How many library items do I even have out? Let's find out together!
Books ready to return: 2
Books I need to review before returning: 3 (Emily Wilde's Map of the Otherlands; Carrie Soto Is Back; The Lily of Ludgate Hill)
CDs: 1 (1989 Taylor's Version. I'm not ready to hear it yet. but I would like the option to do so without Spotify ads. or streams tbh)
Aaand that makes 13 items left, very good. In absolutely no order because I'm just trying to make sure I know where they all are...
1. Cheap Old Houses - Elizabeth Finkelstein: a beautiful coffee table book, apparently based off an Instagram that I (per usual) have never heard of; I am almost done but have been simply luxuriating in the photos. Currently gazing at it on BookOutlet like "$15 is reasonable for a brand new copy of such a large and 5-star book I definitely have space for actually."
2. Another Good Dog: One Family & 50 Foster Dogs - Cara Sue Achterberg: I got about 60 pages in and am loving it, but it was SO GREAT! that I had to pause and put more middling books in front of it to process; been trying to get back for 2+ weeks. That said, when I finish it...
3. One Hundred Dogs & Counting - Cara Sue Achterberg: ...when I finish the above it'll be on to the next one! (maybe? or maybe I'll want to save this 2nd shot of joy for the future)
4. The Break-Up Tour - Emily Wibberley and Austin S.B.: this has taken WAY too much time and effort to get my damn hands on. And then I didn't even read it fast! I started and then got distracted, and only yesterday managed to get up to the halfway mark. At least the request list has cooled off so I will be able to renew it.
5. The Haunting - Natasha Preston: just stocking up some reliably good YA horror for when I really crave those in the summer. This is literally an I-love-cheap-thrills situation.
6. The Joy of Falling - Lindsay Harrel: a random impulse checkout because the cover was pretty and it's about 2 widowed sisters-in-law training for an ultra-marathon in New Zealand that their late husbands had been planning to do. Thought it might serve as exercise motivation.
7. Malibu Rising - Taylor Jenkins Reid: will this suck me in as fast as Carrie Soto did? I dunno, but this is the one I was originally more interested in, so let's see if this is the year we find out.
8. Heirloom Rooms: Soulful Stories of Home - Erin Napier: Speaking of coffee table books I was looking at on BookOutlet, this popped in the "you may also like wheel" and I saw the library had it instead. "a collection of essays walking us through every room in her home, telling the story of a family’s life, of the days that made their home the place she longs for when she’s away. We learn about when they became the new owners of Erin’s dream house from childhood in downtown Laurel, Mississippi, and explore the beautiful homes of family, friends, and projects past in photographs." YEAH!
9. The Wishing Game - Meg Shaffer: I forgot to re-freeze this hold so it came in at the WORST possible time. I've been waiting on this since January and refuse to be rushed or read it if the timing isn't Perfect, so instead I'm gonna be the jerk who keeps it 3 full weeks just in case I get to it; the waitlist remains at 50+ for 7 copies. My ace in the hole is that certain books are WAY less popular in the county next door, where we can dual-register, and they also have 7 copies but only 14 people waiting.
10. Homeward Bound: Why Women Are Embracing the New Domesticity: nonfiction from 2013 that I've been vaguely meaning to read someday. There's only 1 copy left in the system so I checked it out while I was at that branch, but 99% sure I will NOT be getting to it this round. 20 days til my renewals max out.
12. DVD: Northanger Abbey: the JJ Feild spiral I have been trying to find time for since March is clearly not happening right now because WOW Ryan Gosling spiral time instead. But I can't stop believing until my renewals run out, in 3 weeks.
13. DVD: Third Star: see above. somehow holding out more hope for this one, if only because Survivor has hella reactivated my Male Friendship radar, despite these being extremely different types of men. ...just noticed my renewals on this max out in 4 days, oops.
14. DVD: Ghosts (UK), season 3: I was on a hot watching streak and then I abruptly shifted gears to watch the U.S. version's third season instead (because I was too lazy to fight with our Blu-Ray player that throws a fit every time we tell it to play a DVD instead of its favorite format), and now I don't know how to get back in the groove. But I won't give up until they make me! (9 days from now when my renewals max out)
Since my library tour resulted in an absurd number of new checkouts, some planned and some not, what if we talked about them, since I can't seem to figure out what to actually settle down with and read next.
