Team Sports
Currently reading:
The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo
Zen in the Art of Writing by Ray Bradbury
Devotions: The Selected Poems of Mary Oliver by Mary Oliver [ongoing]
Someday, I’ll finish Zen in the Art of Writing . . .
Books finished this week: 2
★★☆☆☆
Where this book came from: the McNally Jackson at Rockefeller Center, back when Tess (hi, Tess!) visited
Why this book: If I remember correctly, all the authors on the Agatha Christie panel at Hamptons Whodunit said this was their favorite Christie, and the author herself apparently named it one of her favorite works. (I have one question for all of them: Um . . . why?)
Thoughts: The thrills are nonexistent and the racism against the Romani people is at an all-time high. I tacked on one extra star for [**spoiler alert**] the typical Christie twist that readers could literally not have seen coming with the information provided. It was entertaining, in a quaint way.
★★★★☆
Where this book came from: Powell’s, my West Coast beloved
Why this book: I will read anything S. A. Cosby writes
Thoughts: For the first quarter of this book, I thought it was my favorite Cosby. As his first novel, it felt unpolished in a perfect way, a way that I found appealing. As I read further, I got a little bored with the repetitive sex and violence, both of which absolutely exist in all the other Cosby novels I’ve read, but which felt gratuitous here in a way they don’t in his other books. This is probably not my favorite Cosby (I think I’d give that title to Razorblade Tears), but still worth the read if you’re a fan of him or gritty crime fiction in general.
Library updates:
Hello, friends, readers, and the internet void into which unread blog posts vanish! It’s time for another Sunday Missive. But other than the books reviewed above, I don’t have too much more to write about. It was a pretty quiet week, after some definitely not-quiet weeks, at least in part because I was sick from last Sunday through Tuesday and had to take two days off work/life to recuperate. I thought I had a fever, but two different thermometers told me I didn’t, so who knows. Thankfully, it wasn’t COVID, just a cold mixed with my usual hellish annual allergies. (This is riveting content.)
Anyhow, I’m looking forward to rejoining the land of the social, but I enjoyed my quiet week. Lots of reading time, as evidenced by the above, and plenty of time to start settling back into my school routine, because the summer semester officially starts tomorrow (AH). I’ve been trying to write every day again, too, after my school friend talked about prioritizing her writing while we still had some pre-start-of-semester free time. I’m primarily working on the manuscript that I’m 99% sure will become my master’s thesis (DOUBLE AH), but also dabbling in some short story ideas, in hopes of finishing and polishing something enough that I feel confident submitting to literary magazines and/or contests. More to come there.
I’m also entering an era in which I try to make reading and writing, both incredibly solitary activities and, as it so happens, my preferred hobbies, into team sports. It’s easy to plop down on the couch or sit at my desk at home, but I want to go out into the world to read and write, and join others in similar pursuits. So I’m trying some reading meet-ups in coming weeks (including one this very afternoon) and aiming to get back into the swing of attending Shut Up and Write events. I love books and I want to be able to enjoy them with other people who also love them.
(Update: I decided to skip the book club today, because I woke up feeling sleepy and not up for socializing. And that’s okay! The “sharing what I love with others” plan still stands.)
Keep an eye on this space. Maybe many more reviews to come?
Closing thoughts:
Get out there, champ.
