In which George Saunders takes a dig at Charles Dickens. Not cool!

To all the mom‘s out there: #HappyMothersDay! I hope you get to read to you heart‘s content. 💖📖💖

1. WHO FEARS DEATH by Nnedi Okorafor
2. ⬆️ ⬆️ ⬆️ ⬆️ ⬆️
3. Try to #readharder by listening to more audiobooks, and also listen to more memoir.
#weekendreads @rachelsbrittain

Sun👏🏼day👏🏼 Fun👏🏼day👏🏼

First read of 2020. I can‘t wait to see all that this year has in store, and the new decade feels like a fresh start! 🎉

I did it! Right under the wire, I finished me Goodreads goal. I realize 24 books is super modest compared to what many of you read, but this challenge really keeps me going throughout the year to make sure I am talking a break from reading unpublished manuscripts at work to do reading for myself. As for this book, I loved it! I sometimes felt like the men were taking center stage, but but the end, I understood the author‘s intention. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Crunch time to finish this book to meet my Goodreads goal! ⏱📖

“Handkerchiefs should remain where they are needed, don‘t you agree?”

I never realized how basic AF I already am. 🤣

Happy weekend to me! I scored the perfect Crass Stitching original at a local festival, the Pygmalion Made Fest, AND picked up a copy of Margaret Atwoods‘s latest from the campus bookstore.

I just finished rereading JANE EYRE, and then I somewhere came across this book, described as Jane Eyre mixed with Dexter. That‘s right—a Jane Eyre-esque serial killer. When I saw the line, “Reader, I murdered him” in the book description playing off the classic line in JANE EYRE, I knew I had to give it a read. I‘m a few chapters in and really enjoying it!

Well-written, well-paced, and well-imagined, this book was incredible. There were many passages that were just so beautifully written that I would go back and reread them.

New library hold just came through! Holiday weekend jackpot. A character that is Jane Eyre meets serial killer Dexter. How can I resist?

Decided to reread LITTLE WOMEN with all the discussion about the new movie! #currentlyreading #saturdayreading

Loving this love of paper on p. 46! 📜

Next up! I‘ve been looking forward to reading this for awhile. #tbr #saturdayreading

This was a really fun, quirky, charming book. If you are looking for some serious literary fiction, this isn‘t it. If you are looking for an adventure and Swedish humor, this is perfect. I‘m so glad I started reading this while I was traveling in Sweden. #saturdayreading

I‘m 88% through and the book is due in three days. Can I do it? Glad it‘s Friday and I can read in bed as long as I want tomorrow morning!

Pretty obsessed with my current read, which is a translated Swedish novel about the unbelievable life of a centenarian. I was just in Stockholm, and I love reading books set in the places I‘m visiting! 🇸🇪

“And have you a pale blue dress on?”

I just finished rereading JANE EYRE, and I am so glad I did. It reminded me why it is a classic, and I found the drawings reproduced in the iBooks ebook edition to be especially charming.

We‘ve been delayed at the airport for 5 hours. We might miss my cousin‘s rehearsal dinner, but as long as I have a book, I‘m okay, right?

How is this available and not on library hold??? What luck as I stock up on some reads for my upcoming travel!

‪Natalie Fixmer-Oraiz‘s new book could not be more timely. As we see states harshly restricting abortion rights and policing maternal bodies, HOMELAND MATERNITY: U.S. SECURITY CULTURE AND THE NEW REPRODUCTIVE REGIME is an essential read.

I‘ve been working in overdrive the last few weekends, but I‘m playing a little hooky from reading manuscripts this afternoon to chip away a little more with this #currentread.

🌵Yellow Rowley 🤣

#SucculentSaturday This or That edition!
🌵Desert! (but I love the ocean, too)
🌵Prickly pear, though both excellent succulents!
🌵Javelina, because I have seen way more in the wild

Got this signed copy of KNOW THE MOTHER at the annual meeting of the Association of University Presses. Desiree Cooper was the *phenomenal* opening plenary speaker. Thank you for the copy, Wayne State University Press! Also, this view down is from the 52nd floor of the hotel. #ReadUP

Join me and @saguarosally for #SucculentSaturday!