(includes books I had out prior to this week)
1. Emily Wilde's Encyclopedia of Faeries: LOOK LOOK IT'S FINALLY HERE! I should definitely read this one first! ...I don't wanna.
2. Hemlock Island - Kelley Armstrong: a thriller that comes highly recommended by a friend with similar tastes, and looks great! I can't seem to settle into it yet.
3. A Barn in New England: Making a Home on Three Acres - Joseph Monninger: a 2001 memoir from an author I've read a whole bunch of books from over the years. Not sure if I want to read it right now but checked it out just in case.
4. The Big House: A Century in the Life of an American Summer Home - George Howe Colt: a 2003 memoir I tripped over while collecting the above, and which looks incredible, just the kind of story I want to know about always. "This poignant tribute to the eleven-bedroom jumble of gables, bays, and dormers that watched over weddings, divorces, deaths, anniversaries, birthdays, breakdowns, and love affairs for five generations interweaves Colt’s final visit with memories of a lifetime of summers." (I already had to check and make sure that didn't mean the house was getting torn down, but no, only sold.) It is, however, deceptively small in size while having small print and relatively narrow line spacing.
5. Snow Foal - Susanna Bailey: this darling-looking middle grade horse girl novel is actually what I want to read next, I think. But I still have to go pick it up.
6-7. Welcome to the Dark House - Laurie Faria Stolz: just a standard YA horror I've had on my TBR for a while and finally decided to collect while making a set of requests for the county-next-door library. I also got its sequel, on the assumption I'll like it.
8. Love Interest - Clare Gilmore: FINISH THIS BOOK ALREADY, TELEVINITA!! I've been stalled out on page 125 for 2 weeks because something about the MC and writing style just mildly nettles me and I feel like it's gonna be 3 stars, but also I just keep getting sucked into these same few pages over and over because A+ FAVORITE TROPE OF THEM FALLING ASLEEP TOGETHER (FULLY CLOTHED, TECHNICALLY PLATONICALLY DESPITE KINDA FLIRTING) AND SPENDING THE WHOLE NIGHT CUDDLING.
9. The Seat Filler - Sariah Wilson: this book was supposed to be my respite from the above, but damn, that stupid Driver detail really did derail me. >:(
10. Bright Lights, Big Christmas - Mary Kay Andrews: I was really excited to read this for Christmas because of how much I liked The Santa Suit, but I got on the request list too late, so while I give myself a 3-week grace period or so to still enjoy Christmas books, this one's longer than TSS and at this point I feel like I'll enjoy it more next season. Stubbornly keeping it 'til my hold runs out, though.
11. Jonathan Unleashed - Meg Rosoff: probably not going to read it this round, I just thought I might as well pick it up while I was there, since it's not owned by my two closest branches. Options, baby!
12. The Beginner's Guide to Living - Lia Hills: similar to #6, longterm TBR resident only held by the county next door. And by longterm, I mean I added it in April because the "struggling to cope with his mother's sudden death and growing feelings of isolation from his father and brother" part pinged when I was hunting for real-world approximations of Emo Loki's story. Just wanna satisfy my curiosity.
[edit: done. meh. skimmed.]
There! SO MANY OPTIONS. Pick one and sit down and run your eyes over the words already??
All right, after a worrisome 24 hours I remembered that nothing can kill my obsessive Need 4 Read actually, so I spent all weekend immersed in books. And yet still have so many I'm acutely excited about that I have to actually try and structure my reading plans to ensure I can finish as many as possible before even more show up and knock these out of the way.
CURRENTLY READING
Daughter of No Worlds - Carissa Broadbent: first in a fantasy trilogy - "Televinita since when do you read fantasy???" there's a long story here that got lost because this happened on November 8th and the post about it got kicked out of the queue, but tl;dr someone reblogged a moodboard with a quote from book 2 that really tickled my fancy, I investigated, my brain immediately said "hey Sylvie, Loki," and of course that didn't actually transpose well in the slightest BUT the first 5% of the book so quickly hooked me on its own merit that here we are.
I'm 2/3rds done now so unless something goes horribly wrong, I expect to continue and/or finish the trilogy as soon as I can get ahold of the next books. Interlibrary loan vs. Libby audiobook, who's gonna get here first...
