Look, I know it is hot and all, but summer has fireflies.
My mood always improves pretty much exponentially this time of year due to all the sunshine. It tracks. I am basically a plant.
The family and I drove to North Carolina for about a week when the kids got out of school. It was the longest road trip the kids had been on in their lives; I don’t know if it ignited an interest in driving all over the place for them or not, but my husband and I both come from youths full of roadgoing so it seemed like a good thing to do. I finally posted some of the photos I took with my phone the other morning on Instagram:
I have more pictures I took with my camera that I haven’t looked at yet, but will probably get around to sometime in probably 2027, considering my photo processing rate.
speaking of photos
Still happy to send anyone a print if they donate to a Palestinian fundraiser! Link to the gallery of photo options here. A couple of posts ago I linked several fundraisers as suggestions. Today I’ll highlight Imad, who I have been in touch with over the past several months. The situation in Gaza continues to deteriorate, but he is still caring for his large family and could use help. With goods not making it into Gaza for several months now (exception being at the aid distribution sites where people are routinely being shot to death), the prices of remaining goods continue to go up. Help if you can.
In other news, I will have a booth at an art fair this weekend selling (or at least being at a table with) some of my photos. I did this once maybe like 15 years ago, and sold 1 print, and maybe it’ll go better this time and maybe it won’t, but I can’t recommend enough getting your photos printed and looking at them in some format other than on a screen. My god they’re like real pictures and everything.
For instance, this is one. It is much prettier in print, but what can you do here on the internet except look at pixels.
summer reading in lieu of summer posting
Lately the thought of scrolling through social media makes me die a little inside, with the exception of watching videos about dogs or of babies laughing, so I’ve been making a concerted effort not to do that. Just dog videos. Babies laughing. Occasional other things, but honestly there’s just too much news and I… look, I already know it’s bad. I don’t need 8000 hot takes about how bad it is every five minutes. Also, as Your Arab Friend, I… very much am not interested in people’s opinions about people in and from the Middle East, especially since I don’t know how many don’t know that Persians aren’t Arabs. I used to feel like I could do some good in the world by talking to people about our differences and similarities but it turns out that no I can’t because nobody is listening.
My mother used to do this thing where she would tell you something and never wait for you to respond. Like she would email me or send me a message while I was at work telling me something important or asking me a question and then not reading my response so it was just outgoing info and questions only.
Social media is like that, everyone just sending it out all day long. I’m tired, as it happens.
I realize that having a blog is basically long-form sending-it-out, but I do this (with no sense of regularity) because there was a time when this was fun and engaging and not just writing into the void like being on Twitter with under 1000 followers and there’s a part of me that thinks it has potential to be that in some way again, sorta. I write here instead of just talking to people in the same room as I am because I do believe in the internet being a way to connect with others who aren’t in the same room as I am.
All of this is a long introduction to the fact that I am spending less time online and reading more. Since the middle of May, I have finished the following books:
James – Percival Everett: This retelling of Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn told from the perspective of the enslaved Jim was completely worth the hype and critical acclaim. It was excellent.
An Irish Bookshop Murder – Lucy Connelly: This was a hard left turn from literary fiction to a cozy murder mystery that was fine but in no way was better than fine.
The Perfect Marriage – Jeneva Rose: A badly-written book about terrible people. I basically hate-read the last third of it.
Listen for the Lie – Amy Tintera: Another murder mystery. The basic outline is that everyone thinks the protagonist, who has amnesia surrounding the event, murdered her best friend, and a podcaster has dug up the story for a season of his podcast. While the murder is serious, the narrator is hilarious. I read this in a single day. Very fun.
The Thirteenth Tale – Diane Setterfield: I had read Once Upon a River a couple of years ago and thought it was pretty good, so when I was looking for something to read next I picked this one. Really enjoyed it.
The Guest List – Lucy Foley: This one was good and I read it very quickly, though by the end — I don’t think this is really a spoiler — the villain is like… ok, what DIDN’T they do?
A Quantum Love Story – Mike Chen: A sci-fi romance about being stuck in a time loop and also enjoying donuts. Cute and fun.
Funny Story – Emily Henry: Romance set in northern Michigan with a librarian protagonist. Spicy in places but also sweet and very very funny. I genuinely laughed out loud in several places.
The Quiche of Death – M.C. Beaton: Another cozy murder. There are about a million Agatha Raisin novels, and this is the first one of the series. I’m not sure I will read others. This was also fine, though Agatha isn’t a very likeable protagonist (not sure if she gets nicer in subsequent books), and I couldn’t get past the characters described as brown being also dirty and apelike. It’s just so LAZY.
Current read is The Mystery of Mrs. Christie which is a historical fiction about the 11 days Agatha Christie went missing and nobody actually knows what happened/why. I’m about a third of the way into it.
Turns out I like reading a lot better than doomscrolling. What are you reading these days?
speaking of doomscrolling, a poem
When it feels like doom is waiting around every corner, it’s good to have a reminder.
2 responses to “now it is summer”
Hey! I’ve actually read a couple of these: The Thirteenth Tale and The Guest List. I just took out Listen for the Lie from the library.
Hey! You’ll have to let me know what you think when you finish it!