I Think You’ll Like This
Currently reading:
Jaws by Peter Benchley
The Elsewhere Express by Samantha Sotto Yambao
Out There Screaming, edited by Jordan Peele
An American Sunrise by Joy Harjo
The Shards by Bret Easton Ellis [audiobook]
Will I ever get back to reading one short story and one poem every day?
Books finished this week: 2
★★★☆☆
Where this book came from: Purchased from Yellow Peril Books.
Why this book: The next cat cafe book club!
Thoughts: Honestly, I’d sum this one up as “cute and fine.” It was short and I read it relatively quickly, but it felt a bit like homework at times, rather than a book I was genuinely enjoying. The messages didn’t feel as subtle or moving as in We’ll Prescribe You a Cat, and I didn’t expect there to be quite so much astrology in here. Every conversation felt more like a monologue broken up only by prompting questions from the other participant, not like how actual humans (or, uh, talking cats?) would speak to each other. Also could’ve done without the six-foot-tall anthropomorphic cat who ran the cafe??
★★★★☆
Where this book came from: McNally Jackson Rockefeller Center! My favorite bookstore to walk past after they’ve closed on my way to the train and stare longingly into their darkened windows.
Why this book: Purely for the concept of vampires on a cruise vacation.
Thoughts: The actual plot wrapped up a bit too quickly for my liking, but I deeply enjoyed getting there! Two immortal energy vampires siphoning sustenance from their fellow queer cruisers is an incredible set-up and I really enjoyed Rebekah’s blasé narration style. Just good, summer fun. My only regret is that I didn’t read it on a boat.
Library updates:
The last week or so has reminded me how lovely it is to borrow books from friends. It just feels like someone cares about you when they say, “Hey, I think you’ll like this,” or when you express interest in a book a friend is reading and then they remember to lend it to you when they’re done. I came into quite a few borrowed or gifted books recently (more on that below) and it made me giddy every time.
Anyhow, the dog days of summer are summering and I’m chipping away at some writing projects. I have a short story due at the end of the month for anthology consideration that just refuses to play nicely, so we’ll see where we end up with that. And having such a tough time with that story was stripping away some of my enjoyment of writing and making it hard to work on other projects or edits stories I’ve been meaning to revisit for weeks now. I think that bottleneck contributed to some heavier feelings last month, when I just felt like I wasn’t doing enough on any front.
But, all that said, I’m very glad to announce that a new, potentially novel-length mystery project has leapt up and bit me, and I’m having a lot of fun following it where it wants to go. I wrote out a bunch of world-building details and backstory, and I have some vague plot points in mind to get myself started, but otherwise, I’m just seeing what comes next. It’s nice to be excited about writing again and to feel like I’m understanding these characters from the start. It might be time to focus on this for a bit and maybe back-burner this short story; we’ll see.
At least I have a ton of books to read, to keep my creativity up!
Closing thoughts:
It’s not “giving up,” it’s “pivoting to find your spark again.”
Total books read from the Moratorium Library: 228
(Total books added to the Moratorium Library: 484)
Ordered The Elsewhere Express (using gift cards, thank you very much) from B&N to read for work book club. Vampires at Sea was purchased at McNally Jackson Rockefeller Center. The other three books were kindly lent to me by coworkers (thank you, Beata and Julia!!).
Also, I forgot to count Vile Lady Villains last week, which was kindly gifted to me (thanks, Lauren!!). And I bought two more books at McNally Jackson SoHo while wandering the city with Britt (hi, Britt!) yesterday.
(Should I count borrowed and/or gifted books? I go back and forth on that every time.)
