silent sunday : bashō

second oatmilk coffee at home

Sitting quietly,

doing nothing,

Spring comes,

and the grass grows, by itself. 

Bashō

.10 category romance between medical appointments

Late icy drive ride to the hospital for a medical appointment for my daughter. It's that time of year that just makes you feel a little bit sad.

When I am feeling too overwhelmed, I scroll through my kindle and grab one of my category romances.

This week I have extra cups of pour over with my new locally roasted single origin and read any and everything that I feel that calls to me. 

I'm having some problems sleeping and I just grab a romance or lighter read in the nighttime (Hello Barbara Pym :).

cw: anxiety, panic attacks
spoke too soon: dnf @43%
not the book- it's me i struggle
so much with contemporary fiction 

So far, I am remembering how great some authors write for Harlequin. It's so nice to have a book going that is just entertaining. I am loving it.

Off to relax after this long day. 

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. 

2024 Reading Intentions

I love a good goal. :) However, setting intentions is so much better. It's an energetic exchange. A crafting of a lifestyle...

As a quiet, coffee drinking, multi-book at-a-time reader, I have some intentions for 2024.

Intentions for my 2024 reading life...

1. Re-read to my heart's content. Who cares what's newly published. If I want to re-read the SAME novels. I shall continue to do so. (Hello Persuasion, I shall re-read you for the umpteenth time this Winter, along with Anna Karenina).
2. Always have a classic re-read AND new classic read going. I basically re-read the same classics every year, and I will make sure to always have one going.
3. Stop leaving Goodreads word reviews. The time it takes to write my review on Goodreads, I could be writing it here on my own blog. 

My one true quest is for a quiet and calm reading year. 

quiet + calm day

.06 jan - two coffees & new reads

 

at the bottom of the second coffee cup

I'm reading every and anything these days, but am loving deeply moving reads.

Marzahn, Mon Amour is starting off as a tenderly reflective novel and I am enjoying this snowy day curled up with it on kindle. 

Katja Oskamp

Katja Oskamp (author of Marzahn, Mon Amour), is a German writer who grew up in Berlin, and I am just loving this novel so far. 

Opening lines:

"The middle years, when you're neither young nor old, are fuzzy years. You can no longer see the shore you started from, but you can't yet get a clear enough view of the shore you're heading for. You spend these years thrashing about in the middle of a bike lake, out of breath, flagging from the tedium of swimming." 

I'm off for an afternoon of reading and relaxing as the snow falls. My quest for a quiet 2024 is off to decent start. 

Hello 2024. My Reading Life Comforts Me

If you've read even one post on here you know that my life has been pretty hectic in the past few years. Caregiving. Illness. Hospitals. Medicines. Surgeries. 

I find so much comfort in reading, and every time I think of returning to BookTube, I pause and sit back and realize that it will only be adding to my ever busy plate, and serve as a distratcion.

I've found myself watching less and less BookTube as well, and tuning in to the channels that are quiet and consistent. That's what I hope to bring to the space when I do eventually return.

As of now, I'll set some reading intentions for 2024 in a future post, but I have initial thoughts about how the reading year has begun.

Thoughts as the year begins

1. I really love reading lots of books at one time. Dipping in and out of stories, pulling the threads of the narrative back to my conscious mind- all are so fun.
2. I never thought I could/ would DNF as much as I do now. Is it fair? Well, it is to me. Maybe I'm missing out on a story that will turn around, but for me- there are millions of books and I don't have millions of days to read them.
3. I love my kindles even more than I did in years prior. I didn't think it was possible, yet here we are. I am surrounded my e-readers and my strained eyes thank me every day. I ignore the glossy covers shown all day on social media, and rest in MY truth which is that I love to read while lying down and my eyes are happy not to strain to do it.

making my way slowly thru this memoir

Enjoying my quiet reading at the end of stressful days. Sinking into an intense literary fiction, or trying to distract myself with more mainstream fiction (even if I DNF after 50 pages) has been so comforting to me.

I am seeking comfort, solace, and peace in this new year. I hope I find it; and, if you are in need of some as well, I hope you can find a slice of comfort in your next chapter.

Happy reading and Happy 2024. 

When I Can't Sleep, I Download Books

I've purchased a few physical editions of books I have given away (Pride and Prejudice, Far From the Madding Crowd, etc.) and when I can't sleep at night (which seems to be every night), I buy books :)

Coffee. My best friend. My soul mate.

inside is a freshly poured over light roast 

2 reading weeks left in the year. I don't rush my reading. I don't make myself finish anything, but I have downloaded some KU novellas to get me through the long, worry filled, anxious nights.

Happy reading.

