I’m reading Howl’s Moving Castle. Bit of a spoiler & Miyazaki left it out of the movie (rightly, I think) but Howl is actually a post-ac wizard whose family is v. disappointed he isn’t doing more with his PhD. This delights me. 📚🍿

Want to read: Ghosts of the Forbidden (Glazier’s Gap Book 1) by Leanna Renee Hieber 📚

I hate when my brain won’t read, which it won’t today. Reading is my core way of interfacing with the world. The tools we use shape our thought processes, and writing and reading have been my primary tools since I was a small child. Reading heals me, distracts me from pain, comforts me when I’m lonely, and gives me new ways of thinking.

I know this inability to turn other people’s words into things that cohere for me will pass. And I can do audiobooks some. But there’s also something about the physicality of reading that I miss when I do that. So it is a great companion to reading text, especially for times it’s not smart to focus on texts like when I’m driving or trying to fall asleep.

Maybe I’ll try reading something middle grade instead of YA or adult and see if that helps.

Currently reading: Fabric by Victoria Finlay 📚

Finished reading: The Hobbit, Or, There and Back Again by J. R. R. Tolkien 📚

Listened to the audiobook narrated by Andy Serkis, which I think made it much more enjoyable than when I read it in print 20+ years ago. Highly recommend.

💬📚 “If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.” - J. R. R. Tolkien, The Hobbit

Did not finish: A Little Life: A Novel by Hanya Yanagihara 📚

Beautifully written. After 400+ pgs of almost non-stop trauma, this book was actively making me unhappy so I set it aside. Definitely search around for content warnings before reading.

💬📚 “It was impossible to explain to the healthy the logic of the sick, and he didn’t have the energy to try.” - Hanya Yanagihara, A Little Life

💬📚 “This was not what he thought acting would be, but what had he known about what acting would be?” - Hanya Yanagihara, A Little Life

💬📚 “…he was an optimist. Every month, every week, he chose to open his eyes, to live another day in the world.” - Hanya Yanagihara, A Little Life