My July reads — getting in lots of book time ahead of grad school starting in three weeks.

The June/Pride Month stack. Enjoyed them all, but “A Thousand Times Before” was definitely my favorite.

The May book stack (finally!).

Met two book cats today at @ravenbookstore.bsky.social

From Harrison Ford's stellar commencement speech, to a pair of sisters who found their way back to finishing their degrees after a decade of caregiving, to Sparky himself (well, herself) turning the tassel ... it has been a great graduation season at ASU. news.asu.edu/graduation

Happy “Book 8 of Dungeon Crawler Carl Is Out” Day to all who celebrate.

Going through piles of old family photos and papers ahead of a Kansas funeral in a few weeks. This is my paternal grandma circa 1913 and her (from left) grandpa, dad and great-grandpa, a former Union soldier — my 3-greats-grandpa. Amazing that this photo exists and in such great shape.

“An unfinished book, left unattended, turns feral.” — from “A Tale for the Time Being” by Ruth Ozeki

For April, I decided to theme my reading: books by people I know in real life …

The book stack for March — apparently all I did in my free time last month was read.

Sometimes you need to break your heart and put it back together again in the same reading session.

Publishers, I am begging you to include a description of the plot on the cover somewhere — not a full page of blurbs that tell me nothing.

THIS. Trauma by its very nature means it might take decades for you to get to the point where you can finally voice it. And it might not get to the voice-it point. Just because someone has not proclaimed their trauma doesn’t mean they didn’t experience it.

Courtney Milan@courtneymilan.com · 5mo ago

I can’t make anyone be not mad that victims don’t come forward on perfect little timescales. All I can say is that the very imperfection in the timescale is what makes me believe them, and wish that they find power and strength.

Hitting desalination plants is so bad. Not just evil but strategically incomprehensible. Without desalination 75% of the entire population of the Middle East will be refugees. Israel and Kuwait depend on desalination for 90% of their water and other Middle East states aren’t far behind.

The February book stack.

The January book stack. (With a little glimpse of my new calathea rattlesnake plant — I’ll put some photos of her in the comments. What are you reading heading into February? My current read is “The French Lieutenant’s Woman,” for class.

UPDATE: @dropsitenews.com has obtained the very graphic video from the lady in the pink coat, which shows ICE executing yet another person in broad daylight:

Reading and bleeding! (Platelets donation. All is well.) Book is “Written on the Body” for the class I’m taking this spring.

The December book stack — not pictured: “Mama T’s Storm Food: Cooking Without Power, Patience or a Trip to the Store,” which I read on ebook.

What a lovely read to close the year with. 🍜🤖💜 @annaleen.bsky.social — thank you for writing this!

November book stack — the top three for my “disability representation in sci-fi” class and the bottom one for book club.

The way I just froze for five full seconds as my brain processed that the in-flight opera in “The Fifth Element” was a literal take on the sci-fi subgenre of space opera … 🤯 Bravo, Luc Besson. Yet another reason I love this movie.

The October book stack. My favorite read of the month is in the second photo. Vampires and werewolves in space? Generational trauma? Not one but two slow-burn romances? Adorably enthusiastic spider bots? What’s not to love?

How you store your sunglasses on your person when not in use really puts you into a specific category. Like, forget a sorting hat or being dauntless — my future postapocalyptic story will be organized by: tucked into collar, pushed to the top of head, worn backwards over the neck, stored in a case.

The September book stack — delayed until I could get the physical copy of “This Inevitable Ruin” from the library. (I read the ebook last month but wanted to show off how huge that book is in the photo.)

This organ piece — the slowest and longest music piece ever — is being performed for 639 years in Halberstadt, Germany. (It began in 2001.) It is a real thing, and yet I am absolutely convinced it's something from a @jasperfforde.bsky.social novel. universes.art/en/specials/...

John Cage Organ Project in Halberstadt

ORGAN2/ASLSP, the slowest and longest music piece ever heard, is being performed for 639 years in Halberstadt, Germany. Information, photos, video with sound.

universes.art

August book stack! Not many titles this month, but so many pages — 812 in that top book alone.

I clicked on one cold-brew-tea ad on Instagram and am now getting a bunch of different tea companies in my feed. Not mad about it.

The July book stack. See photos 2 and 3 for my favorites.

How you can tell it’s still summer break/summer session: You go to the Panda Express on the edge of ASU’s Tempe campus in the noon hour and there are only two people in line in front of you.