I like too many things

Five postcards heading to North Carolina! Cal Cunningham’s name is on the campaign, but it’s one urging voters to vote Democrat up and down the ballot. North Carolina is a true swing state that is ready for change! . . Suddenly I am sitting on a whole stack of postcards I have made for Vote by Mail and am not sure if I should use. I definitely held them back for this campaign, as the scripts had no mention of absentee voting. I don’t know if Postcards to Voters is done with Florida Vote By Mail for this election cycle or just taking a break, but hopefully there are still campaigns that will urge people to request ballots by mail! (I do know deadlines are getting close!) or I don’t know what I will do with all those. . #postcardstovoters #postcards #calfornc #voteforalldems #bluewave #defenddemocracy #craftivism #gotv #getoutthevote #beavoter https://www.instagram.com/p/CFPeQ37g_FY/?igshid=m7sz0iqi71jr

Don’t forget — fall is a great time to read a good book about overthrowing a corrupt empire! . . #dancingstarpress #micropresslife #sfnovella #aruinofshadows #ldlewis #shewhohearsallwhispers #davaunsanders #blacksff #fantasynovella #olderwomenprotagonists #blackwomenbookcovers https://www.instagram.com/p/CFK6KLAA_C5/?igshid=1wllaxnz47b0o

More #bookmail! This one was also a kickstarter project from @neonhemlock. The concept is post-apocalyptic stories centering queer joy and communities, and who doesn’t need more of that? The author list has a nice mix of authors I am already super into, authors I am just getting into, and authors I have barely or never heard of, so I am optimistic. . . #glitterandashes #neonhemlock #sfanthology #jordankurella #ldlewis #darcielittlebadger #mariness #izzywasserstein #postapocalyptic https://www.instagram.com/p/CFINfF0gPbG/?igshid=10xk3yionntpz

Weekend reading goals! I am a couple of chapters into both of these, and am hoping to carve out the time to finish one or both of these this weekend. After this week of figuring out distance learning and literally fighting to adjust my kid’s sleep schedule — I deserve it! . . #weekendreading #spineless #juliberwald #thedeep #riverssolomon https://www.instagram.com/p/CFCuEILApqX/?igshid=1ce42177k8pc8

Five more for Amy McGrath! Writing five of these a day is feeling very doable, but if I am going to keep up this pace I am going to have to start making these postcards in bigger batches! . . #postcardstovoters #postcards #defenddemocracy #amymcgrathforsenate #rebuildky #gotv #getoutthevote #bluewave #ditchmitch https://www.instagram.com/p/CE9kFmIgSVJ/?igshid=ngw8pwyja9cs

Five for Amy McGrath! This may be one of the most important races in the country this year. I am excited to have another chance to write for this campaign. . . #postcardstovoters #postcardactivism #craftivism #gotv #getoutthevote #beavoter #bluewave #defenddemocracy #rebuildky #ditchmitch https://www.instagram.com/p/CE4S2TAA0nj/?igshid=pajthscplaaj

It’s been a weekend of postcarding! After tearing through the 100 postcards for Moms Rising, I picked up a list of 31 (?) addresses for Biden/Harris in Pennsylvania through @womensmarch. It feels like a good use for my holiday weekend! These gorgeous postcards are from @duenorthstationery. I know I usually make my own, but I just couldn’t resist these! . . #postcardactivism #beavoter #getoutthevote #gotv #bluewave #defenddemocracy #womensmarchaction #duenorthstationery #vote #voteblue2020 https://www.instagram.com/p/CE16LrkAY1-/?igshid=19pwk8of8c6mc

I was so delighted to find this on the shelves at my local bookstore! My family loves this movie, and it hadn’t occurred to me that it was based off of a book, though maybe it should have! I brought it home and put it on our bedtime story shelf, and without hesitation my youngest picked it for his next read. We started it last night and already understand new things about the movie we never knew! . . #kikisdeliveryservice #eikokadono #emilybalistrieri #womenintranslation #translatedfromjapanese #translatedfiction #bedtimestory #readaloud #familystorytime https://www.instagram.com/p/CEuaZ0mgJo3/?igshid=j65n7kg6a1uw

