One thing I really love about this month is that my birthday is on its way, so I get a lot of emails with coupons and freebies. I will faithfully delete countless emails I don’t read all year just to get these treats.
Here are some other things I have loved recently:
Birds of America by Lorrie Moore – This was our February selection for Follow the Reader, and we spent most of the time talking about it just reading exquisitely written lines from the stories. My favorite story was a tie between “Which Is More Than I Can Say About Some People” about the narrator’s trip to Ireland with her mom and “Terrific Mother” set in a children’s cancer ward. Moore writes deeply flawed characters really well, and each story elicited a strong emotional response.
A Hole in the World by Amanda Held Opelt – Opelt’s own experience of grief after her miscarriages and the sudden loss of her sister (Rachel Held Evans) led to her desire to learn about grief rituals, and this book is the result of what she learned. It sits in the uncertainty of having more questions than answers and cycling through both grief and joy (sometimes at the same time). It was the perfect read for Lent, and I can see myself buying and re-reading it when grief is heavy.
I’m in the market for new sandals. The weather has been springy, and the selection in my closet is sparse. I am considering these or these. Maybe these. I tend to lean toward black footwear (practical – hides dirt, goes with everything), but I’m feeling shiny lately. I may need shoes to match. Thanks for the birthday coupon, DSW!
I need another baking pan like I need a hole in my toe, but THIS IS SO CUTE. I COULD MAKE BUTTERFLY CAKELETS. Now, whether I would is another story…
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.
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.
Memoir – Of Walking on Ice by Werner Herzog and Books: A Memoir by Larry McMurtry (both recommended and loaned to me by Sarah Ruth – thanks, friend!)
The person with whom I have the most inside jokes.
My “we can fight but if you so much as look at her unpleasantly I will end you” person.
I’m very protective:
(and not at all trying to make her kiss her elbow because MeMaw told me that if she did, she’d turn into a boy. I don’t know where you heard that vicious rumor.)
We grew up here:
With these people:
Lots of room to run, play, make mud pies, stage wedding ceremonies for our cats, chase the dogs, and swing until we threw up.
One of the things I love most about Tammy is her exuberant enthusiasm for all things joyful.
Like good teas from Equal Exchange.
Or a day to binge-watch Disney+
And getting her hairs done.
And Christmas.
And making sure the dogs are clean.
And marrying this guy.
I love our coffee (and sometimes pie) outings.
(KIMZEY’S. It took me this whole week to remember the name.)
She’s the person I call if I need cake and don’t want to eat it alone.
She’s the first person I call when I have good news, because she’ll be even more excited for me than I am. She’s the first person I call when I have bad news, because she already has a plan.
She is passionate, principled, warm, funny, organized, curious, responsible, and diligent.
[Not really related – just happy treats I forgot I had and found at my desk this morning.]
Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent, is this week.
I have observed Lent since my early 20s, long before I was a member of a liturgical church that celebrates in seasons. I’ve practiced fasting from certain foods and activities, reading a book or study designed for the season, committing to certain service projects for 40 days, etc. I particularly love this piece from Tsh Oxenreider on why Lent is good for us. All of the ways I have observed Lent have been meaningful for me in some way, and I’m glad for the experience.
Being a part of a church that actively observes the season, though, makes my focus more communal and less personal, which is also nice. We have weekly soup suppers together and a mid-week service. For a couple of the years I’ve been part of this church, the communal observance was all I did, and it was enough.
With home as my theme for this year, a personal observance also seems in order. Part of the way I’m doing that this season is by checking in with ongoing goals, figuring out what’s working and what’s not, and adjusting as needed. This, of course, is a helpful practice in reaching long-term goals regardless of your religious leanings.
Incorporating the solitude that I need with the life that I want is sometimes messy. February has been intense but good. I’ve been a part of three performances this month. Three! I think that’s more times than I performed in all of 2022. And I have at least two more performances coming up in April that I’m excited about.
I like performing, and I want to keep doing it, but that means adjusting in other areas so that I don’t burn out. I’ve had to be extra vigilant about safeguarding my alone time, and I’ve had to be very strict with myself about boundaries between work and personal life. The time-outs have been useful because with so many performances comes extra practice and before I know it, I’m out of clean socks or spoons. Or worse – coffee.
So some of my short-term goals for Lent are about continuing with this year’s focus and resolutions, which were intentionally designed to help me find a good balance between all the things I need and want to do so that nothing gets too far off track. Specifically….
Two extended time-outs a week – This resolution (taking one long break a week) is going so well. It’s the primary reason I was able to perform three times in a two-week period without losing my mind. It’s so effective, I’m expanding it, at least for the next 6-7 weeks (and maybe longer. I suspect longer). A couple of large blocks of time a week are helpful for giving myself the breathing room to be at home in my own life and experience all that it has to offer.
