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November 30, 2017 , Thu | Wrap-Ups | 0 or add you thoughts!

Hello, friends! It’s the final day of November, which means wrap-up time! I read quite a bit, despite being busy, and really enjoyed everything! So yay!!

“Species that rebel against seasonal norms are loved for their courage. The mistle thrush that can be heard to sing when all other birds have turned shy, even during winter gales, earns our respect, and his nickname, ‘tormcock,’ comes alive on the wind. The red berries and dark-green leaves of holly have found their way onto Christmas cards and earned a little fondness, despite their prickles, because they refuse to let their colors be bowed by a decrease in daylight or a blanket of snow. Gorse will flower at any time of year, and our love of this resilience can be found in the old saying, ‘Gorse is out of bloom when kissing’s out of fashion.'”

If you are interested in learning more about the way we perceive nature, and how we can improve, and benefit from improving, our observational skills, this is a book for you! I picked this up mostly just because I thought the audiobook would be nice to listen to on walks with my dog. I ended up loving it and getting so much out of it. Gooley even walks the reader through observational exercises to explain the way we see certain things and how we might see them in more detail. It was so enjoyable! read more

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August 31, 2017 , Thu | Wrap-Ups | 0 or add you thoughts!

Today is the last day of August! I don’t normally feel like time slips away from me, but goodness that went by quickly! Anyway, that means it’s time for another reading wrap-up! Here you’ll find a list of the books I read this month, in order, with a favorite quote from and some quick thoughts on each.

“She wrinkled her nose, less out of actual distaste and more out of the knowledge that she was supposed to find spiders distasteful. She really found them rather endearing. They were sleek and clean and elegant, and when their webs got messed up, they ripped them down and started over again. People could learn a lot from spiders.”

This was a fantastic sequel! Personally, I liked it even better than the first book, which is saying something, because I so enjoyed Every Heart a Doorway. This was a little darker, but in a different way, if that makes sense? A bit creepier, but less gory than the first. It also presents a new world, so that could certainly be a part of what made it exciting. The second book in a trilogy often falls a little flat for me, so even without reading the last book in this one (which releases in January), I can already tell you I’m very impressed with the series as a whole! read more

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