Book:

The best book I attempted for the third time but failed to finish again: It's The Artist's Way! I think it's good to read even if you don't work all the way through it!! (I have to say that). I was journaling the most consistently when and shortly after I was reading.

Longest book I read: I spent many hours with Moby Dick this winter—so many hours that it became spring. I would carry my copy on the G to Prospect Park and then leave it under a tree with a post-it that said "Please do not take, I'm coming back!" while I ran. No one ever stole it. I enjoyed reading something so long and my line: Moby Dick is about the friends we made along the way did really well on a random first date I went on. I can see myself reading it again for sure. The end was awesome. When I was close to finishing I had to stop reading it on the subway because it felt too serious / weirdly emotional? lol. Anyway, I read this book due to love and infatuation which is saying a lot because it's really long. Love is dead but my reading of Moby Dick remains.

Other thing I read due to love and infatuation: The short story St. Mawr by D.H. Lawrence. I thought this was okay?

Books I started but haven't finished: Her Body and Other Parties and Outline. I will finish Outline and I know I'm doing it a disservice by reading it very slowly over several months. I returned Her Body and Other Parties to the library. It was a little too scary for me lol. The story of the green ribbon terrified me as a child.

Book I read about running: I read Hanson's Marathon Method, and I never enjoyed it. Do I need to know the types of muscles?? Unclear. Murakami's book on running remains the best one I've read.

Book that reminded me too much of my breakup for me to fully enjoy: Health and Safety by Emily Witt. It was good.

Most beautiful book I reread: To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf!

Books I read about troubled women: Worry by Alexandra Tanner and Banal Nightmare by Halle Butler. I found Worry more relatable - Like the main character, I also have had a multi-year fixation on fundamentally religious Instagram women, and it's about sisters, and it becomes about living in New York with a dog (named Amy Klobuchar, which is funny). I think Banal Nightmare is slightly better, though— it feels more ambitious. And it made me laugh out loud.

Horniest book I read: Rejection by Tony Tulathimutte

My favorite non-fiction read of the year: I loved loved loved this little book about dogs, "Rescue Me: On Dogs and Their Humans." Grebowitz had me as soon as the book opened: "I dream of more dogs. When I fantasize about a life of success, my future, much-improved self is surrounded by dogs."  I grew up in a household with six pets; my family loves animals (weirdly my parents would never admit that aloud, though). Loving animals and taking care of pets has always been and likely always will be a part of my life, and it’s something to be taken seriously. Here are some quotes I liked: "[Dogs] are our flotation devices in a sea of precarity, not the other way around." "...At the precise moment when our time on earth is spent in relation to screens, dogs not only bring us back to our bodies but our bodies back to their environment."  A really simple concept: "The dog seeks a functional relationship with its human." I wish my parents could internalize this with their dog. I wish it so much I sent my mom a copy of this book the day I finished it.

Books I read about tarot, ranked worst-best (but they’re all good): The Sacred Tarot Unveiled (got this at a random book store with Alex, I like how it pairs quotes from other sources with each card), Jessica Dore's Tarot for Change (this is a great book, but I think best as a companion to something more foundational like Pollack's book), Rachel Pollack's 78 Degrees of Wisdom (this is my most recent tarot acquisition and it should have been the first book I got. It's the go-to RSW book for a reason, and I like when she mentions The Wasteland).

Least favorite book I read: Blue Sisters by Coco Mellor!!! This made me feel burned by booktok.

Non-book:

Literally maybe the only movie I watched??: When Harry Met Sally

The best restaurant I went to in 2024: Superiority burger!!!

My favorite food discovery of 2024: It's the Whole Foods brownie. For like $8 and a trip to Brooklyn's most spiritually dead neighborhood, you can have four delicious brownies, which lasted me 1-2 days during peak marathon training lol. This is not a grocery store level brownie, this is a bakery level brownie, and you can even get salted caramel ones.

Favorite bev discovery of 2024: It's the cherry blossom la croix. I love to show people the cherry blossom la croix. I’m more of a polar / bubbly girl so I’m coming to this with no brand loyalty. I don’t think you have to try the Whole Foods brownie but you should try the cherry blossom la croix.

that’s it!!!!