Last Week in Reading: April 24-30, 2023

Last week felt like a monumental reading week even though it really wasn't. Various things between work and grad school left me pretty wiped out come the evenings, so the fact that any reading got done is pretty impressive.

About 25 years too late, I finally got around to reading Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret by Judy Blume. What can I possibly say about this book that hasn't been said in the last 50 years? It was great, I'm glad my school's library now has a copy, I'm eager to see the movie (the trailer is what got my students to ask if we had a copy and I was shocked that we didn't!), and much of the story still feels remarkably contemporary.

Next up for fiction was A Long Stretch of Bad Days by Mindy McGinnis. This young adult novel is raw and a carefully crafted mystery about two girls in small-town Ohio with a podcast who are reporting on the infamous "long stretch of bad days" that happened back in the 1990s - a tornado, a flash flood, and the town's only murder all within a week of each other. It's been a few years since I've read anything by McGinnis (Female of the Species is EPIC), and I'm glad I was able to read this as an ARC through NetGalley. A bit too many f-bombs for me to be able to have it in my middle school's library, but if you're in a high school, this is a must-buy.

Finally, I stepped out of my usual comfort zone and into the world of nonfiction with The Feather Thief by Kirk W. Johnson. This book chronicles the true story of one of the weirdest heists in history which I learned about from the Ologies podcast episode on plumology - in 2009, an American flutist studying in England broke into a natural history museum and stole hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of birds preserved in their collection. Many of these birds were hundreds of years old, collected by Charles Darwin and his contemporaries proving their theory of evolution. Why steal long-dead birds? Well well well, let me introduce you to the weird world of contemporary salmon fly tying. That's right, in addition to playing the flute and being a bit of a child prodigy, the thief's favorite pastime was following Victorian-era instructions for fishing lures (not that he ever fished). I was so wrapped up in this story that I stayed up late on Saturday night to finish, and by the end, my blood was absolutely boiling. Just read it, please? It's wild.

For the next eight-ish weeks, my recreational reading and podcast output will likely be decreasing. I'm taking 3 classes this semester for grad school along with working full time, and it's going to be a lot. I hope you hang with me, and your patience is appreciated. Also, if you like the podcast, tell your friends and family! Give it a like and don't forget to subscribe! Or not. I mean, you do you, but I'd appreciate it. Okay, that's it for now. Happy reading!