Category: What I’m Reading

Ah, poetry…

Even though next month is National Poetry Month, this month I am reading poetry. To start the month, I began reading Poetry Unbound: 50 Poems to Open Your World by Pádraig Ó Tuama and then the following week, I started reading The Hurting Kind by Ada Limón. As of this morning, I just finished The Hurting Kind and still am making my way leisurely through Poetry Unbound.

Earlier this week, I drafted a long post about blogging. Last month I was notified by WordPress that I have been on the platform for 15 years. This October, I will have been blogging for 18 years. Like other long-time bloggers, I have questioned why I am doing it. I dumped those questions on the pages of my journal.

I had planned on sharing all of that with you. However, this morning I don’t want to do that. You probably don’t want to hear it. I’d like to say that I do it for you, but that’s not entirely true. I do it for me, but that’s not entirely true either. I honestly don’t know why I continue to blog. I just do.

In June, I will be turning 54, and as happens with birthdays as one gets “older”, I will assess and reassess my life. I probably will assess and reassess the purpose of this blog, but for today I just want to read and listen to poetry, be content in the moment.

Lenten Plans 2023

In the Episcopalian tradition, Lent begins on Ash Wednesday and ends on Holy Saturday, the day before Easter. Because I am Episcopalian, at least in name, that is how long I will be observing Lent. In accordance with the invitation from the Book of Common Prayer (p. 265) to observe Lent “by self-examination and repentance; by prayer, fasting, and self-denial; and by reading and meditating on God’s holy Word”, here is what I plan on doing for Lent:

As has been my custom for several years, I’m starting Lent with a day off from work on Ash Wednesday. This year, I didn’t have to take a vacation day as with my new part-time schedule, I just happen to be off that day. Who knows? Maybe I’ll even make it to my hometown church for ashes.

Giving up

  • Giving up alcohol, starting this Wednesday, Ash Wednesday, until Holy Saturday night. Over the last year, I’ve probably consumed more wine than I ought, so this isn’t a bad thing – at all. Plus I’ve gained a lot of weight, thanks/no thanks to wine, so again this isn’t a bad thing – at all. (This was exactly what I wrote in 2021 and still true this year.)
  • Soda

Adding

  • Special reading: Reading from No Man is An Island by Thomas Merton and The Highly Sensitive Person: How to Thrive When The World Overwhelms You by Elaine N. Aron Ph. D.
  • Walks

If you are a Christian and observe Lent, what are your plans for the season? If you belong to another faith tradition, do you have practices within it to reflect on your faith daily and/or periodically? Anything you read for your particular faith? If you have no faith tradition, how do you relax/meditate/stay calm?

As in the past, I used my post on my Lenten Plans 2019 as a template for this post.

The Books, TV Shows and Movies That I’m Looking Forward To in 2023

To start this year, I shared my favorite moments in photos from last year. Then I shared the 20 songs I had on repeat last year. Two weekends ago, I shared our favorite TV shows and movies that my wife Kim and I watched last year. Then last weekend, I shared my favorite books read in 2022.

This weekend I’m sharing the books, TV shows, movies and music I’m looking forward to this year, with the caveat that not all are being released this year:

Books

Continuing to read:

  • The Serge Storms series by Tim Dorsey
  • The Inspector Montalbano series by Andrea Camilleri

Reading for the first time:

  • Happier Hour: How to Beat Distraction, Expand Your Time, and Focus on What Matters by Cassie Holmes Ph. D. (as heard on the podcast LifeKit)
  • The Highly Sensitive Person: How to Thrive When The World Overwhelms You by Elaine N. Aron Ph. D. (as recommended by a friend years ago)
  • South to America: A Journey Below the Mason-Dixon to Understand the Soul of a Nation by Imani Perry (as heard on Fresh Air)

TV

Continuing to watch and/or finishing, with Kim and on HBO Max unless otherwise noted:

  • Doom Patrol (by myself)
  • Eastbound and Down
  • Ghosts (the British version)
  • Hacks
  • It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia (Hulu)
  • Shrinking (Apple+)
  • Stath Lets Flats
  • Starstruck
  • Trying (Apple+)

Movies

  • Creed 3
  • John Wick 4 (by myself)
  • Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning, Part One – the seventh in the series
  • Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (by myself)
  • Oscar nominees including The Banshees of Inisherin, Tar, and Aftersun, to name a few.
  • Catch up with some one-word movies on Hulu: Flee, Prey, Parasite, the latter by myself, as Kim has zero interest.

Music

  • boygenius – The Record
  • Lana Del Rey – Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd
  • The National – First Two Pages of Frankenstein
  • U.S. Girls – Bless This Mess
  • Yaeji – With a Hammer

Kim probably will be more interested in the Lana Del Rey albums than the others.

So, what about y’all? What are you looking forward to in books, TV shows, movies, and music this year?

My Favorite Reads of 2022

To start this year, I shared my favorite moments in photos from last year. Two weekends ago, I shared the 20 songs I had on repeat last year. Last weekend, I shared our favorite TV shows and movies that my wife Kim and I watched last year.

This weekend, I’m sharing my favorite reads of last year. I read a total of 24 books:

I split evenly between fiction and nonfiction, 12 each, but my four favorites from the year were all nonfiction:

  • Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman, which I heard about first from fellow blogger Melissa Firman, and then on various podcasts so I had to read it.
  • Is This Anything? by Jerry Seinfeld, a collection of his favorite material through the years that made my way slowly through for several months.
  • Riverman: An American Odyssey by Ben McGrath, the true story of a man who, over the course of more than twenty years, canoed solo thousands of miles of American rivers–and then disappeared near the Outer Banks of North Carolina.
  • Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story by Bono, to which I listened on audiobook, which for me as a U2 fan was the only way to experience it.

Next weekend, I’m thinking about adding the books, TV shows, movies and music I’m looking forward to reading, watching, and listening to this year. We’ll see.

So, what were your favorite books read in 2022? Feel free to link to blog posts.