ON DECK
2. A Haunting on the Hill - Elizabeth Hand: I am so annoyed this new release didn't get here one week earlier, because now I'm yearning to go in new directions, but this one has a long request list so I kinda have to read it in the next two weeks or give it up 'til next year. And on the bright side, this "authorized return to Hill House" looks like the book I wanted Shirley Jackson's book to be.
3. Sunny Song Will Never Be Famous - Suzanne Park: I was in the YA section to pick up a different book (that I ended up not finishing) when this caught my eye. I feel like it has been an eternity since I tried such a bright-n-shiny/upbeat/cute/fun read like this, and seeing it made me realize I am in desperate need of a palate cleanser.
Anyway, back to dark-n-serious...
4. Dream To Me - Megan Paasch: Another random pull from YA -- the cover caught my eye, it looks kiiinda spooky? or maybe more like eerie, as the back makes comparisons to Twin Peaks -- and it's blurbed by Ashley Schumacher as also a book about grief, so cool. Good November-mood stuff.
5. Forgotten Trail - Claire Kells: Third in the National Parks mystery series I so enjoy, it was released last week, so I'm just waiting for the library to finish putting all its stickers on before they give it to me. Could be anywhere from a few days to another 2 weeks.
6. If We Were Villains - M.L. Rio: the inspo went like this --
Me: I have no interest in this book.
The Internet: here's a list of books Loki would read.
Me: okay sold (literally, I bought it at a used book sale after 1 week on the library waitlist and deciding it was worth $2 to shift the wait to my own terms)
That said if don't get to it before my brain switches back to David Tennant mode, it's gonna go back on the shelf until I switch back.
7. The Work of Art - Mimi Matthews: The good news is, when the David Tennant mode reactivates, so will this book. (The library copy I wanted in September is still missing, but it turns out the branch that just reopened after ten months of remodeling had a Secret Copy in storage so now it's here. And yet, it must wait still longer.)
Plus a few more I'm juggling on the waitlist, mostly on pause until I get through more of these.
I have a reading triage on deck, but first I gotta plow through my actual mother-of-god-how-do-they-multiply-so-fast library checkouts first to try and make sense of them all (27!! with like. at least 10 active requests and/or books I'm gonna pull off the shelf tomorrow)
DVDs I Checked Out For Circ Numbers And/Or Have Watched And Can Return Any Time Now: 6 (CSI Vegas; Hours; Anywhere But Here; Little Women PBS version; La Brea S2; Doctor Who S10 -- i assure you this last one was pure circ numbers)
Books Ready to Return: 2 (Miss Nelson is Missing - checked out purely by chance for funsies and circ numbers when I saw it; The Runaway's Diary graphic novel)
Books I Have Read But Am Keeping 'Til I Write Reviews: 2 (The Last Bookseller; Home Before Dark)
CDs Out: 2 (one Maddie & Tae as a fun option to have in the car; one Loreena McKennitt, although honestly that one is probably ready to go back; Lost Souls didn't grab me)
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Other DVDs Out: 10 (!!) (listen I am Going Hard on my vow to single-handedly prove physical media still has value to patrons and the library should not consider eliminating it. there has been no actual discussion of this but I see the DVD section shrinking, I see it!!)
Marley & Me: this WAS just for circ numbers but now I'm looking at it like "oh yeah this movie is amazing actually" and I've kinda been on an Owen Wilson kick this year, so maybe I should actually watch it first.
2-4. Scott & Bailey, S3-5: these were ALSO just for circ numbers but then I remembered I actually do like this show and it's weird I never got past S2*...so I've watched S3 and now I kind of want to finish, and also want to keep them all out so they can be returned and easily reshelved together. (*i also realized one episode into S3 that I may not have actually gotten past 2x03? but oh well no looking back; I hated those 3 episodes so SURGING FORWARD)
5. Doctor Who: The Day of the Doctor: I! Will! Watch! It! (ONE of these times it's gotta actually go through...)
6. Doctor Who: Series 11 (Thirteen my beloved!! What if...what IF I wanted to randomly start)
7. Doctor Who: The Animation Collection: "WHAT U MEAN GEORGIA TENNANT VOICED A (non-Jenny) COMPANION CHARACTER IN ONE OF THESE FEATURING TEN I DIDN'T EVEN KNOW EXISTED." and I thought I might revisit Infinite Quest while I'm at it, though I have thus far done neither.
8. Good Omens: when you finish S2 and are immediately like "I need the option to revisit season 1 right now, in a way where you can easily skip around to favorite parts in the episodes in VLC instead of struggling through the laggy Amazon Prime interface," but now it's been over a month and you haven't actually opened the case. but you still might. (I should probably throw in the towel huh)
9. Around the World in 80 Days: oh yeah. forgot I started this. (Suranne Jones and the rest of the lady police gang are very distracting ok)
10. Broadchurch, S3: originally for circ numbers and then I remembered I actually never got around to this season (but am still excited to! eventually!)
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Other Books Out: 5
1. Cabin Tripping: mostly a coffee table book, beautiful photos based on the Instagram of the same name with a bit of text. I wanted to look through it properly and use it to get myself in the mood for the RV / road trip books I was considering reading, but I think those have receded into the temporary background so I should probably send this back as well. temporarily.
2. Gilmore Girls: The Official Cookbook: have I watched more than 3 full episodes of this show in my life? still no. but since dollsome-does-tumblr's tumblr has given me almost all the information I could possibly need about this show, I feel like I know it and ever since I randomly saw this on the library shelf, I have been obsessed with the entire vibe and aesthetic of this oversized book and its mouthwatering photos and can't stop paging through it. (have I tried making any of the recipes? also definitely no) (would that I had a personal chef or at least a talented local friend!)
3. The Little Book of Hygge: this is at least the third hygge book I have checked out on a whim but can't actually read because I just get too overwhelmed by how cute and cozy the mere idea is. But that won't stop me clinging to it with a death grip 'til my renewals run out.
4. Good as Gold - Candace Buford: oh finally an actual novel i might actually read (if I don't get distracted by my GIANT INCOMING STACK, considering I checked this out a full month ago). I am actually very excited by the prospect of this YA novel about searching for a lost treasure of local legend (to pay for college). I don't honestly know why I haven't yet!
5. Lessons From Tara: Life Advice From the World's Most Brilliant Dog - David Rosenfelt: A Goodreads friend read this, which reminded me how much I loved Dogtripping and wanted to read more stories about his big fluffy dogs. Which led me to learn there is only one copy of this 2015 release left at my library so whoops, gotta show interest (and ideally even read it?) before it disappears.
I have soooo many library items checked out right now and I’m making progress on returning none of them; between working overtime and spending way more of my downtime than usual just incessantly watching the same clips on YouTube, I am not reading very much. But I can’t seem to let anything go. So this (even more than usual) is just me trying to make sense of everything so I don’t lose any items this time...
Part 1: DVDs
No Escape: I have watched this already (twice now in this checkout period, including the one with commentary!) so really I should be done with it, but I’m not. I want it close at hand. It’s too good.
The Hollow Crown: Complete Series: the gifs have been promising so we’re gonna have fun with this. Eventually. Right now my ability to handle it is taking one look at a still from any of them and immediately turning into a cartoon with eyes/heart ballooning out of my body, so I am not yet calm enough for that.
The Night Manager: I’m pretty sure this is actually the project I’m going to target next. I know what I gotta shield my eyes about but I also think I can manage the rest of it, and I’m finally interested in the larger story.
Thor 1-3 + The Avengers: for when I’m ready to continue my Loki journey.
(And yet, I’m still over here like, “I gotta go check out those other two movies I want to see. I gotta.”)
================
Part 2: Books
After Perfect - Maan Gabriel: 2 months ago, I pulled several titles off my Goodreads TBR that I thought I might like to try soon. And then...Hiddleston Spiral. Library is already down to 1 copy of this small-press 2021 release (they started with 3 or 4), and I’m genuinely afraid it’s gonna get weeded entirely very soon. But still, I think I’m too far off course now to be in the right mood for this particular romance, which is rare (age-appropriate student/creative writing professor, except the professor is the younger one), so I want to save it.
Harry Potter & The Order of the Phoenix (illustrated): I’ve decided not to reread this one yet, I’m just looking at the pictures, but even that I can’t commit to doing. I have been waiting more than a year for this release to get into my hands; I have to be ready to appreciate them. Block out an hour or so to observe/maybe reread select passages/jot notes on my faves.
The Hungry Place - Jessie Haas: a children’s pony book by an author I like that I really thought I would be more excited about/devour quickly, but instead I’m kind of blocked up about it. Like. There is some sadness here before the happy parts, IDK if I’m ready for it!
