Unabridged Chick

It has been a whirlwind week, and I kind of don't believe it's real! Last Friday, we closed on a condo in a fabulous neighborhood in Boston. We spent Saturday packing, and we moved in on Sunday! We're still in the midst of unpacking, but we're reveling in our new space -- we've gone from a tiny one bedroom to a three bedroom! The baby gets his own room now! Once the place is cleaner, I'll share some photos! I'm reading The Blue Line by Ingrid Betancourt, and it's like Isabel Allende meets Susanna Kearsley. I just love it so far. It's Betancourt's debut novel, although she's written two other non-fiction books. For those who might not be familiar with her, Betancourt is a Colombian politician who was kidnapped and held hostage for almost seven years. I was captivated by her story and am delighted to see she's dipped her toe into fiction. What are you reading this weekend?

I'm still way behind on blog stuff, especially my 2015 reviews and wrap up. At this point, I'm just going to lean in and embrace this new spirit of, I don't know, forgiveness and slow time because what else am I going to do? As it is, life has been busy and complicated: this past Friday, we closed on a condo, and we moved into it on Sunday! Needless to say, I've been focused on packing and unpacking, and sadly haven't had the time -- or energy, if there was time --- to do any reading. Now that we're moved, hoping to find that time again! I'm slowly working my way through Roxane Gay's Bad Feminist . I've wanted to read it since it was released, and decided to tackle this one as part of my 2016 Read Harder challenge (which I'll someday blog about!). I'm loving it so far, and it makes a great book to use for today's bookish memes. First Chapter First Paragraph , hosted by Bibliophile by the Sea: The world changes faster than we

I'm seriously dithering on post-2015 blog work and so I'm behind on 2016 blog work. I've resolved to give myself a pass on this. My first read for 2016 is The Wake by Paul Kingsnorth, a challenging read to kick off the year with -- but one I've been curious about and have had blogger friends squee over. It's a particularly interesting read for me at the moment, as aspects of our hero's feelings echo some of the sentiment shared by those engaged in the Oregon paramilitary standoff. (This is one of the many reasons I'm so passionate about historical fiction; I'm wrestling with complicated issues on politics, government, and self rule when I honestly might have otherwise resorted to glib shoulder shrugs.) In addition to the current events-y connection, the language in this book has been very thought-provoking, as the author has invented a language meant to evoke Old English. So, some excerpts and teasers so you all can share in the linguistical sn