I'm Baaaaaaack

Wellllll hello there! I'm back after a brief hiatus for travel and work and generally preserving my sanity, but I've missed ya'll and all our talk of books. I'm gearing up for the Readathon this weekend (are you participating? If not, fix that here! Oh, and you can also sign up to cheerlead here.) and can't wait for an entire day dedicated to reading, reading, and more reading.

The past few weeks have been hectic but generally good. A short photo summation:

Wedding in CT

Conference in AZ

This was the first work conference I've ever attended where I had a moment of pure clarity, knowing I was doing what I wanted to be doing and happy in my choices.

Half Marathon in MD

BOOM. Beat my previous half PR by a little over 5 minutes, and this course was damn freaking hilly.

Oh yeah and in between all of that, the cat went missing for a few days--but she's home now and no worse for wear. Thanks to all for the well wishes and support and shares while she was a-wandering.

I didn't read all that much these past few weeks, just barely keeping my head above water on review deadlines. I did read (and love) The Japanese Lover, the newest by Isabel Allende, and I devoured Hotels of North America on the flight home from Arizona (told as a series of hotel reviews, it's a fascinating construction for a short novel and totally works, especially if you like novels that break the rules a bit on format and structure). Look for both in November. On my headphones, I cycled through Uprooted--a refreshing take on classic magic myth stories--and Sharp Objects, by Gillian Flynn--a messed up story of family and murder that had me hooked to the very end. In between, I'm still reading bits of The Heart Goes Last by Margaret Atwood, mostly because I'll read anything and everything Atwood writes.

What's everyone else been up to? Reading anything fabulous? Prepping for anything amazing, in reading or in life?