In the span of a dozen pages, Ann Patchett‘s referenced Sandra Boynton‘s “Hippos Go Berserk” and Melville‘s “Bartleby the Scrivener.”

I didn‘t know it was possible for my already abundant estimation of her to grow. Yet here we are.

Hyperfixation and voting for #CampLitsy24 complete!

#BookHaul from The Book Barn in Niantic, CT. Can you believe I visited exactly one structure in their sprawling, 3-location empire before my hands got too cold and I quit? 😅🥶 My wallet gives thanks to Mother Nature.

Well, #CampLitsy, I've only gotten through the B's on the longlist & there are already 5 books I want to vote for. This is going to be a *process.* 😅

I'm so excited about the tagged, though, which I didn't nominate and which I am ABSOLUTELY selecting. I loved Disappearing Earth so much and I didn't realize she had a new book coming! Thanks to the nominator!

Nominations for #CampLitsy24 are as follows:

•The Material by Camille Bordas (tagged)
•Followed by the Lark by Helen Humphreys (👇🏻)
•Bite by Bite by Aimee Nezhukumatathil (👇🏻)
•Get the Picture by Bianca Boskek (👇🏻)

My first choice is tagged in the header of this post. The following three are tagged in the comments below. I went with two fic & two nonfic - hopefully neither too heavy nor too light.

Exciting! 🥳🏕️📚

“I didn‘t want to be at the party, but I couldn‘t bear to be alone, so I turned on Blue Planet.”

Based on my reading experience to date, I don‘t think Japanese Literature is 100% my jam. I enjoyed guessing who the Librarian character, Sayuri Komachi, was meant to represent, however. I got the impression that she was an incarnation of some goddess or deity: my best guess is White Tara. I liked the message about how important it is to feel like you belong, though as one character observes “belonging is an ambiguous state.” 👇🏻

I struggled to separate my complaints about the audiobook from how much I liked or disliked the actual writing. Zimmerman did a great job reading his own words. I enjoyed the sound of his voice. However, there was no distinct, audible cue for when one essay ended & another began. This was a huge problem for me. It erased my ability to notice the intentional craft behind each piece. From what I could tell, I think I'd prefer the author's stand-up.

I‘m 14 days into a challenge from wool& to wear the same dress for 30 days. The idea is to discourage fast fashion, cut down on needless consumerism and waste, and promote sustainability.

Am I learning? Yes…ish. Do I miss my jeans? Yes. Full stop. 🙈

This wasn‘t my favorite of Mary Roach‘s investigations into bizarre topics…but I‘m always pleased to be gifted a view into her brain. She‘s so funny & smart, & I‘d be delighted to invite her to share inappropriately grotesque facts around my dinner table.

Now, excuse me. A beloved English professor once taught me the definition of tappen: “the non-existent rectal plug of a hibernating bear,” & Roach wrote that they do exist. I must fact-check.

Based on cover art alone & the promise that Tibble would “challenge a dazzling array of mythologies — Greek, Māori, feminist, Kiwi —“, I was excited to dive in to her poems.

Unfortunately, I struggled to connect & rarely found a turn of phrase that caught me quick. It seems like others listened to the audio. Perhaps Tibble‘s intimate reading & cadence would have impressed itself upon me differently. It read very young; I‘m happy to be moving on.

Volume 7 seems to be missing from the Litsy database! Hopefully, it will be added soon (as requested).

Am I worried the “golden age” of these journals has passed? Admittedly, yes. Emma has begun to make choices about her life (as we all need to); it means that other possible paths are closing. This one feels even *more* bittersweet to me than the others! But I trust that Brower will handle the plot (aka Emma‘s life) deftly. She‘s in good hands.

Still catching up on reviews!

Plenty of Hawkes in Vol. 6, which makes it one of my favorites. In this installment, Emma is reading Whitman. Aflame, after finishing “Song of Myself,” Emma asks Pierce “what to do with such language?” He advises, “Take what you will as a talisman…carry it in the pocket of your soul.”

I‘m not a natural re-reader but these may stand a chance! Though not always happy, it feels a comfort to have them “in my pocket.”

My favorite coworker at the library, who has also worked as a nature educator, created a haiku challenge for #NationalPoetryMonth. She‘s provided photo inspiration (complete with ID). I chose the pictured and tried my hand:

Delicate flower
I am not. Instead, call me
a sensitive fern.

If this is the kind of nerdy wordiness that appeals to you, I‘m sure she‘d be thrilled to have more entries!

https://tinyurl.com/AFLHaiku

I regret to inform myself that I was so eager to read what happened next that I forgot to review Vol 4.

There‘s no way I could separate this piece of the narrative now from the rest of it; I‘m on Vol 7.

I/you will need to be satisfied with this quote from Emma‘s book of Latin Phrases for the Unrepentant: “Credo quia absurdum.” Translation? “I believe because it is absurd.” And from her reading of Emerson: “All things swim and glitter.”

PERFECT.

WELL. The end of this reading month certainly took a turn…over the Atlantic Ocean and through the meandering, idyllic streets of St. Crispian‘s.

