changes

Read aloud with my son.

Probably took a year and a half to get through the whole trilogy? I’ll have to check back in my notes if I can figure it out, because I haven’t been keeping a good reading log these past few years.

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Standalone post link: Reading Log: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

This is such a rich, enjoyable book, I almost started at the beginning again right after finishing.

Instead I started on To the Lighthouse. Virginia Woolf is now my favorite writer of the moment. I feel stupid that I haven’t read anything by her until now, and a little more grumpy at a couple of my old English teachers and professors for some of the other things they skipped Woolf to have me read instead…

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I read the Standard Ebooks edition, available here: https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/virginia-woolf/orlando

Standalone post link: Reading Log: Orlando

chef’s kiss emoji

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I read the Standard Ebooks edition, available here: https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/virginia-woolf/to-the-lighthouse

Read:

• “I Actually Went to the Lighthouse” by Patricia Lockwood

Standalone post link: Reading Log: To the Lighthouse

I get so angry at terrible adults in middle grade novels - i have no patience for it and want the kids to start fighting back immediately. It takes her awhile but this girl finally pushes back spectacularly.

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Standalone post link: Reading Log: Starfish

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Standalone post link: Reading Log: Blackouts

Fipps has mastered the novel as an empathy-building machine, for sure.

Characters young and old who exemplify how to be a friend and helper as well as how not to be. Her free verse makes for an easy entry-point to an undaunting read. Serious subjects but so accessible; hard things not played for melodrama or exploitation.

Makes me want to be a better community member and friend to people. First thing I looked up this morning after finishing the book late last was discovering if there are little free pantries already in my community I could donate to - I love the idea of a place for sharing and taking with no intermediary, no questions asked, no “accountability” or “relationship” required to get the help that you need.

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Standalone post link: Reading Log: And Then, BOOM!

Read the first half of this in one day about a month ago - not sure why I let it slip, but now I’m back to it and finishing it. Need to buy a copy of it.

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2024-05-10 :

It was on the April Poetry Month display at the Holladay Library and I’d heard of it and decided to grab it. Took me a while to open it up (obviously, since it’s not April anymore) but I’m very glad I did.

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Standalone post link: Reading Log: The World Keeps Ending, and the World Goes On

(I guess I put everything in the genre tag now, feels less auspicious.)

Should write a real review for granitemedia.org, but until then I’ll just say I quite enjoyed this, a really strong book. Highly recommended for readers of Kwame Alexander and Jason Reynolds, and it holds its own among their work.

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Standalone post link: Reading Log: Mid-Air

Orlando vibes, Kafka vibes, fun weirdness vibes. I will likely be reading more of Oyeyemi, and the other writers she mentions in interviews (linked after the “more” jump.)

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2024-06-18

Threatened at knifepoint: “Write your Prague novel this year!”

Write or die: Is that the kind of pressure I need to write something? Would it work for me?

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Interviews I read:

• Helen Oyeyemi: ‘I like other humans mediated through art’ | Helen Oyeyemi | The Guardian
• Helen Oyeyemi Thinks We Should Read More and Stay in Touch Less | The New Yorker (behind paywall, but I have Apple News+ for some reason)

Standalone post link: Reading Log: Parasol Against the Axe

Fun, adventurous story, art is excellent, themes and message are amazing.

Need to write a real review soon. I’m always saying that.

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Standalone post link: Reading Log: Plain Jane and the Mermaid