June Book Goals

Good afternoon, friends!  I'm writing to you in my fringe hours, time I should spend sleeping before work but which, due to my inability to fall asleep, is being spent painting nails, writing, watching Hitch, and reading Before I Go (not all at the same time) instead.  I thought I'd reach out since I have been writing so infrequently lately to throw a bone your way with June book goals.  Sadly I didn't meet all of my book goals for May.  While I did read First Frost and The Last Time We Say Goodbye, I did some substitutions that I hope you'll forgive me for.  I traded in What Alice Forgot, Attachments, and Sharp Objects for The Boston Girl, something I do not regret in the least.  The Boston Girl was phenomenal (though maybe a little anticlimactic, as Mariah and I both agreed on when discussing; but it tied up all of its loose ends which I always like in a book) and worth spending time on instead of the other three.  I'm pushing the other three back to read at a later time as I have a slew of other ones that are rented from the library that will soon expire.  Here's a look at what's coming in June.

1. Before I Go by Colleen Oakley.  This one is already making me sad, and though I have a commitment to not reading cancer stories, I'm reading this one anyways because it's on my book list that Mariah and I are working through.  I love it so far in that I love the relationship between the main character and her husband, and I love her sarcasm and quirky personality.  But I hate what I know is coming-- the whole premise of the book is that she is picking a wife to replace her when she dies from cancer.  Cue ugly, hysterical tears.  I know that they are coming, which is why I don't read cancer stories.  I deal with enough of it in my job and have seen enough of it in my family that I don't enjoy reading books involving cancer diagnoses for pleasure.  They rarely end in any sort of happy way, unfortunately.  I'll keep you posted on this one.

Image source: Goodreads

2. Yes, Please by Amy Poehler.  Kind of a weird one to toss in, but I've secretly wanted to read it for a while and am hoping for a good laugh from it.  Anyone read this one before?  

Image source: Amazon

3. Let's Just Say It Wasn't Pretty by Diane Keaton.  I'm a closet Diane Keaton fan.  I aspire to have her gorgeous gray hair when I go all gray (it's happening soon- I'm already 25% gray!!), which I imagine requires lots of appointments with a hair salon to keep the gray highlights looking on point.  I've heard this is a great book and I'm tossing into the mix this month as it seems to be a month for celebrity biographies and memoirs-- plus summer reading is allowed to be a little bit of fun!  

Image source: Amazon

That's it.  Just 3 for this month.  School and night shift have been kicking my butt lately, and with two projects, an exam, and a final coming up this month, I'm anticipating less and less time that can go into reading.  I'm so looking forward to the end of this month though.  I finish classes on June 24th and fly out to California for a week on June 26th for a wedding and a little travel time with Scott.  We're renting a car and driving from LA to San Francisco on highway 1 (eek!) and after a few days there will travel back down south to San Diego for a little visit there.  It's a lot of driving, and most people would only commit to one area of Cali for a trip like this, but we're not like most.  We want to experience a little bit of everything.  There's things we'll have to save for another time, like Napa and Laguna Beach and Santa Monica (unless I can convince Scott to take a little trip to Laguna Beach on our way back from San Diego before going to LAX).  We also wanted to add Yosemite into this trip but it looks like that will be for another time as well!  I read in a travel book once that when you travel, you should live as though you will return someday.  We did that while honeymooning in Italy and we're doing it in Cali, too.  We don't want to be so tired from trying to see everything that we don't get to enjoy the present, so we're picking a few things we want to do and leaving the rest for when we return.  I'm looking forward to lots of reading in the airport and on planes, so I may finish these and find more to report back on when we talk next.  

Lots of love and hope June is a good month for you all.  I hope you find time to be in the sunshine as much as possible-- enjoy it for me!

Love,

C.