my spring wrapped
episode 21: march and april updates!
Welcome to Confessions of a Bookaholic! I send out a monthly newsletter that includes everything I read and watched in the past month! I hope you enjoy it and come back for more.
“There is a thin grey veil over her horizon, and it is the wall between hope and despair. She exists behind it. She will overcome.”
~ Raye
Hello dear bookaholics! ✨
Greetings from the last week of my master’s! Thank goodness that I have lasted this long, enough to say I will have actually accomplished a graduate degree. While my next steps remain unclear, it is with great gratitude that I have mastered ;) such a feat. With all that has occurred, I have surprisingly gotten through a variety of audiobooks. Tbh, 2x speed, a long work commute, & weekly Sunday meal prepping is usually the way to get this done while managing a heavy workload.
The last two months have also been massive with 3 big drops (at least the three big drops to me) and seeing RAYE live at Radio City in NYC! Woah, was that an experience of a lifetime? My friend and I have been mad fans of hers since 2022 (before her first album!), and have sworn since then we’d make it to her live. To see her in NYC was well-beyond our expectations. The queen herself rocked the stage, and I will never go to another concert that will ever come close!
As you will notice below, I had to also to include Noah Kahan’s new album. It is honestly scratching every itch I have for a new depressing indie album possible. There is a different quality to this album we do not see in his other 3 albums. In fact, you can tell his craft is improving with each album!
On that note, here is some of my reads, listens, and watches over the last month. I hope you can find solace in the words below.
FINISHED READS OF MARCH & APRIL ||
The Shadow of What Was Lost by James Islington
It has been twenty years since the end of the war. The dictatorial Augurs—once thought of almost as gods—were overthrown and wiped out during the conflict, their much-feared powers mysteriously failing them. Those who had ruled under them, men and women with a lesser ability known as the Gift, avoided the Augurs' fate only by submitting themselves to the rebellion's Four Tenets. A representation of these laws is now written into the flesh of any who use the Gift, forcing those so marked into absolute obedience.
As a student of the Gifted, Davian suffers the consequences of a war fought—and lost—before he was born. Despised by most beyond the school walls, he and those around him are all but prisoners as they attempt to learn control of the Gift. Worse, as Davian struggles with his lessons, he knows that there is further to fall if he cannot pass his final tests.
But when Davian discovers he has the ability to wield the forbidden power of the Augurs, he sets into motion a chain of events that will change everything. To the north, an ancient enemy long thought defeated begins to stir. And to the west, a young man whose fate is intertwined with Davian’s wakes up in the forest, covered in blood and with no memory of who he is…
Darrow is a Red, a member of the lowest caste in the color-coded society of the future. Like his fellow Reds, he works all day, believing that he and his people are making the surface of Mars livable for future generations. Yet he toils willingly, trusting that his blood and sweat will one day result in a better world for his children.
But Darrow and his kind have been betrayed. Soon he discovers that humanity reached the surface generations ago. Vast cities and lush wilds spread across the planet. Darrow—and Reds like him—are nothing more than slaves to a decadent ruling class.
Inspired by a longing for justice, and driven by the memory of lost love, Darrow sacrifices everything to infiltrate the legendary Institute, a proving ground for the dominant Gold caste, where the next generation of humanity’s overlords struggle for power. He will be forced to compete for his life and the very future of civilization against the best and most brutal of Society’s ruling class. There, he will stop at nothing to bring down his enemies . . . even if it means he has to become one of them to do so.
The Subtle Art of Not Giving A F*ck by Mark Manson
In this generation-defining self-help guide, a superstar blogger cuts through the crap to show us how to stop trying to be "positive" all the time so that we can truly become better, happier people.
For decades, we’ve been told that positive thinking is the key to a happy, rich life. "F**k positivity," Mark Manson says. "Let’s be honest, shit is f**ked and we have to live with it." In his wildly popular Internet blog, Manson doesn’t sugarcoat or equivocate. He tells it like it is—a dose of raw, refreshing, honest truth that is sorely lacking today. The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F**k is his antidote to the coddling, let’s-all-feel-good mindset that has infected American society and spoiled a generation, rewarding them with gold medals just for showing up.