Just Gus - McCall Hoyle: speaking of children’s books, a cute one about a dog, companion novel to Stella. It really won’t take me more than 90 minutes to read. Why do I keep putting it off. [edit: go me, I actually started this one in the brief interim between queuing this post and its appearance]
The Essex Serpent - Sarah Perry: still haven’t even opened it, but I WILL whether I fully read it or not.
(Meanwhile: those 20+ books I just bought and was kinda planning to read at least some of soon...) (p.s. I actually have my latest sale post written up! I just wanted to take photos)
+ 5 books I’ve technically read but don’t wanna give back because I love them and love paging through them
+ 3 Taylor Swift CDs -- Reputation for Getaway Car (I don’t think I’m ready to explore further yet, but I have as yet been too lazy to rip it); and Folklore and Lover to play in the car, the former’ cause I don’t own it and the latter ‘cause IDK where I put my copy and am frankly too lazy to look. :P
WHAT, it’s been... almost a month since the last one... and I found myself with a whole bunch of duos all of a sudden.
(I am absolutely not going to finish all of these without getting distracted, because I just kinda went hog-wild with checkouts last time, but you know what’s fun? OPTIONS.)
The Pink House - Louise Platt Hauck: An r/whatwasthatbook post described this as “cottagecore ASMR” and “a book about when you set up your own household for the first time,” and that is MY DREAM. I’ve never heard of this 1930s author, but everything I looked up about her books made me instantly thrilled, so I also requested...
Family Matters - Louise Platt Hauck: setting up a household, but make it about getting married and starting a family. These ILL loans should be at the library in a few more days and I am PUMPED.
The Siren of Sussex and/or The Belle of Belgrave Square - Mimi Matthews: Historical heroines who love horses!! Bring them 2 me. I can’t decide which one I want to start with, as the former appears more heavily focused on working with horses and features a half-Indian love interest who OBVIOUSLY will be Dev Patel in my head, while the latter is the one I originally went to get, a Beauty and the Beast retelling with a more beautiful horse, except she’s a stepmother in this one.
Happily Ever Afters and/or One True Loves - Elise Bryant: much like the above, I went to pick up the 2nd book and was surprised to find it was the second book in a series, and now they both look awesome and I don’t know which girl’s story I want to dive into ifrst.
The Arctic Curry Club - Dani Redd: IDK, this just feels like the right time of year to read a women’s fiction book set in Alaska.
Texas Gothic - Rosemary Clement-Moore: “but what if I just tossed over everything on my TBR for this random magical-realism YA novel I found while trying to hunt out what turned out to be a different book for someone on the r/whatsthatbook sub.” Because this one kind of reminds me of the amount of magic in Spellbook of the Lost and Found, but also there’s ghosts, and ALSO this one starts with farm-sitting and I am immediately in love with the description of trying to keep goats in their pen. AND, if I like this one, it has a sequel. ...that my library doesn’t have of course, rrr.
Gizelle’s Bucket List: My Life with a Very Large Dog - Lauren Watt: I am probably not going to read this yet, but my library didn’t have it when I added it to my TBR years ago, and on my last visit I walked right past a large-type version on display, so SWIPE! (they do not have a regular-type version, I checked) And I’ll probably keep it until I hit the checkout limit, juuust in case.
Now I just have to figure out which one I’m actually most excited to read next. It’s been two full days without cracking open a cover and I’ve gotten very “I can’t read suddenly, I don’t know.” I’m thinking Texas Gothic or Arctic Curry Club...we’ll see which one grabs me faster after three test pages.
[update: the answer is Texas Gothic. Halfway through and actively forcing myself to slow down because I am enjoying it so much; might even give it 5 stars for the hell of it]
[also, hilariously, Gizelle’s Bucket List ended up being my 2nd read from this set]
Since I was not joking about the requests (except for having slightly fewer than 9) --
(I was doing so good about staying away from temptations, but then I had to go and read people’s end-of-year wrap-up posts and now I am FLOODED WITH NEW INTERESTS again)
1. Polo Cowboy - G. Neri: Mostly I just want to have the full story in my head and I’m embarrassed I didn’t get to it last year. Knocking this one off a checklist, basically, but the rest I’m really excited for!
