Just Because
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Weekend Joys, Books and More: January 8th
This first week of 2021 is proving to be no less eventful! I hope you all have a wonderful and relaxing weekend. 1.) My obsession over the holiday break was this relaxing and soothing television show. Who knew kiln firing could be so dramatic!? 2.) I love a good literary map – Take this fun quiz and see how many of these do you recognize? 3.) This is such a sweet gift idea! 4.) Ice Skating + Drag = This incredibly cool video. 5.) The internet of the early 2000s was a weird place.
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Weekend Joys, Books and More: December 18th
Is it just me, or does it feel a little early to start doing the “Best of 2020” lists? Maybe I’m a bit of a grinch, but I always feel like these lists forget that one 12th of the year happens in December! This weekend, I may not have a best of list, but I do have some fun things to check out: 1.) These are hilarious, and the prints are probably one of my favorite gift ideas for outdoorsy people! 2.) These are some fun book pairings. 3.) I made this for an (outdoor) party the other night, and I think it may become my new appetizer disk for…
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Weekend Joys, Books and More: December 11th
Hello everyone, The holiday season continues! Hanukkah started this week, and we are looking forward to actually getting some snow this weekend. In honor of snow and Hanukkah, here are 5 things to start your weekend off right: 1.) This is really for kids, but if you have kids in your life, this is a great Christmas/Hanukkah hybrid story 2.) Book Riot has a wonderful list of book-adjacent gifts for the book lovers in your life who already have enough books 3.) Have you heard of #Emojireads? If that isn’t your cup of tea, you may still like these modern classic retellings. 4.) Look at this beautiful and interesting project.…
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Weekend Joys in Books and More: December 4th Edition
Hello, I hope you all had a great week and are enjoying settling into the holiday spirit. As one of our kiddos said yesterday when discussing what month it is, it is certainly “Christmas Month” in our house. Enjoy the links below and have a great weekend! 1.) Enjoy Stacey Mei Yan Fong’s weird and wonderful 50 Pies / 50 States project! 2.) This is by far the best The Christmas Carol adaptation out there. Guillermo del Toro agrees with me so I must be right. 3.) This website is super fascinating and fun to explore! I’ve been watching a lot of period TV, and this gives me major shelf…
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An Unpretentious Way to Read “More” Books
The amount that I read is a running joke in my household, whether it is being asked “so did you finish it yet?” right when I start a book, or me reporting my running tally just to annoy those around me. I am an incredibly fast reader, and that a big part of how I finish so many books, but I honestly think that a lot of my ability to get through so many books is that I structure my life in a such as way that I can manage it. I’m not reading every second, and I still go to work, watch a ton of TV, sleep, make food…
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The Danger of a Single Story
I want to share a video with you today, by an incredible author, Chimemanda Ngozi Adichie, called The Danger of the Single Story. I find myself thinking a lot about it these days, as I watch people sling insults, accusations and straw man arguments at each-other over seemingly everything. I have a lot of thoughts about how this talk and these ideas could be integrated into the discord I see today, but for now, I will let Adichie’s voice shine.
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Unsung Heroines
I’m here this Saturday to share a small bite of storytelling with you, and one that touches on Covid-19 in a really interesting way. Even if you feel inundated right now, I encourage you to check this out. This all started as I am currently reading a really interesting book called Game Changers: The Unsung Heroines of Sports History by filmmaker Molly Schiot. This book is a work of art, and includes pictures and stories about women from all over the world doing every sport imaginable against incredible prejudice, discrimination and danger. As I was flipping through it, admiring the book itself, I realized that it had been inspired by…
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Small Literary Joys
One of the things about loving storytelling for me is that I love seeing the joy in others when they are super excited about something. I was reminded of this this week when something lovely popped up on a social media feed – Patrick Stewart reading sonnets! I don’t love sonnets, but I do LOVE Patrick Stewart, so I immediately had to watch this. As his beautiful voice started to read a poem I had never heard before, I found myself focusing not on the words as much the pure joy and enjoyment that he was projecting! Take a look at one of his below, and if you like them,…
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OF/BY/FOR ALL: An interesting look at diversity and representation
Recently, I watched a fascinating talk, given by the director of a museum in California, which talked about her experience bringing representation and inclusivity to her museum space, and the huge benefits that this effort brought to the organization and the surrounding community. OF/BY/FOR ALL is a movement that came from her work that seeks to help organizations find ways of doing this themselves. It is a longer video, but I encourage you all to check this out! Have a great week! If you are getting this update as an email, make sure you click the link to visit my site and you will be able to watch the video…
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Audio-book Guilt
As a lifelong reader, I have struggled this year as I have found myself more and more drawn to audio-books. In my current lifestyle, I drive about an hour each day, and that combined with a stressful job means that I often just don’t have the energy to dedicate to reading an actual book. However, I have been spending my commute devouring hour after hour of audio-books and I have been loving them. But I struggle with what an audio-book actually “is”. I add these books to my Goodreads account, and technically they count towards my “books read”, but I don’t know if I am reading? Sure, what I am…
