I'm reading Pod by Laline Pauli. I really like it, but it took about 1/3 of the book to really pick up pace!
The Book Unbound podcast coined saving a book for the perfect time as a "mashed potato book". You want to savor it at the perfect time in the meal but sometimes you wait too long and the potatos get cold. I.e. the book isn't as great as you wished. OR it is fantastic and you can't believe you waited so long for the delicious potatos.
I’m such a delayed gratification person that it has become a joke between my person and me. Whenever I manage to actually read the newest issue of a magazine when it arrives, or drink the special kombucha I bought before it gets lost at the back of the fridge, or finish all of the Whole Foods tiramisu (one of my very favorite desserts) before it goes bad, I tell him “I did it, I had my treat… PEOPLE CAN CHANGE!” This is something I’m working on—future me is important, but so is the me of the present!!
Happy weekend! For fiction I’m in the midst of re-reading The Love Songs of W.E.B. DuBois and for my non-fiction this month I’m reading Black Angels. As for my future self - the only thing I try to save for her is money so I don’t end up a broke octogenarian. Otherwise I try to enjoy everything in the moment. However - the saving certain books for vacation does appeal to me and I do that sometimes. I love downloading a bunch of books on my Kindle a few days before a vacation and holding off on starting those until I’m at the airport. That’s a special kind of joy.
It's so bonkers that this is the topic of conversation because earlier this year I read Your Future Self: How to Make Tomorrow Better Today (Hal Hershfield) and just recently I finished The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment (Echkart Tolle). It is very mind-bending (to me) to try to learn to treat your future self well while also accepting that nothing actually exists outside the present moment. It's also pretty trippy that The Ministry of Time is a title of a book that is part of this discussion about how we navigate our expectations and joy through past, present, and future!
Currently reading Another Word for Love, Carvell Walllace's heartbreaking memoir about growing up in Pittsburgh in complicated circumstances. I enjoy anticipating experiences almost as much as the experiences themselves, so I frequently save books for vacations or long weekends. I really love the feeling of starting a new book and it can be fun to make that part of a trip or journey.
Also, going to read God of the woods next and make that pasta you posted as a neighbor just gifted me some zucchini. I will delight myself in doing these things now instead of later. Love hearing you talk about the Bear!!
Greta, I so function this way!! The sticker saving was so me as a kid and still I do this in so many parts of my living. Currently working my way through The Work of Art by Adam Moss.
My bookish friends and I did a check-in on our reading so far this year. A lot of my friends are mood readers, and it’s hard for them to stick with a book or pick a book. I am not a mood reader. I pick up a book, see if it sounds interesting, and then read it. So I don’t have an issue waiting to read a book or not waiting. There have been times when I read a book and felt so mad at myself for waiting so long (The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton comes first to my mind).
I am currently reading The Poppy War by RF Kuang and Us Against You by Fredrick Bachman. I’m looking forward to finishing both and starting something a little lighter soon. 😅
On the topic of Future Me, I don’t know who she is, where she’s living, or what she’s doing, but I love her. I’m doing what I can to look out for her.
I think about “future me” a lot as a motivation to do chores I don’t want to do. For example, nothing makes me happier than when I come home from a trip to a clean house and a meal waiting in the freezer. It’s hard for me to actually clean the house and cook myself something to freeze, but knowing how happy “future me” will be helps me to get it done. I think a lot about this poem from Naomi Shihab Nye:
Sometimes I pretend
I'm not me,
I only work for me. This feels like a secret motor
chirring inside my pocket. I think, She will be so glad when she sees the pages neatly written.
OK, super fun to see my name in the GretaGram today! The update is that I did read The Ministry of Time a few weeks ago, and I didn’t end up saving it until July 4th. Mostly it was because I came home from a work trip where I worked hard and decided that I deserved a treat, so that was it. But, I do like have a special book set aside for a time when I know I enjoy some leisurely reading time. And, it’s fun to create a memory (“that was the holiday/vacation when I read ____”).
I did just finish a fabulous galley of Eleanore of Avignon by Elizabeth DeLozier, which is coming out Nov 5th. It’s historical fiction, set in France in 1350 (plague!), and so good. If you loved Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell, get your preorder in!
I often save experiences for later, less because of some idea of a future self and more because my interests are so diverse that I try to devote time and energy I do have to things which seem to fit the particular interest or mood I’m in at any given time, and which often will ensconce a particular topic or genre category for a stretch of time in a sort of immersive way. Like re-watching all of Star Trek in 2021, or binging disaster & monster movies last year, or reading/listening/watching things about space or the deep ocean, etc.
Anyway, related to that very last topic, I am reading Flying Cloud: The True Story of America’s Most Famous Clipper Ship and the Woman Who Guided Her by David Shaw - and trying again to read Moby Dick (listening to a podcast of performers reading chapters aloud while following along in a book).
I'm reading Pod by Laline Pauli. I really like it, but it took about 1/3 of the book to really pick up pace!
The Book Unbound podcast coined saving a book for the perfect time as a "mashed potato book". You want to savor it at the perfect time in the meal but sometimes you wait too long and the potatos get cold. I.e. the book isn't as great as you wished. OR it is fantastic and you can't believe you waited so long for the delicious potatos.
I’m old enough now (75) that I think often about the future, and how to fit into it the things I care about. I’ve got lists.