I‘ve been averaging about 8 books per month but at the tail end of March, I picked up first volume of Emma M. Lion‘s Unselected Journals — and then promptly read 5 more (and am currently halfway into the 7th volume). I suppose that puts me at 13 books this month. Thanks for the boost, Beth Brower!

“Oh, how words love Hawkes. They wrap around the unexpected inflections of his voice, eager, offering their best cadence and lilt and soul. They know him well, and he them. Almost as if words are the one thing in his life he has never had to push away. He speaks words the way they pound in my chest. And it feels like a miracle, finding such a dear part of oneself walking around in someone else‘s body.”

A not insignificant portion of this volume is a Christmas story. And, even in the early spring, it‘s a lovely story with an even lovelier ending.

Brower, under the guise of Emma commenting upon Treasure Island, describes her own works. She writes, “Foolishness perhaps. Yet comforting. As stories are sometimes meant to be.”

Note: Emma is still dealing with her grief, so the tone is both heavy *and* lighthearted.

Which will I run out of first: unselected journals or rabbit mugs? 🙃

Another day, another journal…
Alas, I‘ve finished this one before the fourth had a chance to arrive. And so, my lazy days with Emma are drawing to a close. For now.

Set in the 1880‘s in a tiny English village, these personal tales of Emma M. Lion‘s spirited encounters and innermost thoughts are a delight. I love the romance, the quirk, the inexplicable little touches of the otherworldly (e.g. the ghost that haunts their neighborhood). Perfection.

After reading Volume 1 of Emma‘s journals, I was charmed but not *addicted.*

Consider me addicted to the romance and wit of her everyday affairs. On to Volume 3!

“Our conversation was very June and very Afternoon, meaning it meandered like a honey bee.”

“I have found that on occasions of high absurdity, one either discovers a great friend or someone to never speak with again.”

My husband & I are childless by choice but I can‘t help wonder if our daughter would be like Emma: Portuguese with dark hair, like him. An Irish reader with sea green eyes, like me. Spirited and feisty with a quick wit and a quick temper, like our rabbit-daughter, Miss Moxie Crimefighter. It goes without saying that I‘m rather fond of Emma, am rooting for her, and will continue to take delight in reading her journals.

My time has arrived — the time when it‘s socially acceptable for your house to be filled with rabbit-themed items! 😅🌸🐇

🌸Spring Vibe: No Barfing on the Flowers!*🌸

How do I love spring? Let me count the ways…

Bunnies, blooms, poetry, & the very first dip of my bare toes in the Atlantic since the previous year. Never mind reading peacefully while the rain patters on the windows and the rooftop. Or riding my bike while the wind whips through my hair & the sun warms my skin. I could weep. 🥹

Happy #SpringEquinox!

*Real photo I snapped while camping one year. 😆

North Woods is my favorite kind of story; it floats liminally between ghost story & not.

As a MA native who became a devotee of apples while pursuing her Lit degree in VT, I was predisposed to like this.

It‘s a fully immersive reading experience. Mason flaunts his ability to inhabit different voices - not just gender, age, or sexual identity but era & time, even species & kingdom. Come for the gorgeous prose. Stay for the sexy dragonfly erotica.

1. Catch up on my correspondence & visit the post office; celebrate “Won‘t You Be My Neighbor” Day with kids who visit the library on the 20th! 👔🐯🚂

2. It depends on the day & my work schedule. It can range from 20 (or zero) minutes up to a few hours or even the better part of a day.

3. I think I‘d excel at writing a collection of short essays based upon a common theme. I‘d love to write a picture book but the limited text is a challenge!

1. I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith
2. Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury
3. Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt

#ThreeListThursday #TLT

1. Alyisha is a combination of my grandmother‘s name, Alice, and my mother‘s name, Patricia. The spelling is its own story…Basically, my mom wanted either the “y” or the “i” and couldn‘t decide which, so she wrote them both down, planning to erase one later. Then, she promptly fell asleep. It was printed on my birth certificate with both. She‘s apologized to me so many times. 🙈

2. The tagged is pretty close. Alyosha is only one letter off!

I devoured this so quickly and now I want nothing more than to devour some peach cobbler just as quickly. That‘s a lie. I also want to go to bingo…but I cant find anyone to accompany me to the Drag Bingo & Easter Bonnet Competition later this month. So, I guess I also want cooler friends. 😅 Steamy and full of empathetic understanding for neurotypical folks (anxiety, PTSD rep). Could‘ve used more sassy elders and fewer pairs of soaked panties.

Sasha LaPointe ends her memoir with a poem (or perhaps song lyrics; she‘s a poet as well as member of the Seattle-based punk band Medusa Stare). Poetry strikes me as a much better format for her writing. LaPointe, a Coast Salish author from the Nooksack and Upper Skagit Indian tribes, is an “aging Millennial” who has not lived an easy life. She‘s been homeless, has survived sexual abuse, and has worked to heal herself from inherited trauma. 👇🏻

This email made me laugh. In the endlessly quotable words of Neil Gaiman, “Truth is, there aren‘t any grown-ups. Not one, in the whole wide world.”

