7: July 26-Aug 1, 2021

At the start of this week, Naomi turned seven weeks old. That night, to celebrate, she slept six and a half hours in a row, her longest chunk yet. I screamed it from the rooftops. She's amazing. (And then she kept it up! All week! Starting the night off with 5-7 hours in a row.) This week Naomi also celebrated at her first birthday party (her grandpa Dengate's) and met many amazing members of her village, all while smiling, farting, pooping, kicking her legs around, and eating a lot. 

• Devotion, by Madeline Stevens (2.75)
• Vaguely creepy, reasonably well-written and gripping novel about a nanny who's pretty obsessed with the writer mom of the toddler she's caring for 
• The Other Black Girl, by Zakiya Dalila Harris (3.75)
• Funny/horror/magical realism - definitely a novel in the spirit of the movie Get Out, but also, as the NYTimes says, "genre bending." Thought provoking page turner. It's been getting a lot of hype - full page ad for it in the New Yorker! I recommend. 
• Case Histories, by Kate Atkinson (3)
• Yet another British detective/murder mystery novel - well-written, kind of Tana French-y (but not quite as dark/grim)
• The Switch, by Beth O'Leary (2.5)
• A very light, extremely predictable, fun and charming bit of British chick lit 

Favorite of the week: