books, plants, early mornings before autumn & reading superiority

messy and slow mornings

This time of year pulls at the heart to slow down, and pulls at me to re-read my favorites. I've been finding myself rewatching my favorite book/movie adaptations and drinking extra hot beverages although the temp is regularly 88+.

Sacrilegious temperatures aside, I've noted a trend happening online. So many judgmental videos being made about what/how other people read. I guess it's a product of what I call our "comparison culture", but it's gross all the same.

It should be perfectly okay whether someone binges audiobooks at 10x speed, or reads ONE Dostoevsky novel per season. This "right/wrong" dichotomy in the reading community is just gross. 

Treating reading an exercise in superiority is truly wild. We are all on ONE team. Team Read More Books and keep libraries alive.

It shouldn't matter what you read nor how often.

It shouldn't matter if you vlog, blog, photograph it or not.

It doesn't matter if you track it online or in a physical notebook like I do. 

There's truly enough division in the world without adding the division in the bookish community to that list. 

Although I'm writing about it here, I stay far far far away from debates on line with strangers. It's futile, useless, and not good a job way to spend my energy or time. But, I wanted to use my small, quiet space to remind anyone (if you even need reminding) that you're doing fine in your reading life.

Living great books is far better than bragging about them or using what you've read to compare to other people. 

I live myself between the chapters of great and moving novels. I literally can remember what was going on in my life based off of what I was reading during certain periods. This means that I don't have time to worry about what others think of how or why I read.

There are periods when I downloaded 4 cozy mystery audiobooks from the library to get through a weekend of intense. These books "kept me company" so to speak and I regret nothing! Sure, I can't remember all the characters or the real point, but who cares? I was entertained and accompanied for long hours in my storage unit reorganizing holiday decor.

Other times, I am hunkered down on my couch (customary) with a necklight (always ) while reading and re-reading passages from Brookner novels. Or more likely, I have a stack of 10-12 books at my bedside and I read a few pages from each. Who is going to tell me I'm wrong to read this way? And even if I did, I'll ignore them and my advice is that you ignore them too.

Consuming so much content about what others think, and how others do things, has gone way too far. It embeds tiny little fragments of how things are supposed  to be done inside of our heads and before long we are defending things that don't need to be defended, or participating in discussions about how others are doing things "incorrectly"

All of this to say, let your reading be a free liminal space.

Allow your reading life to be dictated by your current circumstances and to whatever is actually calling to you during this phase of your life.

The only thing that matters is that you feel called back to the page.

I'm rooting for you that your reading life will be what shapes your heart and calls to your soul.

I know mine is.

Happy reading ☕️ 

 

let september find me reading and resting

my autumn desktop

In an effort to consciously eliminate all pressure and stress from my life, I don't give myself lists of books I have to read, nor force myself to participate in any readathons/groups that don't really call to my soul. 

With that in mind, the end of the year is approaching. I don't ever have any set number of books to read for the year, or book goals, or anything like that. Reading is truly a wellness activity for me. It's less about what and how much I read, and more about making the time to read and how I feel when I read, reflect, and write about what I read.

Autumn is the second January.

A time that feels like a fresh start and a new beginning.

Personal curriculums are all the rage right now, and I am a huge fan of them. I do love formal education and spaces to share ideas with others and be strengthened and challenged, but making sure to stay focuse don what you most want to focus on is critical

In our idea consumption culture it's easy find yourself doing things without any reflection time on whether you actually want to do it or not. Do you really want to read the entire Booker Longlist, or does it seem popular and like what literary readers do? Do you really like following Fall readathons, or have you always wanted to read Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre in the Fall?

My nudge is only for you to slow down, reflect, and decide what would make you the most satisfied come the end of the year.

i love this cover

For me, it's finding time to re-read Sense and Sensibility seeing as the new screen adaptation is coming out October 16... adding a 1/2 re-reading of Jane Eyre, a re-reading of something by Hardy (yet to decide) poetry by Hardy, reading more of the Letters of Gustave Flaubert, of course Anita Brookner, and so much more.

• Sense and Sensiblity
• Jane Eyre
• A Hardy novel
• Letters of Gustave Flaubert
• Proust

vegan gluten free sweet potato brownies

Of course for me Autumn means even more baking. New recipes that I create or mix-n-match that I find online. The scent of cinnamon in the air signifies extra cups of coffee and lots of slow living.

As I walk through towards the end of the first week of September, I'm taking with me a few things: my continued anti-AI stance, even if means I'm "left behind", a love of re-reading, a desire to work through a few of the unread books on my shelves, a new semester, and a true belief that reading, writing, and learning is the secret magic of a good life.

I hope you'll join me on a slow and easy September. Happy reading ☕️ 

altered states by anita brookner review + brookner reading oeuvre check in

Anita Brookner's novels really speak to a part of my soul that no other author (barring Baldwin, Petry, and Lispector) quite touch. She died in London in 2016 and her work will live on, though I believe that she is drastically under read.

 

I agree wholeheartedly with The New York Times who said:

Anita Brookner has staked out a distinctive territory...and made it clear that she is one of the finest novelists of her generation.

                 

Every part of my soul is open and alive when I read Brookner. She has this uncanny ability to write into the marrow of life and feeling. You have to read her to know what I mean.

This story deals with love. resignation, adultery, loss, pain, immense regret, heartache and shows what life can be look like from inside of different experiences of the same events. 

Told from inside the lens and life of our protagonist, we see how how mother/son bonds are formed and transition, how friendships are used as covering for seeking out one's own life's affairs, and what it look likes to stand at the crossroads of right/wrong and the consequences that bear on our souls when we choose to do what's in our personal interest.

She speaks directly into the very psychological nature of what it means to be alive and experience emotional changes over the course of a lifetime.  What a wonderful companion to read alongside Monsieur Proust by Céleste Albaret as I reflect on memory, the past, and a life to come. 

Here's a quote from the novel:

Perhaps I am well qualified for solitude. My discipline rarely lets me down, except perhaps when I am on holiday, as I am now, and find the days long. Even their numbing calm is acceptable; it corresponds to something settled in my nature.

Perhaps reading Brookner corresponds to something settled in my nature. 

I will continue on with my project of reading all of her novels. 

Here's my current checkin on novels I've read by Brookner so far (10 of 24 completed):

my reading list

My next Brookner read will be Family and Friends. :) 

Happy slow reading ☕️ 

a summer of silence and reading

It's funny how easy it is for reading to take up all of your free time. 

I am always reading 6-10 books/novels/non-fictions at one time, so it's easy to be wrapped in reading without finishing anything. Finishing reading is never my goal.

To be reading the books is the goal for me. To be in the middle of the works is always the point for me.

It's why I read and re-read poetry over and over again. 

This summer's responsibilities have me wanting desperately to slow down. Like, live even slower than I do right now. 

Struggling with how much humanity and the people I know continue to be a constant source of disappointment. Alas, Marcus Aurelius tried to warn me- I work on heeding his advice about the disappointments that await us each day we wake up. I'm sure that seems pessimesstic, and I don't mean it to be, but thank God for literature. 

brookner and coffee 

I am loving Altered States by Anita Brookner. She continues to be one of my favorite novelists. She has a way of writing into the marrow of human psychology in a way that I rarely finds consistently with other authors. 

This book has encouraged me to start writing book reviews here on the site. I can't wait to finish this one to write all about it. I've prolonged finishing it because I am really loving living with this story. It's beautifully true of human nature- but, I'll stop writing here before the review is done!

homemade latte + morning reading

Early morning finds me between the pages of multiple books + doing morning pages + drinking several lattes. Of course I wanted the summer to be filled with finishing off a few novels, getting "things" done, etc, but instead, I rested more- slept more- exhaled deeper.

I have a stack of novels bedside that I'd love to work through this month. I may create a TBR in order to organize this sporadic & chaotic reading. I'd at least help me to curate a finishable list of books.

There are 3 weeks left in August and whether the temperature is 80 or 60 degrees, I consider September 1st as the ramp into Autumn and nothing can change my mind- therefore, I want to have a clean Autumn reading slate.

