Reading Update // June 14, 2019

Happy Friday everyone! I hope you’re all going to be spending time outdoors this weekend and soaking in that summer sun. I just hope there’s a little sun in June here in LA to enjoy. I wanted to approach the end of my week a little differently and give you a reading update from the week!

This week, I went to San Diego with my hubby for a few days. We just wanted a getaway with some fun in the sun. We most definitely got what we seeked out and went home with a new tan, a new burn, and a new book. We actually packed in a lot of fun and adventure for ourselves within the three days we were there. It was a great few days away from work, but I also had work looming in the back of my mind the entire time.

I checked out Mysterious Galaxy, which is a bookstore dedicated to speculative fiction, romance, and horror/thrillers. When I went to the LA Festival of Books, I saw the Mysterious Galaxy booth and surprised that it existed. I knew if I went back to San Diego, I would make a special trip over there. Luckily for me, it was about 10 minutes from our Airbnb and so we made a pit stop before heading down to Pacific Beach for lunch.

I honestly believe if I lived in San Diego, I would just go there and make friends with all the employees. I would somehow find myself working there part-time without getting paid because of all the time I spent there. If there was a couch in the store, I would most definitely have my very own butt groove imprinted into the seats.

Usually when I go to bookstores on vacation, I pick up memorabilia from the store, but I wasn’t a fan of the stuff they had available, so I decided I would pick out a book instead. If you visit bookstores on vacation, I strongly encourage you to pick out at least one book or buy a t-shirt or tote bag from the store. You can easily support a local bookstore this way and come away with a nifty little souvenir to remind you of your visit.

I picked up The Assassin’s Apprentice by Robin Hobb.  This Assassins series has been high on my read list and I’m finally committed to reading the book. I honestly feel like if I own the book, the commitment to reading the book is baked into the receipt. Bookstores should seriously write a disclaimer on their receipts that says “note: your purchase of this book commits you to reading it. We’ll be waiting for your review.”

Of course I’m teasing about that second part.

For reading, I took Patron Saints of Nothing by Randy Ribay with me and learned that I’m terrible at reading on vacation. I knew we were only going to be in town for three days, so I hedged my bets and brought one book. I’m so glad I did because I ended up only reading half the book and finishing it when I get home. I don’t want to give too much away, but let’s just say it was really good. Review to come next week!

One thing I noticed while we were out there was that I love reading by bodies of water. Put me in front of the ocean or by a lake and I’m totally in my zone. I love the sound of the waves or nature around me while I turn pages in my book. It’s soothing and legit my self-care. I think I’ll be making a lot of trips to the beach this summer (especially since I live so close).

But I noticed that I’m terrible at reading on vacation. When we’re on vacation, we’re out and about and checking out landmarks and nature and historical buildings and all that. I’ve worn my Apple Watch on vacation and noticed the 20,000 steps my husband and I take over the course of our day. We are not sitting by the pool people (although I would much rather be doing that). So reading kind of falls by the wayside and that was obvious here too because I only read half of my book.

My reading life aside from that is a total burning trash heap. I’m in the middle of four books, I have three books to review for work, and I don’t know when I’ll have time to participate in either my book club reading or the Dune buddy read I signed up to be in. Ever have that feeling you’ve put way too many things on my plate? I feel like this might be par for the course for me because I always pile food onto a tiny ass plate believing that I’m “portion controlling” but really I’m taking more than I can handle.

So the focus of this weekend is to get back on track. I’m going to finish my work book, write that review. Then I’m going to finish up my half-read books and hopefully feel better about my place in my TBR.

How’s your reading life been going?