Bookish (and not so Bookish) Thoughts

195 pages later, I finished my 2019 year in review book and it arrived today. It's my favorite day of January!

Sawyer and I went to check out the Rose Parade floats last year for the third year in a row and I think they were the best yet. Going to the parade is probably a lot of fun, but it also seems like a bit of a nightmare, with all of the parking logistics. This way we get to see everything all at once and it’s fairly easy with the shuttles they have from a nearby City College.

I am obsessed with the podcast To Live and Die in LA, about the disappearance of a model/actress from Macedonia. Neil Strauss, the  man behind it, is actually super fascinating, based on my initial googling of him (my husband has one of his book’s so I probably should start there). Anyway, if you like mysteries, true crime, or just really well-done podcasts, this one is for you!

I love the beginning of the semester when the grading is really light and the kids aren’t panicking about grades or make up work. I get to just enjoy being a teacher! It’s short-lived, of course, but I enjoy it while it lasts. We’re finishing up Sylvia Plath poetry, which we’re all sick of, and then will move on to Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart next.

Half marathon training is kicking my butt. I am religiously sticking to one of Hal Higdon’s plans, which had me running seventeen miles last week and eighteen this week. I know I can’t really complain, since this is a decision I made and is completely optional, but dang, it’s hard to be a working mom and someone who needs to get in miles. The longer runs on the weekends are what kill me, since I’m fairly slow. I’ve decided that when this is over my plan will be simple: two two-mile runs, two three-mile runs, and one five-miler on the weekend. It’s still fifteen miles, but it’s spread out differently. Anything over six and a half is just a struggle right now. I’m sure I’ll be thankful on race day for all the prep, though!

My 2020 reading has been a little slow to start, which is totally fine. I am loving Karen Russel’s Swamplandia! and hope to finish it by the end of this weekend. Julie and I are planning another Blogger Banter with a Zadie Smith book next, so I’m excited for that! Sawyer and I have also started reading the illustrated Harry Potter, which is absolutely beautiful. It’s going to take forever, since we only read a few pages a night, but that’s okay. I told him when we’re done he can finally see the movie, so that’ll be fun too (confession: I own them all but I think I’ve only seen the first three).

I don’t think I mentioned it here, but I just want to publicly proclaim that I though the new Star Wars movie was a dumpster fire. I am enjoying The Mandelorian, though, on Disney+. How can you say no to The Kid (who I will probably always call Baby Yoda, but whatever). I preordered one of the toys from Amazon, which won’t arrive until June, so I’m sure that’ll be a fun surprise in six months when I forget about it.

Colum McCann is coming to town in March to promote his book! I saw him several years ago and really enjoyed his talk, so I am definitely going to try to go to this too. There are so many books coming out this year that I’m excited about, as well as books I recently got for Christmas/with gift cards. A post in and of itself, that’s for sure.

Every time I check Vox or CNN I hold my breath. It’s all bad, all the time, everywhere.