Friday Reads 6.14.24

So many books, so little time...

Happy Friday, all! It’s been a ridiculously busy book and writing week, with a ton of back-end work and movement on the new book. In between it all (and thanks to the UT Volunteers baseball team and the Dodgers-Yankees series), I managed to get some reading done!

I finished Holly Black’s THE STOLEN HEIR and immediately launched into the second book in the duology, THE PRISONER’S THRONE. I really love Oak, really love Wren, really love Elfhame. It’s a dynamic world and full of really fun fairy mythology.

Then I switched gears to Mary Kubica’s SHE’S NOT SORRY, and I am not sorry I did. It’s classic Kubica, with an everywoman character who is so relatable. Truly Mary’s writing strength is creating people we care for and root for.

I’m listening to Oliver Burkeman’s FOUR THOUSAND HOURS (I got it from the library, and I recognize the irony of listening to something, which takes longer than reading the book, when we’re discussing how little time we really have on this earth.) But I wanted to read it because I ran across his 3:3:3 concept last week and wanted to explore it further.

• “Spend three hours on my most important current project*, having defined some kind of specific goal for the progress I aim to make on it that day.”

  • *This is clearly the new book I’m drafting. Three solid hours of writing time nets a LOT of words.

• “Complete three shorter tasks*, usually urgent to-dos or 'sticky' tasks I've been avoiding, usually just a few minutes each (I count calls and meetings here too).”  

  • *Usually, my side gig work for Two Tales Press, newsletters, social media, or this Substack. Not work I avoid at all, it just piles up. I normally dedicate Fridays to this but it’s been leaking in throughout the week. Probably better to hit it every day.

• “Dedicate time to three ‘maintenance activities,’* things that need my daily attention in order to keep life running smoothly.”

  • *PT, yoga, exercise, reading, housework, cooking, etc.

This is an eminently reasonable and doable approach to the workday. My biggest issue is my best creative time is in the afternoon. What I like about this is he’s not saying I have to do the three hours of most important work first, only that 3 hours need to be dedicated to that task. He also points out that almost all artists have a 3-4 hour creativity window, after which the quality and focus drops off. Very cool.

I also grabbed Christian Cooper’s BETTER LIVING THROUGH BIRDING that Brandee recommended last week, and because I was rooting for Dornoch to win the Belmont Stakes (because Scottish names) and found out Rosamund Pilcher’s last book, WINTER SOLSTICE, is set in Dornoch, I got that one too.

Meanwhile… it’s been a huge release week in bookland. Congrats to all these amazing writers on their books this week. My TBR is getting out of control…

• Kimberley Belle - THE PARIS WIDOW

• Meg Gardiner - SHADOW HEART

• Melissa Collins - THE FALSE FLAT

• Rachel Howzell Hall - WHAT FIRE BRINGS

• Emily Ley - YOU’LL ALWAYS HAVE A FRIEND

• Kerry Lonsdale - FIND ME IN CALIFORNIA

• Ryan Steck - OUT FOR BLOOD

• Elin Hilderbrand - SWAN SONG

Happy Father’s Day to all the great daddies out there, especially mine!

That’s it from me. How about you? How has it been going? I’d love to hear what you’re reading this weekend! Any recommendations?