Bookish (and not so Bookish) Thoughts

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1. I am finishing up Home Fire right now by Kamila Shamsie right now and I absolutely floored. This retelling of Antigone through the lens of ISIS, Islam, and the Muslims in the UK will most definitely make my ten best of the year list. It’s absolutely brilliant.

 2. It was 108 here today and the only reason I’m not going to complain is because there are people who have lost everything in Hurricane Harvey. I will shut my mouth, suck up the AC costs, and be thankful.

3.     I don’t know if I’ll be able to attend, but I signed up for a Jennifer Egan reading in October in LA (don’t worry, I’ll let the organizers know in advance in case I can’t so my seats can be given up). I really enjoyed her last book and am looking forward to her newest one, due out soon (along with so many others this fall!).

4.     I am going to Ikea this weekend. With a three-year-old. Please pray for me.

5.     Last weekend I met up with a friend in Orange County and we finally went to lunch at the Anaheim Packing House, a sort of trendy, foodie, hipster-ish, food court housed in a renovated agricultural facility (see picture above). It was delicious and there were so many options. I’ll definitely be back with my family (they have pizza, so my child will survive the visit).

6.     I submitted paperwork for a $5,000 student loan forgiveness program through the federal government has for teachers and I was pretty sure they wouldn’t approve it, given the fact that they’re not really into helping borrowers any more. I was shocked when it was approved and funded today! I still have a huge chunk to tackle, but this reduced it by 25%, which makes paying it off within the next five years doable.