that was supposed to hide her anger but only made her look like a demonic American Girl doll. (page 94)

Here's what happened in my brain. Demonic American Girl doll? Wouldn't the whole Child's Play franchise have been funnier if instead of Chucky it was an American Girl? Which American Girl doll is the most wholesome? The easy way is to say Addy because she's the only black doll, but that seems like leaning into the black people are evil stereotype. What about Molly with her cute little wire rim glasses? Soon I'm laughing my head off and the line wasn't even that funny. 

Person I looked up:

Linda Martell - Martell is a country music singer (she's 84!). Martell was the first black woman to play the Grand Ole Opry and she was featured on two tracks on Beyonce's Cowboy Carter album. She was blacklisted after she started performing better than white label mates and eventually left the industry. 

Hat mentions (why hats?): 

His cattleman hat, however, was pristine, blinding white against his ebony skin. (page 20)
He snatched the hat from his head...(page 21)
wide-brimmed hat (page 46)
wore cowboy hats and used to yodel in beauty pageants (page 96)
teal cowboy hat that matched her boots (page 100)
silly hats and lots of airplay (page 107)
There was a streak of bird shit on Jojo's hat. (page 107)
a photograph of a Black man in a bowler hat holding a harmonica (page 146)
"Bring a hat." (page 181)
tipped his hat (page 209)
He tugged his hat down over his ears. (page 288)

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Did you know who Linda Martell is? Do you know black country artists outside of Charley Pride and Darius Rucker?

The Anomaly by Hervé Le Tellier

The Anomaly by Hervé Le Tellier is translated from the French by Adrianna Hunter. Jenny wrote a very compelling review of the book, so I ordered it from the library immediately.

In this book, it's March 2021 and a plane encounters some turbulence. It lands and everyone's fine and then in June the exact plane lands again with the same passengers on it. We meet some of those passengers and how this event changes their lives. 

In general, I really liked this book. I liked that it raised interesting questions and I really liked the way it looked at how governments would react in this sort of emergent situation. But my biggest complaint about the book seems to be a common one: the first passenger we meet is the most interesting one and we don't hear from him very often throughout the book, even though he's what really got me into the book!

It's also sort of interesting because the book takes place in 2021, but the pandemic doesn't get a mention. That seemed weird to me. Oh, well. 

3.5/5 stars - I bet it would be an excellent book club read. There's lots to talk about!

Line of note:

He had hundreds of ginko trees planted all along the banks so that he can gaze at them and meditate. He's always been fascinated by these primitive trees. Their ancestors existed millions of years before even the dinosaurs appeared, and will outlive the human race. A plant version of memento mori. (page 241)

Things I looked up:

Annemasse (page 9) - a city in France on the Swiss border

Fields medal (page 106) - a prize awarded to two, three, or four mathematicians under 40 years of age at the International Congress of the International Mathematical Union (IMU), a meeting that takes place every four years

Gromov's non-prological theories (page 108) - non-squeezing theorem, also called Gromov's non-squeezing theorem, is one of the most important theorems in symplectic geometry. It was first proven in 1985 by Mikhail Gromov. The theorem states that one cannot embed a ball into a cylinder via a symplectic map unless the radius of the ball is less than or equal to the radius of the cylinder.

What's sympletic geometry, you ask? I don't know because the Wikipedia definition dares to use the term symplectic manifolds in its definition. I refused to do further research.

Markov chain (page 116) -  a process describing a sequence of possible events in which the probability of each event depends only on the state attained in the previous event

Kendall notations (page 116) - the standard system used to describe and classify a queueing node

Lebensraum (page 133) - the territory that a state or nation believes is needed for its natural development, especially associated with Nazi Germany

radome (page 146) - a plastic housing sheltering the antenna assembly of a radar set especially on an airplane

modafinil (page 162) - a prescription wakefulness-promoting agent used to treat excessive sleepiness caused by certain sleep disorders

Grothendieck's topoi (page 163) - categories that behave like sheaves on topological spaces

What does that mean? Search me. 

Abel prize (page 165) - a prize that recognizes pioneering scientific achievements in mathematics - it's  administered by the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters on behalf of the Ministry of Education and Research and given out yearly

Romain Gary (page 324) - a French novelist, diplomat, film director, and World War II aviator. He is the only author to have won the Prix Goncourt (a prize in French literature) twice (once under a pseudonym)

Hat mentions (why hats?):

He'll wear gloves, a hood, a hat, and glasses...(page 8)

There was a hi-hat on page 347, but it's not in the spirit of the thing. 

