Your [Reading] is Like a Heat Wave
Currently reading:
Rodham by Curtis Sittenfeld
A couple weeks ago, I (finally) watched American Crime Story: Impeachment. It was . . . not my favorite! But it did spark my current hyperfixation with the Clintons, a spark fanned into a roaring flame by the second season of the Slow Burn podcast. (I highly recommend the pod, by the way! I’m now listening to the first season, which is about Watergate, and I’m learning a lot.)
I’m 100+ pages into this book now and though I’m overall enjoying it and I appreciate how Sittenfeld was able to capture Hillary’s voice, I really did not expect to——nor do I want to——spend so much time reading about fucking Bill Clinton.
Books finished this week: 1
★★★★☆
Where this book came from: Surprising no one, Kew & Willow.
Why this book: Honestly, the cover caught my eye at first. I probably saw Vagabonds! in a publishing newsletter or on Twitter, and after reading the synopsis, I needed to read it.
Thoughts: I’ll admit that this one took me a minute to get into. I liked the opening narration from Tatafo, but then it took me a minute to get into the rhythm of the individual stories. But once I found the cadence, I couldn’t put down Vagabonds! (That’s such a cliche and I’m so sorry.) My favorite stories/sections were definitely “Overheard: Fairygodgirls,” “Rain,” and “After God, Fear Women,” and the last few paragraphs of the novel legitimately choked me up. Highly recommended to any vagabonds, whether you’ve found your people (and your gods) or you’re still searching.
Library updates:
Literally every time me and my apartment look like hot messes, someone undoubtedly knocks on the door to inspect . . . something. I never receive advance notification, but suddenly they have to check the water, or take a quick reading of the amount of lead in my paint (?). The lead paint one happened this week, while I was in pajama pants and my Hamilton tanktop at noon, blasting “No Diggity” as I wrote out a passionate Slack message. I also had a bag of garbage waiting to go out right by the front door and a mile-high stack of cardboard boxes I needed to bring downstairs to recycle.
All around, it was a banner Thursday for me.
It was a busy week, this week. I worked from an office for the first time in over two years and met a bunch of new people. And recently, work has been . . . wild, let’s go with. But I’m trying to make sure to carve out time to read and write.
That said, I think I’m giving up on book clubs. Not forever, but at least until I’ve put more of a dent in the books I want to read from the Library. I struggled to finish Hangsaman for a book club, which ate up a good week and a half of time that I could’ve spent on the stories that were really calling to me at the time. I’m not blaming that book, or anything, and I still would really, really like to commit to a book club. But I want more freedom in my reading right now.
I’ve been noticing small details recently. I even noticed that I was noticing, which counts as noticing a small detail. The way sunlight falls on new plants, a picture of friends peeking out from behind a vase, a curated top shelf that I’m incredibly proud of. The wear and tear around the edges of a bookmark. The thin layer of pollen I have to sweep off my balcony table every time I go outside. Slow tendrils of steam as the Keurig brews my morning coffee. Dramatic shadows on the wall from the bedroom window.
We’re also in the middle of a heat wave this weekend, and it’s terrible. I say every year, summer is my favorite season, when I don’t have to work or attend to any other responsibilities, and can instead spend my time alternating between tanning at the beach with a book and a drink and huddled in a place——anyplace——with excellent AC.
Closing thoughts:
I miss summer reading challenges. I want someone to give me a sticker or an eraser every time I finish a book.
