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Friday Five – Home

Posted in Alive, Beauty, Books, Core, Friday Five, Home, Joy, Resolutions on June 2, 2023| Leave a Comment »

“Home wasn’t a set house, or a single town on a map. It was wherever the people who loved you were, whenever you were together. Not a place, but a moment, and then another, building on each other like bricks to create a solid shelter that you take with you for your entire life, wherever you may go.” – Sarah Dessen, from What Happened to Goodbye

In exploring the concept of home, I’ve noticed that certain things stand out to me. For the rest of the year, a few of our Friday Fives are going to focus on books and think pieces that have sparked reflections about some of those things. 

  1. Shawn Smucker’s piece On the Road Again – “Now that I”m 46, homesickness is more of an ache for the place and the people where I belong, where I fit.” I spent most of last weekend on my parents’ farm, with a brief stint at the cousin’s place to attend a graduation party for his oldest child who is now an actual grown-up. [Aside – WHAT. I swear he was just born a minute ago.] It was so good to catch up with the extended family I came from, and we’re going to need to do that more often. I also really love coming back to Denton after a weekend away, though. Walking into my messy apartment where everything is mine and is just where I left it gives me a special kind of peace.
  2. The Secret of Poppyridge Cove by Rimmy London – Should you use an inheritance to buy a great house that comes with some land and a private beach entrance but that is also possibly haunted and/or frequented by a (maybe) serial killer? I know the “responsible” answer to this fantasy scenario is probably no, especially when the money is not all in the bank account quite yet, but then I had to keep turning up the volume on this audiobook to hear it over my upstairs neighbors and their cute dogs committing the grievous act of walking across the room in their own apartment, so WHERE DO I SIGN?! I am inspiring/torturing myself with a lot of books lately that revolve around the act of buying a home and making it yours (even if there are bumps and possibly corpses along the way). I liked both this one and A Traitor at Poppyridge Cove, and I’m looking forward to the rest of the series.
  3. The Year of Pleasures by Elizabeth Berg – I’m not saying that, when I retire, I’m going to put everything in storage and just drive until I find the town and house I want to live in, but this book makes a good argument for it. I really enjoyed it. Yes, as a couple of the online reviews state, it does read a little bit like a Hallmark Christmas movie (minus the Christmas). But there are so many poignant moments about grief and friendship and delicious food and community that it might have well had my name in the title because clearly it was written for me.  It wasn’t just finding a place to land that helped the main character through her grief but also remembering to find joy in small, ordinary pleasures and with the people who showed up alongside her. I could use that reminder myself from time to time. 
  4. I love the way Christie Purifoy writes about place. In this guest post, she pursues the answer to the question, “What if our homes could be places that bring us back to life?” I love being at home, but sometimes I’m overwhelmed by the sheer volume of things I want to get done there. I get started with one project and then have to work or be somewhere else, so it takes longer than I would like to make a dent or a difference. But at other times, I look out my patio door at the tiny garden that is thriving, or I sit in my office among my books and glance up to see one I’d forgotten I had, and I’m filled with gratitude for this little space of mine. More of these life-giving moments, please.
  5. How To Keep House While Drowning by KC Davis – This is the book I didn’t even know I needed right now. Usually with advice-laden books, I take notes because 1) that’s my best learning style, and 2) I want a succinct list of highlights to review later. I didn’t do that with this one because it’s short and I own it so I just decided to tab the pages. I have so many tabbed spots. It’s the tabbing equivalent of highlighting the whole book. But at just over 150 pages (if you include the appendix and the acknowledgments), it’s so rich in information. My favorite takeaway is that care tasks (whether for home or self) are morally neutral. You are not a better or worse person/adult based on how much you get done. I want this lesson to permeate my whole life this year. I already know it in my head but my heart and soul take a minute to catch up.

I’m very much looking forward to an easy weekend. Rest. Recoup. Also, dishes and maybe dusting. Putting some of those principles from Davis’s book into practice.

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May 2023 TBR

Posted in Books, Home, Reading Challenges, Resolutions on May 2, 2023| Leave a Comment »

Welcome to May! My allergies are at war with nature, and we are closing down most of our residence halls for on-campus housing and transitioning to summer housing/conferences. Both sound like excellent reasons to use the downtime I have to stay inside and read and not talk to anyone at all.

Here’s the plan for the month!