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Would you read a book about issues with flying? A science fiction book told in a contemporary world and time? 

Update #4: The Leg

Jenny asked, I answer.

Many years ago, I had a tib-fib fracture on my left leg. There was surgery, lots of screws and plates, and then I went on with my merry little life. But lately it's been causing me a lot of pain. It's also limiting my ability to do certain movements/exercises. And this is the thing that gets me more than the rest, which is unpredictable seizing up. I was in a fitness class and was happily skipping up and down the gym when my left ankle REFUSED TO BEND and I nearly fell over. This has also happened when I've been standing in front of a classroom, walking down stairs, and you know, just when I'm sitting around doing nothing. 

I went to PT and it helped with the pain, but I was essentially told that there's not much to be done about my range of motion. There are literal plates that hinder the angle at which my left ankle can bend. So this means running is not a great idea for me for exercise and there are various yoga poses I will never be able to do or, at the very least, not do without extreme discomfort. Because I tend to overuse my good leg, there is a definite difference in muscle tone between my left and right lower legs, so I have to be really careful when I'm doing bilateral work on my lower body to not do less with my left leg. Honestly, I have mostly switched to unilateral work so I can focus specifically on the left side. The x-rays show some arthritis, as was predicted when I first broke it, but not as much as they would have anticipated. 

I saw the local orthopedist and he gave me two options: surgery to undo the hardware and another surgery to replace the hardware (which would give me modern hardware, but no more mobility) or surgery to fuse the ankle in place (which is a great option for older people at times, but is the exact opposite of what I wanted). I gave myself the third option of PT. 

This same orthopedist is the one that "helped" my husband with his broken collarbone and literally lied in his documentation about a physical exam that he did not actually do on my husband - and charged insurance for this non-existent exam. The PT that I worked with gave me the names of other foot/ankle doctors who deal with complicated leg injuries like mine more often than the local ortho. (She did this sneakily and clearly felt some guilt while doing it, but also said that my repair is much more extensive than the average patient and the local ortho doesn't usually see anything like it. I like that she tried to defend him, but I'm over him.)

ANYWAY. 

I want to avoid surgery if possible. So for now I'm focusing on unilateral work. When I do too much and my leg hurts, I ice it and try to avoid doing those exercises again. I'm carrying around more weight than I should be and that's NOT helping. One of my goals will be to lose some of that weight in 2026, but I will be close-mouthed about that process here on the blog because there's nothing more boring than people talking about how restricting calories is hard. Don't get me started on the boringness of discussing macronutrients.

If, at the end of 2026, the combo of PT exercises, careful unilateral work to build up strength in my bad leg, and losing weight doesn't help with the pain, I'll make some phone calls to those other doctors.

But for now this is the plan. 

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Do you have any old nagging injuries? Have you ever done PT?

Update #3: The Yoga Bags

The brand is Magnilay. 

I now have TWO yoga mats and two yoga bags. Since I do yoga at the student union twice a week, I have a bag at work that includes two blocks, a strap, my mat, and leggings. The bag can fit a blanket, but it's really tight and hard to repack, so for now, there's no blanket. This has worked out well for me. I leave it at school most of the time, but if I am going to a yoga class somewhere else, I bring it home with me. 

Then I splurged and bought a new yoga mat for home so that I could leave the other bag at school. I have a blanket, bolster, and another set of blocks at home. I could probably use a strap for home use, but I mostly just use a tie or a PT resistance band. I had a different yoga mat at home, but it was not very good quality and was constantly shedding tiny pink pebbles everywhere. So now I have a good quality mat at home and the whole set up seems seamless. 

While I was buying my new mat, I bought a bag just for the mat. I take that with me to the community center when I go to my fitness classes and just throw some hand weights into a bag with my water to do those classes. This system is pretty new - I've only had the new mat for a couple of weeks - but so far this system is working for me!

My set up for fitness classes. It's a Manduka mat and bag. 

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Do you have an exercise bag? Were you choosy about picking it?