I'm extremely interested in reading my physical library though I always have multiple ebooks going between my old kindle and my new kobo- but I love seeing my physical TBR shrink a little. I have no intention of a book buying ban, but I am being intentional about every purchase which has made me "wait 72 hours" before purchasing new books which more often than not means I won't purchase it.

non-dairy creamsicle matcha + iced coffee

So as this silent summer starts to wrap up, I am intent on continuing to practice learning the two poems I've committed to learning this year, recreating a TBR to wrangle in my reading, reading in bubble baths, and writing poetry and short prose.

Wishing you a calm end to the summer season (yes I know it's early) and happy reading. ☕️ 

07: authors i'm always reading :: currently forever reading list

That wasn't a typo. There are authors whose work I never want to be without. 

I have multiple copies, editions, and formats of their novels. This isn't due to a "collector's mindset", but rather I enjoy filling their works in my "free" time. 

Let me explain...

I am a caregiver and am always honestly more busy than I like to admit. I am not one of those people who values being busy or loves saying, "Oh I just have so much to do".  I am embracing this season of life and what it demands of me. With that said, I keep kindles in my caregiving medical bag, in my purse and on on my phone.

I don't purchase from Amazon anymore, but I did not get rid of my kindles. I bought a kobo, but it mainly stays at home. Until I get a case, it will live on my bedside table.

There are authors whose works I read and re-read from start to finish over and over, and those same authors have works that I just open and read a few chapters from while waiting for appointment times or to fill anxious space.

I never tire of these authors, or of these works and this isn't about collecting a total number of books read or re-read; it's only about living inside of these novels and being shaped by them.

my planner and favorite candle

Authors and Novels I Never Tire of...

I wanted to post a ton of photos, but I will make a list and keep it simple (with a few photos :)

1. Fyodor Dostoevsky
1. The Brothers K
2. The Idiot
2. James Baldwin
1. Giovanni's Room
3. Jane Austen
1. Persuasion
2. Pride and Prejudice
4. Clarice Lispector
1. Near to the Wild Heart
2. The Apprenticeship
5. Leo Tolstoy
1. Anna K- always
6. The Brontës
1. Jane Eyre
2. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall
3. Wuthering Heights
4. Agnes Grey (not a typo)
7. Anita Brookner
1. Every single novel
8. Thomas Hardy 
1. Far From the Madding Crowd
2. Two on a Tower
9. Vladimir Nabokov
1. Lolita

Of course there are others, but these novels I return to over and over and over again. I don't ever want to be done reading these. I want to always be reading these. 

Happy re-reading ☕️ 

october reading plans: re-reads, cozy literature, copious coffee cups, and used books

 

October stockphoto

It's that time of year again where reareading calls to my soul. There is nothing like returning to the comfort of a story that touched your heart or made you think of the human condition in a new or different way.

 I can see the appeal of checking books off of your TBR, but haven't you ever been summoned by a previous read? This need to complete so many books has many deadened the draw to old works. I have no strong opinions about people who read 500 vs 5 books per year or anything like that, but I do feel like an evangelist trying to convert non-rereaders to my cause :)

Because I don't use Goodreads or Storygraph anymore (may return to Storygraph one day), I have no idea how many time I have reread certain books, but like weather patterns, they start to enter my consciousness at certain times of the year.

The Autumn with its whispering winds, and calls for piping hot cinnamon coffee are accompanied by the faint murmurs of Austen's most ignored work Northanger Abbey and Charlotte Brontë's masterpiece Jane Eyre.

These calls stand in union with Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights- a novel that so frustrates me I will spend a lifetime rereading it just to make sense of why it bothers me so much! 

This October... (The Reread Edition)

1. Jane Eyre
2. Wuthering Heights
3. Northanger Abbey
4. Lolita
5. Crime and Punishment* (if there is time and my mental health allows it)

This October...(The New Read Edition)

1. Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders
2. Altered States by Anita Brookner (returning to this project)
3. Apple in the Dark by Clarice Lispector
4. Ghost Mountain by Rónán Hession
5. Creep by Emma van Straaten 

a stack of my books

My advice for this Autumn 

Ignore that bookish social media urge to rush through novels to increase your total books read. Ignore the feelings of FOMO (if you have them) that everyone is reading this or that.

Slow down.

