Life and Things

My leg is still healing. It’s doing much better than I expected! I think it’s because I actually took the time off work, and rested properly. I often have a hard time with that. I can be very stubborn, and push past my limits. I’m trying to do a better job of listening to my body and its needs.

I went into a broody nostalgia today, pondering over people I knew in elementary school. I decided to see if I could track them down. One I did not find at all. One I may have found. One, I found for sure, and it turns out they write too!

There’s also the exciting news that our property has another buyer. Closing is tentatively set for March 9th.

 

 

Books read, reviewed, and posted/scheduled this past week

The Eagle: Animals in the Wild by Renne, 3*

The Tooth That’s on the Loose by Chris Robertson, 3*

Abraham Lincoln: Friend of the People by Clara Ingram Judson, 4*

Amelia Earhart: Flying Solo by John Burke, 4*

The Anger Volcano by Amanda Greenslade, 4*

Ben Franklin: Inventing America by Thomas Fleming, 4*

California Illustrated by Mark Drenth/ illustrated by Abner Cardona, 4*

George Washington: Frontier Colonel by sterling North, 4*

The Shadow Girl by Misty Mount, 4*

Songs with Our Eyes Closed by Tyler Kent White, 4*

Woolly and Me by Quentin Greban, 4*

Nocturne by Kat Ross, 5*

The Shark Lady by Jess Keating, 5*

Thief of Lies by Brenda Drake, 5*

 

 

Favourite Read of the Week

I had two this week!

 

 

 

Currently Reading

Still reading…

 

 

Teenage Suicide Notes by Terry Williams

‘”Picturing myself dying in a way I choose myself seems so comforting, healing and heroic. I’d look at my wrists, watch the blood seeping, and be a spectator in my last act of self-determination. By having lost all my self-respect it seems like the last pride I own, determining the time I die.”-Kyra V., seventeen

Reading the confessions of a teenager contemplating suicide may be uncomfortable, but we must do so to understand why self-harm has become an epidemic, especially in the United States. What drives teenagers to self-harm? What makes death so attractive, so liberating, and so inevitable for so many? In Teenage Suicide Notes, the sociologist Terry Williams pours over the writings of a diverse group of troubled youths to better grasp the motivations behind teenage suicide and to humanize those at risk of taking their own lives.

Williams evaluates young people in rural and urban contexts and across race, class, gender, and sexual orientation. His approach, which combines sensitive portrayals with objective sociological analysis, adds a clarifying dimension to the fickle and often frustrating behavior of adolescents. Williams reads between the lines of his subjects’ seemingly straightforward reflections on alienation, agency, euphoria, and loss, and investigates how this cocktail of emotions can create an overwhelming and impossible desperation. Rather than treat these notes as exceptional examples of self-expression, Williams situates them at the center of teenage life, linking them to incidents of abuse, violence, depression, anxiety, religion, peer pressure, sexual identity, and family dynamics. He captures the currents that turn self-destruction into an act of self-determination, which also allows him to propose more effective solutions to resolving the suicide crisis.”

 

 

The Joy of Mindful Writing by Joy Kenward

‘This carefully crafted manual explores how writing mindfully can create deeper connections with your words, your characters, and yourself.

Author Joy Kenward invites the reader to embrace the writing process as much as the completed work; plotting out sparkling stories with a Zen-like awareness.

Through meditative exercises, engaging anecdotes, and astute notes on perception, imagination, and focus, she is a generous guide and joyful muse, helping writers to flow and flourish.’

 

 

Next Up (maybe)

Spinner by Michael J Bowler

Dragon Teeth by Michael Crichton

Ash Princess by Laura Sebastian

How to Be a Stoic by Massimo Pigliucci

 

 

Book Haul

My Litsy #MyBloodyValentine book haul

 

 

Egalleys

Forest Bathing by Dr Qing Li

‘The definitive guide to the therapeutic Japanese practice of shinrin-yoku, or the art and science of how trees can promote health and happiness

Notice how a tree sways in the wind. Run your hands over its bark. Take in its citrusy scent. As a society we suffer from nature deficit disorder, but studies have shown that spending mindful, intentional time around trees–what the Japanese call shinrin-yoku, or forest bathing–can promote health and happiness.

In this beautiful book–featuring more than 100 color photographs from forests around the world, including the forest therapy trails that criss-cross Japan–Dr. Qing Li, the world’s foremost expert in forest medicine, shows how forest bathing can reduce your stress levels and blood pressure, strengthen your immune and cardiovascular systems, boost your energy, mood, creativity, and concentration, and even help you lose weight and live longer.

Once you’ve discovered the healing power of trees, you can lose yourself in the beauty of your surroundings, leave everyday stress behind, and reach a place of greater calm and wellness.’

 

Legendary by Stephanie Garber

‘Stephanie Garber’s limitless imagination takes flight once more in the colorful, mesmerizing, and immersive sequel to the bestselling breakout debut Caraval, following Scarlett’s younger sister, Tella, on a journey to the empire’s capital to fulfill a mysterious bargain.’

 

Dracula: The Modern Prometheus by Rafael Chandler

‘A monstrous woman flees across Arctic sea ice, pursued by an implacable nemesis. Three shadowless brothers prowl through wolf-haunted forests in search of fresh victims. And in a subterranean laboratory, an undead Countess conducts a gruesome experiment…

Mina Harker’s journey to Transylvania is supposed to advance her career, but instead, it plunges her into a war between an ageless evil and a hideous new form of life. As the streets of London run red with blood, Harker takes up the wooden stake, crucifix, and Kukri knife against her nightmarish foes. But when one hunts monsters, a terrible price must be paid.

In this gender-flipped mashup of Bram Stoker’s Dracula and Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus, storylines and characters are combined in unexpected ways, and familiar horrors are transformed into new nightmares.’