Update #2: The Silent Auction Wins

A few weeks ago we went to a fundraiser at the local community center. I think I've mentioned in the past that I have never actually paid to go to these fundraisers, but there's a board member who always pays for my tickets. Well, that happened AGAIN. Now that I not underemployed anymore, I can actually probably afford to pay for my own tickets, but this year I just forgot to buy them (I am overwhelmed by other things, as you can probably guess) and she emailed me that she put our names down for tickets. I am grateful to her, but I really need to start paying my own way.

ANYWAY, because of this, I felt obligated to actually donate money while I was there and one of the things I sort of went crazy on was the silent auction. 

I won two items. 

1) A monthly scone subscription! Every month I get three scones from a local bakery delivered to a small business just down the street. I get to choose the flavors and then just go pick them up. HOW FUN. My first order came in while I was in Michigan, so Dr. BB picked them up for me and I had a scone for breakfast for three days when I came back!

Blueberry lemon in November!

2) A decorative, handmade plate. Do I need this plate? No. Do I have any way to display this plate? No. Did I bid on it thinking someone would certainly outbid me? Yes. 

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Have you ever won a silent auction item? Did you ever win when you thought someone else would bid higher than you?

Update #1: The Great Car Search of 2025

I have a series of updates that I originally thought would be a good Five for Friday post, but that post got unwieldy and long. So I'm going to do shorter posts with updates and then resume my regular sporadic posting about books and nonsense.

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We have been test driving cars for months. On one hand, we're in a good position because it's not like our old Hyundai is actually out of commission. On the other hand, we'd like to actually make a decision before the snow falls. (NOTE: Snow fell last Saturday. We're already past our self-imposed deadline.)

Here's the situation. We technically have a two car garage, but only if those cars are pretty narrow. Right now we drive two compact cars and we're still squeezing in and out, so we can maybe extend the width of a new car by three or four inches, but then it's going to be super duper tight/impossible. We currently have a 2010 Hyundai Elantra that has served us well, but is on its last tires. We also have a 2019 VW Golf Sportwagen. We don't have  his and her cars - we both drive the cars in equal amounts. The VW is basically for Hannah since she fits nicely in the back. 

In 2019, when we bought our Sportwagen, I essentially fell in love with it from the test drive. If they still sold Sportwagens in the US, we'd just buy another one. Unfortunately, 80% of the market in this country - man do I wish I was buying a car in Europe - is pickups and SUVs. Sedans are a rarity and compact sedans are even rarer. And, honestly, there aren't any wagons sold in our price range anymore - if we want a wagon that isn't electric, we're looking at Audi ($45,000+), BMW ($100,000+), Mercedes ($76,000+), and Volvo ($70,000+). Would I love a Mercedes or Volvo wagon? YES. Is that price range appropriate for us? NO. 

Wagons are great for our lifestyle. We can put the dog in the back and it's perfect for when we go on road trips and there's a place for us to put our cooler. But wagons are so expensive that we eventually settled on test driving the few remaining compact cars left on the market because, after all, we're replacing a sedan. 

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The logistics of life are hard, too. We would ideally like to test drive these cars in the daylight. That leaves weekdays off the table since the sun has set by the time we get home from work these days. Most dealerships are only open on Saturdays on weekends. But our Saturdays are often filled with non-car shopping things. So, as you can imagine, this has made all of this a bit more protracted than is ideal.

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I want to fall in love with a car again. Or at least I want one of us to fall in love with a car again. Here's what we've test driven so far.

VW Jetta - Look, it's fine. It's a safe car. If someone put a Jetta in our garage right now, we'd be fine with that. But that's it. Just fine. Also, it doesn't come with a spare tire or floor mats and I was sort of annoyed by the nickel and diming situation. 

Subaru Outback - This is an SUV crossover that sometimes gets called a wagon. In the 2026 model year, they're truly going to be an SUV because they are moving up its chassis size, so this might be our last chance if we want a Subaru, or frankly, anything close to a wagon in the future. But do we want one? It's big, barely able to fit in our garage. It accelerates like a dog and is no fun to drive. It's a little on the high side of our price range. It's FINE. The financing deals are great. It has all wheel drive. We also test drove a Legacy (sedan) and it was also fine. We *seem* like we should be Subaru people, but I don't know if we really are. 