1. Yes! I am from the desert!
2. No, but I am green thumb aspirational.
3. I am reading THE EDITOR and JANE EYRE plus a lot of work emails. 📧

Pro tip from Jane Eyre for next time my heart is in distress!

I am super enjoying this book, and love how the author is using text messages really intentionally as their own literary device.

Spent most of the day working, but squeezed in a little bit of this audiobook!

Happy #SucculentSaturday! This is my *brand new* mug. Saguaros and a pun? I couldn‘t resist! Book-wise, I‘m still reading THE EDITOR amid other ebooks and audiobooks. #LookingSharp

This week, NPR Illinois reported that a local prison removed over 200 books from its library prison. The majority of the banned books were about race, and included the book picture here, which is a academic, peer reviewed book of the Works Progress Administration about the African American experience in Illinois.

article link: https://www.nprillinois.org/post/illinois-prison-removes-more-200-books-prison-l...

Next up! I‘ve been so excited to read this. 🤗

I loved seeing #tenonmytbr from @hes7 so here is mine! Definitely needed to remember #roygbiv to organize this stack. #readingrainbow 🌈

I really enjoyed this book. It has snappy chapters, making for a good momentum through the book. It is about family, generational violence, loyalty (or enabling), and includes characters with an array of personalities. I loved feeling like I was getting a glimpse into Lagos fashion and lifestyle. Also, my first book with the Libby app—I‘m definitely a convert!

This workout is brought to you by audiobooks, without which my physical activity would be significantly less.

I finally snagged this ebook from the library AND it is my first time trying out Overdrive‘s new Libby app. So far, I really love reading with it! Happy Sunday!

@saguarosally and I had a nice list #SucculentSaturday last weekend. Join us by posting a picture of your current read with anything succulent related!
#blameitonlitsy #succulentsoflitsy

I searched my name for funsies in Litsy, and these are some of the books that came up. As an editor, I could not be more freaking proud!

The essayists in BUILDING WOMANIST COALITIONS have come together to promote an unwavering vein of activist comradeship capable of building political alliances dedicated to liberty and social justice.

Book, tea, succulents: super on brand Saturday.

#SucculentSaturday

I am really loving my re-read of JANE EYRE. What was going to say? My love? My darling? My Jane? The unknown is what is so swoon-worthy. #swoon

I just couldn‘t personally do this book. I think it is really important for literature to grapple with issues of sexual assault and gendered violence, but the opening of this book was not something I could get through, and I think could be a serious trigger for some readers.

Oh man, this book got me in ways I didn‘t expect. Adoration for Zelda and her talents, anger for a society set against women, sadness for what we missed out on from all that Zelda wanted to do but was held back from doing. I thoroughly enjoyed and appreciated this audiobook.

I‘ve been rereading JANE EYRE, and I am just so into it! I didn‘t anticipate how much I‘d enjoy returning to this classic. The last time I read it was in high school with a fantastic teacher. Mr. Diana, wherever you are now, thanks for being such a great instructor to a bunch of hyper, book-loving freshman.

I am really proud to have been a part of publishing this collection, which explores how policing, incarceration, and capital punishment were historically used as tools of white supremacy in the Jim Crow South. Editors Amy Louise Wood and Natalie J. Ring have curated an exceptional volume that shows the roots of our contemporary carceral system.

I just went to The Dial Bookshop in Chicago and it was GORGEOUS! I found these two used books in pristine condition. I am in love. 🥰

So excited to be starting this! I picked it up at A Room of One‘s Own bookstore when I was in Madison last week for a work trip and put it at the top of my TBR pile!

TIES is a short, well-paced, eloquent book. Structured in three parts, each from a different family member‘s perspective, it tells the story of family dynamics through the ties that bind families together and what it means when those ties are broken. Though the symbolism was too literal for me to feel this is a literary “pick”, it was at times moving and insightful.

1. Yes, unfortunately.
2. Actually, Litsy. The reading community here is so inspiring!
3. Any dystopian community.
4. I love the title and cover of THE IMMORTAL LIFE OF HENRIETTA LACKS (which is an amazing book and you should read it if you haven‘t)!
5. @stacybmartin @whatshesreadingnow @derr.liz

#wondrouswednesday