Tag: books

Monthly roundup

Monthly Roundup: January 2023

StephanieLeave a comment

Anyone cold out there? Anyone?

BRRR.

Welcome to February, friends!

2023 is 1/12 of the way over already, and it’s already been a pretty great year for reading. (Other things, ehhhhhh, but reading? Excellent.) I’m pretty thrilled with my decision to participate in the 2023 PopSugar Reading Challenge. When I have the time and mental space for them, reading challenges always spark new reading creativity in me. I discover new authors, rediscover old favorites, and get totally jazzed about reading all over again. I love being able to mark off categories on the sheet, and I’m always excited to move on to my next great read. I’m already a little sad for when I finish this!

But really, it’s great to be this excited about reading again. Not that I’m never unexcited, it’s just…things feel fresh this year in terms of books, and I love that. And I hope you’re feeling this enthusiastic about whatever reading plans you have as well. 

Let’s get this roundup started, shall we?

Books I Read in January 2023

The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck (no review; read as part of my personal Read Harder challenge)

2. House on Endless Waters by Emuna Elon

3. Catherine Called Birdy by Karen Cushman (no review; read out loud to my daughter)

4. The Other Dr. Gilmer: Two Men, a Murder, and an Unlikely Fight for Justice by Benjamin Gilmer 

5. I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy 

6. We Ride Upon Sticks by Quan Barry

7. The Return by Sonia Levitin

8. Dumplin’ by Julie Murphy

9. Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver

10. On My Swedish Island: Discovering the Secrets of Scandinavian Well-Being by Julie Catterson Lindahl (review to come)

11. Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine (review to come)

12. With the Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo (review to come)

13. A Shot in the Arm! by Don Brown (no review; read out loud to my daughter)

14. One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston (review to come)

15. Book Lovers by Emily Henry (review to come)

16. Check Please by Ngozi Ukazu (review to come)

So much fiction! I’m usually so much more of a nonfiction reader, so this has been a fun switch-up. That’s why I enjoy the shake-up of a reading challenge; it gets me out of my familiar ruts and into new territory, challenging my brain a little and taking me to new places. I don’t think I could have loved We Ride Upon Sticks by Quan Barry any more than I did; I finally got around to reading With the Fire on High and Before I Fall and Dumplin’, even though they weren’t on my TBR (just my mind-TBR);I’m chugging along on my own personal Read Harder project; and I got super lucky and snagged a copy of I’m Glad My Mom Died from the library, despite there being a line approximately 348237498328932 people long. It’s been an excellent month for reading!

Not quite so behind in reviews now. I’m catching up! 

Twelve fiction; four nonfiction; one graphic novel. Five of these books came from my TBR; one came from my own shelf. 

Reading Challenge Updates

I’m eyeball-deep in the 2023 PopSugar Reading Challenge and I’m loving it! New books, new authors, new genres, my brain needed all of this so badly, and I’m having SO much fun with this. Here’s where I’m at so far:

Fourteen categories out of fifty knocked off already. That’s a pretty great start!

State of the Goodreads TBR

Okay, this is going to be a little more wonky than last year. Only about 25 of the books from the PopSugar challenge are on my TBR, and I have some NetGalley books to get through, so this may get a little bigger before it starts getting smaller again, and I’m okay with that.

Last month, we ended up at 125 books. I read five books from my TBR this month, and that takes me to a new total of…125 books on my TBR. Book math!

Books I Acquired in January 2023

Hmm. I don’t think I actually acquired any books this month!

Bookish Things I Did in January 2023

I was able to attend a virtual presentation by Andrew Solomon, hosted by my local parent education group, and he was fascinating as always. I saw him speak in person pre-pandemic, and if you ever get the chance to hear him, GO. He writes and speaks about mental health, and my God, I could listen to him for DAYS. He had a lot to say this time not just about mental health, but about the effects of the pandemic and our current political landscape have on our collective mental health, and I was so glad I made the time to attend.

Current Podcast Love

Still listening to a mixture of things! While I exercise or cross-stitch, I usually listen to either Leaving Eden or Digging Up the Duggars; however, I did take a short break to listen to I Pray You Put This Journal Away in its entirety, which was touching and very nicely complemented those other two podcasts. At night, when I’m falling asleep, I’m listening to The First Degree, a true crime podcast with really good narration. 

Stephanie’s Read Harder Challenge

So, I’m almost finished with Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe; less than 100 pages to go. This had been sitting on my shelves for years, and I’m tired of owning so many books I haven’t read (hence, this project!), so I’ve spent this month putting this book into my brain in half-hour chunks a day (there have been a few days I’ve missed, simply due to time constraints). I have a lot of thoughts about this book, many of them about how much of this book is straight-up Christian propaganda (which is exhausting to read as a Jew) and not just how Christianity isn’t compatible with slavery, but I’ll be glad to move on to my next book in a day or two. I think my next choice will be Black Boy by Richard Wright, which has been sitting on the shelf across from me for a few years and which deserves to be read soon. After reading a white author writing about Black folks, I’m more than ready to read a Black author talk about the Black experience.

Real Life Stuff

Phew! I’ve completed Yoga with Adriene’s 30-Day Challenge again, which always feels good. My back isn’t much better, but I think it’s stronger, if that makes sense – like, the pain is still there, but I feel like I can *do* a little bit more and it’s not quite as weak as it was before. I feel pretty good about myself for making the time to complete this challenge as well, and I’m going to keep doing a little bit of yoga every day, maybe adding in those pilates my physiatrist wants me to do on the days when my back feels strong enough. 

A library two towns over subscribes to a magazine I enjoy, so I’ve gone over there to relax and read (still masked! Haven’t been sick since 2019 and have no desire to be), and it’s been wonderful. Their library is enormous and calm and peaceful and it’s an excellent time just paging through Mother Earth News in the relaxing atmosphere of this particular library. I’ve been fighting so hard to keep my stress levels down, because my frequent migraines are triggered by stress, so this is just one of the things I’m doing to bring more relaxation into my life.

I started a new craft project! I used to cross-stitch all the time in my pre-children days many moons ago, but got away from it due to lack of time. I’ve been working my way through my maternal grandmother’s stamped cross-stitch stash and have finished a table runner and two pillowcases so far, but I highly prefer counted cross-stitch to stamped. My paternal grandmother died in December; that’s the Norwegian side of my family, and my dad (who doesn’t read this blog!) mentioned placing an order with a Scandinavian store for stuff for the family so “we can remember our heritage,” as he said. And so my brain got to work, and I discovered this gorgeous pattern by Lifted Spirit Patterns. My husband got me a scroll frame as a gift, and a few weeks ago, I began work on this massive pattern. I don’t have much to show yet; a lot of what I’m doing right now is in white, which doesn’t show up well, but once I get going, I’ll provide some picture updates.

The pattern has something like 18,644 stitches, and I’m doing it on 14-pt Aida cloth, which has brought me to the realization that I am ‘needs magnifying cheater glasses from the Dollar Tree’ years old now, but I’m very much enjoying this. When it’s finished in approximately 2348923479832 years, I’ll frame it and give it to my dad, to remember our heritage. I think he’ll love it. : )

That’s about all I’ve got for now! No major plans for February, just more homeschool, exercise, cross-stitching, and, of course, reading. Stay warm if you’re in the northern hemisphere, and stay safe and healthy, friends. I wish you all another month of great reads. : )

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Monthly roundup

Monthly Roundup: February 2022

StephanieLeave a comment

Sometimes life winds up and pitches a twister of a curveball at you and the only thing you can do is be flexible and roll with it. Like, really, really roll. That’s what I’ve been doing this month. Rolling.

Not reading. Not much, anyway.

It’s been a month, reader friends. Lots of unexpected changes, with my reading time drained down to so very little. That’s not to say it’s been a bad month (though I wouldn’t mind more reading time- you hear that, Life?!?!??), just different, and I’ve had to do a lot of adjusting. But that’s okay. That’s what life is: things happen and we roll with the changes the best we can. And hopefully we read a few good books along the way.

I’ll get more into this in the last section, but for now, let’s get this recap *ahem* rolling, shall we?

