I took Monday and Tuesday off so I could drive to Tulsa to attend Travis Baldree’s book signing for Brigands & Breadknives. He talked about writing, answered questions, and read from Chapter 15. He narrates the audiobooks of this series, and I highly recommend listening to them, because he is a delight.
I got to read poems and listen to some great music at Joan of Bark at Rubber Gloves on Wednesday (and also going to be performing on December 13 at the Fest, which you should come see if you’re local or want a reason to travel to Denton)!
This is the collab I didn’t know I needed. “No Good Deed” with Cynthia Erivo and Misty Copeland.
I am very excited about this evening and tomorrow, when I will be catching up on all the taking care of my home that I have been neglecting whilst out gallivanting around. I might even go ahead and put up the tree. ‘Tis (almost) the season!
Yay, poetry month! There are lots of ways to celebrate National Poetry Month. As usual, I’m going to read a lot of poetry (as well as prose written by poets), and I hope to write some as well during April.
Murder in Williamstown by Kerry Greenwood – title starts with letter “M” [mystery/suspense/etc.]
A Room With a View by E.M. Forster – genre one: set in spring [general fiction]
Persuasion by Jane Austen – in the public domain [ general fiction]
Massacre and Margins by ACF Bookens – author releases more than one book a year [cozy; mystery/suspense/etc.]
Libro.fm Challenge
Catalina by Karla Cornejo Villavicencio – Listen to an audiobook mentioned on the Libro.fm podcast [general fiction]
Murder at Gulls Nest by Jess Kidd – Preorder an audiobook and start it on release day [mystery]
Bad Bitch Book Club
The Housemaid’s Secret by Freida McFadden – an anticipated sequel to a book you loved [mystery] – stayed up past my bedtime reading this in one night. No regrets.
The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin – a book that takes place in a library or bookstore [books about books]
The Midnight Library by Matt Haig – give an author a second chance at winning you over [fantasy/magical realism]
Nowhere Book Bingo
When We Were Birds by Ayanna Lloyd Banwo – book that takes place entirely outside of the US [general fiction]
Crush by Ada Calhoun – book with a one-word title [romance-ish]
More than any other month of the year, my January TBR most closely resembles what it’s like inside my brain. It’s a unique blend of structure and chaos. Between my ambitious “these are the topics/challenges I’m most excited to explore right now” and my book clubs’ equally ambitious “let’s start the year off with a bang” and also my “maybe I should also read something light and fun because rest is resistance/important” tendencies, the list is all over the place. It’s also super long, because this is Ridiculous Optimism Week, and I love it.
As one of my reading goals for the year is to read more broadly across the different genres on my TBR, I’m going to note the category that I have each book listed under in brackets.
I loved starting my word for the year during Advent (the start of the church year). It’s especially useful to do so when the word of the year is wonder, and both Slowing and Enchantment [both are inspire/self-help/community care] were a great place to start. So I’m going to continue with both of these books and add a few more.
Mary Oliver poems (see various collections in the picture above) [poetry]
World of Wonders by Aimee Nezhukumatathil [essays/short stories]
When I set a goal for myself, one of the first things I do is gather information (sometimes I gather too much and get bogged down in all the scintillating details, but that’s another story for another day). So here are some books I’m reading/starting this month to get me started on my resolutions.
My two main reading challenges this year are from the 52 Book Club and Libro.fm, but if/when Overeducated Women With Cats and Nowhere Bookshop post theirs, I’ll probably jump on those as well. I joined another online book club and I’m not sure where I’m going to put the prompts, but they’ll probably be in this section as I ease my way into the community. For now, though, here are the books I’m reading this month for specific challenges.
The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery, read by Richard Gere and Haley Joel Osment – Reread an old favorite on audio [fantasy/nonrealism/sci-fi/etc.]
The Third Gilmore Girl by Kelly Bishop – Read a winning audiobook from our 2024 Bookseller Choice Awards [memoir]
One of the prompts is to share Libro.fm with a friend or family member. I’m still trying to figure out how to pick a book for that prompt for my StoryGraph tracking, but in the meantime, click this link to check it out!
Happy April! In the past couple of weeks, I’ve had some time off from work to rest and breathe, and it was so good. I should do that more often. Noted.
