A weekly space to check in about our current reads

It is somehow, impossibly, already August 11th. In one single week, our incoming class of undergraduate students will arrive on campus.

Unlike this time last year, things are beginning to feel a bit more lively in the office already, with students dropping by with questions multiple times per day. As much as this part of the work energizes me, it’s a lot of human interaction after so much Zoom and silence, and I’m still adjusting to the pace. Not to mention the fact that we’ve resumed our mask mandate even for the fully vaccinated.

Usually in these busy times, my reading drops off entirely, but I have the Medium and Instagram book community to thank for my continued dedication to at least a little bit of reading each day.

So, of course, I had to drag a little more effort out of myself to bring us another What We’re Reading Wednesday this week! Not too much new on my end, so I’m hoping to hear all about what you’ve been reading when we’re through.

(Full disclosure: Book links are affiliate links, which means I may earn a small commission at no cost to you if you choose to purchase.)

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Current Audiobook

I’m listening to Ashley C. Ford’s Somebody’s Daughter at last.

I don’t quite know what I expected from this one, but I’m surprised to find just how much of it is told from a childhood lens. I’m not sure I’ve read a memoir that embodies the child self so fully before, so it’s taking some adjustment, but in a good way.

Somebody’s Daughter is sharing my ear time with my usual rotation of podcasts, so I usually get some steady reading progress once Wednesday comes around (my favorite podcasts drop on Monday and Tuesday, respectively).

I’m about 38% through, so I think I’ll finish by the end of the month when my next LibroFM credit arrives. For once, I don’t have another book lined up for purchase. Recommend me a good audiobook, please? I prefer nonfiction and memoir for audio, though I dabble in YA as well.

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Current Hardcover Book

I’m a little under midway through The Nature of Witches now. It’s living up to my expectations, with a lovely balance of magic and real-world problems.

I find the protagonist a bit hard to hold in my head as a personality, but I’m thinking that may well be intentional, because of Reasons. I like this particular, seasonal take on magic and am curious to see where we end up.

There’s a lovely stack of books waiting for me when I finish this one, and I haven’t quite decided what’s next, though I’m likely to dive back into a rom com or YA after doing a few less typical genres.

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Current… Cookbook?!

It’s not reading in the traditional sense, but I’ve also resumed making progress on my journey through the 2017 series tie-in Great British Bake Off cookbook, Perfect Cakes and Bakes to Make at Home.

Normally I bake only at the weekends, but the last two were booked up between wedding dress shopping and traveling home for my brother’s college graduation. So, I got a wild hair and decided to bake Crisp Spiced Wafers of a Monday night.

My complaint about this section of the cookbook, Biscuits & Tea Time Treats, has been that the recipes are too simple to feel like much of a production. Maybe that means weeknights are the way to go forward from now on? At any rate, these less-than-symmetrical biscuits were positively delicious.

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And Now, It’s Your Turn

Steady as she goes for me this week, then.

I’m feeling that snap of fall in my heart, even if the weather doesn’t agree, and I can’t wait to curl up under blankets with the dog, a book, and a cup of tea.

What have you been reading this week? Any exciting book plans on the horizon?

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