whatcha readin'? {goal 41::book 1-3}

Most of January’s book reading time
was absorbed (happily)
by A Court of Wings & Ruin
but the month isn’t over yet.
:)

I find reading about subjects
that I am currently processing
in my head and my heart
to be helpful.
Not always and not all of it
but I have to admit that there
are always some little kernels of
truth or hope or “oh…that’s me, too!”
that I find helpful.

So I am not going to rate the first book
other than to say
that it was helpful in some ways
and it made me think.

Book 2 was the “Draw Everything” book
which was interesting
and I enjoyed playing with some of the
examples and suggestions.

Book 3. Oh. Book 3.
Which is the 3rd in this series
and SOOOOO good.
It took me a little bit to read cause…
well…pages. Lots of pages.
But it kept me enthralled from start to finish
and surprised me in a couple of
tense hold-your-breath spots.
♥♥♥♥♥ out of 5 for that one!

NEXT UP:: BEACH READ - EMILY HENRY
cause I need a little lightness…and I love her books.

and part of the bookmark project! :)

What are YOU reading?? :)

whatcha readin'? {goal 40:: MISSION COMPLETE}

It’s no surprise that I
totally did not keep on top
of updating the blog
with all the books
I read in 2023
but I DID hit my goal of
forty
just by the skin of my teeth
but I did it
so that is all that matters in
the big orange house.

Here is what I read…in list form…
cause it’s 2024 and, frankly,
I’m over it.

1. Frankenstein - hated. Literally HATED this book

2. House in the Pines - Ana Reyes
   ♥♥♥♥

3. The Art of Racing in the Rain - Garth Stein
   ♥♥♥♥♥

4. Love & Gelato - Jenna Evans Welch
   ♥♥♥♥

5. Life after Life - Kate Atkinson (this book was a struggle but beautiful but also made me want to hurl it into the ocean)
   ♥♥♥

6. She Who Became the Sun - Shelly Parker Chan
   ♥♥♥♥♥

7. Whiskey in a Teacup - The Adorable Reese Witherspoon
   ♥♥♥♥

8. Slammed - Colleen Hoover
   ♥♥♥

9. The Book of Goethel - Mary McMyne
   ♥♥♥♥♥

10. Bone Black - bell hooks
    ♥♥♥

11. The End of Her - Shari Lapegna
    ♥♥♥

12. Call Me Zelda - Erika Robuck
    ♥♥♥♥

13. Milk and Honey - Rupi Kaur {audio book}
    ♥♥♥

14. Really Good Actually - Monica Heisey
    ♥♥♥♥

15. Molly’s Game - Molly Bloom
    ♥♥♥♥♥

16. Demon Copperfield - Barbara Kingsolver
    ♥♥♥♥

17. A Court of Thorns & Roses - Sarah J Maas
    ♥♥♥♥♥

18. I’m Glad My Mom Died - Jeannette McCurdy
    ♥♥♥♥

19. The Whole Body Reset - Stephen Perinne
    ♥♥♥♥

20. Happy Place - Emily Henry
    ♥♥♥♥

21. A Court of Mist & Fury - Sarah J Maas
♥♥♥♥♥

22. I Carried You Home -
♥♥♥

23. Never Let Me Go - Kazuo Ishiguro
♥♥♥

24. New Boy - Tracy Chevalier
♥♥♥♥

25. Homecoming - Kate Morton
♥♥♥♥♥

26. Breaking the Girl - Kim Corum
♥♥♥♥

27. Hello Beautiful Ann Napolitano
♥♥♥♥♥

28. A Homemade Life - Molly Wizenburg
♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

29. Expected Loss; Anticipatory Grief - Alan Woolfelt
♥♥♥♥♥

30. From Scratch - Tembi Locke
♥♥♥♥

31. Did you hear about Kitty Karr - Crystal Smith Paul
♥♥♥♥

32. The 5 am Rule - Robin Sharma
{i hated this with ALL my heart.
if i could give negative hearts, i would.}

33. It’s OK to Laugh - Nora McInerney Puemon
♥♥♥♥ .5

34. Book Lovers - Emily Henry
♥♥♥♥♥

35. How to Pronounce Knife - Souvankham Thammavongsa
♥♥♥.5 {mainly because I don’t love short stories}

36. Self Care for Grief -Nneka M Okona
♥♥♥♥

37. One Day in December - Josie Silver
♥♥♥♥♥ {this one surprised me that i would
love it so much}

38. Surviving the Holidays with you - Gary Roe
♥♥♥

39. Ugly Love - Colleen Hoover
♥♥♥♥

40. Inside Out - Demi Moore
♥♥♥♥

41. Evidence of the Affair - Taylor Jenkins Reid
♥♥♥

Note: I realized as I was typing
these out that I had miscounted
in my list so I actually read
forty ONE books this year. :)

and took a LOT of photos of
my books as I was reading them…
this was just a few of them.
:D

whatcha readin'? {goal 40::books 8-10}

Still trying to catch up on this…
so here are books 810 and
no sad commentary this time.
♥