Grab a cup of coffee or tea, a journal, and a deep breath.

Plan what novels you believe will speak to your heart or ones that really really call out to you.

Reading doesn't have to be a religious experience for you like it is for me, but perhaps if you have had the inkling to reread something but fear you could be reading something new and it will be a waste to reread, quiet that voice down with the opening paragraph from your most beloved novel.

Let this crazy time in the world be soothed by the comfort of a story that you love. 

I know that's what my Fall reading is all about.

Join me. ☕️ 

returning to a spreadsheet for book organization

I had a wonderful trip to new york, and while I didn't visit any bookstores (no time), I had some of my favorite coffee and took a long, slow stroll through central park thinking about my life.

favorite cortado ever

I sometimes want to just scroll through my book titles and ponder which books to add to my currently reading list. I am all about current reads. NOT what I have just finished,  but what I am currently reading. With that in mind I am always rereading my favorites even if it is a super slow stroll through them again (hello Jane Eyre).

I have cycled through phases of using Goodreads to organize my reading, and I am kind of sick of it. I had a Goodreads account for about 12 years, and hundreds of followers on it, but I deleted it. I started to be bothered by the thing that doesn't seem to bother anyone else, and that is comments on my current reads.

"OMG, you will love the second half of the book!" ; "This ending will surprise you!" 

This wasn't on the fault of anyone. They weren't trying to spoil the book in any way, it's just the nature of seeing someone who loves a book engage with someone who is going to read it. It started to feel a lot like work and I already struggle with social media (something I am going to work on in 2025).

I do miss keeping an organized spreadsheet of my reading however and an analog journal of my current reads. I have a few ideas for how to reignite this and it includes a printer and a glue stick (more in a post soon).

People say the alternative is The Storygraph. I have tried it and I did enjoy the stats feature, but I am just realizing that I don't care that much about the stats. I reread so often that the stats start to feel like measurements that are quite useless for me personally. I doesn't matter to me how many pages I've read, in what format, in what genre, etc. This is a very individual thing for me. I want to be able to look at my own computer or notebook and review my books and remember how I felt when reading them.

time to delete goodreads for the second time

This could easily turn into a conversation about how much I loathe what Amazon has done to the book industry and how Goodreads is more of a way to study how people read than it is to help you organize your bookish life, but that's an obvious statement at this point. It's simply that I want to go back a time when I could reach on my bedside and "see" what I am working on, own my own thoughts, and not have to wait to log into a device to remember what books I'm reading.

It will take a long time to transfer (probably not that long) my books over to my google spreadsheet, and I will continue to work on this for quite some time. In a dream, I'll add the covers to my steady TBR in the spreadsheet and size them to fit, and take time to reorganize my kindle collections so that when I open my Kindle Fire I can see the pretty covers. 

Here are the sections I want to have in my spreadsheet:

1. Books I own physically
2. Digital books I own (that I don't also own physically)
3. List of books I haven't read
4. Sheet for Thomas Hardy
5. Sheet for Anita Brookner
6. Sheet for Dostoevsky
7. Sheet for Tolstoy
8. Sheet for Baldwin
9. Sheet for Morrison
10. Sheet for seasonal TBRs

That is just a starter. I am sure when I am organizing it, more will come to me. 

I am excited honestly. I have a new journal for reviews, a new journal for favorite quotes, and a stack at my bedside. Let the fun begin.

anita brookner: look at me opening paragraph and novel revisit

my copy i picked up in new york a few weeks ago

In continuation of my Anita Brookner project, I have to resurrect the title I began in May and haven't picked up since! 

Her novels are best when sunken into, so in order to do it justice I needed to clear a few things off my plate first. Now that I have, I am eager to spend my evenings with this great work.

Goodreads summary

A lonely art historian absorbed in her research seizes the opportunity to share in the joys and pleasures of the lives of a glittering couple, only to find her hopes of companionship and happiness shattered.

Opening paragraph:

"Once a thing is know it can never be unknown. It can only be forgotten. And, in a way that bends time, so long as it is remembered, it will indicate the future. It is wiser, in every circumstance, to forget, to cultivate the art of forgetting. To remember is to face the enemy. The truth lies in remembering." 

