Your Book Friend

Happy Tuesday, book friends! I’ve been seeing the Top 5 Tuesday meme around for a while, and this month’s theme of “reading environments” has been so much fun to read about! So, I decided to try my hand at participating in this week’s prompt! I can’t say for sure whether this will be a consistent weekly thing for me or not, but we’ll see how it goes.

If you’re not familiar, Top 5 Tuesday is a weekly meme created by Bionic Bookworm, now hosted by Meeghan Reads. If you’re interested in participating, check out their blog to get the details and the prompts for each week!

This week’s prompt is reading accessories, aka the things we like to have around when we read.

1. Blanket

Whether it’s hot outside or not, I love to be cozy when I read. I will pull a blanket over just my stomach to snuggle up with even on the hottest of days.

2. Pen

I tend to get a little stressed if I read without a pen nearby, particularly if it’s a nonfiction book or a beautifully written one. I’m not an in-depth annotator by any means, but I like to be able to mark off impactful lines when I come across them.

3. Something to Drink

In the mornings, I read with my cup of coffee. In the evenings, with tea or an adult beverage depending on on my mood.

4. Bookmark

I’m not a dogear pearson, so I always have to have something nearby to mark my page with. I’m not the best at knowing where my actual bookmarks are, so this accessory often winds up being a receipt or scrap of paper, but it still gets the job done!

5. Pet

Azula isn’t an accessory, of course, but she is my favorite reading buddy. The best reading time is early in the morning when she curls up with me and the aforementioned blanket.

Those are my top five things (and beings!) to have around when I’m reading. What do you like to make sure you’ve got handy when you read?

Happiest of Fridays, book friends! This week has been a deeply draining one for yours truly, even though it was interspersed with fun bookish milestones (installing the Little Free Library, one year bookstagram anniversary).

This morning’s addition to the LFL–mini tarot readings!

On Tuesday, a garbage truck caught fire on the bridge I take to get home every day, so it was closed for inspection. My commute ended up being over an hour because all other routes from work to home are roundabout adventures. Azula was not pleased at the change in routine when I arrived home much later than usual.

The same night, I learned that my beloved Potterhead Running Club and the broader Fanthropy umbrella under which is lives has been forced to shut their (virtual) doors. I won’t divulge much here as it is related to a lawsuit that was brought against them by a certain entity, and I don’t want to get the wonderful humans who’ve run the comunity for so long into any trouble. But, this nerdy fitness community has been a part of my life for over five years, and I’m slightly devastated by the news.

While all this was going on, Azula got some solo hang time with Mom since my husband had a business trip this week and was out of town for a couple of days. She was so excited to see him when he got home last night, and so was I–she’s always a bit better behaved with Dad around.

The weather has been nice and hot, which means walks get pushed back a little later in the evening and lunchtime equals reading and basking in the sun time for Azula & I (on the one day a week I work from home, anyway). I gave up on The Emma Project because I just wasn’t feeling it and started Lessons in Chemistry, which I already adore.

Azula enjoying the sun while I enjoyed my book

This weekend, Azula gets to visit with grandma and grandpa, which she’s always excited to do. A visit with the parents means I’ll likely not get much reading done, but I suspect I’ll sneak in a bit here and there, since I’m enjoying both of my current reads so much.

Hope you had a good week and have a good weekend ahead, book friends!