What I'm Into (February 2015 Edition)
02/25/2015
I wish this collage conveyed the particular joy of chipping through inch thick ice on your car and driveway. And by joy, I mean expletives at winter whenever I managed to dislodge a chunk of ice.
For such a short month, February certainly showed off its flair for the dramatic. Job search woes! Week-long Icepocalypse! 0 degrees! Best Friend Reunion! See, it wasn't all bad.
Read and Reading
The Girl on the Train (Hawkins) didn't enthrall me the way Gone Girl did but the presence of two potentially unreliable (and frankly, unlikable) narrators hooked me in. I did figure out the twist about a hundred pages from the end. However, I enjoyed sifting through the characters' memories and experiences and trying to figure out exactly what they'd seen and done.
While I have a few qualms about the relationship dynamics presented in Wildalone (Zourkova), overall I enjoyed the ride, especially learning about the mythology and how it connected to Thea's present. Having a main character who is Eastern European gives the reader many unusual viewpoints. She's believable as a college student and I liked the angle of her virtuosity on the piano and the way that inspires and hampers her. I'm definitely looking forward to what happens in book 2.
I commend Stevenson for the good work he's done through the Equal Justice Initiative, a nonprofit legal practice dedicated to serving the poor, the marginalized, the downtrodden. And I commend him for the good work he's given us with Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption. The book is part memoir, part treatise on the state of the legal system. We follow the story of Walter, a man on Alabama's Death Row who proclaims his innocence, and meet Stevenson's other clients as he built his practice in the 1980s and the subsequent areas of injustice they've battled to this day, including death penalty sentences for children and the treatment of the mentally ill. This book is a game changer, a must-read.
Haunting, beautiful, insightful. All the Brights Places (Niven) was an experience and I didn't go in thinking it would be.
We'll be discussing Found by my friend Micha Boyett next month on The Red Couch. My introductory post will be up next week.
You can see all the books I've read at Goodreads.
Currently reading: We Make the Road By Walking (McLaren), Amazing Grace (Norris), De Niro (Levy), The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook (Perelman), Strong Inside: Perry Wallace the Collision of Race and Sports in the South (Maraniss), Are You My Type? Am I Yours?: Relationships Made Easy Through the Enneagram (Baron and Wagele), Mademoiselle: Coco Chanel and the Pulse of History (Garelick), The Dead Emcee Scrolls: The Lost Teachings of Hip Hop (Williams)
(I read 12 books this month.)
TV:
Must-see TV: Madam Secretary, Jane the Virgin, Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, Scandal, How to Get Away with Murder, Once Upon a Time, Downton Abbey, Being Mary Jane, Hindsight
I'm behind on Fresh Off the Boat but I really like the episodes I've seen.
VH1's Hindsight has been an enjoyable trip down memory lane, since it's set in the 90s. Thanks to Mary Carver for the suggestion!
The finale of Parks & Rec was perfection. Leslie Knope, Ron Swanson, and the rest of the gang will live on in my heart forever.
Movies:
After watching the documentary Bill Cunningham New York, I wanted to wander the NYC streets until I ran into Bill, not so he could take my picture (although, sure) but so we could become pals. What a delightful man!
The Theory of Everything deserves all the accolades it's received, especially Eddie Redmayne's acting. While I understand hardly anything of Stephen Hawking's work, I swear I felt smarter afterward. Remarkably touching film and now I want to read his ex-wife Jane's memoir to find out just how much they Hollywoodized the story.
Music:
New discovery: Bears Den, Laurel
Listen to the What I'm Into 2014 playlist.
Podcasts:
I'm a huge fan of Mary Oliver's work so I was thrilled by her interview on On Being with Krista Tippett. How fascinating to hear how some poems came to be.
The must-listen award this month goes to This American Life for their two part series: The Police See It Differently (here's part 1 and part 2). They really do see things differently. Some of the stories shocked me, which at times made for hard listening. (Why, why, why are there horrible cops? How can we get rid of them?) There are examples of cops and precincts getting it right, too, which gives me hope. Here's to continuing the discussion.
A reader told me to listen to Death, Sex, and Money so I've been going through the archives of this remarkable show. Favorite episodes: A Funeral Director's Dead Reckoning (featuring my friend Caleb Wilde! I don't know how I missed it), The NFL Made Me Rich. I Won't Watch It Now., This Senator Saved My Love Life.
Start Up ended its first season. It's a great time to catch up if you're not already listening.
Things I Love:
- Super Bowl Sunday was a lot of fun, even if the Seahawks lost. What a game, what an ending!
- Drinking my favorite tea with my favorite friend Amanda at Edgehill Cafe. Sometimes you need to set the busyness aside, sit across from one another, and talk as fast as you can about All The Things.
- Bitmoji, my new obsession. How would you like Emojis that look like you?
- Babysitting the sweet girl I used to nanny. I'm so grateful we still get to see each other.
- Katie Gibson and I have been internet friends for a few years and we finally got to meet while she was in town visiting a friend. Such a treat to drink tea and talk books face to face.
- My roommate and I turned ice storm lemons into lemonade by watching BBC's Pride and Prejudice. Because Colin Firth makes everything better, forever and amen.
- Even though I couldn't leave my house for a few days due to the aforementioned ice storm, I was grateful I could still work at home, thanks to Virtual Assistant work and a side project for a friend's company. Technology, man.
- Best friend reunion weekend! So great having Erin and her family be a part of the Nashville crew. I'm glad she, Tracy, and I got to have our own time together (at McKay, no less). Even though the weather was horrible, I love that we could just hang out at Tracy's house and still have a good time together. So much reminiscing, so much laughter.
- Snuggling Matthew and Jess's sweet baby boy and, of course, catching up with them.
- This link up is posting early because tomorrow I head out to meet my baby niece! Prepare yourself for future gushing.
Favorite Instagram:
Carrying this line from Mary Oliver with me today.
(From New and Selected Poems: Volume 1.)
(If you want to follow me on Instagram, my user name is leighkramer.)
On The Blog:
If Your Life Was a Hallmark Movie... made me laugh while I wrote it and I'm glad it's made so many of you laugh, too.
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What have you been into this month?
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