I'm excited to get back into her world. I always find myself journaling heavily while reading her works. I love how quiet and real her works are. If you've never picked her up, you can start most easily with Hotel Du Lac (her booker prize winner) and you'll know if she is for you. (She has to be!)

my next Anita Brookner novel for may 2024

I've decided to read Anita Brooker's novels in chronological order. 

She demands a lot of me as a reader, but she pays in kind with deeply moving character portrayals, and I am dedicated to reading all of her novels by no later than the middle of next year.

Up next I will be reading Look At Me. 

Book Summary: A lonely art historian absorbed in her research seizes the opportunity to share in the joys and pleasures of the lives of a glittering couple, only to find her hopes of companionship and happiness shattered.

Sometimes I just start one of her novels by reading one paragraph just so that I can "always be reading Brookner". It's how I approach Proust as well. 

Opening line:

Once a thing is know it can never be unknown. It can only be forgotten. And, in a way that bends time, so long as it is remembered, it will indicate the future.

 

Incidents in the Rue Laugier by Anita Brookner: A Book Review

 

What can I say? No one writes into the marrow of relationships (familial and partnerships) in under 250 pages quite like Anita Brookner. She is so masterful at drilling into the experience of her characters, that she demands to be read slowly.

source: BBC

In Incidents in the Rue Laugier, Brookner describes so vividly and emotionally the story of what happens when a young, inexperienced woman goes into the world. Maud seeks independence from her stifling mother, while actually having no one to turn to for any guidance. This spells disaster as Tyler can sense her naiveté. As a man who preys on young women's inexperience, he says and does all the right things for Maud to become ensnared with him.

You can guess what all happens next. Interestingly, THIS isn't the part of the story that sent me reeling. It's Tyler's frenemy- Edward whose character depiction strikes me the most.

Edward is outwardly reliable, definitely not a rake, and seemingly compassionate. What Edward tasks himself with later is seen as less chivalrous, and more self-serving. His insistence on propriety at the expense of his own happiness becomes a weighted blanket in his relationship.

We then see an extreme role reversal. He begins to feel trapped. Maud begins to appreciate that continuity that a husband and her own life can bring- especially when juxtaposed with her life back home with her mother. 

This novel explores family, responsibility, connection, honesty, women's dependence, self-esteem, duty, grief, love, and acceptance in a way that only Anita Brookner can do. 

Brookner condenses stories down to their most important factors and allows the reader to enter safely into the deepest recesses of the hearts and minds of her characters. You can't help but see yourself in most of them, and walk about pondering how/what you would do in the situations she presents on the page.

I will continue to read all of her works. Now I will approach them in chronological order so that no stone remains unturned. 

Quotes from the novel:

But recently I have found myself repeating some of my mother's attitudes- reading, sighing, going to bed early- and I began to wish for clarification.

Like my father I found her apparent serenity irritating, yet I have reached the age when a woman begins to perceive that she is growing into the person whom she least plans to resemble: her mother.

Maud simply wanted to live in Paris, with or without a husband, preferably without. While careful not to let her thoughts show on her severe and slightly disdainful golden face, Maud had a secret desire to escape all forms of control. That was her abiding wish.

Loneliness, he felt, was sometimes the price one paid for integrity. 

Tyler had saddled himself with this girl, Maud, for no other reason that that he was used to being accompanied by a submissive female presence.

Please do yourself a favor if you haven't already and read Incidents in the Rue Laugier. 

Classics I Want to Read in 2024

It's gearing up to be an even busier year than 2023, so I want to have a classic focus for each month and in total a baker's dozen in case things with post-grad school and caregiving go better than I anticipate.

2024

Classics I Want To Read in 2024

Not sure what happened. I read classics all year, but these few evaded me. Will reevaluate the titles. 

1. A Simple Story by Elizabeth Inchbald
2. Moby Dick by Herman Melville 
3. Notes from Underground by Fyodor Dostoevsky
4. Desperate Remedies by Thomas Hardy
5. Villette by Charolette Brontë 
6. Aurora Flyod by Mary Elizabeth Braddon 
7. Deerbrook by Harriet Martineau OR
8. Story of Ivy by Marie Belloc Lowndes

Rereads For 2024

Take this list with a grain of pink himalayan salt because I oftentimes reread the SAME book twice in a year.

