Friday | Thank Goodness

(opening photo credit)

I am so happy to say it is Friday! I said on Monday that it was going to be a strange week and it certainly was. My sleep was off, my exercise routine was off (which only exacerbates my poor sleep), Colton’s sleep was off (which again, exacerbates certain frustrations around here), and I had to stray way out of my comfort zones multiple times to advocate for a few things. So I don’t know about you, but I’m beat.

Today I’m going easy on myself and will just catch you up on my September reading. I’m planning to share my StoryGraph reading calendar, a highlight over the last week, and my TBR for the rest of the month. Let’s see if we’re reading the same things!

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Reading Calendar:

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I’ve continued to enjoy the books on this year’s Booker long list. It’s going to be difficult for me to get my hands on the three titles that will be left once I finish the two I’m reading now (highlighted with the green boxes below). I’m planning to use an Audible credit for Playground when it’s released later this month, but the last two might remain unread for quite a while.

✔️ Wild Houses by Colin Barrett 
❒ Headshot by Rita Bullwinkel
✔️ James by Percival Everett
✔️ Orbital by Samantha Harvey
🟩 Creation Lake by Rachel Kushner (currently reading)
✔️ My Friends by Hisham Matar
✔️ This Strange Eventful History by Claire Messud 
✔️ Held by Anne Michaels
✔️ Wandering Stars by Tommy Orange
✔️ Enlightenment by Sarah Perry 
❒ Playground by Richard Powers
🟩 The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden (currently listening)
❒ Stoneyard Devotional by Charlotte Wood

I don’t want to overwhelm myself by trying to write about all four books I’ve finished since we last met. I promised myself when I returned to blogging that I wouldn’t write about every single book I read, just the highlights. I’ve strayed from that promise lately and have felt the consequences of it! So my favorite book of the week was:

Enlightenment by Sarah Perry

I’m struggling with how to accurately write about this book because it was incredibly ambitious. It’s about friendship, disappointing love, and ways to forgive the unforgivable actions of others. In this book, Thomas Hart meets Grace Macauley as a baby at church and recognizes her as a kindred spirit. Although he is gay and has been contemplating leaving the church for a long time, he finds that he has a responsibility to stay and help Grace throughout her life. They form a life-long friendship that experiences the stresses that a parent/child relationship can often have.

In addition to the ebbs and flows of that relationship Thomas is haunted by the ghost of Maria, an astronomer who lived in the revered Lowlands House and mysteriously went missing in the 1800s (I hope I’m getting my dates right). Thomas spends his whole life trying to figure out what happened to her and it takes the fates of those around him to solve the mystery.

I loved so much about this book: the touch of gothic with the haunting, the tie-in to The Essex Serpent, the unrequited love that both Thomas and Grace experienced and never recovered from. I especially loved the idea that we contain so many versions of ourselves at all times: the children that we were and our future selves are all within us right now. There’s just so much to think about with that idea!

This is my current favorite on the Booker list. The shortlist will be announced on Monday and I’m anxious to hear what makes the cut.

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And here’s my ambitious TBR for the rest of the month – I don’t think I’ll get through all of them but will try my best. Although, now I’m looking at Jazz and am worried that it’s in Spanish? *checks the edition* Yes. It’s in Spanish. So that one is headed back to the library it came from and I’ll be putting in another request when I’m at work tomorrow!

How about you? What do you have planned for the rest of the month? Have you read any of these books??

This weekend will be the same as always: working at the library, cooking, cleaning, chasing children. I hope your weekend is an opportunity for rest. Take good care.