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If I could sum up my reads for June and July, it would be books that were decently interesting but not super earth-shattering. The two biggest exceptions to that were The Future is Analog by David Sax, which you can read my thoughts on here, and The Power of Fun by Catherine Price.
I realize there is something ironic about reading The Future is Analog by David Sax on my iPad, especially considering I very rarely read anything other than physical books these days, but the only way I could get my hands on it before November was to request a digital review copy.
I finally found my reading groove this month, and that’s all thanks to some truly, truly incredible books. (Yes, I said truly twice, but DAMN, I read some good books this month!) What I read this month took me down two very distinct (but in some ways related) rabbit holes. Neither of these is a new research area for me, but they both really came out strongly this month.
You may or may not know this about me, but despite having two degrees in metalsmithing, I am actually a giant textile nerd.
In undergrad, I spent as much time in the fibers studio as I did in the metals studio. (It helped that they were right next door.) And while I did make jewelry for my undergrad thesis, many of the pieces incorporated hand sewing or beading techniques I had learned in my fibers classes.
Apparently, there’s something about March where I really struggle to find my reading groove. And since I only finished two books in March, I decided to just hold off and blog those with my April reads. The start of April was a bit of a slog as well, but I finally found my stride and ended up tearing through three books at the end of the month.
My January reads kind of bled into February (that’s what happens when you take a trip that starts in one month and ends in the next) so I decided to just drop them all here together!
I found more of a reading groove in December, helped of course by the reading retreat I went on with Amber and some really good books!
This year, I finished 55 books (which averages to a little over one a week) and started many, many others, so I thought it would be fun to round up some of my favorites. I’ll be honest, there were a lot of books I liked this year, and this list could have easily been longer, but I opted instead to focus on the books that I truly loved and that I would unequivocally recommend to anyone.
A couple of months ago, I saw a post on Instagram to the effect of “I really wish I could go on a vacation where we just read books all day and then get together at the end of the day to talk about them.” I sent it to my friend Amber with a “seriously, we should do this” and she responded back with “we should go here” and a link to another IG post of a treehouse-style cabin in the woods.
Which is how, on Monday, I found myself and Amber with a car full of books, snacks, and some of my new decorative dishes on our way to a cabin in the woods in Ohio.
November was another month where I didn’t read as much as I would’ve wanted, but in my defense, I spent a week in NYC (where I bought lots of books but was too busy to do much reading), and then when I got home, I was so inspired I started making a whole new collection!