Well, if January was the longest month ever, February is surely living up to its promise of flying by in rapid fire motion, no?
Surely, it’s always this way, but the last couple of weeks seem to have folded into themselves with little to no memory of where the minutes, hours, or days went.
I’d love to find some middle ground and am hopeful March will provide, but in the meantime, I’m grateful for my bookstack for helping me properly mark my days.
Recent Reads
Since my last reading update, I’ve been kind of jumping all over the place in the Genre Department! It’s OK, though, I am a mood reader, so it’s to be expected 🙂
Moon of the Turning Leaves by Waubgeshig Rice
Moon of the Turning Leaves is the follow up to Moon of the Crusted Snow, taking us over a decade after “a mysterious cataclysm caused a permanent blackout that toppled infrastructure and thrust the world into anarchy”.
First Line
Water lapped against the low hull of the boat, its rhythm synchronized with the pulls on the float line as the small white plastic pods that kept the net afloat knocked against the shiny metal of the vessel.
Page 56
Silently they approached Evan and Nicole’s old house. Nangohns walked a half-step behind her father. Evan remembered holding her hand when she was a toddler, taking some of her first steps on their short walks from the road back to their driveway. He felt a void open in his chest, knowing those memories were all that lived in their first family home. His feet remembered the path, and pulled him left onto the grassy driveway. The baby-blue siding had now faded to near white, and was pulling away from years of harsh winds. The steps and the windows were gone.
This story, as difficult as it was at times, was an absolute balm for my soul. It is deeply moving and filled with love, trust, and resilience.
If you enjoy apocalyptic tales with a twist of hope, I cannot recommend this duology enough.
You can learn more about each of these titles and the author here.
Keep Going by Austin Kleon
What do we do as creative people living a world that is ever crumbing around us? Do our damnedest to not let the bastards get us down! Amiright?
And so, faced with {gestures wildly at everything around me} I dove in to Keep Going and loved the simple yet thought-provoking chapters, quotes, and lists and took action immediately on cleaning up my desk and bookshelf area to create a more proper Bliss Station from which my creativity can flow when time allows.
Gotta love a quick read full of inspiration!
Currently Reading
I am almost done reading physical copy of The London House by Katherine Reay, am thoroughly enjoying it, and truly cannot wait to see how this story wraps up! It is at the top of my priority list for this weekend.
As I continue down the path of intentionally reducing my online time and doing my best to curate my remaining online time as carefully as possible, I’ve begun reading The Every by David Eggers. While not as creepy (yet) as The Dream Hotel by Laila Lalami, I have no doubt it will help refresh the foundational energy of putting real life before digital life as I walk through my days in these tech-filled modern times.
Valentine’s Day Bookish Reflections
With all of the Valentine’s Day book lists flying around I couldn’t help but reflect on a few love stories I’ve read over the years.
However, the very first love story I remember reading was Love is a Wild Assault by Elithe Hamilton Kirkland, and it’s one I’ve read again and again over the past few decades.
Originally published in 1959, I own the 1984 reprint and have kept it on my bookshelf continuously since I was first introduced to the book in the 1990s so I can revisit it whenever I need a reminder of true resilience and finding ones own way through all the various challenges that come our way on the winding paths of our lives.
First Line
Some women measure life by the men they have loved, Harriet reflected, and some by the children they have had.
From the Back of the Book
This is the extraordinary story of Harriet Potter…
Harriet’s story is a story of stormy passionate and idyllic love, of jealousy and vengeance, of unbearable loneliness and suffering, and if triumph over all the odds of life could present to one beautiful, courageous woman. But above all, it is the story of her three great loves…
Elithe Hamilton Kirkland has based this brilliant biographical novel on the long-forgotten manuscript in which Harriet Potter recorded the story of her life, as well as on countless other contemporary documents, letters, journals, court records, and land deeds.
Do you have a favorite love story you’ve returned to time and time again? Or maybe you’ve written a list of your heart-filled faves that I’ve missed?
Or, more generally speaking, which books are carrying you through your days?
Do tell! I’d love to hear/read about it!
Linking up this weekend to First Line Friday with Carrie, Book Beginnings with Gilion, The Friday 56 with Anne, and the Sunday Salon with Deb. Have a look around to see what everyone else is reading these days.