Books I Read in February 2022

1. When It’s Real by Erin Watt

2. Notes on a Silencing by Lacy Crawford

3. After Long Silence by Helen Fremont (no review, because my brain derped out and I completely forgot)

4. Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech (no review; read out loud to my daughter)

5. Anne Frank Beyond the Diary: A Photographic Remembrance by Ruud van der Rol and Rian Verhoeven (no review; read out loud to my daughter)

6. American Literary Almanac, edited by Karen L. Rood (no review; read as part of my personal Read Harder Project)

7. Invisible Child: Poverty, Survival, and Hope in an American City by Andrea Elliott

8. The Day the World Stops Shopping: How Ending Consumerism Saves the Environment and Ourselves by J.B. MacKinnon (review to come)

9. Period. End of Sentence.: A New Chapter in the Fight for Menstrual Justice by Anita Diamant (review to come)

10. A Room with a View by E.M. Forster (no review; read for my personal Read Harder challenge)

WORST. MONTH. EVER. That’s what happens when all your reading time gets sucked into the void. I did read an enormous stack of various children’s books, mostly nonfiction (do you see where all this is going???), most of which I enjoyed immensely, however. Children’s nonfiction is totally my jam and my library has a fabulous section, so this is absolutely a plus in my book. I just don’t count most of those in my Goodreads totals.

Six of these books came from my TBR; four came from my own shelves.

Reading Challenge Updates

Reeeeeeeeeeeally glad I made the decision to not participate in any reading challenges at this point. I would’ve felt very frustrated right now if I had.

State of the Goodreads TBR

Arright, so last month, we ended with 158 books snuggled up together on my Goodreads TBR. This month, we’ve got…156! Even two less is a triumph this month!

Books I Acquired in February 2022

So, I didn’t buy any books, wasn’t given any, and none showed up out of the blue on my doorstep, but I did receive an email that informed me that I had won a Goodreads giveaway! My copy of Aviva vs the Dybbuk by Mari Lowe will arrive sometime in the near future, and I’m excited! I don’t read that much middle grade fantasy, but it’s Jewish fantasy, so you know I’m all in. Looking forward to adding this to my shelves!

Bookish Things I Did in February 2022

I did attend a virtual ‘how to fight book banning in your community’ presentation put on by Red Wine & Blue. Super informative and helpful, and I hope to attend more programs by them in the future!

Current Podcast Love

Still listening to Ologies with Alie Ward (which was SUPER helpful when we visited the Field Museum this past month! I’ve learned SO much from this podcast and it really informed so much of what I saw when we made our way through the exhibits) at night (when I’m not listening to BBC World Service, that is), and I listen to Crime Junkie when I nap. I don’t think I want to know what it says about my brain that I nap well when listening to shows about murder…

Stephanie’s Read Harder Challenge

I finished American Literary Almanac, edited by Karen L. Rood! This had been sitting on my shelf for an embarrassing number of years, so it was high time to get it out of there. It was okay; mostly just lists of trivia about various authors from American history. Not my favorite read of all time, and not likely something I would’ve enjoyed sitting down and reading in anything but thirty-minute chunks, but I’m glad to have put it and all its various knowledge into my literary arsenal. I moved on to A Room with a View by E.M. Forster and finished it on the final day of February. It’s part of a three-books-in-one book; I’m currently trying to decide if I’m going to plow through the book and read three Forster books in a row, or read another author in between these books. Not quite sure yet…

Real Life Stuff

WOOF.

What a month.

So, all of a sudden, a few weeks ago, a judge in my state decided that protecting schoolchildren from COVID-19 was illegal and forced the schools to go mask-optional. I believe this happened on a Friday; the stress of this gave me a migraine that pretty much blinded me the rest of the day, my ocular disturbances were so bad. It was a really, really stressful weekend trying to figure out what to do. At first, we thought we would send our daughter and see, and the more I thought about it, the more uncomfortable I became. My dad has Type I diabetes; the number of kids developing Type I diabetes after COVID infections has really bothered me, and the idea of subjecting my daughter (who is double vaccinated, but still) to that when it wasn’t necessary scared the absolute hell out of me. And so that Sunday, I said, “I can’t do it. I can’t send her,” and my husband replied, “So don’t. I completely support keeping her home.”

So we did.

And though we started working that Monday morning, it took about two weeks before we were registered as official homeschoolers with the state.

I’m sad about this, and angry, and disappointed. The numbers aren’t horrible in our area, but I’m not feeling confident enough that this is the end to drop all protections just yet, especially among a group of kids that has a lowish vaccination rate, who have young siblings that aren’t able to be vaccinated, and who are, as kids are wont to be, up in each other’s faces in small, cramped classrooms all day long. I’m sad because I love my daughter’s school (and this isn’t their fault), and she loves her friends and her teacher. I’m disgusted at the judge who thinks that asking kids to protect each other and their families is just too much to ask of them (but it’s not too much to ask them to handle potentially infecting and killing their family members or classmates! THAT’S apparently just fine!). I’m exhausted and frustrated by all of this.

I’m not sad about homeschooling my daughter. She’s made the transition pretty flawlessly and doesn’t want to go back at the moment. You can see our stack of library books above; we got this pile a week ago and have already blown through about a third of them. She’s learning SO much, and we’re having a ton of fun together. We’ve developed a pretty good routine, and though I’m a bit bummed about my lack of free time and my inability to get pretty much anything else done, I’m enjoying spending all this extra time with my kiddo and with being able to use my brain so much during the day (although my jaw sometimes hurts by 3pm from reading and talking so much! I know a lot of homeschoolers are able to get their work done within a few hours, but I’ve always taken a really literary approach to homeschooling- I taught my son at home until he was 9, so this isn’t anything new- so we do a lot of reading and discussing).

So that’s what I’ve been up to lately and why I’ve barely gotten any reading of my own done. I’ve read a buttload of books about things like plants and American history and Native American myths, though, and that’s been pretty awesome. : )

Homeschooling has pretty much taken over my life! This isn’t meant to be permanent, though it’ll likely last throughout the remainder of this school year. We’ll reassess mid-summer and see where things are at that point. Hopefully she’ll be able to go back, but if not, Mama’s got her.

I’ve got three doctor appointments in March- nothing serious, two yearly checkups and an appointment with a neurologist thanks to all the migraines I’ve had lately- and Purim begins at sundown on the 16th, so I’ll be making some yummy Hamantaschen then, but besides trying to sneak in all the reading I can, that’s all I have planned (and oof, that may be all I can handle at this point!). Hopefully your months have more exciting events planned!

Be well, friends. Warmer weather is coming, for those of us in the Northern hemisphere! (I mean, not in March, haha, but we’re one month closer!)

Monthly roundup

Monthly Roundup: January 2022

Stephanie4 Comments

Happy February!

PHEW. What a month. Started off quite well, ended up not-so-great (not THAT, fortunately, and nothing major), but definitely not as much reading as I would have liked, especially since I had to take multiple days off. HATE when that happens, but such is life. It’s been cold, cold, cold here, and we’ve gotten a lot of snow (though not as much as some of you in the East. We have some more snow on the way tonight, though, so we’ll see!). I’m working my way through all the ebooks on my TBR, so I’m hopeful for more reading this month.

Let’s get this recap started, shall we?

Books I Read in January 2021

1. Gory Details: Adventures from the Dark Side of Science by Erika Engelhaupt

2. Made in China: A Prisoner, an SOS Letter, and the Hidden Cost of America’s Cheap Goods by Amelia Pang

3. Rad Girls Can: Stories of Bold, Brave, and Brilliant Young Women by Kate Schatz

4. The Premonition: A Pandemic Story by Michael Lewis

5. 100 Side Hustles: Ideas for Making Extra Money by Chris Guillebeau

6. Miss Jacobson’s Journey by Carola Dunn

7. Rookie Move (Brooklyn Bruisers #1) by Sarina Bowen

8. Wonder Women of Science: How Twelve Geniuses are Rocking Science, Technology, and the World by Tiera Fletcher (no review; read out loud to my daughter)

9. The Book of Separation by Tova Mirvis

10. Notes from an Apocalypse: A Personal Journey to the End of the World and Back by Mark O’Connell

11. This Book Is Anti-Racist: 20 Lessons on How to Wake Up, Take Action, and Do the Work by Tiffany Jewell (no review; read out loud to my daughter)

12. Israel: A Simple Guide to the Most Misunderstood Country on Earth by Noa Tishby (no review)

13. Invisible City (Rebekah Roberts #1) by Julia Dahl (review to come)

14. Playing with Matches by Suri Rosen (review to come)

Not fabulous in terms of numbers, but in terms of quality, this has truly been a phenomenal month. Several of these books will end up on my best-of-the-year list, I already know. Lower numbers this month because I spent the last week down with a migraine that wouldn’t die and spent the days huddled under a blanket. I highly prefer reading.

Ten of these books came from my TBR, hurray!