Slammed - Colleen Hoover
♥♥♥ out of 5 hearts
I had no notes on this
but I don’t think it made a big impression on me.
It was….ok.
I think I was hoping for more
but I also read this at a stressful time
so that might have played into my
feelings as well.

The Book of Gothel - Mary McMyne
♥♥♥♥♥ out of 5 hearts
This had everything I love…
beautiful, haunting writing,
fairy tale vibes obviously
as it is a retelling of rapunzel…
my notes were
"I didn’t want it to end”

Bone Black - bell hooks
♥♥♥ out of 5 hearts
I enjoyed this but I have to admit
that it felt like short stories
and I have never done short stories well.

NEXT UP: 5 more (and one of them is a 5 heart rating!)

whatcha readin'? {goal 40::book 7} (& a disclaimer....well....a ramble...a long one...cause...that's what I do))

so yeah….that looks pretty bad…
goal is 40 and i am at SEVEN!

but the truth is
i am actually at 32….
i have just been really bad at posting
because…well…you know….
there were other things happening.

and the truth also is that
i still feel broken and raw and
too-touchy-to-touch…
i should have a sign that says
“will smile at you but
do not approach too close,
will also bite your hand off.”

i know that no one knows the right thing to say
when you lose someone and that
everyone is trying their best
but i can only speak for myself when i say
for me specifically, it’s best not to say anything at all.
i know that you know. ♥
and i know that you are sorry for my loss. ♥
but as soon as i hear those words,
i don’t know what to say, i am mumbling things
& shrugging my shoulders and looking away…
and it gets incredibly awkward.
for you and for me.
so let me save you from that. :)
if you see me out, please don’t feel you have to say anything…
i promise i will know, i will understand,
and honestly, my heart will thank you for that.

i met up with 2 old friends yesterday by chance
in the sauna…and my first thought was
it’s going to happen again….
(and i am going to be crying in the parking lot)
but it didn’t. ♥

instead they let me wonder out loud
about the possibilities of the door jamming shut
and suffocating us all (while reassuring me that wouldn’t happen)
and we talked about yoga and wellness
and i knew that underneath, they were telling me
they were sorry…but that silent sorry meant so much to me.

(and please don’t think i am saying that
this is the right approach for everyone…
i only know what is right for me…
and nobody knows this if I don’t tell them so…)
and also if you have seen me out and said anything
PLEASE DON’T FEEL BAD. that is SO not my intention.
you didn’t know…cause how does anyone know what
anyone wants in a time like this.

it’s such an emotionally charged time.
i am prone to taking everything the wrong way.
if you say i’m strong, or that i’m handling it well,
i will hear that it looks like i don’t even care that he died.
AND I KNOW THAT’S NOT WHAT YOU MEAN
but did i mention my brain is super effing glitchy right now?
again. better just to not talk to me until spring…
like a bear in hibernation. Haha.
Or talk to me about smurfs or sesame street or
oh gawd, did you watch love is blind
which is the worst trainwreck of a show but
yeah!!! i will definitely talk about how much i loved Milton
and couldn’t stand Stacey. Hahaha.

ANYWAY. One more version of a
not what I came here to say blog post.
please bear with me…my brain is glitchy.

What I wanted to say was:
Book #7 - Whiskey in a Teacup - Reese Witherspoon
♥♥♥♥ out of 5 hearts

The note I wrote about this book:
"Pretty pictures and I just like Reese. Sue me."

and one last note…
for anyone that has sent me messages
about dad or about their own loss…yes!
This I can do. I am better in type.
And I can choose when and where to read it…
and there is no need for me to respond right away.

There. Now I’m done. For real. Unless you wanna talk about love is blind…cause….I’m game for that! :D

whatcha readin'? {goal 40::book 6}

this book.

i did not know
anything about this book
and bought it on a whim
but holy catfish
it was good.

i read it back
in april
so i can’t remember
hardly anything about it
but i know i loved it…
and that it reminded me of
mulan
a little bit…

i loved it so much
i want someone to make a
movie of it.

♥♥♥♥♥ 5 out of 5
NEXT UP:: WHISKEY IN A TEACUP - REESE WITHERSPOON