A Month In The Life: October 2016

If you missed my first-year-of-blogging update a few weeks back, I've decided to start doing monthly summary posts: not only what I'm reading (which at this point, is months ahead of what I'm posting), but of what's going on in my life outside of books. I like seeing what the lives of other book bloggers entail outside of solely the written word, so hopefully you like seeing mine too! Let's get to the important stuff first-

In Books:

• I read... 
• Sophie's Choice: Yes, the movie was based on a book. It's like 2/3 of a brilliant novel but suffers mightily for a too-strong focus on the author-insert character and the lack of a firm editor. 
• The Mothers (ARC): No, not the one everyone's been raving about lately. This one's by Rod Jones. This was just kind of blah, honestly. Not special, not terrible, didn't say anything new or particularly interesting. One of those things I suspect I would forget I read but for this blog. 
• The Life of the World to Come (ARC): This book seems like a screenplay from the early-to-mid-2000s when the manic pixie dream girl thing was a big trend in movies. The entire book is about a young lawyer trying to get over a bad breakup and although the writing was often quite good, I just couldn't bring myself to care.   
• Border Child (ARC): I wanted this to be so much better than it was. Rather than a sensitive depiction of the issues that drive Latinx migration over the border and the incredible disruption it can have on families, it was trite and not very well-written.
• The Executioner's Song: A sprawling, 1000+ page epic about the first execution carried out in the United States after the death penalty was reinstated in the mid-70s. Gary Gilmore killed two men and, when he was sentenced to die, decided to accept his sentence as imposed and did not appeal. Impressive ambition and scope, but deeply uneven. There's a brilliant 500-600 page book in here but it's far too bloated. 

In Life:

• Both my husband and I celebrated our 31st birthdays this month! I'm exactly two weeks older than he is and one of these days I'm just going to stop reacting when he calls me a cougar because I know he only does it because I get huffy. My birthday was pretty low-key, just a quiet dinner at La Famiglia (my favorite restaurant in Reno...the gnocchi are amazing), but we got a little more social for Drew's, with a stop at the now-Patton Oswalt approved Noble Pie and some bar hopping afterwards. 

• The second week of the month was pretty hectic, actually. For those of you who don't know, I'm a state government lobbyist in Nevada. Nevada usually has a 120 day legislative session every other year, but they can be called into special session if there's a pressing issue to be dealt with. If you pay attention to sports news, you've probably heard that Nevada approved a deal for an NFL stadium to be built in Las Vegas for the Raiders. Since we have clients who were interested in that, I monitored (read: watched and took copious notes) on the proceedings. It took from Monday until Friday afternoon...and I managed to come down with the seasonal flu on Wednesday! That didn't mean I didn't need to monitor, though, so I just kept my germs at home and watched it all from my couch looped up on DayQuil and Sudafed. I was glad when it was over and I could actually rest. 

• I voted! Nevada has early voting, so it actually started on October 22nd and I went on the 25th. As a political professional type, I'm always going to make a pro-voting pitch, so here it is. I know voting seems boring. Wait in line, have to pick between people you've barely heard of OR are really tired of seeing commercials about. And it feels like one vote doesn't make a difference. But they do! Since they're down the ballot, state and local elections can be won and lost on just a handful of votes (one state representative in Nevada won his race by only 11 votes in 2014!). And really, it's the state and local races, and their results, that are going to be the ones that deal with and change the laws you interact with the most on a daily basis. So take an hour or so and Google the candidates and issues on your ballot, and then go out and do it. People will be getting elected regardless, so give it the best chance to be the people you'd rather see in there!

One Thing: Here's where I'll highlight one thing I've been really into this month, whether it be an album or a website or a beauty product or whatever. This month, it's the New York Times' election podcast The Run-Up. It's smart and informative and I can't wait for 8 days from now when it'll finally be Election Day and it'll all be over.

Gratuitous Pug Picture:

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A Month In The Life: October 2016