2. Run, Rose, Run - Dolly Parton and James Patterson: I genuinely want to know who is doing the bulk of the writing here, or if they just went ‘eff it’ and hired a secret third person to ghostwrite. Anyway, this came to my attention as someone panning it, so I’m cautious in my optimism, BUT this one does come with a Dolly Parton album full of songs written for the novel, and THAT IS MY DREAM FOR BOOKS ABOUT MUSIC ALWAYS. This isn’t the first novel I’ve read about a young lady trying to make it in the country music biz and by god it won’t be the last.
3. Lawless Spaces - Corey Ann Haydu: as much as I try to avoid books in verse, something about the look of this one just really appeals to me and I wish to hold it in my hands and luxuriate over it (also, I love stories that trace the maternal line).
4. The Final Gambit - Jennifer Lynn Barnes: I was thinking about rereading the first two first, but eh, now I think I just want to dive in so I finally put myself on the request list, whenever it comes in. Probably not too long; currently #20 on 7 copies.
5. Treasure State - C.J. Box: released on September 27th, I’m ready for another Cassie DeWell book. I was waiting for the request list to calm down on this a bit before I joined so they wouldn’t order too many copies, and it’s still busy, but I’m #56 for 13 copies now so also not bad.
6. Friends Like These - Jennifer Lynn Alvarez: I loved her YA debut so I’m excited for another thriller.
7. Scattered Showers: Stories - Rainbow Rowell: I keep forgetting this exists (initially I ignored it because I was like, oh, Simon Snow is in this? and promptly assumed it was full of genres I hate, but then I actually read a review that addressed all the stories and this might actually be the most contemporary writing she’s done in a decade, so ON IT!) (secret real impetus: there’s a story with the Attachments characters and people don’t seem to love it, but I don’t even care, give it to me)
The problem is I still need to pick something else to actually read because I can’t get my hands on any of them until tomorrow at the earliest, on account of the weather NOT cooperating enough for me to pick even the one checked in at the local branch, let alone the ones I requested from farther away.
EDIT: I read a book I bought almost exactly 2 years ago*, that secretly I had always been hoping/intending to read in January, so not only did I accomplish that goal, I also got a Mount TBR entry. Best of all, it was awesome and totally captivating from beginning to end. What a good use of my afternoon.
*The Little Woods
EDIT 2: finished all of them by the end of the month except #4, which I’m still waiting for, and have decided to pause my request on for a while because the acute must-read-asap! feeling has receded a bit.
26 items out and more on deck soon; time to take stock encore.
Items Ready to Return: 5
Books, Keeping Until I Finish Goodreads Reviews: : 3
Books, Read But Want To Keep At Hand For Shippy Content: 2
Nonfiction Books To Browse Through: 4
1. Cabin Tripping: Where to Go to Get Away From It All: talk about gorgeous photographs and vacation daydreams...
2. The Nesting Place: It Doesn't Have to Be Perfect to Be Beautiful by Myquillyn Smith: one day (hopefully before it’s weeded) I will read this in its entirety, but it’s probably not happening this time. nevertheless -- I’ve loved this one since I saw it for the author’s mention that despite wanting roots in a house to call home, she moved 13 times in 13 years as an adult, and so had to learn to decorate and appreciate what she had instead of waiting for someday. As someone who’s also looking at long-term renting in an uninspiring space, this is so helpful.
3. Small Space Style by Whitney Leigh Morris: speaking of apartment life...will probably send this back soon, but ahhh, it’s just so pretty and full of both gorgeous color photos and cool illustrations, and every suggestion is numbered, so it’s really fun.
4. Where’s My Stuff?: The Ultimate Teen Organizing Guide: this won’t take long, but it’s back-to-school time and that usually still inspires me to spend a few days fantasizing about being a grade 6-12 student again where organizing my bedroom and schoolwork are my most/only pressing household concerns. I saw this at the library and was like, bingo, sorry to actual young adults but I clearly need this more than you right now. It’s so glossy and colorful!
DVDs, Watched But Want To Share With Parents Before I Return Them: 2 [The Lost City, Uncharted]
DVDs, Still To Watch/Currently Watching: 4
1. Jurassic Park III: I was holding it so I could finish watching all the bonus features (there are so! many!), but then I decided I actually wanna watch the whole movie again before I give it back. I’ve concluded that I do like it more than movie 2, actually, just because even though T. Rex > Spinosaurus, the other dinosaur scares are better and also, Alan Grant > Ian Malcolm.
