August Ended Quickly!

Friends, it’s now been two weeks since I’ve checked in. The last few days of August just zoomed by and now we’re a week into September. The weather here has been quite lovely. We finally got a thunderstorm yesterday afternoon and it’s been raining this morning. The high temperatures over the last couple of weeks have been in the 70-80 degree range, which has made our walks and playtime delightful. No complaints from me!

I haven’t managed a single stitch of knitting since my last post, so I’m just going to share some updates on our home life and a quick reading review for August.

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Home Stuff:

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School has started in earnest and we’re trying to balance learning time with a healthy dose of physical activity. In the last two weeks, we’ve hiked two small-ish mountains nearby (Cardigan Mountain and Mt. Kearsarge), plus plenty of visits to the Town Forest for more moderate walks.

I am working hard with Dawsey to get him ready for hiking next summer. He’s pretty reactive in new situations so I’m working hard to help him find ways to calm himself in those moments. We’ve started bringing him to the Town Forest with us because I’ve never seen another person there and that seems like a good place to start. I’m going to start the Reactive Dog Training through Spirit Dog Training next week — the course is just a one time fee of $49 and I’ve checked the internet for bad reviews… it seems like the worst that can happen is that the training won’t help with reactivity but will still strengthen the dog/human relationship. It’s worth a try!

Thinking Hour Update:
Two weeks ago I told you that I was implementing a thinking hour for myself. It has been hit or miss so I’m still doing my best to find the right time for it. This has been the time for me to practice Latin and read texts that are more difficult for me in the midst of the chaos of daily life. Lately I’ve been reading On Lying and Politics by Hannah Arendt and it’s given me a lot to process. I’ve only made it through the first essay and am hoping to tackle the second one next week. But today’s thinking hour is being spent writing this blog post, so the system is nowhere near perfection!

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Reading

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My reading life in August was nearly perfect. The highlights for me included:

The Book of Records by Madeleine Thien (Amazon | Bookshop.org)
This is the kind of book that I love to read – one that reminds me that there’s so much in the world to learn. I am amazed by authors who utilize so many ideas and theories and wrap them up into one big story. And it made me want to devour even more classic literature and philosophy. It inspired me to reengage with classical music through Spotify and use it to nurture my last few brain cells. This reminded me that people have been looking for truth and beauty across the centuries, no matter the greater difficulties at hand. This is the kind of person I want to be. And this is what I want my homeschooling efforts to teach my children.

Booker Longlist reading:
(just one or two sentences about each of these. Time is short!)

Love Forms by Claire Adams (Amazon | Bookshop.org)
I loved the conversational tone of this book and wading through Dawn’s memories with her.

Flashlight by Susan Choi (Amazon | Bookshop.org)
Despite being set mostly in the 70s, this book made so much of today’s Asian politics make sense to an observer. And I loved the messy relationships.

Endling by Maria Reva (Amazon | Bookshop.org)
Meta-fiction featuring snails and Ukraine. I was hooked!

I’m currently reading Katabasis by RF Kuang and am delighted by it. I’m loving this dark academia novel about Alice’s journey to hell to bring back her thesis advisor so she can graduate. There are so many references to different sojourning stories throughout time and it makes me want to sink into all of them. RF Kuang has a fantastic sense of humor and an aesthetic that I love.

Katabasis is getting quite a bit of hate on social media right now. It’s being called pretentious and the author is accused of using AI because of her sentence structure and vocabulary. I’m not sure what it says about me that I think this novel is clever and compelling, but I do. It’s reminding me of The Book of Records in so many ways – how it uses classic literature and philosophy and tells a new story. And, like The Book of Records, it’s inspired me to read more widely and deeply. It’s definitely my kind of book!

Have you read it yet? Do you want to?

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Sadly, I have less than 8 minutes left in my thinking hour and need to go back to add pictures and links in this draft. I wish I could stay longer because I’m sure there’s more to share, but it’s not going to happen today.

I hope your Sunday afternoon is lovely and your week gets off to a fantastic start. Take good care!