I started this yesterday as my commute audiobook, and it turns out to be almost perfectly sized for it. I‘m only in the car for about 20 minutes at a time, which is about the length of most of the essays so far. I already highly recommend this one, too.
#DannyBoy for tax. He‘s not impressed with Mom working and gone for several hours every evening, so we get extra morning snuggles whenever we can.

People keep asking me what I‘m reading. The past month I was traveling and preparing for an upcoming musical theater gig, planning kiddo‘s birthday party, getting her to her various obligations; I‘ve got zero bandwidth to spare. What‘s the best thing to tell people when the truth is: copious amounts of digital smut because I can‘t concentrate on anything else? 😆🤪🤣

My mom sent the packages of what I couldn‘t squeeze into our suitcases when we came home. Kiddo already absconded with her stack of manga drawing books and Baby-Sitters Club graphic novels. I must have put a cookbook or four back at HPB because I thought I had more coming, but these actually fit on my shelves! This is a combo of HPB, BN, and my mom‘s shelves shopping sprees. One of them is for our homeschool library, does that make it better?

Am I ignoring my towering, teetering stack(s) of books at home to read this book that just came in to the library? Why, yes. Yes, I am, thank you for asking.

Very generously rating this a meh. The idea is good, but the execution…not so much. Poorly written from a grammar-and-punctuation standpoint, this feels like fanfic at its mediocre-est. I enjoyed the cameos (Mr. Woodhouse as a cranky plane passenger, for instance). I HATED how Frederick Wentworth‘s Navy career got explained (it isn‘t hard to find out how rank structure works, even in the US Navy). Plus, pages keep falling out of this copy. Meh.

This section ends: “Take care of yourself and remember that taking care of something else is an important part of taking care of yourself, because you are interwoven with the ten trillion things in this single garment of destiny that has been stained and torn, but is still being woven and mended and washed.”

“Who the hell wants unity with Nazis until and unless they stop being Nazis?”

Another great essay.

Very similar in tone to Hope in the Dark, in how change is incremental and invisible until it‘s not, this essay in particular is really striking to me. Sometimes I miss with Solnit, but this is a home run.

We are writing stories that are not markers to say, “We got here,” but compasses to say, “Press on in this direction.”

These were acquired BEFORE our trip (to be joined by the rest my mom is sending…I have a cookbook problem, for real) as library discards. I showed restraint, I really did! But I cannot be trusted at the freebie cart. Now to squeeze them into my already-groaning cookbooks bookcase.

Part 2 of kiddo‘s haul: she‘s recently become obsessed with manga/anime/kawaii/chibi art styles, so when she found the bottom five at Half Price Books I wasn‘t going to say no. Even when we found many (many) more at B&N, too. I‘m a sucker, that‘s no secret. The rest are en route thanks to Gramma because our suitcases were maxed out.

Part 1 of kiddo‘s haul: the tagged has been borrowed from the library at least a dozen times, the bottom two finish the series, the Daughter books is her cousin‘s absolute favorite series (she carries them around and calls them her children) and a birthday present for my kiddo, and the Calin just because (and author‘s first name is kiddo‘s first name so if that‘s ever a bingo square again she‘s set).

My most recent Haymarket subscription book. I wasn‘t really excited about any this month, but this is a beautiful cover.

Kiddo and I just got back from 16 days at Gramma‘s house (kiddo did a ballet intensive and we had some sorely-needed family time). We may have gone crazy with the book shopping. Photo deluge incoming (some are being shipped, so this will last a while).

Just as enjoyable as all the others! Full of book references and fun puzzles, as usual.

#bookmail from the last few days, as preorders trickled in. I‘m traveling next week and considering taking one or both of these along. Might need to do a series reread for the tagged, though, because I don‘t remember the first two primas stories, so maybe that will wait for later this summer. Oh, the decisions!

Kiddo has been begging to go to the bookstore, and I finally gave in. The deal: less than ten minutes, we‘re only buying her one book (Misty Copeland‘s new book, Letters to Misty), and minimal browsing. Then I saw this one. Well, one is minimal, right? And it was for me…

I do so appreciate a good Elon dig.

