Bookish (and not so Bookish) Thoughts

[maybe if we ignored Waldo's passive aggressive hiding he'd stop doing it]

This is long because I wasn’t able to post last week and have just been sort of adding to this list for awhile. Brace yourself, you’ve been warned!

Sawyer and I have started listening to a Halloween song playlist in the car and one of the songs in “Thriller.” I decided to show him the video, completely not considering how scary his might find it… let’s just say he absolutely lost it, was up with nightmares, and has talked nonstop about it. I think I’ve gotten things under control with an elaborate story about how the Star Wars character could totally take on a werewolf in two seconds flat, but if I could go back in time and undo that misguided attempt at showing it to him I would. I feel really bad.

Bill Bryson’s newest book, out later this month, called the Body: A Guide for Occupants, looks totally fascinating. I’ve listened to a few of his more outdoorsy books and I adore him.

The other day my students were having a class discussion to culminate our study of Macbeth and within the course of the day different periods managed to make comparisons to The Office, Britney Spears, and Mean Girls. This is why I love my job.

Because we’re at the end of a unit of study, I am DROWNING in papers to grade. I have done a really good job of staying on top of everything this semester but after being sick for nearly a week and everything being due, I’m totally screwed. Luckily I have a few chunk of available time this week because of some scheduling changes for Homecoming, but I hate feeling so behind when I’ve been doing so well.

I’ve started Ann Patchett’s newest novel, The Dutch House, and I’m really not sure what to expect. I despise the cover and I tend to balk at anything that might possibly fall under the historical fiction umbrella. But… it’s Ann! I’d read a book about moth balls if she wrote it.

I did a bad thing… but it felt so good. I received an email from UCLA’s CAP program notifying me that my beloved Samin Nosrat was going to be giving a talk there later this month, but I was totally horrified at the ticket price. Usually I’ll pay up to maybe $30 for a book-related talk, since I understand organizations have to pay for venues, security, insurance, the author’s fees, etc… These tickets definitely surpassed my limit and I’ve been really, really mindful of my budget lately. But it’s Samin! Star of one of my favorite Netflix series, the chef behind the best chocolate cake I’ve ever made, and the author of one of the few cookbooks I’ve ever read cover-to-cover. Not to mention that the date she’s in LA is the Sunday night before an insanely crazy week. After accepting it wasn’t going to work for a full twenty-four hours I pulled the plug (or more the like pulled the Visa out of my wallet).

I really wish that Instagram wouldn’t put that stupid green ring around stories that you mark for “close friends” only. It makes it weird if you include someone that maybe really isn’t a close friend but- anyway, social media whining aside, you get the picture. Green ring dumb.

I bought Jenga a week ago and I’ve already played more games of it in ten days than in my entire life combined. Sawyer is actually pretty good, which shouldn’t surprise me since his manual dexterity is pretty decent (thanks to his hardcore LEGO ways since he was about fourteen months old). I love that we can start getting into more fun board games now and I’m counting the years until we can play Scrabble and Yahtzee.

My husband recently told me about Mark Danielewski’s newest book, The Little Blue Kite, and it sounds really fascinating (I’ve never read any of his books, but House of Leaves is on my “someday” list and I definitely appreciate experimental fiction). Basically, there are three ways you can read this novella; by two different color patterns, and then in its entirety. There are so many books coming out in the next two months… I don’t know how I’m going to cope.

Because I want to read all of the books, that leaves me with few options for listening on Audible. I’ve been really stumped for this month’s selection; everything I consider I decide I’d rather read the print version instead. I thought about Demi Moore’s newest book, but I’ve never been terribly invested in her career. I tend to listen to memoirs, essays, self-help, or mysteries, so if you have a suggestion I’m open!

Hillary and Chelsea Clinton are doing an event in November in LA to publicize their new book that focuses on notable women, and I really considered going but at the end of the day I don’t want to hear either of them talk about others. I want the dirt on their own lives! And for $42, on a school night, in LA, I had to make the hard, hard choice to pass. At least for now…. Because you never know when I’ll change my mind. [ETA- I’ve been sitting with this for like five hours now and am more so conflicted… will I ever get to see the first woman who really committed to running for president? She’s an important historical figure…. And it is my birthday month…)

We finally finished watching the new installment of Veronica Mars and I was pretty underwhelmed with most of the episodes and totally pissed at the ending.