Sunday Salon: New Glasses, Reverse Readathon, Currently Reading
This week's big news was that I got new glasses! You can see the results above in a quick selfie sans makeup taken Thursday evening after I picked them up. They are my first new pair of glasses in 10 years. Yes, it has been a full decade since I've had an eye exam. I don't recommend waiting that long. I'm lucky that my vision hasn't changed much and there weren't any problems except for cholesterol deposits behind my left eye that will warrant further watching. I didn't even know that could happen, y'all, and it kind of freaked me out when my new eye doctor mentioned it, but she isn't concerned -- yet. We'll revisit in six months.
These are progressives (trifocals, ye gads), same as my previous pair, and I had a really difficult time with seeing the screen of my work computer on Friday. I realized that lowering the monitor and enlarging the display a bit was key.
Other than the new glasses, this was an uneventful week. We went back to indoor masks being required at work for everyone, which was discouraging. I fully understand the rationale (we're a public library) but emotionally it's so frustrating that we as a society are at this point. If people who are eligible would just get their fucking vaccine we could get past this thing and return to some semblance of normalcy, but no. The whole thing makes me infuriated.
College Boy and I finally got started on his dorm room shopping today. My mom sent towels and a comforter, so that was helpful. We still have more things to get.
Currently Reading
This weekend I participated in Dewey's 24 Hour Reverse Readathon. (What's a Reverse Readathon, you ask? Well, with Dewey's, which is held every April and October, the Readathon starts at 8 am EST on Saturday and ends at 8 pm Sunday. The Reverse Readathon begins at 8 pm Friday, ending at 8 pm Saturday, thus giving folks in different time zones a more opportune chance to participate.)
I read for 3 hours and 112 pages. Not great, but any reading time is better than nothing, right? My current book is The Menopause Manifesto: Own Your Health with Facts and Feminism by Dr. Jen Gunter (Citadel Press, 2021).
Dr. Jen Gunter writes in a very informative and straightforward style (with a healthy dose of snark thrown in for good measure) to provide an explanation of everything related to menopause. Her mission is clearly to empower women to become more educated and in charge of their health while exposing the patriarchy's influence in the misconceptions, stigma and shame surrounding what is a natural part of life. I'm liking it so far.
My other current book is Anne Frank: The Biography by Melissa Müller (Metropolitan Books, 1998). I'm trying to make an effort to read my own books and this one has been on my shelves for quite some time. It was a Christmas present from The Husband in 1998. During those 23 years it has moved with us to five houses, sitting on my shelves unread at each one. It begins on August 4, 1944 with the arrest of the Franks and those with them in the Annex...exactly 77 years ago from the day I started reading it. Kind of freaked me out and gave me the chills, not gonna lie. I'm not too far into this but it is interesting reading.
I finished two books this week, both of which I mentioned in last week's Salon but they're worth repeating.
Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson(Random House, 2020) was astounding. It's clear why Wilkerson is a Pulitzer Prize winner. She's a phenomenal writer and this extensively researched book examines the characteristics of caste and effectively argues that America is a caste system along the same lines as India and Nazi Germany. It's sobering, informative, thought-provoking, and provides context to the fraught nature of our current moment. I learned so much from this book and feel like I should have more to say. I'm recommending it highly and this will be among the best books I've read in 2021.
My audiobook this week has been Writers & Lovers by Lily King (Grove Press, 2020). Set in 1997, Casey Peabody is 31 years-old, living in Boston, waitressing while struggling to finish her novel, and grieving the sudden death of her mother. She's consumed with student loan debt and lives in a potting shed; in exchange for a discount on the rent, she walks her landlord's dog. It's wry and smartly written. I liked this one a lot -- although I will say I didn't like Casey and Oscar together. They didn't seem to have any chemistry and I wasn't crazy about him as a character. He was a bit of an ass. This works great as an audio, though, as Stacey Glemboski's narration is superb.
Watching
College Boy are so close to finishing The West Wing. Seven episodes left. I can't take it. I told him we need to complete this by the time he leaves in less than three weeks.
A few weeks ago I watched "Miss Americana" on Hulu. It's a documentary about Taylor Swift and her trajectory from a young singer who tried to be perfect and do what people expected of her to a woman who uses her platform to speak out about politics and social justice issues. I really liked it.