Whooooooops.  So my Monday reading post is a Wednesday reading post.  Sorry about that, friends.  Most of you probably didn’t even realize I was gone, so that’s a good thing.  I don’t have a real excuse – more of a shrug.  Things have been a bit rocky around here.  I had a pretty big professional disappointment last week, and I… didn’t handle it well.  The less said about it, the better, so I’m going to stop there and apologies for the vagueness.  (If you haven’t figured it out yet, I’m not exactly an over-sharer.  I have a very defined line that I’m just not willing to cross, and the price of that is sometimes vagueness.  I’m fine with it.)  Anyway, after a rough week last week, I was flying solo with the kids all weekend as Steve was out of town – again.  This time, for a family wedding to which the kids and I were invited, but it just didn’t make sense for us to go.  He had to go, though.  I was all for it, but it did mean a very long, stressful and lonely weekend around here, as I wrangled the kids by myself all weekend.  We spent most of Saturday at a friend’s birthday party and had a wonderful time, but Sunday was… tough.  Steve got home mid-day on Sunday and I just crashed and didn’t do anything the rest of the day.  I mean, I literally didn’t do anything.  I sat down at the kitchen table and stared into space for an hour-and-a-half.  I was just spent.  But let’s end the pity parade, because it’s boring to write and probably boring to read, and talk instead about – books!

Reading.  After a somewhat lackluster start to the month, over the past week and a half I have been tearing through books.  Finished up The Village (for my new Classics Club list – review coming soon) and then turned to a library stack I’d accumulated on a freewheeling trip to the local branch last weekend.  I was in the mood to dive back into the Fables series, so I did that – volumes 8 and 9, specifically – and also polished off The Introvert Advantage, which was fine but nothing earth-shattering; I’d been reading it on my phone sporadically for a couple of months.  Then I moved on to An American Marriage, because it had a hard library deadline (thank you, wait list) and I can definitely see what the hype was about – it was really good.  Next up, another Classics Club list item, Their Eyes Were Watching God – I’ve had it on my list for ages, and will have a review of it for you on Friday.  Bringing us to today, and up-to-date – I’m reading The Intuitionist, mainly because it’s on the PBS Great American Read list, and enjoying it so far.

Watching.  This and that.  Nothing in particular.  A few episodes of The Crown here and there.  My very favorite episode of the entire Gilmore Girls series (if you’re curious, that would be “You Jump, I Jump, Jack” from season 5 – in omnia paratus!) one night when I reeeeeeeally needed a pick-me-up.  And that’s all I can think of, off the top of my head.  Looking forward to the next season of TGBBO dropping on Netflix and pulling me out of my funk.

Listening.  Just finished The English Novel on Audible, from The Great Courses, and I don’t even care if that makes me a nerd.  (Well, maybe I care a little bit – please don’t stop reading.)  I enjoyed it, but like with any list or survey that purports to cover the canon or a big part of it, I felt that there were holes.  I understood why the authors that were chosen for inclusion were in there, even if I don’t care for their work (Joseph Conrad, I’m looking at you).  But there were only passing mentions of Elizabeth Gaskell and Anthony Trollope, not a peep about my beloved P.G. Wodehouse, and nothing on the middlebrow fiction of the mid-twentieth century, which I think is a really important contribution that too often gets overlooked.  Of course it’s impossible to please everyone, and the two lectures devoted to Jane Austen were very well-received (by me).

Playing.  Steve gave me Illimat, a card game invented by the Decemberists, as an anniversary gift, and we broke it out last night and played a game.  He kicked my butt.  That is one complicated game!  I’m itching to play it again, though.  It’s fun and different, and I need to work on my strategy.

Loving.  On Monday, Steve and I celebrated thirteen years of marriage!  We went out for a delicious dinner in our neighborhood and toasted to the life we’ve built together.  I love the number 13, so I was really looking forward to marking this one, and of course it’s just special to take a moment away from the hustle and reflect.  We’re not perfect people, and life can be hard sometimes, but I couldn’t have chosen a better partner.

Asking.  What are you reading this week?