AGAIN, I Didn't Get to My 100 Book Goal for 2021, But...

...I improved on 2020, when I only read thirty!

Last year had a lot of the same issues as 2020, like That Knee That Wouldn't Cooperate, the continuation of the COVID-19 pandemic mess, and another major appliance replaced.  Ugh.  The funk I was in at the end of 2020 let up for a few months, then came crashing back down on me later in the year.  But I read 57 books - a big improvement.

I read two of Betty MacDonald's (The Egg and I) memoirs; she wrote four, and I have read every one now.  All are well written and, at times, hilarious!  

Another set of memoirs - two from Beverly Cleary, who died last March at the age of 104!  She's the genius behind the books about Henry Huggins, Ramona Quimby, Ribsy, et al; they should be required reading for elementary-aged kids.  

The Boy, the Mole, the Fox, and the Horse is basically a gorgeous picture book ostensibly for children, but adults will get something out of it, too.

The Badass Librarians of Timbuktu is about the struggle to collect and preserve the art, culture, and literature of Timbuktu in the midst of war and genocide - which nobody seems to hear anything about.

The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek is a novel based on the real-life "Blue People of Kentucky."  Search for information on these people who live way back in the hollers of Appalachia, and read the book.  There are a couple of anachronisms (on purpose) in the book, but they are explained in the Afterword.

Here are recommendations from my 2021 reading list:

• The Bridge Ladies - Betsy Lerner
• Onions in the Stew - Betty MacDonald
• The Plague and I - Betty MacDonald
• D-Day Girls:  The Spies Who Armed the Resistance, Sabotaged the Nazis, and Helped Win WWII - Sarah Rose
• The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu and Their Race to Save the World's Most Precious Manuscripts - Joshua Hammer
• The Boy, the Mole, the Fox, and the Horse - Charlie Mackesy
• Bonhoeffer:  Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy - Eric Metaxas
• On Writing:  A Memoir of the Craft - Stephen King
• The Girl from Yamhill:  A Memoir - Beverly Cleary
• My Own Two Feet - Beverly Cleary
• The Diversity Delusion:  How Race and Gender Pandering Corrupt the University and Undermine Our Culture - Heather MacDonald
• Irreversible Damage:  The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughters - Abigail Shrier
• The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek - Kim Michele Richardson
• Tisha:  The Story of a Young Teacher in the Alaskan Wilderness - Robert Specht
• Dewey:  The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World - Vicki Myron
• A Single Thread - Tracy Chevalier

If you want to see the full list, click here.

It's a New Year, All Right

Well, months have come and gone, and 2021 is a memory - thank GOD!!!

I've hated to jinx it, but it APPEARS The Knee is going to finally BEHAVE.  Looks like the extreme antibiotic protocol and the last surgery have done the trick.  So on to other things.

Last year was absolutely depressing, but The Knee apparently had been resolved, we had the big family Thanksgiving dinner at our house again, my oldest sister and I took a spontaneous trip to Florida, and Christmas was on the way.  Things were starting to seem nearly normal again.

And THEN...

Our other sister died unexpectedly, two days before Christmas, as I was driving toward Maryland to spend
Christmas with That Girl and her family.  We couldn't disappoint The Grands, so Christmas went forward as planned, and it was good.  

Afterward, though...

There were decisions to be made, beginning with whether or not to go to California for the services.  Normally, that would have been a no-brainer - of course I'd go.  But how?  I'm not a big fan of flying in most circumstances when I can possibly drive.  Flying used to be fun, but the past several years, it's simply been an ordeal.  When you arrive, you have to get a car or some sort of transportation.  Plus, when you fly, your visit is limited by the airline's timetable - no flexibility.  And that is during NORMAL times.  

Today, if you fly out, there's no guarantee you'll be able to fly back - flights have been canceled left and right as the newest variant of COVID-19 surges.  And to travel to California, of all places, while all this is going on?  The state with the most restrictions on personal freedoms?  NO THANK YOU.

So my sister and I have talked, texted, and emailed about our conundrum.  We've gone around and around, looking at the arguments for and against the choices - do we go or do we stay?  We feel guilty about not going.  We WANT to go.  But we feel it would be crazy to go.  Too much uncertainty.  Too much risk if we fly.  Too much risk if we drive.  And we don't want to get stuck in California.

So we're not going.  And it hurts.

What a way to start a new year - full of grief, guilt, and fear.

Oh, GOODY.