Honda - We test drove a Civic and an Accord. We test drove Hondas in 2019 when we brought the Sportwagen and I almost had a panic attack because I was so claustrophobic in them. Nothing has changed. Those cars are like caves. I know Honda has its fans, but I am not one of them. (We drive compact cars and I'm used to tight spaces. I was reeeeeally annoyed with the car salesperson who asked what I expected since we were looking at smaller cars. Well, Bob, I guess I was expecting you not to have your interior fabric in dark colors and the windows tinted so it seems like we're belowground.)

Hyundai - We test drove an Elantra (an updated version of our beloved Hyundai) and a Sonata. Frankly, the cars are ugly and look like they've already been in an accident with weird sharp juts and angles. There's a weird gearshift thing. They are fine to drive, but not very exciting. The warranty is very good.

Mazda 3 - I liked this car a lot more than my husband. It's zippy and fun. The financing deals aren't great and my husband thought the engine whined a bit more than he would like. The road noise bothered Dr. BB a lot, too. The warranty is shit. There is a 2026 model that has AWD and we might test drive that one, but then the price isn't as good because it's a new model year. 

Toyota - We test drove a Prius. I refuse to tell you how excited I was about the Prius. I thought it was going to solve all our problems. The sightlines are sort of terrible. The regular rearview mirror has a very limited range, so you can turn on this newfangled camera thing and then you have a wider view, but it also made me nauseous. This one had a whine in the engine that irked me and the turn signals made a sound that was like nails on a chalkboard to me. I know that seems silly, but if I had to listen to that noise multiple times a day, I might not survive the drive. 

Genesis 2025 G70 AWD - Are you familiar with Genesis? It's the Hyundai luxury brand. It comes with the Hyundai warranty and this one is deeply discounted, which is the only reason it's vaguely at the upper-end of our price range. My husband really likes this one and I'm pretty sure we'll probably end up getting it. 

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What's next?

Well, the Genesis got sold, so that's off the table.

We're going to test drive an Outback with a better engine. My husband thinks that's what's going to make me fall in love with it.

We're going to test drive a 2026 AWD Mazda 3. 

So the choice is probably the Outback and the Mazda 3. I'll be sure to let you know when and if we figure any of it out.

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Anyone want to just tell me what to do? Do you like car shopping? Do you make decisions a lot more quickly than we do?

False Witness by Karin Slaughter

I'm plugging away at the Pop Sugar Reading Challenge even though there's no way I'm going to finish it. False Witness by Karin Slaughter is a book that features a character with chronic pain AND the audiobook was available immediately for me on the Libby app when I was doing yet another road trip. Do we think Karin Slaughter is her real name or a pseudonym? 

In this thriller, Leigh and Calli are sisters. They are close as they both survived a childhood with their abusive mother. When they are young teens, they do something (sort of) bad 

(note: this is a morally grey area if you think what they did was bad and I honestly don't think it was, but I don't want to give away spoilers)

and they get away with it without any legal consequences. That is until years later when Leigh is a lawyer and Calli is a heroin addict and their past comes back to haunt them. Thriller things ensure.

Look, this is a good book. It's fast-paced and well-written. But maybe, just maybe, listening to a story about sisters who truly love one another and are devoted to each other was not the right choice for me at this exact moment in time. (If you're new around here, I have a tumultuous relationship with my sister, my mother died earlier this year, and so everything surrounding my family of origin is difficult.) ANYWAY. I found some scenes really hard to listen to. Really hard. There's graphic (GRAPHIC) depictions of sexual violence; violence violence, including guns; child abuse and neglect; pandemic stuff; and drug abuse. This is not for the faint of heart and I'm slowly coming to the realization that perhaps I *am* the faint of heart. 

 

4/5 stars, but be forewarned

Things I looked up:

Vince Dooley (Spring 2021 - Chapter 1) - an American college football coach. He was the head coach of the Georgia Bulldogs from 1964 to 1988, as well as the University of Georgia's (UGA) athletic director from 1979 to 2004.

viviparous (Spring 2021 - Chapter 4) - there are two definitions, one in zoology and one in botany

• (of an animal) bringing forth live young that have developed inside the body of the parent.
• (of a plant) reproducing from buds that form plantlets while still attached to the parent plant, or from seeds that germinate within the fruit. 

Hat mentions (why hats?): 

his hat in his hand (Spring 2021 - Chapter 10)

colorful hat on her head (Spring 2021 - Chapter 11)

his hat in his hands (Summer 2005)

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Are you the faint of heart? Do you read a lot of thrillers?

