Bookish (and not so Bookish) Thoughts

 

Apparently we're a once-a-month blog over here, now. Ha! What can I say? Life has been busy and I do what I can, when I can, with what I can. 

I have been reading, albeit at slower pace than the summer since school started. I started the month with a book I'd seen in many places, Remarkably Bright Creatures, and I thought it was okay. I'm sure it would make an adorable movie, super touching and with some great scenes of the PNW, but it just wasn't amazing. The dialogue alone bugged me from the start. Right now I am unfortunately feeling the same way about my current read, Killers of a Certain Age, although with that one I can at least get behind the idea of bringing awareness to certain things our society does to older people. 

I went to the Anthony Doerr reading in Beverly Hills a few weeks ago and he was absolutely delightful. So funny, so smart, it was just a great event. David Ulin from the LA Times interviewed him, whom I have seen several times (and read one of his books), and he was so enjoyable too. It makes for a very late night, but they're often on Thursdays, so I can hang in there on Fridays. 

Speaking of readings, a friend and I are going to hear Celeste Ng speak later this month and I am so excited. I love her first two books and her third just arrived the other day, so I'm hoping to get through it before the event (it will be a bit of a palate cleanser, as well). 

I recently listed to I'm Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy after hearing all the buzz absolutely everywhere. It was the perfect listen- she of course reads it and her whole story is so fascinating. Despite most of the things she focuses on being quite heavy, she still manages to bring light and humor into her story. I had no idea who she was, since I was too old for the iCarly mania, but nonetheless, I was captivated from beginning to end. 

My son has been bugging me for months and months to buy a Switch so I can play Animal Crossing, the one game I have expressed interested in that you can play on it. I finally gave in and it's so funny to see him try to "teach" me to play. He insists the thirty or forty minutes I sit down to play on the couch next to him twice a week or counts as "hanging out time," so I guess it's a win. 

We had family portraits taken for the first time earlier this month and I just got them back last week and love them so much. A friend from work is semi-retired from her photography business but she occasionally will take on a client still, so we totally lucked out. She did an amazing job and I can't wait to get some printed. 

Sawyer has decided on a Halloween costume: Marty McFly, since he's obsessed with those movies. Marty wore A LOT of layers, lemme tell you. Luckily he will be able to wears many of them all fall, so I guess we're killing two birds with one... Halloween costume.

My husband has been in NYC for several days for week and I've had to build in extra time to my daily routines to just check things. He and I are equally paranoid about burners being off, candles blown out, curling irons not plugged in, etc... so I rely on him as my co-fire-started-checker, and now that he's not here I'm on high alert. I know, this sounds super crazy. I have always been very worried about home catastrophes, fire especially, which I blame on the fact that a fire broke out in my parents' home when my mom was pregnant with me. Being scared of fire truly is innate in my case. And, to make matters worse recently, the home around the corner from us burnt down in the middle of the night and I pass by it  daily when I walk (my heart breaks for the family every time I go by it- I was so thankful the neighborhood banded together to help them out, but still... their home is destroyed).

Since we're on the topic of me being witness to devastating things, because that's fun, here's another one. A few weeks ago I was taking my son to swim class and I noticed the husband and young daughter of an old colleague whom I am still friendly with. I saw them ride in front of me... and then cross the street on the other side... and then get hit by a car. It was one of the scariest moments of my life (and Sawyer's). Long story short, while they were hurt, they will be fine and please please please everyone wear helmets.