2. The Mustang: I’ve wanted to see this since it came out, about an inmate involved in a mustang-training program at the prison (similar programs exist in real life and I think they’re amazing; everybody wins). I’m only still waiting because husband (Mr. I-can-commit-to-3-hours-of-TV or movie watching per week at most) said, “Oh, that looks good!” and since I’m always looking for stuff we can watch together, given our wildly divergent tastes...
3. The Mummy (2017): another I’ve wanted to see since it came out, despite being universally panned for reasons I don’t recall and look forward to deciding for myself. This is exactly the style of movie I’m in the mood for right now and frankly, nothing can be worse than The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor.
4. Blood & Treasure, season 1: the beloved has been in my hands for a month while I skip merrily through my favorite scenes/deleted scenes and/or rewatch entire episodes, and it is not LEAVING my hands until it is forcibly ripped away from me under threat of paying for it (and honestly, paying for a lost item might be cheaper than buying a 2ndhand one at this point, yeesh)
Currently Reading: 4
1. The Map That Leads to You - Joseph Monninger: I got about 60 pages in and I’m really enjoying it so far, even though despite taking place in summer, it really feels like a fall read (I think it’s the cozy sweater the guy on the front is wearing). It’s essentially Gayle Forman’s Just One Day with characters 5 years older, but slightly more literary, and somehow more appealing to me as well. I want a few days to think about what I’ve read so far before I continue.
2. Rural Voices: a collection of 15 short stories from various authors celebrating small town/rural life, emphasizing the diversity of demographics and experiences residing there, literally conceived as a clapback to the anti-rural “look at those uneducated right-wingers” sentiment that sprang up after the 2016 election. I’m on the 5th one at the moment, absolutely loving the setting, and pleasantly surprised by how much the diversity is working for me. Reading this one slowly on purpose to savor it.
3. Funny Farm: My Unexpected Life With 600 Rescue Animals: a memoir that is fascinating and full of sweet animals, but also full of SO MUCH GUTWRENCHING SAD re: her background and growing up with an animal-loving mother doing her best to keep her kids safe from their abusive, kinda sociopathic, not-above-resorting-to-murdering-their-pets father whose wealth and career success prevent her from getting more than shared custody. It’s short enough that it should only take a couple hours, but I keep having to take breaks for days on end to cope.
4. We Are Okay - Nina LaCour: this is not the right time of year AT ALL for this sad story of grief-processing over winter break, but then it was just there at the library waiting to be checked out, and then it was just there being all small and easily finishable, so I went outside for 90 minutes and got halfway through. Pausing now because like all her work, it is full of beautiful writing and imagery and concepts I like to take my time thinking about.
Note: aaaand forgot to suspend my request, so I gotta finish or temporarily drop the above in the next week to prioritize Listen To Me by Tess Gerritsen, which still has a request list 3 deep for every copy and which my mom also wants to read but keeps forgetting to request, so I need to make sure she reads it within the checkout time frame too. Otherwise I’m looking at another 2 month wait.
EDIT, literally 2 days after posting this: finished #4 AND Gerritsen
Books Still To Read: 3
5. This Is Our Story - Ashley Elston: IDK, I’m just kinda in a mood to read a teen thriller about 4 friends covering up the (accidental?) death of a 5th while hunting, circling the wagons to make it harder for them to be charged. Looks a lil’ like Good Girl’s Guide To Murder meets S.T.A.G.S.
6. Meet the Sky - McCall Hoyle: random library checkout, two teens stranded on an island off the coast of Virginia during a hurricane. Girl has horses/is planning to be a vet and it looks like there might be a wild Chincoteague pony trapped with or near them at some point, plus it’s short enough/I’ve spoiled enough to be able to hold my nose through the “stuck with a boy who ~broke her heart~ years ago” aspect.
7. A School for Unusual Girls - Kathleen Baldwin: Random pull from the library shelf, albeit back at the end of July, so obviously there has been a LOT jumping in front of it. Although I am v. resistant to historical fiction (even knowing that I tend to enjoy the ones I pick!), let alone vaguely alt!history, the cover was just so pretty and the first few pages had me captivated, but captivated in a way I recognized immediately I’d want to save for cold weather. Don’t love that it’s part of a quartet, so I'm just telling myself it’s standalone to avoid feeling overwhelmed by page count.
At this point I’ve had it so long I may not get to it, but I never say never. I eventually got through everything in the last library triage post!
