My Word for 2017

Quality time. Quality things. Quality over quantity. Quality books and movies. Quality experiences. This word just keeps popping up when I think about what I want from the upcoming year. 

The past year has been a whirlwind. A new baby definitely changes your priorities and makes some things much trickier. It's harder to spend time relaxing and watching a movie or grabbing a beer with a friend. Definitely still possible, but harder. Your time is limited and you want to make sure you are finding some sort of balance between home/friends/work, etc. 

With that in mind I find myself once again thinking about QUALITY. I want to do all of those things, but it might be less often than before, so I want each moment to count. I feel the same way about things. Having a baby brings a whole lot of stuff into your house. You quickly realize that your home can be filled with plastic junk if you aren't careful. 

I've purged so much in the past year and a half and it's so freeing! When I bring something into our home I want it to be something that will last for years. Whether it's wooden blocks for Sydney or a new pair of shoes for me. I'm done with buying junk.

So that's my 2017 goal. Quality in every aspect of life. Do you have any goals for the new year?

Books & Brews

 

So there's this little pub in a town near me and it's called Books & Brews. Obviously this is a new favorite place. Not only is the beer good (I had The Stout of Monte Cristo) the beer and food all have literary names! Check out the sandwich list below...

 

 

There's a cozy little second floor where you can shop for books or sit and chat while you enjoy your beer. There's a nook for kids on the first floor. I just love it. I can assure you we will be back again soon!

 

Photos by me. 

The Bone Clocks

In 2012 Care's Books and Pie and I co-hosted a readalong of David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas. I think that was the first (of many) readalongs we've hosted together. It was the craziest book, layered and complicated, but so beautiful. 

I can't even explain how much it helped to read it with a group. Hearing everyone else's thoughts on the plot helped me better understand it. Each person who participated brought their own unique view and it made the reading experience so much richer. 

So in the same spirit, Care and I have decided to host a readalong of Mitchell's novel The Bone Clocks. Here's a bit about the book...

"This is a feast of a book—perhaps the author’s best to date—a saga that spans decades, characters, genres, and events from Mitchell's other novels. The structure is most similar to Cloud Atlas, with The Bone Clocks pivoting around a central character: Holly Sykes. Each chapter/novella is narrated from the perspective of an intersecting character, with settings ranging from England in the 80s to the apocalyptic future. Each story could stand alone as a work of genius, as they slowly build on Holly’s unwitting role in a war between two groups with psychic powers, culminating in a thrilling showdown reminiscent of the best of Stephen King. Taken together this is a hugely entertaining page-turner, an operatic fantasy, and an often heartbreaking meditation on mortality. It’s not to be missed." 

“One of the most entertaining and thrilling novels I’ve read in a long time.”—Meg Wolitzer, NPR

“Astonishing . . . No one, clearly, has ever told Mitchell that the novel is dead. He writes with a furious intensity and slapped-awake vitality, with a delight in language and all the rabbit holes of experience."—The New York Times Book Review. 

The readalong starts today and loosely goes until the end of February. It's a big book and I don't want anyone to feel rushed. I'll do a wrap-up post in the end (and maybe a mid-way post too). It will be a relaxed readalong, go at your own pace and post thoughts here or on Twitter or Instagram with the hashtag #boneclocks17.Feel free to grab the button below to use!