Laborous Days
Happy Fall, You All, like, everyone reading this:)
I hope YOU experienced moments of rest on Labor Day; I know many/most people do not get this as a paid holiday, and that is a big bummer!
I hope YOU experience joy this autumn—in all of its haunted, pumpkin, rust-colored forms.
I ate pork ribs, beef burgers, and hot dogs on Labor Day and it was tasty!
I had my first infomal/formal pickleball lesson over that weekend and it was a lot of fun!
All in all, a great 3 days in a row. And now it has been nearly two weeks since that blissful long weekend, what?? And now we have actually, officially, begun Autumn 2024!
So, let’s talk about non-autumn related things :)
YA/Middle Grade* reading at age 39!
I’ve been a fan of young adult literature1 (YA) since I was a young adult/teen/tween. My parents really didn’t censor what we read at any age (thanks, Mom!) so I read novels from the “grown up” side of the library well before my late teens, however, I didn’t stop reading the chapter books and novels on the children’s and YA side. The Uglies series and anything by Ellen Hopkins were great YA series I dived into well after my teen years.
*Middle grade is the genre of books that are targeted to 8-12 year old readers (or 39 year old aunties:). I used to think it meant books that were geared toward middle-school/jr. high readers. ha!
This year, my YA/Middle Grade reading increased after I read How to Raise a Reader.
A friend that is an elementary school teacher and reading specialist recommended this to my sister and I about a year ago and it was one of my first reads of 2024.
The nephews love books of all types and I look forward to many years of reading aloud to them and even one day, them reading out loud to me!
How to Raise a Reader takes you from babyhood to high school years with amazing recommendations and best practices for how to encourage a love of reading in the kiddos you know. One Dead Spy was one of the middle grade recs and I loved it! I wouldn’t share it with my 3.5 yr old nephews quite yet... It’s a great presentation of history that doesn’t water down the sadness and tragedy of war.
My other reads from July-August-September so far:
Happy Reading! (does anyone read seasonally? Like, now that it’s autumn, are you reading books set in autumn/winter, or maybe switch to non-fiction because “school is in session” or maybe just read horror?
Ha! I don’t think I could ever be that restrictive in my reading choices but it might be an interesting way to get more fall vibes in your life.
In honor of the Cafe Ann substack (highly recommend!)
I present Odd Things Found on Walks (Vintage Themed)
The Best Place to kick off Scary Season!
Verbatim Books in San Diego is the BEST! If you love books/vintage/darkness/interesting bookstores—-this is the place for you:)
I think this is a perfectly sized book shop. Not too big, not too small (although both huge and tiny book shops can be fun too!) Everything is very organized and there is so much cool bookish things to look at. I’d love to return every time I’m in SD.
Cheers to all the constant readers!
*I’ve always thought that the term “young adult” to describe a book category sounded, odd….
When I was a kid, I associated the word “adult” (when related to any type of media) to mean R rated and above... I’m from the old days when local video! stores had a curtained-off section that had the word ADULT over the entry—-yikes!
I was recently surprised to learn that the YA term first came into wide use in the 60s! Whoa!