Five Things About... Bird by Bird
Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott
Five Things About... The Pull of the Stars
I have always been opposed to doing book-by-book reviews, but I'm a bit burnt out on the lengthy monthly posts, so I'm going to try something a bit different for a bit and see if I like it! I also posting the same reviews on Instagram under @bookishlyboisterous
Pull of the Stars by Emma Donoghue
1. The book is set during the Great Influenza, which was both unsettling given current circumstances, but also made me feel so grateful for how far we’ve come in medicine (GET. YOUR. VACCINE.)
2. The book is set in a Labor/Delivery Ward for infected mothers, which was fascinating and a bit heartbreaking.
3. Politics and religion lurk in the background, but are never the main focus.
4. The power and ability of women is a major thematic concept- I’m here for it!
5. The main character, Julia, is admirable from start to finish- I don’t want to give anything away, but I really enjoyed watching her develop.
All in all, this was a solid read. The writing itself was solid but nothing necessarily unique or innovative, but I thought the story kept me quite invested.
Bookish (and not so Bookish) Thoughts
I started my school year yesterday (we have three teacher work days before the kids start Friday). We haven't had a normal school day since March of 2019, so it all feels so different, but also the same. I have the same students from last year, so I kind of get a redo, which I am so excited about. I haven't met over half of them in person yet, so I truly can't wait. I hope everyone stays healthy- thankfully my district and my son's require masks! I am absolutely exhausted, though, since I am up at 5 to walk the dog and then get myself and Sawyer ready. It will get easier...? Sawyer has to spend five whole days at the place where he will be doing before/after school care, since he doesn't start until Tuesday. He too is so tired, since he hasn't had a full day away from home since before COVID. Lots of adjustments happening!
I get to teach EIGHT books this year, which sounds like a ton, but many are on the shorter side, like The Awakening, Chronicle of a Death Foretold, and Antigone. Two are new to the curriculum, Persepolis and The Namesake. I am big fans of both and can't wait to shake things up a bit. I'm a big fan of most of the books we read, but it will be nice to have a change.
I am yet again reading three books, Emma Donoghue's The Pull of the Stars, being the one I most gravitate to. The fact that it's set during a pandemic is a lit bit unnerving, though. We have enough of that to contend with in real life.
My husband bought the board game Villainous and we tried it out the other night- it's definitely a lot harder than Chutes and Ladders or Trouble with Sawyer! I think the problem was was that I watched a video first and it confused the heck out of me. I'm more of a "read the directions" kind of girl, so once I did that and we started playing it was pretty fun! Lots of little things to do and get used to, but if you're a Disney fan (I really am not) and like board games I definitely recommend it.
If you listed to The Armchair Expert, I just have to say how happy I am for Monica getting to interview Matt Damon. I haven't listened to it yet, but I like her more than Dax, so yay for her.
Summer 2021- What I Did, What I Didn't Do
It's really summer for quite a long time, but once I go back to work it sure as hell doesn't feel like it. This summer was so much better than last year- I am so thankful. It wasn't exactly as productive as I thought, either, but my whole life philosophy is about setting the bar really high for myself so that I can miss it and feel humbled later (or something like that).
What I Did Do:
- I saw lots and lots of friends, both with kids and without, and it was so great. I don't have close family where I live, so the fact that I have hit the friend jackpot is beyond lucky.
- We went to Lake Tahoe for five days, which I hadn't planned on but am insanely glad I decided to do. Sawyer and I had the best time, while being super covid-safe.
- I read something like 19 books so far or something like that
- I taught Sawyer to swim
- I made sure that a few times a week Sawyer practiced his math facts, telling time, and did some comprehension questions (he is a huge reader on his own, but I just want him to practice some skills like summarizing, predicting, inference, etc...)
- I kept exercising and tried to add in more strength training and yoga
- I made sure I didn't lose my kid to screens... he probably played his Switch a little more than he did during the school year, but that's okay!
