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December 2024 TBR (-ish)

December 2, 2024 by Suzanne

Ah, December. Wonderful and wild. Full of parties and Advent festivities. My favorite time for reflection and anticipation.

I’m equal parts excited and tired already.

Because the first part of the month is always so busy, my reading needs to be generally lighthearted and easy. I need books that soothe my mind and soul after a busy day. I’ve already finished the books we’re discussing at book clubs this month, and I’ve lost interest in actually finishing the remaining reading challenges this year. So I can really just read whatever I like. I mean, I can do that all the time, but I’m not putting any self-imposed parameters on my choices this month.

Except for one. I need to get some of my library books back to the library. I have an excessive amount checked out. It’s absurd. So I need to read the ones I’m actually still interested in and just return the ones I’m not. I would love to blank-slate my library check-outs this month, but I’ll settle for cutting them in half.

Also, I’m still planning on finishing my main goal of 180 books for the year. It will be a tight race, but I think I can do it.

Here are my plans as of now.

Books for Advent (i.e., read as part of my daily Advent practice, so finish before Christmas Day)

Library Books Other People Are Waiting On (i.e., finish this week or next)

Ebooks (i.e., lunchtime/standing-in-line/waiting-in-waiting-rooms reads)

Audiobooks (i.e., commuting/doing-housework/staring-at-the-Christmas-tree reads)

Library Books I’ve Renewed a Lot (i.e., read or abandon, but make a choice)

Other Books – Library or Otherwise – That I Am the Most Excited To Read Soon

This is quite a long list, but I remain perpetually optimistic.

What are you most excited to read this month?

Posted in Books, Church, Fun, Mental Health, Quiet, Reading Challenges, Resolutions | Tagged , , , | Leave a Comment »

Friday Five – It’s Friday

November 8, 2024 by Suzanne

It’s Friday, everyone. We made it. 

I am anxious about my health, my job, my friends (especially those of us whom the prevailing culture seems to want to annihilate), my country, and the world in general. I am not ok.

This week has been a lot, and it’s Friday.

It’s Friday, and I love you, and here are some things I want you to remember to do.

I hope your weekend is restful, and I hope you get to spend it with people who have your best interests at heart.

Posted in Alive, Denton, Friday Five, Getting It Together, Health, Lament, Mental Health, Revolution | Tagged , , | Leave a Comment »

Libro.fm Reading Challenge

November 6, 2024 by Suzanne

[I forgot that I scheduled this post for this day. But there’s never a bad time for reading broadly and hearing from people who experience life differently than I do. In fact, this may be a very good time to do so.]

I may have listened to more books this year than any other year of my life. Audiobooks are great when I’m in the car, but they’re also good for reading when my hands are too numb/weak to hold a print book. Or when I want to lie in my bed and have someone read me a story (without all the pesky work of another person actually being physically present).

So I’m not surprised that I’ve finished the 24 prompts on Libro.fm’s 2024 Audiobook Listening Challenge already. Here are the prompts, what I read, and what I liked (or didn’t).

