Data, A Love Story by Amy Webb

One Plus One by Jojo Moyes

The Night Bookmobile by Audrey Niffenegger

Body of a Girl by Leah Stewart

Landline by Rainbow Rowell

The Girl in 6E by AR Torre

This book is bonkers. Read in one day, this one would have slipped through the cracks in my memory if I hadn't written it down. Perhaps because the premise is so disturbing.

Martian by Andy Weir

The Distance by Helen Giltrow

The End of Everything by Megan Abbott

Bait by Alex Sanchez

Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli

The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint Exupery

You by Caroline Kepnes

2.333 years later...

I'm attempting a return. As I look at my 2012 "proverbial nightstand" books, I have read exactly 5.5 of those listed. Before it gets updated, I'll briefly comment randomly on a few...

• Paradox of Choice is literally sitting on my bedside table at this very moment. 
• Due to highly emotional events, Freedom is waiting for the perfect chunk of time to devote to reminiscing and digesting. 
• Toni Morrison's Mercy disappointed me, and I haven't returned to her since. 
• Three Lives was fantastic (as Gertrude always is). 
• Michael Connelly is now a bona fide favorite. Thrillers, in general, are garnering quite a bit of my attention. Guilty pleasures no longer exist for me in "pop" culture. No guilt in leisure or entertainment. 
• Since leaving teaching, authors like Sharon Creech and Lois Lowry don't populate my everyday. 

Whether I post actual reviews of every book read, or just list titles and write about those that truly strike me is yet to be determined. 

Earlier this year I found #The100DayProject, deciding to make something tangible (or work on making those somethings) every single day. While I'm no longer struggling with the daily part, I have once again come to value accountability when it comes to creativity. (Random tangential update: I'm now gainfully employed as an actor and a producer. As that is now my "work," performing and/or rehearsal does not count. Though it is making and creating, it seems to be a cheat.) 

Recently I've also been reviewing my journals and notebooks. My collection spans back to 1996 and has seen many seasons of depth, frequency, and subjects. Lately everything seems to be related to teaching class, rehearsal, and show notes....as evidenced by my clunky use of bullet points, parenthesis, and verb tenses above. While I don't have any ultimate goals with this, I'd like to once again be a writer. Developing the practice will hopefully inspire things bigger and brighter. 

(Lies: I've never written a philosophy of education paper. Ditto on the craft of acting. Now that I'm again teaching improv, it's high time I not only be able to articulate my own notions on one or the other, but succinctly define my own theoretical basis for each thing.)  

 (apropos, as Allende is one of my favorites)