It’s Monday and I was wrong about cauliflower

Last time we met, I said that I had reintroduced cauliflower into my diet, and it was something I could have in small amounts if I really wanted it. WRONG. Cauliflower and I are no longer friends. Which means that most mushrooms are out. Oh, and apples and I have grown apart (this also explains so much). It’s just wild that all of these good for me foods have been slowly destroying my insides. Oh well.

In related news, I found out yesterday at CVS that the probiotic I’ve been taking to help with my stomach issues and to restore my gut to good health contains one of my no-no ingredients. I do not think I can tell you how pissed I was about it. This was definitely my mood:

I have been taking this dumb probiotic every day of my elimination diet and to find out that as I was trying to be compliant I was actively sabotaging myself sent me into a nice little rage. It’s especially frustrating because (a) the ingredients can have a cumulative effect and (b) these things all interact with each other so can cause the reaction. Again: so pissed.

Anyway, I decided that I’m just going to stop the probiotic (of course) and accept my current results as is because (a) I am not starting this elimination diet over and (b) I felt much better after the six-week detox even though I was taking it then. I’ll still test the food group it belongs to, but omg. If I could have, I would have gone on a rampage at that CVS.

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I posted one thing last week: April 2018 Monthly Wrap Up

And I finished one book:

Aru Shah and the End of Time by Roshani Chokshi

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

4/2/18: I am maybe an hour and a half into the audiobook (on chapter 7), and I realized the narrator (Soneela Nankani) is driving me absolutely batty. I am enjoying the story, but she has this weird affectation when she reads the non-dialogue parts that just takes me right out of the story. So I’m going to put this aside until I can get a paper copy.

5/6/18: I was right. This is better in print.

Okay, so reading this is just like reading a Percy Jackson novel. Just like. Just like. This makes sense given the purpose of Riordan’s imprint because he definitely has a formula and that formula appeals to the readers of his books. I point this out because (as an adult), I did get put off one time that it was so similar to Riordan’s books but then I reminded myself about the formula.

This book is fine. The biggest draw is the Hindu mythology, of course. I found Aru less interesting than Mini, but I do not like liars so Aru was a little harder for me to engage with. (I do, however, love badass girls who do what needs to be done when it’s time to do it. Both girls fit this category, but Mini taking a minute to cry and then draw on her warrior face was particularly endearing. Get it, girl.)

I will also point out that I didn’t like the ending because I found it confusing. It reads less like a conclusion to this book and more like the opening chapters to the sequel/next book.

All of that said, this is a good introduction to the characters and the world, and I was not particularly impressed by the first Harry Potter or Percy Jackson books (I mean, they were fine) but would call myself fans of both series (hahahaha understatement) after having read them all. So, that’s how first books go sometimes.

Read Harder 2018: The first book in a new-to-you YA or middle grade series

View all my reviews

And now I’m reading Boy, Snow, Bird by Helen Oyeyemi for book club.

I’m digging it so far.

A friend and I also have plans to reread Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury in preparation for the movie coming out in a week or so. I need to put it on hold at the library. (Done! I’m going to read the graphic novel. Adaptations is the theme, clearly.)

 

And speaking of fire, have you heard “First Burn,” Lin Manuel-Miranda’s first draft of “Burn” from Hamilton?

It is 🔥🔥🔥. (No pun intended.) I have already listened to it more than once.

Have a great week, everyone!