What I read this month: August 2025

I read one book this month early on—so early on, I'd forgotten I even read it! I chose one that I had bookmarked on Libby, so it was a bit of a random choice.

What I read this month: May 2025

This month I read some really great books. I purposely chose literary fiction this month because I've been thinking about reading like a writer; reading pulpy romance or mystery is fine, but it doesn't offer me much in the way of instruction. I wanted to read some stuff that would get my brain percolating. 

I was mostly offline the last week of the month because of the cruise, during which time I managed to read two books, bringing this month's total to four and doubling my yearly total.

Read this month: 4

Read this year: 8

What I read this month: April 2025

This month's tome took all month to read. Actually, I think I borrowed it at the end of March, got a few chapters in, and then came back to it after a hiatus. I had to renew the loan when I was around the halfway point. This 600-page behemoth took actual concentration to get through. In some ways, it felt like work.

This is book three in a four-book series, and I've been waiting for its release since absolutely devouring the third book in March 2023. I really like this series, and I've grown attached to the characters. I have some gripes, but overall I enjoyed this book and I loved the ending. I'm so excited to see how everything wraps up in book four, which is due out...who knows when.

Books read this month: 1

Total books this year: 4

What I read this month: February 2025

I barely squeezed a book in this month. February is always a busier month because of my birthday, but this February especially felt slammed. Still, a book is a book.

Books read this month: 1

Total books this year: 3

What I read this month: December 2024

December was a busy so I didn't read for most of it, but a quick trip to see family in Florida provided ample time to binge a trilogy I've been meaning to read for awhile!

These three books bring my total count for the year to 29. I didn't have a reading goal in 2024; I simply wanted to feel genuinely excited about reading again, and to naturally pick up books because I felt like reading. I wanted to get to a place where reading had become a true hobby for me again, and I do think I'm there.

What I read this month: November 2024

 

November nearly got away from me because coming back from vacation and diving into a new job took all my attention and energy, but toward the middle of the month I remembered I still had a couple books on loan on my Kindle. Let's dive in!

What I read this month: August 2024

In August, I only read one book, but it was a hefty one! I've generally been avoiding anything too long or intense, and this one was both of those things. Someone at work recommended it after she realized I'm a Stephen King fan, although the book this one reminds me of most is his son Joe Hill's NOS4A2.

I had to read this one in sips here and there at first because it starts with some pretty dark themes right off the bat, but once I hit the halfway point, I found myself speeding toward the end.

What I read this month: June 2024

 

With four active library cards now at my disposal, I'm back to reading! I ended up having a surprising reading month. I figured I'd continue with my Gaslight Mystery series, but then the third book in a different series I've been following dropped, and, on a whim, I decided to revisit an old favorite. So I ended up reading six books in June, three of which I read within 4 days!

What I read this month: May 2024

Yikes, another one-book month. This time, it's not totally my fault. The Seattle Public Library got hacked, and ebooks went down. No, really.

I attended a silent book club this month and had to depend on what was on my Kindle. (Thank goodness for that airplane mode hack.) I really wanted to read the next Gaslight Mystery, but alas, I wasn't so lucky. Instead, contemporary romance it was!

What I read this month: March 2024

 

I didn't read in February, so I felt like I needed to prioritize it in March. I worked all last year to grow my reading muscle again and I don't want to regress! Sometimes it's pretty sad to realize I just can't read the way I did 20 years ago, when any book could hold my attention non-stop and I could read for 12-hours straight, pausing only for snacks.

But I also feel like it's easier now than it was this time last year, so cheers to progress! Let's dive in.

January reads

Not knowing what to read next is always the biggest obstacle in my way when it comes to reading, and having easy access to a series solves that issue. 

Around mid-January, I took stock and realized I had already finished 5 books! Part of me wanted to pause because I was worried about this blog post, but that seemed like a silly reason to stop reading so...it is what it is! By the end of the month, my grand total was 11, which is one more than my goal for the whole year of 2023.

The thing is, having a series to plow through or a newly discovered favorite author makes picking up the next book effortless; no wonder I was so good at reading as a kid! I had so many unread Stephen King books to discover!

December reads

This month, I planned to read something light and gorgeous to end the year. Unfortunately, the book I was looking forward to ended up being quite the disappointment, but luckily I got my hands on three more of the Gaslight Mystery series and discovered a new favorite, so December wasn't a total loss.