I recently subscribed to SK‘s Substack, and it turns out I have a few gift subscriptions. It‘s a one-month subscription. Anyone interested? I have five to offer, so I‘ll set a deadline of noon tomorrow (1200 CT on 30 May). If more than five people are interested I‘ll do a drawing. Simply comment below if you‘re interested, and I‘ll let you know if you‘re a winner! Feel free to repost, but only comments on this post will count.

Thanks for the tag @Eggs
1 - I actually like my name, though I went through a period of disliking it (more specifically being OVER Annie) and trying to go by AC around sixth grade. But now I‘m good with Anne. Maybe I should have tried Cordelia…😜
2 - Danny; Boris and Natasha; Laddy Buck (not sure I named that one); Paula (who was in fact Apollo and never forgave me)
3 - Mercedes Athena Thompson Hauptman; Jordan from Real Genius

Tag if you wanna!

Hope in this sense is just the recognition that…the future is not (as it is so often spoken of) a place that already exists, toward which we are trudging, but a place that we are creating with what we do and how we do it (or don‘t) in the present.

Starting this one today.

Okay, I get it now. I never had anyone assign this, so I just never got around to it. Now I feel all sorts of wrecked. What an incredible piece of writing - and SE Hinton was 15 when she started it?! Okay, brb, need to go track down her other work.

I wasn‘t sure at first, but this was a very interesting and thought-provoking read. Why is there such scarcity in America? In housing, clean energy, and tech development (not innovation, but the follow-up), Klein and Thompson posit that yesterday‘s policies hinder today‘s and tomorrow‘s progress. I‘d like to see some more concrete examples of how to solve these problems, especially at a grassroots level, but it‘s worth a read regardless.

I finished this on audio and…holy crap, Sarah Kendzior is so spot-on about everything. Her predictions from Trump‘s first term have all come true, everything she was worried about has come to pass. We should call her Cassandra. I need to find everything she‘s ever written now, and you need to read this book! I subscribed to her Substack a few months ago, and I just upgraded to paid when I finished this. Seriously, read it.

This book is what I wanted Angela Garbes‘ work to be: personal yet with research and numbers to back up the claim that modern motherhood is unsustainable. While a lot of the information is familiar, and there are no quick fixes offered here, Grose‘s work gives a solid foundation to the general unease and overwhelm so many of us feel. If you‘re interested in the economic value of caretakers, this one‘s a good piece.

I didn‘t finish it in one day, but I did wrap it up this morning over tea. Just as good as the first, there‘s no connection between them (except a blink-and-you‘ll-miss-it cameo by an unnamed Riley). Quinn has baggage to deal with when she joins Logan‘s D&D group at her new school, and their brewing attraction could scuttle the whole game. Green flags abound in these stories! Just the pick-me-up I needed when the world is terrible.

I read this entire book in one day. It was fun, low stakes but engaging, I loved the characters, and there was just enough teen angst to make it feel real. I‘m glad to have the next one ready to go. And I‘ve already talked it up to a friend who caught me reading it while kiddo danced.

🥰 My first paying gig as a musician was with the Columbus Junior Theater, performing A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, the summer between sophomore and junior years of high school. The next year, CJT became Columbus Children‘s Theater, and that summer I played for their production of The Mystery of Edwin Drood. I LOVED playing for CJT/CCT!

I finished this a week or two ago, and I‘ve already forgotten most of it. The first section was promising, but other writers have trod the same territory and done it better. I don‘t remember most of part two, and the self-help part three was boring and useless (yes, we should all learn to focus on breathing, that‘s revolutionary, thanks). I‘m sorry I wasted money, time, and shelf space on this one.

A very good essay collection, with a combination of travel stories, behind-the-scenes of the Rick Steves machine, memoir, cultural studies, and humor. It‘s not a travel guide, but more of a travel guide‘s raison d‘être. If you like the writing style of the Rick Steves guidebooks, you‘ll probably enjoy Hewitt‘s writing here. Recommended. And honestly, I liked this MUCH more than the RS travel writing book from a few years ago.