CBBC Week Five: The Joy Luck Club Wrap-Up

Past discussions:
Week One: Part I
Week Two: Part II
Week Three: Part III
Week Four: Part IV

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What were your overall thoughts on this book? 

Here's what I think:

• The POVs were too similar so it was impossible to keep the characters straight. The fact that the POV changed in every chapter made it even worse. 
• I didn't want to spend time in this world. The people were mean, the subject was heavy, and I was just not interested in being there.
• I thought this book was graphic and gross. It wasn't just the food descriptions, although that didn't help.
• The writing was both elliptical and unclear and also heavy handed at times. There were times she was sort of oblique about what was going on (see: the watermelon scene and the two sentence abortion mention in "Waiting Between the Trees") and other times when her use of imagery and metaphor hit you over the head. I don't know. I didn't love the writing style. 

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Pop culture:

There's a 1993 movie starring Tsai Chin, Kieu Chinh, Lisa Lu, France Nuyen, Rosalind Chao, Lauren Tom, Tamlyn Tomita, and Ming-Na Wen. I've heard of none of these people. I bet no one is shocked to learn that I have not watched the movie, but the plot seems to follow the the book fairly closely. A few differences:

• In the movie, Lena and Harold get divorced and Lena has a new relationship.
• Rose and Ted get back together in the movie.

Has anyone seen the movie? 

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TJLC questions to ponder:

1) Which of the characters did you identify with the most? Why?

2) While the book has been critically received positively for the most part, there are some criticisms that the book leans into stereotypical portrayals of Asian men and some aspects of parenthood. Do you think this book challenges stereotypes or leans into them?

3) I hate to keep harping on the structure of this book, but why do you think Tan structured it this way using parables as framing devices for each section? What would have changed if the book had been told chronologically or through back-to-back chapters featuring mother and daughters?

4) What does the book tell us about American culture? About American immigrant culture? 

5) In the first chapter, June discusses her mother's take on the elements that make people:

Each person is made of five elements, she told me.

Too much fire and you have a bad temper. ..

Too little wood and you bent too quickly to listen to other people's ideas...

Too much water and you flowed in too many directions...

How do you think these elements are used to establish personality traits in the rest of the book? 

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Most iconic line poll:

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That's a wrap on 2025 CBBC! Thanks for joining and participating. 

October 2025: What I Spent

As a reminder, my husband pays the "big bills" like mortgage, phone, and electricity. I pay for groceries and the pets and that somehow evens things out.

We're still in a bit of weird area right now. There are expenses related to me dealing with my mother's estate and a tiny bit of travel. Let's dig in. It was a spendy month.

(In light of what's going on right now with the government shutdown and benefits being withheld, I struggled with whether or not this post was tone deaf. Maybe it is. If you don't want to read it, feel free to skip it. I understand.)

Eating out ($12.48, <1%) - I went out to lunch once. 

Entertainment ($12.65, <1%) - This is my Spotify subscription.

Personal care ($77.62, 1.9%) - Some supplements and daily face lotion.

Travel ($110.99, 2.8%) - One night in a hotel.

Miscellaneous ($126, 3.1%) - I had to pay for a death certificate* and then I bought some stuff for our non-food items for next Halloween.

Bills ($133.33, 3.3%) - Insurance for home and car.

Cars ($161.11, 4%) - I bought a lot of gas. I was driving a lot.

Fitness ($164.58, 4.1%) - I BOUGHT A NEW YOGA MAT. I finally decided I wanted a nice mat at home and school and I bought a new mat and a bag to go with it and I have no regrets. Now I have a bag with a whole yoga set at school and a smaller bag at home for going to the community center and back. 

Gifts ($173, 4.3%) - A birthday present for my nephew and a baby shower gift.

Savings ($200, 5%) - Lolz.

Clothes ($217.79, 5.4%) - My niece and I got permanent anklets together when we were at the local tourist town. Worth every penny.

Donations ($220, 5.5%) - My puny contribution to a fundraiser at the community center. Remind me and someday I'll tell you all about my silent auction victories.

Pets ($288.07, 7.2%) - Let's all just be excited that this number is so low. Yay! Confetti falls from the sky.

Groceries ($788.39, 19.7%) - We still gotta eat, you know?

Health ($1314.79, 32.9%) - My PT bills came due. What a sadness.

