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It is rare for me that I don’t enjoy a book but for some reason, SISTERS by Lily Tuck got under my skin. I think that might be the point. I don’t know where I heard about or saw this book, but I was driven to read something on a plane ride back from Boulder, CO and I grabbed this at a bookstore when I was wandering around. I like the idea– sisters meaning the first and second wife. In premise, I…

Hey y’all – the year is wrapping up and I find myself intrigued by people’s roundups of reading and such. This is the best one I’ve seen yet: https://shiraerlichman.substack.com/p/my-top-6-novels-of-2024 To boot, I have the Virginia Woolf novel on my shelf and am inspired to dig into it thanks to @shiraerlichman What are you reading?

Been a minute since I was on aeon.co — If you know me, you know I’m an anarchist (anarcho-syndicalist to be precise). This article is a warm and fuzzy explanation of modern day anarchism you may enjoy: https://aeon.co/essays/what-san-francisco-carpooling-tells-us-about-anarchism

I got a lot out of watching this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iyd0ve1B8E4

So these three went back to the library today — The Cat in the Hat was read about 12 or 15 times, Bewilderment was never read beyond the first page, and Slonim Woods 9 got a skim. Slonim Woods 9 is a memoir that relates to the Hulu series Stolen Youth – Inside the Cult at Sarah Lawrence — I watched the documentary earlier in the summer and picked up this memoir from the library to learn further.…

Kicking off summer reading with Fran Lebowitz talking about great writing at The Morgan Library in NYC. A delicious five minutes — I hope you enjoy. Of course, my implicit bias about letter writing continues 😉 Fran Lebowitz on the Process of Great Writing

From the most recent edition of New Yorker magazine, this article inspires me fully to keep throwing those lines on a page… The poet Diane Seuss and I began a recent conversation by talking about the burdens of companionship—or, at least, how those burdens are manifested through affection for a pet. Seuss lost her dog Bear during the pandemic. When we spoke, by phone, she was at home in Michigan…

I was recommended this book by a teenager and am glad I dove in. It’s a gentle read with lots to learn about Oakland, crime, punishment, LGBTQIA+ and everything in between those two domains. A coupla teenagers aboard the 57 bus in Oakland– going to a fro their lives — one lights the other’s skirt on fire — their first interaction, their last. A tragic and telling tale of life in Oakland. I loved…

This article struck me: https://sojo.net/articles/adhd-showed-me-i-wasnt-spiritual-failure I hope you all are doing ok out there ❤

I really enjoyed this article and thought I should share here: https://www.noemamag.com/a-country-shaped-by-poetry/

I thoroughly enjoyed The Woman in Me by Britney Spears. I acquired this from the Woodland Public Library– the queue was very long! I think I was something like the 349th person in line to read this book. It was worth the wait. Reading this book felt like Britney was my gal pal for about 300 pages. She’s so honest, and straight forward, and gentle in her storytelling. I had no idea that Justin…

Well friends, working on a Sunday sucks and yet, we find our joys. Today I’m working on course development for a class I’m actively teaching, which makes me extra anxious. I’ve been trying to pull out a lesson about nootropics — brain enhancing plants — the last several weeks. Today there was a breakthrough. I found this podcast by John Green about a Ginkgo biloba tree and it made all the…

Osborne is new to me– I was recommended to read The Forgiven but started with his most recent novel On Java Road instead. It is his newest book — I borrowed it from the library and am better for reading it. Based on Hong Kong, during the heavy protests about independence, this book kept me engaged. I enjoyed the writing and the story, which is about a lonely(ish) expat journalist who has been in…

An amazing recommendation from my neighbor Diane. On the back of an envelope I wrote, So what do you like to read? We have been connected at least 5 years through the library and somehow this question slipped my mind. We’ve been too busy working for the library and literacy council. She got back with a few recommendations — Italian Shoes coming first. I read it voraciously — please do the same. A…

The Seven Sisters by Lucinda Riley It took a little longer than a month, but I’ve finished reading The Seven Sisters. I enjoyed it but do not think I’ll continue in the series, as the writing style is not for me– it’s just a bit too much. The story kept me interested, the characters are lovely, but I felt like sometimes the writing was — cumbersome, bulky, overdone. However, if you like a good…

I recently read an article in LitHub about the 2023 Best of American Poetry and was inspired to investigate the lineage. The series is new to me so I have put several anthologies on hold at the library and invested in a few – such as this first Best of the Best – from Better World Books. Reading the foreword by Lehman — I’m like, this could be written yesterday- the corporate literature complex…