End of June | 2024

A roundup of mundane magic and books I finished this month

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Today's post has a quick check-in, followed by the end-of-the-month roundup of mundane magic moments, links I loved, and books I finished. The sections are clearly marked, so feel free to jump ahead (today’s post is actually very book-heavy and link-less).

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You may or may not have noticed that I neglected to post the last two weeks — either way, I hope it came as a welcome reprieve to have one less thing cluttering your inbox.

I’ve been a bit busier than I’d planned. My (very wonderful) cousin is visiting from out of state, my daughter finished pre-k for the year, and we all got strep. I’ve been doing a lot of reading, a bit of crafting, and otherwise trying to rest as much as possible.

Today we’re throwing my youngest an early birthday party, so I’m going to keep this short as I spent yesterday disinfecting instead of writing like I’d planned. I don’t have the time or energy for links, and most of my reading this month has been offline anyway, so I’ll share those later on. I hope you find something to love below!

✨️ Mundane Magics ✨️

• Drawing: I’ve been doing some more sketching here and there, and I forgot how easily I can get absorbed in it (and I still struggle with proportions).

• Reading: The kids have finally started getting excited about reading with us again, so we’ve been reading just about every night before bed and taking full advantage of Sybi’s new library card, and it’s been lovely. I’ve also read a lot on my own this month — many were shorter books, as you'll see below, but it was a great reading month. I’m feeling much more like myself and so satisfied when I spend more time doing things like this.

• Birds and the garden: this will probably surprise no one, but I’ve been loving watching the birds at our feeders (and the squirrels, honestly) and checking on my plants. I am not the most confident that all of our seedlings will actually get big enough to flower, because some of them seem to be coming up so slowly, but our hanging plants are growing very well.

• Knitting socks: A very sweet woman named Maria who comes to our craft club at the library asked me a while back if I’d like to start knitting two-at-a-time socks with her, and this month, we did! She struggled with hers, as we were each trying different methods, but I thankfully got past the cast on and mine are coming along. I haven’t been able to do a ton of knitting or crocheting without my neck bothering me, so I’m taking it slow.

• Embroidery: I finished my embroidered shorts! I’m happy with them and excited to get the back of the stitches covered so I can start wearing them comfortably.

• My cousin visiting: We only get to see Neesha and her son once a year (or, rather, usually a couple of times during one longer visit each year) and it’s always one of the highlights of my summer. This year we had planned extra visit days and then illnesses got in the way, so we’re still only getting two days together, but I’ve loved every minute.

A photo of us at my parents’ house. From left to right is my mom, my sister, me, and my cousin.

Books I Finished

• New and Selected Poems, Volume Two by Mary Oliver: This was given to me by Jon’s grandmother before she passed, and I already knew I loved Mary Oliver, but it felt particularly special to read it knowing it was a gift from Lois as well.

• Small Cures by Della Hicks-Wilson: This was a reread, and a welcome one. It’s the kind of short and simple poetry that’s easily digestible but still holds a lot of meaning.

• Stolen Focus: Why You Can’t Pay Attention — and How to Think Deeply Again by Johann Hari: I recommend this with quibbles, as the author is clearly fatphobic and unfortunately compares obes*ty with attention struggles, which I very much don’t appreciate. The book also contains a section on ADHD which, from my perspective, felt very dismissive and biased. If I could remove those parts entirely, I’d say it’s a wonderful book, because there’s a lot of great insight about attention and I think it’s very helpful.

• The Book of Thorns by Hester Fox: I’ve been waiting for this one. I have read all of Hester Fox’s books so far, and while this wasn’t my absolute favourite out of all of them, I still deeply enjoyed it. It was especially interesting to read alongside my slow-read of War and Peace, given the setting.

• Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer: I’ve been looking forward to this book since I first heard about it, and I know I’m late to the party, but if you haven’t read it yet, I definitely recommend it. It was a beautiful weaving of science and traditional wisdom, and I found it deeply moving.

• The House at the Edge of Magic by Amy Sparkes: I have really been enjoying my intentional choosing of certain middle-grade titles. This was such a funny and sweet story, and I’m looking forward to reading the others in the series.

• The Tea Dragon Society (series) by K. O’Neill: I recently discovered that graphic novels come in genres other than superheroes (who knew?!) and my life is forever changed. I probably should have realized this sooner, but I was actually reading some without knowing it through the Webtoons app (anyone familiar with Lore Olympus?) I definitely prefer being able to read these in book form rather than waiting for installments, and this particular set was so precious that after borrowing the first through Libby, I immediately ordered the set so I can reread them anytime I want. The definition of comfort books, and such beautiful artwork.

