Oh, August. It’s offensively hot outside and super busy at work (I looove it, though) (the new job and training the staff, not the heat, to be clear). Sounds like a great time to stay indoors and read in what little downtime I have this month.
[Per the usual disclosure, most of the links are affiliate links.]
Book Clubs
So we had a division retreat at work recently, and the focus was our personal wellness. The first session I attended was “Who wants to be in a book club?” One might ask, “Suzanne, do you really want to join more book clubs?” but I think we all know the answer to that already, so let’s just move on.
Anyway, the book club list is longer now. No regrets.
The combination of August-in-Texas heat and August-in-Housing scheduling has me giving off serious I-do-what-I-want vibes in my personal life (I mean, even more than usual). All the reading this month outside of book clubs (and really, for the most part, in book clubs as well) is pure enjoyment. Here are some books I’ve gleaned from my own shelves or the library and added to the on-deck TBR pile.
Latte Love by Andrea Cumbo – I get to read the ARC for the first of this series that comes out on September 1! I know I’m going to love it, so I highly encourage you to preorder.
What is the best thing (book or otherwise) you’ve read lately?
From The Museum of Ordinary People by Mike Gayle – “The older you get, the more home becomes about people rather than place, I think. The older you get, the more roots are about where you want to be rather than where you come from.”
Our cookbook club meets tonight, and the theme is pickles. Up until this week, I was going to make cheddar and dill biscuits but it’s so very hot, so I’ve made pickled carrots and bought a nice cheese to go with them instead. I love sharing food with these folks. It’s one of the things I look forward to the most each month.
This piece – “The Poetics of Family Life” – outlined some interesting insights into the home being its own harmonious entity, not just a reflection of public life and its guidelines. It’s more zoned toward families, but there are some nuggets of wisdom that I’m chewing on for myself, too.
It will depend on how much the paycheck actually changes in the next few months, of course, but I am already breathing easier about finances. The thought of being able to not only make my overall budget and beef up my savings but also have enough left over to go out for dinner/drinks with friends a few times a month without sticking to a diet of pb&j and ramen the week before payday, or replace worn-out clothing and shoes as needed without having to dip into an emergency fund, or just buy cute little upgrades for my home like these pillows on a consistent basis is so incredibly freeing. I might even be able to start a fun fund within the next year for extravagances such as vacations or a car.
On being the person you are on vacation…this is a good reminder to make time not only for the practical work that I need to do to make my home run well but also for rest and rejuvenation. I’m working through The Artist’s Way again, and while I remembered writing morning pages from the time I worked through it before (over a decade ago), I forgot the instruction to schedule a weekly artist date with yourself – something to feed your creativity. While I would argue that once a week is not enough (acknowledging, of course, that the time to be able to work in more than one a week is a privilege some don’t have), this was another gentle reminder to not let weeks slip by without being intentional about protecting my calm and creativity.
I am at the overwhelmed stage of the new job. That’s fine. Everything’s fine. But these tips on how to stay grounded and feel at home with yourself really came in handy this week. I only hyperventilated once. Good job, me!
The title of that last article also reminded me that I need to get some plants for my office because I can BECAUSE I HAVE A WINDOW NOW (those caps are excited-shouty, not angry-shouty). We’re doing two weeks of training for the student staff that I supervise, and then we open all the buildings for fall, but after that chaos has passed, I think my treat to myself after that is going to be some greenery for the office. Because I enjoy having indoor plants but not necessarily planting them, I’ll probably be scouting for new little windowsill friends at True Leaf Studio.
Dewey’s Reverse Readathon was so much fun! While the event itself was technically only Friday night and most of Saturday, I’ve had a few days off, so I took the liberty of extending it through yesterday. It did not disappoint.
As previously mentioned, links to books are affiliate links to my Bookshop.org page.
Lucky Red by Claudia Cravens – I started this book back in June and just couldn’t get into it. I read a couple of chapters every few days and slogged my way through the first half. When I started the readathon, it was still perched at the top of my book pile, judging me. So I finished it. Quickly. Turns out, it picks up pretty fast at about the halfway mark. I ended up really liking it.
