Read

• Record of a Spaceborn Few by Becky Chambers, the third book in The Wayfarers’ Series. I may have even liked this one the best of all three but I’m not sure.  It’s definitely tied with the second book which I also read this month.
• Address Unknown by Katherine Kressman Taylor. WOW! This read is only about 76 pages (including the Afterword) and was initially published in 1938.  It’s releasing again in June. Everyone should read this book! Thanks to Ecco for the advanced reader’s copy.
• How to Be Fine by Jolenta Greenberg and Kristen Meinzer.  I bought this book when they were featured on The Modern Mrs. Darcy’s Stay at Home Book Tour last year.  The premise is that Greenberg and Meinzer spent a number of years, living by the premise of 50 self-help books, a great number of which I have read. My take-away? It’s time to stop reading and purchasing so many self-help books and put the ones that I have loved into action.
• A Spindle Splintered by Alix E. Harrow. This is a novella by one of my must-read authors. I love how Harrow examines the fairy tale of Sleeping Beauty and reimagines it in an interesting way.  I also love how I can tell that she has done her research while it’s not academic at all. Spindle releases October 5.  Thanks to Tordotcom and Netgalley for the Advanced Reader’s Copy. I have pre-ordered.
• The Comfort Book by Matt Haig. My second 5-star read of the year. I love how comforting this book is. I highlighted and annotated this advanced reader’s copy so much. And who couldn’t use a comfort book this year? I have preordered this one so that I can dip in and out of it whenever I wanto to. Thanks to the Penguin Life and Netgalley for the Advanced Reader’s Copy.
• Deep Work by Cal Newport. This was on my Unread Shelf taunting me so I finally buckled down and finished it.  Interesting insights that I hope I can implement in doing my work.
• Binti by Nnedi Okorafor. This is a sci-fi/fantasy. I’m still confused sometimes by these two genre: which is which? Can they be combined?  Binti was a novella. Other readers have really enjoyed this; I was confused by what was happening.
• The Artist’s Journey by Steven Pressfield. Another volume taunting me on my Unread Shelf.  I enjoyed Pressfield’s Do the Work and The War of Art more.
• Professional Troublemaker: The Fear Fighter Manual by Luvvie Ajayi Jones. This is one of those self-help books that I was referring to earlier.  A different take on something that I’ve read a lot about. Jones has a different style and vibe which I am sure will appeal to some. I am sure that this will be helpful to a lot of people. Thanks to Penguin Life and Netgalley for the advanced copy even though I read it after it was released. Oh well!
• Running Down a Dream: Your Road Map to Winning Creative Battles by Tim Grahl. Another one of those self-helps.  Not sure what this is saying about me. LOL.
• The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner. This was my Book of the Month selection for March.  I got it because it seemed to have everything I like in a novel: two storylines (one historical; one contemporary) that come together. It was a book about a want-to-be academic/researcher.  It was about a woman coming into her own.  I wasn’t interested in the contemporary storyline; I didn’t care what happened.  It probably was my mood, not the author’s skill.
• A Closed and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers. This is the second book in The Wayfarers’ Series. I’m really enjoying this series.
• Intimations: Six Essays by Zadie Smith. Don’t normally read essays but these were written during the early months of quarantine.  Wasn’t what I was expecting.
• The Echo Wife by Sarah Gailey. Another volume that was taunting me from my Unread Shelf.  It was weird.  I think it’s going to be a movie; I will watch it and will probably enjoy it more than the book.
• The Gifts of Imperfection by Brené Brown. This self-help book is one that I really enjoyed and marked it up.  I was not unfamiliar with the concepts having already read some of Brown’s later work but I’m happy to have it in my library to refer to later.
• Mastering the Art of French Eating: Lessons in Food and Love from a Year in Paris by Ann Mah. This was December’s Modern Mrs. Darcy [MMD] Book Club pick.  I finally finished listening to it on audio. Thank goodness I did; reading all those French words wasn’t working out to well for this American.
• Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston. This was my favorite book for my English major studies and it was the MMD Book Club pick for March.  I was afraid that it was going to hold up in my estimation, 20 years later. It did.  It’s still amazing.

Currently Reading

• Writers & Lovers by Lily King.  This is the MMD Book Club pick for the month of April.  I’m enjoying the peek into a writer’s life although it is a bit too close to real life right now. I’m still in my fantasy/sci-fi mood. Thus, my other currently reading…
• Troy by Stephen Fry.  The only reason I know about this book is because Libro.fm offered it to me as an advanced listener’s copy.  Thanks Libro.fm. I have always been fascinated with the story of Troy since my college World Lit class. Fry is providing the backstory in a non-threatening way. It’s academic but delightfully so. He even tells you not to try to remember everything he’s telling you.  I love it and definitely enjoying being carried away to a fantasy world. It releases on June 22.

I’m linking up with Anne’s Quick Lit post. If you are here because of her, thank you. 

Let me know what you’re reading in the comments below.

enjoy life…

I’m bringing you something a little different today. A few years ago, I took a creative writing class and we wrote a variety of poems in different styles and formats. Below, is my favorite from the class.

My Sonnet

I find myself compelled by unseen force 

To move onward, against my will almost

Then pushed back from that place, I am, of course

Propelled again and again to that coast

The crashing breaking whirling swirling, beats

Upon the shore leaving me so pristine

Undeterred the wave returns to the deep

Pushing me to retreat return retreat

This is the movement of my journeying

In and out in and out progress regress 

That if I could only find accepting

Would be to me my version of success

A peace that passeth all understanding 

Secure in a love that’s everlasting