- I worked on dog training Captain Energy McChewer. She has a long ways to go, but, as long as I don't give her away first, we'll be okay eventually (kidding, kidding)
- A few house things, including a new dishwasher, new shower heads, some tree trimming (done by yours truly), replaced a pool vac, and the shutter guy is coming tomorrow to fix a few broken... shutter parts? I'm sure they have a name.
- Cleaned out closets, went through some cupboards
- Ignored prepping for next school year (that's what the teacher work days are for!)
- Managed to get to some of the fun places we missed, like The Zoo and Knott's before they got too crowded. One of my favorite day trips was down to Torrey Pines to hike and then La Jolla for lunch
- I spent hours a day outside, whether it was twice daily dog walks, almost daily afternoons by the pool, hiking, friend dates, or parks, I got plenty of Vitamin D.
- I finished my Lego Tree house!
- I made some progress on my symbol-a-bool embroidery hoop
- Started feeling better about saying no... No, I don't feel comfortable hanging out with this person and her friend I don't know inside... No, I don't need to feel guilty about initiating contact/dialogue with people I shouldn't have to... No, I am not going to drop everything right this second to go do X, Y, or Z for someone... No, I'm not going to reply to work emails the second they pop up... No, I'm not going to stay in touch with people from the past on social who I think are disrespectful to others... you get the gist. Because I can be opinionated I think people don't realize that I let others take advantage and make me feel guilty, but I do. I have a long ways to go, but I feel tougher.
What I Didn't Do:
- Join MasterClass
- Blog more
- Clean every square inch of my house
- Create new hoops for my Etsy Shop
- Help my son be a better bike rider
- Catch up on my year-in-review book
- Sleep more
- Watch more (seriously, I still haven't finished the Friends Reunion or The Flight Attendant... all I watch if maybe 2 hours a week of The Office so that I can listen to The Office Ladies Podcast)
June Reads
Oh, hey there, stack of twelve books that were read in July. This month was super busy (friends! Travel! Family stuff! House stuff!), but I also spent hours and hours out by the pool with a book in hand. Honestly, minus some anxiety I'm feeling here the last few days of July, it was the best month since... 2019? Whoa.
I feel very much in a rut with monthly reviews. I used to do a paragraph for each book, and then I switched to sort of a more conversational bopping from topic to topic format, and now I am thinking about doing a quick "five things about this book" post for everything I read (it would work with what I do on Instagram, too). I also am welllllll aware that with work starting thing are going to get real crazy, real fast, so I don't know if this is the time to take on a new, self-imposed, blog obligation. But, maybe.
For today, it is what it is...
For Fun:
Andy Weir's Project Hail Mary and Steven Rowley's The Guncle were both perfect, delightful travel and pool books. Neither took themselves too seriously, but weren't total fluff, either.
Delightful Nonfiction:
Charles Wheelan's We Came, We Saw, We Left was a great travel memoir about his family's time spent traveling around the world on a tight budget. Scott Jurek's North about his time traveling the Appalachian Trail was motivational and inspiring.
Social Issues:
Isabel Allende's short memoir about feminism, The Soul of a Woman, was pretty interesting, and her shining personality was prevalent throughout. I learned so much about intersectional feminism with a focus on back women in Ijeoma Oluo's Mediocre and How to Be Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi was extremely thought-provoking and led to a great book club conversation.
Reserved Narration:
Jhumpa Lahiri's Whereabouts and Rachel Cusk's Outline reminded me of each other, in a way. The narrators in each are both reserved middle-aged women in Europe, each struggling with their present states. Cusk focuses more on interaction with others, while Lahiri places. Nonetheless, both are so deliberate and precise in their style.
Short Stories:
I read two short story collections this month, Brandon Taylor's Flithy Animals and Elizabeth McCracken's The Souvenir Museum. Taylor's was much stronger, exploring sexual identity throughout. I thought McCracken's was much more unbalanced, the first part being a bit lackluster.
A Disappointment:
I loved Save Me the Plums by Ruth Reichl, but I was so disappointed by her novel Delicious. It was like a bad Lifetime movie or something...
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