Onward,
Melissa
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My mother’s favorite romance was Love is a Wild Assault! My mom encouraged me to read it when I was young, and I was fascinated with the story and the characters and the setting. I’m startled to see that it is your favorite, and I’m terribly curious about how you came to read that book. Part of the story takes place in my county, and that’s how my mom came to read it. I have her copy on my shelf.
Oh Deb! This makes me so happy to learn! The book was first given to me by a friend who’d moved to Santa Fe from Texas. I don’t know how she came to know about it but it have very well been through her mom. I’ve loaned and lost a few copies and always replace them on my shelf as quickly as possible. I’m so pleased to know you have your mom’s copy, so lovely to carry that forward with you!
Sounds like a lot of amazing books, Melissa. I think reading (a print version) is an excellent way to reduce screen time. I have plans to do just that this afternoon. I just started reading Tina Turner’s memoir “True Love.”
Happy Saturday.
I am intrigued by Tina Turner’s memoir and would love to hear how you like it! I assume it is equal parts profound, inspiring, and devastating.
I read those Austin Kleon books years ago. You are right. They are simple, but filled with inspiration. I must have given them away because I can’t find them anywhere. I should revisit them, though. Have a great weekend. 🙂
Sounds like a revisit is in order! I am very happy to have them on my bookshelf. Happy Saturday!
I read all over the place genre wise too!
I am not familiar with Love is a Wild Assault.
Have a great week!
Fun mix of books. Love is a Wild Assault is new to me.
I was trying to remember the author’s name of the first romance books that I read and it finally came to me this morning. Emilie Loring. She wrote a bunch of books in the early to mid-20th century. I’m guessing that the ones that the small town public library owned were mostly published in the 1940s and 50s, a decade or two before I was born. But that’s what I had available as a young teenager so that’s what I read.
Moon of the Turning Leaves seems like an interesting read!
I hadn’t heard of Moon of the Turning Leaves, but now I’m curious!
My Valentine’s list was less about books with love in them and more books I’ve shared with the person I love, and relatively few of them even contain romance. I spent a good chunk of Valentine’s Day reading T. Kingfisher’s newest horror (Wolf Worm) and telling my wife about it, ’cause they’ll love it.
My favourite romances lately are often danmei and baihe (Chinese light novels with m/m and f/f romances), but I do love KJ Charles’ and Cat Sebastian’s work. Oh, and for something more classic, Mary Stewart’s romances! Madam, Will You Talk? lives in my head rent-free. At one point me and my grandma were reading Thornyhold at the same time when I lived with her, just coincidentally. It was pretty funny. I haven’t come across Love is a Wild Assault before!
I cannot believe that February is half over! All those books sound so good! I read Steal Like an Artist a while ago. I’m still working on trying to build more reading time into my life. I’m grateful I have Silent Book Club tomorrow at our library. I’m reading Quiet, by Susan Cain.
What an intriguing book line-up! I’ve added Circle by Dave Eggers to my TBR list.
I’m a reasonably eclectic reader too, not really a mood reader though.
It may be an odd choice but even forty years later Forever by Judy Blume is still the most impactful love story I ever read because it taught me foundational truths about relationships
Wishing you a great reading week
I love that Forever is still a stand out for you! The magic of stories, no?
Great recommendations, and I’m totally putting the Waubgeshig Rice books on my TBR. I read The Every, which is the sequel to The Circle a few years back. Never read the Circle (because I didn’t know about it, and felt like I caught on fine without it). Curious to see your review of it when you’re done!
Hi Jessica! Sorry I’ve been MIA! Health stuff :/ I finished The Every and thought it was both ridiculous and terrifying, though not surprising. I’m glad I listened to the audio version because the narration was so perfect and didn’t let me fall into the dystopian nightmare I might have if I read the print version with my own voice in my head.
Hope your health stuff is going ok and you are still taking it easy as possible.
And thanks for the review. I read it with my eyes, and yes, it was pretty disturbing and nightmare inducing. it certainly made influencer content on Instagram even more distasteful for a variety of reasons. I guess there’s a movie of The Circle (staring Tom Hanks and Emma Watson?!) which I am sure I would enjoy.
Thank you, Jessica! Quite disturbing, indeed. I didn’t know about the movie! I’m sure I would enjoy anything with those two in the lead!
I hadn’t heard of any of these before.. thanks for sharing.