Reading Challenge Updates

Not currently participating in any reading challenges.

State of the Goodreads TBR

Last month, we ended at 162, this month, we’re sliding under the door with…158! Getting there. : )

Books I Acquired in January 2022

None! Hurray!

Bookish Things I Did in January 2022

None. Been a quiet month for that.

Current Podcast Love

Still listening to Ologies with Alie Ward, who is funny and brilliant and so enjoyable to listen to. I learn so much from this podcast and can’t recommend it highly enough.

Stephanie’s Read Harder Challenge

I’m slightly over halfway through American Literary Almanac, edited by Karen L. Rood. It’s not the most fascinating book I’ve ever read, but I enjoy the bits of literary trivia on (mostly male) American authors. I picked this book mostly because I was tired of seeing it hang out on my shelf unread, so I’ll be glad to finish it- hopefully in February. I had to take a week off due to the Migraine from Hell, but I started up back with my daily 30 minutes of reading yesterday!

Real Life Stuff

It’s been like an entire year in a single month this month, hasn’t it? Exhausting.

We started out the month keeping our daughter home for the first week back to school. I just couldn’t fathom the idea of sending her back into the petri dish that is an elementary school, with case numbers absolutely exploding everywhere, with kids poorly wearing cloth masks. NOPE. And sure enough, her school had a massive number of cases that first week, as did basically everywhere in the area. I reluctantly sent her back the second week, but I wasn’t happy about it.

She ended up out two days this past week because on Monday night, I started having some weird symptoms and came down with a migraine on Tuesday at 1 am. (My doctor says it’s not normal to be woken up with a migraine, though it’s happened to me before, unfortunately.) Migraines, for me, are a full-body experience. I get chills and sweats, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, body aches, etc. It’s almost like the flu with a deadly headache- but this time, I also had a fever. Highest it went up to was 101.9, so you can see why I was concerned, right? I kept my daughter out of school (because if the house had COVID, it was likely that she’d brought home an asymptomatic case) and we went off for PCR tests- negative, thankfully, and I skipped off to the doctor, who put me on preventative meds and gave me a referral to Neurology. Doc also said I may have picked up a virus that triggered the migraine (although I’m not sure where, as I quite literally go nowhere- the places I have to go to, I’m in and out as quickly as possible and I avoid everyone, and I N95-mask everywhere and sanitize my hands after touching anything, but this would definitely explain the fever, and the fact that it took me so long to feel better). I see a neurologist in March, he specializes in headaches, so that’ll be…something. Likely not fun, but I’d definitely like to have fewer migraines. They’ve increased in frequency; I’m wondering if my body is trying to start a menopause party and this is one of the symptoms. Who knows. Bodies are stupid.

I’m doing *much* better now, thankfully, and we’re in waiting for a nasty snowstorm tonight that will start out as rain and then dump anywhere from a few inches to a bunch of snow on us. Plenty of time to stay inside and read!

For February, I’m continuing my assault on my list of ebooks; I’ve had some of them sitting there too long and I’m picking them off one by one. Other than that, the only thing on the schedule so far is a doctor appointment with the physiatrist I see for my back (which is its normal level of crummy- a good thing! No new flares, I’ll take it!), so hopefully the headaches will stay away and I’ll be able to spend my month with a pile of excellent reading.

Happy February, friends! Stay warm, stay safe, stay healthy. We’ve made it this far; we can go a little further, together.

Monthly roundup

Monthly Roundup: December 2021

Stephanie2 Comments

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

(Uh. We hope. *fingers crossed*)

Farewell, 2021. Begone with your demon sibling 2020, and may the way forward be only blue skies and smooth sailing.

A girl can dream, right???

December is over and January is here, and all our Goodreads challenges have settled back again at zero. I hope your December was full of health, happiness, safe gatherings, and plenty of good reads. We had a wonderful, relaxing vacation from school, spent at home reading, taking walks, taking NAPS (so many naps), and spending a lot of quality time together. It was much-needed and very appreciated!

Let’s get this roundup started, shall we?

Books I Read in December 2021

1. Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe

2. Nurture the Wow: Finding Spirituality in the Frustration, Boredom, Tears, Poop, Desperation, Wonder, and Radical Amazement of Parenting by Danya Ruttenberg

3. Ant Egg Soup: The Adventures of a Food Tourist in Laos by Natacha Du Pont de Bie

4. Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli (no review; read out loud to my daughter)

5. God Is in the Crowd: A Model for Post-Diaspora Judaism by Tal Keinan (no review)

6. Have You Seen Hyacinth Macaw? by Patricia Reilly Giff (no review; read out loud to my daughter)

7. Children Under Fire: An American Crisis by John Woodrow Cox

8. When I Grow Up: The Lost Autobiographies of Six Yiddish Teenagers by Ken Krimstein

9. The Kite Fighters by Linda Sue Park (no review; read out loud to my daughter)

10. American Baby: A Mother, a Child, and the Shadow History of Adoption by Gabrielle Glaser

11. Brazen: Rebel Ladies Who Rocked the World by Pénélope Bagieu

12. Challenging Pregnancy: A Journey through the Politics and Science of Healthcare in America by Genevieve Grabman (review to come)

13. Knocked Down: A High-Risk Memoir by Aileen Weintrab (review to come)

14. The Joy of Sects: A Spirited Guide to the World’s Religious Traditions by Peter Occhiogrosso (no review)

15. Halfway Home: Race, Punishment, and the Afterlife of Mass Incarceration by Reuben Jonathan Miller (review to come)

Slightly better numbers this month! I’ve got a lot of projects going on at home, so I still don’t have as much time for reading as I would really like. And that’s not likely to change for a while; I have a whole list of New Years’ resolutions I’m wanting to tackle, but at least some of them are reading-related! I’m definitely wanting to better manage my time and not spend so much time scrolling online (but it’s just so interesting…)

Only five of these were from my TBR this month, yikes!

Reading Challenge Updates

Not currently participating in any reading challenges. I seriously considered whether I was going to do one this year, but I think I’m not quite ready to commit to one yet. I’m enjoying making my way through my TBR, and while I love the way reading challenges introduce me to new authors and styles and subjects, I’m not wanting to commit to one more thing and ignoring my TBR. I *may* pick one up at some point in the year if it feels right. We’ll see.

State of the Goodreads TBR

We left off last month at 156; all those Best-of-the-Year booklists descended upon my house, and…uh…we’re up to 162. Hmph. But I have a plan! I swear!

Books I Acquired in December 2021

None!

Bookish Things I Did in December 2021

Nothing truly book-related, but I was able to attend a virtual gathering put on by the Union for Reform Judaism, where the subject of books came up and I recommended a bunch of books to the group I was in, does that count?

Current Podcast Love

Still listening to Ologies with Alie Ward! Super fun, educational, and fascinating all at the same time. Truly cannot recommend this one highly enough.

When I nap, however, I usually put on a true crime podcast, and I usually go with Crime Junkie. I like their storytelling style.

Stephanie’s Read Harder Challenge

I did it! I finished The Joy of Sects by Peter Occhiogrosso!!! I’m so proud of myself for finally getting it together and figuring out a reading schedule that worked for me.

After I finished, I went downstairs and peered at my basement bookshelves for a bit. I finally decided that my next Read Harder book will be American Literary Almanac: From 1608 to the Present, edited by Karen L. Rood. This has been sitting on my shelves for over a decade, so it’s time to spend my time on it. 15 pages in already!

Real Life Stuff

So here we are, 2022. ’21 was a tough year, but it also brought with it a lot of gifts. I completed my conversion to Judaism (something I’d dreamed of since I was young), I picked up a new hobby (art), I began working on my grandma’s cross-stitch again (getting closer and closer to finishing!), and of course, I read a lot of great books (and some meh ones, but it happens!). Overall, it wasn’t the worst year for me. Challenging, of course, but I made it through mostly in one piece.

School starts up again on Tuesday. To say that I’m not thrilled about this would be about the biggest understatement I’ve ever made. I have no idea how they’re going to consistently keep the schools open the next two months with the way that Omicron spreads like wildfire. I was planning on letting her stay for lunch after winter break, but that’s been cancelled, and I’ll be picking her up for lunch every day still. Pain in the butt, but I’ll do anything I can to lessen her exposure.

Not much in the plans for January. I’m sure at some point, we’ll visit with my mom. She’s been sick, so she wasn’t able to come up for any kind of holiday celebration. Her rapid test was negative, but everything she said makes it sound like COVID (and given Omicron’s ability to evade tests, I’m guessing she had a breakthrough case. Not surprising, because her husband remains unvaccinated *eyeroll*). She’s on the mend, but felt terrible for quite a while. I need to schedule some doctor appointments; nothing serious, just check-ups and follow-ups. And I have a virtual school board meeting to attend later on in the month. That’s about it!