*I need an official death certificate and all I had was a copy. I asked the funeral home for an official one and they sent me another copy, which was not going to pass muster. Eventually I had to shell out to get one through a weird website. Anyway, I don't know how to classify a lot of these random types of expenses, so I'm throwing it in miscellaneous. 

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What is something fun you bought in October? Is it as fun as my anklet with Claire? 

October 2025 Accountability Buddy

Wednesday, October 1

30-minute cardio standing abs

Thursday, October 2

30-minute yoga video at the student union during lunchtime

Friday, October 3

Day off

Saturday, October 4

I'm counting the many many stairs I climbed at the water park and the many hours we spent messing about there.

Sunday, October 5

Day off

Monday, October 6

30-minute yoga video at the student union during lunchtime

Tuesday, October 7

30-minute fast walking workout with intervals - I am so unmotivated these days. I did this sort of begrudgingly. 

Wednesday, October 8

15-minute stretch class at lunchtime*

30-minute total body tabata (bodyweight) - So little motivation. At some point, I'm going to have to lift a weight. 

Thursday, October 9

30-minute yoga video at the student union during lunchtime

Friday, October 10

Day off

Saturday, October 11

30-minute morning flow yoga video - I was visiting friends and had some visitors help me get into my Zen state. 

Sunday, October 12

37-minute total body strength - I lifted actual weights!

Monday, October 13 - Tuesday, October 14

Days off

Wednesday, October 15

15-minute stretch class at lunchtime

30-minute backchain with weights

Thursday, October 16

30-minute full body flexibility yoga

Friday, October 17

15-minute stretch class at lunchtime

35-minute tabata cardio - super sweaty!

Saturday, October 18

35-minute stretch and relax yoga

Sunday, October 19

30-minute sports cardio 

15-minute daily yoga stretch - What an interesting video. The instructor says nothing and transitions between poses are indicated by a bell. I kind of liked it. 

Monday, October 20

30-minute yoga video at the student union during lunchtime - The person who runs this wasn't there and no one else was, either, but the room was reserved, so I just did it by myself. 

If you can't predict what song will play if you click this link, you should reevaluate your pop culture consumption. 

Tuesday, October 21

Day off

Wednesday, October 22

30-minute total body workout

10-minute bedtime yoga

Thursday, October 23

30-minute yoga video at the student union during lunchtime - No one else was there again. I have a vague recollection about maybe the organizer being on vacation in Costa Rica now that I think about it. Oh, well. I did it. 

Friday, October 24 - Sunday, October 26

Off. I was vaccinated on Friday for so many things and I didn't have it in me. My stats this year are in the tank. *sigh*

Monday, October 27

30-minute yoga video at the student union during lunchtime. - Just me and one other person. It is confirmed that the yoga lady is on vacation. 

Tuesday, October 28

45-minute body blast at the community center after work - I've been on hiatus dealing with my leg, but my leg is never going to get better, so I'm back at it. 

If your friends agree to do a foot selfie, take them up on it. 

Wednesday, October 29

Day off

Thursday, October 30

30-minute yoga video at the student union during lunchtime

Friday, October 31

I spent most of the afternoon hauling my mother's stuff out of a barn and organizing it. Lots of moving around, bending, and wanting to murder my already dead parent. I'm counting this.

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Total: 23/31 (74.2%) of days

Cardio/strength: 11 days
Yoga: 10 days

Short stretch classes at lunchtime: 2 days

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That's too much yoga, but I'm going to take it. My stats for this year are decimated. Oh, well. I'll keep on keeping on, even though the perfectionist in me wants to say fuck it and stop working out this year because I'll never meet my goals.

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Were your workouts successful in October? What exercise is your favorite? 

