So here we are. The longest month of the year is over. What a terrifying and anxiety-inducing month in the world. It’s been a lot and I am finding myself struggling with understanding how to live in this type of world and the dissonance of the horrifying big and the insignificant-seeming daily life.
For my personal plans, January was a good month, I worked hard to do as much as I could. I had some significant progress and other areas that didn’t move much.
One Big Goal: I did okay on the food this month. Not as well as I would have liked, but not nothing. I found a few vegetable-heavy meals I loved and plan to cook again. I expect this will be an ongoing journey, but at least dipped my toe in.
Progress on the big five:
Y: Lots of progress here, picked one, waiting for them to prep for hoa.
G: progress here too, packed a little and have a plan.
S: progress here with multiple appointments in February.
Sa: so totally did nothing on this one.
D: did TWO trips to the airport!
Three Medium goals:
Started basic skin regimen, not super regular but working on it.
Sort of made an art plan but also signed up for a class.
Did no dance class
Start: Started Stanford class and the Preamble
Stop: Stopped eating in Bed, but not back down to one snapple
Continue: did a little more on the list for trust but not enough
Brave: Sent the email!
I am super proud of all that I did. Good job moving onward, Karen.
Damoff is a truly truly excellent writer. Her characters are the true definition of three-dimensional. They are all flawed and working so hard to become better versions of themselves and jump off the page so well that you find yourself rooting for each of them and missing them so so much when the story is over.
This story is filled with so much trauma and grief. How broken we each are regardless of our upbringing (and sometimes because of our upbringing) and how we internalize so much grief and self-blame/shame even when the things that happen to us aren’t because of us and how much harder that makes it for us to then be in healthy relationships of our own. How do we save ourselves and our families and how to we form healthy marriages and families when we have so much of our own work to do?
I enjoyed every single second I spent with this book. I felt sad, laughed out loud, full of love and full of frustration but most of all I just cheered them on and on hoping for them to get the healing and happy ending they deserved. What a gift when a book can make you cheer for the main characters so much.
with gratitude to netgalley and Simon & Schuster for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review
not sure why i waited so long to read this book. Maybe because I didn’t love Miller’s previous one. But this one was fun and quick even if it was maybe a little too on the nose 🙂
I’ve always been a fan of Hepworth’s novels but this one stands out amongst the others.
There’s no way to finish this book and not to fall completely in love with Mabel and not to find yourself cheering for her, wanting to hug her and apologize to her on behalf of the world and truly cruel people that ruin it.
It’s hard to say that I loved reading this book because so much of it is so sad. So much of it was spent with me trying to jump into the pages of the book and protect Mabel. And also it’s such a sweet, dear, at times funny, and mostly devastating book.
The audio is truly fantastic and brings both of the mabels to life so well. A true gem from Hepsworth.
with gratitude to netgalley and Macmillan Audio for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review
Even though the book in book format was interesting, I really hated the book inside the book and wanted those chapters to end as quickly as possible. And I really loved Samantha’s chapters so for a long time, her chapters are what sustained me.
But then towards the end it all started coming together and loved all of it and found myself admiring how the author brought it into a full circle. I am confident most people will enjoy this one. And the narration was absolutely perfect.
with gratitude to netgalley and Macmillan Audio for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review
With any Jane Harper book you’re guaranteed to read a story seeped in atmosphere and deep in character development. That’s where this author shines and where her novels stand out. In Last One Out, Carralon Ridge, the town, is so atmospheric that it’s a character of its own. The town people’s relationship with the town is a major part of the story.
And so are each of the characters, their history, their connection, their sense of loyalty and betrayal.
On its face this story is not as twisty and interesting as many of Harper’s other novels. But it still has all of her characteristic style so if you go in with the right expectation you will enjoy this story a lot.
And the audio is absolutely excellent, transporting the reader to Australia adding just the right texture to the story.
with gratitude to netgalley and Macmillan Audio for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review
And here we are, the last week of January. I have one more week to try to make some more progress and then we will move to another month. I will say that this setup has both been helping me and is being a bit hard on me. I can’t help but want to rush through all of it and be done so I have nothing to do. But I also know that’s not how life works and several of these are BIG items that will take a lot of time, money, and energy and while they are important, they are not urgent so it’s a good opportunity to learn to take my time here and make slow and steady progres.
Big Goal: I didn’t get to cook a lot more this week because I still had leftovers we ate and also we ordered two nights for different reasons. I still have items at home to cook so I still feel good about this so far. I’ve been mostly making healthy choices and eating a good amount of vegetables.
Progress on the big five:
Y: Still waiting to hear back from hoa but got one more quote and about to get one more. I feel closer to being ready to make a decision and get things moving on this one. Next steps: get final proposal, make a choice, fill out hoa form.
Xóchitl González creates the most memorable characters, and then puts them in an interesting time and location in the middle of interesting conversations. The characters feel so real, they jump out of the book, especially with this excellent narration.
I loved this one even more than usual because it’s about early 2000s in Brooklyn and I was living in Manhattan at the time. And the conversations and settings felt all the more real. Each character is three dimensional and you can’t help but love these characters and see the world a little from their eyes.
Another excellent, excellent offering from Xóchitl González.
with gratitude to netgalley and Macmillan Audio for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review
What a complete fun ride this book was! I love Monaghan’s voice and it shines through in this novel. This is the story of Dolly, a single mom to Gus, competent daughter to a dad who’s set in his ways, and sister to a brother who doesn’t like to leave the front porch (or wear pants), and she has a sister too who lives further away and is not involved enough.
When her childhood house almost burns down, Dolly comes home to help out her Dad for the summer. A chance encounter where she’s helping Stewart (the rich son of the rich family their island is named after) turns into a thing and Dolly gets an offer she can’t refuse because it will mean she can truly help her dad and make sure her house is saved.
And of course things don’t go as planned. There’s so much good in this book but the best part, for me, is what an awesome character Dolly is. She’s strong, kind, capable and will not take crap from anyone. I love her.
Monaghan knows how to write characters and she knows how to do dialogue. She made me laugh and feel so much joy while reading this one.
with gratitude to netgalley and G.P. Putnam’s Sons for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review
So the story is still out on this Grain Bowl. A handful of things: the sweet potatoes and beets were PITA to peel. The wild rice was PITA to cook. But then it was all delicious once I cooked it. And the pistachios added just the right crunch.
But then, that night I woke up with a sharp back pain and violently vomited all this up. So there’s that.
I thought it might be fun to catalog and keep track of food that I cooked so that I could have a list of recipes I like to be able to come back to when I want.
This Sheet Pan Ratatouille involved a bunch of chopping and sitting around while the veggies roast but other than that it was super easy to make and incredibly tasty.
