Plot Points #31 💌
Cycling to holiday movies, building adult friendships, and books about books
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Hi there and a very merry Friday to you!
Did you guys know eating a variety of whole foods and moving your body makes you feel better? It’s true! Imagine. All this time, I’ve just been sitting on the couch watching YouTube influencers work out, but I tried our stationary bike a few times this week, and—surprise!—cardio feels good. I know. I can’t believe they didn’t tell us.
I’ve never been a gym person. I was an athlete in high school and played intramural sports in college, but hated conditioning and avoided workouts as much as possible. I had that luxury at twenty when it didn’t hurt to get out of bed in the morning; I do not have that luxury at thirty-eight. So I’ve been watching The Family Stone while on the bike and I guess that was the secret all along. Nothing like a little holiday family drama to make you want to get your heart rate up. Whatever that says about me, I’ll take it.
Anyway, I hope this Advent season has been good to you, friends. Job hopes are high over here, so thank you for your prayers! Fingers crossed I’ll have a happy update for y’all soon.
Have a beautiful weekend!
Point #1: “Other women aren’t living their lives *at* you.”
Yes, yes, and YES to this post from on what she learned from a tradwife’s Instagram. (A tradwife who is, by all accounts, in on the joke.) Women find it hard enough to embrace their identities without the rest of us dunking on them for a hundred different things. Like what you like, I say.
Point #2: I hope I’m this wise when I turn forty.
This piece from on 40 things she knows now at 40 was so.damn.good. She doesn’t take herself too seriously, but she does have some serious wisdom to share with the rest of us.
Point #3: We can’t optimize ourselves out of needing one another.
Holy cow, this brilliant essay from on the friendship problem of our adult years is one I hope you’ll take the time to read. How did we get to where our relationships feel like administrative work instead of rock-solid community…and how do we fix it? There are some good and beautiful thoughts to consider here.
Point #4: I’m learning how to spot the not.
I’ve been loving Jennifer Wang’s YouTube channel lately. She creates content to help her viewers spot a terribly-made fast fashion garment vs. one that’s made well and it’s a total game-changer!
Bonus Point: I understand so much more now.
Word of the Week
Sonder: (n.) The realization that a passerby has a life as vivid and complex as your own.
Reading in The Nook
Not much to report this week. I’m still reading Julie Klassen and trying to finish up My Friend Anne Frank before it’s due back on Monday. I’ve requested quite a few new titles, though, and I can’t wait to get my hands on them!
I did a deep dive on the Goodreads Choice Nominees for 2023 and added a bunch of novels to my TBR. Here’s what coming up:
The Secret Book of Flora Lea by Patti Callahan Henry
When a woman discovers a rare book that has connections to her past, long-held secrets about her missing sister and their childhood spent in the English countryside during World War II are revealed.
The Curse of Penryth Hall by Jess Armstrong
After the Great War, American heiress Ruby Vaughn made a life for herself running a rare bookstore alongside her octogenarian employer and house mate in Exeter. She’s always avoided dwelling on the past, even before the war, but it always has a way of finding her. When Ruby is forced to deliver a box of books to a folk healer living deep in the Cornish countryside, she is brought back to the one place she swore she’d never return. A more sensible soul would have delivered the package and left without rehashing old wounds. But no one has ever accused Ruby of being sensible. Thus begins her visit to Penryth Hall.
A foreboding fortress, Penryth Hall is home to Ruby’s once dearest friend, Tamsyn, and her husband, Sir Edward Chenowyth. It’s an unsettling place, and after a more unsettling evening, Ruby is eager to depart. But her plans change when Penryth’s bells ring for the first time in thirty years. Edward is dead; he met a gruesome end in the orchard, and with his death brings whispers of a returned curse. It also brings Ruan Kivell, the person whose books brought her to Cornwall, the one the locals call a Pellar, the man they believe can break the curse. Ruby doesn’t believe in curses—or Pellars—but this is Cornwall and to these villagers the curse is anything but lore, and they believe it will soon claim its next victim: Tamsyn.
To protect her friend, Ruby must work alongside the Pellar to find out what really happened in the orchard that night.
The Wishing Game by Meg Shaffer
Lucy Hart knows better than anyone what it’s like to grow up without parents who loved her. In a childhood marked by neglect and loneliness, Lucy found her solace in books, namely the Clock Island series by Jack Masterson. Now a twenty-six-year-old teacher’s aide, she is able to share her love of reading with bright, young students, especially seven-year-old Christopher Lamb, who was left orphaned after the tragic death of his parents. Lucy would give anything to adopt Christopher, but even the idea of becoming a family seems like an impossible dream without proper funds and stability.
Just when Lucy is about to give up, Jack Masterson announces he’s finally written a new book. Even better, he’s holding a contest at his home on the real Clock Island, and Lucy is one of the four lucky contestants chosen to compete to win the one and only copy.
For Lucy, the chance of winning the most sought-after book in the world means everything to her and Christopher. But first she must contend with ruthless book collectors, wily opponents, and the distractingly handsome (and grumpy) Hugo Reese, the illustrator of the Clock Island books. Meanwhile, Jack “the Mastermind” Masterson is plotting the ultimate twist ending that could change all their lives forever.
Is it obvious I like books about books?!
Let me know in the comments if you’ve read any of these. All three of them had seriously long queues at the library!
“Winter is nature’s way of saying, ‘Up yours.’”
—Robert Byrne—
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