Tidying – Being physically at home with an open schedule more often makes me more aware of things there that need tending to. I’m not sure when tidying became less of a chore and more of a joy, but I’m grateful for that. I suspect it had a lot to do with Marie Kondo’s approach and the example she continues to set about paying attention to what gives you joy and focusing your time and energy on those things. When I know the results of work will be so pleasant, the work itself seems less like an overwhelming drudgery and more like just the way I’m taking to get there. For the next few weeks, I want to spend at least five minutes tidying a different small area of my apartment every day to make it more functional and cozy.
Fun at work – OK, so my work situation is not great. But March is staff appreciation month, which is my favorite month of the year at UNT, and it’s a reminder that even if something is necessary but not a good fit, it still doesn’t have to be a total drag. During Lent (and hopefully beyond), I want to do one fun thing at work a day. Whether it’s taking a long walk across campus, decorating my desk, or attending a Hula dancing program (which I am absolutely signed up for), I want to learn how to make the most of it as long as I’m here.
Money issues – Two of the main reasons money makes me so anxious is that I don’t make quite enough to cover my needs plus a few small joys on a consistent basis, and I am acutely aware of how quickly the little I do make can be reduced or consumed if I’m not (and even sometimes when I am) constantly vigilant about it. To ease some of this pressure (ideally – I’m so very, very anxious), one of my goals for the year is to identify some way each month that I can either make or save more money. That’s been going fairly well, but now that I have a taste of cutting back, I’m no longer wanting to limit it to one a month. So I’m going to rip the bandage off and create a bare-bones budget that I can imagine actually sticking to. I hope to work out the kinks in March-May so that hopefully I have a better budget in place at the start of the summer. I expect that there will be tears as I let go of some things that I enjoy but are just too much right now but also hopefully some relief as, ideally, it will free up some funds to take care of other things I’ve been neglecting.
Setting weekly creative goals, reading a whole lot of books, and strength training are all seeing regular progress, so I’m just going to keep doing what’s working there.
If you observe Lent, I hope you have all the time you need this season. If you don’t observe, I hope you have a wonderful next few weeks that are as stress-free as possible. And I wish a good day to all!
You may remember Michelle from the approximately 2,342 times I’ve mentioned her over the years, or at least from her cameo on Tuesday’s post:
Today is her birthday, and I’m so happy she was born.
We met on the MRMB (Michael Rosenbaum Message Board – ah, fandom), where I knew her as ravenluvslex (raven for short, which is still the name she’s listed under in my phone). I met Michelle when I still had my first blog on livejournal (RIP). We traveled to Kansas City together to meet up with other fans where no one turned out to be a serial killer and we sang happy birthday to Michael Rosenbaum’s face on a cake.
We also met back before I carried a phone that takes pictures everywhere I went, so most of my documentation of our early days is in writing or in a picture album somewhere. Or on videos taken by other fans that we don’t really need to see.
I still have a lot of pictures of her sticking out her tongue (see above and below).
(Aw, orange couch)
(aw, Bochy’s)
There are so many things I adore about Michelle.
She’s always up for a good time.
She lets us take group pictures of feet even though she hates them (feet, not group pictures, to be clear).
She loved going to the club as much as I did.
(It’s not blurry. It’s ARTSY.)
(We should go again sometime. I promise to only spend a minor portion of the evening crying about the old place.)
She gave Nelly Cat a great life.
(Aw, Nelly Cat. *pets*)
She helps me locate Billy Boyd when necessary (the world is just better knowing that somewhere, he is).
And sends me pictures of her face when I tell her I miss it (which is even better than Billy Boyd).
She also made this super cute kid:
I love Michelle’s passion, her compassion, her boldness, her humor, her honesty, and her insight. I love that we have just as much (or more) fun together binge-watching TV and sharing delicious snacks as we do going out.
Michelle/Raven/Rupert, I love you. So, so much. Happy birthday, friend.
I met Maggie when she was a student working in the building where I was a night desk clerk, where she fit in really well with our weird staff.
She endeared herself to me pretty quickly because:
She would work the night shift on the weekends, which were otherwise horribly difficult to schedule.
She often hung out at the front desk with me when I was working, but in an unobtrusive way. Just the right kind of company.
She was the mastermind behind the original Suzanne-a-thon, an all-night appreciation event, which I appreciated in return.
She liked and encouraged my choice of nicknames for her, which mostly consisted of words that begin with “Mag.” Magnanimous was the one I used most often.
Soon, she was promoted to night desk at another hall. We IM-ed all night during our shifts, and we sat by each other at Friday staff meetings, where she totally wore green.
Soon we became good friends, which doesn’t typically happen quickly for either of us, but we seemed to click.
We shared similar hobbies.
We went shopping together.