I do have plenty of goals I’ll be working through in the New Year. I blogged about those the other day at my other blog (nothing fancy, it just keeps track of all the things I do every day. I enjoy being accountable for my time). I’m going to be doing a monthly update post on those every month, so follow along if you’re interested (or you just really want to know how many times a week I load the dishwasher…)

Hang in there, folks. Living through history is tough, but we’re tougher, right? We can change and adapt and learn to live in challenging circumstances if we lean on each other and take care of each other. Nothing about this is ideal, but we can do our best to survive, stay healthy, and maybe even thrive a little.

May 2022 bring you excellent reading, love, good health (physical AND mental!), personal growth, friendship, oases of calm amidst the ongoing storm, confidence that we’re strong enough to face whatever comes our way, and peace. Love to you, my friends.

Monthly roundup

Monthly Roundup: October 2021

Stephanie2 Comments

October flew by as well! I’m starting to think we’re either in some kind of bizarre time warp, or I just don’t understand how time works anymore.

It’s been a good month in terms of quality of reading, but I’ve been reading a lot of really emotionally intense things. I’m working down my Goodreads TBR list of what’s available at my local library, and it’s a lot of harder books, subjects I’ve put off or have been waiting until things are slightly less crazy in life to get to. Well…I don’t know when or if things are ever going to truly settle down, so I’ve been diving in. It’s been a rough month in a number of ways, but the reading has helped a lot. I hope you’re hanging in there as well, and that you had a happy Halloween, if it’s something you celebrate! Welcome to November. I’m grateful for books, my library, and for you. 🙂

Let’s get this recap started, shall we?

Books I Read in October 2021

1. The Undocumented Americans by Karla Cornejo Villavicencio

2. Men Who Hate Women – From Incels to Pickup Artists: The Truth About Extreme Misogyny and How It Affects Us All by Laura Bates

3. Grace Will Lead Us Home: The Charleston Church Massacre and the Hard, Inspiring Journey to Forgiveness by Jennifer Berry Hawes

4. The Cabin Faced West by Jean Fritz (no review; read out loud to my daughter)

5. A Mother’s Reckoning: Living in the Aftermath of Tragedy by Sue Klebold

6. Squirrel Hill: The Tree of Life Synagogue Shooting and the Soul of a Neighborhood by Mark Oppenheimer

7. In the Land of Believers: An Outsider’s Extraordinary Journey into the Heart of the Evangelical Church by Gina Welch

8. Yusuf Azeem Is Not a Hero by Saadia Faruqi

9. The Color of Compromise: The Truth about the American Church’s Complicity in Racism (no review)

10. Broke In America: Seeing, Understanding, and Ending U.S. Poverty by Joanne Samuel Goldblum and Colleen Shaddox

11. How to Survive a Plague: The Inside Story of How Citizens and Science Tamed AIDS by David France (review to come)

12. Free: Two Years, Six Lives, and the Long Journey Home by Lauren Kessler (review to come)

So, bit of a slow month overall, but amazing in terms of quality, and not easy in terms of the emotional impact of these books. Undocumented immigrants, violent misogyny, racial hatred that led to murder, a middle grade historical fiction, the psychological effect of a mass school shooting, antisemitism that led to murder, undercover writing about Evangelical Christianity, Islamophobia, more racial hatred, extreme poverty. Once again, phew! I do have more fiction on my TBR, I promise! I WILL get to it eventually! I just enjoy nonfiction a lot, even the tough stuff. I enjoy learning about the world from someone else’s perspective and feeling like I’m using my brain (the opportunity for that doesn’t happen often these days, so I’m grasping for any chance I can get!).

My daughter and I are reading Anne of Avonlea. I don’t know that she enjoys this one as much as she did Anne of Green Gables, simply because it’s harder for her to relate to a more grown-up Anne, but I’m enjoying it! Not sure what’s next on our list.

Nine of these books came from my TBR.

Reading Challenge Updates

Not current participating in any reading challenges.

State of the Goodreads TBR

Last month, we left off at 156 books on said TBR; this month, we’re down to 150! Imagine, there once was a time when it was down to 78…It’s nice to have goals, right???

Books I Acquired in October 2021

None!

Bookish Things I Did in October 2021

I was browsing an online calendar for virtual Jewish events at the end of September when I came across two events that I immediately wanted to attend. The first was an appearance by Mark Oppenheimer, author, journalist, and co-host of the Unorthodox podcast, to discuss his latest book, Squirrel Hill. I hadn’t read the book yet, but as luck would have it, it came in at my library that night. The interview with Mark was wonderful and illustrated his emotional ties to both the Jewish community as a whole and his ancestral neighborhood of Squirrel Hill in Pittsburgh. The second event I attended happened several days later; author Dara Horn was promoting her latest book, People Love Dead Jews, which I had already read. She discussed her book and debated a few topics with another speaker; she’s wildly intelligent and I really enjoyed being able to hear her speak.

These online author presentations are one of the few gifts we’ve been given from this awful pandemic, and it’s something I hope continues long into the future.

Current Podcast Love

Still listening to and enjoying the Ologies podcast! It’s endless fun, and a fun way to learn as I’m falling asleep, or when I wake up in the middle of the night. Alie Ward is a fabulous interviewer, and even subjects I have no interest in, she makes me go, “Huh, maybe this is interesting after all…” Highly recommended!

Stephanie’s Read Harder Challenge

Uh, yeah. No progress on that this month. I’ll talk about why below.

Real Life Stuff

Oof, what a month.

Depression and anxiety hit me HARD last month. Like, really, really hard, and it only continued to get worse this month. My heart was racing, I couldn’t focus, my stomach noped out of eating pretty much anything because it felt like it was full of pre-performance butterflies at all times…things were bad, friends. Like, finally bad enough for me to break down and call to get a same-day doctor appointment with a doctor who I’ve seen before but who is not my regular provider. Crying to someone you barely know while wearing a mask really sucks, you know? He was kind and sympathetic and agreed that I was entirely emotionally tapped out from *gestures broadly at everything* and prescribed me a low dose of antidepressants to get me over this hump. And fortunately, they kicked in after about a week and a half…

…just in time for my back to go out again! (I can’t win.) I had been doing great since my caudal injections last month, until I bent over to buckle my daughter in her car seat and something on my left side spasmed mightily, leaving me in heaps of pain, struggling to walk and once again feeling like my pelvis is trying to electrocute me when I’m in a sitting position- only this time, because of the antidepressant, I couldn’t take the gabapentin to control that like I would have before. My physiatrist’s office responded to my message on Monday; they were able to fit me in for an emergency appointment the next day, where we scheduled more caudal injections. She said if I keep flaring after this set of injections, she wants to redo my MRI and consult with the surgeon about maybe going in there and shaving off the herniated part of what’s left of my L5S1 disc. Not my ideal situation, but it would be nice to, you know, move normally again and not be in SO much pain all the time, so we’ll see. Round 2 of injections happens tomorrow, so think good thoughts for me! 🙂  (On the way out the door, my doctor saw my copy of How to Survive a Plague by David France and remarked, “Oh, that’s a really good book!” She’s got excellent taste in books, y’all!)

That’s about it! I’m crossing everything that my daughter will be able to get vaccinated this month; our local Walgreens said they were preparing to vaccinate kids in the next week or two, so here’s hoping! May your November be filled with love, warmth, light, and beautiful colors, no matter where you’re at in the world. Be safe, friends.

Monthly roundup

Monthly Roundup: August 2021

Stephanie2 Comments

AUGUST, AMIRITE???

This has been a MONTH. Not a horrible one, just busier than I’ve been used to for a long time. Back to school and all its surrounding chaos (AND STRESS) has been kicking my butt, and with the little bit of extra free time, I’ve been using all that to work on house projects that you can’t necessarily get done when your kiddo is home all year doing remote learning. So there hasn’t been much free time to blog or even to read; reading is done in little snatches here and there, but that’s okay. Sometimes life is like that, right?

I’m working hard at getting all my projects completed so that I can have more time to read and update my posts, but in the meantime, bear with me! I’m doing my best. 😊

So let’s get this monthly roundup started, shall we?

