I have a bunch going on at once lol

• In Every Mirror She’s Black by Lola Akerstrom. Good turn your brain off read so far.
• Smarter, Sharper Thinking by Jenny Brockis. Not a turn your brain off read. Mentions a lot of “should be common sense” things and kinda cements my distaste for self help books
• Still very slowly reading Paradise Lost by John Milton. My brain can only handle so much in a day

I’m a huge Green Day but I’m not feeling it. Still looking forward to the new album, though.

i watch too many video essays and im a music junkie so i go down music rabbit holes. different strokes for different folks i guess

I don’t know how but I didn’t know about Morrison until recently. I just read this for the first time this year. It was a really good read. “Beautifully upsetting” is an understatement but my nose was glued to the pages. I can see where the controversy lies, it’s definitely not an all ages read. But I think with all media, parents should know what their school aged children are reading and make the final say if it is appropriate for their maturity levels or not. I do kinda balk at the idea of a middle schooler reading this. I’ve read that some US high schools even have this (or Beloved) in their English curriculum.

I needed a break from Paradise Lost so I started reading Zadie Smith’s White Teeth. I’m really enjoying her characters so far. There’s something larger than life about them.

I read this book a long time ago, during my Jodi Picoult phase. To be honest, I don’t remember much about it (all her books blur together for me nowadays), but I am surprised it has been banned. Obviously there’s violence but usually the romance aspects of Picoult’s books are the main focal point. I don’t think it was sexually graphic, either.

I have Brothers Karamazov queued up for next year! I haven’t read Dostoevsky since high school. I had to read Crime and Punishment for English class and while I enjoyed it, I read it shallowly. I’m hoping to take my time once I get to Brothers Karamazov.

I started reading Paradise Lost last week. I’m about 100 pages in and it’s an easier read than I thought it would but I still feel a bit overwhelmed reading it. I’m reading a Norton Critical version so I’m very thankful for the generous footnotes.