At long last, I have finished Anna Karenina! I enjoyed it very much, but the second half dragged a bit more than the first. I’m glad that I read it, and glad for all the other reading I can do now that it’s done. Now I’m trying to get a jump on some upcoming galleys, starting with Unfinished Business by Anne-Marie Slaughter.
We’ve had a pretty low key week. I had a crazy awful migraine on Tuesday and it knocked me off of my game for the rest of the week. This weekend has been about relaxing and spending time with Graham – we’re going to Boston next weekend, so we’re taking it easy this weekend. Later today I’m heading down the block to hang out at the Brooklyn Book Festival for a bit.
– Gumption by Nick Offerman
– The top 10 authors I need to read
– Words to live by: Robert Louis Stevenson
I think (and hope) we’ve finally had our last 80+ degree day in New York. The forecast for the rest of September looks glorious: sunny and in the low 70s. I can’t wait to get upstate to do some fall weekend hiking – I’m dreaming of the beautiful fall colors and the crisp mountain air. We’ll be up there in a few weeks!
Photo by John Cudworth on Flickr (CC BY-NC 2.0)
My job means a lot of time spent on Etsy (hard life, right?), and as I result I see a lot of really awesome things. I thought it’d be fun to share a few of my favorites every week:
- YOU GOT THIS.
- These Harry Potter house-themed planners are exquisite.
- Crescent Moon Ring Dish
- Fly me to the moon necklace
We’ve continued our farmer’s market obsession: trying to get as much fresh produce as we can while everything is still in season locally. We’ve got our favorite roasted vegetable melody down: carrots, broccoli, yellow squash, and red peppers. We make a giant tray full of them, and pan-cook a bit of seasoned chicken breast, and it results in a heavenly meal. We’ve also continued our weekend “cheat meal” tradition and had a delicious meal at Hill Country Chicken.
I’m still obsessed with The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. I loved seeing Carol Burnett on the show this week, and thought his interviews with Stephen Breyer and Bernie Sanders were excellent. We’ve also been trying to fill the Daily Show shaped hole in our lives with Real Time with Bill Maher. I like the discussion panels he puts together each week – it’s great conversation and the full hour format works well. (We like The Nightly Show too but the time for discussion during the panels is way too short, and the guests can be hit or miss – sometimes a bit too comedian heavy.)
I have less than an hour left of Just Kids by Patti Smith, and it’s been a treat to hear her read it. I’m glad my first encounter with it was reading the print edition though – as wonderful as her voice is I liked the intimacy of just reading the words. Next up is Why Not Me? by Mindy Kaling.
- This has been all over the bookish internet this week, but ICYMI: this Humans of New York featuring a rare book librarian is a book nerd’s gem. [Humans of New York]
- Whenever anyone tells me that they’re “not into Twitter” – I ask them what they don’t like about it. Usually I hear one of two problems: they’re not following people or content that they like and they don’t know how to find it, or they follow too much and can’t digest the rapid fire nature of their Twitter stream and actually see & respond to content they care about. Problem 1 is a whole beast that I’m not going to be able to address in this bullet point, but the second problem is easily solved! TweetDeck is the answer, and this guide that Shannon wrote is fantastic. Check it out if you need a Twitter overhaul, or if you’re curious about trying it out! [River City Reading]
- “Everything you own is a relationship you’re in” – an excellent real life story of implementing the techniques of Marie Kondo. [Raptitude]
- Returning to “Single tasking” – something I’m working on every day. [Zen Habits]
- Shameless self promotion (for an excellent cause) – I’ve kicked off my 2016 Cycle for Survival ride fundraising and am asking for donations & support. If you’re so inclined to donate, you should know that any amount (no matter how small) helps, and 100% of every dollar donated goes to rare cancer treatment research. The money we’ve raised so far has funded over 100 clinical trials that have saved lives and made a real impact. [Memorial Sloan-Kettering]
I love this post, but by the time I’m done reading I’ve hopelessly lost track of all the things I want to comment on! Your dinner looks fab, are those colored carrots? Our Trader Joe’s has big bags of tri-colors and they’re so good roasted.
I’ve been watching Colbert based on guests and was also really happy to see Carol on, even though she seems to have had a lot of work done. She does look great, though, and can still get that Tarzan yell out. Now that you’ve posted this I remember I had Bernie Sanders set to record and I know I never watched it. Wonder what happened with that DVR fail.
I ALMOST picked up Just Me when it was on sale for audio, but didn’t. I”m now glad since you said you were glad you’ve done it in print first. I kinda felt that was the way to go. But I was torn!
Yup! They are colored carrots – they are SO good! We’ve been getting them at the Farmer’s Market, but I’ll have to look for them at TJ’s too, for when the market doesn’t have them.
Carol does appear that way… that would be so unfortunate if she felt she had to get work done. :( But that yell! She’s still got it. :D
Did your DVR come through for you? My cable provider thankfully offers The Late Show on demand, which is crucial because I do not have a DVR and there’s no way I can stay up that late.
YES! I think you made the right call with Patti Smith. The audio is good – but it’s a book that should be read the first time through, I think. It’s so intimate, and I liked being one with the words. I was on the fence about getting M Train on audiobook too, since my ticket to her event already comes with a print copy, it seemed like a lot to spend all at once. But now I feel good about reading the print copy first.
It may sound crazy, but I have changed from thinking the purple are my favorites to thinking the yellows are. Seriously, how much taste difference can there be?
My DVR did come through for me. I didn’t realize it had aired on Friday, I thought it was earlier in the week. So there it was waiting for me. Bernie is an interesting dude, I have to say.
Isn’t it funny about the Smith books? There are memoirs about which I just immediately think “Oh, no doubt I want to hear that on audio.” But not this one, so I’m glad you had the same feeling. No idea why, but there you have it. I think the fact that it’s more on the serious than humorous side does have something to do with that, though.
Congrats on finishing Anna K!
Thank you so much! It feels very good to have finally read it. It’s been on my shelf since 2006. :O