  1. Listen to a bookseller-recommended audiobook – Tom Lake by Ann Patchett. I love Ann Patchett, so I would have eventually read this one even if every single bookstore I follow on social media wasn’t parading it around. It was, of course, wonderful. Well written with great characters and a good story. Oh, and Meryl Streep narrates it. That, too, was delightful.
  2. Read an audiobook discussed on the Libro.fm podcast – Gay the Pray Away by Natalie Naudus. I enjoyed this book, and many people would benefit from reading it. I especially think it would be helpful not only to those who have escaped religious persecution but also those who have been their persecutors.
  3. Listen to an audiobook by a Latine author – Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz. Sweet story that explores coming of age, friendship, first love, identity, and family dynamics.
  4. Listen to a celebrity memoir – Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing by Matthew Perry. It was nice to hear his story told in his voice. I recognize that the added emotion of listening to it so soon after his death probably inflated my impression of the book, but I enjoyed it nonetheless.
  5. Read a newly-released audiobook the day it comes out – The Wedding People by Alison Espach. I didn’t quite finish it the day it came out but I definitely finished it within 24 hours of starting it. It’s witty, handling a heavy topic with levity and engaging characters.
  6. Listen to an audiobook by a transgender author – Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas. I loved this book. It is about finding where you fit and making a space if there doesn’t seem to be one. I loved the magical elements and how they played into the gendered expectations in Yadriel’s culture and family.
  7. Listen to a banned book – The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo. Unfortunately, it’s not hard to find a book that’s been banned in some school in America these days. Most of the books in this post have probably been cut somewhere. This lyrical novel has gorgeous prose, and Acevedo weaves the story around themes of religion, identity, love, independence, and family. It was powerful to hear the words in the author’s voice, too.
  8. Read at least ten minutes of an audiobook every day for a month – 10% Happier by Dan Harris. This was the second hardest book on this list to get through (see #20 for the hardest). Not because it was a drudgery but because I was trying to stretch it out and maintain interest over the course of a month (per the prompt). That is definitely not my audiobook reading style. It was read by the author, and some parts were mildly insufferable, but the content overall was good and made me feel a lot better about my struggles with meditation.
  9. Listen to an audiobook by an Arab American or MENA author – The Stardust Thief by Chelsea Abdullah. The pacing of this story was perfect. Abdullah created complex characters and had me on the edge of my seat for a lot of the action of the book.
  10. Listen to an audiobook adapted for TV or film – Murder in the Dark by Kerry Greenwood. I love the Phryne Fisher mysteries. I don’t remember watching this episode, so I may have cheated a little here, but the TV series is just as good as the books.
  11. Listen to an audiobook in translation – What You Are Looking for Is in the Library by Michiko Aoyama. I adored this book. The stories of the interrelated characters and how the librarian impacts their lives were charming and satisfying.
  12. Listen to an audiobook by an author with a disability – Sitting Pretty by Rebeka Taussig. I learned a lot from these essays. Each one addresses her experiences – both good and bad – with kindness.
  13. Listen to an audiobook by a Black author – The Secret Lives of Church Ladies by Deesha Philyaw. Fantastic read. It’s spicy and touching and sad and hopeful, and I loved it.
  14. Read an entire series on audio – Cinder (or, The Lunar Chronicles) by Marissa Meyer. I re-read this whole series this year on audio this year. It’s a series of sci-fi retellings of fairy tales, and the narrator, Rebecca Soler, is excellent.
  15. Choose an audiobook solely based on your favorite narrator – Funny Story by Emily Henry, narrated by Julia Whelan. This story was a wild ride. The main characters worked at a library and a winery, and that’s really all it takes to get me interested in a book. Henry’s words in Whelan’s voice, as always, are a winning combination.
  16. Listen to an audiobook by an Indigenous author – A Council of Dolls by Mona Susan Power. The story follows three generations of women and is told through the stories of their dolls. Beautifully written.
  17. Listen to an audiobook outside of your genre comfort zone – The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine by Rashid Khalidi. I can probably count on one hand the number of history books I’ve read in the last five years, but this one was well worth the trouble. It was not an easy read, but if you’re looking to expand your knowledge beyond the information on Israeli-Palestinian conflict that you get from most American sources, this would be a good place to start.
  18. Recommend an audiobook on social media (and tag us @librofm) – The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern. Secret underground world full of books? How is it the year 2024 and I’m just now reading this? As easily predicted, I loooooved it. Such exquisite world-building, character development, and storytelling!
  19. Listen to an audiobook by an LGBTQIA+ author – The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune. I am a sucker for found family stories, and this one did not disappoint. I am excited to read the second one this month.
  20. Listen to an audiobook that has been on your TBR for more than two years – American Gods by Neil Gaiman. I was terribly disappointed when I heard the allegations of sexual assault against Gaiman. Such news tends to color my enjoyment of an artist’s work (also, assault is bad). He could be the best person in the world, however, and I still would have despised this book. Just…dreadful. Did not like it at all.
  21. Read an audiobook by an API author – Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers by Jesse Q. Sutanto. Soooo cute. I loved and rooted for every character except the dead guy (good riddance). I am excited to read the next in the series when it comes out.
  22. Listen to an audiobook over 20 hours long – Fairy Tale by Stephen King. Fantastic read. Did not feel like 24 hours. Mostly because I read it at 1.5x (as I do most audiobooks), but technically the recording was still over 20 hours long. It totally counts.
  23. Pre-order an anticipated audiobook – Lies and Weddings by Kevin Kwan. I think this would be a cute movie, but I did not enjoy the book. It’s hard for me to care about the problems of super rich characters for more than a few hours. I spent way too much of the novel yelling, “You can afford good therapy! You have no excuse to keep being this way!”
  24. Read an audiobook set in your favorite city – Scorched Grace by Margot Douaihy. I love New Orleans, and I enjoy a good murder mystery. I would read others in this series.