Manson makes the argument, backed both by academic research and well-timed poop jokes, that improving our lives hinges not on our ability to turn lemons into lemonade, but on learning to stomach lemons better. Human beings are flawed and limited—"not everybody can be extraordinary, there are winners and losers in society, and some of it is not fair or your fault." Manson advises us to get to know our limitations and accept them. Once we embrace our fears, faults, and uncertainties, once we stop running and avoiding and start confronting painful truths, we can begin to find the courage, perseverance, honesty, responsibility, curiosity, and forgiveness we seek.
There are only so many things we can give a f**k about so we need to figure out which ones really matter, Manson makes clear. While money is nice, caring about what you do with your life is better, because true wealth is about experience. A much-needed grab-you-by-the-shoulders-and-look-you-in-the-eye moment of real-talk, filled with entertaining stories and profane, ruthless humor, The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F**k is a refreshing slap for a generation to help them lead contented, grounded lives.
Tender is the Flesh by Austina Bazterrica, translated by Sarah Moses
Working at the local processing plant, Marcos is in the business of slaughtering humans—though no one calls them that anymore.
His wife has left him, his father is sinking into dementia, and Marcos tries not to think too hard about how he makes a living. After all, it happened so quickly. First, it was reported that an infectious virus has made all animal meat poisonous to humans. Then governments initiated the “Transition.” Now, eating human meat—“special meat”—is legal. Marcos tries to stick to numbers, consignments, processing.
Then one day he’s given a a live specimen of the finest quality. Though he’s aware that any form of personal contact is forbidden on pain of death, little by little he starts to treat her like a human being. And soon, he becomes tortured by what has been lost—and what might still be saved.
These Silent Woods by Kimi Cunningham Grant
No electricity, no family, no connection to the outside world. For eight years, Cooper and his young daughter, Finch, have lived in isolation in a remote cabin in the northern Appalachian woods. And that’s exactly the way Cooper wants it, because he’s got a lot to hide. Finch has been raised on the books filling the cabin’s shelves and the beautiful but brutal code of life in the wilderness. But she’s starting to push back against the sheltered life Cooper has created for her—and he’s still haunted by the painful truth of what it took to get them there.
The only people who know they exist are a mysterious local hermit named Scotland, and Cooper’s old friend, Jake, who visits each winter to bring them food and supplies. But this year, Jake doesn’t show up, setting off an irreversible chain of events that reveals just how precarious their situation really is. Suddenly, the boundaries of their safe haven have blurred—and when a stranger wanders into their woods, Finch’s growing obsession with her could put them all in danger. After a shocking disappearance threatens to upend the only life Finch has ever known, Cooper is forced to decide whether to keep hiding—or finally face the sins of his past.
Vividly atmospheric and masterfully tense, These Silent Woods is a poignant story of survival, sacrifice, and how far a father will go when faced with losing it all.
A lighthearted whodunnit about a grandmother-mother-daughter trio of amateur sleuths. Gilmore Girls , but with murder.
High-powered businesswoman Lana Rubicon has a lot to be proud her keen intelligence, impeccable taste, and the L.A. real estate empire she’s built. But when she finds herself trapped 300 miles north of the city, convalescing in a sleepy coastal town with her adult daughter Beth and teenage granddaughter Jack, Lana is stuck counting otters instead of square footage—and hoping that boredom won’t kill her before the cancer does.