The Dewey’s Discord – This was the first readathon I spent on the Discord, and I really liked it. I already knew I liked the layout and organization of Discord much more than other platforms where the community congregates; it’s so much easier to find the posts I’m looking for so I was able to engage in more meaningful ways. I always love connecting with other readers all over the world during these events, but I felt more like I was a part of it this time.
Tiny Love Stories: True Tales of Love in 100 Words or Less, edited by Daniel Jones and Miya Lee – I WAS NOT PREPARED FOR THE EMOTIONAL ROLLER COASTER THAT WAS THIS BOOK. I mean, I probably should have been. To tell a story in 100 words or less, you need to be pretty intentional about which words you use. You have to pack a lot of meaning into a small amount of space. Perhaps I was expecting it subconsciously, though. Perhaps that’s why I waited until I had almost used up all the renewals I had for my library copy before reading it and letting it in. I’m glad I did, and I used the red ribbon bookmark to mark my favorite story for its next reader. I hope they like it as much as I did.
Multiple cups of the coffees my sister and brother-in-law brought back as my prize from their recent trip – Specifically, the Stiff-Legged dark roast from the Fainting Goat Coffee Company and Project Sunrise from First Watch Coffee. Thanks to them, I stayed well caffeinated throughout my reading time.
The Bar Harbor Retirement Home for Famous Writers (And Their Muses) by Terri-Lynne DeFino – If I must live in a retirement home someday, I hope it is with a bunch of writers/artists. To collaborate with them until the day I die sounds like the perfect end to a life lived well. I am a sucker for stories about found family, and this one was lovely.
Simple food – I cooked exactly twice in the last six days, and even then it was just pasta with tomatoes and basil and eggs for breakfast. As much as I like to create delicious meals, I also like the freedom that having a lot of fruit, veggies, cheese, crackers, etc., on hand to snack on when I am feeling peckish. It freed up the time I would typically spend cooking and cleaning the kitchen for more reading and relaxation.
Sobremesa: A Memoir of Food and Love in Thirteen Courses by Josephine Caminos Oria – I almost took a break to make empanadas while reading this book. While the overall narrative lagged sometimes, the descriptions of the food and the lovingly written family recipes were fantastic.
Adding to my TBR – One of my favorite things about any of the bookish communities I’m in is that they always lead me to read something I never would have known about or picked up on my own. This community is huge and global and has diverse reading tastes. So many possibilities!
Not To Disturb by Muriel Spark – What a quirky story. I loved the dark wit. I could easily see this onscreen. I even started picturing which actors I’d like to see play the characters. Not your typical murder mystery, but I enjoyed it!
Five days of staycation – With the excitement of the new job and office and the impending busyness of August on the horizon, this break was exactly what I needed. I took a few hours off during the actual readathon event to nap because I knew I’d have the time to get in more than 24 hours over the next few days. And I did. I still left the apartment almost every day to go to lunch or take a Pilates class or get my hair done, but I mostly rested and enjoyed the slow pleasure of getting lost in stories. I’ve been in kind of a reading slump lately; it felt good to come back to it.
Most of them will take place seated by this gorgeous pile of books as I participate in Dewey’s Reverse Readathon (reverse in that it starts in the evening rather than the original which starts in the early morning). It begins in less than an hour (7 p.m., CST) and will last 24 hours.
Will I read all 24 hours? Probably not. I’ve done that exactly once.
But will I have fun? Absolutely.
The details are here, including all the places to go where the social aspect of the readathon is taking place. It’s not too late to join (and by join, I do just mean pick up a book and read). I’m super excited they have a Discord, which is where I will mostly be checking in.
If you’re participating, happy reading! If you’re not, happy Friday!
One of my supervisors is moving to another department on campus after being in Housing for the bulk of his career, and today is his last day. So I’m actually going to put on outside clothes on my day off and go to the team lunch. Other than that, I’m spending a luxurious few days reading and relaxing before the chaos of August starts.