We often enjoyed brunch with messy coffee (hers) together.
We even saw the Smurf movie. I really, really have to love someone to watch the Smurf movie with them.
And she must really, really love me, because she got up at ridiculous hours and went outside to go running with me when I forgot my personality and decided I wanted to train for a marathon.
She liked (most of) my friends and got along well with (most of) them. One in particular:
Maggie and Michelle and I lived together for a while, and that was so much fun. Well, for most of us.
Then Maggie moved to Houston, but we still text and IM almost every day. The first time I visited, we had pie.
And, of course, brunch.
We don’t see each other very often, but when we do, we make the most of it with delicious food and (sometimes) matching pjs.
All this is to say that, although my view of Valentine’s typically mirrors the words of another Maggie, the day always makes me think of my favorite Maggie.
After what was a glorious spontaneous week off due to an ice storm in Texas, we came back to work, Land of 10,000 Emails, this week. That has been less than glorious. But here are some things I’ve enjoyed despite being so far behind at work I may never catch up.
Speaking of emails…“Hi, anxiety is a fucking prison that I can’t escape and now it has literally been ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY ONE WEEKS SINCE YOU EMAILED ME…” is the solidarity I need right now. Thanks, Jenny Lawson.
So you know how everyone has been talking (for a couple of years) about how Only Murders in the Building is super cute? They’re right. Just a few episodes in, and I’m hooked.
Yep. Definitely hiring someone to lug around the boxes and boxes of books I own next time I move. Although, that was a pretty good workout….
I finished Marissa Meyer’s Gilded last night. This is a retelling of Rumplestiltskin, and I really love what Meyer does with it. I had three versions going – ebook for reading on my desktop at lunch, audiobook for listening in the car, and a hard copy from the library for at home. Because once the story got going, I couldn’t wait to find out what happened next. I’ve already checked out the ebook of Cursed in anticipation of this need for the second part of the duology. Fantastic. Highly recommend.
Saturday, I’m performing some microfiction at a show at Deep Vellum. You should stop by if you’re in the area.
Time for another update! Here are some micro-reviews of the books I’ve read recently. Those listed as just titles were reviewed in my 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 – So good! Such a hopeful story, and I love the audio version. The main character won me over early, and I loved cheering her successes throughout the book. Also, it made me so hungry and inspired me to cook, which to me is the ultimate mark of good foodie fiction.
B
Bluebird, Bluebird by Attica Locke
C
The Castlemaine Murders by Kerry Greenwood
The Postmistress of Paris by Meg Waite Clayton – It was OK. Disclaimer – I have read a lot of wartime historical fiction, due to one book club’s proclivity toward such things and the fascinating discussions they lead to. It’s not one of my favorite genres, though. But since I have read so many, I was disappointed that this one didn’t really stack up to the rest of them. There were good moments and some interesting elements, but overall? Meh. If historical WWII fiction is your jam, you’ll probably like it. If you just want to dabble, stick to things like The Nightingale and Code Name Verity.
D
Dear Bob and Sue by Matt and Karen Smith – This memoir recounts the couple’s visits to all 58 (now 59, as they added in one of the last chapters) national parks, as told to their friends Bob and Sue through emails. If you enjoy visiting national parks or hiking or being outdoors a lot, I think you’d really enjoy this book. My favorite part was their humor and their relationship. Reading it reminded me of one of my all-time favorite books about running – My Life on the Run by Bart Yasso and Kathleen Parrish. Both books were full of a whole lot of entertaining stories I am content to hear someone else tell and never, ever personally experience.
E
Excuse Me While I Disappear by Laurie Notaro – I mentioned in the January TBR post that I feel like I grew up with Laurie Notaro because I read and resonated with a lot of her books in my twenties. This one is no exception. I wheeze-laughed. There were a few parts that I could have done without (e.g., I often bristle at kids-these-days commentary, so those small sprinkles fell flat for me), but most of it? I howled in solidarity. Recommended for anyone whose body is starting to betray them or who is now or will ever go through perimenopause.
F
G
H
How To Be Perfect by Michael Schur – If you loved “The Good Place,” you’ll probably also enjoy this book, as it addresses the same general topic and is written by one of the show’s creators and thus employs a lot of the same type of humor. Added bonus? Some of the cast members read the audiobook. I was taking notes for book club through most of it, so I stuck with the ebook version. It also gives you a pretty decent overview of Philosophy 101 without having to slog through Aristotle and Kant and Sartre (no offense to those dudes, but Schur works in TV. It’s basically his job to be entertaining.). And it sparked a really lively book club discussion, so…solid read!
I
J
K
Writers & Lovers by Lily King
L
Lucky Turtle by Bill Roorbach
M
Down Among the Sticks and Bones by Seanan McGuire – Oh my gosh, the author reads the audiobook, which I usually don’t like, but it’s fantastic. I love the back story of these characters that we met in the first book of the series. Excellent character building, and I’m very excited to read the next one.
