creatively deciding what bookish advent plans i will make

One of my life mottos is, "Let it be simple". 

That applies to my reading life as well. In that vein, I have been thinking of what I can do that's bookish for advent. 

My daughter is creating a poetry advent plan for me. I gave her a few poets and she chose some as well. I will read one per day with tea at night. 

I bought a few Penguin Black Mini Classics on kobo and will read one per day as well. 

these were only a few dollars each!

definitely looking forward to these

I am sitting surrounded by a stack of books (typical night time activity) and pondering what I will do to end my reading year.

I'm not a huge fan of rushing to read a certain number of works before the end of the year. I don't have judgment about those who do these sort of challenges. I think it's quite fun to watch videos of people doing this! I demand a lot from my literature, so that normally doesn't work for me, but these new additions are a way for me to engage with something similar.

I will definitely make posts for the books I intend to read before the year's end, as well as, what coffee I will be consuming.

I'm blogging myself reading Crime and Punishment and Lolita as a re-read and it's so crazy how much I have loved re-reading this season.

I am wishing you a calm and peaceful weekend filled with coffee and warm socks. 

grateful for every reader: wishing you a coffee-filled, quiet and bookish holiday

I've been cooking and baking from scratch for 4 days straight.

We will eat. Relax. Read. Watch cozy Christmas movies. Eat pie.

I can feel the year winding down and I love the gentle shift of it all. 

I want to say a heartfelt, genuine thank you to every reader of my bookish corner of the internet. I appreciate every one of you and I hope something here is comforting, inspiring, informative or just pleasant to read and see.

 ☕️ ☕️ ☕️ ☕️ ☕️ ☕️ ☕️ ☕️ ☕️ ☕️ ☕️ ☕️ ☕️ ☕️ ☕️ ☕️ ☕️ ☕️ ☕️ ☕️ ☕️ 

Have a wonderful holiday and I hope you have time for a hot cup of coffee or tea and quiet corner for reading. 

autumn reading plans: fresh coffee, early reading nights, travel, book lists

My plans for Autumn are coming together quite organically. 

I recently traveled to the City and had a wonderful time filled with coffee and journaling. I was busy of course, but the pockets of quiet I found really filled my soul with ease and peace.

early cafe mornings

I've loved this year I've had with reading- all while being so immersed in caregiving, graduate school, baking, cooking, redecorating and so much more. I will save my deep reflections for an ever-long post about my yearly reading life and reflections, but for now let me say that the organic, natural, ebb and flow way that I'm approaching my reading life has been restorative and cathartic.

I have full intentions on starting a new Book channel in 2026 and it will reflect that very pace. Easy. Natural. Simple. 

I moved all of my digital reading life away from Goodreads well over a year ago and I tried to use The Storygraph, but I felt pulled away from my reading experience for some reason. 

There was no way not to see things like total books read, other people's opinions, and just all manner of things I wasn't interested in. It felt like a chore. One of those things that other people are doing. 

iced soy milk triple shot

Yes it was cold in the City and no I didn't care. I would rather a hot coffee, but if I can't be guaranteed the foam will be done well, I opt for iced. It's weird, but just the way I am. 

I didn't make my way to a bookstore, but I did spend a night walking and feeling quite literary as the Christmas lights and cool air gave way to nostalgic feelings of lighter times and warm holiday memories. 

There is nothing quite like walking in New York City at dusk during the Autumn season. I'll stake my stack of Penguin Black Spines on that.

organic light roast pour over (added soymilk)

I've always been an early riser, but the dark of this autumn feels more like rising in the dead of night. It lends itself to writing and having coffee in liminal space. It's been extra cold. Extra quiet. Extra slow. 

I've loved it. I have a new practice of reading one of the Letters of Gustave Flaubert. Not sure why I am working so slowly through this collection, because I absolutely love it, but I am not rushing any of my reading. 

I am reading... rereading passages...highlighting...researching... taking notes... pulling quotations out- all of the things that make my reading life immersive and deep.

book stack on one side table

So many stacks of books, so little time. 