In the interest of making myself leas anxious, I decided to limit my #septembertbr to three #scienceseptember reads: 🐙 SPINELESS by Juli Berwald 🦠 AN ELEGANT DEFENSE by Matt Richtel 🔎 AN ANTHROPOLOGIST ON MARS by Oliver Sacks . . Three books from South America for #readtheworld21: 🔥 THINGS WE LOST IN THE FIRE by Mariana Enriquez 👣HOPSCOTCH bu Julio Cortázar 💎 THE CHANDELIER by Clarice Lispector . . And one sci-fi pick: 🧜🏿‍♀️THE DEEP by Rivers Solomon, et.al. . . As usual, my monthly tbrs are aspirational, and are most just to inspire me as a choose new books to read during the month. I remain a mood reader. BUT, I am really hoping to get a few science books in this month, it’s been too long! . . What are you looking forward to this month? . . #tbr #hopscotch #juliocortázar #thedeep #riverssolomon #thechandelier #claricelispector #thingswelostinthefire #marianaenriquez #ananthropologistonmars #oliversacks #anelegantdefense #mattrichtel #spineless #juliberwald https://www.instagram.com/p/CEpUbGWgm-_/?igshid=139l6rmbu1a5c

Ten vote by mail postcards going out in the mail to Florida today! Five Saturday night and five Sunday, so I am keeping up with my goal on nights that Abby has a campaign ready! I feel like I have really gotten into manufacturing mode with this style of postcard. Let’s see how long I can keep up this pace! . . #postcardstovoters #postcards #votebymail #floridavbm #craftivism #getoutthevote #beavoter #gotv #yourvoteisyourvoice https://www.instagram.com/p/CEjtE3yAu0a/?igshid=1my10u2df5h6i

Five more for Alyse! This at least is one thing I can do at the end of the day when I have no more capacity for braining but am not yet ready to go to bed. Sending these out in the morning feels like sending out a little bit of hope and love into the world. . . #postcardstovoters #postcards #gotv #getoutthevote #beavoter #defenddemocracy #alyse4alaska #craftivism https://www.instagram.com/p/CEenV7JgKjh/?igshid=1lpgz9o3ckrcu

Five postcards for #alyse4alaska out today! I am committing to my homemade “washi tapes” and had fun playing around with them. Also with my new speech bubble stickers I found on etsy! I am going to try to commit to five postcards a day until the election, in addition to our semi-weekly postcard parties. We will see, I already have too many projects on my plate as it is! . . #postcardstovoters #postcards #craftivism #defenddemocracy #getoutthevote #votebymail #gotv https://www.instagram.com/p/CEZM6wcAgzZ/?igshid=s6uedlaplv0v

So, I was planning to do a post today of books I had read and loved from South America (for next month’s #readtheworld21 challenge), but when I went to pull them I realized I had lent away too many of my faves. So instead, the stack of books I will be pulling from for my September TBR. Five books of fiction from South America, four of which are #womenintranslation! One book of Latin American history. Two from Chile, one from Brazil, two from Argentina (Cortázar spent a lot of time in Europe, as well). Two of these books are new to my shelves, the rest have been there for a while. Of course I want to read all of them! But I will probably be pleased if I finish even one. Which of these do you think should be at the top of my list? . . And yeah, I am too fond of a vignette filter, sorry. . . #tbr #theremainder #aliatrabucco #thechandelier #claricelispector #hopscotch #juliocortázar #thehouseofthespirits #isabelallende #thingswelostinthefire #marianaenriquez #thelastcolonialmassacre #greggrandin https://www.instagram.com/p/CEUYwOsgl2V/?igshid=1hjoo5u18cvtf

