Hello. So much has changed in the two weeks since I last let my thoughts fly about how Covid-19 would be affecting us. For example, the store is now closed. We are still selling things online, though. Which has been super duper helpful in this time. Also! It will probably be something that we try to keep up with as time goes on! I’m learning that our little store is beloved by so much more than our community. In fact, most of my sales lately are going to people who live on either coast. Who knew?? I’m so pleasantly surprised.

Since closing the store, honestly… my stress levels have lowered significantly. It feels kind of backwards, right? Like, I should be more stressed out. But the constant wondering if I was putting my customers and everyone they love at risk by remaining open was keeping me up at night and tying my tummy up in knots. When the stay home order came down from our Governor I was upset for a few days feeling like, “Oh no! We’re going to lose everything! What will our days even look like?!” But after having lived a few of those days… it’s not so bad. I’m living it. It’s working. And I’m feeling very whatever will be will be. There’s nothing like encountering a global pandemic to really loosen your grip on control. Anyway, with all that said–here’s everything that I read in March. As always, all book links go to Libro.fm to the audiobook version. Buying books from Libro.fm helps support Twice Told Tales just as if you were buying from us in store!

If you read my last post, you’ll remember that I’ve been having trouble finding books that I’m LOVING lately. And this first book was no exception. I finished it because I kept hoping that it would redeem itself but I did not enjoy it. It’s called Separation Anxiety by Laura Zigman. I kept waiting for this main character to realize how maddeningly self-absorbed she was but apparently the author, nor anyone on her editorial team seemed to recognize it as her problem to be solved. SORRY! But I just really, really, really did not like it.
I gave this book 2 stars and I’m not sure I’ve ever done that before.

Five big fat juicy stars to Cameron Esposito for her memoir, Save Yourself. I related to this book so much. And I love Cameron Esposito’s comedy–I knew that her book would be incredible. It’s very funny and it’s full of so much heart. It deals with really painful stuff like religious trauma, sexual assault, body issues, eating disorders, and micro (and macro) aggressions that she’s suffered as a gay woman in the world and in the world of comedy. She deals with hard topics with so much sensitivity–but not in a way that makes you feel like this person is going out of their way to show off their wokeness (which–you know it when you see it) but in a way that is absolutely reasonable and is full of compassion. I loved this. I want her to write another one starting yesterday. I’ll buy everything Cameron Esposito writes forever amen.

I picked up Valentine by Elizabeth Wetmore because I was just dying for a new audiobook and I wanted something with some substance. When I started this book, Covid-19 seemed very far away and something to be aware of but not something that would be much of an issue. By the end, our shop was closed and we haven’t touched a friend in weeks. So, like, there was a lot going on. And this book is… heavy. If I would have read it at any other time in life, I probably would have devoured it and loved every minute of it. But as it was, I just wanted it to be over so that I could get my brain into a happier space.
This author does an incredible job at writing characters and really sinking you down into a place. The majority of this book takes place in the heat of a Texas summer and boy do you feel it–the desperation, the sweat, the thirst. I’m going to recommend reading this one in the middle of a winter. So, with all that in mind, I did give the book four stars even though I kind of was not feeling it by the end. Also, I did not enjoy the narrator. I’d recommend picking up the physical copy of this one.

Since I was in desperate need of total fluff and predictability, I grabbed, Not The Girl You Marry by Andie J Christopher. This book was an absolute retelling of How To Lose a Guy in Ten Days. It was exactly what I wanted: fun, trauma-free, drama-filled, raunchy and absolutely, completely predictable. No surprises. I gave it four stars. It would have been five stars but there were some annoying writerly things like using a clever and unusual turn of phrase… and then using it again, another time or two in the same chapter? But that’s just me.

Currently:

I just started a new book called In Five Years by Rebecca Serle. I’m not far into it but it’s giving me Oona Out of Order and What Alice Forgot vibes. I’m excited to let you know if I was accurate about that.

The Body is Not an Apology is a book that we’re reading for a virtual book club for the Empowerment Studio Patreon community! Only $1/ mo gets you in!

What are you reading? What have you loved reading lately?