Happy Friday 6/21: what are you reading?

[charlatti]

What have you been reading this week? 

QOTW: What is your hair like? Do you like it? Has your hair or your feelings about it changed over time? 

[secretlyevil]

I am reading:

Change by Design, Revised & Updated: How Design Thinking Transforms Organization and Inspires Innovation by Tim Brown (audio) - meh, it's work-life related. I'm only a couple of chapter in, hope the narration gets better. Glad I went audio, I would never finish it otherwise.

Intuitive Eating: A Revolutionary Program that Works by Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch - this is very good. It is well written and very thought provoking. I'm reading a little bit at a time to let the message soak in.

City of Ashes (Mortal Instruments #2) by Cassandra Clare - I'm behind the times. The first book was entertaining. I'm not very far into the second book.

What I finished this week:

Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman (audio) - it was good and the audio was really entertaining. I did American Gods as an audio too and it was fantastic. I have Good Omens in my que. Neil Gaiman is really doing good things with the audio version of his books - at least in my limited experience. 

QOTW: my hair is a hot mess; a mix between curl and wave; super fine and a crap ton of it. I have learned to make my peace with it. My SIL is also my stylist, I just let her do what she does and it seems to work. I am hair illiterate and am not willing to expend the extra energy needed to become better so that's my hair.

[rainbowchip]

This week I read The Savior (BDB #17). It was the predictable BDB formula but I liked it well enough.

I'm currently reading The Sun Is Also a Star. I really like the short chapters. I needed something like this.

QOTW: I have fine, stick straight hair. My hair does not hold a curl at all. I actually like it when it's humid out because it gives my hair some body. I'm brunette and with some natural highlights which I love. I am starting to get a few grays. I'm unsure of how I want to handle them. Right now I usually pull them out. I think, down the road I want to do something like President Coin in The Hunger Games movies.

[abs]

I’m reading Red, White, and Royal Blue. It’s not great. It’s way overhyped and reads too much like fan fiction to me.

QOTW: well. I have visible bald spots from having Hashimoto’s. To say I hate my hair is a gigantic understatement. Hats are my friend.

[msmerymac]

I finished Food: A Cultural History (audio) and Queen of Shadows.

I started A Wrinkle in Time. I remember reading it for school in 6th grade and not liking it. I'm liking it fine now. Also, I don't remember any of it, lol.

QOTW: I have fine hair, type 2a. So it's never quite straight. I've been blow drying it "straight" for years, but heat damages it since it's so fine (and it's around shoulder length). If I'm not meeting with a client, I've been just letting it air dry lately. I'm still trying to figure out the correct products to help air-dried wavy hair with a tendency to frizz look decent. 

I like the fact that my hair is a light auburn (and I usually dye it a more true red color). It helped keep from from starting to go gray until I was 35. 

[charlatti]

I finished Lily and the Octopus by Steven Rowley, which I really loved. It had been on my radar since it came out but I couldn’t read it while my old dog was aging. It was still really hard to read after losing him last year, but I’m glad I read it.

Currently reading The Lesson by Cadwell Turnbull — sci-fi but also commentary on colonialism, so far anyway.

Qotw: I have crazy thick hair. I started attempting to embrace my natural waves last year and it’s still a work in progress, but I like it better than when I would fight it to be smooth. It’s too long right now; I can’t wait for my haircut appointment in a couple of weeks.

[ssmjlm]

Just finished: The Cactus by Sarah Haywood
Honestly I'm not sure how this ended up being compared to Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine, because it was not on that level at all. It wasn't a bad book, but it wasn't great.

I can't decide what to start next. I think the next Stillhouse Lake book.

QOTW: I have curly hair that due to some medical issues in college is thinner than I would like. I normally straighten it for work. I'll wear it curly more in the summer with the humidity. I'm about to chop like 3" off today because the ends just look so bad to me.

[wesleycrusher]

Jun 21, 2019 10:31:10 GMT -5 abs said:

I’m reading Red, White, and Royal Blue. It’s not great. It’s way overhyped and reads too much like fan fiction to me.

QOTW: well. I have visible bald spots from having Hashimoto’s. To say I hate my hair is a gigantic understatement. Hats are my friend.

I read it this week and I agree exactly that it's like fanfiction! I gave it 4 on goodreads because it was cute and entertaining. My (gay, male) friend who rec'd the book loved it and has been talking about it for the past month.

[wesleycrusher]

I Was Told There'd Be Cake by Sloane Crosley (audio) - 3
Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston - 4
The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris - 3
A Thousand Miles to Freedom: My Escape from North Korea by Eunsun Kim (audio) - 4

QOTW: I have extremely curly hair. It doesn't straighten. Both my mom and dad have curly hair, so does DD. I love it.