1. Persuasion by Jane Austen ✔️ 
2. Jane Eyre by Charolette Brontë (december)
3. Far From the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy ✔️ 
4. War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy ✔️ 
5. The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky ✔️ 

Side Reads for 2024

1. Macbeth by William Shakespeare ✔️ 
2. Clarice Lispector (The Hour of the Star) (december)
3. Anita Brookner ✔️ 
4. James Baldwin (2025)
   
5. Lots of nonfiction ✔️ 

There are no rules for my reading. I just like to feel or learn something that will change or transform me. It's asking a lot from my literature, but it's my time. I can demand from authors in and out of copyright for this very thing. 

September Reading Start: Hot Days + Book Buying

I don't fool myself into doing "book buying bans" or anything like that. Life is hard. My life is really hard and buying and actually READING books brings me so much contentment, I'd never pretend I will stop.

Toying around with returning to BookTube, but in the meantime focusing on managing my schedule and reading as much as I can in my limited free time.

I feel myself in the mood for "page turning" books, but after one or two, I get bored and long for a deep read.

Let me be honest, I ALWAYS have a classic going. Always. 

I'm picking my Anita Brookner project back up with Incidents in the Rue Laugier. So far ( one chapter in) our narrator has announced herself as unreliable. LOVE that. I'll be continuing this challenge until I have her entire oeuvre completed. 

Also, I'm checking off my Classics I Want to Read in 2023. I'd have read more if I weren't constantly rereading - which I will never stop :) 

Here's how the month begins...

August Reading Focus: Classic Literature

August will be a hot, muggy, busy, and stressful month. Going into this acknowledging this, is quite powerful.

Lots of hospital appointments, long nights, and pounds of coffee is on the horizon.

This means... classics and more classics. I have a plan to read and switch between lots of the classics left on my list to read in 2023. This list is as loose as a goose and I don't take any reading plans seriously. I'm not earning karma points for these reads. 

First up on the massive reading mashup is to continue with Mistress and Maid by Dinah Maria Mulock Craik (loving this with all my heart). I will also be starting Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov. And in true me fashion, I'll add some comforting re-reads. Mansfield Park and Thomas Hardy's 1874 novel Far From the Madding Crowd.

What's exciting about my re-reads is that I never tire of looking forward to them. I always finish a re-read by watching my favorite screen adaptation as well. It's a truly comforting and cozy way to enjoy my reading life. 

August classics to start of with

It's book prize season and instead of having FOMO, I am going to focus on the books and authors that bring me joy and comfort. 

OH....and I'll be adding some reads from Anita Brookner as well. I am so happy to get back on my project of reading most of her oeuvre. 

Caught Up On a Sunday: Hot Coffee, Pajamas, and Charged Kindles

The kindle collection is a bit obsessive. It really sucks because Amazon has been annoying me to no end.

I cancelled Kindle Unlimited this past week. Not sure if I will sign back up, but am working to just purchase from authors I enjoy.

My life has been so darn overwhelming and I am making space for my emotional experiences. It hasn't left me in the mood to write things that should be consumed by the public, but alas here we are.

I want to continue to use this 4th iteration of a book blog as a book diary and that means I need to work on capturing my thoughts on what I'm reading and organize it better.

True... this blog doesn't get many readers, but it's purpose is to have a reading diary that I can go back and look at. Perhaps I'll recreate a BookTube channel that will catalog my reads, but until then this is all I have and I will work to invest just a little into it from now on.

Last nite, I cleaned up my currently reading and put a few titles in "soft DNF" status. I just needed to clear them from my "currently reading". I will return to them (I'm looking at you Trollope), but the mental energy to tackle an 820+ page book right now WHILE reading 5-7 others was just too much.

My current classic re-read is Sense and Sensibility. I'm about 25% of the way through. I need to finish it so that I can move onto Mansfield Park in August.

Otherwise, I'm just organizing my book life and making a slight TBR for the second half of July.