So this month I participated in the new #witmonth book exchange! I have been curious about this book for a LONG time, so I am delighted my gifter picked this for me! I sent my giftee THE TEN LOVES OF NISHINO because she said she loved Tove Jansson and Banana Yoshimoto. I hope she loves it! . . Seriously though, picking up this book was CURSED. Because my gifter was international, I told her she should just order the book to be held behind the counter at my local bookstore, that way she wouldn’t have to pay ANY shipping, let alone international shipping. So the first time I went to pick it up, I got overexcited about my first time alone in a bookstore since the pandemic started that I spent so much time shopping I forgot to ask about the order. Not a HUGE deal, but the bookstore is about 20 minutes away, so that means I have to carve at least an hour out of my life again sometime when I already feel behind on everything. Still, new book, so definitely worth it. A few days later I go back and as I am getting out of my car I go to pull up the email with the order number, by email program is... empty. But it says it is downloading them, so I wander around the store for a while to give it time to grab them. Finally I give up and go to the counter anyway, hoping she’s put the book under my name. But she hasn’t, and I can’t remember enough details to figure it out, so I leave to finish my errands and go home. Where I decide it’s ridiculous to drag this out another day, pull up the order number and my gifter’s full name and go old school and write them down on a piece of paper and drive all the way back out there. . . But yay! Now I have my book! Hopefully my giftee gets hers with less drama! . . #thingswelostinthefire #marianaenriquez #womenintranslation https://www.instagram.com/p/CEHtmpCA7TZ/?igshid=131pbn9xa5w56

My first batch of #postcardstovoters in a long while! Mostly just magazine pictures with washi tapes from @marylikespostcards. One experiment with homemade “tape,” but since I was writing Florida Cote by Mail, it seemed obvious to use my new Vote by Mail tape! . . I wish I could figure out how to keep my postcards from curling up! I pressed these under stacks of books for WEEKS, but as soon as I took them out they curled right up again. 😕 . . #postcards #postcardactivism #craftivism #getoutthevote #votebymail https://www.instagram.com/p/CEFcK4BJ-XY/?igshid=opltt8wdj29v

This #bookhaul is fully ridiculous, especially considering how little reading I’ve been getting done. Sometimes I go to the bookstore and can barely commit to a single book. Today was not one of those days. . . Actually, I went to pick up the book from my #witmonth book exchange, got immersed in shopping, then left without picking up the book. I guess I will have to go back in a few days? I did made a few other witmonth selections, though — THE CHANDELIER by Clarice Lispector, and HAPPINESS, AS SUCH by Natalia Ginzburg. Funnily enough, I think I bought my first book by both of them during last year’s Women in Translation month. . . I have been super into baking doughnuts lately, and have been plowing through random recipes on Pinterest, so this DOUGHNUTS cookbook seemed like the obvious next step. . . Pretty much everything else was an impulse purchase. It was my first post-quarantine bookstore trip without my kids, and I guess I got a little carried away. But I had been waiting for THE DEEP to come out in paperback, and my cousin had just been telling me how mush she loved GAUDY NIGHT. And I have heard so many good things about MEM, finding a used copy in such good condition was a delight. And SHAME was maybe because this month’s read the world challenge is India. Which leaves INTIMATIONS, which I picked up because it was tiny and also Zadie Smith and it sounded fascinating. . . I need a readathon, or to declare one of my own, and soon. . . #gaudynight #dorothylsayers #zadiesmith #intimations #happinessassuch #nataliaginzburg #thechandelier #claricelispector #shame #salmanrushdie #thedeep #riverssolomon #mem #bethanycmorrow #doughnuts #laraferroni https://www.instagram.com/p/CD7SSQ3ATBH/?igshid=2vngifugj6yt

Okay, so I know I have lost my reading mojo for a while and every monthly tbr I set ends in disappointment, BUT people (@end.notes) have been posting their #scienceseptember stacks already and I got very excited. So here is a stack of some of the unread science nonfiction laying around my house. About half recent(ish) purchases, half that has been laying around A WHILE. This isn’t my TBR yet, I will probably post a related version of this when September actually starts, but I think I will leave this stack out as inspiration and to tinker with. . . I am really itching to go book shopping now. . . #nonfiction #sciencebooks #tbr #howtobuildadinosaur #jackhorner #ananthropologistonmars #oliversacks #themysteriousworldofrays #friedrichlorenz #thebutcheringart #lindseyfitzharris #afeelingfortheorganism #evelynfoxkeller #anelegantdefense #mattrichtel #theproteuseffect #annbparson #spineless #juliberwald #cosmos #carlsagan https://www.instagram.com/p/CDxHrw1gMpP/?igshid=1hpcmavxn89x4