So that’s it! Whew. If you like audiobooks or if you’re looking for a good one to try, there are quite a few great reads on this list.

Posted in Books, Church, Reading Challenges, Resolutions | Leave a Comment »

November 2024 TBR

November 4, 2024 by Suzanne

Happy November! It is a blustery, rainy day with potential for storms. I guess Texas is just gonna have two tornado seasons from now on? Cool. Cool cool cool.

Sounds like a good reason to stay inside and read. 

I’ve got a few things lined up to discuss in book clubs this month:

It is at this point of the year that my interest in actually completing all the reading challenges I’ve taken on starts to fizzle. I begin to relish the idea of reading only for enjoyment for a couple of months. I’m still on track to finish my 180 books (my main reading goal), but my passion for the smaller challenges I chose to broaden my interests and knowledge is seriously waning. Right on schedule, as soon as the first crisp breeze blew through last week, I stocked up on more things at the library just because they caught my eye and started to comb my own collection for “hey – I forgot I had and wanted to read this!” selections.

So while I have finished the libro.fm challenge (post coming up in a few days) and will likely still finish another challenge or two, I’m not gonna sweat it from here on out. I’m just going to do what I want (I mean, even more than usual). I’m going to finish up some of the cozies I listed last month. Then I’ll likely turn to the books below.

But no real promises.

First, there are some library books that need some attention:

Then I may read through some things on Modern Mrs. Darcy’s list of quiet novels. Quiet is the theme of the year, after all. I do really love “compelling, character-driven reads,” and if the rest of these are anywhere near as lovely as Bel Canto (the last one on the list), I’m sold.

One thing is for certain – I will enjoy my reading this month. I hope you enjoy yours as well.

Posted in Books, Quiet, Reading Challenges, Resolutions, Seasons | Tagged , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Friday Five – Hello, November

November 1, 2024 by Suzanne

It’s rainy and cool outside, and I’m enjoying a nice cup of tea. Hello, November. It’s wonderful to see you.

Here are some things I read that I found enjoyable. Hope you do, too.

I hope you have a great weekend, friends!

Posted in Books, Hope, Mental Health, Writing | Leave a Comment »

Day 31 – Hope’s Beautiful Guises

November 1, 2024 by Suzanne

“An open bakery in the morning is one of hope’s most beautiful guises.”

Nina George, The Little Village of Book Lovers

Today, I enjoyed this lovely pastry from The Market by Clark Bakery, our very own on-campus bakery. It was flaky and messy and awesome.

Just like life is sometimes.

This year, there have been good days and bad days, but very few days have been all one or the other. Days I remember fondly were still usually hard. Most days this year have been meh overall.

But even days that were super traumatic had a little spark of hope in them. Sometimes, that’s all that saw me through.

The comfort of a friend.

Actually being able to taste a cup of coffee (which was a rare treat during chemo).

A cool breeze.

Sharing cat pictures.

Coming home to a care package in the mail.

A flaky, messy pastry.

Likewise, every book I’ve read this year has played some role in helping me push through to the other side of whatever was going on while I was reading it. No matter how hard something was, the stories were always there. When I didn’t have the energy to do anything else, I could still read. When I got tired of repeating updates about my health, books gave me something else to talk about.

I’ve enjoyed sharing a small portion of that with you this month, and there are many more quotes I had lined up that I hope to write about in the future. I encourage you to keep a quote journal, whether it’s to jot down things that inspire you in the books you read, in articles from your favorite cultural icons, or even in memes that catch your eye as you’re scrolling through your social media feeds.

