The whole “Editor is on hiatus 💜” thing? What a joke.
I mean, I AM. But I’m also not. Between beta reads for 2+ friends, two sneaky poetry edits, and a glorious fantasy novel, this editor is keeping her dreams alive by the skin of her teeth. Work/life balance? Never heard of her.
I kid. To be fair, I’m finding a balance between 3 part-time work contracts, one upper-level course, and a little editing on the side. I promise I even find time to have fun. Climbing on the evenings and weekends, video games for a little unwinding, and I’ve naturally found time to read too. See?
That’s 15 books, in case you struggle with numbers like I do. There’s even 2 non-fiction titles in there; who even am I? Not bad for one quarter of the year! I won’t be getting anywhere as close to 100 books in a year as I was last year, but given everything on my plate, I’ve made my peace with that. The honourable mentions:
- When Religion Hurts You by Laura E. Anderson (non-fiction)
This isn’t the first time I’ve read or listened to media about religious trauma and it won’t be the last, but if you grew up in a highly conservative religious context and have been struggling with aspects of that belief system — or turned your back on it entirely — this might be the voice of wisdom, empathy, and healing that you need to hear too. I won’t pretend that Anderson offers solutions to anything; this isn’t a self-help book. It’s a book about research and facts and data, presented in an approachable way even if you never took a statistics class.
- Truly Devious by Maureen Johnson (YA murder mystery)
The Truly Devious series rekindled my love for murder mysteries in a way I didn’t anticipate. It’s been years since I devoured the entire Patrick Bower Files series by Steven James and spent evenings binging Criminial Minds and envisioning myself as a homicide detective (yes, you can laugh with me at the idea of me working in law enforcement). Stevie and co. reminded me of what drew me to the genre back then, and why it keeps pulling me back in now.
- The Man Who Died Twice by Richard Osman (Adult murder mystery)
Speaking of murder mysteries, I’ve raved about The Thursday Murder Club (TMC) before, so this should come as a surprise to no one. The Man Who Died Twice, Osman’s follow up of TMC, is another murder mystery for those who aren’t necessarily into the genre but enjoy a good dose of humour, intrigue, and adventure. A group of friends who all live at the same seniors’ home getting together to solve local crimes? If that’s not enough for you, there will be wine, more of Joyce’s diary entries, and the epic backstory of a retired spy — oodles of fun, and endless respect for what it looks like to grow old in this western world.
