Read 12 Novels (Part 2)

One of the joys of life after law firm is having enough time to read for pleasure. This year, I planned to read at least twelve non-fiction books (done!) and twelve novels (in process). I've been surprised to learn I'm not as excited about fiction as I once was, but I'm working on it.

I'm eight novels deep (see the novels 1-4 here):

• The Book of Essie by Meghan MacLean Weir. Brittany's high praise for this novel influenced me to read it. It's a fast read, but not light.

• Plainsong by Kent Haruf. Read on the recommendation of a friend. This is the first book in a trilogy that follows the place more than the people in it.

• Eventide by Kent Haruf. This is the second book in the trilogy. More sparse language. More affection for the characters developed in Eventide than those met in Plainsong.

• The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling. It's no Harry Potter, but that's the point. 

Onward!

July 4th Weekend

Thanks to an administrative holiday on Friday, I had four days off work to celebrate July 4th. It was glorious. I powered down my work phone at 6pm on Wednesday and didn't even look at it again until Sunday evening. (I wish that past me--a law firm associate that spent most family-focused holidays in front of a computer editing and exchanging documents with opposing counsel--could have seen this light at the end of the tunnel more clearly because life is good now.)

I spent my weekend reading, tutoring, entertaining, and relaxing at home. On July 4th, we went to Terry Black's BBQ for dinner. We had originally planned to walk over to Zilker Park afterwards, but the restaurant's patio has an excellent view of the Auditorium Shores fireworks so we stuck around. It was simple and easy.

July 4th dinner at Terry Black's BBQ

Since we’re more than half way through the year, I also spent time over the weekend thinking about what I want to accomplish before the year-end holidays. At a minimum, I’ll continue to chip away at the 2019 goals that I set back in January, try to rehabilitate my recent knee injury, book a vacation, update my financial planning, considering how I can grow my tutoring “business,” and earn a certification relevant to my day job.

Finished Reading 12 Non-Fiction Books

One of the joys of life after law firm is having enough time to read for pleasure. This year, I plan to read at least 12 non-fiction books and 12 novels.

I listed six non-fiction books that I finished earlier this year in a prior post. Since that time, I've finished six additional non-fiction books (listed below) and finished my non-fiction reading goal for 2019.

• Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup by John Carreyrou. An incredible read. I will forever think of this book when someone tries to tell me we don't need to complete due diligence in late series deals because the investors in the prior rounds were household names that are probably better equipped to diligence the company than we are.

• Mating in Captivity by Esther Perel. Because acquainting yourself with a perspective other than your own never hurts.

• Everything Conceivable: How Assisted Reproduction is Changing Men, Women, and the World by Liza Mundy. I first read this book in my twenties. I had recently donated my eggs and read this book out of academic interest. Reading it again a decade later, childless, my perspective had shifted so dramatically that it felt like a different book.

• Experiences of Donor Conception: Parents, Offspring and Donors by Caroline Lorbach. I bought a hard copy of this book when I wrote a paper about gamete donation for a law school seminar, but had not read it cover to cover (until now).

• The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion. A reasoned approach to understanding what contributed (and continues to contribute) to the current political climate. Poli sci majors, this book is for you!

• Educated by Tara Westover. The similarities between this memoir, Hillbilly Elegy and Heartland are striking.