Happy Valentine‘s Day, Litsy!!

I made a fattoush salad and it‘s delicious with lots of sumac and herbs. We also recently had our Book Club meeting and discussed this phenomenal collection of short stories by Ted Chiang. I was dazzled and humbled by the ideas. The title story starts with, “The universe began as an enormous breath being held.” These words haunt me. Our resources are finite and will end with the final exhalation. Beautiful book.

Made kale and white bean toast with some crispy prosciutto today for lunch. We went hiking this morning and spent some time reading in a coffee shop afterwards. Perfect Saturday!

Taken earlier this afternoon when I finished this book. Marsha Linehan is brave, smart, and a true leader. She has been to Hell, and she has climbed out of it. Slowly, yet unflinchingly. Dialectical Behavioral Therapy is practical and satisfying for therapist and client, and I use the skills she created every week at work with my students. Radical acceptance can be life-changing. Her memoir left me inspired, a feeling I needed today ❤️.

We made French onion soup last night and I made it again today for lunch. So comforting on cold days.

I have found keeping up with Litsy to be more challenging than expected. I recognize it‘s a habit, and habits need to be practiced. So here I am.

This is my next book and after a few pages I think I made the right choice. Who else has read it!?

This journal came in the mail today and I made creamy mushroom soup 🍄🥣. Happy Monday!!

A 2019 favorite. This book was hidden in my bookshelves since 2016, and I am stunned by the treasure. Lately, the city is grey and foreboding; I wanted an escape. This novel delivered me to the astonishing and dangerous (and very grey) Farrallon Islands (30 miles away from SF). I learned about sharks, whales, seals, and birds through the eyes of Miranda, a photographer struggling with loss, violation, and rebirth. I was enthralled. I wanted more.

Feeling cozy inside tonight. Rainy and cold weather calls for fires and reading and warm hats 🍁🔥💕.

Today was one of those very fantastic days, where real life is paused and a new, magical world awaits. We spent the majority of our day in a theater, watching Part I and Part II of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child and it was exceptional. The stage design, production, and illusions were breathtaking. The cast disappeared, transformed, and flew, and the time-travel effects were a treat.

Jenny Slate has written a gem that spoke directly to my soul and I wasn‘t expected it. Jenny Slate is tidy, lovely, and wild. She shines with color. Jenny Slate is a poet and she has delivered me a gift so surprising and true that I almost don‘t want to share it. Her observations are incandescent; warmly and delightfully lit from within. George Saunders said it best, “This book is something new and wonderful: it made me remember I was alive.”

Went and saw Jami Attenberg tonight. Loved it. I finished the audiobook earlier today and had a very good time reading it. It‘s juicy. It‘s fast-paced. It‘s about what a dysfunctional and very wealthy family does when the patriarch (an undeniably BAD man) is in a coma. One child asks, “Do you promise?”

Jami described the book as kaleidoscopic and I agree. Central characters exist, also cameos of others; every one has a place and feels explored.

I went to see André Aciman speak before I read this book and found out this was not a full sequel to CMBYN. So I began reading with an open mind & adjusted expectations.

Well worth the read. We follow Elio‘s father, and then Elio with a new love, but we ache for the truth and rawness we felt alongside Oliver and Elio when they were young. The same way we do now sometimes, as we get older. Aciman knows what we want though, so try to be patient ?.

Sunday Book Club brunch. We read Runaway by Alice Munro and it was superb. Also, a bit tedious. But maybe that‘s the point. A dense read, with great rewards. These stories will stick with me for a long time.

PS. HI! I am coming back to Litsy and I feel excited about it. After a longgg break, I‘ve realized that this platform gives me a specific place to process and be intentional about what I am reading, and to share it all with YOU.

Beautiful day in San Francisco. We are having bagels and morning reading time 🥯☀️!

My newest puzzle! Usually I think these kinds of photos/art of stacked books are not diverse enough or relevant enough, but I was so happy with this stack! So many amazing books here. Can‘t wait to dive into this one over the weekend.

One of my favorite covers of all time.

Coming hot off Three Women by Lisa Taddeo, I was HERE FOR THIS. I loved the premise: a supper club full of women who unapologetically eat and drink and indulge and take up space and gain weight and dance wildly. It got even deeper as we learn about these women, their traumas, and the sacred way women have of healing other women. I long for more of this open rebellion against being smaller in my own life.

