Here we are in July, and everything is a dystopian hellscape! Who else is coping by reading copious amounts of books? *waves hand*
So things are bad right now, in a lot of different places, for a lot of different reasons. I don’t have any answers about how to get us out of this mess; all I can do is keep speaking out when I can, and keep doing things that help me get through each day. And that involves a lot of walking (I had a six-mile day a few days ago) and a lot of reading. It says something when dissociation is one of the top ways of getting through life, right?
I don’t know, friends. It’s tough, and odds are you’re struggling with *gestures broadly at everything* as well right now. I hope you’re all finding ways to take care of yourself throughout all of this. It’s so important.
I’ve been pretty bad at reviewing books lately; I’m a little behind, and some of what I’ve read hasn’t necessarily been review-worthy, so there won’t be a lot of links in my monthly book list. That’s why! I’m going to do a big catch-up post in a few days. Homeschool planning has been taking up a LOT of my writing time.
That’s all I’ve got there, so let’s get this recap started, shall we?
Books I Read in June 2022
2. How to Find What You’re Not Looking For by Veera Hiranandani
3. Blubber by Judy Blume
4. How the Other Half Eats: The Untold Story of Food and Inequality by Priya Fielding-Singh
5. A Knock at Midnight: A Story of Hope, Justice, and Freedom by Brittany K. Barnett
6. Parenting with Love and Logic by Foster W. Cline and Jim Fay
7. The Book of Elsie by Joanne Levy (full review to come)
8. Illegal by Eoin Colfer and Andrew Donkin
9. Since Sinai by Shannon Gonyou
10. The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Music History by Michael Miller
11. The Ultimate Book of Homeschooling Ideas: 500+ Fun and Creative Learning Activities for Kids Ages 3-12 by Linda Dobson
12. The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America by Richard Rothstein
13. Guts by Raina Telgemeier
14. The Complete Maus by Art Spiegelman
15. The Weight of Ink by Rachel Kadish
16. Library Lin’s Curated Collection of Superlative Nonfiction by Linda Maxie (full review to come)
17. Worn Out: How Our Clothes Cover Up Fashion’s Sins by Alyssa Hardy (full review to come)
18. White Bird by R.J. Palacio
Yup, way, WAY behind (feels like I’m behind in just about everything these days, though, so this is par for the course!). Definitely some good reading in there though, this month, and I’m happy with the numbers.
Only six of these books came from my TBR! Sometimes it’s nice to read outside the list. ; )
State of the Goodreads TBR
Last month, we left off at 146; this month, we’re hanging out at a comfortable 148. I removed two from there; one was a DNF, and another, I knew I wouldn’t be able to handle reading anytime soon.
I really need more time to read.
Books I Acquired in June 2022
SO. MANY. BOOKS.
The pictures below aren’t even all of them. The local women’s university group had multiple book sales for ten dollars per bag, and we went wild. Nothing wrong with that; some of these will be used for homeschooling this year, and the proceeds go to a cause I’m happy to support. But here are some of the stacks we came home with:
Aren’t they beautiful???
Bookish Things I Did in June 2022
Other than the book sales, not too much! It’s been quiet on that front.
Current Podcast Love
I started out the month listening to The Slow Home podcast, which is lovely, and then…my brain suddenly stopped wanting noise at night.
I have lived my entire adult life having trouble falling asleep if there’s no noise (and noise like the ceiling fan absolutely did not count. That actually made it worse). I could lie awake in bed until 4 am if there was complete silence. And all of a sudden this past month, I just felt like I didn’t want any kind of sound as I fell asleep. None whatsoever. And to my shock…I’ve been falling asleep without a podcast going.
It’s weird. Good, but weird.
Stephanie’s Read Harder Challenge
So I finished The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Music History by Michael Miller! Super excited about this. I was going to take a break from this challenge over the summer, but then I grabbed a copy of I and Thou by Martin Buber from one of those used book sales and decided to tackle that. This is probably the most difficult book I’ve ever read; I can get through entire paragraphs and have zero clue as to what I just read (and thus, I need to read it again). I’m only reading ten pages per day because that’s literally all I have the brain power for, I’m reading it slowly and often out loud, and I *still* feel like I’m going to need to read it multiple times to really understand what he’s saying. Phew!
Real Life Stuff
Ugh.
That’s kind of what I feel about…everything right now.
I won’t even get into the general state of the world, because I don’t feel like that needs more explanation, but to top it all off, my swing seat ripped. Twice. My husband said he’s going to repair it, but the house is crammed to the rafters with items that he said he’ll repair, and…we all know how that goes. Fortunately, my tiny front porch gets shade after 10 am and is shaded the rest of the day until bedtime, so I can still read outside on a camp chair. All is not lost.
I’m eyeball-deep in homeschool planning for the upcoming school year. My daughter will still be at home; I’m not yet interested in sending her back, and she has ZERO interest in going back (which makes me feel pretty good, honestly! I’d send her back if it were the best option for her; this very much isn’t an ego thing for me, haha, but right now, it’s not the best thing for her. She tends to get panicky whenever there are maskless people near us, so for now, home is best). We’ve already started up third grade math and she’s rocking it as always, so the new year looks good. : )
Not really all that much else going on! With my son living at home now, he and I have been going on frequent 3- and 4-mile walks, so that’s been awesome. He’s a little slower than I am, since I’ve been walking like a beast for years, but he’ll get there. : ) My garden is limping along. My container tomatoes are doing great, and the garden zucchini seem to be flourishing, but everything else is having a tough year. Such is life!
Hang in there, friends. It’s tough out there; take care of yourselves and always remember it’s okay to get lost in a book when the world is too much.
Wishing you all a peaceful July. : )
She's probably at the library... 