Low pick. The story is important and worth telling, though I agree with other reviews that the way it‘s told could be better. It‘s repetitive in many places, and I feel like I wouldn‘t necessarily like Jones if I knew her in person. She makes some leaps of logic, and has expectations of people that sometimes exceed reality (and is then disappointed in them). But, what she‘s been through and how she fought back are worth sharing. 👇🏻

I couldn‘t connect with this on audio. I think because multiple essays/authors share readers, and it messed with my mind. I may try again in print sometime, but for now it‘s a DNF.

I love this series! I sat down last night and read the entire thing. Some serious revelations in this one! Now I have to wait for October when the final volume comes out, but then I can reread the entire series.

And hubby picked up my library #bookhaul today, too 🤷🏻‍♀️ I think I have a problem (actually, I have two: not enough time to read and not enough bookshelves)

Did I need to order 20 new books from Book Outlet? Well, no, not really. Did I cross my fingers that this would arrive while hubby is at work so I don‘t have to explain why I‘ve received something like six book deliveries in the past week or so? Well, yes, of course. And then I tried to find places for them so they‘re accessible but not OBVIOUSLY new. Don‘t mind me being a little crazy over here. #bookmail is the best mail.

“…it is about dumbing down society for a more easily les population, and it is about using libraries for political gain.”

This, all of this.

#bookmail is the best mail!

Today‘s #bookmail from BN (bottom left) and Bookshop.org for the rest. I may have had to sneak the boxes into the house so hubby didn‘t see them, as this may have been the third and fourth book packages this week… The bottom two are for kiddo, and the top two (the skinny ones) are mine.

I may also have several preorders filtering in over the rest of the year. And a sizable order from Book Outlet shipping soon. I really shouldn‘t be unsupervised.

Continuing my political/current events self-education with a slight pivot. Starting this one while hubby and kiddo battle it out on the chess board.

This book was amazing! You have to read it. Ressa is a Philippine American dual citizen, journalist, and Nobel Peace Prize winner. Her story is incredible. She describes her work to preserve the integrity of journalism and democracy in the Philippines, the global south, and the world. What she‘s been through under Duterte and his successor, her fight against Facebook/social media misinformation…it‘s all so relevant. Just take my word and read it.

Like many compilations, this is a mixed bag. It suffers from being already outdated, although many of the contributors‘ predictions were spot-on for this disastrous second term. I found a lot to be rambling and unhelpful. The highlight was the penultimate essay, “The Right Type of Citizenship” by Jefferson Cowie. It focuses on the Left needing a solid action plan and vision to combat the Right‘s American exceptionalism and 👇🏻

Recent #bookmail - two kinda different vibes here…

Starting this while kiddo has her violin lesson. This is Mr. Weasley, who tolerates my presence in his home once a week.

Gardening metaphor? Carpentry? Yes, these both work. I can get behind this imagery for treating cancer. They‘re both much better than the kitchen metaphor.

BUT, these are about treatment. Earlier she discussed RESEARCH, and I stand by the “front lines” idea for that. Treatment and research are different aspects and deserve different approaches.

So Lesser lost her younger sister to cancer, but she still has some…views…on cancer that don‘t make sense to me. Apparently it was the sister‘s fault?

The kitchen of cancer research? I guess I‘m just not seeing how this is better than “front lines.”

Maybe it‘s my perspective. I‘m a military brat. My paternal grandparents, father, at least three uncles, cousin, brother, and sister-in-law all served. I served. My husband still serves. To me, military service is a legacy, and while it has areas of concern, it‘s not shameful. Maybe that‘s why I‘m not getting Lesser‘s point here.

Today‘s #bookmail courtesy of Haymarket Books: two of the last Solnit books I didn‘t already have (and part of her “Haymarket rainbow”), plus this book on AI that looks very interesting but wasn‘t released as an ebook (ironic, I think).

Starting this one while #DannyBoy whaps me with his tail.

For the next two days (I think, it may just be today and tomorrow), Barnes & Noble members can use PREORDER25 to get 25% off preorders. It‘s not valid on signed copies, though. But Rebecca Solnit, Joyce Vance, Ali Hazelwood (one just announced today as well as the companion to Bride), Frederik Backman, and so many others have new books coming out. I may have indulged a little…a lot…