Kai is 11 weeks old today. He poops less often and smiles more, which is an excellent trade. His goofy chuckles are a sound that should be bottled. The shirt I’m wearing is currently quite damp from both Kai spit-up and Naomi bathwater, but they’ve both just gone to bed and I can’t be bothered doing anything about it. It’s been hard and goofy and exhausting and cozy. We took our first one-night tent camping trip with four other families and their tiny ones (very fun; not enough sleep) and took everyone to Michigan. I got to swim in giant Lake Michigan waves, Naomi jumped off tiny sand dunes and clung to me in the spray, and Kai paddled his toes in the white sand and slept happily in various arms. Niko just turned 37 and my turn is coming right up. I’m heading back to work tomorrow! Yikes.

Kai still wakes up about twice to nurse between 8 pm and 6 am, and I continue to read a lot of ebooks. Here’s the latest from the past ~six weeks, again roughly listed in the order in which I read them.

(Green titles – I definitely recommend! Check it out! Purple titles – didn’t finish/really didn’t like. Black – choose your own adventure!)

• The Woman in Me, by Britney Spears (NF) – I did not finish this, but I feel like I got the gist. I’ve never been like, a Britney fan, but this made me feel warmly towards her and outraged on her behalf.
• Zero Days, by Ruth Ware (F) – A reasonably fun read. A thriller-y sort of book about a highly trained woman running from Very Bad hacker people.
• I’m Glad My Mom Died, by Jennette McCurdy (NF) – An interesting follow-up to Britney’s memoir; another memoir of a maligned female child actor, but one written by someone who is actually a very good writer. I finished this one!
• Six Wakes, by Mur Lafferty (F) – A rare sci-fi read for me, about a future where you can clone yourself and essentially live forever, and six clones waking up on a spaceship unsure how their past incarnation died. I liked it a lot at the beginning and less as time went on, but a fun read.
• Happy & You Know It, by Laura Hankin (F) – “Chick lit”/”‘mom’edy” about a wealthy mom’s group and the much poorer, childless musician friend they make. Light, fun; relatable and not-at-all-relatable in different ways.
• Cassandra in Reverse, by Holly Smale (F) – K if you’re wanting a fun and funny “romance” novel, highly recommend this one. Romance-trope defying, navigating the world as a neurodivergent person (by a neurodivergent author), time travel!
• Alias Emma, by Ava Glass (F) – I asked book-pro Nadine for her latest favorite “keep me up when nursing at 3 am” rec, and she delivered! The writing sometimes is meh, but action-packed spy fun.
• Mother-Daughter Murder Night, by Nina Simon (F) – A murder mystery, solved by a grandmother, mother, and daughter working together, with some beautiful kayaking imagery. (Simon wrote this for her mom while she was undergoing treatment for brain cancer!)
• Going Zero, by Anthony McCarten (F) – A sometimes fascinating/terrifying read about a near future where contestants try to elude a US government team that can track their every move.
• The Soulmate, by Sally Hepworth (F) – Weirdly cozy for the subject matter. British thriller/murder mystery/family novel aka one of my favorite genres!
• Big Time, by Ben H. Winters (F) – Sort of sci fi – the premise is about a new agency that can “steal time” from one person’s life to give to someone else – but Winters spends basically no time at all explaining how this is supposed to work or what it really means or what the logistics are which was annoying. Really more of a heist-y, chase, suspense novel – another about a mom and daughter working together.
• How Can I Help You, by Laura Sims (F) – Terrible book about a “crazy” “undercover” librarian and another librarian who decides to aid and abet. I should not have finished this. Very bad writing. Hilariously implausible characters.
• All Fours, by Miranda July (F) – So good. So funny, so weird, so sexy, so beautiful. July’s writing is fantastic.
• The Plinko Bounce, by Martin Clark (F) – UGH. I kept reading this one because it got some very good reviews and I kept thinking it had to be about to TAKE A TURN but no. Just very, very, VERY boring and cliched throughout. So dumb. (Legal “thriller.”)
• Big Swiss, by Jen Beagin (F) – Reminded me somewhat of “All Fours” – eccentric characters, an illicit queer relationship. Great writing. Loved the main character. Felt maybe slightly too long?? But otherwise no critiques.
• Whalefall, by Daniel Kraus (F) – Wild story about a teen boy’s fraught relationship with his demanding dad and also about said teen boy being EATEN ALIVE by a WHALE and trying to get out and also about marine ecology and climate change. I completely loved it.
• Good Inside, by Becky Kennedy (NF) – A parenting book that I skimmed/read some chapters of. I’m into her philosophy and found many portions very practical/immediately applicable for parenting a wild three year old.
• The Word for Woman is Wilderness, by Abi Andrews (F) – I will admit, embarrassingly, that I thought this book was a memoir for the first few chapters. Anyway, it’s about a young woman going on a crazy wintry adventure. The writing is like…quirky? Sometimes it gets to be too much. But sometimes it’s extremely well done.
• Come & Get It, by Kiley Reid (F) – A trend here in these last couple weeks of books about illicit lesbian relationships! (This book is also about money, college life, capitalism, power, etc, but that’s certainly an element in it.) I like Reid’s writing a lot – her dialogue is so good.
• The Hunter, by Tana French (F) – Never met a Tana French novel I didn’t love! Also this one, unlike her others, is often very funny.