I’m back to my regular schedule, and I’m back to reading.
I love having my daughter home. But we were all sick for the first week and then she was super antsy the second week. It was time for her to go back to school. That was underlined when she ran into her classroom with a big grin on her face.
And now I’m back spending my days with business development and trying to figure out those next steps for me. It’s scary because I truly don’t know what’s next. But there is something out for me, and now is the time for me to find it. Let’s hope that it comes sooner rather than later.
Reading Social Media News
I’m going to preface this by saying that I absolutely know that this is a sponsored post. But even sponsored posts sometimes have good advice. While AI is making getting that click more difficult, it’s time to focus on doing better emails. Most companies send emails that just gather in inboxes unread. But a more focused approach can make a huge difference. So pick one thing you can do better with emails this month and work on that.
And speaking of AI, we’re all going to be asked to justify our work at getting mentioned. What does that mean? Measuring it. Search Engine Land has some hard truths about that. It’s a good article to keep in your back pocket as you figure out how to tell your boss why this is important.
Reading Books, Books and More Books
Past
The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon had such a good story. It had me locked in from the start. But the writing… it was so jagged. A good story paired with mediocre writing is so frustrating. Like I’m glad I read it, but I will absolutely never touch this book ever again. That’s disappointing. And its length meant I had a whole lot of that jagged writing.
It also wasn’t a very original story. It’s a story that I’m sure we’ve all read at this point. The woman is smarter than all the men despite that not being the norm at the time. And she’s madly in love with her husband which is demonstrated by the pack of kids they have. And then there is an evil, woman-hating man who is trying to take her down. Nothing new, but enjoyable just the same. Score: B
I re-read a couple of books as well. I’d say they were two of my top books from last year. When the Cranes Fly South by Lisa Ridzén continues to make me cry. I had suggested this as a book club book, and everyone enthusiastically agreed. So of course I wasn’t able to make it to the last book club when they discussed it. I just couldn’t resist a re-read though. After a lot of thinking about it, it’s my best book of 2025.
The Names by Florence Knapp wasn’t as enjoyable a read, but it’s so important and perfect for discussion. So I suggested this for my book club, and they picked it when I wasn’t there. It’s so hard and so worthwhile. It’s by far the best description I have ever read and how different decisions trigger different tragedies. Some are more impactful, but they are all tragedies nonetheless. The writing is tremendous. I’m so glad I had a reason to re-read it.
Present
And now we are back to my usual problem: I checked too many books out from the library at once. And then I read two books I added to my library instead of this mountain of books. Someday I won’t do this. It won’t be anytime soon, but someday. The first is Isola by Allegra Goodman. I know nothing about this book. It was on my friend’s list of the top books of the year, and welp, it’s overdue. Hopefully it’s a quick read. And I’ll try to make sure my expectations aren’t too high.
What are you reading? What books are you looking forward to?