Weekly Reading Recap [November 16th-22nd]
It's been another rough week so, first things first:
I went to the Christmas Tree Festival with my mom and had a blast. Favorites Trees: Captain America Meets Superman, a Wicked tree complete with the Yellow Brick Road, and a cute, miniature Highland Cow tree.
My mom and I also went to see Wicked: For Good together at 9:00am opening day (because I absolutely cannot handle crowded theaters). Did I love the movie? No. The pacing was trash and the new songs were so underwhelming (especially Glinda's--which stopped the momentum of the movie dead in its tracks), but I had fun. It was the twelfth movie I've seen in the theater this year so I got to cross another 2025 goal off my list. Hopefully, I feel up to getting to Running Man next week because I'd rather not miss my boys, Glen Powell and Lee Pace, in the theater. (I did get a free mini Running Man poster when I was at the theater for Wicked though so bonus good thing!)
I'm dying my hair purple at this very moment so I'm going to feel more like myself again!
Now, onto the week. I didn't get much reading done in spite of trying my hardest. I started four different books but didn't manage to get more than fifty pages into any of them. I only finished a fifty page children's book and a graphic novel. Not my best reading week, but oof, I've been dealing with meltdowns, my body being in constant fight-or-flight mode, and generally feeling like I'm going insane.
October and early November fried my brain between the stress about my mom getting Covid, the looming insurance stuff that has to be dealt with every November, the time change, and my routine being all out of whack. The Autism currently thinks I'm being hunted for sport--which is about as fun as you might imagine. I'm going to implement recovery mode and that basically means I'm going to do meditation, journal, play familiar video games, and try to find books to read that won't stress me out. Maybe by next reading recap I'll be doing marginally better. *Fingers Crossed*
The Moomins and the Great Flood by Tove Jansson ~ Technically, the first Moomin book in spite of it being out of print for ages, The Moomins and the Great Flood introduces Moominmamma and Moomintroll as they seek Moominpappa amidst a flood. There are a lot of fantastical characters and dangerous escapades and I had a good time. I prefer it to Comet in Moominland mostly because it's shorter. My ebook was weirdly fucked up (with pages repeating and other oddness) so be aware of that possibility, I guess? 3/5
Angelica and the Bear Prince by Trung Le Nguyen ~ I love Trung Le Nguyen's first graphic novel, The Magic Fish. Unfortunately, Angelica and the Bear Prince isn't quite on the same level. It's a modern retelling of East of the Sun, West of the Moon centered around a community theater of the story and a girl named Jelly who is messaging with the bear costume's fan account. The story is sweet, but its focus on grief felt heavy-handed even for YA. All of the characters use "therapy speak" to talk about their feelings and it made me cringe. If you have a higher tolerance for sappiness this might work better for you. The art was lovely, at least. 3/5
DNFed (Not Including All the Ones I Started)
Wicked by Gregory Maguire ~ This is a DNF for now. I made it 250 pages in, but I just couldn't do it. Hopefully, once I'm feeling better, I can knock out the second half because I did genuinely love the parts that took place at Shiz.
Emily of New Moon by L. M. Montgomery ~ Another DNF for now. At about 50 pages in, I decided the book was too sad. I don't need parental death and orphan stories at the moment.