Look for hope. In all its beautiful guises.

Posted in 31 Days, Books, Food, Health, Hope, Mental Health | Leave a Comment »

Day 30 – Readathons Gone Awry

October 30, 2024 by Suzanne

“One doesn’t need magic if one knows enough stories.”

“I was delighted to sit in the corner with my food and a book and speak to no one.”

Heather Fawcett, Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries

This past weekend, I participated (loosely) in Dewey’s 24-hour Readathon. The official time was 8 a.m. Saturday to 8 a.m. Sunday (EST). But I (and various others in the Discord and in the Facebook group) rarely actually stick to the time of the event. My goal, for example, was to simply read a collective 24 hours. I think the Dewey’s team is on to us – instead of hourly challenges, they just listed a handful of challenges to complete “at any time during the readathon.”

I completed no challenges.

I didn’t read a full 24 hours.

I barely remembered to post the picture of the stack I was choosing from (see above) on the group’s social media pages.

I carried on with plans to attend my favorite yearly Halloween party and Spiderdead, brazenly cutting into the hours I would usually set aside on readathon weekends to read.

I finished three books, but only one of them is actually in this stack (Fang Fiction – pretty cute!).

What I got out of the readathon was still pretty magical.

I got to tuck into stories about found families and books and several other favorite themes. I ate good, simple food, so I rested better (weird how that happens) and thus felt more refreshed when the weekend was over (despite it being a “busy” one). I embraced my full homebody self without the usual twinge of guilt about what a person who lives alone should want to do on the weekend.

These twinges are getting smaller and less frequent as I age. One reason for this is that I’m accepting who I am more and becoming less apologetic about it with each passing month. Another reason is that I get so much joy and restoration out of my alone time that there is little to no room left for feeling bad about it.

At any rate, I had a great weekend, and I look forward to many more like it as the season changes.

Reading more makes me want to write more. I’m reflecting on my reading this year.

Posted in 31 Days, Books, Getting It Together, Health, Home, Joy, Quiet, Seasons | Tagged , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Day 21 – Thunderstorms and Fairy Tales

October 21, 2024 by Suzanne

(This is a little aggressive for a Monday morning, Dove. Calm it down.)

“There’s a thunderstorm brewing inside me and I think it will break soon.”
Stephen King, Fairy Tale

On Saturday, I walked the survivors’ lap at the Celebrate Life 5K. It turns out, the survivors’ lap was a short jaunt around the grass near the starting point for the race, for which I was grateful. I was already up early; I’m not sure I could have done much more.

And we didn’t. We walked our circle to many, many cheers and then just kept walking out to our cars to go get breakfast.

Recently, I haven’t felt like doing a lot of things. This is not to say that I haven’t wanted to, though. I very much wanted to run the full race on Saturday but I am just not up to it yet. I wanted to clean my apartment on Sunday but barely managed to finish the laundry before I was worn out and needed to rest.

I noticed this morning that I am now in the practice of going through my calendar at the beginning of every week to see what I can remove from it, just in case. I have question marks beside things I printed in bold, assured letters just a month ago. It’s a little disappointing. I had hoped to be feeling a lot better by now, but more extended rest is needed.

This may be the calm before the storm, though. I feel it brewing.

To be fair, I always feel a surge of expectation in October. The end of the year is in sight, and the beginning of the new church year is a little over a month away. I hold off on posting hopes and plans for the upcoming calendar year until the end of December, but I’ve already started musing to myself about what those will be.

(It’s gonna be good. I’m pretty excited about it.)

(Assuming all my test results in the next couple of months are what I want them to be.)

For one thing, I turn 50 next March, and I plan to be extra…everything…about it. Several friends have reached/are reaching this milestone before then, and I’m excited to celebrate with them, too.

The main thing, though, is that I want to live in ways that make me feel better – feel alive and vibrant – no matter what happens. Storms come whether you are prepared for them or not. I want to be more prepared.

And as for the thunderstorm building inside me…let it come. It’s time.

