My reading habits this year have been all over the place, some nights I finish a book in one sitting, and then weeks will go by without picking up anything. I tore through a few of Kathy Reich’s series that Bones was based on, they’re easy reads and fun, re-read the Elvira memoir on a flight, and opened and closed The Secret History a few times (I think I’m in the mood, but I’m not). Then weeks or a month will go by and my Kindle is dead or something is collecting dust on my nightstand, but sometimes, that’s just how it goes.
I didn’t get a photo of the cover, but The Indifferent Stars Above: The Harrowing Saga of the Donner Party was absolutely riveting. My only complaint was that my library loan ended before I got to the cannibalism and I had to get back on the waitlist, which caused my boyfriend to have to hear me complain a lot about how long they took to start eating each other. Spoiler alert, takes them longer than you think, but when it’s on, it’s ON.
Pretty Boys Are Poisonous & Elvis and Me
These are the same book, written by different authors.
There’s a running theme in a lot of the books listed in this Stacked of women in abusive or controlling relationships, and how they truly came into themselves after breaking free. I think I’m attracted to this theme because I’ve been there, and I hope that if you’ve been there, you’re out of it and are living your best lives now.
Re the books: I adore Megan Fox. She’s the right amount of wooey and go fuck yourself that I think if we met, we’d be pals. Listen to her (or watch) recent interview on Call Her Daddy to see what I mean. I also love Elvis the Icon, and not Elvis the Man, so I am fully on Team Priscilla when it comes to their tale. I’ve been to Graceland and would go again, but he’s a manchild creep in this story.
Full disclosure, I didn’t like the recent Priscilla movie, although SC did an amazing job of conveying the isolation of how tiny Priscilla’s world was within the walls of Graceland.
My Year of Rest and Relaxation
I loved this and wasn’t expecting to. There isn’t a single likable character, but you really get on board with the narrator’s plan to sleep for a solid year.
Yes. Yes. Yes. I don’t remember pre-ordering this, but I am so glad I did. I’ve read it at least three times since it arrived, listened to the audio, and given it as gifts. The only thing I knew previously about Julia Fox was that weird week when she was all over the internet in that eyeliner, but this book made me feel a deep kinship with her. I also absolutely adore her photography and will eventually have of her early art books in my library.
I spent a lot of weekend mornings with the later seasons of Buffy. Unfortunately, they are all out of print, so I eventually gave up on the series because the secondary market pricing is bananas, but it was fun to keep the characters going with absolutely no boundaries. I also enjoyed the new series Buffy the Last Vampire Slayer, where 40-something-year-old Buffy is in the modern world and gives a very Sarah Conner vibe.
The Sofia Coppola Archive is beautiful. I think she paints a perfect picture of the Girl Bedroom, but truthfully, the only movie of hers I like so far (that I’ve seen) was The Virgin Suicides.
This was exactly what you’d expect it to be, but was more likable the first time I read it when it was written by Holly Madison (Girls Next Door forever <3).
No shade and I am absolutely not victim blaming, but did anyone really think that Hugh Hefner wasn’t a total POS creep? It’s a very glamorous sheen that has a very gross foundation.
The only reason that I finished this book was to see the pompous fuckshit that wrote it get Gacy’d. Honestly, I never thought I’d root for the serial killer the way that I did, but this asshat really had the confidence that only a mediocre man could have and thought he’d be able to handle himself in a locked room with true evil.
The books that I keep semi-permanently on my desk so that I can touch on them daily: I use The Red Book and The Hekataeon for bibliomancy, I am still working through The Artist’s Way (I think I’m on week six, there have been breaks!), WTF is Tarot and Seventy-Eight Degrees of Wisdom for tarot research and reference, and Jung's Synchronicity & Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations for a little dip here and there.
What have you been reading lately?
I read a book earlier this year called The Haunting Of Velkwood that I absolutely loved. I feel like any description will sound like annoying buzzwords, so I'll just say it's under 300 pages, the author lives in PA, and it's a human story in a genre (paranormal horror) book.
Currently about 1/3 into All's Well by Mona Awad and loving it. She's not for everyone, but she is definitely for me, and probably for you! If you haven't already read Bunny by her, it was incredible.