Welcome to the Friday 5ive, a weekly blog post featuring five things that caught my eye this week. The Friday 5ive took last week for a mini-vacation.
1) Can you believe August is almost over? Why does summer go by so fast? I love summer, but my youngest sister loves autumn and can't wait for it to begin so she can have her pumpkin spice latte. Our brother made her a board for her "Coffee Corner" at her house. I'm always impressed by anyone with artistic skill (as I lack it). 
2) We traveled to Boston last weekend to visit our youngest son. He took us to his golf club, Granite Hills Links in Quincy, for lunch and the view there is incredible. You can golf while overlooking the skyline of Boston as seen in this photo. Apparently the club is one of the most popular wedding venues in Massachusetts and there was a wedding and a bridal shower there on the day we visited.
3) While the guys golfed, the gals spent the day at Nantasket Beach in Hull, and while walking the beach we came across a large group of young children talking surfing lessons. It was fun to watch them get up on their boards. 
4) Speaking of different seasons, I watched the Christmas episode of Ted Lasso on Apple TV+ and it was so delightful. If it didn't put a smile on your face, you are truly a Grinch. I particularly enjoyed the homage to my favorite Christmas movie, Love, Actually. Whenever I am feeling down or losing faith in humanity, I will play this episode. 
We seem to be going backwards with COVID, so please wear a mask, wash your hands, stay socially distant and get a vaccine. It's the best way to keep each other, especially young children who can't get a vaccine yet, safe.
5) As I spent time in airports and on planes, I was able to read uninterrupted. First up was Kristin van Ogtrop's memoir Did I Say That Out Loud-Midlife Indignities and How to Survive Them. Ogtrop, was the former editor of Real Simple magazine, and her essays on such things as her climb up the corporate ladder from joy to agony as magazines folded up publication, to the time she nearly died from accidentally swallowing a plastic fork tine, to the vacation home her family bought with her sister's family will have you laughing and crying. It makes a good pairing with Sara Arnell's midlife crisis book from a few weeks ago, There Will Be Lobster. While I've been reading books about midlife crisis, I don't think I'm in one. (right?)
Laura Dave's suspense novel, The Last Thing He Told Me, tops the bestseller list and I can see why. When Hannah receives a note from Owen, her husband of one year, reading "Protect her", she is totally unprepared for what is ahead of her. Her husband has disappeared after the company he works for is raided by the SEC and FBI and the head of the company is arrested. What happens next as Hannah attempts to keep her 16 year-old stepdaughter safe and unravel Owen's true identity kept me frantically turning the pages. Dave has written a few other books, but not suspense novels like this. I think she has found her genre and this is scheduled to be a limited series on Apple TV+ with Julia Roberts.
I also read a psychological thriller, Where I Left Her, by Amber Garza, about a parent's worst nightmare. Whitney drops off her 16 year-old daughter Amelia at a sleepover with her new friend Lauren. When Whitney returns to pick Amelia up the next day, an elderly woman answers the door and says that no one named Lauren lives there, Whitney agonizes over what happened to her daughter. Like The Last Thing He Told Me, this book keeps you turning the pages, and the ending twist is a shocker. My full review is here. 
No comments:
Post a Comment