Here are some things I’ve enjoyed in the last few weeks.
On a Facebook post my friend and bandmate Jesse described the music they played during his head CT. I especially loved this quote at the end: “Overall it was a magical concert albeit brief, but this is a simple reminder that the beauty of music and art is fleeting, ephemeral. The only reason I didn’t give it a 5/5 was because the light show left something to be desired, and there was no encore,” and the link he provided to D Magazine’s article about listening to the symphony in space.
I’ve been anxious and insomnia-ed lately and super steroid-zoomie lately, and somatic yoga has helped.
I loooove Ollie Schminkey’s poem. And the delivery? Wonderful. I love the enthusiasm, the frustration, the insight, the passion. I especially love the parts that the audience clearly loves, too, particularly “I am not trapped in my body; I am trapped in other people’s perceptions of my body.” Worth a watch (and a re-watch), especially for those who find themselves in a place of “I just don’t understand.” This might help.
“And Yet the Books” – a treasure to read for National Poetry Month from Czeslaw Milosz via Susan Cain.
I’ll probably also read some May Sarton. Probably some Louise Glück. And because the libro.fm reading challenge prompt, “Listen to at least ten minutes of an audiobook every day for a month” will make me listen to just a little bit of poetry every day, Poetry Unbound, curated by Pádraig Ó Tuama.
One of my in-person book clubs is participating in a choose-your-own-adventure poetry night, where we share our favorites of the poems we read this month with each other. The library book club is discussing our favorite young adult selections. The other two are reading:
Other than my book club selections and the heightened focus on poetry, though, I am taking the rest of my reading time this month to read the things from January-March’s TBRs that I haven’t finished yet. Or at least make a dent in them. My focus and reading speed have been way down recently, but given everything else that’s going on, I suppose that makes sense. Taking a month to acknowledge that and regroup.
Feeling a little puny this week, but otherwise, it’s been a pretty good one. I have a slow weekend ahead, and I’m looking forward to that. I actually get to sleep in tomorrow morning!
Next week is the students’ spring break, but I’m also taking off a couple of days and then a few days the week after that to make a long birthday weekend. Shaping up to be a good rest for the next couple of weeks!
“In another life, I’m a booktuber.” Susannah Conway is one of my favorite people on the internet, and I love this short piece. I like my life and my choices in general. But I’ve been a bit blue this week and musing on the lives I could have had is a little bit of a breather.
In niche news, I’ve been into villanelles lately (e.g., “Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night”). I find their rhythm both inspiring and soothing. Might try doing something with that. Stay tuned.
A little inspiration for getting my garden started this weekend. That’s the one big task I have planned for home for this weekend. I have my soil and seeds and here’s hoping another big freeze doesn’t come through before Texas spring really springs.
I love this piece on embodiment and approaching living as an art form, taking into account possibilities as well as limits – The Art of Living (The Convivial Society)
Today is the first big day of move-in for the academic year. People have been filtering in early over the last week, but today the doors of all 14 halls are officially open. Our office is open in case anything goes awry, but with as much planning as everyone has been doing, it should move like clockwork.
In other news, though, as is our custom, there are a few things I ran across this week that I want to share with you. Enjoy!
I have a love/meh relationship with this piece on “Reading Well.” Things I like – the encouragement to read slowly and savor what you read, to re-read books you adore (especially by audiobook – I LOVE doing this), and to make the effort to make personal reading recommendations (btw, that’s one of my favorite things – when someone has read something and is like “I think you would like it – here you go”) rather than just broad ones (although I do enjoy broad recommendations, too). As a chronic chronicler, I am intrigued by the idea of not having any idea what’s on your shelves – just wandering through, constantly discovering things. I’m not sure I have the personality for that, but it’s a romantic thought. Things that elicited a hearty scoff – book clubs ruin nothing shut your mouth sir, and in defending fiction’s role in learning and being influenced and becoming a more well-rounded, excellent human (with which I heartily agree), he seemed to imply that most nonfiction doesn’t allow for that, which I haven’t found to be the case. Also, speaking of becoming a more well-rounded human – an “unsystematic thinker,” if you will – perhaps all the books one mentions in one’s piece about reading to be more open to the world and its stories shouldn’t just be those written by men. Ahem. At any rate, the piece definitely got a reaction, so there’s that.
