Shaina Reads

Many thanks to Heather of Bits & Books for turning me on to this weekly post! It's hosted by Christine over at Bookishly Boisterous.

1. Can I first just say how excited I am that I get to write a blog post in list format? Despite having some ideas for real, fleshed-out, non-list posts kicking around in my brain, they just aren't coming out of my fingers lately. A list it is for now.

2. Did you guys hear about #Diverseathon? I'm not sure who originally started the tag and event (and, in fact, I managed to completely miss the nasty tweets and YouTube videos that led to its inception, which I'm counting as a score), but the bookosphere is all about reading underrepresented authors this week. If you need some tips on where to start, my dear friend Memory put together a list of 37 reads under $5 by queer authors and authors of color.

3. On the subject of #Diverseathon, I found a book that would be perfect for it yesterday. I'm only 15 or so pages in, and I'm already sad about how relevant this 20-year-old book still is in regards to police brutality and people fundamentally misunderstanding white privilege.

Today in $2 thrift store scores. // #bookstagram #igreads #nonfiction #diverseathon #booksbooksbooks #amreading

A photo posted by Shaina (@shainareadsbooks) on Sep 13, 2016 at 10:02pm PDT

4. MY BOYFRIEND AND I FOUND AN APARTMENT THIS WEEK. We planned to stay with family and house-sit until October to save money when we first got here, but we were starting to worry about being able to afford our own place (and, in particular, affording our own place that wasn't, well, a dinky, miserable broom closet). Lo and behold, we found ourselves a perfectly reasonable, perfectly nice place this past Monday. I can even bike and (take a rather long) walk to school if I want to! I cannot adequately describe my relief. I am already plotting out creative book storage solutions.

5. I went on the nicest hike last Sunday with two of my best friends from high school and our significant others. It wasn't anything intense (3.5 miles roundtrip with only 500 feet of elevation gain), but it was glorious to get outside in the fresh air and look at some beautiful scenery.


I fell (though not from the log) and busted my ass in this creek. No regrets.

6. I start orientation for school next week, and I'm starting to feel the jitters. I know it's going to be awesome, but your girl doesn't do well with schedule/environment change at first. Relaxing and getting myself into the right mindset are top priorities this week.

7. After reading Jonathan Safran Foer's Eating Animals and thinking a lot about how the food industry shapes dietary and nutrition recommendations in the United States, this New York Times piece about how the sugar industry diverted attention away from the link between sugar consumption and heart disease is entirely infuriating and entirely unsurprising.

8. I've been spending a lot of time poring over Scentsy's wax melt offerings lately. Have I ever once used a wax melt? Nope. Whatever. One of my blogger friends Elle is a Scentsy consultant, and I'm considering taking the plunge and making my new apartment smell freaking awesome. Plus, I could melt the wax in a fox or an owl! Don't you want to melt scented wax in adorable woodland creatures?

• Being done packing and moving for the near future (until we find an apartment of our own in September/October, eek).
• Reuniting with my best friend from middle and high school.
• Knowing I have the opportunity to reunite with another best friend from high school.
• Spending time with friends from college (have I mentioned I'm excited to have friends here already?).
• Eating inadvisable amounts of delectable local cheese.
• Seeing a bald eagle flying about the park pictured above.
• This sunset:

Original image from pexels.

I've written before about what makes a good travel read for me, especially when the going gets stressful. I love a short page count and light prose working together to deliver a story that isn't completely devoid of meaty ideas; The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry did the trick for me when I went to a work conference earlier this year and needed a breather between presentations and social events.

However, now that I'm packing my books to jet off somewhere purely for pleasure, my priorities have shifted. While I definitely plan to read over my vacation, I won't be relying on my books as much for stress relief (I hope not, at least!), opening up the possibilities for length, difficulty and topic. Variety and flexibility is the name of this game; I want to be able to move between reads as my whims dictate. And if I chuck the book aside (or, you know, carefully set it aside like a civilized person) to go jump in the lake and don't cast another glance toward it until the plane ride home? So be it!

Without further ado, here's what I've got in my carry-on:


I mentioned this one coming in the mail a few days ago, but I haven't had a chance to really dig in yet, despite the fact that the dust jacket has the most mesmerizing texture (sorry, is my book fetish showing?) and plenty of folks I trust have written reams about it. All I know is that there's a library, what sounds like a creepy cult, and it probably involves a fire. I'm all in.


This one's for the #BlumeAlong! I had a great time reading and tweeting about Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret earlier this month, and I'm excited to embark on a brand-new Blume in July. The Goodreads blurb promises female friendship, lush getaways at Martha's Vineyard, and more than a bit of drama. This isn't a book I'd normally pick up if Blume's name weren't stamped on the cover, but it sounds like perfect reading for lolling about in various locations (sunshine, hammock, tent, etc.).


This one comes along on my Kindle because my Classics Club List is woefully neglected and everyone (ahem, Amanda) has been telling me to read it. I also want to check out Re Jane by Patricia Park (Kerry wrote a great review and got my TBR a-growin'), and I'd like to have the original story under my belt before I tackle a retelling.

Of course, my Kindle houses more than a few other options, if none of these three jives with me.

Book covers from Goodreads. Top-to-bottom: 1, 2

Happy Monday, my bookish friends!