I’m reading, and loving, The Ministry of Time. If you’re into time travel books I hope you’ve already found Connie Willis’s books…
I’m such a delayed gratification person that it has become a joke between my person and me. Whenever I manage to actually read the newest issue of a magazine when it arrives, or drink the special kombucha I bought before it gets lost at the back of the fridge, or finish all of the Whole Foods tiramisu (one of my very favorite desserts) before it goes bad, I tell him “I did it, I had my treat… PEOPLE CAN CHANGE!” This is something I’m working on—future me is important, but so is the me of the present!!
yes!!! sounds like you and I are very similar in this. do you think it’s some sort of fun trauma response?!? 🤣
🙈🙈
Happy weekend! For fiction I’m in the midst of re-reading The Love Songs of W.E.B. DuBois and for my non-fiction this month I’m reading Black Angels. As for my future self - the only thing I try to save for her is money so I don’t end up a broke octogenarian. Otherwise I try to enjoy everything in the moment. However - the saving certain books for vacation does appeal to me and I do that sometimes. I love downloading a bunch of books on my Kindle a few days before a vacation and holding off on starting those until I’m at the airport. That’s a special kind of joy.
HI KALI!!!!!! ❤️❤️❤️
*waves from philly* Hiiiiii!!!! 😆💖
It's so bonkers that this is the topic of conversation because earlier this year I read Your Future Self: How to Make Tomorrow Better Today (Hal Hershfield) and just recently I finished The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment (Echkart Tolle). It is very mind-bending (to me) to try to learn to treat your future self well while also accepting that nothing actually exists outside the present moment. It's also pretty trippy that The Ministry of Time is a title of a book that is part of this discussion about how we navigate our expectations and joy through past, present, and future!
OMG, yes!
Currently slowly working through Beautyland and wishing there was slightly more plot.
So excited to hear you on Pop Culture Happy Hour! That's the next episode I have to listen to so I'm excited I'll get to hear a familiar face!
hahaha I love the idea of hearing a familiar face!
beautyland was def lighter on plot than I usually like but the SENTENCES CLAIRE!!!
Currently reading "His Majesty's Dragon" by Naomi Novik.
Currently reading Another Word for Love, Carvell Walllace's heartbreaking memoir about growing up in Pittsburgh in complicated circumstances. I enjoy anticipating experiences almost as much as the experiences themselves, so I frequently save books for vacations or long weekends. I really love the feeling of starting a new book and it can be fun to make that part of a trip or journey.
Also, going to read God of the woods next and make that pasta you posted as a neighbor just gifted me some zucchini. I will delight myself in doing these things now instead of later. Love hearing you talk about the Bear!!
Greta, I so function this way!! The sticker saving was so me as a kid and still I do this in so many parts of my living. Currently working my way through The Work of Art by Adam Moss.
Right now you needs to finish the end of Schitt’s Creek! I just rewatched it all again recovering from surgery.
I’m reading Honey by Isabel Banta and it is giving all the early 00s toxicity.
Hope you recover well and all goes smoothly. Love the rewatch of SC. Nice.
Thank you! I had ACL surgery this spring. It’s a long recovery but I am getting there!
My bookish friends and I did a check-in on our reading so far this year. A lot of my friends are mood readers, and it’s hard for them to stick with a book or pick a book. I am not a mood reader. I pick up a book, see if it sounds interesting, and then read it. So I don’t have an issue waiting to read a book or not waiting. There have been times when I read a book and felt so mad at myself for waiting so long (The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton comes first to my mind).
I am currently reading The Poppy War by RF Kuang and Us Against You by Fredrick Bachman. I’m looking forward to finishing both and starting something a little lighter soon. 😅
On the topic of Future Me, I don’t know who she is, where she’s living, or what she’s doing, but I love her. I’m doing what I can to look out for her.
I think about “future me” a lot as a motivation to do chores I don’t want to do. For example, nothing makes me happier than when I come home from a trip to a clean house and a meal waiting in the freezer. It’s hard for me to actually clean the house and cook myself something to freeze, but knowing how happy “future me” will be helps me to get it done. I think a lot about this poem from Naomi Shihab Nye:
Sometimes I pretend
I'm not me,
I only work for me. This feels like a secret motor
chirring inside my pocket. I think, She will be so glad when she sees the pages neatly written.
She will be relieved someone sharpened pencils,
folded clothes.
OK, super fun to see my name in the GretaGram today! The update is that I did read The Ministry of Time a few weeks ago, and I didn’t end up saving it until July 4th. Mostly it was because I came home from a work trip where I worked hard and decided that I deserved a treat, so that was it. But, I do like have a special book set aside for a time when I know I enjoy some leisurely reading time. And, it’s fun to create a memory (“that was the holiday/vacation when I read ____”).
I did just finish a fabulous galley of Eleanore of Avignon by Elizabeth DeLozier, which is coming out Nov 5th. It’s historical fiction, set in France in 1350 (plague!), and so good. If you loved Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell, get your preorder in!
I’m finishing up the second volume of My Favorite Thing Is Monsters. It’s just as good as the first, which is gorgeous and heartbreaking
I often save experiences for later, less because of some idea of a future self and more because my interests are so diverse that I try to devote time and energy I do have to things which seem to fit the particular interest or mood I’m in at any given time, and which often will ensconce a particular topic or genre category for a stretch of time in a sort of immersive way. Like re-watching all of Star Trek in 2021, or binging disaster & monster movies last year, or reading/listening/watching things about space or the deep ocean, etc.
Anyway, related to that very last topic, I am reading Flying Cloud: The True Story of America’s Most Famous Clipper Ship and the Woman Who Guided Her by David Shaw - and trying again to read Moby Dick (listening to a podcast of performers reading chapters aloud while following along in a book).