Death by Water by Kerry Greenwood – I don’t always post mini-reviews of each book I read in a series, because I tend to view the series as one really large book and would basically say the same thing about all of them. But I like it when authors of long-running series (e.g., this is book 15 of Phryne Fisher) mix up the setting so that we get a couple of familiar characters but otherwise a whole new cast. This one was a thoroughly enjoyable escape and just what I needed last weekend. I also like to spend time in August reading about vacations where you need sweaters. Let me live vicariously through you, Miss Fisher.
Oh gosh, I love this so much, both the tribute and Emily Levine’s reading of “You Can’t Have It All.” Take a minute to give yourself the treat of listening to it as you read along.
I also really like Frederick Joseph’s take on the Foxx/Aniston incident. We talked about a lot of these issues in training this week with my staff, particularly as they pertain to responsibility and accountability in conflict resolution.
I have joined Book Chat Noir. First, because it’s a cute name. Second, because they suck up to my people (i.e., introverts). Third, importing my Goodreads list seemed easy (Asterisk. I have 4,571 imports, which may have broken BCN. My book list page shows up as a gray box and then gives me the dead face and says it overheated or something. Dang.). Fourth, it promises to (eventually…hopefully) be more customizable than Goodreads and also is not owned by Amazon (as far as I can tell – Amazon’s reach is pretty vast). Fifth, it is free. A win most of the way around in my book.
This week’s recap is going to be a little different. As you know, it’s National Poetry Month, and I’ve read a lot of poems! There were a few collections that were just meh for me and one that fell so flat that I couldn’t even bear to make it through, but I finished and enjoyed most of the ones I planned on:
I have also been bookmarking poems to share with my beloved Follow the Reader friends. I only shared a few snippets that night because I’m misfiring all over the place this week, so transporting from the page to my brain to my mouth is hard. But here are five of my favorites from the month:
“A Song for the Status Quo” by Saeed Jones (Alive at the End of the World) – This whole collection is amazing. I also like this interview about his work.
“The Noisiness of Sleep” by Ada Limón (Bright Dead Things). I love the concluding line – “I want to be the rough clothes you can’t sleep in.”
Elizabeth Wilder (Balefire) – “There is not much I trust so wholeheartedly as the musty-scented pages of a book.”
“Perhaps the World Ends Here” by Joy Harjo (Weaving Sundown in a Scarlet Light). Of course, the line about coffee charmed me – “Our dreams drink coffee with us as they put their arms around our children.”
To continue the celebration of poetry (does it ever end, really?), I’m currently reading and enjoying Clint Smith’s Counting Descent.
And finally, a little something to start your weekend off right. For your aural enjoyment, half an hour of Tom Hiddleston reading poetry. You’re welcome.
This update is a special occasion. With 30 books finished and reviewed, I am officially past the halfway mark! I may celebrate with a little treat tonight.
For the main list of book titles I’ve finished for this challenge, see this post. For reviews on specific books, see previous posts:
Alive at the End of the World by Saeed Jones – My favorites were “A Song for the Status Quo,” “Saeed, How Dare You Make Your Mother Into a Prelude” (along with the alternative titles proposed on the following page), and “the Trial.” Also all the ones with the collection’s title. And “Against Progeny.” And the odes/letters/notes to all the songwriters, singers, and writers. You know what? They’re all good. Just read them all. And then read his memoir How We Fight for Our Lives.
With the Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo
B
Bluebird, Bluebird by Attica Locke
The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley
C
The Castlemaine Murders by Kerry Greenwood
The Postmistress of Paris by Meg Waite Clayton
D
Dear Bob and Sue by Matt and Karen Smith
Postcolonial Love Poem by Natalie Diaz – God, this collection is sexy. That was my reaction to the first reading. The second, slower reading had me holding the book open on my lap with one hand while searching all the words I didn’t know on the laptop with my other. The pieces that connected rivers with the body were my favorite parts. This should (and never will be…stupid Texas legislature) required reading.
