currently reading: I’m listening to the audio book for Uncultured, by Daniella Mestyanek Young, about a woman who was raised as part of a religious cult in Brazil. It’s read by the author, but it’s not easy to listen to. As a child she was physically, emotionally, and sexually abused. I came upon a scene last week where as a child, she had fallen and cut herself very badly. They ended up having to take her to the hospital, but the adults are all refusing any anesthetic on her part, leading the doctors and nurses to accuse them of abusing her. Meanwhile, she is lying there in extreme pain as the adults argue about her, feeling shame and wondering what she had done that was so wrong that God had to punish her like that. She does eventually get out of the cult (obviously, or she wouldn’t have written about it), but I think there’s still a lot of difficult years before we get to the end of the book. It’s challenging to read, but it’s lovely too, and I can’t wait to hear about better days for Young.

I’m also reading the new Cat’s Cafe book, out this Tuesday. It’s called One Cup at a Time and features more comics of animals helping each other through difficult moments. I love these books, although this one seems a little more serious, dealing with some deeper issues. But it’s still completely charming.

This September has been a tough one, so I’ve also been listening to audiobooks from funny women, and I am loving those. There is Jenny Lawson’s Let’s Pretend This Never Happened, read by her. I Remember Nothing by Nora Ephron, read by her. And Louise Rennison’s On the Bright Side, I’m Now the Girlfriend of a Sex God, read by someone other than author. But still lots of fun.

I can’t promise to post reviews every night this week. It will be another really difficult week at work (the last one for a while, I think). And I’m dealing with the effects of Covid and the weather (seasonal allergies, which are at their worst when transitioning from one season to another). So I will try, but I can’t make any promises this week.

Up next: I barely know which way is up right now, but soon I will get to read the new Sonali Dev, The Vibrant Years, which is the first book that’s a part of Mindy Kaling’s collaboration with Amazon, Mindy’s Book Studio. It comes out December 1, so watch for it then! I’m excited to get a chance to read it!