Book Clubs

TBR

The section of my TBR that is the longest is the series section. This is where I list not only all the series that I’ve started (and all the books still left to read in them) but also all the series I’m interested in. That number is constantly expanding, and I’m becoming resigned to the truth that it is probably infinity. This group is listed only by the first book on my TBR spreadsheet, though. I’m not going to commit to the series unless I really like the first one. 

[This is a new rule that I’ve made for myself this year as part of my commitment to learning to accept that it’s OK not to finish books/series when I realize I’m just not that into them.]

So most of this month’s selections in this category are helping me whittle down that section-within-a-section of my TBR (can you whittle down infinity? I’m not sure that’s a thing). A couple of the following selections are from series I already know and love, but the first five are first installments that I have been meaning to try out for a while.

  • Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo – One of my friends gave the book this ringing endorsement –  “It’s like Hogwarts and Buffy had a baby and sent it to Yale.” OF COURSE I NEED TO READ THAT.
  • Outlander by Diana Gabaldon – I think I have the boxed set in ebook form somewhere, but I’ll have to look. If not, I’m sure the library or friends who love historical fiction have a copy I can borrow.
  • The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie – You know I love a detective story. Can you believe I’ve never read any Hercule Poirot mysteries?!
  • Fable by Adrienne Young – I don’t remember who suggested this one, but their recommendation clearly made enough of an impression that I immediately put it on hold at the library, and now it’s in my borrowed pile. It does sound like something I’d like, so we’ll see.
  • The Printed Letter Bookshop by Katherine Reay – This is a judging-a-book-by-its-cover/title situation. I have high hopes for this one.
  • The Bullet that Missed by Richard Osman – Have I gushed thoroughly enough about the Thursday Murder Club yet that you want to read it? Excited about getting to know these characters a little better in the third book.
  • Tricked and Trapped by Kevin Hearne – More of the Iron Druid Chronicles!
  • Why Design Matters by Debbie Millman – Not a series selection, but I’ve been waiting for it at the library for forever, and it’s finally my turn! It’s also a good choice for this year’s home theme.
  • The Year of Pleasures by Elizabeth Berg – Also not a series selection, but very “on brand” (as the capitalists say) for me. So…also a good home theme selection. Thus, I started it immediately after picking it up at the library and will probably be finished with it early this month. I’m probably going to end up buying it.

Collection

  • The Eyes of the Dragon by Stephen King – This is the first Stephen King book I ever read, but that was in 6th grade. I remember loving it, so it will be interesting to see what I think of it now. Bonus – it fulfills the prompt for Girlxoxo’s Monthy Key Word Reading Challenge (keyword “dragon”). 
  • A Complicated Kindness by Miriam Toews – After reading Women Talking last month, I’m interested in how this one compares.
  • Nocturnes by Kazuo Ishiguro – I loved Never Let Me Go, so I pick up any Ishiguro I see at a book sale. Looking forward to reading this short story collection.
  • Placemaker by Christie Purifoy – This has been on my nightstand for a few years. Hoping to tuck into it as another home selection this month, if time allows.
  • Cook, Eat, Repeat by Nigella Lawson – continuing my Audible countdown with one of my favorite cookbook writers narrating her own book. It is delightful to have it read to me, and I’m already planning to buy the hard copy as well.
  • Laziness Does Not Exist by Dr. Devon Price – I enjoyed Dr. Price’s presentation last week, so I immediately used an Audible credit to pick up this gem to listen to this month.

Whew. That’s a lot. I probably won’t finish them all, but hope springs eternal!

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Fawn

Posted in Alive, Books, Getting It Together, Mental Health, Resolutions, Work on May 1, 2023| Leave a Comment »

I had a readathon this weekend, and I forgot how nice and relaxing they are. I needed that. I didn’t realize how much I needed it until I looked at my calendar Friday evening, saw that I only had one additional thing scheduled the whole weekend (dinner at my friends’ house where I was plied with delicious food and wine and got to see their dog Charlie and catch up with them and watch TV – so, even the one thing was super low key), and burst into tears of relief. 

Welp, that’s telling.

In mental health news, it has been noted that I am describing a greater number of stress responses than usual in sessions. There are probably several factors. First, it’s the end of the semester, and transitions between application periods always have the potential for instability and extra wackiness. Even when the work week is reasonably calm – like last week was – just the awareness that this time of the year is particularly prone to changing in an instant is stressful.