[meowmaps]

Earlier in the week I finished The Satapur Moonstone. It was enjoyable.

I just finished My Lovely Wife. I actually liked the writing style and I was intrigued but I started to lose interest near/at the climax. It was decent but could've been better.

QOTW: I have a slight, natural wave to my hair. It's also fine and it tends toward frizzy. I'm extremely lazy so I never do anything more than wash and air dry. I'm sure this doesn't help at all. Right now I'm not happy with how it looks because I have inch-long roots (maybe I can remedy that this weekend) and it's just sort of hanging there. I feel like every time I go to get my hair cut my hairdresser never wants to do exactly what I want. It's like she's playing it safe because she thinks I'm risk-averse. I've had very short hair and I've had really long hair and everything in between. I'm not afraid to cut my hair or to wait for it to grow back. I'd like to get some weight off first and then I'd like to go chin-length or slightly longer.

[travella]

I finished Daughter of the Moloka'i by Alan Brennert, 3*. I am currently reading The Widows of Malabar Hill by Sujata Massey. The book has brought out all the emotions. I like the main character. However, what she has been enduring makes me seethe.

QOTW: I have thick but fine hair that is dual textured. When I was younger I loved my hair, but it would easily rat up into huge rats, like my daughter's does now. The curl has since loosened with age and now it is naturally straight and easy to maintain. I like my hair now with the exception of the grey that is starting to appear. I could do without that.

[meowmaps]

Jun 21, 2019 14:07:47 GMT -5 travella said:

I finished Daughter of the Moloka'i by Alan Brennert, 3*. I am currently reading The Widows of Malabar Hill by Sujata Massey. The book has brought out all the emotions. I like the main character. However, what she has been enduring makes me seethe.

QOTW: I have thick but fine hair that is dual textured. When I was younger I loved my hair, but it would easily rat up into huge rats, like my daughter's does now. The curl has since loosened with age and now it is naturally straight and easy to maintain. I like my hair now with the exception of the grey that is starting to appear. I could do without that.

The Satapur Moonstone is the next in the Perveen Mistry series. I found her background story in The Widows of Malabar Hill almost oppressively sad. The next installment only makes a few references to her past but mostly focuses on the murder mystery. I recommend it!

[krystee]

I read Summer of ‘69 and enjoyed it as a good beach read and now reading City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert. It seems promising so far!

I took my hair for granted before—it’s thick and more frizzy than curly. But now it is falling out a little following weight loss surgery (expected and temporary), so now I am suddenly realizing how much I like it and want it back!

[AJL]

Kaitlyn and the Highlander by Diana Knightley --- 3/5*
Time and Space Between Us (KATH #2) by Diana Knightley --- 4/5*

QOTW:  Well I've been slowly getting rid of my hair. I used to have very long, very thick, wavy/curly hair. Two summers ago I lopped it off into a pixie.  Last Sunday, I shaved it to a buzz cut. I think it's my favorite of all the hair styles I've ever had.

[mrspez07]

I’m reading The Book of Essie and enjoying the unusual premise.
We finished listening as a family to Order of the Phoenix. We listened to it on our trip in Europe (audio books are great to keep the kids quiet in the car), and watching the movie was total flashbacks to specific places along our journey.
Also listening to Beach Club by Elin Hilderbrand

Hair: I’m content with it right now. It’s mostly straight but gets weird with random waves or curls, especially in the lower back and at my front hairline. It’s a light brown/dark blond. I used to want more curl when I was younger, but am generally content now with color (even the greys) and texture. I’m totally a child of the 80s-90’s, I’m drawn to volume and curls, but my hair doesn’t do it, and it’s not really in style.

[spedrunner]

Recently, I have read:

An Anonymous Girl by Greer Hendricks (4/5 stars) 

City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert (3/5 stars)

Daisy Jones and the Six (5/5 stars)


Currently reading:

Miracle Creek (not that this is terrible or anything, I just cant seem to get into it)

This is How It Always Is (I LOVE THIS SO MUCH about 80% complete)  Highly recommend for everyone to read this. So eye opening!

