Linking up with the {newly-discovered on my end} fabulous Leigh Kramer for What I'm Into: July!
Reading and Read ~ Books:
Spinster: Making a Life of One's Own by Kate Bolick - {in progress} Really, really enjoying this memoir/history lesson. The author comes from such a different place than me in many ways {East Coast, solitary, journalist} that it's fascinating for me to read and imagine what my own internal journey would be if our external circumstances were the same. P.S. It was this Long Reads article that piqued my interest on the book.
Villete by Charlotte Bronte - {in progress} I feel like I'm just getting to the good stuff at about 200 pages in. Lucy Snowe amazes me with her observations of people's character, and I'm in awe of how cool she can be to people.
Landline by Rainbow Rowell - {almost done!} I put off reading this book for a while because fantastical realism isn't really my jam. But that's almost not the point with this book, and Rowell has presented a great study on enduring love.
One More Thing: Stories and Other Stories by B.J. Novak - {completed} I laughed out loud many, many times. I listened to the audiobook {which you should do! Read by the author plus guests!!} and it made my commutes delightful. The discussion questions were, um, thought-provoking!
Mansfield Park by Jane Austen - {completed} Apparently there are two camps about Mansfield Park: either it's a satire and it's the most brilliant work ever from Austen, or it's a regular novel, in which case it is completely boring. For Austen's sake, I hope that it's satire, because this book was boring. But it led to some great conversations with friends about the characters' lives after the book ends, so that was fun.
Pondering:
This article about colorblindness by Rachel Held Evans has been on my mind for some time.
I started writing a post about my experience with both my church and the Church... about 1,000 words in and I think I'm finally saying what I want to say. Stay tuned.
Enjoying:
All the sunshine this week has been awesome! And apparently Seattle just broke a record: Thursday was the 10th day in 2015 that the official temperature reached the 90s, which is the first time that's happened in the history of recording temperatures. Whew!
The past two weeks I was cat-sitting for a friend, and this week I have SO enjoyed being home in my own bed, and I'm especially grateful to be cat-free. My dad teased me that this was a practice run of being a crazy cat lady, but I told him that these weeks were more like a vaccine against it - I've learned that my previously-neutral feelings towards cats are now decidedly negative.
My dear friend J and I went candle shopping a couple weeks ago, and while she purchased The Boyfriend Candle, I was unimpressed {I guess I like my mountain men less sweet?}. I thought I was going to leave the store sans boyfriend, but then...then I smelled Midsummer's Night, and I knew thathe it had to be mine. And it made sense, because J and I have different tastes in men, so of course we would prefer different smells. Anyway, the candle has been in use almost every day, and while I've never had a boyfriend, I think that smelling this candle is pretty much what it's like.
There you have it! Be sure to check out the other links on Leigh's post, and happy August!
Reading and Read ~ Books:
Spinster: Making a Life of One's Own by Kate Bolick - {in progress} Really, really enjoying this memoir/history lesson. The author comes from such a different place than me in many ways {East Coast, solitary, journalist} that it's fascinating for me to read and imagine what my own internal journey would be if our external circumstances were the same. P.S. It was this Long Reads article that piqued my interest on the book.
Villete by Charlotte Bronte - {in progress} I feel like I'm just getting to the good stuff at about 200 pages in. Lucy Snowe amazes me with her observations of people's character, and I'm in awe of how cool she can be to people.
Landline by Rainbow Rowell - {almost done!} I put off reading this book for a while because fantastical realism isn't really my jam. But that's almost not the point with this book, and Rowell has presented a great study on enduring love.
One More Thing: Stories and Other Stories by B.J. Novak - {completed} I laughed out loud many, many times. I listened to the audiobook {which you should do! Read by the author plus guests!!} and it made my commutes delightful. The discussion questions were, um, thought-provoking!
Mansfield Park by Jane Austen - {completed} Apparently there are two camps about Mansfield Park: either it's a satire and it's the most brilliant work ever from Austen, or it's a regular novel, in which case it is completely boring. For Austen's sake, I hope that it's satire, because this book was boring. But it led to some great conversations with friends about the characters' lives after the book ends, so that was fun.
Pondering:
This article about colorblindness by Rachel Held Evans has been on my mind for some time.
I started writing a post about my experience with both my church and the Church... about 1,000 words in and I think I'm finally saying what I want to say. Stay tuned.
Enjoying:
All the sunshine this week has been awesome! And apparently Seattle just broke a record: Thursday was the 10th day in 2015 that the official temperature reached the 90s, which is the first time that's happened in the history of recording temperatures. Whew!
The past two weeks I was cat-sitting for a friend, and this week I have SO enjoyed being home in my own bed, and I'm especially grateful to be cat-free. My dad teased me that this was a practice run of being a crazy cat lady, but I told him that these weeks were more like a vaccine against it - I've learned that my previously-neutral feelings towards cats are now decidedly negative.
My dear friend J and I went candle shopping a couple weeks ago, and while she purchased The Boyfriend Candle, I was unimpressed {I guess I like my mountain men less sweet?}. I thought I was going to leave the store sans boyfriend, but then...then I smelled Midsummer's Night, and I knew that
I'd like to introduce you to someone....
There you have it! Be sure to check out the other links on Leigh's post, and happy August!