The Bee Sting by Paul Murray : Book Review

my new hardback copy
consult trigger warnings for this read

Here's the shortest 5 star review: I bought a physical copy of this novel for my shelf!!! I own less than 30 books, so that tells you something.

I'll do my best to put my feelings about this novel into words. This is definitely a time when having a BookTube channel would be beneficial. I spoke my feelings about this novel out loud to my daughter as soon as I was finished reading it- I just HAD to say something immediately.

This intergenerational family saga captures ALL of what is universal to the human experience:

• longing
• love
• secrets
• infatuation
• desperation

The Bee Sting is so wonderfully done from the different POVs of the main characters within this family. Each family members is fully formed, deeply drawn, and their characters are well and truly fleshed out. I could see and feel into the soul's of each of these family members.

I loathe spoilers, so without any details let me say that I found myself crying during several points in this novel.

If anything this novel reads as a cautionary tale of what can happen when parents don't actually pay attention to their children's lives; what happens when women are in marriages without a deep sense of self; and what happens to unprotected children both emotionally and physically. 

Every time I consider that I should stop following book prizes and only read classics, a novel like this crosses my life and changes my mind completely. 

The Bee Sting is 656 pages of seriously well written, well developed characterization and story telling that will make you question so much about how you have experienced the world. 

This happened to me before with Claire Fuller's Unsettled Ground. This novel was shortlisted for the Women's Prize and it won the Costa Novel Award in 2021.

a favorite read of 2021

I feel like I need to sit with this novel for longer and then I will come back and give a more coherent review.

December Classics: Reflective Winter Reads

Let me end the year reading a few holiday cute reads, and deeply reflecting on the human experience via the writings of two of my favorite male authors. Baldwin + Dostoevsky.

This is my favorite time of year to add a dash of nutmeg to my cold brew (I make my own) and enjoy it extra hot with extra creamy vegan milk and settle in at night by the Christmas tree lights with a good book (or 5) on kindle.

After reviewing my classics I wanted to read and reread in 2023, I decided to end the year with these two.

Honestly, Baldwin has some of the most beautiful writing I've ever read (hello Giovanni's Room), and no other makes me feel so deeply connected to the psychological experience of being human like Dostoevsky.

I'll also be enjoying some KU holiday reads (I resubscribed for a few months with a Black Friday deal). I hadn't been using KU at all and always dnfing the books so I deleted it until the deal they offered made it a no brainer to resub whether I use it or not.

it's always a good time
to read baldwin

I am considering having a Baldwin readalong in 2024- I'll keep you posted about it. 

nothing says "reflective" like
reading the philosophy of dostoevsky

This is one of Dostoevsky's shorter works and I will round my classics reading year out with this one.

Will I be rereading this Winter?

Of course I will!!! I am rereading Pride and Prejudice. I didn't think that I would read it again this year, but I really felt inspired to do so, so I began it last week and the comfort I feel when I go back to Longbourn with the Bennets is priceless. 

If you have classics on your TBR for 2023, it's not to late to start them. Who cares about finishing them by January 1st! We don't read for Goodreads goals or numbers, we read to be changed by literature.

Happy coffee brewing and deep reading. 

Hot Coffee and Reading Late At Nite

Busy days, cold days, cloudy days = reading and more coffee.

The more coffee I drink, the harder it is to go to sleep ... obviously... but I can't stop drinking it :)

I've acquired quite a few titles, but I won't detail them here. I'll just talk about what I've been reading.

Bought a Kindle Scribe (will talk about it this week). I actually do love it. I got it on the Black Friday sale and it is fantastic! As a kindle lover, this was the next logical step for me.

always with coffee

In truth, I've been reading The Bee Sting. It is a physically and emotionally uncomfortable read. It's quite a long book and there is A LOT going on in this one.

I attended The Booker Prize live show for the announcement and the winner. Spoiler alert: It's Prophet Song. A novel I own on kindle, but may be avoiding due to the violence depicted in it. I'm exhausted at this time of year, and not in the mood for that.

new scribe

Alas, attending the event was sort of exciting, even though I don't buy into the "book prize" world. Just seeing how much excitement goes into it is a bit contagious. 

As the end of the year approaches I will be posting more so that I can keep up (in the future) with what I was reading and loving during 2023. I'll also be posting about what I want to read in 204 and my favorites from this year.

My blog has very low readership. I keep it as an online diary for myself. I know it can seem crazy, but in truth it's okay to capture things JUST for yourself even if no other person will see or comment on it. (If a tree falls in the forest and there's no one to hear it, does it even make a sound?--- my answer: yes).

I imagine a day about 15 years from now, and I am scrolling back through photos and videos of my reading life from this phase of my development. THAT is what keeps me updating here. 

Time to gear up for my week of posting all of my bookish thoughts for my future self!