Also, I have an announcement! My affiliate page on Bookshop.org has just been verified, so full disclosure – the link to the book you see below and to most of the books in future posts will direct you to my shop. If you order from that link, I get a cut, and so do some local bookshops supported by the website. I am working on curating some lists of recommendations for those who visit my page, so feel free to browse while you’re there. Of course, your local library likely has copies, too, but if you plan to buy a book anyway, I’m happy to oblige.
This weekend is the Dewey Reverse Readathon, which in my time zone runs from 7 pm tonight to 7 pm tomorrow. So after lunch, I may take a long nap and wake up just in time to have coffee and a snack before I begin. What a great day! I have been leaving the piles of each month’s unread TBR on the table in my office, so I’m mostly going to work on that stack during the readathon. That’s the plan anyway. I often go rogue during sessions, a course of action I highly recommend, especially when committing to many hours in a row. Gotta do whatever keeps me invested.
I always love reading Joy the Baker’s summer bucket list. And more sandwiches and all the summer fruits? I second that emotion.
Solito – Poet Javier Zamora tells about his experience migrating from El Salvador to the USA when he was a child. The descriptions are so vivid, making it easy to empathize with the scared little boy who leaves everything he knows to travel to where his mother and father live. I was in constant tension throughout the book. Hard topic but fantastic read.
I have been considering taking up bookbinding lately. Not really planning to make my own books (although…imagine the possibilities of making journals…), but I’m very interested in learning how to repair the bindings of old books I own or recover them (especially the ones I get from the library). I may play around with that some this weekend, too.
I have another engagement the weekend of Mountain Ash Press’s Writers’ Retreat, but you should definitely go if you can make it. At any rate, please consider contributing to their scholarship fund for writers who need a little help getting there. I hope to be able to attend future retreats!
What day even is it? Is this a real Friday? Am I real?
Between starting to talk about how we are going to make the switch between my now-job and my new-job and having two days off in the middle of the week to focus on writing, this week has been an exercise in transition and exception. But it’s been a good one (I think? I’m pretty sure it’s been OK overall. I’m gonna need people to stop shooting into crowds, though, and I’m gonna need changes to the system that would make these rampant shootings less likely. You know, per usual.). We did get free food at work yesterday, and I have had a lot of cherries (cherries are really good right now), so there’s that.
Also, I’ve been reading some things I really enjoyed. Here are some things you might enjoy, too.
Breath by James Nestor – This was a fascinating subject. It was a little lighter on the science than I expected, but it was a good read anyway. The author outlined how the way we breathe (as a species) has altered our skeletal structure and may be a big part of the reason so many have respiratory issues. There are also some excellent breathing exercises at the end of the book and even if I’d hated the rest of it, it would have been worth the read for those.
The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie – As expected, a solid introduction to the Poirot character. I forgot how much I like her writing. The ending was predictable, so there was room to grow from her first book in this series, and I’m excited to see how it progresses as I read through the series.
“Don’t ask me if I’m free” – I feel this in my bones. I mean, I wouldn’t leave Mom to fend for herself after surgery just so I could brunch with Beyoncé (or any celebrity, to be clear). But otherwise, yes.
Rivermouth by Alejandra Oliva – A memoir from an immigration activist about helping people at the border and a masterpiece on sitting in the various tensions of this issue. My favorite parts of the book were the parts in Spanish that she didn’t translate, the effect of which was to illustrate the frustration of navigating in a language in which I understand the overall gist but am not anywhere close to fluent. Highly recommend – 4.5 stars.
