Can you believe it’s already February? I can’t. I always thought people were exaggerating or being dramatic when they would say that time seems to move faster with the older you get. It really does seem to, however. Maybe it’s because, as an adult, our lives are so busy with work, chores, bills, and so many other things that we don’t want to do but have to do that we no longer have much time left to realize that we’re alive.
Mindfulness has been on my mind a lot lately. I don’t want to feel like I’m not experiencing each day anymore. When I try to think of what I did last Tuesday, I generally have no idea. I went to work. I ate some mediocre food. I got to and from work. I want to be able to experience even the mundane portions of the day. What did I eat? How was work? How was the weather during my commute? Which songs were playing? All of this is the background noise in most of our lives when really we should be focusing on all those small things.
Currently, I’m reading two books: Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier and The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien. Both are re-reads of books I love. I’m buddy-reading Cold Mountain with a dear friend, and it’s a wonderful experience. It’s the third book we’ve buddy-read this year, and so far everything we’ve chosen has been amazing.
I really need to get caught up on ARCs in February. I’ve stopped requesting them for the time being because I am so freaking behind. My mind has been overwhelmed for the first part of 2020, and I’ve had trouble prioritizing reading, even though it’s my favorite thing to do.
Interesting things from around the web…
- Garden & Gun did a fantastic article about poet Jericho Brown. I had never heard of him before stumbling upon the article, but his poems really are amazing. There are plenty of his poems available on YouTube and The Poetry Foundation website. His newest collection, The Tradition, came out in April 2019.
- Thousands of people (myself included) work desk jobs, so Well + Good’s “Comprehensive Stretching Guide for People Who Sit All Day” is really useful for staying healthy and limber.
- Fantasy author Naomi Novik is writing a new trilogy, with the first book being released in October 2020!
- The PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction Longlist has been released, and there are some great titles on it.
- Electric Lit put together a list of books that should be made into video games. There are some interesting choices on the list. Personally, I’d love to see a Stormlight Archive-style game created. Open-world, of course.
- Speaking of games, Book Riot created a list of the Best Bookish Games.
Read Yourself Happy 