Savoring my time reading and buying flowers and daydreaming and organizing for next year before heading back to work in a couple of weeks. I‘m moving through this book slowly and deliberately, and it‘s really gotten into my bones. I don‘t read westerns nearly enough. They are always so soul-satisfying.

I just read the last page of this book and I can only say that it rocked me to my core. The second half of this novel is heavy. Heavy with the weight of love: the disappointments and transformations and fragilities.

It reminded me of “Idaho,” another quiet book about the intimacy of a marriage and how a devastating turn of events can deliver a tragic blow as well as expose the greatest strengths between two people. This one broke my heart.

Angie Kim‘s novel is a must-read courtroom drama w/fascinating characters, a need-to-solve mystery, and explorations of race + culture + gender + motherhood + mental disabilities.

I love books about motherhood and this story soars above the rest. Motherhood when your child is healthy is one thing, but very different when your child has a mental or physical disability. The toll it takes to take care of someone, with no end in sight, is mighty.

I read this on my flight back from Amsterdam. I still think about it. I studied art history in college and one of my favorite themes was the “sublime” as it relates to nature. Nature is ambivalent to us; it has the remarkable power to move us to both feelings of awe or terror depending on the moment. Heller‘s book is tense, and shows us our fragility in the face of nature. Heller‘s book also has an emotional depth I resonated with. Bravo!

The most enthralling book of 2019 so far for me. It was heart-pumping and intense, familiar and wholly new. This book is hard to describe. Or maybe it‘s simple: an exclusive peek into the sex lives of three ordinary women. All of them impacted by the men and women around them in subtle, unknowable, and also devastating ways. Like us all. True humanity exists in these pages. We are all so much more complex than we give ourselves credit for.

Chicken noodle soup and this read. I would highly recommend this book so far... loving the quiet writing.

I‘m home! Dinner was saag feta again from the Indian-ish cookbook. I had some incredible Indian food in Amsterdam and I was excited to make this again when we got back!

This book and author seem fascinating to me. I think I want to wait to read it for Book Club though?

I think the podcasts and interviews with the author I have sought out after finishing this novel have been even more engaging than the book itself. I finished it quickly, and believe it is one of those “very important” books to read. It is a story we (hopefully) have read before, yet the cycles of abuse and oppressiveness between men and women AND women and other women are striking all the same.

Also, the food scenes made me so hungry 😋.

50 local Netherlands beers on tap might give me the motivation to get through this book. I have not been pulled to it the way I was hoping for. I‘m going to keep trying...

I devoured this book. It is SO smart + on point with the social circles and constructs I am finding myself at the edge of right now. Firmly in my early 30s, I am at the cusp of having to come to terms with what having a child and a career will look like. The pressures of being a woman have never seemed so daunting.

This book is about marriage and ambition and divorce and mental health and gender and it is so OF THE MOMENT it took my breath away.

It‘s our last day of vacation in Amsterdam! And I was seriously craving a big salad to eat 😂. It‘s time to detox and get back to working out and having a routine and consistent WiFi. Next up for me is The River. Hopefully I finish on the plane tomorrow!

Our Airbnb in Amsterdam is so thoughtfully arranged and designed and provides so many delightful reading spots. Last leg of our trip!

Visited Monet‘s gardens in Giverny today. Really breath-taking and idyllic. We missed our train coming back (very difficult to find a taxi from Giverny to the train station!) so I am trying to stay calm and peaceful with my photos from earlier. It does give me some extra reading time though...

An absolutely perfect afternoon spent reading in the Jardin des Tuileries 🌳☀️🌸🌷. I am loving The Idiot so far, although I‘m sure I‘m missing more than a few references...

We have made it to Paris! Our first stop last night was to see my aunt and cousins who live in the 6th. This is a picture of their covetous wall of bookshelves and books. So dreamy 🥰.

Everyone! I did something SO cool this morning. I got to witness a TRUFFLE HUNT 🍄!! This was our sweet guide and three of his eight dogs 🐕 (each worth 6,000 euros!) and we followed them throughout this protected forest as they found 4 kilos of truffles in about 2 hours! Incredible. Truffles are shaved onto most dishes here in Umbria, and it has been delicious. I have downloaded the tagged book to learn even more now that I have some context!

Happy Monday and happy reading 📖 💕!

So EXCITED for this buddy read of #EoE! My second time reading it, and it was pretty life-changing the first time through.

