Skirts with Pockets
Welcome to Skirts with Pockets, a weekly collection of the online articles, websites, and other links that I've loved and now want to share with you. Please excuse any stray candy wrappers that fall to the ground as I empty my virtual pockets.
► Daring Fireball | The Deck, Adieu
Some of my favorite sites of the last decade were supported by ads from The Deck, and I always thought well of both sides of that partnership—the authors for choosing a classy ad platform and the ad platform for being classy. It was nice to hear that so many authors valued that partnership, as well.
► See One, Do One, Teach One
I subscribe to Paul's email newsletter (from two different email accounts! and I don't even mind!), and while he always has interesting stuff to share, this particular piece really stuck with me. I get stuck in the "see one" phase a lot and am too scared to "do one" and definitely not brave enough to "teach one." (In fact, I've been trying to come up with an online class or ebook I could offer to make some extra money, and I keep telling myself I don't have anything to teach.) As always, I am grateful for the reminder to do more—more succeeding and more failing.
► John Coltrane Draws a Picture Illustrating the Mathematics of Music
I found joy in doing ratios with my dad long before I learned to appreciate piano lessons, but I've always loved math and music fiercely—and the fact that the two are linked.
► How Poverty Changes the Brain
There is no way I can relate to someone who grew up in poverty, but I do relate to getting overwhelmed by stress and anxiety to the point where I cannot rationally break down big problems into manageable steps. Working on it. But I'm fascinated (and delighted) to learn that people are studying this phenomenon and hoping to help break the cycle of generational poverty using science.
► Ethan Marcotte | Device Intervention
Until I moved to rural Tennessee, I had never experienced really bad Internet connections on a long-term basis. Do you know how fun it is to watch every frame of every animated GIF load on Twitter or Tumblr? It is zero fun. Think of me and my fellow cave trolls next time you build a site entirely out of video backgrounds and gigantic parallax images and bloated WordPress plug-ins.
► Vintage Illustrations for Tolkien's The Hobbit from Around the World
This. This. This. More of this.
2017 Book Reviews
For the most part, I have given up on New Year's resolutions and have come to accept the fact that it doesn't help anyone if I get in the habit of lying to myself every December. But some primal part of me cannot let go of the idea that I want to read more books in the coming year, so I always set my Goodreads goal way too high. Do I have time to read fifty books in a year? Absolutely. Do I put off reading in favor of Netflix or podcasts or Stardew Valley instead? Absolutely.
Anyway, it does not surprise me at all that I am behind on my goal, but I am pleasantly surprised to have have finished ten books before May. In celebration, I decided to do a quick review of what I've read so far.
(I've included Amazon affiliate links to each review because I'm saving up for a couch the dumbest way possible. However, none of the reviews are sponsored in any way. I got these books from the library because I wanted to read them.)
Never Too Busy to Cure Clutter: Simplify Your Life One Minute at a Time
by Erin Rooney Doland
Maybe I would've liked a physical, printed version of this book better, but the Kindle version just didn't work for me. The formatting is weird, there are numerous references to page numbers from the print edition that don't match up in the digital one, and most of the book is a giant checklist that cannot be marked up electronically. I did manage to pick up several tips and ideas for organizing and uncluttering, but I still feel like Marie Kondo's book was much more effective in terms of inspiring lifelong change.
★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆
Landline
by Rainbow Rowell
Yes, there are three Rainbow Rowell titles in this list. Her books are recommended all the time by people whose opinions I trust on these things. This particular book was a bit of a flop for me, though. I liked the plot well enough (wibbly wobbly time travel!) but just didn't really like the characters. Or maybe I just wasn't in the mood to read about someone else's complicated family dynamics. Either way, not my fave Rowell book.
★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆
The Nest
by Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney
Loved the storytelling, loved the plot (at least in concept), spent most of the book wanting to strangle every character except maybe Bea. The characters were written well, but at the time, I was using up all of my energy being patient with my own family and really didn't enjoy needing to extend more patience to fictional humans.
★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆
Fangirl
by Rainbow Rowell
I was glad that I read Carry On first because I felt like I knew the "story within the story." Even without that, though, this was a cute and lighthearted story that I absolutely devoured. (And no, I have never written fanfic about the Lord of the Rings trilogy, and I never plan to. Sorry!) Someone else has described Rainbow Rowell's stories as "comfort food in book form," and that's exactly how I felt about this book.
★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
Adulthood Is a Myth
by Sarah Andersen
Sarah Andersen perfectly captures the humor in the craziness of adulthood and its many uncomfortable moments, and I'm so glad I get to read her comics over and over in this book. If you struggle with social anxiety, PMS, procrastination, women's clothing sizing, dating, making friends as an adult, or really just being an adult, you will find something to enjoy in this collection.
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
The Power of Habit
by Charles Duhigg
Pretty sure I'm going to purchase this book, so I can read it again later (and reference some highlighted sections regularly). I thought this was going to be a surface-level inspirational book about habits, but it really dug into the science and study of how memories work, how habits are developed, how we can overwrite bad habits with good ones, and so forth. Of course, it was still very inspiring (yo, check out these semi-regular blog posts and my new habit of meal planning), and as a bonus, I got to misread "habit" as "Hobbit" like a thousand times.
★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
The Girl on the Train
by Paula Hawkins
When I first started reading this book, I thought, "Oh no, the girl named Rachel is the one who makes up stories about people she sees every day. I do the same thing. WHY." (And then I blogged about that.) But as the story progressed, I found myself way less worried about being like the fictional Rachel and way more engrossed with the tangled mess created by all of the horrifying-in-a-good-way narrators. It is not the kind of book I pick up normally, but I'm glad I did. The story stuck with me for weeks after I finished reading the last chapter.
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
The Sun Is Also a Star
by Nicola Yoon
I read this shortly after finishing The Girl on the Train, and I was nervous to experience another story told by many, many narrators. However, this book was charming, the choice of narrators was often unexpected and refreshing, and I stayed up way too late to finish it in one night. I could not put it down.
★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
Modern Romance
by Aziz Ansari
First of all, I had no idea what to expect when I started this book. I assumed it'd be another "here's how I got into comedy, but also enjoy some funny stories about me and my friends!" book, but it is absolutely not that. It's a well-researched look at how texting, emailing, social media, and the Internet as a whole have changed relationships and dating and marriage. (My boyfriend and I met on Twitter, so I was not at all disappointed by this surprise.) Aziz's humor really keeps the book alive, but it still fell short for me in a few places and failed to win me over as a whole.
★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆
Attachments
by Rainbow Rowell
I had to laugh that I started reading this book at work while I had nothing to do, and a few chapters in, the main character complained about being paid to do nothing at his job (and explaining how exhausting that can be). Bro, I hear you. Also, I couldn't put this book down. The story perfectly summed up the struggles of moving out of a parents' house in your late twenties, trying to shake off the ghost of early college break-ups, making friends after college, and falling in love in a very unconventional way. Cutest story, sweetest characters, will definitely read this again.
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Rachelskirts is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.
Ice Cream for Dinner
I could write five chapters on Easter Sunday and the hilarity that ensued from beginning to end, but the best part was going out to get ice cream for dinner with my grandparents and my grandpa getting out of the car in his slippers (to the surprise and horror of my grandma) and then somehow making it all the way back home before realizing he'd lost a slipper along the way like gosh dang Cinderella.
I'm living in a sitcom over here, y'all, and I absolutely love it.
P.S. Happy ninetieth birthday, Grandma!