I am missing my quiet novels (think Ferrante and Brookner), and am having an overwhelming desire to ONLY read books that feel transformative to me. This may cull the never ending TBR for sure. 

I'm off to finish my second aeropress and read a bit. 

I hope your Sunday is as quiet as mine.

Anita Brookner Project Check In

I love the slow novels of Anita Brookner.

They are deeply character drawn, and honestly feel a bit claustrophobic. They are nonetheless fantastic. 

She has a way of writing that moves me so deeply. 

source: New York Times

Here is my April 2024 Check In

My next Brookner: The 1983 novel Look at Me

isn't this cover sullen?

I've decided that I will read her remaining novels in publication order. I am so excited about this project.

Deep reading through an author's oeuvre is one of my favorite things to do.

Happy reading. ☕️ 

Update: Fall 2023

I won't make myself read in publication date. I've decided to read whichever I'm interested in at the time. You can't go wrong with Brookner. And, even her "miss" is a closer home run in 3/4 of what I read from the contemporary section these days. 

Life's Too Short - DNF City Over Here & Time to Delete

🎶 Know when to hold em, know when to fold em, know when to walk away... 🎶 

Time to go

It will totally come as a surprise if you've been here before, but I DNFed Clarice Lispector's Complete Stories. I also DNFed Anita Brookner's The Debut. Yes. Yes. I am shocked.

I had to rant to a friend about both of these, so now I can just put in simpler terms how I felt. 

There are too many books that I am eager to read to force myself to continue reading ANYTHING that isn't moving or entertaining. 

I do like..

I enjoy discussing my take on books- what I love about them, and all the things, but I'm finding that blogs are just not the space for that.

It takes a great amount of time to write and upkeep the blog. I'm going to turn this site private so that I can have a digital space to keep up with what I'm reading and how I feel about it. 

Now that I have gotten back on Goodreads, I may feel this space (even privately) is unnecessary.

I've also recreated a spreadsheet to keep my books on. I used to do this for years and years and stopped in August of 2022, but will begin again with a new spreadsheet style in January 2023.

Maybe...

Maybe I'll return to BookTube. Maybe I'll return to Bookstagram @CoffeeAndCopyrights - maybe I'll open this blog again? I'm reflecting... 

Day 10: What Am I Reading This Weekend?

This weekend I am taking it easy. I have a few planned nature hikes, extra cups of organic pour overs with thick vegan creamer, and fuzzy socks on the horizon.

This is the time of year that my central nervous system begs me to slow down, and this year I will listen. 

It's time to take a look at all the books on my Kindle Paperwhite and decide which need to focused on.

Currently I'm reading The Debut by Anita Brookner. Up next, I'm also working on d Pachinko by Min Jin Lee. 

THEN for the week of Christmas, I have some light, short KU novellas (before my KU expires), and am in the mood for a short holiday historical- which does happen sometimes at this time of year.

I have read some amazing novels in 2022, and although this was one of the hardest years of my life (and that's saying a lot), I am excited to end the year on a light note.

I truly believe that literature should either transform you or entertain you, otherwise, what's the point?

I have been moved by some great literature this year, and I want to finish this year off with a solid plate of good reads that will entertain me by the Christmas tree light.

If you can, try to infuse your reading at this time of the year with cozy feels:

• grab a hot cup of coffee and settle in with a few chapters
• wear fuzzy socks and turn in early to read
• put your phone on do not disturb mid day and read a chapter or two

I'm definitely taking my own advice. 

Happy reading my cozy slow living friends.

Day 7: A Glance At My December Reads

We are only a week into the month, but it IS the last month of the year. 

It's a time when we all take a glance at what we've read, what we want to read, authors we love and authors we are done trying. 

Well, let me make sure that what is on my reading plate this month reflects novels I want to sink my teeth into as the year closes.

I'm always talking (not really) about how my reading tastes reflect my personal true reading desires now that I'm not making BookTube videos or content online.

I find that I am more settled in my reading and I don't have that, "OH I have to buy/read/review THAT book" feeling anymore. There's nothing wrong with this, but for me it was tedious and a bit exhausting. Couple those feelings with my hectic life, and reading wasn't that fun anymore.

