It's been a while since I've shared anything non-bookish with you all. As you've probably gleaned, I'm back safe and sound from (and already nostalgic for) my vacation in Oregon. My boyfriend and I took a lot of photos, and I hope to dedicate a post to our adventures soon. Expect plenty of trees, colorful, festival goodness, and lake-soaked Golden retrievers (this last bit should especially interest Shannon).

I came back from vacation with a determination to make ~big changes~ in my life. I don't think I'm ready to spell them out here—because that would make them too real, y'know?—but let's just say that I hope to be back to hitting the books in fall 2016. Now I just need to persuade myself to take the GRE.

It took a while for me to get back in my reading groove after getting home, but the vacation spell finally wore off and I dove back into my books with gusto. I finished The Library at Mount Char last weekend, with review and brief Q&A with author Scott Hawkins(!!!) to come late this week. Just yesterday, I knocked out both Girl at War by Sara Nović and The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins. Are you noticing a theme in these book titles? I enjoyed both, but neither blew my skirt up (my favorite phrase of Andi's) as much as I would have liked.

This week, I want to get caught up with the fine ladies of the #GhettosideRA and dive deeper into Jill Leovy's examination of black-on-black murder in America. I also received The Dust that Falls from Dreams by Louis de Bernières from a Goodreads giveaway, just when I was convinced that no one ever actually won those. I'm about 100 pages in now; this brand of historical fiction (World War I romance) is not my usual bag, but I'm intrigued enough to soldier (too much?) on.