Today is an extra happy Monday for me because I fly to Oregon this Friday to spend a week and a half visiting my boyfriend's family and friends. I'm feeling overdue for some rest and relaxation; I've already mentioned a few times how this month has been a doozy work-wise, and I think a set change is just what I need to settle my brain down. On top of all the swimming, hiking and reading I'll be doing at his mom's house, I also get to celebrate my 24th birthday by camping out at a giant party in the middle of the woods. What more could a girl ask for?

Due to woodland frolicking and complete lack of Internet, things are going to slow down a bit over here, but I'm hoping to schedule at least one or two posts to go up while I'm gone. Maybe I'll crank out some of my wildly overdue reviews! It's good to have goals. Comment replies and blog visiting will also grind to a halt; I fully expect you all to fill my Feedly with excellent things for me to come back to.

Before I leave for vacation, I'm racing against an interlibrary loan due date to finish up The Invisible History of the Human Race: How DNA and Our History Shape Our Identities and Our Futures by Australian journalist Christine Kenneally. The book came highly recommended by Heather from Bits n Books, and I'm enjoying Kenneally's exploration of genealogy and how attitudes about it have shifted over time. I'm crossing my fingers that I finish up with enough time to write about it before my traveling starts.

I also received some fabulous book mail last week in the form of The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins. I've only read a handful of pages so far, but I'm already sucked in by the creepy. This one may end up going to Oregon with me, along with a few other selections that I hope to share later this week. I'll also share how ready my boyfriend is to leave me at home rather than help me lug books on vacation.

This is Tory, the prettiest pup around.

Last week, my boyfriend and I had the good fortune of spending nearly a week in Chicago. Not only did we watch two lovely friends get married, but we also got to spend multiple days with a few of our best friends from college. My boyfriend has an aunt, uncle and cousins in Evanston (northern suburb of Chicago and home to our alma mater), so we also spent a delightful evening with them, eating, talking and basking in that glorious feeling of home and lots of puppy kisses.

Getting to spend so much time with friends and family really threw into relief how much I've struggled socially since leaving college. My boyfriend and I moved to Connecticut on a whim after I got my lab manager position. We packed up our tiny apartment and headed off, cheerfully and more than a bit nervously, to a place where we didn't know a soul. Two years later, I still feel like I know very few souls here. For the most part, I've made it work—it's amazing how far a wonderful partner, a goofy cat and a penchant for solitude can get you—but sometimes I have to acknowledge how lonely it can be.

College bestie, boyfriend, me pre-wedding.

Academic environments are transient. Everyone is always shuffling between universities, and, beyond the graduate students (who are shackled here indefinitely), most people don't hang around for more than a year or two. For someone who forms friendships as slowly as I do, it can be devastating to feel like you're finally making progress with someone only to have that person pick up and move back across the country. Two of the closest friends I've made here are leaving this very weekend for graduate school and greener pastures in California. I'm thrilled for them, but I can't help but think about the gaping hole they'll leave in my social circle. (Actually, my social circle is more like a social pentagon, and they're leaving me with a social triangle.)

I know that things, including my social life, will never be like they were in college again. For the most part, I'm happy about that; I certainly didn't love every minute of my undergraduate career, and, on the whole, I feel much more love for the person I've become since donning my cap and gown. And yet there's nothing like having friendship and community at your fingertips. All I can hope is that there's more of it out there for me, and I'll continue doing my best to call it forth.

Speaking of being in Chicago and making new friends... LOOK AT THIS PRETTY LADY. Her name is Julianne, and she runs Outlandish Lit.

Don't kill me, Julianne.

She took me to a bookstore called Bucket o' Blood and made me buy some China Miéville. She fed me Oreos and toast (not in a weird way). We declared our undying love for each other. I also drank way too much wine while she filmed us talking about books. The evidence might pop up sometime soon. All in all, it was a really good time, and I'm glad our weirdness is just as compatible in real life.

I didn't have a ton of time for reading during my trip, but I did get some done (including some nonfiction, thank goodness) and hope to get reviews up soon. The writer's block has been fierce as of late, but at least I've been loving my reads.

This is my super serious academic face and 1/4 of my poster.

I'm back, baby!

If you haven't checked in recently, I spent the latter half of my week at an academic conference on child development where I got to present some of my lab's recent research. This was my first time attending a conference, not to mention my first time presenting a poster, and it was equal parts awesome and exhausting. I attended sessions about social identity and academic achievement, how to re-assess the data from the Head Start Impact Study, and how housing status and neighborhood composition affect childhood health. Needless to say, I got my justice-oriented social scientist nerding on.

The number of poster sessions and symposia was astounding (this was a particularly big conference, clocking in at 30,000 people attending over three days), and after a while my brain stopped absorbing new information and my inner introvert was clamoring for some peace and quiet. I ended up bailing on the last day of presentations, preferring to spend it in the city doing some solo exploring.

Source: Wikipedia

Of all the things I saw—including Benjamin Franklin's snow-covered grave, the charming Elfreth's Alley, and the Liberty Bell from a distance—my favorite was undoubtedly the Reading Terminal Market. Before you ask, no, there isn't much reading material here (there supposedly is a small bookstore, but I couldn't find it in all the hubbub). It's an enormous, extremely Amish indoor marketplace that slings every type of prepared food and other edible good you can possibly imagine. No, really, look. I had to exercise significant self-control to not give myself a stomach ache, though this ice cream and these doughnuts sorely tempted me. The market also introduced me to the most delicious fudge ever. My boyfriend can vouch for me here.

Some other trip highlights:

Finding a MOON TREE.

Meeting this little sweetie at a local animal shelter.