Hello, all! I’ve been a little swamped ever since my last post in mid-August, which is why (as you might have already figured out) I haven’t written any posts since mid-August! The main event prompting this radio silence was my move from Seattle to Boston (via a very intense 5-day road trip), which was itself prompted by my starting grad school for two degrees: library science in youth services and writing for children and young adults. How exciting! And how exhausting.

Unfortunately, this event also coincided with the weeks usually occupied by my annual “race to the finish” for the Seattle Public Library/Seattle Arts and Lectures Summer Book Bingo. Tragically, my need to pack up my entire life demanded I put my bingo card aside this year and instead spend my time making elaborate packing lists, hunting online for furniture, shopping for all that random stuff you previously didn’t even think about needing until suddenly your entire life needs to be transported in a car, and, most importantly, spending as many hours as I could with my friends. And so my unbroken blackout record of the past three summers has come to an end—but at least I still got a few bingos!

Since I am now a busy grad student and you, dear reader, are no doubt a busy person yourself for your own unique reasons, I’m going to keep the rest of this post short. Each square I actually managed to check off on my bingo card gets one sentence.

Let’s go.

A subject which you wish you had studied in school: Delusions of Gender by Cordelia Fine

How did I get to this point in my life without ever taking a gender studies class?

DIY (gardening, cooking, crafting, etc.): How to Invent Everything by Ryan North

This category was a terrible decision, Seattle Public Library, but I made it count without having to read a book about how to make 101 different pickle recipes or how to fold napkins into fancy shapes, so I do feel like I am the winner here.

Made into a movie: Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang

While I could recognize the quality and skill of Chiang’s writing while reading, this collection of stories was not one that resonated with me and my personal taste—but I do always find it interesting to examine the source material that inspired an adaptation (in this case, the film Arrival) and see how the change in form also prompted a change in content in order to use the new form effectively.

You couldn’t put it down: Educated by Tara Westover

If you have not yet read this book, I suggest you read this book.

About music or musicians: Perfect Rhythm by Jae

Lovely, charming, and fun.

Poetry or play: Rookery by Traci Brimhall

Here’s a poem that isn’t in this collection: Oh Wonder.

Science: A is for Arsenic by Kathryn Harkup

Do you want to know how to murder people, or even better, to know how easy it would be for someone else to murder you?

Set in the Northwest: Where’d You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple

Epistolary format novel in which everyone is a hilariously terrible person and Seattle finally gets all the authorial love and care usually reserved only for London and New York.

Suggested by a young person: The Loose Ends List by Carrie Firestone

I think this author really wished she, too, could have an all-expenses-paid trip around the world during which she meets a super hot guy who falls in love with her for no apparent reason.

Fiction: Rolling in the Deep by Mira Grant

Maybe don’t go looking for mythical sea life famous for luring sailors to their death.

Recommended by a librarian or independent bookseller: Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant

MAYBE DON’T GO LOOKING FOR MYTHICAL SEA LIFE FAMOUS FOR LURING SAILORS TO THEIR DEATH.

Comics: When I Arrived at the Castle by Emily Carroll

Not sure I quite followed this one from Carroll, despite reading through it a few times, but the artwork sure was nice.

By an author of color: Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi

My new flatmate suggested this book got rushed through without any significant editing so that the publisher could attempt to boost sales by joining the press craze for Black Panther and I think she might have something there.

True crime or crime fiction: The Death of Mrs. Westaway by Ruth Ware

I liked The Woman in Cabin Ten much more, but I guess I got to learn stuff about tarot, so… 3 stars?

BIG BOOK (worth 2 squares): Bleak House by Charles Dickens

Charles, I will never forgive you for the three months of my life spent on this nightmare.