Sunday Salon: April hole

 Morning folks!  Are they any of you left out there?  Maybe a few.  Well April has arrived, which means it is time for me to find a hole and sit in it for awhile.  Like Toru in his well in "The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle".  Just so you know, this is a normal April activity for me.  I tend to hide away, avoiding contact and interaction because I'm sick of things.  I get over it.  But if it seems like I'm not commenting or communicating, please don't take it personal.  It is just a thing I do.

The son is still having stomach issues, to the point where I had to go in and explain it to the principal because of missed days.  Which is frankly making me a nervous wreck.  But we've got procedures and tests this week, results the following week, and 27 days of school left in this place where he has been since he was 2 1/2.  It will be over soon.  We won't discuss the details of making up the work when the child in question has "senior-itis".  You understand that I'm on my last nerve.  Husband says I've been acting weird.  Yeah.

The husband was out of town, there were some doctor appointments and a funeral, all things that provided negative distraction.  Luckily I have been completely obsessed with my newly-discovered TV series...still catching up on Game of Thrones, House of Cards, Walking Dead, and just recently True Detective.  I convinced my husband that it was medically necessary that we get HBO so we will have immediate access to new Game of Thrones once we finish the third season.  (Which is how I got access to True Detective, which stars Matthew McConaughy and Woody Harrelson and is BRILLIANT.) So.

I've kinda forgotten what a book is.  I started Chris Pavone's "The Expats" but couldn't focus so I picked up Nick Cutter's "The Troop" and I'm about 2/3 of the way through it.  Easy reading and REALLY GROSS (in the best way) but I've not spent much time even trying to read in print.

On audio I got about 10 discs into Anne Applebaum's "The Iron Curtain", and it is fascinating but SOOOOO much detail it felt like my head was going to explode.  My husband is listening to it in the car, so I decided to let him catch up with me.  In the meantime, I started another long one, Wally Lamb's "We Are Water" for next month's book club.  So far this is an incredibly narrated audio.

Yesterday I attended my fourth UCF Book Festival here in town with Heather from Book Addiction.  This event was quite the thing a few years ago, but it seems they have cut back on the number of authors and Heather and I were only bloggers in attendance.  So a bit anti-climatic.  We heard and met Chris Pavone, author of "The Expats" and recently "The Accident".  He is a new author and has found great success, but I must say he digressed way off the path in his talk and wasn't all that chatty one-on-one.  Wouldn't blame him if he was bummed at the turnout, honestly.  The real highlight of the day was listening to Andre Dubus III, author of a number of books but notably "The House of Sand and Fog", who was the keynote speaker.  He has had quite the life and was incredibly impressive.  He was mesmerizing and charming.  I now want to read his entire backlist.

Not much on the agenda today except a kitty adoption event at the local Petco from 12-4, and church.  Maybe I'll find enough focus to finish "The Troop", or then again maybe I'll just binge some more on series streaming.  Anything exciting happening in your neck of the woods today?