With five books read this month, that brings my total for the year to 23! Considering I planned to read 10, I'm pretty damn happy with that result.

October Reads

 

I didn't actually intend to read anything this month, but three books I've been waiting for became available to borrow mid-month, so I jumped on them all before my holds lapsed. One was a hyped-up fantasy I'd been waiting months for, and the other two were the next in the Gaslight Mystery series. Spoiler alert: I enjoyed them all.

September reads

This month I found a couple new-to-me BookTubers, and binging their videos was strangely motivating. As I've been writing more, I'm more aware than ever that I should be reading more. I'm not exactly reading with purpose yet – that is, I'm not focusing on my own genre or reading with a critical eye – but I do find the practice of reading is making writing easier, and vice versa.

Watching other people talk about reading made me excited to make time for it myself this month.

Pretty soon I'm going to stop patting myself on the back for having rediscovered a hobby with a low cost of entry (free thanks to Libby and my Kindle), but today is not that day.

I read two books this month. Let's dive in!

July reads

I don't often read short story collections, but when a friend has her second book published, it's a good reason to branch out of your comfort zone!

As If She Had a Say is Jennifer Fliss's second collection of short stories. The stories are eclectic: some border on absurd while others dive right in the deep end of bizarre. I've gotten into the habit of reading light, easy fiction, and at first I had to kind of recalibrate my brain to be in a space to read this genre of writing. I'm out of practice reading stories that engage my brain and explore heavy themes.

March reads

 

This month I read three very different books and enjoyed each of them! I didn't have much time to read in February (and technically I finished Spare early in the month), but in March Matt and I got COVID for the first time and I found myself with lots of time to read. I finished two of these books in the week I was sick.

This month brought fantasy, romance, and good ol' literary fiction (which I don't usually like very much). Let's dive in!

January reads

I did not set resolutions this year, but one of my goals for 2023 is to read more. "Read more" is pretty abstract, but I think the plan is to aim for 10 books this year. I can average one a month, taking a couple months off if things get busy. 

These days I borrow ebooks from the library to read on my Kindle, which is very convenient although sometimes annoying because I have to wait for the books I want to be available. I miss collecting books — I got rid of approximately 200 when we moved, and now have only two small bookcases in the house. It was so hard to decide what to keep! There's something about holding a real book in hand, and it's nice to reminisce about what you've read by seeing the book on your shelf. (Don't tell Matt, but I think we could potentially install some floating shelves and expand my collection again, which I'd really love to do.)

Books that Swallow Me Up

Wednesday at 5am, I'll be corralling a group of 8th graders -  90 strong - at the airport as we prepare for our annual trip to Washington, DC. Wish me luck!

When I fly, I like to have a really good book with me. As I've gotten older, I've become a more nervous flyer. I never was when I was young, but now I'm totally aware of all the things that could potentially go wrong! As a chaperone on this trip, I need to remain calm and appear totally unfazed, so having a good book is one way I can mask any discomfort.

Here are some books that swallow me up...in no particular order.

This is one of the only series I own entirely in hardback because I always preordered them and refused to wait for paperback or to borrow them from the library. I own them all on e-reader now, too. I have a problem.

Harry Potter. I know there are adults out there who still haven't read this series, and I'm only going to pressure you to try them a little, because they're honestly a must-read whether you think you like fantasy or not. I make a habit of rereading this series every summer, and each time I read it I discover more nuances, more humor, more subtext, more magic. I love HP as an allegory for the Holocaust (and when I draw that parallel for my students, their reactions are always priceless) and the dangers of intolerance and prejudice, but it's also just wonderfully written and full of little moments of humor and humanity that we can all relate to. I hope I never tire of rereading the series! 

Right now I'm enjoying watching many of my students read them for the first time, and it's been so fun to watch their reactions as plot points planted in book one come to fruition at the end of the series. Seriously, the way JK Rowling subtly mentions some of the finer details and strung them through 1000+ pages before the big reveal? That's just masterful foreshadowing at its finest.

The TV series is pretty good, too, but I can't get over the major casting flaws.

Outlander. This is another series I've reread quite a few times; the author (Diana Gabaldon) is still working on it, so every time a new book comes out I reread the earlier ones! I first read it when I was studying in Scotland; it was a fun way to experience the country. Like with Harry Potter, the writing is just flawless and I've grown to love and know the characters as if they were real people. I also appreciate how truly well-researched the books are (they're historical-fiction), even if it means waiting years between installments.