Then Jack—tiny in stature but fiercely independent—happens upon a dead body while kayaking. She quickly becomes a suspect in the homicide investigation, and the Rubicon women are thrown into chaos. Beth thinks Lana should focus on recovery, but Lana has a better idea. She’ll pull on her wig, find the true murderer, protect her family, and prove she still has power. With Jack and Beth’s help, Lana uncovers a web of lies, family vendettas, and land disputes lurking beneath the surface of a community populated by folksy conservationists and wealthy ranchers. But as their amateur snooping advances into ever-more dangerous territory, the headstrong Rubicon women must learn to do the one thing they’ve always depend on each other.
This Tender Land by William Kent Krueger
In the summer of 1932, on the banks of Minnesota's Gilead River, the Lincoln Indian Training School is a pitiless place where Native American children, forcibly separated from their parents, are sent to be educated. It is also home to Odie O’Banion, a lively orphan boy whose exploits constantly earn him the superintendent’s wrath. Odie and his brother, Albert, are the only white faces among the hundreds of Native American children at the school.
After committing a terrible crime, Odie and Albert are forced to flee for their lives along with their best friend, Mose, a mute young man of Sioux heritage. Out of pity, they also take with them a brokenhearted little girl named Emmy. Together, they steal away in a canoe, heading for the mighty Mississippi in search for a place to call home.
Over the course of one unforgettable summer, these four orphan vagabonds journey into the unknown, crossing paths with others who are adrift, from struggling farmers and traveling faith healers to displaced families and lost souls of all kinds. With the feel of a modern classic, This Tender Land is an enthralling, bighearted epic that shows how the magnificent American landscape connects us all, haunts our dreams, and makes us whole.
Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. The Capitol is harsh and cruel and keeps the districts in line by forcing them all to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live TV.
Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen regards it as a death sentence when she steps forward to take her sister’s place in the Games. But Katniss has been close to dead before-and survival, for her, is second nature. Without really meaning to, she becomes a contender. But if she is to win, she will have to start making choices that weigh survival against humanity and life against love.
The Stationery Shop by Marjan Kamali
Roya, a dreamy, idealistic teenager living amid the political upheaval of 1953 Tehran, finds a literary oasis in kindly Mr. Fakhri’s neighborhood stationery shop, stocked with books and pens and bottles of jewel-colored ink.
Then Mr. Fakhri, with a keen instinct for a budding romance, introduces Roya to his other favorite customer—handsome Bahman, who has a burning passion for justice and a love for Rumi’s poetry—and she loses her heart at once. Their romance blossoms, and the little stationery shop remains their favorite place in all of Tehran.
A few short months later, on the eve of their marriage, Roya agrees to meet Bahman at the town square when violence erupts—a result of the coup d’etat that forever changes their country’s future. In the chaos, Bahman never shows. For weeks, Roya tries desperately to contact him, but her efforts are fruitless. With a sorrowful heart, she moves on—to college in California, to another man, to a life in New England—until, more than sixty years later, an accident of fate leads her back to Bahman and offers her a chance to ask him the questions that have haunted her for more than half a century: Why did you leave? Where did you go? How is it that you were able to forget me?
A poignant, heartfelt new novel by the award-nominated author of Together Tea—extolled by the Wall Street Journal as a “moving tale of lost love” and by Shelf Awareness as “a powerful, heartbreaking story”—explores loss, reconciliation, and the quirks of fate.
RECENT WATCHES FOR MARCH & APRIL ||
Trust Me: The False Prophet (netflix)
Extremely difficult limited series to watch given the content, but interesting regardless. Documents the case building and ultimate FBI raid of an FDLS off-shoot in Arizona.
Virgin River (netflix)
They have a new season and I have been gradually working through the old seasons in preparation of a season 7 watch!
Noah Kahan: Out of Body (netflix)
……are y’all surprised? I hope not!
Seven Dials (netflix)
This show is extremely short (only three episodes) but excellent. Beautiful cinematography and lovely dialogue. I would completely recommend to any other fellow Agatha Christie fans out there!
Schitt’s Creek (hulu)
I have binged watched this series off and on since 2022-23. My old friend, Alex, introduced it to me in 2020, and its become a comfort show. I throw it on the big screen when I need some white noise.
unchosen (netflix)
Woah………..cannot recommend this, but did watch it and it was interesting…..pretty sure I zoned out in the last two episodes as I cannot recall how it ended.