Books I Read in August 2021

1. Majesty (American Royals #2) by Katharine McGee

2. The Second: Race and Guns in a Fatally Unequal America by Carol Anderson

3. The Family Next Door: The Heartbreaking Imprisonment of the Thirteen Turpin Siblings and Their Extraordinary Rescue by John Glatt

4. Flunk. Start.: Reclaiming My Decade Lost in Scientology by Sands Hall

5. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott (no review; read out loud to my daughter)

6. From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg (no review; read out loud to my daughter)

7. Inconspicuous Consumption: The Environmental Impact You Don’t Know You Have by Tatiana Schlossberg

8. This Is Real and You Are Completely Unprepared: The Days of Awe as a Journey of Transformation by Alan Lew (the unreviewed books I read for myself were discussed in this catch-up post)

9. Emily’s Runaway Imagination by Beverly Cleary (no review; read out loud to my daughter)

And that’s it! Like I said, not a fantastic month for reading (but other things got done, so I’m pleased). It’s been so long that I’ve had the house to myself that I’m almost not sure how to handle it when I’m home alone, but I’ve been settling down to work almost every school day and organizing everything. Soon, I’ll be able to curl up in a nice, clean, organized house and read the day away. Hopefully.

Little Women wasn’t as fun of a read this time around as it was the last time I read it, when I was 15. I really loathed Professor Bhaer (just let Jo write whatever she wanted to write and back off!), though I did appreciate that Amy and Laurie were fairly well-matched. From the Mixed-Up Files was just as fun this time around as it’s ever been, and my daughter really loved it as well.

Six of these came from my TBR!

Reading Challenge Updates

Not currently participating in any reading challenges.

State of the Goodreads TBR

SO. 164 books last month, and with this month not being great at doing many bookish things, I’m still right there at 164. Which is actually okay! I’m glad it didn’t explode in this month of so little reading!

Books I Acquired in August 2021

You know, I don’t think I got any new books this month. Which is fine, because I really, really need to read some books from my own shelves!

Bookish Things I Did in August 2021

I actually did something seriously bookish things month! I mentioned last month that I had a meeting with the new rabbi at my synagogue, and that I was really excited about that. I met her, she’s lovely, we had a great chat, and she mentioned that the synagogue library was being reorganized and the books needed to be reshelved. Long story made short, I found myself masked up and helping to reshelve box after box of wonderful Jewish books in the synagogue library last week! It was hot, sweaty, dusty work (and I was thankful for a good day with my back!), but we tackled it all and got everything back on the shelves! It’s nice feeling useful like that, and I appreciated the chance to socialize with the two women working with me (especially since I’ve barely been out of the house for the last year and a half!!!!) and check out the synagogue’s books. 😊

Current Podcast Love

At night, I’m just listening to BBC World Service Radio, but during the day, as I organize and clean, I’m listening to Leaving Eden Podcast, about leaving and deconstruction from the Independent Fundamental Baptist Church. Fascinating stuff; Sadie is so open about everything she’s been through and the hard work and self-examination it’s taken to move past the indoctrination she received about who she is/should be and what the world is about, and Gavriel is surprisingly insightful for as young as he is (which isn’t THAT young, but I definitely wasn’t that insightful when I was his age). It’s a really interesting podcast.

Stephanie’s Read Harder Challenge

This will start back up again soon! When my house projects are done, I’m planning on picking up something to read during the schoolday, something I need quiet time with no interruptions so I can focus. Looking forward to doing this again!

Real Life Stuff

What a month!

The beginning of August was, I’m not going to lie, really, really stressful. My daughter, who is seven and in the second grade, was at home, learning remotely, all last year. This year, there IS no remote learning, so it was either send her back to school in person, or homeschool her, and she is NOT a good candidate for homeschooling- though I would have done it if I felt it was my only option. Her district mandated wearing masks really before it became any kind of a drama (I wouldn’t have even hesitated a second to pull her out if they hadn’t), but not all districts around us did. Thankfully, the governor stepped in and basically WTF’ed the ones who didn’t and mandated it- I’m so grateful. That still left the school’s lunch policy, however, and I was an absolute wreck thinking of my kiddo being unmasked in a cafeteria with other kids, with the Delta variant having such a higher viral load and being so much more contagious. Like, we’re talking serious, serious wreck. I was ready to pull her out just over that.

I ended up emailing her principal, who outlined the school’s lunch policy for me, and who also let me know that parents are allowed to check their students out every day for lunch. I cried. I wept with complete and utter relief. So every day, I heat up lunch and truck over to the school, where I sign my happy-to-see-me kiddo out, and we have a picnic by the pond behind the school. It’s a nice break in both of our days. She eats quickly enough that she’s able to head back for the post-lunch recess, which also makes her really happy, since she’s finally able to hang out with her friends for the first time since kindergarten, and I feel better knowing she’s getting less exposure. Win-win all around, and so far the school year is off to a good start. My county has the highest vaccination rate in the state, so things aren’t as scary as they could be. I feel for those of you who have children in schools that aren’t masking, where the community isn’t highly vaccinated and whose members aren’t taking this seriously. I’ve been watching the consequences of this in my old county in Tennessee, where a teacher died of Covid this past week, and it’s infuriating.

And now that my daughter is at school all day, I’ve been systematically tearing the house apart. I’ve almost got the kitchen done (still need to clean the fridge), and I have a few things left to do in the living room, but that’s not bad at all since I was able to do a few of the bigger projects over the summer. Next up is my closet, which hasn’t been organized since before the pandemic, and the bathroom, which basically just needs a good hose-down. And then my poor laundry room. That’ll be a project, but I’m looking forward to it. It’s all slow-going, since I have to get dinner pulled together in there, as well as my lunch trip to the school and any errands that have to happen during the day (groceries, runs across town to pick up school forms from the doctor, etc), but I’m definitely making good progress, and I’m happy about it!

What’s next in September? Another year of virtual High Holidays, which…isn’t ideal, but we do what we have to, and I’ll be tuning in to my synagogue’s services from home. I’ll also be attending virtual presentations by authors Wes Moore and Lori Gottlieb, both of which I’m very much looking forward to (and both offered by the local parent education group, for which I’m very grateful!). It looks like another busy month, so who knows who much reading I’ll get done, but we’ll see. It’s all good work.

Hang in there, friends. It’s rough out there again and who knows when it’ll get better again. So much death and suffering. Do your part to safely ride this terrible wave out; my heart breaks for our healthcare workers who see so many terrible things each day, things that could have likely been prevented. Our society is going to be suffering from the ramifications of all of this for years…

Wishing you all a peaceful, healthy September. Be well, my friends.

Monthly roundup

Monthly Roundup: July 2021

Stephanie3 Comments

August is here! My birthday month!

Whew, July was a hot one. Way too many days over 90 for my taste, but I still spent plenty of time on my backyard porch swing, sweating and frantically gulping cups of sugar-free lemonade in order to stay hydrated as I flicked through the pages of my kindle. Icy cold days will be here before we know it, so I’m soaking up all the gross, sweaty outdoor warmth that I can before I no longer have the option.

It’s been a great month for reading! After reorganizing my paper TBR, I decided to start tackling some of the ebooks that have been lingering on there forever, and I’ve been happily downloading library book after library book. A huge portion of my library’s budget has gone to updating their ebook collection since the pandemic started, and I’m grateful for it and for all the many ways they serve our community (new library building coming in a little over a year! I’m so excited! Be prepared to hear a lot more about this from me in the future).

Okay, let’s get this monthly recap going, shall we?

Books I Read in July 2021

1. Inferior: How Science Got Women Wrong- and the New Research That’s Rewriting the Story by Angela Saini

2. Antisemitism: Here and Now by Deborah E. Lipstadt

3. Choosing Judaism: 36 Stories by Bradley Caro Cook and Diana Phillips

4. The Guest Book by Sarah Blake

5. Other Words for Home by Jasmine Warga

6. Sick Kids in Love by Hannah Moskowitz

7. We Crossed a Bridge and It Trembled: Voices from Syria by Wendy Pearlman

8. My Father’s Paradise: A Son’s Search for His Jewish Past in Kurdish Iraq by Ariel Sabar

9. This Side of Home by Renée Watson

10. Outwitting History: The Amazing Adventures of a Man Who Rescued a Million Yiddish Books by Aaron Lansky

11. The Secret Chord by Geraldine Brooks (no review)

12. You Had Me at Hola by Alexis Daria

13. Head Over Heels by Hannah Orenstein

14. Living Oprah: My One-Year Experiment to Live as TV’s Most Influential Guru Advises by Robyn Okrant (review to come)

I didn’t review The Secret Chord because I’m still thinking about it. The style is different from Geraldine Brooks’s other books; I still enjoyed it, and it’s incredible, but I’m not actually sure how to sum it up. My daughter and I are STILL plowing through Little Women; it’s a long book and the chapters are long, so it’s a slow read for us (we’re just at the part where Jo is coming back from her time as a governess, where she meets Professor Bhaer), so that’s why I haven’t logged any read-alouds with her.

