Gaining Time

Currently reading:

You’d Look Better as a Ghost by Joanna Wallace
Beloved by Toni Morrison
Devotions: The Selected Poems of Mary Oliver by Mary Oliver [ongoing]
Extracting the Stone of Madness: Poems 1962–1972 by Alejandra Pizarnik [ongoing]

Books finished this week: 4

★★☆☆☆

Where this book came from: the Emerson bookstore
Why this book: You’ve heard this song and dance before, but I wasn’t going to count this one because I had to read it for class. But it was also on my TBR, so here we are.
Thoughts: I support women’s wrongs. I support the right for women in books and other media to be inept, fucked up, or even truly horrendous. Write the character that lives in your head; create a three-dimensional protagonist who has flaws and scars and addictions and hardships. But I loathed Lo Blacklock, in a way that made it hard for me to keep reading this book. If I hadn’t had to read it for class, I may have set it aside. But because I’ll presumably have to respond to a discussion question or complete an assignment on it, I persevered (mostly via skimming–sorry not sorry) and I just continued to become more and more frustrated with Lo. I understand she’s dealing with a lot, but wouldn’t a decade of journalistic experience kick in at some point? And as someone also living with clinically diagnosed anxiety, I do not understand how she never looked at an agenda or asked even one question and never felt bad about it. My anxiety would be through the roof if I knew I was failing so badly at my job!! I’m getting anxious again just thinking about it!! AHHH I DO NOT RECOMMEND THIS BOOK IT WAS DUMB!!
(Apologies to Ruth Ware, who I greatly enjoyed hearing speak at Hamptons Whodunit earlier this year. You are lovely, but your books are, perhaps, not my cup of tea anymore.)

★★★★☆

Where this book came from: Bookshop, back in 2020
Why this book: Halloween was the first classic horror movie I watched and I’ve seen all the movies (yes, even Season of the Witch). I also just love a behind-the-scenes peek.
Thoughts: Though I would’ve liked some more behind-the-scenes peeks—meaning, interviews with or information from actors and/or stories from set—this is still a fascinating book for Halloween fans. You get a lot of info about alternate scripts, scenes, and endings, and I’m genuinely impressed by the awesome interviews the authors secured.

Dorothy would absolutely kill me for this Buffalo Wild Wings breakfast at JFK before my flight to ABQ, but I loved it.

★★★★☆

Where this book came from: I’ll keep looking and update this once I find it, but I genuinely have no idea lol
Why this book: Partly I felt like I’d seen the cover around a lot, partly the premise was just so wild.
Thoughts: I can’t lie, for the first maybe third of this book, I thought this might be a two-star read. The narrator’s voice is just so pretentious, and though I understood that was the point, it was grating almost to the point of me either skimming to the end or maybe even setting the book down forever. But I’m glad I stuck with it! The protagonist, Dorothy, is horrible, obviously, but she can also be very funny. I docked a star because okay, we get it, you fuck. Again, I know that’s her whole shtick, but dang, lady, talk about something else.

★★☆☆☆

Where this book came from: Books Are Magic, early this summer
Why this book: Horror movies, spooky season, etc.
Thoughts: So much spooky and mysterious potential, wasted. I was not once frightened or even tense during my reading, and it was also tough to think of this as an escapist piece because there were constant references to COVID and money and housing worries. Horror is a great way to explore big topics, but this book was not subtle at all.

Library updates:

As I start writing this on Sunday afternoon, exactly one week ago, my friend Alyssa (hi, Alyssa!) and I were at White Sands National Park, as part of our long weekend in New Mexico. The state lived up to its name: I was truly enchanted.

It was a beautiful weekend, three days of summer followed by two of fall. We saw hot air balloons, miles of desert, and Meow Wolf Santa Fe. We drank margaritas and fell in love with sopapilla covered in honey and cinnamon and sugar. We did not realize there was such a significant altitude change until a shopkeeper asked how we were holding up, but that certainly explained the excessive fatigue and our uncharacteristic lack of appetites. We sat on rooftops and watched stunning sunsets. We made bad pottery and bought good pottery. We sweated; we shivered; I cried (a lot). I think it’s safe to say we’ll definitely go back.

Alyssa also made a comment that stuck with me, about how I’d flown out to Albuquerque from New York and so had gained time. It was a comforting thought. I love heading west for that reason, to get the chance to see a day restart and truly make the most of the time I’ve been given. I’ve been trying to gain time for awhile now, I think: getting up earlier to make sure I have time for myself, taking breaks throughout the day to get things done but also just to rest.

On that note, I also wanted to touch on the morning routine I’m trying to build, mostly thanks to Finch. Britt (hi, Britt!) showed me the app a while ago, but I was overwhelmed by the idea of taking care of a tiny digital bird at the time. Maia (hi, Maia!) brought it back into my life about two weeks ago and now I’m thoroughly obsessed. I’ve been working hard to get up earlier, do something I love before work, and just generally take care of myself. Because if I take care of myself, I take care of Agatha. And that’s all that matters.

I skipped last week because I was away, so you have plenty of reading to get through up top with all those reviews. I’ll end this here with a few more photos from the Land of Enchantment and let you go about your Sunday evening.