I HAVE MANY SUGGESTIONS

• Mickey 7 by Edward Ashton
• The Paradox Hotel by Tom Hart
• Little Bee by Chris Cleave
• The Dry by Jane Harper
• Bel Canto by Ann Patchett
• Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders
• The Netanyahus by Joshua Cohen
• How High We Go in the Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu

I have so many but that’s a start!

When will you be “here”? (TN/NC)

France: the proud founder of the French fry

giiiiiiirl you knew this would lead nowhere good

I have The Ministry of Time right now and it’s next on my list after I finish my book club book for this month! I’m so jazzed to read it. The cover alone slaps.

Now that I’ve finished The Paradox Hotel by Tom Hart, I can officially proclaim it my favorite book of my reading year so far. I love wild time travel books, and this ine reminds me a lot of The Light Brigade by Cameron Hurley, but with more romance/less war/way more mystery and an equally sarcastic punk at the center. I love the suspicious murder that inly the main character can see, I love the cast of characters workjng at the hotel, I love how Hart balances grief and shame and found family and info dumps. Really just all around highly recommend.

Next up is The Caretaker by Ron Rash for book club in…two days lol

all fathers banned

Congratulations to your friend!!

Three audiobooks to talk about!

I finished Fleishman Is in Trouble by Taffy Brodesser-Akner. I was not at all expecting Spoiler, and I also was surprised (in a good way) to find that Spoiler. I don't enjoy reading Spoiler in a book, but it's like 12 times worse in an audiobook? That aside, I did like the book--it's a good character study of two incredibly messy people and the dissolution of their relationship.

I started and finished Mickey7 by Edward Ashton. I read a bit about Bong Joon-ho's movie adaptation and was intrigued by the premise of the book. I really enjoyed it! Mickey is a smartass and not the most booksmart person, which makes for an entertaining narrator in a really sharp story. Ashton does an excellent job managing the topic of uploaded consciousness, as well as questions surrounding block universe theory. Hard scifi tends to come with info dumps, and Ashton is also really good at making them feel pretty effortless. Highly recommend, especially the audiobook, which includes some well-designed sound effects.

From one scifi with a punkass main character to the next: I'm halfway through The Paradox Hotel by Rob Hart, which follows the head of security, January, at a time travel hotel who has become unstuck in time and finds a dead body in one of the rooms that no one else can see. Of course, this comes at the very time that a group of Very Rich People come to the hotel to decide who will buy it. And January is dealing with the hotel maybe also coming unstuck in time.

I'm L O V I N G this book so far. There's a beautiful balance of acerbic wit and absolute pain of grief--everyone who works at the hotel has lost a beloved colleague who meant something particularly important to January, and someone that she still sees frequently during her unstuck spells. January's chasing down baby dinosaurs brought back from the Late Cretaceous, dealing with angry customers trapped during a snowstorm, and managing the busted security cameras with the help of her glitchy AI drone, Ruby. There are so many plates spinning and Hart is managing it really well. I'm so excited to go on my walk in the morning and listen to it some more!

Yeah, I was bored by The Guest. I didn't enjoy The Girls either and I don't know why I thought The Guest would go differently! I wanted it to. Oh well.

My inbox, quoting the immortal Adele:

go eaaaaaaaaaaaasy on me royals

Next time someone else ends the conversation, take your cue.

I ADORE Feather Thief! It was my first foray into nonviolent true cre and it’s still one if my faves.

She’s adorable! My current horse is a former lesson horse. If anything he is happier, healthier and even more fun now that he’s out of the constant grind of hauling little kids around. We also just clicked at the first lesson and afterward my friend said “we’re buying a horse” and she was right. Lesson horses don’t always get the love they deserve, so when there’s an opportunity to do it, as long as they pass the PPE…you gotta do it.

Thanks, bb! I have had some really klutzy falls, but this one worked out pretty ok, all things considered!

More Max updates forthcoming now that the weather is nice! He loves his horsecurerie boards but we were all surprised to see him avoid the carrot cake like the plague. I think it was the cream cheese frosting—equine digestive ststems can’t process dairy, so they flat refuse to eat. I had to (“had to” lol) eat the blueberries and carrots with frosting on them.

Also, after I fell off, he immediately stopped. Our guy would always rather chill than expend more effort to run away 😂😂😂

Thanks pal! A day later and just some residual soreness in my neck :)

Horses love peppermint candy! Max has a total sweet tooth and we have an enormous tub of peppermints at the barnnfor the horses to share :)

A Max update: I fell off today! And there’s video ! I’m completely fine, as is Max, aside from his lizard brain deciding the jump he’s jumped one million times was suddenly S C A R Y. If you look closely you can see that I’m wearing a vest, and it puffs up as I’m going down. My parents got me this airvest as a birthday gift after I bought Max, because I’ve had two back surgeries to resolve damage done by a bad fall and I don’t want to go through that again. I’ve fallen off Max four times, all while wearing my vest, and every time I’ve walked away with at most mild tailbone pain. Today I popped up, got back on, and kept riding. I’m so grateful for my vest, and I wonder daily how life might be different if I’d been wearing one when I fell off and got really hurt. Better late than never!

Also Max is just fine and was perfect in our lesson aside from this so he still got many treats. Also, he turned 19 on the 12th ! The whole barn sang happy birthday while he ate his horsecuterie board. ❤️🍎🍬

Fair. He’s a doofus.