Reading, Writing, and Me

I know, I know, the mid-year freakout tag is for the end of June not the end of August, but I had an extremely busy summer, so sorry for falling a bit behind. I do this tag most years, and since I don't write as many lists and personal posts anymore, I figured I'd make it a priority to do it again and check in with everyone. It's wild that in the chaos of school in March I missed my 6 year blog anniversary! Time is truly flying, but I've found in the last year that I love books more than ever.  This is a general tag that I'm adapting, but I did directly reference the questions and get a refresher from Talk Nerdy Book Blog if you also want to read that post as well!  Reading Goal Check In: I'm actually super happy with where I'm at with my reading in 2023, which hasn't always been true in my college career. I was super excited that I finished my reading goal back in June. To be fair, it was a very modest goal of 50 books, but given that I barely scraped

Iona Iverson's Rules for Commuting  by Clare Pooley Overview: If you've ever taken public transportation and have an imagination, you've probably wondered about the people who surround you on the train. What are they worried about? Where are they heading? What's the rush for? Pooley's book explores what happens when a random group of strangers on the London Underground decide to break that unspoken fourth wall and get to know each other. Overall: 5 Characters: 5 Iona is truly the heart of this book. Even though we see the book through lots of perspectives, as they say in the book, Iona is the axis that connects all the spokes on the wheel. She's an eccentric lady who loves a bold outfit, carrying her dog everywhere, and pushing the boundaries of fashion. Writing an advice column for a magazine also gives her the confidence to insert herself into everyone's business. Iona is the kind soul that anchors the book characters, but we also learn that beyond her che