I’m reflecting on the books I’ve read this year. Click to see the list!

Posted in 31 Days, Alive, Books, Church, Health, Hope, Resolutions | Leave a Comment »

Friday Five – Extraordinary, Mundane Fall Bucket List

October 18, 2024 by Suzanne

“My bucket list of little things aims to live every moment as if it’s my first. To find the glory in what a seasoned eye might falsely consider mundane.”
Andrea Gibson, Things That Don’t Suck (Substack)

It has been a long week. Nothing particularly bad has happened. I’ve just felt puny and tired. The weather, however, is gorgeous. It was 52 when I left home. I am wearing a light sweater!

Today, I need a list of things to look forward to this season that aren’t super ambitious but still give me ways to ground myself and remind myself that I’m alive and meant to be living and not just muddling through.

  • Buy a delicious cup of coffee and drink it while browsing a bookstore. Take all the time I want.
  • Take shorter, more frequent walks. Not everything has to be hard all at once. A little bit multiple times a day is better than pushing myself and getting too exhausted to do anything else for hours.
  • Keep my hands warm and nimble with piano and knitting.
  • Make soup without rushing. Pan roast the veggies slowly. Add one ingredient at a time. Fill my home with cozy smells.
  • Take drives. Drive down winding country roads just outside of town and find the few trees in Texas that know what time of year it is. Drive down my favorite streets and let the memories of every time I’ve been there before flow over me.

This is what I want my season to look like.

What are you looking forward to this fall?

Reflecting on reading this month (and hopefully beyond).

Posted in 31 Days, Alive, Beauty, Bookshops, Coffee Shop Road Trip, Dance, Denton, Food, Friday Five, Home, Joy, Mental Health, Music | Leave a Comment »

Day 14 – Correct vs. Fun

October 14, 2024 by Suzanne

“…because she didn’t know if it was better to be correct or fun, and why did it feel like she always had to choose between the two?”
Alison Espach, The Wedding People

Almost halfway through the month, and this is the quote that is resonating with me most this morning. I feel this way in several areas of my life.

It comes through in my art. There is a tension between my training and my enjoyment. I outline and then write a rough draft and then edit…except that is more focus and work than I can commit to right now. So I keep writing but in ways that are more fun. I blog, I write bad poetry (and let it stay bad…for now), and I experiment with stream-of-consciousness journaling. I am a classically trained pianist, but I have found so much freedom in just sitting at the keyboard and playing around with whatever sounds, chords, and melodies come forth. I stick to just enough of my dance basics to be safe (turns out, the basics of dance are mostly about avoiding injury) when I fling myself about in a haphazard way in my living room. I love the foundation that my training has given me but I also love breaking out of it when I need to.

It comes through at my job. I don’t think I’m a good manager. I want the job to be fun for my team, but I spend so much of my day harping on corrections – mostly about basic stuff they should already know – that I feel more like a nag. A nice nag, but a nag nonetheless. I also find it exhausting and dehumanizing to be held responsible for the actions (or lack thereof) of other people with precarious levels of give-a-damn. I know it’s not a unique problem – this is just management in a nutshell – but it’s still gross. I’m still waiting for the big bucks that are supposed to make it worthwhile to hit the bank account. I need to learn how to be inspiring, but I just don’t know that I’m that person.

It’s coming through in my life in general right now. Life isn’t super fun these days. Or, it can be, but there is a high price for anything that lasts longer than an hour or uses a lot of energy. The “correct” thing is to rest and not overdo it, but it takes so little to overdo it that I’m not sure that’s even a reasonable expectation. Overdoing it and the ridiculously over-the-top physical consequences of doing so seem inevitable. This would be a great time to be independently wealthy so that I could spend my precious energy only on fun things.

One of the ways I’m slowing my roll this month is not being super picky about writing a post every single day. It will happen most days – just not every day. It’s especially nice to take a break on the weekends.

Where do you get caught up in the struggle between being correct and being fun? Or do you? Is it just me?

Reflecting on my reading this month…

Posted in 31 Days, Health, Mental Health, Music, Work, Writing | Tagged , , | Leave a Comment »

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