This essay on book club fails is a wild ride (well, a book-nerdy wild ride, which admittedly is probably closer to a somewhat spirited saunter for most people). I feel like the writer makes some valid points but also has some expectations that exemplify the rigidity that is often responsible for sending a well-intentioned book club into an early grave. Book clubs, like all social endeavors, have to be able to breathe a little. Yes, the discussion is better if people show up and have read the book. But if you want to build a lasting book club, people have to be able to miss or not finish the book occasionally without it being considered a failure, especially the first few years you are meeting (and I would argue even after that). At my book club that has been meeting the longest, we get excited if most of us have even started the book, and if only a couple of us have finished it, we still talk about other books and enjoy each other’s company (and omg the food – Brenda and our book club can put out quite a spread). And I get the frustration of going to the trouble to make something a priority and putting in the effort to plan one’s own work/life schedule around it only to have the time changed at the last minute. I second that emotion hard. But even if you do have a regular time when the book club meets every month…sometimes things come up. If the host or most of the members can’t make the regularly scheduled time, it makes sense to be flexible. Talking about books is always ultimately worth whatever effort it takes to make it happen.
I’m happy the weekend is almost here. I’m spending most of Saturday reading and cleaning and hanging with some people I haven’t seen in a while that night. On Sunday, I get to book club with Follow the Reader, so that will be fun. I hope you have a good weekend, too!
Armed with some heavy-duty caffeination, I have used this little holiday break to give myself a writing retreat. I wrote about the overall plan last week on Substack, and it has been pretty great. I am happy to have discovered that churning out content at my copywriting job on a regular basis has made me a more efficient writer and a more decisive editor. The goals I expected to take me two days were finished yesterday.
Specifically, I wanted to get the first chapter of Fishbowl ready to submit to the Page One Prize by next Friday. I am going to read over the edits I made yesterday after this post, but I am pleased with it. I have overhauled this story a lot in the last couple of years, and while there is still work to be done, I like it even better than I did when I first started it so long ago.
My second goal was to complete Andi Cumbo’s Smash the Myths course. I always get so much out of Andi’s gentle advice, and there was a lot in that course I needed to hear. As a result, I’m revamping a few long-term goals and looking at realistic (rather than the idealistic I tend toward) steps to take to get there.
Today, I’m splitting my extra time between reading some of the things on my TBR for the month and working through some prompts from Lisa Carver’s How To Not Write, on loan from Sarah. Highly recommend if you are in a rut and need something to shake you free. What I like most about it is that the prompts can be used for any kind of creative endeavor, not just writing. One of them had me playing some ragtime on the keyboard earlier.
I want to carve out more workdays like this. I forgot how useful they are. I feel productive but also relaxed and refreshed. I’m more excited about writing than I have been in a while. I don’t typically wait around on excitement or motivation to do the work of writing, but I’m so happy when it shows up.
Welcome to July! I have a writing retreat (more on the specifics tomorrow) and a reading retreat this month, and I start my new job..soon-ish? Other than my regularly scheduled festivities, those are the things I’m looking forward to the most. I think *knocks on wood* that my schedule is easier this month outside of work (which is good, because it is absolutely nuts at work), so I should have a lot of reading time.
FTR’s choose your own adventure this month is romance, so I’m going with either The Scandalous Letters of V and J by Felicia Davin or This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone (or both). The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy by Megan Bannen is described by Modern Mrs. Darcy as “part You’ve Got Mail, part Pushing Daisies, and part The Princess Bride,” so I feel like I need to read it as soon as possible, too.
Similarly, I’m also going to read Here For It: Or, How To Save Your Soul in America by R. Eric Thomas before I read his newest collection of essays, which is on the MMD challenge, when it comes out in August.
The Museum of Ordinary People by Mike Gayle – I intend to get lost in the nostalgia of the objects the main character finds right along with her.
The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty – I haven’t read a good pirate tale in a while. I’m really looking forward to it.
TBR/Collection
Dewey’s Reverse Readathon is scheduled for July 21-22, so I will probably have some time to finish up a few things I’ve started in the past couple of months but have not finished.
June has been a pretty good month, all things considered. I mean, weather and legislation are gross, because Texas. And my dad had to put our dog Lola down, so I’m pretty sad about that. But despite a few storms, rainbows abound (feel free to interpret that in as many possible ways as you can).
Here is this month’s update on my home theme. Enjoy!
