The Epic Highs and Lows of the End of Summer
Currently reading:
My Murder by Katie Williams
I added this to my TBR and then bought it just because it sounded fun. But I just realized that it was actually written by an Emerson professor who teaches in the grad program I’m a part of. Small world!
Books finished this week: 1
★★★★☆
Where this book came from: Kew & Willow, where one of the owners told me she loved the book when I went in to pick up my order
Why this book: You know me——I love a mystery! And I’ve also read two of Cosby’s other books.
Thoughts: The case Cosby lays out in this book is fascinating, and there are so many different angles and connections and people involved that the book keeps you on your toes. I docked a star not so much for plot or voice or character, but largely for the writing style. Cosby always has important stories to tell, but his use of simile and metaphor is off the charts. I even noticed a few sections where the exact same analogy was repeated. Some of the dialogue here also feels like something straight out of a cop procedural, complete with melodramatic removal or donning of sunglasses. I am an editor, so I hate when people write things in their book reviews like, This needs an editor, but, um . . . yes, I wish the editor had been a bit more heavy-handed here.
(I feel like I keep writing books reviews where I give a good rating, but then my write-up makes it sound like I absolutely hated the book. I didn’t, I promise! It’s just a bit easier for me to focus on what could be improved.)
Library updates:
I can’t lie, this week was kind of shit.
I had three final projects due for one of my grad school courses and still had a good amount of work to do for all of them, work was incredibly busy (and stressful for assorted other reasons, too), and I spent a lot of free time——and time that should’ve been dedicated to taking care of school work——playing Royal Match on my phone, because my brain really just hit a limit and couldn’t go on. I had health insurance issues. I didn’t sleep enough and I panicked a lot. Thursday marked five years since my gran passed away. And, though I finished a book, reading was so hard, because I always seemed to lack either the time or the brain capacity to read.
It hasn’t been fun, in short.
But I’m trying to be a more positive person whenever I can, so I’ll focus on some nice things from the last week. I had a lovely brunch with a friend last Sunday (hi, Tori!) and then we wandered around a Brooklyn craft market and I bought the new love of my life, the ceramic cat teapot pictured below.
I went to physical therapy for my plantar fasciitis and had a nice chat with my physical therapist (my favorite person on the planet, at this point, tbh) and a trainee who also went to college in Boston and also lived in Allston in the very same part of the neighborhood. I got a massage. I did laundry. I saw friends. I made some pretty delicious swordfish and served it over brown rice and homemade coleslaw, because I am, as always, a chef. I spent so much money on Royal Match. (That’s not a good thing, but I want to hold myself accountable.)
I journaled a lot. I finished my grad school projects. I saw a dog run happily across the street to greet a friend. I didn’t buy new books (arguable if that’s a positive in life, but it is in the grand scheme of this project). I listened to the Partridge Family. I read some cool early pages at work.
So, I guess it wasn’t all bad.
Closing thoughts:
Focus on the positive. Not in a toxic positivity way, but in a way where you make a list of nice things that happened to you or that you witnessed in a day or a week, in order to remind yourself that there are still lovely things in the world, even if things aren’t particularly going your way right now.
Also, don’t download Royal Match.
