It’s Monday & I am DONE with this semester!

That’s right. All grades are in, and this long and exhausting semester is over.

(Fun fact: When looking for the name of the character featured in that gif, I discovered that ABC is doing a Magnum P.I. spinoff/reboot. Interesting. Could this fill the Psych void in my heart?)

This is so exciting! I get to read books and decorate for Christmas and clean my house and unpack from my move this summer!

Also, this post will be all over the place.

I am currently on page 82 of  Heartless by Marissa Meyer, which I started probably about a week ago and have made minimal progress on.

I don’t really know that much about Alice in Wonderland except for the movies and the memes, so I am kind of reading this because I dug The Lunar Chronicles and want to see where this goes. So far, there’s a lot of talk of baking and food in this book. Nothing I want to eat so far (lemon tarts? rose macarons? No, thank you. That roast did sound like the business though), but that doesn’t mean I’m not imagining delightful bakery smells as I read. Also, lopsided love triangle, family obligations, female friendship, etc.

Here, have a quote from the book that may or may not feel timely depending on where you are this week:

“Someone has to do something,” she repeated, though most of her fire had turned to smoke.

“Yes, and that something shall be to ignore such a horrible incident and go on pretending nothing has happened at all…As is our way.”

Cath’s gut had tightened. She knew he was right–though she had never before witnessed something so awful, she knew everyone would be willing to pretend it away rather than upset their pleasant lives.

I have not finished any books since November because the end of the semester is a fun time for reading thousands and thousands of words of student writing.

I am also participating in A Month of Faves, and today’s prompt is most memorable book(s) of the year (so far). Here’s my pick for that.

Necessary Endings: The Employees, Businesses, and Relationships That All of Us Have to Give Up in Order to Move Forward by Henry Cloud
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Me: I have been reading this book forever. I am going to finish it today because I am sick of saying I’m still reading it.

Mom: Sounds like you need to make a necessary ending on that book.

Me: Yes, exactly.

There is a lot of really useful and helpful information in this book, and I got a lot out of it. Most of it is stuff I had already learned, but I did learn some new strategies and think about some situations differently, both in the NE group I was in that made me decide to read the book and in the book itself. For example, I learned that I didn’t actually hate my job; I was just burnt out so needed to end some of the practices around it. I also had to make a personal necessary ending, which I probably wouldn’t have cast in those terms before. So, you know. Useful.

I think it took me so long because the writing is kind of dry and I kept reading it right before bed. Also, I lost the book for about a week, which didn’t help with the whole finishing it part. But it’s done now, and that’s all that matters.

If you’re trying to figure out how to end something you know you need to but don’t know how, this book may be helpful to you and I recommend it.

View all my reviews

Also, for picking favorites, I have to give a shout-out to Sharlene for helping me get out of my head on the whole popular books worth the hype thing.

In other bookish news, I have decided that I will not let the 2016 Read Harder Challenge defeat me. I am about to get some picture books, kiddie novels/books, and graphic novels and BANG THAT SUCKER OUT. There are 19 days left in December. I can totally do this.