“Normally he hated cooked fruit. It was too soft and too mushy and no matter what it was put in, way too damn sweet. But Minnie‘s cobbler had a special place in his heart.”

Do I want Minnie‘s peach cobbler right now? Yes. But do I think Walker‘s dead wrong about cooked fruit, in general? Also yes. It‘s almost unforgivable, tbh. 🙈

I haven‘t experienced such uncomplicated joy and love for a novel in I don‘t know how long. I mean, I‘ve loved plenty: Turtle Diary, Saltus, Rouge, The Sentence, The Memory Police, and Disappearing Earth (to name a few). But…they‘ve all been a bit *sad* on some level. And it‘s not that the characters in Greta & Valdin don‘t struggle - with their mental health, money, racism, sexism (all the usual culprits) — because they do! 👇🏻

My #WeekendReads: poetry, audio (memoir), novel.

One I think I might not like very much? But I feel guilty about that for some reason. One I‘ve just started & it‘s too early to tell how I feel about it. And the other I could not possibly love more.

Any guesses as to which is which?

“Having OCD is so stupid. I wish I had something cool, like double joints or purple eyes.”

Um, excuse me…
Did Rebecca K. Reilly travel back in time specifically to enter my 9-year-old brain? 😆 As someone who has diagnosed herself with magical thinking OCD (based on nonsensical compulsions to complete certain tasks in order to avoid the death of my loved ones?), I feel this so hard. 👇🏻

Last one 🙈

1. The Frighteners by Peter Laws
2. From Here to Eternity by Caitlin Doughty
3. Here for It by R. Eric Thomas

#ThreeListThursday #TLT

P.S. Peter Laws is the sweetest person and he‘s going through something fairly heavy right now…so, if you‘re feeling inclined and you need an excuse to make a book purchase, here‘s your sign. 😉

Okay, twist my arm…

I‘ll post again (and one more time after this, too)!

1. World of Wonders by Aimee Nezhukumatathil
2. Bicycling with Butterflies by Sara Dykman
3. Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer

#ThreeListThursday #TLT

1. Wintering by Katherine May
2. Sigh, Gone by Phuc Tran
3. Priestdaddy by Patricia Lockwood

Choosing only 3 was painful!

#TLT #ThreeListThursday

I hate this font (and the bright white pages it‘s printed upon) so intensely that I‘m honestly not sure I can read this book.

“come teach me a little bit
of nothing, in the dark
abundant hours.”

-from “The School of Night & Hyphens”

“Many of the things I miss are pretty silly. Pretty & silly, & I miss them deeply.”

“I think it‘s what any artist hopes for: not only to be remembered, but to be company.”

- from “Summer” [the sunflowers fall…]

“The mother cockroach says, “In the event of a sudden loss of cabin meaning, back-up meanings will drop from the overhead compartment…Please grab hold of a meaning & pull it to your face.”

- from “Summer” [Your emergency contact…]:

Chen Chen has a way of criticizing people who criticize his poems with such a succinct and biting wit that you NEVER want to criticize one of his poems. However, I, too, would prefer that he not use the word “poop” or share so mindfully about his bowel movements. Some would label him immature for indulging in “potty talk.” Others would call the intensity of the taboo itself immature. What‘s not immature is the deep respect he has for language…👇🏻

It took a while for me to settle into the British/Mancunian dialect and the text could be overly sentimental. But ultimately, Small Joys is addictively sweet, properly earnest, and compulsively readable. You‘ll root for Harley, Muddy, and for the entire cast of characters. A queer love story with a strong message about self-love. Skip this one if you‘ve never heard of Oasis and don‘t plan to educate yourself. 😅

☠️ TW galore; see comments.

Granted, I fell in love with the movie adaptation of Practical Magic before ever reading the novel…but I actually prefer the ending of the movie to the ending of the book. 🫢

To be clear, I also love the novel. Alice Hoffman‘s writing is just so pretty & evocative.

#SundayFunday

“I didn‘t think I cared about Oasis, but his enthusiasm made me feel like I did, or could.

“I think I only know Wonderwall,” I said.
He gasped. “You‘re not a bleedin‘ Blur fan, are you?”
I laughed. “And what if I was?”
“Then we‘d have big problems, me and you,” he said, laughing back.”

🙋‍♀️ I‘ve got a big problem. It‘s me. I‘m the bleedin‘ Blur fan…🙈

I didn‘t appreciate this the way that I should have; I didn‘t know I wasn‘t in the mood to be reading a romance until I was already committed. I also didn‘t know (or didn‘t remember learning) that it was part of a series with recurring characters. It could and did stand on its own but I think my enjoyment would‘ve been enhanced had I read the other books first. 👇🏻

Monthly Reading Tracker

FEBRUARY
(8 books)

The Book of Speculation 4.25 ⭐️
Transient & Strange 4.25 ⭐️
The Celebrants 4.0 ⭐️
This Is How You Lose the Time War 4.0 ⭐️
Astrid Parker Doesn‘t Fail 3.75 ⭐️
Enchanted to Meet You 3.5 ⭐️
Everybody Come Alive 3.5 ⭐️
Mislaid in Parts Half-Known 3.0 ⭐️