I enjoyed this piece by Sarah E. Westfall on The Exhaustion of Stuff – “A home is more than a place to put our things. A home shapes us. It is where we are formed in relationship and, in an ideal setting, feel safe and supported. But when the Stuff™ that surrounds us is excessive or lacks meaning or breeds chaos, those same qualities begin to manifest themselves within us.” Sometimes, I am nostalgic about belongings and keep them even when they’re cluttery because I have feelings about getting rid of them (not all of these feelings are joy. Just…feelings). However, I am currently in a “pitchy” phase – I’m cleaning out closets and being rather ruthless in what I get rid of. It feels so good. I got a take back bag from For Days, and I am having absolutely no problem filling it. I expect it will be ready to send back in about a week. Happy.
One group of items that I have a hard time getting rid of is all those shoes. I love shoes. I love having a lot of choices, even though I typically wear only the same three or four pair. I’ve bravely put some of them in the giveaway pile, but for the rest, I am looking into better storage options so that they don’t just sit in a heap in the closet floor.
The flip side, of course, is that I hope to someday capitalize a little more on what I enjoy doing the most so it can be the thing I do full-time. The older I get, the more creativity is fundamental to my core and my happiness. I’m looking forward to some intensive creative time this weekend and part of next week. Specifically, I am doing my first DIY writing retreat of the year next Monday night through Wednesday night (ish), so I’m finishing up preparations for it this weekend. I have two main goals for this session – to edit and submit the first chapter of either “Fishbowl” or “November” to the Gutsy Great Novelist Page One Prize and to finish Andi Cumbo’s Smash the Myths course.
Finally, I am happy to announce that I have been offered the position of Coordinator for Housing Services! I expect it to be a smooth transition, as I’ll be working with the same team I’m currently on, just with different responsibilities that are more in line with my strengths. Also, I will be moving into one of the offices (and thus out of the reception area yay), so I am spending a lot of free time building my dark academia Pinterest board with decorating ideas. Looking to build a cozy, welcoming space but also make it a reflection of my personal style as much as possible.
Inspired by Joy the Baker, I have been making summer bucket lists for a few years. Summer is my least favorite season, which can feel isolating when it seems like it’s everyone else’s favorite. Sometimes I even trick myself into thinking this year will be different. My April and May self will see all the fun events planned for June and get excited. But when summer actually hits, I want to just curl up in a blanket and binge-watch something familiar (I’m currently rewatching Lucifer and Merlin).
I suspect I have a little SAD going on, as this time of the year seems to be when I most need to ramp up good mental health habits. So the summer bucket list is partly self-care and partly a reminder that there’s something to look forward to.
Experiment with making summertime treats. Specifically, I have been obsessed with icebox pies lately. Some of them are recipes on their own; some are ice cream recipes I just freeze in a pie crust. I’ve got a long list to test and see which ones are my favorites, but here are a few to give you an idea of how delicious I intend my summer to be:
Coffee
Lemonade (also trying one with limeade)
Cherry (and blueberry and peach, etc.) cheesecake
Maple whiskey
Banana cream
Tres leches
Have a two-day writing retreat at home. I am planning for this to be July 4 and 5, but I haven’t decided which project(s) I’m working on yet. I do know that I want to introduce the paid subscriber portion of my Substack by the end of the year, so I do need to edit some pieces to get them ready for the paying public. More on all of this later.
Have at least one reading retreat at home. If nothing else, I’ll be participating in Dewey’s Reverse readathon in July, but I’m open to more decadent reading days/weekends.
Take a mid-year financial health assessment – not necessarily for the blog (although I may post highlights) but just for my information. I feel like I’ve made considerable progress, but I want to actually crunch the numbers.
Look for joy or luck or magic and document it (journal, Instagram, etc.). Take the lessons I’ve learned from past years’ themes and apply them.
A medium-to-big life change is coming up soon, and I want to leave space for it. But I also don’t want to forget to take care of myself this summer so that I can keep overwhelm at a minimum.
M. Suzanne Terry 