The Golden Compass (His Dark Materials trilogy). Perhaps less well-known than the other two, this trilogy is no less stirring. Like HP, these books contain a lot of magic and center around adolescent characters, but the allegorical thread is a little more purposeful and direct here. Author Philip Pullman wrote the trilogy in response to CS Lewis's Narnia stories, and they are undeniably anti-church. That said, they're really more "anti-corruption in the church" and "anti-church teachings about sex and puberty" than anything else, and the storytelling and worlds Pullman has created are so vivid and believable, these novels are hard to put down. 

Now for something a little different...

Stiff. This non-fiction book by Mary Roach was seriously impossible for me to put down! I found every chapter to be interesting and I flew through it. The book details what happens to our bodies after we die, specifically if we donate them to science, and Roach's research and writing flow together in a dry, funny, weird, informative, and satisfying read. I also loved Bonk (about the science of sex) and Gulp (about eating and digestion). If you love non-fiction and weird-science, she's a must-read author.

With each of these books (or series), I look up when I'm finished and feel completely disoriented. What time is it? Have I really been reading in a corner for hours? Now that I think about it, maybe these aren't the best books to read when I'm supposed to keep one ear and eye on students at all times!

On another note, I know this trip is going to alter my workout scheduling this week, but I'm not stressing. After all, walking approximately seven miles daily is a pretty solid workout. I probably won't be posting this week, so keep up with me on Instagram if you want to see if I'm surviving the trip!

What are some books that absolutely swallow you up?

ABK

Book Review: "What I Talk About..."

This summer, a student of mine (who's now a junior in high school - how does time fly like that?!) was accepted into an elite summer art program at U. Penn. While she was there, she spent some time browsing used book stores, and in her last week, she stumbled upon Haruki Murakami's memoir What I Talk About When I Talk About Running. She wrote me that she wasn't sure if it was any good, but it made her think of me, and she dropped it off at school during my first week back.

This was kismet! I had literally just added it to my reading list. It seems to be one of those essential reads, like Born To Run and Once A Runner, and I couldn't wait to dive in.

The book, being used, smells like perfume. It makes me wonder about its last owner.

At first, the structure of the memoir threw me off. Murakami doesn't really write linearly, but as I got into the rhythm of his writing, I grew more comfortable with the stream-of-conscious style he seems to employ.

The foreword is titled "Suffering Is Optional"; that's how you know you have a good running book in hand. Runners know better than anyone that growth lies in discomfort, that you have to learn to "embrace the suck", as they say. But living through discomfort doesn't mean suffering. We can transcend pain and choose, in a way, to enjoy it. As Murakami writes: "Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional."

The memoir meanders through Murakami's life as a new runner, his music choices, and his dalliance with ultramarathons and triathlons. Within these memories, he has scattered little stones of wisdom to be picked up and pocketed. By page 11, I was reading with a pencil in hand so I could underline and annotate.

I won't go through every stone I myself picked up. I'm sure what spoke to me will be different than what speaks to others, but I think that's the beauty of this memoir. Its honesty and simplicity will speak, at times, to any kind of runner.

The strongest reaction I had was to chapter six, wherein Murakami recounts his first ultra at Lake Saroma in Hokkaido, Japan. Murakami's account of how his legs felt during his ultra is how I felt during my marathon! I guess that sheds some light on the difference between us, as if there were any doubt that we're not exactly the same kind of runner.

He writes that he had the desire to run on, but his legs had other ideas, grew "disobedient", and refused to move how he wanted them to. I read that part thinking, Oh, that sounds like mile 21!

He writes of the ultra that, "You'd expect it to afford you a special sort of self-awareness. It should add a few new elements to your inventory in understanding who you are. And as a result, your view of life, its colors and shape, should be transformed. More or less, for better or for worse, this happened to me, and I was transformed."

And I think anyone who has ever run a marathon - or perhaps any race outside the realm of "normal distance", whatever that may be for an individual - can wholeheartedly agree. I came out of the marathon a different person than I was at the start. Somewhere along 26.2 miles, who I was as a runner and a person changed.

That's the beauty of distance running, and Murakami captures that beauty perfectly.

I will say that parts of the book dragged for me, but I think others would find even those parts engaging. This is one I'll pull out to read again, in parts, as I continue my running journey.

Have you read WITAWITAR? (Whew, that's a long title!)
What running book do you recommend I pick up next? I just started Meb for Mortals.


ABK