I am also – once again – trying to do too much and not taking the time I know I need for proper rest and restoration. The writing project I’m focusing on is deeply personal and is uncovering some things I probably need to address in future sessions. And then there’s the ongoing, underlying theme of my brain’s particular neurospicy cocktail, which ensures that common elements in several environments I frequent often trigger an acute stress response, just as a matter of course.

A reasonable question might be, “Can’t you just avoid environments that hurt you?” As we discovered during the stay-in-place times during the height of the pandemic, the answer is yes – absolutely I can. That is technically a possibility that I could put in place if I really needed to, as these responses are rarely triggered at home. But since the aforementioned environments do allow me to do nice things like pay for food and rent or engage in creative pursuits and also socialize ever, they’re not really situations I would want to avoid, even if, technically, I could.

Up until recently, any time someone would mention the concept of fight vs. flight, I would state that I’m almost all fight. But while that may have been true at certain points in my life, I don’t think it is anymore. I still occasionally react in a tight jaw/tense muscles/knotted gut sort of way, but even then it tends to stay bottled up and internal, in ready-to-fight mode. More often, I get fidgety, which is more flight, or preparing to run away.

To my great dismay, though, the most common acute stress response I have these days is fawn. Particularly when the stressor is social. And it doesn’t have to be a big stressor – just something catching me off guard, conflict (even mild ones), someone talking more loudly than I can readily process, a slamming door (i.e., the doors at work all day every day), etc. I turn into this over-the-top people pleaser, which is not at all my usual personality. I switch into accommodation mode, giving the other people/person in the situation whatever they want or letting them control it completely. I become overly complimentary, saying things that, while they are truly what I think, are also in that moment specifically spoken to soothe their stress and, by extension, my own. I do anything I can to appear compliant, non-threatening, gracious, and useful. 

These things are not bad ways to be in general. But because I know it’s a stress response, and thus that the intention behind it is more about avoiding further stress than actual helpfulness, it doesn’t feel good. It’s not an honest interaction, but it seems to come across as one. It feels phony, and it’s hard not to judge myself harshly for that, even though stress responses are typically harder (impossible? I wonder) to control. At any rate, it’s my least favorite version of me, especially when I comply by doing something I didn’t actually want to do, but did do, and then felt compelled to either keep pretending that I wanted to or end the madness with an awkward conversation where I say all these convoluted things out loud and utterly confuse/hurt/disappoint everyone involved.

[That last sentence is what everything in my brain sounds like right now.]

Also, my skin hates it when I feel this way, and it’s acting out. That’s annoying. And itchy.

So that thing I was doing during Lent – taking the two time-outs per week instead of just one? I’m going back to that. It requires some creative corralling of my schedule for my second job, but it’s so worth it. I look forward to being myself most of the time again.

What are some things you do (or stop doing) to relieve stress?

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Friday Five – Poetry

Posted in Beauty, Books, Friday Five, Home, Mental Health, Poetry, Reading Challenges, Resolutions on April 28, 2023| Leave a Comment »

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:

  1. “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. 
  2. “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.”
  3. Elizabeth Wilder (Balefire) – “There is not much I trust so wholeheartedly as the musty-scented pages of a book.”
  4. “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.”
  5. 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.

Have a good one, friends!

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Friday Five – Good Friday

Posted in Beauty, Books, Church, Food, Friday Five, Home, NaNoWriMo, Resolutions, Writing on April 7, 2023| Leave a Comment »

It’s my mom’s birthday! She is officially an octogenarian! She’ll be so excited that I told the internet that. 

And happy Good Friday to those who observe. Although…is “happy” the right adjective there? Happy death of our Lord? Yay, crucifixion? Congratulations on the commemoration of Jesus being murdered by the state under pressure from an angry mob? 

ANYWAY.

Hi. It is Friday – the end of the work week – and that is something to be happy about. 

