What are you doing?

Reading.

You know what I love? Books in movies. In Age of Adaline, the male protagonist, Ellis, gives our female lead, Adaline, vintage books named after flowers in leu of, yes you guessed it, flowers! Daisy Miller, Dandelion Wine, and White Oleander. Is that not the most romantic thing you’ve ever heard? Ugh, I’d love a bouquet of books. Someone should start that.

I found an account that depicts books in films and even television. I love that people follow their niche passions and make entire accounts on said passions, so that people like me find them and get lost scrolling for hours.

Books in films are found here!

It’s gloomy in LA again and I’m listening to my favorite playlist when I feel like being moody. I’ve been making bread a lot at home and it’s becoming almost a therapeutic thing for me. There’s just something about kneading dough. The next time your kid leaves a lego on the floor and you step on it, you might not react because you’ve already taken out all your repressed anger on your dough. You should try it. However, this can only lead to one thing and one thing only- asking Sam to build us a chicken coop. I don’t make the rules.

I don’t have a segue there so let’s move on to what I read this week. I read a few bangers. Get your tissues ready!

Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell. Do not text. I found myself staring into space after I finished this. Holy Moly. I wrote last week about how I hoped to pick this up and delve into the world of Shakespeare, so when I found it at my library I jumped in straight away. I was enraged, saddened and left verklempt by this story. I found myself googling and getting lost in a wiki black hole.

This is a fictional story about William Shakespeare, his wife Agnes, and their family. Set in the 16th century, the family grapples with The Black Death- a deadly time in history. We are given an intimate look at life with a husband who aspires to be the world’s greatest playwright- but at what cost? I cannot tell you how much I loved this. I devoured it in less than 24 hours. It was so heartbreaking. I beg of you to read it.

Tom Lake by Ann Patchett. I loved this book so much. It is set in March 2020, as the pandemic forces us to quarantine and settle down, Lara recounts to her daughters about her life before kids and before she met her husband. Mostly, they want to hear about her relationship with a famous actor she met and dated as they shared a stage at a theater company called Tom Lake. As she recounts her story, they all reflect on love and the past and how they see their mother. Lara’s love of Our Town by Thorton Wilder was so lovely to read about.

I don’t know about you guys, but when I was young one of my favorites shows was Growing Pains. To this day, I love rewatching the episodes and one that has always stuck with me was when Mike auditions for the lead in the school play, Our Town. He does it mostly to get the attention of the girl playing the lead, Emily, but as they recite the play and act together, he finds his love of the stage. I just love it! In the book you get to read parts of the beloved play and it was just so tender, lovely and nostalgic for me. The ending left me thoughtful and feeling hopeful.

Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare. The first book in the Infernal Devices series about these young orphans, called Shadowhunters. Warriors dedicated to ridding the earth of demons. Our main character, Tessa, finds herself in London during Queen Victoria’s reign searching for her brother that has gone missing, thus catapulted into the hands of an evil organization trying to exploit her newly discovered powers. She finds refuge in the Shadowhunters and torn between two best friends, Jem and Will. Tessa as a main character felt a little too young for me, she read a little annoying, but the story kept me intrigued, as did her internal struggle trying to connect with these two (very different) boys.

The first book felt like a setup for the rest of the series. I somehow missed it when these books came out in 2010. I was too busy reading The Hunger Games and Divergent, but I’m excited to keep on with the series.

Another long weekend is ahead for me, so that means lots of reading time. Have a great week!