October 2025 Books

10/6: Sweep in Peace (Innkeeper Chronicles #2) by Ilona Andrews (library ebook, 2015) - This series is joy. Now, in addition to the dog, there's a cat! This one dragged a little in the middle - it turns out I don't much care about intergalactic politics - but I did like it a lot. 4/5 stars

10/12: Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro (library, 2021) - I didn't love it, but it was a great book club discussion. 3/5 

10/13: Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson (library audiobook, 1999) - I read this in 2010 and liked it a lot then. I like it less now, but that's because I want to shake every adult in the story and make them pay attention. I think Just Listen handles these themes better, but both books have their place in YA books about rape. 3.5/5 stars

10/21: The Hallmarked Man (Cormoran Strike #8) by Robert Galbraith (library, 2025) - This book was really boring. 2.5/5 stars

10/25: Her Many Faces by Nicci Cloke (library, 2025) - Good, fast-paced thriller. I enjoyed this one a lot. 4.5/5 stars

10/26: What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami translated by Phillip Gabriel (library audiobook narrated by Ray Porter, 2007) - Memoir about running and writing. Fine, I guess, but there's a lot of talk about body image and running. What did I expect? This one might be on me. 3/5 stars

10/31: Assistant to the Villain (Assistant to the Villain #1) by Hannah Nicole Maehrer (library audiobook narrated by Em Eldridge, 2023) - Girl stumbles into a new job, only to find out that The Villain is maybe not the bad guy. Fine, fine. Not earthshattering, but absolutely fine. 3/5 stars

Total: 7 books
Average star rating: 3.36/5 stars

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DNF

Silver Bay by Jojo Moyes - We'll never know if this book was actually boring or if I kept falling asleep because I was exhausted. The library took it back before I made it to the halfway point. DNF at 41%. 

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What's the best book you read in October?

CBWC October 2025 - Week Five

It's Cool Blogger Walking Club (CBWC) time. Hosted by Elisabeth, we're trying for ten minutes of intentional movement every day. Let's see how the last week of the month played out.
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Tuesday, October 28
Couple walks with my best canine friend. Here we are practicing not dragging your human up and down the stairs.

Wednesday, October 29

We were test driving cars AGAIN tonight, so I had to run home at lunch to take Hannah out. Can you tell from her face here that she was THRILLED to have to leave her cozy bed in the middle of the day? I mostly wanted a photo of that glorious maple behind her. The maples are some of the last trees to change, which means we always miss leaf pickup, but I don't even care. Look how pretty it is. Ignore the bratty dog. (I just want you to know that in two days that tree went from this to orange to all the leaves on our driveway.)

This doesn't really give you the full creepiness. 

Thursday, October 39

I took a walk with Hannah today in the morning. But nothing was as delightful as how absolutely creepy walking around a foggy campus was this morning. 

Friday, October 31

I am in Michigan dealing with some stuff with my mom's estate. I took an hour and stopped a lovely county park and went for a walk. 

Lessons learned from CBWC this year

One of the goals I made for my October CBWC was to unplug during my walks - either listen to music or nothing during my walks. I ended up just leaving my earbuds at home for a few walks and here's what I learned.

1) I still don't know what Hannah's reacting to. It must be something only she can see, hear, or smell, because when she jumps in the air and looks back at me for reassurance, I can confidently say "it's okay," because whatever it is that has her attention is not bothering me in the least.

2) Our neighborhood is LOUD. There are squirrels, birds, kids playing outside, motors revving, leaf blowers blowing, card doors slamming, dogs barking, and on one memorable occasion, roofs getting professionally vacuumed. 

3) Real talk: I learned that I am not doing well. If left alone to my own thoughts, I am pretty much assured to start crying. I think...I might need to do something about this. 

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How is the time changing impacting your life? Are you as sad as I am about the dark, dark evenings?

CBBC Week Four: The Joy Luck Club, Part IV

Past discussions:
Week One: Part I
Week Two: Part II
Week Three: Part III

Welcome to Week Four of Cool Bloggers Book Club (CBBC) for The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan. This week we'll be discussion Part IV. 

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What happened in these chapters?

We begin with a nonsense parable.

Then it's back to An-mei (her mother cut off part of her arm!) and she tells a story about how her mother was the fourth wife of a rich man after being widowed. The second wife gave An-mei a pearl necklace, but it was fake. The second wife was unable to have a child, so when An-mei's mother did give birth, the second wife took the child and raised it as her own. And Rose gets ignored for the rest of the book.

We next switch to Ying-Ying and hear her side of the story about breaking the vase. She does a flashback in which we learn about her past with an arranged marriage to a man who abused and cheated on her. Many years later she married an American and it wasn't until many years later that she told him about her life in China. (Poor Ying-Ying.)

