Whoops!  Last week really got away from me – no Monday reading post, nothing on Wednesday, and not nearly the in-depth analysis I wanted to give you of The Custom of the Country on Friday.  (I wrote that post in the middle of the night when I couldn’t get back to sleep after feeding Nugget.)  What can I say?  It was nuts. Last weekend my best friend, Rebecca, was visiting – at my suggestion, she used us as a stop-over going to and coming from her college major’s centennial celebration conference.  And we were having a wonderful time cooking and making a gigantic mess in the kitchen and hiking and watching the supermoon eclipse and catching up, and not much reading or blogging happened.  And then it was another hectic week of running around from Monday through Friday.  I can’t even remember right now what I was reading last weekend or all week, so let’s just blow past that.

This weekend was a bit slower, but only a bit.  The highlight was Friday night – date night, sponsored by Grandpa!  He very nicely came over to hold down the fort while Steve and I WENT TO SEE THE MARTIAN, AND YES, THE CAPS ARE ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY.  (We put the kids to bed before leaving, and Grandpa reported that they were both angels – not a peep from either of them all evening.)  The Martian was incredible.  We loved every second of it.  (Well, Steve loved every second of it.  I loved every second that I watched, but I confess to covering my eyes during the not-brief-enough scene in which Mark Watney gives himself stitches.  Ewwwww.)  After the movie, I told Steve that I couldn’t remember the last time I left a movie clamoring to see it again right away (probably Deathly Hallows, Part II), but I am already itching to see The Martian again.  It’s going to have to wait until Blu-Ray, though, because we’re not spending babysitting capital on repeating a movie we’ve already seen.  That’s not happening – not even for Rich Purnell, who is indeed a steely-eyed missile man.

The rest of the weekend was slower.  Steve suggested that for the foreseeable future we dedicate one weekend day to getting stuff done around the house, and one weekend day to family activities.  I thought that was a great idea, so Saturday was house day (Steve worked on prepping the playroom for a coat of paint, and I got on top of the kids’ laundry and started sorting some of my clothes to go to consignment) and Sunday was family day.  At Peanut’s request, we went to the Science Museum.  She had a ball, as usual, but the day went downhill when we got home.  I’ll spare y’all the details, but I’m afraid the stomach bug may be paying a repeat visit to our house.  Peanut’s been hit, and I’m feeling a little iffy, too.  All of my energy is going toward not letting this bug get Nugget.  Crossing fingers that it’s just a 24-h0ur thing for Peanut and that it misses the rest of the house this time around.

So, the books.  The reading theme for last week was “getting uncomfortable.”  I started with Negroland: a Memoir, by Margo Jefferson, which was stunning and disconcerting and everything the internet said it would be.  Lately I’ve really been craving books that will open my eyes to different perspectives – more so than I usually read, even – and this was a good one.  (I have Between the World and Me on the holds shelf now, and that’ll be another.  I’m really looking forward to it!)  After Negroland, and in celebration of Banned Books Week, I picked up the frequently-challenged Persepolis, which was stunning and moving and powerful and lots of other adjectives.  Next up – speaking of uncomfortable – I’m going to bite the bullet and read Go Set a Watchman.  I’ll have a whole post coming up about why I decided to read it, and some thoughts after I’ve read the book and organized my impressions of it.  I’m sort of dreading the whole thing, but, well, yeah.  (I did not buy it – I got it from the library.)  After that, I think a palate cleanser will be in order, so I’ll probably read Captain Marvel.  I totally want to be in the Carol Corps.

I promise no radio silence on the blog this week!  Check back for more bookish fun on Wednesday, and another installment in the vacation recaps (yes, I do plan on dragging those out for an excruciatingly long time, thank you for asking) on Friday.  And I’ll try to be better about responding to comments a little more promptly, too.  Baby steps, my friends, baby steps.

What are you reading this week?