  1. I never know what to take for Easter brunch at church. Side dish? Breakfast casserole? Something I can make the day before? Nothing but a healthy appetite because I already am going to be there as assisting minister at the 8:30 service and contrary to my personal feelings/raising, I don’t actually have to do everything? Heavily leaning toward the last one, but have not completely ruled out blueberry monkey bread as an option.
  2. I am enjoying Camp NaNoWriMo. I’m working on my essay collection of to-do lists for complicated days. I set a goal of 10,000 words for the month, which averages out to a little less than 350 per day. Totally doable.
  3. Firekeeper’s Daughter by Angeline Boulley – This book was so good. I listened to the audio, but I may buy the hard copy because I can see myself re-reading it. What most stood out to me was the perfect pacing – it was fast enough to hold tension and keep the story moving but slow enough to build suspense. It felt like it was happening in real time. 
  4. Weyward by Emilia Hart – I liked this one a lot. It was just the right mix of dangerous and cozy. The book follows three generations of women who have a specific power, and the way they use it is quite satisfying. The audio reader was great – she made it super easy to distinguish between the three characters telling the story.
  5. As I’m pondering ways to make my apartment cozier (i.e., stuff more bookshelves and reading nooks in there), I often stumble across lists like this one. My current project is figuring out a way to divide the living room and dining area without making it feel cramped. I am considering getting rid of the big table. Maybe. I’m going to move things around and see how they work.

I hope you are having a good day and have an even better weekend!

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April TBR – Happy National Poetry Month!

Posted in Books, Getting It Together, Reading Challenges, Resolutions on April 2, 2023| Leave a Comment »

It is National Poetry Month, and the book stack in the office is ready!

In my quest to read 180 books this year, I am consistently lagging behind by a count of two. This is encouraging, because it means that I have at least found the pace that’s necessary to meet my goal – I just need to sneak a couple of extras in there somewhere. And I know there are several pockets of time throughout the year when I typically finish more books than usual.

April is the first of those times. 

I know the list this month looks long, but all of the ones listed under my collection section and most of the TBR section are poetry books that I can easily read in a few hours, even as I savor them slowly, recite them out loud, and re-read poems I particularly love three or four times.

Book Clubs

Collection

TBR

Audible (an extension of TBR, really)

One of the things I’ve been doing to streamline my finances this year is looking at all the subscriptions I have and evaluating which ones I use enough to justify the cost. I do use Audible frequently, as I do all my bookish apps and subscriptions, but it doesn’t offer anything extra that I can’t get from:

  • Libro.fm (which gives a kickback to my favorite local bookstore) 
  • Kobo (which is about 2/3 the cost of Audible) 
  • Scribd (which I love and use the most often) 
  • The audio apps through the public library (which have limited selections but also the shiny, winning element of being free)

Factor in the delight I will experience by putting fewer dollars into the Amazon machine, and Audible is the obvious choice for the chopping block. So for the next few months, I’m focusing a lot of my audio selections on listening to the unfinished books in my Audible library so that I can dump it altogether without losing what I’ve already bought.

So that’s the plan for reading this month.

What have you read and loved lately?

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Friday Five – A Pasta-Centric Week

Posted in Books, Food, Friday Five, Resolutions, Revolution, Work on March 24, 2023| Leave a Comment »

Happy Friday, friends! I took Monday off as a continuation of my birthday commitment to do absolutely nothing but what I want for a few days, and it was nice. I made a pasta salad, which I’ve eaten all week for lunch (and sometimes also dinner – it makes so much), and binge-watched Veronica Mars most of the day. It was great.

Having a four-day week this week was also nice. We should do this always. Well, always until I retire. Then it’s “I do what I want” all day, every day.

Here are some things I’ve run across this week. Enjoy!

  1. This list of tips on how to read more was written in more pandemic-y, home-alone times, but they’re still applicable. My favorites are the ones that lean toward “read what you like and ignore the haters” and “schedule reading time like an appointment/job.” I also find that connecting with other people over books makes me want to read more and also introduces me to fascinating new things I wouldn’t have read otherwise. Also writing reviews/reflections helps. You know what? All of these tips are solid. Take the ones that sound like they’d be useful to you if reading more is on your vision board.
  2. I love everything about this column, included in Roxane Gay’s Audacious Roundup (which you should also follow). I especially like the shout-out to Marcella Hazan and the story about Nonna eating peppers out of the jar. I’m excited to see future updates. 
  3. In working through my Audible library, I ran across something I picked up a couple of years ago – Courting the Wild Twin by Martin Shaw. It reminded me of some of the discussions we had in performance classes in grad school, with lovely moments such as “Myths are a secret weapon. A radical agency for beauty in the age of amnesia – an agency far beyond concept and polemic.” I enjoyed the nostalgia. Lots of connected-but-still-badly-in-need-of-more-editing tangents, so maybe the print copy would have been an easier read than the audio.
  4. We had our annual Equity and Diversity Conference here yesterday, and it was probably the best one I’ve attended. Hina Wong-Kalu was my favorite speaker. 
  5. And finally…they had me at “Stanley Tucci.” A peek inside his pantry was just what my week needed. Also, I’m 100% in favor of pasta for breakfast.

