Liking my current view. 😊 Happy Friday!

So excited to start this!!!

The end of a great trilogy. I‘m going to miss it.

This book is fascinating. Might try this on the first day of school. Haha! “There are tablets and medicated chewing gum that prevent travel sickness by numbing the nerves of the gut. When the nausea abates, feelings of anxiety often disappear, too. If unaccountable grumpiness or anxiety can originate in the gut (even without nausea), is it possible that these drugs could be used to banish them? By temporarily numbing a troubled gut, so to speak?”

Also began this one - saw it on Audible, but the Kindle ebook was only $2.99 and has pictures. Hoping it will answer some questions about what has been going on with my stomach lately!

(Author pictured)
Since I finished an audiobook yesterday and have a credit expiring soon, I browsed Audible for a new book. I don‘t always immediately start listening to books I select with my credits, but I did this time. I would never have expected to choose this book, but the sample was so interesting, so... sometimes it just happens that way.

Also, finished listening to this today. Also excellent; changed my perception of the funeral industry and made me think about how much we are disconnected from and in denial of death as a natural, inevitable process.

Read the last third of the book in a dead sprint today. SO good — I think even better than the first one.

Last book was a no, returning to a trilogy that I know is a YAAAASSSS for me. I ❤️ Alicia!!

I was really hoping from the accolades this book has received that I would enjoy it. Instead I dragged myself through nearly 600 pages of unnecessary details, cringy dialogue, and ill-conceived plot.

I hadn‘t intended to read this next, but it was finally my turn with the ebook after a month on the library waitlist. 10% in. I‘m hooked.

This book: a small dark gem, full of horror and beauty, death and life.

Yeah. This took me forever to read, but I loved it. I‘m going to have to read the next one soon, if not right this second.

Only 15 minutes into this audiobook and I‘m already certain I‘m going to love it.

Finished listening to this tonight — my first Nora Ephron. Full disclosure — the writing was great and funny, but I think Meryl Streep‘s masterful narration is what really made this work for me.

I wanted to love this book, or at least really like it. The Boston Globe called it “Very funny” in large font on the back cover. Dammit, Boston.

I still like Mindy Kaling, and I thought her book was fun... just not really funNY.

Overall, I enjoyed listening to this enough that I bought a physical copy to flip through from time to time for a little pick-me-up or to share with my students when they are feeling paralyzed by perfectionism and fear of failure. Gilbert embraces failure as part of a “Who cares? Just have fun” process - not a new idea by any means, but comforting nonetheless.

This book. SO good. It‘s bonkers and beautiful and about so many things: humanity, history, culture, personal vs social obligation, colonialism, politics, climate change... I think I‘m in the minority, but I liked this more than All the Birds in the Sky.

#teamSophie

I am all in on Team Sophie.
Happy Saturday! Got my book and my Scotch; hubby‘s got his fishing pole (and three fish, so far).

Some lines were beautiful. I found chunks here and there that I understood and appreciated. Then there was the incomprehensible remainder. I felt like I was trying to view a beautiful painting in a pitch dark room with nothing but a small flashlight to help me; I‘d get glimpses of brushstrokes or colors that I would recognize or enjoy but could never see the whole picture. Apparently, I‘m just not “bright” enough to “get” these poems...

Didn‘t love it. Didn‘t hate it. It was okay. I do think it is a thought-provoking commentary on our justice system, love, and the American Dream.

😓😥

Started this audiobook today. Elizabeth Gilbert has such a soothing voice!

Finished this one today. So messed up. I feel guilty for liking it.

“No Human eye can isolate the unhappy coincidence of line and place which suggests evil in the face of a house, and yet somehow a manic juxtaposition, a badly turned angle, some chance meeting of roof and sky, turned Hill House into a place of despair, more frightening because the face of Hill House seemed awake...” .
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Loving this book so far (and Shirley Jackson‘s writing!) and can‘t wait to check out the Netflix series once I‘m done.

What a week. So grateful for a small bit of time this evening to read.

Book, wine, fan. Hotter than hell in our house, but somehow this makes it okay.

The journey is the destination with this book. If you are looking for answers, you will probably be frustrated. Some answers are given, but not enough to tie things up with a neat bow. And more questions are raised that will never be answered. If you are just looking for more time in Area X with the characters from the first two books and are willing to accept the fact that this doesn‘t end with you “knowing,” then enjoy.

Summer. 📚 🍷 😎

In it for the long haul—this better be good...
(Also, I love Sprout bookmarks!)

Processing... I mean, I get the WHY of the book‘s existence. I liked it. But it‘s no ANNIHILATION. It‘s more of a world-building /state of government institutions / lead-in to what I hope will be all the crap hitting the fan in the final book of the trilogy.

YES.

It occurred to me that much of what I have read/am reading so far this month features a blue and yellow cover. 💙💛

“You understand, I could no more have turned back than gone back in time. My free will was compromised, if only by the severe temptation of the unknown.”

I can‘t tear myself away from this book. Also I feel like my pjs oddly match the cover‘s style...

I read most of this book today in one sitting. I didn‘t cry until the very end, when the sheer beauty of what I‘d just read hit me and made me tear up a little. SO good.

I went to the Festival of Books with the top three to get them signed... and came home with all the rest, many of those signed as well 😱😂 #latimesfestivalofbooks #bookfest #bookchella

Junot Diaz is the greatest. #familyphotoswithjunot #junotdiaz #latimesfestivalofbooks #bookchella #bookfest

My goodies from Phoenix Books in San Luis Obispo and Book Loft in Solvang, CA. I peeked through the first several pages of Blue Iris — lovely, but of course. It‘s Mary Oliver! ❤️ #buyindie #booksnaps

Exactly.

It‘s the first day back to work... except I am home feeling like death and trying my best to not give a f**k what is happening in my classroom in my absence.

😱 So good! Taking me forever, but worth it.

Hey, Fall -- where are you? I'm ready! Let's do this.

Every time I come back to this book, I wonder what took me so long to return to it.

Has its flaws, yeah, yeah... but it's fun! Glad I finally got around to it. #summerreading

Yeah. I said it wasn't going to read this now, not when I need to read other things to recommend to my students.
And then I spent three hours reading it today in my #scribd app. So maybe I can get through it in less than a year, and still have time for other books, if It becomes my daily work lunch date. 🤔

It's been a while since I've finished a book and felt so... bereft. I wish it wasn't over and don't know how the heck I'm going to settle in with anything else. It's a downright depressing post-apocalyptic world, but I could listen to Hig talk about it forever.

In one night, this book has had me crying and then flipping pages like ohmyGodwhatisevenhappeningrightnow.

Good stuff.