Thirteen of these books came from my TBR! None from my own shelves this month, which I need to work on. Since I’m starting to read down what’s available at my library, I may continue to do that and then read my own shelves as I wait for interlibrary loan holds. We’ll see. 😉

Reading Challenge Updates

No current challenges going on.

State of the Goodreads TBR

I’m finally starting to make headway on this thing! Last month, my want-to-read list clocked in at 171 books; this month, I’m down to 164 books! That actually feels pretty amazing to me. I haven’t been below the 170s in AGES, so I’m really happy with this!

Books I Acquired in July 2021

WOOHOO, I WENT TO A BOOK SALE!!!

A women’s group that funds scholarships for other women is back to having their massive book sales. Thursday through Saturday, the books are sold individually, but on Sunday, the books go for $10 per paper grocery bag, so you know I’m in. My son and I masked up and came away with two bags of books. Mine are pictured below.

Books to read aloud to my daughter:

Books to learn from:

Books to kick back and dive into:

And Jewish books!!!

And more Jewish books from when I stopped by the used bookstore:

So hooooooooooooo boy, are my shelves groaning this month! This was the first book sale they’ve held since the pandemic started, and I was very glad to see it (though not super thrilled with most of the people being unmasked- LOOKING ESPECIALLY HARD AT YOU, GROSS LADY COUGHING ALL OVER THE PLACE. ARE WE SERIOUSLY GOING BACK TO THAT????????????).

Bookish Things I Did in July 2021

Just the book sale and the stop by the used bookstore, pretty much. That was awesome. 😊

Current Podcast Love

Listening to Gotta Grow Up Sometime! while I bike (indoors; outside is too gross, and I can only do 20 minutes at a time right now, since more flares up my SI joints), and catching up on episodes of Unorthodox at night.

Stephanie’s Read Harder Challenge

On hold until things go back to normal (whenever THAT is…). I am trying to read a little bit of several Jewish books per day, though.

Real Life Stuff

Emotionally, this has been a really tough month. My son was struggling with our pandemic isolation and ended up moving out to stay with his best friend until vaccines are available for kids my daughter’s age. It was the best option out of a trashbag of awful options. He’s doing better and still being careful, but I miss him like crazy. Not having him here really sucks.

School is creeping closer. The plan has been for my daughter to return to in-person learning this year, but the Delta variant is making me very, very nervous, and now I’m not so sure. Couple that with the fact that we have school districts near us- ELEMENTARY SCHOOL DISTRICTS, WHERE KIDS CAN’T GET VACCINATED- making masks optional, and I’m mired in anxiety. Obviously, breakthrough cases can happen, and if a teacher has young kids in a masks-optional environment, even she or he may pose a risk to my kiddo, despite being vaccinated (and that’s if they’re vaccinated! Unvaccinated, they’re an even bigger risk). I’m extremely unhappy about all of this and really unsure about sending my daughter into a school building. While our district has mandated masks for everyone, I’m still extremely apprehensive, and I cannot believe there are parents fighting so hard for schools to take zero precautions. I’m so furious that this is even a debate and that there are parents out there so willing to chance their kids getting long Covid, and so heinously heartless that they don’t care if their kid gets mine sick with a virus that could have lifelong consequences (and that could result in massive medical bills that could ruin our family). What has this society become??? I’m so fucking appalled. I can’t imagine you’re any happier with all of this. I’m predicting that, despite their best efforts, a lot of schools are going to end up going virtual again. It’s not going to be a great year.

Despite all of this, there are good things on the horizon for me. My birthday is coming up and we’ll be able to go kayaking on a local lake, as is our tradition (cancelled last year, since the kayak rentals were closed). My synagogue has a new rabbi; she contacted me to meet up with me, and she graciously agreed to meet with me outside at a local park, since my family isn’t doing anything indoors yet, so that’ll happen soon as well and I’m really looking forward to that. I see a new physiatrist in a few weeks for my garbage back- things have settled down a lot, but I’m still fluctuating right on the edge between MOSTLY OKAY and the danger zone leading into REALLY BAD. I’m having a lot of trouble with my right SI joint and right hip feeling like they’re electrocuting me at random times, which…is about as pleasant as you might think. Fun times. Hopefully the new doc will help; she gets great reviews and patients say she’s a really good listener, so I’m crossing my fingers.

Stay safe out there, friends. Things are getting bad again and I’m worried.

nonfiction

Book Review: Outwitting History: The Amazing Adventures of a Man Who Rescued a Million Yiddish Books by Aaron Lansky

Stephanie3 Comments

Right along with books, I’ve long been obsessed with languages. I learned a bunch of Japanese when I was in grade school, took four years of Spanish and of French and one of German in high school (our school schedule was structured in a way that made this possible), have been through Duolingo’s Norwegian tree five times now, and am currently picking up some Hebrew. The many different Jewish languages fascinate me as well (there are more than just Yiddish and Hebrew!). And where Jewish language and books meet is Aaron Lansky, founder of the Yiddish Book Center and author of Outwitting History: The Amazing Adventures of a Man Who Rescued a Million Yiddish Books (Algonquin Books, 2005). I’ve known about Mr. Lansky since my son was very young and I read him a children’s book about how Mr. Lansky saved Yiddish books, so when I learned that he had written a book for adults, it immediately went onto my list (and my library had an ebook copy!).

As college students learning Yiddish, Aaron Lansky and his classmates had a difficult time finding reading material. New Yiddish books weren’t really being published, and most libraries didn’t have much, if anything, on their shelves. And then he learned the terrible fate of many of the Yiddish books in existence: they were being thrown out. When elderly Yiddish speakers died, their children, who often couldn’t speak or read the language, didn’t know what to do with the books and so they got tossed. Horrified, Mr. Lansky began collecting these books. As more and more books piled up when people learned that he wanted them, he opened the Yiddish Book Center and began racing against time (and weather, and terrible storage conditions) in order to preserve the literary traditions and history of a world that no longer exists.

It wasn’t an easy job. Funding was always an issue. Space was another problem. Vans that broke down, elderly folks who overfed Mr. Lansky and his crew while sharing the stories of their lives and their books (and putting them hours behind schedule!), people who didn’t seem to understand what he was trying to do, trips to pick up books that were downright dangerous, there were a lot of obstacles in the way, but things always seemed to work out, and today, the Yiddish Book Center is an amazing institution that has helped the modern-day study of Yiddish flourish.

This was such a great read. It’s right at the intersection of a bunch of things I care deeply about- books, languages, Judaism- and Mr. Lansky tells the story of his life in a truly engaging way. The Yiddish language has never been dead; it’s still in use today as a living language, though mainly among the more Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) groups, who, in general, don’t engage with the mainly secular literature in the books Mr. Lansky was trying to save (which is why it was so important he collected them; these books are history, culture, linguistics. They’re the legacy of a people who survived some terrible times, but who left behind a rich literary treasure trove). And Yiddish has seen a bit of a resurgence among this current generation of non-Haredi Jews (are there any non-Jews engaging with the language on a widespread basis? I don’t honestly know). There are Yiddish classes in the city near me; the University of Chicago also offers Yiddish courses (my kingdom for a winning lottery ticket so that I could afford to attend!). It makes me happy that non-native speakers are continuing to engage with this beautiful language (to me, it sounds a little like Norwegian, which I think is gorgeous!). (I really love parentheses, if you couldn’t tell. Eesh.)

The people who gave Mr. Lansky their books are deeply moving. So often, they had already lost far too much in their lives; they understood the importance of the books they loved, and they shared their lives and their stories (and their homecooked food!) with the Yiddish Book Center crew. Elderly as they were, many of them went on to help collect books for the Center. You’ll be moved by their stories, their pain, their joy, and their enthusiasm for and dedication to their book collections (seriously, as literary people, we ALL get how important books are! The thought of any books ending up in trash heaps, regardless of whether or not I can read them, makes me scream inside my heart!).

Outwitting History left me in awe of everything Aaron Lansky has accomplished. He saw a problem- a whole culture and history being erased- and dedicated his life to solving it. And in return, scholars of Yiddish visit and contact his center every day. The Center sends Yiddish books all around the world, and Yiddish literature was the first to be digitized. He has done the world a massive service by preserving so many books, and though I don’t speak the language (though at some point, I’d like to learn some!), I’m deeply grateful to him for the books he and his crew have rescued. Imagine what the world would have missed out on had all those books been lost forever.

