And once again, here we are in August. The school year is looming over us; the kids will be going back in two weeks here (and I know some of our southern friends have either already started or start this week). Transitions are always a little sad, aren’t they? June and July are full of such promise, and for me, sending my daughter back to school makes me a little teary. She’s just so nice to have around, you know? : )

But it’s been nothing if not a season of changes around here, anyway! My new job is going SO well, even if it means the rest of my life is a little rushed and there’s *definitely* way less time for reading. I’m getting to help other people read, and that makes me incredibly happy.

But more on that later.

Let’s get this recap started, shall we?

Books I Read in July 2024

1. More Than Enough: How One Family Cultivated a More Abundant Life Through a Year of Practical Minimalism by Miranda Anderson

2. Diet for a Changing Climate by Sue Heavenrich (read out loud to my daughter)

3. Plenty: One Man, One Woman, and a Raucous Year of Eating Locally by Alisa Smith and JB MacKinnon

4. How Not to Die: Discover the Foods Scientifically Proven to Prevent and Reverse Disease by Dr. Michael Greger

5. What We’ve Become: Living and Dying in a Country of Arms by Jonathan Metzl

6. A Girl from Yamhill by Beverly Cleary (read out loud to my daughter)

7. Under the Bridge by Rebecca Godfrey

8. Simple Matters: Living with Less and Ending Up with More by Erin Boyle

9. Double Trouble by Joanne Levy (read out loud to my daughter)

10. The Moneyless Man: A Year of Freeconomic Living by Mark Boyle

11. Trespassers Will Be Baptized: The Unordained Memoir of a Preacher’s Daughter by Elizabeth Emerson Hancock

12. In the Unlikely Event by Judy Blume

13. Among Schoolchildren by Tracy Kidder

14. Memoirs of a Catholic Girlhood by Mary McCarthy

I’m still finding a balance between getting stuff done around the house, spending time with my youngest daughter (and that will change again when she heads back to school), work, and reading, but that’ll adjust over time. 

My favorite book this month by far was In the Unlikely Event by Judy Blume. This had been sitting on my shelves for years now, and I absolutely devoured it. It’s a multiple narrative, which I LOVE, and it’s about the community of Elizabeth, New Jersey, which suffered a series of plane crashes over a series of three months in the 1950’s. Absolutely fascinating and wonderful and just so Judy Blume. I loved it. Hilariously enough, I had to sort a cart with the audiobook of this book on it at work the day after I finished my own copy. High five to the local person who was reading along with me! : )

But I have to give a shoutout to How Not to Die, which has entirely revamped my diet in a good way. I needed that dietary kick in the pants, so thanks, Dr. Greger!

Fourteen books this month! Two fiction, twelve nonfiction. Six came from my own shelves; none from my TBR. 

Bookish Things I Did in July 2024

Another $10 per bag book sale the day before I started my new job!

And of course, there’s also my new library job. Can you believe I’m getting paid to spend time in the library??? I still can’t. It’s a lot of fun, and physically challenging at times as well (those full rolling carts are HEAVY, y’all! Plus I’m basically doing squats all shift long. Expect me to appear on a THIGHS OF STEEL exercise video soon…), but I’m really, really enjoying it!

State of the Goodreads TBR

Last month, it was at six; this month, I’m at seven. One, my daughter and I are going through; two I have on hold; two don’t come out for a bit yet; one, I’ll have to get from another library; and the last one is available through my library as an ebook. 

Current Podcast Love

Still listening to Dateline as I fall asleep; still listening to The Slow Home Podcast with Brooke McAlary as I do my volunteer work or go for my rare walks these days. 

Stephanie’s Read Harder Challenge

No movement here this month. We’ll see about next month, when my youngest daughter goes back to school and my schedule changes yet again!

Real Life Stuff

Work-life balance struggle is real, even for part-timers! I’m still doing absolutely everything around the house by myself with no help, from dishes to cooking to laundry to cleaning to mowing the lawn, I’ve just added in 16-23 hours of outside-the-house work every week, so trying to get everything done and still have time for anything else is tough. School starts in two weeks, so that’ll mean doing it all on even less sleep! But maybe then I’ll have a little more free time? Or at least the ability to listen to podcasts while I get things done, so there’s that. 

Work really is fun. There’s always SO much to do; sorting carts and shelving is basically like trying to bail out a boat full of holes (by the time I get a cart shelved – and I’m pretty quick at it! – two more carts of material have been returned), but it’s enjoyable (although, bless you if you check things out from the upper shelves. Holy cow, all the squats I’m doing to get to the lower shelves!), and I’m having a good time. Things should settle down at work in a few weeks when the kids go back to school, though. I kind of figured they would, but my coworkers confirmed this last night. Which is good; I think when I left last night, despite my shelving three carts in the children’s section, there were still three more full carts ready to shelve and at least one to be sorted. I live in a very literate, reading-friendly town!

How fun are the Olympics??? We’ve so been enjoying watching basically every event we can, and the time difference has really been working out with my schedule. I can see the live events during the day, before I go to work, and I’ve been able to catch a little bit of other stuff here and there when I get home at night. Gymnastics (Simone! Jordan! Frederick! Steve!), swimming (HOLY CRAP, KATIE LEDECKY!), diving, it’s all been great. I’m looking forward to watching track and field (SHA’CARRI!!!) when that starts. There’s something so inspiring about watching these athletes who’ve trained so hard all their lives for this event. Amazing what the human body can do!

Be careful out there, folks. Like half my Facebook, near and far, has COVID right now. I’ve started wearing my mask at work in order to protect myself (holy coughing patrons some nights, Batman!), and I feel a lot safer and more confident when I’m wearing it. 

Wishing you all a happy back-to-school season, whether you have kids or you’re going back to school or even if you just gaze fondly at the back-to-school section at the store. Happy reading, and support your local library! : )