I hope you’ve had a great week and have an even better weekend!

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Alphabet Challenge – Update 4

Posted in Books, Reading Challenges, Resolutions on March 22, 2023| Leave a Comment »

This challenge is slowing down a bit due to its structure, as many of the books I read don’t fit into the spots that are still left. So it may not be long before I have to become a little more intentional about which of the many items on my TBR list and collection I read – particularly concerning the latter half of the alphabet, apparently – so that I end up finishing it. 

I’ve had quite a few days off (good for tucking up under a blanket with a good book) and long drives (great for audiobooks) this month, though, so we’re ready for a new update!

For the main list of book titles I’ve finished for this challenge, see this post. For reviews on specific books, see previous (1) review (2) posts (3).

A

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 

E

Excuse Me While I Disappear by Laurie Notaro 

F

Florence Adler Swims Forever by Rachel Beanland – I liked this book overall, but it took me forever to get through it. There wasn’t a lot of plot – just a whole lot of waiting around for something to happen. Which is what the characters were actually going through, so in that way I suppose it made it easy to empathize with them. I fell asleep reading it a lot, and I had decided last night that if I couldn’t manage to finish it before bedtime I would give up on doing so altogether, but I managed to push through. 

G

Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman 

H

How To Be Perfect by Michael Schur 

The Other Black Girl by Zakiya Dalila Harris – I liked this one, but not as much as I expected to. The premise is intriguing and something I don’t think those in outgroups (i.e., me) understand a lot about, so I was excited to read it. I think most of my disappointment was just editing preferences. I would have preferred either a fuller prologue that handled all the past scenes or a more regular chapter-by-chapter exchange where the past relationships were flushed out a little more. Also…it feels like two different genres. The first two-thirds of the book is strict realism, but then something is revealed that I would have liked to see incorporated earlier in the story. 

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 – I used to say without qualifier that I am a sucker for a sappy romance with a happy ending (hence my membership in Nowhere’s Happy Endings book club). But this series has driven home for me that in order for them to be more than meh for me, I need certain things from my rom-coms. Especially with books like these where all the main characters – and even most of the secondary ones – are stereotypically attractive. I mean, come on. The main guys in the first book? Ex-Marine firefighters. And the first scene with the main guy (Hot Rock StarTM) in the second book opens with the two thirsty ladies seated next to him on a plane ogling (perhaps even fondling? Ahem. MA’AM.) his biceps. Now I enjoy ex-Marine firefighters/hot rock stars as much as the next person (and maybe a little more than the next person re: the rock star or just musicians in general), but I prefer meet-cute stories featuring those who…well…aren’t. Acknowledge that good things can happen for people who don’t always get second glances with positive appraisals before they even open their mouths to speak, and the story is automatically more interesting for me.

I also need to see them struggle. That sounds rude, but hear me out. Life is hard in some way for most people, and it’s difficult for me to connect to characters who have nothing more than small hiccups along their way to alleged forever bliss. Physical or mental health issues, career overhaul or loss, major identity crisis, grief, systemic oppression, etc. Show me the big bad they’re up against and how they’re dealing with it (even – or sometimes especially – if they’re not dealing well), or I just don’t care.

All this is to say that, as Jimenez definitely leans ALL the way into the typical “oh god she’s so gorgeous and fit and he’s so chiseled and my, what a big penis he has” trope, I was pleasantly surprised that I really enjoyed these books. And it’s mostly because the author is excellent at showing her characters’ humanity. I don’t have a lot in common with any of them, but I felt like I understood where they were coming from, and thus I wanted them to be well and secure and loved and just have it all.

I liked The Happy Ever After Playlist more due mostly to personal preferences overall and also because some of the things that the female lead in the first one found hot about the main dude bordered on problematic for me. Also I hate the concept of the friend zone and all its implications, which is the reason it took me so long to pick the book up in the first place, but I begrudgingly admit that the title is a decent fit for the story. I’m looking forward to listening to the third one, Life’s Too Short, later this month.