Visit the website of the Yiddish Book Center here.

Monthly roundup

Monthly Roundup: June 2021

Stephanie2 Comments

Welcome to July! June here started off dry, like drought-style dry, and now we’re all peering out between the raindrop for the Ark…It’s rained and rained and rained and rained. Even in normal years, this would have me going a little nuts, but being stuck in the house with a kiddo too young to be vaccinated? OY. Not to mention, my pain hasn’t gotten any better this month. I’ve had some really nasty days, and sitting is painful again (SERIOUSLY. SITTING. WTF). But I’m taking measures to work on this, and I had some really great things happen this month as well, which I’ll talk about below.

It’s also been a pretty good month for reading! As I expected throughout the winter, I’ve been doing a lot of reading out on my swing- uh, not during the rain, unfortunately, but when it’s dry out, it makes for a lovely reading spot. A pillow, a sheet thrown over the canopy to block out any stray retina-burning sunlight, a cup of lemonade, and I’m set for as long as my daughter is otherwise occupied and content for me to read. It’s amazing, and I’m already sad that the summer won’t last forever. I love reading on my swing.

Anyway, let’s get this recap started, shall we?

Books I Read in June 2021

1. The Henna Wars by Adiba Jaigirdar

2. Out of My Mind by Sharon M. Draper

3. Instructions for Dancing by Nicola Yoon

4. 999: The Extraordinary Young Women of the First Official Jewish Transport to Auschwitz by Heather Macadam

5. How to Understand Israel in 60 Days or Less by Sarah Glidden

6. A Better Man: A (Mostly) Serious Letter to My Son by Michael Ian Black

7. Why We Can’t Sleep: Women’s New Midlife Crisis by Ada Calhoun

8. The Book of V by Anna Solomon

9. Hand Made: The Modern Woman’s Guide to Made-from-Scratch Living by Melissa K. Norris

10. In the House of the Serpent Handler: A Story of Faith and Fleeting Fame in the Age of Social Media by Julia C. Duin

11. Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery (no review; read out loud to my daughter)

12. God Was Not in the Fire: The Search for a Spiritual Judaism by Daniel Gordis (no review)

13. Aleph Isn’t Tough: An Introduction to Hebrew for Adults by Linda Motzkin (my second time through this book; I needed the review)

14. Well Met by Jen DeLuca

15. Well Played by Jen DeLuca

16. Cultish: The Language of Fanaticism by Amanda Montell

17. Hidden Heretics: Jewish Doubt in the Digital Age by Ayala Fader

18. Shunned: How I Lost My Religion and Found Myself by Linda A. Curtis

(My apologies; WordPress is not allowing me to link to those last books. I’ve had a heck of a time getting this post up at ALL.)

That’s some pretty decent reading! Seven fiction, eleven nonfiction. Sixteen from my TBR; two rereads (both of which were from my own shelves). Aleph Isn’t Tough is an amazing book if you’re wanting to learn to read Hebrew, for whatever reason. I had originally gone through it the first time right before the pandemic hit, before I had started attending virtual services at my synagogue. It worked well, though I was a bit iffy on a few of the letters and vowels introduced at the very end of the book, so I wanted to go through it again, after I formally converted and have over a years’ worth of learning various prayers and parts of the Shabbat service. MUCH better (and faster!) this time around! I could read everything from the beginning (instead of just picking out bits like the text instructs you to), I recognized the vast majority of prayers and passages and could even sing some of them as I read them, it was a lot more fun this time around!

Reading Challenge Updates

No reading challenges going on here right now.

State of the Goodreads TBR

So. 177 last month, and after reading SIXTEEN BOOKS from my TBR, it now stands at…171 books?!?!? HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE??? *lolsob* Can people just STOP writing such interesting books so I can tame this beast for a little bit? PLEASE????

Books I Acquired in June 2021

A quick trip to the thrift store yielded a super comfy long black skirt, and two books for me: Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City by Matthew Desmond, which, while not on my TBR, I’ve wanted to read for a while, and Judaism (Great Religions of Modern Man #6) by Arthur Hertzberg. They’re now sitting on my shelf, waiting for me to get to them. 😊

Bookish Things I Did in June 2021

I do have one bookish thing I did- but I’ll discuss that below. 😉

Current Podcast Love

I’m still just listening to BBC Radio on my phone as I fall asleep. I’m not sure I’ll be able to keep up with podcasts for a bit; my tablet is…nine years old now? Old enough that it’s not downloading app updates, so a lot of my apps are unusable anymore. And as for my phone, it’s also five years old, and its memory is so small that the very small handful of apps I have on there (most of which I NEED to run my daily life) are causing the memory to run out, so I can’t get anything new there either. ☹

Stephanie’s Read Harder Challenge

On hold until life goes back to normal.

Real Life Stuff

SO.

In some ways, this month was same old, same old. Nasty chronic pain (but I’m trying to desensitize my brain and overworked central nervous system by kind of pushing my boundaries a little bit. Exposure therapy of a sorts). Our family is still isolated like it’s March of 2020. Lots of 90+ degree days that made being outside in any context fairly disgusting and miserable even if you were adequately hydrated. (Is there such a thing when it’s that hot? My middle-aged body says no…) And then…

For one, I started doing volunteer work for The Vashti Initiative. This is an organization that helps provide survivors of religious abuse with support and the resources and information necessary to build a life outside of their former communities. (SUPER right up my alley!) Right now, I’m helping to compile lists of resources for my state, including things like food pantries (what I’m working on currently), organizations that assist with mental health and the needs of survivors of abuse, things like that. (If you’re part of a religious or civic organization that runs a food pantry, be VERY CLEAR on your website about your phone number, address, and hours where people can get food from you- first off, HAVE a website. PLEASE. Throw up a free Facebook account. A Blogger or WordPress site. ANYTHING. I am BEGGING you. Make it easy for people to find you. And for God’s sake, don’t talk down to the people who need your services. These are human beings, and they deserve food without judgment or feeling like they’re a project to you. I’ve looked at over 250 pantry sites at this point and I’ve been appalled a LOT of the time.) I’m super, super happy to be helping Vashti out, and if you’re looking for a great place to volunteer, especially right now (and/or because your body sucks and moving around and lifting things is difficult!), Vashti is all virtual! 😊 I’ve long thought that there was a massive need for this kind of service, and I knew I wanted to help as soon as I learned about this place.

And then this happened

Two thousand days of Norwegian. 😊 It’s a fun language, and it comes in handy more often than you might expect. Part of that is because I make opportunities to use it, but I’ve also run into it unexpectedly out in the wild- the occasional news article someone else posts, on TV, IKEA (which is technically Swedish, but there’s about 80%-ish overlap between Norwegian and Swedish- same for Danish. It all just looks like it’s spelled wrong to me, because the spelling between the languages varies wildly, and the pronunciations are different, but I can read both of them enough to get by), even an overheard conversation at a Scandinavian festival between a man and his mother a few years ago (he was asking about the food she was eating). Plus Norwegian has some fun pop music, and heck, announcing you’re at least somewhat proficient in Norwegian is definitely a conversation starter!

And…

Thirdly…

*drumroll, please*

I got my writing published!!!

It’s nothing huge, but the online Jewish feminist magazine Alma accepted and published a piece I wrote, which they titled The Best Books for Exploring Conversion to Judaism. (Hey, write what you know, amirite?) It originally started off as more of an essay, and I rewrote and reformatted it upon request to focus more heavily on conversion, and voilà! Publication. I’ve never been published before, so this was a pretty big deal- I just wanted to write about some books that I loved and that had influenced me, and I was so pleased that this worked out. And then…

This happened.

And this happened.

And this happened.

I never, ever expected the authors of these books I loved so very much to see this article, much less thank me for it. (In fact, I had one sleepless night before the article came out, worrying that I was wrong about everything and people would basically storm my social media with metaphorical torches and pitchforks. Anxiety is fun…) I cried, y’all. I’ve been a homemaker for most of my adult life, where 99.9% of the response to my completing something is that there’s more work for me to do, or someone complains, or a kid blows out a diaper or breaks something or has to be driven somewhere (all the while, more work piles up at home, because the cat is likely barfing on something while I’m out, and then someone else is upset because I wasn’t there to work on something else…). Having people say, “Hey, thanks, this thing you did was great!” just…it felt really, really good. 😊

So that was my June. Filled with the regular downs (CAN YOU NOT, PANDEMIC?!?!??), and some really great ups, and a lot of awesome books.