But I digress.... As I refreshed my kindle to the start of Anita Brookner's The Debut, I'm reminded of the giddy and excited feeling that I get when it's time to read yet another great novel.

My December is of to such a great start, and this is the feeling that I'll carry over into 2023;
Less books, but much BETTER books. Better for me. Better according to what I want to get out of literature. And ever so often, I want to pepper my deeper readings with historical romances (I read a few per year), contemporary novels, and nonfiction of all sorts.

Upcoming on my reading plate (but not all at once) I have

Yes, I'm still doing Tome Topple. Yes, I'm taking my time diving into these novels, but there are about 4 weeks left in this year. If I dedicate myself to these possibly transformative works, it will be plenty of time well spent.

Wishing you a great start to your reading month. Be well. 

Books to End 2022: December Reading Plans

my morning practice

I don't use really strict TBRs. I eschew that kind of tightly bound structure in my reading. After all, I'm not in the field of literature, neither am I gunning for the arbitrary title of "most well read" amongst any set of people.

I say it over and over and I'll say it again... I read to be transformed. To be entertained. And to be made anew. 

I reread because revisiting the books that helped me through hard time (hell The Street by Ann Petry) or shaped my empathy for those who cheat (hello Anna Karenina) feel like a warm hug and a freshly hot organic cup of coffee. In essence, it feels delightful.

As 2022 comes to a close, I have so much to reflect on. Not just in my reading, but in my life. This has been one of the hardest years (and if you knew my life's story that statement alone would make you pause).

I deleted Storygraph AND Goodreads initially and lost track of my books. I deleted my spreadsheet and lost track of ALL my books. I've since recreated a spreadsheet and rejoined Goodreads with a fresh and brand new account.

I've assessed my reading and realized with going back to school (NOT for Literature), I won't have nearly as much time for bookish musings, so I will have to choose very, very carefully come next year.

This last month of year will find me indulging in some Kindle Unlimited novels and I am planning to end the year with a reading of Clarice Lispector's The Hour of the Star. I am most excited for this one.

I'm carrying a few over + adding some other entertainment

I Remain in Darkness by Annie Ernaux

The Debut by Anita Brookner

So excited for this one

Black love = sign me up

This cover is stunning

Long biography carry over of my fav

My first Trollope

The Half Life of Valery K

What I'm most excited about for my reading in December

1. To wrap up and move away from Kindle Unlimited reads so that I can focus on my owned books
2. To finish the year with a new to me classic author (Trollope)
3. The few novellas which are great for anxious days
4. Early dark nights ripe for hot decaf and a charged kindle
5. Ending the year with another Anita Brookner novel
6. Balancing what I anticipate to be transformative literature with entertaining reads

It's at this time of year that lots of creators make vlogmas or blogmas. I believe that I will participate in blogmas in an independent sort of way. I have a few things I'd like to write about and novels I'd like to show, and blogmas is a great way to do so. 

This bookish site is meant to be a catalog of my reading life and experience with novels so that I can come back and look at how I felt about what I read. I have a low readership and I appreciate every person who comes by this site. 

I hope that as you design your reads for the end of the year, you focus on what YOU truly want to read and before you participate in all the many readathons set forth by the bookish community, that you check in with yourself and progress along your own personal reading journey. It's all about letting novels (no matter the genre) to change you.

Happy book choosing my deep reading friends. 

November Reading Plans

I am working on continuing to slow down my life. I adhere to a proponent of slow living and I don't read with any yearly goal in mind anymore. My life is very stressful right now, and I've added back in some romance novels and cozy mysteries to the mix it all up. 

This month is all about working deeply on Proust and reading other entertaining novels.

1. The Fugitive Volume VI by Marcel Proust
2. Time Regained Volume VII by Marcel Proust
3. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (thousandth reread)
4. The Hour of the Star by Clarice Lispector
5. The Debut by Anita Brookner
6. New Animal by Ella Baxter
7. Continue with Short Stories 
8. Holiday Cozy Mysteries 
9. Start Holiday Romance/Women's Fiction Novels

Those are my only definite reads, I will be working on other things possibly, but in the meantime I have a new host of novels to choose from.

Wishing you a slow and deep reading November this year.