• The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab: I’ve been a fan of Schwab’s work since I read her Darker Shade of Magic series a couple years ago. I really enjoy the way she plays with different magic types, and this story was so interesting. It took me a bit longer than I expected to get fully engaged, but it was worth it.

• What Makes You Bloom: Cultivating a Practice for Connecting with Your Divine Self by Kevin Miguel Garcia: I wish I’d found this book years ago. I’ve done a lot of this work on my own already, so it wasn’t as helpful for me as it could’ve been, though some of it was a nice reminder, and I love Kevin’s writing voice even though parts felt a bit repetitive. I’d recommend to someone more freshly deconstructing from a high control religion.

• Dead in the Garden by Dahlia Donovan: I loved this sweet, cozy mystery so much. The author is autistic and wrote a beautiful, supportive relationship between the main character and his autistic partner. Note: this book ends on a terrible cliffhanger, and from what I gather, the second one does as well. I ended up purchasing a three-in-one book version of the set so that I can finish it very soon.

• The Allergy-Fighting Garden: Stop Asthma and Allergies with Smart Landscaping by Thomas Leo Ogren: I’m including this for anyone who has been struggling with allergies as much as I have been and is also interested in gardening. It may be a small niche, but I thought this was a helpful reference book, and I think I’ll purchase a copy to keep on hand for future gardening plans.

• Love by Design: 6 Ingredients to Build a Lifetime of Love by Sara Nasserzadeh: Many of you might remember that my husband and I were struggling with feeling very disconnected from each other, and we’ve been working on our relationship.
  This book has so many practical exercises for us to do together as well as reminders about the things we love about each other. I think it’s something I’ll come back to again and again as we get to know each other again.

• The Essential Emily Dickinson by Emily Dickinson: I suppose this one probably speaks for itself. I can’t say I fully understand all of Dickinson’s poetry, but I do enjoy it. I think this collection is a great one for people who are generally familiar but want to explore more of her work.

• Gwen & Art Are Not in Love by Lex Croucher: This was a delight. I found Arthur’s character a bit annoying at first, but I think there’s a lovely character arc, and I love the relationships in this queer romance. It’s not a retelling of King Arthur so much as a continuation set a couple hundred years later, which worked for me.

• Garlic & the Vampire and Garlic & the Witch by Bree Paulsen: I was so enamoured by The Tea Dragon Society that I immediately began compiling a list of other graphic novels to keep on hand for when I want a good visual story, and these were at the top. I will likely buy hard copies to keep around for rereading, because they are so delightful.

• Inward by Yung Pueblo: I had this poetry collection on my shelf since before we moved house about three years ago and never finished it because of all the upheaval. I know that a lot of people are probably familiar with his work, so I’ll just say that some of it felt a bit more self-help-y than poetic, and I think it would make more sense for him to combine genres than to pass it all off as poetry, but I also think it’s meaningful and contains a lot of good reminders.

• Discover Your Creative Ecosystem by

  Sarah Shotts
  : I’ve been working through this slowly (as it was designed), and I loved the framing of our creativity and everything that relates to it as an ecosystem. The book has beautiful visuals and helpful exercises to explore your own creative ecosystem and what helps it thrive. It’s one I’ll definitely revisit (I’m still working on my map and will share when I get more time for drawing).

• Every Poem a Potion, Every Song a Spell by Stephanie Parent: This is a poetry collection entirely based on faerie tales — the old-school, darker kind — and I found it really interesting despite not being very familiar with every story. There are overarching themes that are recognizable even without having read all the original tales. I actually won a digital copy of this from StoryGraph, the app I use to keep track of my tbr and reading for the year, and it’s the first time I’ve won something, which made it all the more exciting.

• The Midnight Library by Matt Haig: I was so excited to finally get to this book and was not disappointed. It wasn’t exactly what I expected, but then I’m not sure what I was expecting. I think it’s beautifully and thoughtfully written. Note: I did see a review from someone who said they hate this book because they felt that it makes it seem like you can cure depression with a simple change in perspective, and while I can understand how it was read that way, I personally felt very differently about the message it was sending. Please take care if you are triggered by stories about suicide.

I hope you had a wonderful June! I’d love to hear from you in the comments. And as always, feel free to share if this resonated with you!