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

Q

Queen of the Flowers by Kerry Greenwood – If you haven’t read or watched Phryne Fisher, you’re missing out (Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries is a gorgeous portrayal of Greenwood’s series). They’re quick reads, and if you like unlikely detectives or historical mystery fiction, you might get a kick out of them. This one was not one of my favorites of the series, but it was still enjoyable. 

R

A Rhythm of Prayer, edited by Sarah Bessey – I listened to these prayers on my way to and from work for about a week and a half, and it was so good. I love Sarah Bessey, and it’s no surprise that she was able to put together such a rich liturgy collection. I’m glad I have it on audio, but I think I’m also going to have to buy a print copy for use at home.

S

A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle 

T

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 

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Alphabet Reading Challenge – Update 3

Posted in Books, Reading Challenges, Resolutions on March 6, 2023| Leave a Comment »

For years, I have tried to keep track of notes I have made on each book I read, but all my efforts tend to fizzle out. So far, this process seems to be working *knocks on wood* and I’m so pleased. 

As with the last update, those listed as just titles were reviewed in a previous post. 

For the main list of book titles I’ve read for this challenge, see this post.

A

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 – This book has everything I typically like in a mystery. Unlikely/unexpected sleuth with a spunky personality and clever wit. Idyllic setting. Family secrets/character(s) with a secret history. It was all there. But the book was still just meh to me. The plot dragged so slowly for at least half of the book. Once it picked up, it was more interesting, but I was already over it by the time that happened.

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 

E

Excuse Me While I Disappear by Laurie Notaro 

F

G

Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman – I’m so glad that I watched the show before I read this. Because while I’m sure the book would have been just as clever without David Tennant as Crowley in my head, it stands to reason that just about anything is better with him (or at least the thought of him). I was happy that the high expectations I had going in were met when I read it.

H

How To Be Perfect by Michael Schur 

I

The Iron Druid Chronicles (10-ish books in the series plus a lot of short stories published separately) by Kevin Hearne – OK, technically, this is way more than one book, but one thing I wish review sites let you do is post one review for the whole series, because while occasionally one book will stand out above the rest, I typically think of them as one long story. So I’m going to do what I want here. Anyway…ancient immortal druid, living in today’s world. Has a vampire for a lawyer and werewolves as allies. Mind-melds with his dog. You know, as you do. The writing is clever, and the premise is fun. I’ve sailed through the first three and am currently listening to the fourth in the series. The story and characters are great; the reader is fantastic. I especially like Oberon. 

J

Jayber Crow by Wendell Berry – It took me a couple of chapters to get into this one, but I could hardly put it down once I did. The way Berry ties in events from Jayber’s early life to cast meaning on what happens later is nothing short of masterful. I’m often critical of endings, but the last sentence of this book is perfect. This is the first novel of Berry’s that I’ve read, and I’ll definitely be reading others. 

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

Q

R

S

A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle – If I could host a dinner party with various characters in literature (a term I use broadly), Sherlock Holmes would definitely be on the guest list. I read a lot of this series when I was younger, and I enjoyed the re-read just as much if not more than I did then.

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A World of Curiosities by Louise Penny

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Welcome Home: A Guide to Building a Home for Your Soul by Najwa Zebian 

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March 2023 TBR

Posted in Books, Home, Reading Challenges, Resolutions, Work on March 1, 2023| Leave a Comment »

It’s Staff Appreciation Month at my job, and I’m choosing to be appreciated in the form of taking a lot of fun classes and a lot of time off. Yay – more time to read!

Book Clubs

In my Rise and Shine book club this month, the theme is science and technology, so I’m mostly gathering suggestions rather than choosing a specific book to read. I mean, I have some science fiction recommendations…but I’m not sure that’s what they mean.

TBR

I start compiling these posts two or three months in advance, so there’s plenty of shifting by the time I actually post it. And by shifting, I do mean the occasional “no, on second thought, I don’t really have any interest in reading that at all” but mostly “hey – I want to read that, too!” And thus the TBR expands. This section was four books…until the last couple of weeks.

Collection

I have multiple Girlxoxo selections for this month, and they are all from the collection at home. 

Have you read anything exciting lately? Tell me about it!

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