Reading, Writing, and Me

Sugartown  by Caragh Maxwell Overview: Saoirse leaves London and returns to her hometown in the Midlands of Ireland suddenly. She's twenty-four, has dropped out of her college program and then broke up with her boyfriend who was also her landlord, and has no choice but to go home. She's always struggled with her mental health, and this return home only makes things worse. Saoirse falls into familiar patterns with old friends, drinking heavily and spiraling about her life until one particularly bad night makes her truly reckon with her choices, maybe for the first time. Overall: 4 Characters: 4 Saoirse is headstrong to her own detriment. She's unsure what she wants, but she wants forcefully, creating tension in her life with her family, her friends, her love interest. She's resentful of coming home and of her mother's new rules and new life with her stepdad and three younger sisters that are so much younger that Saoirse hardly knows them. Her best friend Doireann is ...

Oh October, what a whirlwind. I went to three plays, had my parents in town for the week, did tons of assignments as the semester ratcheted up, and went on a number of other social events from the zoo to Halloween. Mixed into all this, I tried to dedicate a massive chunk of my life to both reading and writing since that's what I moved to Ireland to do. I've gotten back into audiobook listening along with podcasts as I've settled into living alone again. I've also gotten into the library hold system, so now I have tons of books coming in with time limits, incentivizing me to read quickly. On top of that, I've read lots of short stories, some for class but mostly for fun.  The Stats In total, I read 13 books with two books I've been reading throughout October that I will be finishing today or tomorrow, making a solid start to my November reading. I read 5 novels (I'm roping Simple Passion in here cause it's more akin to a novel than the other nonfiction bo...