It was a slow month for baking my friends, unclear why! But I did read a lot!

And there were a lot of fun stories in the making. I spent the weekend in Minnesota with my cousin Courtney for her wedding shower. I sat in the hammock with my dog and listened to a book. I became a Dutch citizen! I saw some very strange license plates, and more.

The start of September did not bring the cooler weather I was hoping for! So that means no long walks outside while listening to an audiobook. I still got some good ones in though!

The September round up blog is postponed so we can talk about this week - one of the most important literary weeks of the year - Banned Books Week. 

Every year the American Library Association (ALA) hosts Banned Books Week, usually the second full week of October. This year the theme is “Let Books Be. Protect The Freedom To Read.” They host speakers, unveil statistics, and more. I’m here to share some of these things with you and tell you what I think.

It still hasn’t gotten any cooler in North Carolina! We had so many days of real-feel over 100 degrees. Despite that, I still baked a good amount! It’s also a good excuse to sit in the air conditioning and enjoy reading

Sometimes I love an ambiguous ending but in the case of James Islington’s new book Scion, I turned the last page and couldn’t believe it! I even went back to make sure I didn’t miss any pages!

July was a slower reading month due to a fun trip to Colorado but the books I did read hit hard! 

I’m convinced that Tom Hanks could double his net worth by starting to voice meditations. His voice is so melodious and soothing!

Better late than never - here are the June Books and Bakes!

May was actually a slow reading month for me! It was a month full of fun events - my sister in law got her interior design degree, my mom got a puppy, one of my childhood friends got married, and I finished coaching my first season of Girls On The Run!

The beginning of Sheridan Jeane’s Shadow Of The Black Rose series starts not with a bang but with intrigue, a woman trying to find her place in good society, and possible treason around every corner. 

We are on the precipice of an absolutely devastating and destructive time in terms of censorship.

Happy belated Valentine’s Day!

“Art doesn’t exist to make you feel good…art exists to make you think. Great art, now - it will often make you uncomfortable”

In a book that could have been didactic and instead reaffirmed my belief that we can learn so many things from literature without it being in your face, The Astral Library is one of the best books I’ve read in the last couple of years.

I always love to see my Spotify wrapped when it comes out but it also makes me a little irritated that it comes out at the beginning of December! What about all the Nutcracker music that I listen to in the weeks after that!?

I laugh every time I watch the movie The Proposal. I laugh for a lot of reasons but especially when Sandra Bullock’s character Margaret shares that she reads Wuthering Heights every Christmas.

Today would have been Jane Austen’s 250th birthday and I love how much everyone is celebrating!

I wrote this post on Monday but then I remembered that The Will Of The Many was what we read for book club so I held off in case I thought of anything else or there were things I learned that I had never thought of. And thank goodness I waited!

I was born in October…

Last Saturday was the last day of Banned Books Week, an annual event that was started in 1982 by the American Library Association to combat book censorship.