100% impulse buy. 0% regrets.

A photo posted by Shaina (@shainareadsbooks) on Oct 8, 2015 at 12:31pm PDT

I'M BACK, Y'ALL.

Mount GRE has been scaled, and though I was hoping for a better math score, I'm above average for everywhere I'm applying. Perfectionist me can go pout in a corner while sane, rational me calls this good. I still have the actual applications to finish, but I'm hoping these won't pull me away from my books and the blogosphere in the same way that godforsaken test did. Moral of the story: seriously, guys, don't go to graduate school.

The Readathon was the very best way to celebrate my newfound freedom, and it helped me knock out a couple of books I'd been dawdling my way through, namely Ancillary Mercy and What Strange Creatures. I hope to get reviews up for these soon, along with, you know, the five other books I've read and have yet to review. Eep.

Right now, though, I've got the reading itch and am basking in my ability to indulge it. I'm struggling not to race through Tiny Beautiful Things, which so far has been a salve, wake-up call and personal validation rolled into one. I have my eye on some other nonfiction, too, particularly of the social science/public health bent. I put down Unfair by Adam Benforado last month and am about ready to try again, and Pathologies of Power by Paul Farmer is calling to me, most likely because I know I'll come out of it ready to write some impassioned statements of purpose.

And fiction! I have all the fiction on my shelves. My body is ready.