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did you know public libraries are free and beautiful

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It’s crazy and fucked up that being yourself is actually the solution.

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its rude how i cant read every book watch every show listen to all the music knit every sock AND wallow on the floor for the rest of time. i should be able to. as a treat.

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Exploring

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Mystery books with romance subplot, they just don't get you like i do.

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my reading from the first three months of 2025 <3

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💞💞💞💞💞💞

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the light we carry: overcoming in uncertain times // michelle obama

first published: 2022 read: 18 march 2025 - 31 march 2025 pages: 318 format: hardback

genres: non-fiction; memoir; self help/inspirational first line(s): "at some point when i was a child, my father started using a cane to keep himself balanced when he walked."

rating: 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑 thoughts: listen, i love michelle obama and she will forever be that girl. i think she's fascinating and inspiring in a multitude of ways, and getting to read her life and her stories in her own words has been really joyful. reading becoming in 2020 was a particular source of comfort, and the light we carry is no different. part memoir, part self-help, part warm hug, this is a book i'm glad i own as i'm sure i will return to it repeatedly.

there is really something special about the way she is able to tap into the concerns, emotions, worries of so many people, not least myself. in this book, as with becoming, i felt particularly seen, almost as if i was being spoken to or written for directly. there is a lot of really good advice in the book, and a continuous reminder that we are not alone, and we have the strength to keep moving forward.

if you loved becoming, i'm sure you'll love the light we carry, and if you haven't read either, what are you waiting for?

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the big secret is that nobody knows what they’re doing, they’re just as lost as you but everything will be ok

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desperately need to read or watch something that will alter my brain chemistry and turn me into a new person

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Yolk by Mary H.K. Choi 5/5 stars | 📖 | Read 8/18 - 9/17, 2024

Long story short, this book is stunning. It tells the story of Jayne, a native Texan who now lives in NYC for college, but is struggling to get by. Jayne carries a lot of emotional baggage from her childhood that has caused her to distance herself from her parents and older sister, June... but things quickly change once June, who also lives in NYC, forces her way back into Jayne’s life with a startling cancer diagnosis.

This is a story of sisterhood and family and the messiness that inevitably comes with that. This is a story of healing and how it can cause a lot more pain in the process. It’s complex and deals with heavy themes that make it more of a New Adult book than YA. I definitely wouldn’t recommend it to everyone because it does deal pretty intimately with more mature and potentially triggering topics, including Jayne’s eating disorder.

Based on reviews I’ve seen, Choi’s writing style seems divisive. But I absolutely love how lush and full of detail it is. Choi is so successful at portraying Jayne’s perspective on the page. Even the parts of Jayne’s thoughts that may seem unnecessarily meandering work to fully capture her thought processes in all of their chaos and anxiety.

Choi also so beautifully portrays how broken both sisters are. They felt so real that even with all their flaws, I loved them and couldn’t help but root for them. I truly enjoyed watching them repair their relationship and take care of each other in their own roundabout way, and watching Jayne realize June isn’t as perfect as she once seemed.

The romance between Jayne and Patrick was a cute addition. After so much past relationship trouble for Jayne, I enjoyed seeing her contend with feelings for someone from her childhood and who she can completely trust.

Yolk is one of my top three reads of 2024 and one I will be thinking about for a long time. I very highly recommend.

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I love nonfiction that I simply cannot relate to at all. "it's easy to get addicted to buying fast fashion! I used to spend thousands of dollars on it a year!" okay. you're a space alien.

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Everything is Tuberculosis by John Green Review

Dates Read: March 27 — March 29, 2025

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Genre: Nonfiction

2025 Reading Goal: 31/100

This is the second nonfiction book I’ve read by John Green, and—just as I did reading The Anthropocene Reviewed—I feel very charmed by Green’s passionate writing. He writes about historical facts in an engaging, palatable way and undoubtedly has a talent for making information that could easily be very boring to many readers feel accessible and even fun to read.

Green centers this book around his friendship with Henry Reider, a tuberculosis patient he met in Lakka, Sierra Leone. Meeting Henry kickstarts Green’s interest in the history of tuberculosis and how the infection has loomed in the background of so many noteworthy events of human history.

What sets Green’s works apart from a lot of other nonfiction writers is that he approaches his subjects with empathy. His compassion towards people makes this book about a topic as bleak as tuberculosis feel heartwarming. I definitely recommend this book to anyone who is looking for an easy read or for a nonfiction book that isn’t intimidating.

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The Age of Magical Overthinking: Notes on Modern Irrationality by Amanda Montell 4/5 stars | 📖 | Read 8/25 - 9/8, 2024

After reading and loving Montell’s second book Cultish a few years ago, I had high expectations for this one. Part psychological and sociological analysis, part memoir, this book offers an exploration of how many different cognitive biases work and the ways in which they currently impact our society, with some personal anecdotes about how Montell has seen these biases manifest in her own life. This was an interesting read and I learned some cool information from it. I love Montell’s voice and style in her writing. It’s playful and is the highlight here. The book would’ve benefited from diving much deeper into the subject matter, though. It makes a good introduction to the topic of cognitive biases in a fun and accessible way, but it staying at the surface-level made the book less engaging and memorable for me. Regardless, I recommend this one, even if only as a first stop for learning about the subject.

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Dreadful Sorry: Essays on an American Nostalgia by Jennifer Niesslein 3/5 stars | 📖 | Read 8/4 - 8/15, 2024

This essay collection is, you guessed it, all about nostalgia. But it’s deeply personal, focusing on Niesslein’s upbringing in western Pennsylvania and Virginia and how nostalgia informs her memories. The essays span generations, starting with the stories of the women that came before her. It then dives into her childhood experiences of growing up with four younger sisters and what her life looks like now. Most of these essays feature Niesslein’s adult point-of-view reflecting on how the combination of nostalgia and hindsight impact what she remembers— how nostalgia adds a glossy sheen to everything while maturity allows her to realize some of the darker aspects of what she couldn’t understand back then.

These essays are embedded with investigations of the race and class dynamics that have shifted how her family has been and currently is viewed in American society. Niesslein is honest about how life has gotten better for her family as the decades have gone by, how her immediate family has largely been able to become comfortably middle class because of how society’s attitudes in regard to race and gender have expanded and changed in the last century.

While there’s nothing too groundbreaking in these pages, this was a short, interesting read. The nostalgia throughline was always present but felt somewhat contrived at times. I enjoyed the earlier essays about Niesslein’s family history and childhood anecdotes more than the later essays that focus on recent events and realizations. The second half of the book felt like it lost some of its direction and momentum, landing this book at a very middle-of-the-road rating for me.