What a month! October is always my favorite month of the year: birthday, usually the best weather, college football is in full swing, holidays are right around the corner. This October was especially lovely…not only did I celebrate my birthday (and my husband’s), I had my annual girl’s trip with my best friends and I got to go the wedding of my friend who was the officiant at my wedding!
In Books…
- Bonfire of the Vanities: This was my second try at Tom Wolfe, and although by the end I could appreciate what he was trying to do with it, I just HATE his writing style. This was a chore to get through.
- The Royals: I’ve always been into the British royal family, and after I binged (and loved!) The Crown, this was a book I saw on a list of “if you liked the show, here are some books to read”. It’s kind of like a super-sized US Weekly all about the Windsors…sometimes questionably sourced gossip, but an interesting look behind the curtain at a family which has to be conscious of itself as an institution as well as a group of people bound together by blood and/or love.
- The Blind Assassin: Somehow, this was only my second Margaret Atwood (after The Handmaid’s Tale), and reading it reminded me what an incredible writer she is. This book is intricately crafted and heartwrenching and so so good.
- Lincoln in the Bardo: This was our book club selection from the month, and I always read them even when (as was the case this month) I’m not able to go to the actual meeting. This book uses the purgatory-esque Tibetan concept of the bardo, where souls remain between life and death, to tell the story of how the death of his 11 year-old son, Willie, effected President Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War. It’s written as kind of a play, with nonfiction historical sources framing it…it’s very odd, but it’s good.
- Player Piano: The only other Vonnegut I’ve read is Slaughterhouse, which I liked, so I picked up his first novel. About what happens to the world when machines have rendered most people economically superfluous, it’s surprisingly relevant to our current state of affairs. It struggles a bit in execution, but it raises interesting ideas.
- White Fur: This star-crossed lovers story had some amazing writing, but ultimately fell pretty flat for me. I didn’t ever really feel like I had a good understanding of the main characters and their motivations, and I didn’t really get some of the choices the author made (in particular, about setting).
- The Book Thief: This book came in with high expectations, since it is so widely beloved. I found it very good (and the ending an absolute tearjerker), but I wasn’t quite as blown away as I expected to be. Don’t get me wrong, it was a powerful read, but it never got to greatness for me.
In Life…
- I turned 32: There was an update post and giveaway and everything! I’ve come to be on Team Low-Key Birthday over the years, so we went out to dinner at my favorite restaurant two days beforehand and just lived my normal life, work and all, on the day of.
- BFF2K17: It was Britney, bitch! My best friends and I decided we reallllly wanted to see Britney’s show before she left Las Vegas, so we took off four days in the middle of the week to see the Wednesday show and take advantage of lower hotel rates. We shopped, we drank, we hung out…it was a lovely time and I already miss them!
- My friend Rachel got married: Rachel and I worked together for about a year before she left the company, but we stayed friends and she actually performed our wedding last year! I am so jealous, because she got married at Reno’s Discovery Museum and there’s a Sue replica there so she got to live my t-rex wedding dreams.
- Drew turned 32: My husband and I were born just two weeks apart, so we celebrated his birthday this month, too!
One Thing:
As should be pretty obvious from my posting of a monthly photo of Lord Stanley, I am a pug owner. I am also just flat-out obsessed with pugs. If you, too, find pugs to be delightful, you should check out Inkpug, whose shop I have patronized for quite some time because I love their work. As usual, this is not a referral link, I am just pointing you there because I genuinely love their products.
Gratuitous Pug Picture:
