Weekend Reads
Published! Huzzah!!
Seasons change, and how they change is different according to my own season. Summer is a blur because my family’s schedule keeps switching up, so there’s a sense of instability where it used to be monotony. Going for a summer overnight or two is less of a recommendation and more of a necessity, but when it comes to kids, as my mother says: It’s not a vacation, it’s a relocation. And I still gotta feed myself every day.
I just started The Folk of the Air series by Holly Black, because I saw it getting a similar kind of fan merch treatment as A Court of Roses and Thorns and I just love a good merchandising idea. The first book, The Cruel Prince, is the most Young Adult angst-ridden teenage coming-of-age enemies-to-kissers to ever Young Adult, but it also has these amazing, original plot points that I don’t see coming. It takes the Fae traditionally, with all the rules and bargains that make them dangerous, and it puts a mortal girl and her sisters in their midst. I’m really looking forward to the next book.
WELL. This profile of mega-influencer Ballerina Farm is … depressing. Don’t you hate finding out the displayed idealism that you coveted is a lie? That the beautiful homemaker with the $50,000 (?) stove is permitted to be an influencer because her content promotes Mormon values? That her life choices are being made by an overbearing husband? There is so much familiar here to anyone who grew up in a religious community – such as the expectations of traditional gender roles, which includes procreating until God decides it’s time to stop – and it’s wild to see it come to light through this very cynical profile writer.
On Erev Pesach this year, my toddler left the house by himself. He returned from his maiden journey unscathed, with only one angry neighbor on his tail. What I felt while he was gone was such a visceral, body-engulfing sensation that I remember thinking (akin to what I felt during his labor) that I could never make more of these infuriating little beings if this is the consequence. I cannot give more space in my universe to this feeling. I cannot give more opportunity for this life-destroying possibility to happen.
Over time, as happens with these things, all I remember from the experience are my thoughts as it happened to me. I can move on with my life by remembering the trauma from several steps removed.
Until I found The Eyrie, written by Johnny LaZebnik. He calls it a fairytale, and I love finding new takes on ancient practices. It’s a good story, one that sucked me in and made me late to pick up the aforementioned toddler. It also brought back the feeling of potential loss that I experienced a couple of months ago.
I’ve been published! Again!! In case you missed my last short story in Monkeybicycle in April, these publications are a big deal for me after three years of nada. But as we all know, it does take me six years to get something right, so it tracks. And now I need to write some new things. So proud to have this latest one up on Maudlin House!
Thanks for sticking around. Remember to practice self care during the coming election cycle, as well as every day. Well, okay, fine, every week: Make sure to do a face mask or something at least every week. And eat your vegetables.
Have a Good Shabbos!