Waverly Tells Lindo that she will blend in so well with the Chinese on her honeymoon that she won’t be allowed to return to America. When Lindo replies that the Chinese will know Waverly is American before she even opens her mouth, Waverly is disappointed. Lindo remembers her early days in the United States, working in a fortune cookie company and meeting Waverly's father and having two sons - Winston (wins ton) and Vincent (win cent). There's a thing about how both Lindo and Waverly have crooked noses and Lindo urges Waverly to get it fixed, but Waverly likes how it makes them look devious.

We finish with June going to China with her father. He reunites with family. She learns about how her mother stuffed her half-sisters shirts with jewelry and money and wrote their names on the back of photos with a message asking their rescuer to care for the babies and bring them to her address when safe again. Unfortunately, their rescuers were never able to find her mother. She meets her half-sisters and they greet her joyfully.

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Hat mentions (why hats?):

small brown felt hat ("Magpies")

tucked into this hat ("Magpies")

foreign men in hats ("Magpies")

I see cat. I see rat. I see hat. ("Double Face")

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Lines of note:

Wearing those clothes, I felt as if I had grown new hands and feet and I would now have to learn to walk in a new way. ("Magpies")

"She makes clouds with one hand, rain with the other." ("Magpies")

I was far more pretty than my daughter, who has country feet and a large nose like her father's. ("Waiting Between the Trees")

When my daughter looks at me, she sees a small old lady. That is because she sees only with her outside eyes. She has no chuming, no inside knowing of things. If she had chuming, she would see a tiger lady. And she would have careful fear. ("Waiting Between the Trees")

She learned these things, but I couldn't teach her about Chinese character. How to obey parents and listen to your mother's mind. How not to show your own thoughts, to put your feelings behind your face so you can take advantage of hidden opportunities. Why easy things are not worth pursuing. How to know your own worth and polish it, never flashing it around like a cheap ring. Why Chinese thinking is best. ("Double Face")

I walked up this hill and then I saw a tall building. This was Old St. Mary's. Under the church sing, in  handwritten Chinese characters, someone had added: "A Chinese Ceremony to Save Ghosts from Spiritual Unrest 7 A.M. and 8:30 A.M." I memorized this information in case the authorities asked me where I worshipped my religion. And then I saw another sign across the street. It was painted on the outside of a short building. And I thought to myself, This is where American people worship. ("Double Face")

...I think about all the different ways we leave people in this world. Cheerily waving good-bye to some at airports, knowing we'll never see each other again. Leaving others on the side of the road, hoping that we will.  ("A Pair of Tickets")

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Things I looked up:

famous Shantung sing-song girl ("Magpies") - Sing-song girls, also known as flower girls, is an English-language term for the high class prostitutes in China during the 19th century

The whole watermelon scene in "Waiting Between the Trees." - Turns out kai gwa is a euphemism for taking her virginity. Once I figured this out, it made more sense and the whole scene was even worse to read. 

soups served out of a carved winter melon ("A Pair of Tickets") - Is this a thing?

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Questions to ponder:

1) Please explain the parable to me.

2) The novel begins with the mothers, includes two parts on the daughters, and returns to the mothers in the last part. Why do you think it's structured this way? Why do you think the book has Suyuan die so that her part of the story is told from June's perspective?

3) There are so many heartbreaking birth/childhood stories in this book - Ying-Ying's dead baby, Bing's death, Suyuan's abandoned daughters, An-mei's stolen child - what purpose does this serve in the theme of the mother and daughter relationships? 

4) How much of the communication breakdowns between the women and their daughters was because of culture? How much was generational?

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Last week's homework:

What was your theme last week? Did you pick it up when you were reading?

My theme was color and I think the biggest example of it was white, particularly in "Magpies."

And when I opened that box, all my shame, my fears, they fell away. Inside was a new starch-white dress. It had ruffles at the collar and along the sleeves and six tiers of ruffles for a skirt. The box also contained white stocking, white leather shoes, and an enormous white hair bow, already shaped and ready to be fastened on with two loose ties. 

Later on in the chapter: I looked down at my own white dress covered with grass stains and I felt ashamed.

The white stands for the symbolism of the child An-mei here. She has no idea what she's stepping into by going to her mother's home. Her mother as the fourth wife, bringing shame on to her family. And then the grass stain is her mother's shame. 

There are also the white pearls that the second wife gives An-mei, which we soon learn are fake glass. 

It was interesting to see the parallels here between An-mei and her mother as the story progressed. 

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Upcoming CBBC schedule:

November 10: Wrap up!