FAVORITE LISTENS FOR MARCH & APRIL ||
kiss all the time, disco occasionally
His newest album dropped while I was in Florida for a family vacation and it took everything in me to not listen to it on repeat while at Universal!
THIS ALBUM MAY CONTAIN HOPE
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! NEW RAYE MUSIC RIGHT BEFORE OUR CONCERT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
| lowfi christian vibes |
feminist rage songs
Kingdom of Fear
The Great Divide: The Last of the Bugs
woah, there is so much meaning to mine here!
CURRENT READS ||
Below are some books I am currently reading! Of course, they are not utterly comprehensive as I have been adding on throughout the semester; this might be a benefit of adding me on Goodreads or on Fable (@emily ann) if to see my full list of current reads!
The Berry Pickers by Amanda Peters —
I found it strange that no word exists for a parent who loses a child. If children lose their parents, they are orphans. If a husband loses his wife, he’s a widower. But there’s no word for a parent who loses a child. I’ve come to believe that the event is just too big, too monstrous, too overwhelming for words. No word could ever describe the feeling, so we leave it unsaid.”
“The need for conformity and for the attention of others can lead to a life of misery.”
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Hararid
“Culture tends to argue that it forbids only that which is unnatural. But from a biological perspective, nothing is unnatural. Whatever is possible is by definition also natural. A truly unnatural behaviour, one that goes against the laws of nature, simply cannot exist, so it would need no prohibition.”
An Echo of Things to Come by James Islington
“The lesser of two evils, or the greater good. Get a good man to utter either of those phrases, and there is no one more eager to begin perpetrating evil.”
“I’m telling you that you should doubt—as I do my own beliefs. The day on which you decide not to question what you believe, is the day that you start making excuses for why you believe it.”
The Dragon Republic by R.F. Kuang
“People will seek to use you or destroy you. If you want to live, you must pick a side. So do not shirk from war, child. Do not flinch from suffering. When you hear screaming, run toward it.”
“If nothing lasted and the world did not exist, all that meant was that reality was not fixed. The illusion she lived in was fluid and mutable, and could be easily altered by someone willing to rewrite the script of reality.”
Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
“The bird, the pin, the song, the berries, the watch, the cracker, the dress that burst into flames. I am the mockingjay. The one that survived despite the Capitol's plans. The symbol of the rebellion.”
“At some point, you have to stop running and turn around and face whoever wants you dead. The hard thing is finding the courage to do it.”
final notes ||
coffee shops of the month: I have tried several coffee shops in the last few months. Ironically, the worst coffee of the last two months was the Starbucks cold brew at the Stella Nova Resort at Universal’s Epic Universe. It tasted like it was over steeped or something because it was just nasty. I think I threw my almost full drink away on Day 2 because it was not drinkable.
but DoublesDC has excellent coffee and a lovely back patio shared with the next-door neighbor, a pizza place. The vanilla latte is delicious, and the full-sized pizza is big enough to feed a small family haha!
Call Your Mother has several locations in the area. I visited the Old Town Alexandria location and got a delicious maple sausage bagel sandwich. I also got their seasonal cherry latte, which I was not a fan of; but, I should have anticipated that as I despise fake cherry flavors.
Hypergoat Coffee Roasters is also in Old Town, and is a lovely space for community and remote co-working. I got a seasonal latte (totally forget which one it was) which was phenomenal. I would make the drive out here again for the latte and good remote working space.
honorable mention:
I have to take a brief moment to highlight Universal’s Epic Universe! Opened less than a year ago, I went on a spontaneous trip with my dad and brother in early March. The park was absolutely phenomenal, totally living up to all the online hype. I will likely publish a how-to for all three parks (excluding Volcano Bay. My family is not a waterpark family by any means).