QOTD:  My hair. Meh.  I dont know, I always want what I dont have. I am not thrilled withmy hair (It is fine) But i do love that it holds a curl . Mostly these days during the work week, i throw it up in a bun bc I just dont have time to dry, style, etc. I do put some effort in for outings   Yes. def has changed over time. I used to always want long , curly hair (I have the opposite) < had extensions for a bit HATED them and i have finally accepted, THIS IS me, not worth the effort (for me) to have something that is un natural to me. I have accepted it   

[sassypants]

I just finished I Owe You One by Sophie Kinsella. It was typical Kinsella stuff but a fun, light read after finishing the Jemison book. I also started Tony's Wife by Adriana Trigiani. I like her writing and I'm only about 10% into it. It started in 1931 and we're up to 1938. There was one factual error in setting in the 1931 which has driven me up the wall, though. It said Packards were being built in South Bend, IN. Production didn't move there until it merged with Studebaker in the 50s. (Job hazard--I'm the curator in a transportation museum. Also, I was born in the original birthplace of Packard (Warren, OH) so I grew up knowing this anyhow. This kind of lazy editing takes me out of the story. 

QOTW: My hair...it's wavy/curly-ish. I usually wash it at night and let it air dry, so I style it in the AM, usually with a large barrel curling iron. It's fine but there is a lot of it, and I never had mall-claw bangs or any of the big hair stuff of the 80s/90s because it adamantly refuses to be teased, no matter how much hairspray is used. The hidden bonus is that I have VERY few dated photos of myself.

[Nonny]

I'm about 60% of the way through Children of Blood and Bone, I've started up on The Sandman Vol 7 again, and I also started reading a paperback copy of Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania, because I was reading outside the other day and my kindle battery died. 


QOTW: My hair is kind of a mess. It's long, and if I brush it out it's basically just poofy, but if I scrunch it at all I have 2B waves, and if I'm in any kind of natural water (lake, ocean, river), and let it air dry you see some 3A curls come out (and actually sometimes they peek out anyway at the nape of my neck, or in my "halo").  If it was shorter and I actually followed the curly girl method I'd probably have pretty solid 3A curls these days.  (I started off curly as a kid, it got straighter, and it's been getting curly again.)

But I hate the curly girl method and I refuse to follow it. It's too much work and too many products.  I especially fucking hate gel, and I refuse to put in my hair, I sweat too much when exercising to go 3+ days between washes, and I really just can't put that much effort into my hair when I hate it my face and am going to pull it into a ponytail anyway.

I do avoid sulfates and silicones though, and I'm thinking of getting a silk pillowcase, because I'm wanting to chop off a bunch of length in the fall, and I'm curious to see how it does on it's own with less length and weight. 

[minzy]

I finished The Nature Fix - Why Nature Makes Us Happier, Healthier, and More Creative by Florence Williams. To sum it up in two words: go outside! 😛 I’ve just started Animal, Vegetable, Miracle - A Year of Food Life by Barbara Kingslover. I like it a lot so far.

QOTW: My hair is pretty boring. I have done some longer bobs in the last few years but I usually keep it shoulder length-ish, almost always long enough to pull back into a ponytail since I work out most days. It is fine and usually pretty straight but it gets frizzy with humidity. I’ve been dying grays since my early twenties. I have thought about just embracing it and joining the #grombe movement for environmental reasons, but I’m kind of a wimp, less than 25% gray, and apparently a tiny bit vain in this particular area. 😬 I just feel better with the roots not showing.

[Vespasia]

I finished The Silent Corner by Dean Koontz. It was fine but seemed to drag a bit. Not really interested in continuing the series.

QOTW: My hair is fine and mostly straight. I have dyed it for most of my life because the color is a bit blah. It's pretty low maintenance so I don't really have any complaints.

[Gato]

I am reading Flaneuse by Lauren Elkin. It’s great!

I finished Theft by Finding, by David Sedaris, which was fascinating because I felt like I knew so much about him from his many memoirs, but here’s a completely different look at his life. It’s more mundane, daily stuff. He lived in Chicago in about the same neighborhood at about the same time, but saw it completely differently than I did.

I also read The Wall by John Lancaster. This was pretty good dystopian fiction. It had some plot holes but I liked the main character’s no-nonsense telling of his experience after massive climate change.

QOTW: At this point, when everything else about my body is falling apart, my hair is probably my best feature. It’s full and wavy and pretty easy to style. I used to not like its frizziness, but now at 51 I appreciate that it’s all still there!

[estrellita]

We were on vacation last week, so lots of car time = reading time! I finished:

Sharp Objects - 3.5/4 stars. Good story but the ending was weird. Seems typical for the author though since that's how I felt about Gone Girl too.

Ghosted - 4 stars. The twist made me super confused. I had to reread the lines several times and had to think about everything I had already read up to that point. I liked it but there were some random parts I thought were pointless to the story.

My hair is mostly brown with a red tint. It's wavy and I air dry it 99% of the time. I used to dye it a lot but haven't now in years! I mostly like my hair but it can get frizzy and I don't know how to style it ever, haha.