Right now I can feel the pull of Swann's Way, which is really the pull of quiet, intense solitude which is home to my nostalgic heart calling me to peace.

I read all of In Search of Lost Time in 2022. All 7 volumes. I wonder if just reading volume one would meet that need? I keep the physical copy there to ponder that very question. I gave away my entire Penguin set to someone as a gift. I feel like I deserve a spot in heaven for that.

I will be blogging a lot more as December comes and a few big projects have wrapped up. My life is really busy and I have more weight on my shoulders than any one woman should have, but reading brings so much solace- so much peace, I feel it will be beneficial to share it here. It will also be healing for me as well. 

Off to relax on this Saturday night and wishing you a peaceful start to this holiday week. 

poetry pause: nothing gold can stay:: robert frost: 1923

stockphoto

Nature’s first green is gold,

Her hardest hue to hold.

Her early leaf’s a flower;

But only so an hour.

Then leaf subsides to leaf.

So Eden sank to grief,

So dawn goes down to day.

Nothing gold can stay.

-Robert Frost, 1923

poetry pause: john keats:: to autumn: 1820

stockphoto

Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,

   Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;

Conspiring with him how to load and bless

   With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run;

To bend with apples the moss'd cottage-trees,

   And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;

      To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells

   With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,

And still more, later flowers for the bees,

Until they think warm days will never cease,

      For summer has o'er-brimm'd their clammy cells.

Who hath not seen thee oft amid thy store?

   Sometimes whoever seeks abroad may find

Thee sitting careless on a granary floor,

   Thy hair soft-lifted by the winnowing wind;

Or on a half-reap'd furrow sound asleep,

   Drows'd with the fume of poppies, while thy hook

      Spares the next swath and all its twined flowers:

And sometimes like a gleaner thou dost keep

   Steady thy laden head across a brook;

   Or by a cyder-press, with patient look,

      Thou watchest the last oozings hours by hours.

Where are the songs of spring? Ay, Where are they?

   Think not of them, thou hast thy music too,—

While barred clouds bloomthe soft-dying day,

   And touch the stubble-plains with rosy hue;

Then in a wailful choir the small gnats mourn

   Among the river sallows, borne aloft

      Or sinking as the light wind lives or dies;

And full-grown lambs loud bleat from hilly bourn;

   Hedge-crickets sing; and now with treble soft

   The red-breast whistles from a garden-croft;

      And gathering swallows twitter in the skies.

-John Keats // 1820

library digital books i've downloaded

I love my library. I love the library. I love free books.

This time of year calls for slowing down. 

Candles.

Extra cups of coffee.

Reflection.

I still watch a decent amount of BookTube, but I have always (and continue to struggle) with videos where people spoil books in their reviews. Unless I've already read the book, I have stopped watching reviews unless it's a trusted source who I know to be someone who discusses the themes and not the entire plot- if there is a plot.

I only get a few hoopla credits each month from my library, and of course Libby still reigns supreme; however, the 6 month wait on any worthy novel pushes me into the arms of the kobo.com store. 

I am definitely someone who feels comforted while scrolling through book titles and making lists of potential books to read. 

Autumn Simplicity

As a re-reading expert (self proclaimed of course), this time of year with it's rustling leaves and dark days, just calls me back to my physical and digital bookshelves to re-read my favorites of all time. 

My melancholic INFJ personality calls to the deep experience of a complex read that contains universal themes of human nature that are timeless.

My Autumn simple plans include evening with soy-wax candles, my kobo color, kindle (but don't get new books on this), and a stack of my favorite novels. All these and a physical stack of books.

Some may say this is a bit much, but it doesn't matter. It works for my soul. I have to read what calls to me. 

Recent Library Digital Acquisitions

really enjoying this so far

looking forward to this one next

I got this one as text from hoopla

I have this on audio from libby

literally forgot this was on hold

Tea and Slow Nights

This week I will be cutting off working on the computer, caregiving duties as best I can, and all house chores at an early hour.

There's always something else to be done. With that knowledge I will be sitting in my reading chair with my favorite tea, or decaf coffee, my stock of books and ereaders and tuning out this insane world. 

I invite you to join me.