I have a virtual library program about Muslims at the end of July, but that’s literally all that’s on my calendar right now! Crossing my fingers for another month of great reading.

Stay safe, friends. There’s a lot of yuck going around right now- nasty weather (we’ve had tornados rip through my area, though not my town), intense heat, wildfires, the scary Delta variants that worry me greatly, political and civil unrest around the world… Be the good neighbor you want to see in the world. It won’t get any better unless we all work together for it.

Sending all of you love, and wishing you a beautiful July.

Monthly roundup

Monthly roundup: May 2021

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Finally June! My swing is out, warmer weather is here (we’ve had some 90-degree days here, followed by a few in the 50’s- I have no explanation for Illinois weather…), and virtual first grade is DONE DONE DONE!!!!!!!! I’m sure I don’t have to tell all of you how exhausting this year has been. We’ve had some rough school years around here in the past, but I don’t think I’ve ever looked forward so much to summer break. I seriously need a good long streak of weeks without having to listen to the iPad blaring away all day long. (I am infinitely grateful to our school district for offering virtual learning all year long and I adore my daughter’s teacher, but I’m just plain worn out.) Bring on the long days of summer reading!!!

I’m sure you’re needing a break too, wherever you are. I haven’t put in too much thought about my summer reading; I don’t know that I’ll have any kind of a plan for it at all. I’ve been doing a better job of reading stuff from my own shelves, so that’ll probably be a higher priority for me. Other than that, I’ll just wing it. 😉

Let’s get this recap started, shall we???

What I Read in May 2021

1. The New Jew: An Unexpected Conversion by Sally Srok Friedes (no review)

2. Browsing Nature’s Aisles: A Year of Foraging for Wild Food in the Suburbs by Eric and Wendy Brown

3. Chaos on CatNet (CatNet #2) by Naomi Kritzer

4. What’s Your Pronoun?: Beyond He and She by Dennis Baron

5. Fog Magic by Julia L. Sauer (no review; read out loud to my daughter)

6. Mad Scenes and Exit Arias: The Death of the New York City Opera and the Future of Opera in America by Heidi Waleson

7. Gateway to the Moon by Mary Morris (no review; I thought I had one for this! Super weird. It was a really good book!)

8. The Bible Doesn’t Say That: 40 Biblical Mistranslations, Misconceptions, and Other Misunderstandings by Joel M. Hoffman

9. Stars of David: Prominent Jews Talk About Being Jewish by Abigail Pogrebin

10. The Incredible Journey by Sheila Burnford (no review; read out loud to my daughter)

11. Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan (no review; read out loud to my daughter)

12. Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks

13. TREYF: My Life as an Orthodox Outlaw by Elissa Altman

14. The Sabbath: Its Meaning for Modern Man by Abraham Joshua Heschel (no review)

15. Here and There: Leaving Hasidism, Keeping My Family by Chaya Deitsch

16. All About Sam by Lois Lowry (no review; read out loud to my daughter)

17. Case Closed: Holocaust Survivors in Postwar America by Beth B. Cohen

18. It’s Always the Husband by Michele Campbell (review to come)

19. Piecing Me Together by Renée Watson (review to come)

Phew! Pretty decent month. Lots of reading to my daughter- four of these were read out loud to her. Eleven of these books came from my TBR; four of the adult titles came from my own shelves! (The kid titles that I read out loud quite often come from our shelves here at the house, but I never count those, since we usually keep them. The fiction that I read from my own shelves usually gets passed along.) I won’t have quite as many read-aloud kid books next month; my daughter and I have embarked upon her first journey through Anne of Green Gables, so that’ll take some time to get through. I’m hopeful that she’ll love it as much as I did when I was young.

Reading Challenge Updates

I finished my parenting group’s reading challenge, and now I’m just trying to read some of the books from my own shelf. Four this month!

State of the Goodreads TBR

Last month, I was at 176, this month it’s at…177! I told you, it just never seems to move from around this number, dangit! Even after reading ELEVEN BOOKS OFF THE LIST!!! *hysterical sobbing*

Books I Acquired in May of 2021

I actually have books to list here this month!

I hit up the used bookstore for the first time in over a year and bought myself some Mother’s Day gifts (someone should do it! It’s been a year plus of serious intensive mothering…). Included in this stash is The Sabbath: Its Meaning for Modern Man by Abraham Joshua Heschel, Stars of David: Prominent Jews Talk About Being Jewish by Abigail Pogrebin, and Bet is for B’reishit by Linda Motzkin. I had worked my way through her Aleph Isn’t Tough just before the pandemic hit- an interlibrary loan copy that I had requested in order to see if I wanted to purchase my own copy. I did, and I used an Amazon gift card this month to purchase both Aleph Isn’t Tough and Aleph Isn’t Enough (I’ve worked my way through this last one before, but I’m going to go through it again as a refresher before moving on to the other two). Now all I need is Tav is for Torah and I’ll have the full set! I can read Hebrew, but I’m slow and I’d like to improve, so I’m going to work my way through these books. Excellent month for obtaining books!

Bookish Things I Did in May 2021

Another excellent month in this category. My library was part of a group of libraries that virtually hosted author Alex Kotlowitz. He’s best known for his classic, There Are No Children Here, and I read and loved his An American Summer: Love and Death in Chicago. It was wonderful and thought-provoking to listen to him speak of his experiences writing these books, and how things have changed, and how they haven’t.

AND…my synagogue virtually hosted author Marra B. Gad, author of The Color of Love: A Story of a Mixed-Race Jewish Girl, which is just such a powerful book. She spoke of her experiences with racism in Jewish spaces, and of how much better we need to do. It’s painful to hear of how much hurt she’s suffered, and it was an excellent reminder of the importance of standing up and saying something when those around us make racist comments (and of checking in on your Black and brown friends when these things happen. Make sure they know you’ve got their back and give them the listening space they need to vent their feelings when these things happen. It’s so important). She is a massively intelligent and thoughtful woman, and I deeply appreciated the ability to learn from her.

Nothing scheduled in June, but that’s okay. It’s nice to have a month off!

Current Podcast Love

I’m a little podcast-burned-out, to be honest. My brain is just kind of tired, and I’ve been needing a break, so lately I’ve just been turning on BBC News World Service radio at night as I fall asleep. There’s something so soothing about listening to hushed British accented-voices that knocks me right out!

Stephanie’s Read Harder Challenge

On hold until life goes back to normal!

Real Life Stuff

Finally, summer break!

I have big plans to keep my daughter learning, so we’ll do a little bit of schoolwork during the week. I’ll definitely have her read and do some math and writing most days, and we’ll do a lot of reading together. It’ll probably be a little more intense than if things were normal, but I want to keep her brain growing and primed for whatever this school year looks like. We’re not sending her until she can be vaccinated; if this means I have to homeschool for a few months, so be it, so I’d rather make sure she’s not losing any learning over the summer.

Speaking of vaccines, I’m now fully vaccinated! My son and I got shot #2 mid-month. He was fine; I had about 24 hours of feeling like feverish, achy, chilled garbage, and then I got up the next morning and was totally fine. It wasn’t even bad enough to keep my husband home from work; I was still able to supervise my kiddo’s distance learning, I just felt gross while doing it and went to bed when he got home. No biggie. We’re still maintaining a ton of caution due to my daughter, though, so really, not much has changed. ☹

I may have something good to report in a bit, but I’m sitting on that for a while longer until everything is confirmed. 😉

Other than that, not really that much going on here! I’m just deeply grateful for summer break and already dreading the return of school in August! I’m sure I’ll be ready for it then, but right now, I just want a whole lot of quiet lazy days filled with great reading.

Wherever you are, whatever your plans are, I hope you’re finding some peace. I’m glad to be fully vaccinated, but I’m deeply uncomfortable with how unequal the vaccine rollouts have been worldwide. We’re all in this together and I’m so upset about the rise in cases in India, Vietnam, Malaysia, various places in South America… I think I’ve signed a few petitions trying to get more vaccine equity around the world, because it’s so necessary. Everyone deserves a chance to protect themselves from this. If you’re not yet vaccinated or you live in a country where it’s been difficult or impossible to get access to a vaccine, my heart is with you. Be safe and hang in there.

Whatever the weather is where you’re at, whatever season you’re heading into, I hope your June is filled with wonderful reading. Keep working for a better world, folks. It’s up to us.