I haven’t updated this series since December 17!
On December 16 I caught Kyle’s sickness. The next day, Stewart got it too. By then Kyle had recovered and Brady seemed to have missed it altogether. That means in a two-parent home there were two sick parents and two healthy kids. You know what that means – a sickness that would have taken maybe two days in bed to recover from is still upon us. With both parents down, neither of us could shoulder the family burden and give the other a 100% break. We’ve been limping through the days, doing our best to show up for the kids’ holiday stuff, to decorate and wrap presents, bake and frolic.
There was one day, though, when I went to bed early and couldn’t sleep so I read most of an entire book. Somebody Else’s Daughter by Elizabeth Brundage. My mother had sent it it to me in a box of gifts, not as a gift itself but as a pay it forward type of thing. I do that, too. Books I like but don’t need to keep, I give to someone who I think would enjoy it.
Everything I read is so full of violence lately. Ugh. But this novel started out more gently, with very vivid character descriptions that I enjoyed. It turned into a finely-spun web of small-town deceit, but since the genesis of the story was an event borne of love, I had high hopes for the tale to have a happy ending. Which it does, sort of. There were gaps in the characters’ actions where I felt that Brundage set up these people in such a way that they veered off in directions that were not exactly believable. Overall, however, it was a page-turner, full of the kind of descriptive prose that I love, and it was perfect for a sick day in bed.
A few days ago I started reading J.K. Rowling’s latest, A Casual Vacancy, which is our next book club selection. It starts with somebody dying. It’s not terrible, but I think I need to read some Nancy Drew because I just can’t take any more gruesome or sad books right now.
I’ve read other stuff in the last week or so, but I can’t remember it. My head is still full of snot.
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