Super Quick Reading Update and Book Club Pick

Hey ladies and lovelies. It's been way too long. My brain is bursting with all these fabulous things I want to share with you- great articles and compelling interviews with ladies breaking stereotypes and all the nerdy things I want for my birthday. I turn 30 in a few days and I cannot wait to be into the next decade of this awesome life.

At this exact moment, however, I've just restarted school and I am flat out exhausted trying to figure out how to teach 22 first graders, get home and do some laundry/potty train the 2-year-old/validate the 3-year-old/watch a damn episode of Doctor Who, then organize myself and my family to get up and do it again the next day.  I love routines, and we're pulling ourselves, hand over fist, into a new one for this particular autumn of our lives. I have more desire than time.

Here are some things that make me monstrous when I skip them: exercise, chugging water, and reading. None of these can be sacrificed, I am learning the hard way. I've gone on enough about the importance of the first two (Bi-yearly PSA for Ashlie: YOUR OCCASIONAL DEPRESSIVE EPISODE IS DIRECTLY RELATED TO DROPPING EXERCISE AND/OR WATER CONSUMPTION IN THE NAME OF BEING TOO BUSY) but I wanted to stop in and tell you about what I've been reading, and invite you to do a little reading with me.

Right now I'm reading a total mishmash of things. The third installment of the Peculiar novels, Library of Souls, is a perfect October creepy read, even if I'm having a difficult time getting into it. I have a feeling I'll like it more once I can devote a solid hour to it. I've been waiting for Julie Murphy's Dumplin FOREVER- "self-proclaimed fat girl" and the fact that it starts with a gorgeous ex-jock coworker falling for her both sold me. I'm also carrying around Generation Why, volume 2 of Ms. Marvel, mainly admiring the cover until I have time to let myself read it front to back, which is exactly how I enjoyed the first volume. Thanks to a kinder-than-necessary friend, I have Mindy Kaling's latest, Why Not Me, which is an awesome title and also maybe a new mantra?  And I am waiting, waiting, waiting for Carry On by Rainbow Rowell, which is released on my birthday, and if that's not fate than NOTHING IS!

We skipped Be Your Own Book Club in September, because by the time I thought I had picked something and was ready to write about it, the month was nearly over. Many of you who actively participate are also teachers, and I thought we could all use a little break. However, now that it's October, I want to get a little creepy. And Neil Gaiman is the perfect author to get us there. I struggled a little on which way to go with a Gaiman pick. He is incredibly prolific, publishing comic books, children's books, YA novels, horror, comedy, and more. I want to read Coraline, and may, in October, but our pick this month is The Ocean at the End of the Lane. My aunt suggested it, and the reviews used words like haunting, dark,  and  brilliant. It seems very quotable, too, which is always a plus.

SO there we have it. Some great books that are definitely worth checking out, and a slightly creepy, perfectly seasonal read to restart Be Your Own Book Club. Are you going to read along with us? Any other good ghostly books?  Let me know, sweet tarts! Happy reading!