E
Excuse Me While I Disappear by Laurie Notaro
F
Florence Adler Swims Forever by Rachel Beanland
Rock Paper Scissors by Alice Feeney – I like a book with twists and turns that you can sort of see coming but don’t really know how it’s going to turn out. This was a quick read because once I got started I couldn’t stop reading. It was fast-paced and ominous from the start. Definitely recommend.
G
Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
Winter Recipes from the Collective by Louise Glück – What a lovely collection! This is the first time I’ve read Louise Glück on my own (I’ve had her poems read to me, which is also lovely and I also highly recommend), and I adore her and this exposition of the joys and sorrows of close relationships. Also, there are gems such as “If you can’t read, my sister said, can you be happy?” Highly recommend for National Poetry Month or literally any time.
H
How To Be Perfect by Michael Schur
The Other Black Girl by Zakiya Dalila Harris
I
The Iron Druid Chronicles by Kevin Hearne
J
Jayber Crow by Wendell Berry
The Friend Zone and The Happy Ever After Playlist by Abby Jimenez
K
Writers & Lovers by Lily King
L
Lucky Turtle by Bill Roorbach
M
Down Among the Sticks and Bones by Seanan McGuire
N
O
The Opposite of You by Rachel Higginson
The Book of Form and Emptiness by Ruth Ozeki
P
The Pisces by Melissa Broder – I’ve never read anything that made me make so many different faces and exclaim for so many different reasons. Part superb dry wit, part “no no no no no that’s a terrible idea,” part “Ugh punch him in the throat,” part “WTF did I just read,” with a few minor sweet moments scattered throughout. I don’t know how Broder stacked the commonplace so neatly against the surreal, but I think she pulled it off. I’m still mad about the dog, though.
Q
Queen of the Flowers by Kerry Greenwood
R
A Rhythm of Prayer, edited by Sarah Bessey
S
A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle
T
Women Talking by Miriam Toews – I picked this one up because my friend Brenda likes to go to Oscars Week at the movie theater, and she really liked this movie. I think I would like the movie better, as it was difficult for me to keep most of the characters separate, but their discussions were interesting. I think it would be a good book club selection (but I am not going to suggest it because I don’t think I’ll read it again).
U
V
W
A World of Curiosities by Louise Penny
X
Y
Z Welcome Home: A Guide to Building a Home for Your Soul by Najwa Zebian
I’m excited about this weekend and the upcoming month. Lots of fun stuff happening in April – a couple of performances, some time with friends I haven’t seen in a while, and maybe even making some leeway on a couple of writing projects.
And books. Lots of books.
Here are three things I enjoyed and two things I’m looking forward to:
Of Mess and Moxie by Jen Hatmaker – I’m a little behind the times reading this one, as her family has changed somewhat, but it still rang true and was a good read. It made me laugh and tear up, just like it was meant to. I feel like I would really like her in person, but I switched from the audiobook to the print version halfway through because I felt like she was yelling at me and it made me tired.
National Poetry Month begins tomorrow, and what better way to start than with Lover by Ada Limón.
Is it cheating to link you to other lists of links? Do I even care if I’m cheating? If it’s wrong, I don’t want to be right, because Toby’s list on Joy the Baker’s Let It Be Sunday post was notably fantastic this week. My favorite link was to Courtney Martin’s 10 thoughts on building a life you love. “Stay humble. Stay magical.” The comments section of Martin’s piece is pretty golden, too.
Of Walking in Ice by Werner Herzog – Herzog’s journal from when he walked from Munich to Paris to visit his mentor Lotte Eisner as she was dying, with the conviction that she wouldn’t die as long as he was walking. It’s a collection of images he found along the way and his observations about the people (and the birds and the heaps of trash and the mice) he encountered. It’s a very lonely little book, and while “enjoyed” isn’t exactly the right word for how I experienced it, it is beautiful in its own way. I am glad to have read it as a witness to his journey.
Tomorrow, Wenepa (my improvisational ambient noise group) is performing for KUZUthon from 5:20 (or 5:30? Anyway – later in the 5:00 hour)-5:40 (CST). The performances and interviews will be streaming on kuzu.fm, so tune in if you’re free!
M. Suzanne Terry 