As much as I love researching and writing my own posts here, I know it's going to get increasingly difficult to do so over the next couple of months. Not only will my writing time dwindle, but so will my chances to read, both book-wise and blog-wise.

If the choice is between reading a book and reading a blog post, the book is going to win 99.999% of the time. Because of this, I let my Feedly backlog pile up, and it can get a little scary in there. In an effort to go into the upcoming fray with a blank slate, I've whittled my feed reader down from more than 100 unread articles to 11 (as of writing this) in just a couple of days. That whole "mark all as read" thing? The rational side of me knows it's a good idea, but the perfectionist side doesn't often let the rational side make decisions.

Anyway, getting to the point: sifting quickly through such a huge number of posts really showed me the sheer volume of excellent content you wonderful bloggers generate each month. To kick off your Friday right, here's a small sampling (in no particular order) of some of the best things I've read recently, both bookish and less so:

• Lindsey of Literary Lindsey wants her son to grow up knowing that women have stories worth telling, too. She shared a list of some of her favorite children's books with female heroines.


• Lauren of Malcolm Avenue Review always puts up a fantastic "Strictly Positive" post on Fridays, but last Friday's really took the cake. It included a goose parade, lion hugs and a dancing dog. Go check it out, and then see what she's curated for you today!


• Michelle of That's What She Read got me thinking a lot about how we write about books, particularly in how we draw comparisons to other books in our reviews. There's tons of food for thought in the comments, too.


• Heather of The Bastard Title shared some of her anxiety triggers and how she prioritizes her own self-care. As an anxious person myself, this was a wonderfully honest read. 


• Erin at Manuscripts & Marginalia wrote about the value of discomfort when it comes to what we read. If you know me at all, you know I got whiplash from all the nodding I did while reading it.


• Rachelle of The Reading Wench is doing a Harry Potter read-a-thon, and she posed some thought-provoking questions about Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets that I'm still mulling over now.


• Emily of Books, The Universe and Everything wrote an excellent (spoiler-free!) review of Bill Clegg's Did You Ever Have a Family. It was touching and reflective and made me go put the book on hold immediately.