I have a thing for books about jungles. I think it‘s the risk and the heaviness and the sounds and the tricks it can play on you. Like it‘s alive.

Thank you Erica Ferencik for bringing me this novel that is magical and real and full of pain and sorrow and also hope. For this novel that took me into the jungle, to feel the humidity, the fear, the thrill, the curiosity, and the ever present astonishment you are nowhere you have been before.

This novel washed over me. It felt familiar; gently holding up a mirror to parts of my own life and buried history. My childhood was wonderful in many ways, and it was also strained (and later broken) by mental illness and its effects. For a long time this was shameful. I tried to act perfect, showing no one my pain. I resonated with how one isolated incident is never really isolated and it ripples for generations.

“Love is only half the story.”

Sometimes after an all-day food tour in Perugia, you just have to wear your favorite bookish shirt (can anyone guess!?), pour yourself some Sagrantino 🍷, and finish your newest read. All from the comfort of your bed.

This book is SO good. I hope to just read all day right here and finish it 💕.

Home for the next 6 nights. I feel like I‘m channeling my inner Elio from CMBYN. Italian country house and lazy days by the pool reading.

I don‘t see any 🍑 though... just a bunch of olive trees 🌳!

A little taste of what we‘ve been mostly doing in Rome 🍝.

We are off to Europe for 3 weeks! I‘m only bringing a kindle, but these are the first books on my list to read on our flight to Italy! I love both covers so very much. Happy summer ☀️ 🇮🇹 📚!!!

What a cover, right? Well, the book is even better. The tone is reflective and haunting, and I felt on edge while tearing through this collection of essays about T Kira Madden‘s childhood, her parents, her friendships, and her relationship with herself. There‘s a lot of brutal moments, and I wanted to reach through the pages and hold her in my arms. There‘s also a lot of strength and truth, and real tender moments of love. Highly recommend!

It‘s here!!! As a true 4, I cannot wait to dive into this one and be alone with my feelings and learn more about why I do the things I do. Who has taken the Enneagram test!? What‘s your number!? I would be so curious!

Super in love with everything in this picture! We made chickpea flour pancakes topped with baby kale + chicken sausage + halloumi. Plus PEONIES! And, saving the best for last means this new #bookmail. I am dropping everything and reading this one. Right. Now.

The more I sit with this novel, the more I come to appreciate this slow-burning story. Love and death is examined here, within the context of science. I can get behind love and death; science has always dragged for me. Still, I pushed through and found myself surprised along the way by Freudenberger‘s ideas. Like, one person dying is not just losing one person, but actually ALL the people that person was to all the people who knew that person 🤯!

Ahhh! Did anyone else know about this!? How did I not!?

One of my all-time favorites coming to the big screen in September. I cannot wait!

Beautifully and powerfully done, Meredith Russo. I loved her first book, and I loved this one even more. Definitely listen to it - there‘s an interview between the narrator and the author at the end!

Recently, a student I work with came out as transgender to me. It was emotional for me, and also for him, especially when he said that he liked telling me because I had a positive reaction. Like it wasn‘t guaranteed 💔. WE NEED TO DO BETTER.

Where I‘m at this Sunday afternoon 💕. Wine tasting + hiking + swimming + cooking + chatting + books + cheese shops. Loveeeee.

Also, liking this book so far. Immediately after Trust Exercise I bought this one from the same author.

I‘ve been in a bit of a reading rut and Susan Choi‘s novel was everything I wanted and didn‘t even know I needed.

I loved the structure and the story (with A+ themes of memory, first love, artistic endeavors, power and abuse, relationships between mentors and students) and most importantly, how Choi forced me to take an active role in what I was doing + reading + believing. Reading is a “trust exercise” itself, and this realization was thrilling.

We made saag paneer style spinach + feta from a new favorite cookbook: Indian-ish. BLEW MY MIND.

And. My therapist recommended this book to me because I do reflect (and ruminate if I‘m being honest) on death and my death and other people‘s deaths. I didn‘t know that there is a tradition of zen monks writing haikus the days, or hours, before their own deaths. They‘re beautiful, and touch on the meaninglessness and meaningfulness of our lives.

Yesterday was really nice 💕.

I have about 50 pages left in this book and I think it‘s exquisite. It‘s subtle and can be dense, yet I was all in from the first “trust exercise” the characters take part in. I loved participating in drama therapy exercises in grad school and this reminds me of how immersive, terrifying, and deeply cathartic they can be.