N
O
The Opposite of You by Rachel Higginson
The Book of Form and Emptiness by Ruth Ozeki – I actually started this one a few months ago. It took longer to finish because I savored it, which takes a little while to do when a book is 500+ pages. Perfect story for book lovers and mental health advocates with some charming magical realism elements. I gave it five stars on Goodreads.
P
Q
R
S
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
This is Day 3 of this year’s (hopefully only) Icepocalypse. So far this week, I’ve slept in, talked to my mom and dad on the phone, made biscuits, submitted several articles for my writing job, started cleaning out the coat closet, and done some strength training. Right now, I’m cozied up with a cup of tea in my most comfortable chair. We have already received notice that the university is closed tomorrow as well.
I’m so glad I bought coffee on Sunday.
I have also finished three books and plan to finish two more by the end of tomorrow. So I’m making an early dent in this month’s list!
An issue that I vaguely foresaw when I made my reading goals this year is where to categorize the ongoing massive overlap of titles. Technically, everything in my collection that I haven’t already read is on my to-be-read list. That’s why I own them – for reading. So really, they’re all TBR. And I’m never sure whether to include ebooks and audiobooks as part of my TBR or my collection. I mean, I have purchased them, but I still think of them as TBR, as they’re not physically in the limited space of my home, with their own spot on the shelf.
I guess the deciding factor is “Can I loan it to you (without violating the stingy fine print I agreed to when I signed up for the subscription)?” Collection – yes. TBR – probably not. So there we go.
Of course, all of this is a moot point this month anyway, because except for three of the books listed above that I will own as soon as they arrive, I’m focusing solely on the TBR.
TBR
I have a lot of library books out, and they’re all just sitting there on my shelf, begging for attention. Reminding me that someone else could be reading them if only I wasn’t selfishly hoarding them (someone else could also put a hold on them if they really wanted to let me know they’re dying to read them right away, so it’s possible this is all just a problem I’ve made up in my head). When Rory Gilmore chastised herself for not taking a book back to the library on time because it robbed someone else of the pleasure of reading it that week? I felt that. Anyway, this month is going to be a heavier focus on reading through most of those and getting them back into circulation where they belong. Fortunately, they’re all on my TBR list (which is why I checked them out to begin with), so I can do this without it pausing my goals for the year.
Series – I’ve been waiting to tuck into Marissa Meyer’s Gilded because I was waiting on the second one – Cursed – from the library so I could read them back to back. Also reading Down Among the Sticks and Bones by Seanan McGuire and A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle.
Author (this category is lists of books by the writers I particularly enjoy) – Companion Piece by Ali Smith
Non-Realism (includes fantasy, science fiction, magical realism, speculative fiction…I may separate them out into different lists at some point, but for now they’re all one category) – Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman and A Million Junes by Emily Henry
That’s right. We’re back with the Friday Five. Five things I read/encountered/stumbled upon this week that I want to tell you about. This year, I’m still going to post links to things I found on the internet. But I’m also going to include snippets of the books I read that didn’t fit the alphabet or Girlxoxo or (later) the MMD summer challenge (and thus won’t get a snippet in those updates).
Almost every year, I read The Little Prince on New Year’s Day and jot down quotes or phrases that particularly stick out to me at that time. “When a mystery is too overpowering, one dare not disobey.” “I must endure the presence of two or three caterpillars if I wish to become acquainted with the butterflies.”
The Baker’s Secret by Stephen P. Kiernan – I read this book because foodie books were the theme of our Rise and Shine book club in January, and this is one of the ones that were suggested. It’s a novel about a baker during WWII who finds a way to feed both the soldiers who require it of her and the people she loves. It was…ok. I might have liked it better if I had read a hard copy instead of listening to it, but I’m not interested enough in revisiting it to find out.
Ijeoma Oluo’s “My Biggest, Fattest Year Ever” was the piece I didn’t know I needed to read right now. I am struggling with reconciling all the things my body can do with how it looks. I feel like I’m constantly having to re-learn how to dress it. This piece was a soothing balm.
Two of my book clubs are also subscription services from Nowhere Bookshop. Well, they have a third one now – Nightmares from Nowhere. As horror is not really my thing, I (probably) won’t join this one (although the February book The Spite House looks really good), but I know there’s someone on my list for whom this is right up their alley. If you want a spooky book-of-the-month shipment and also opportunities to talk about it with other people who read it, give it a try!
Did you know today is National Chocolate Cake Day? AND Mozart’s birthday. AND Lewis Carroll’s birthday. AND my friend cm’s birthday! What a great day!
I hope you have a great day and a wonderful weekend!
M. Suzanne Terry 