In case you missed it, an easy digest of Elza’s recent reads, latest news, and favorite blogging highlights!
Catch up on what I’ve been busy with this January & February, including:
New Years’ Changes
- I decided to take a break in maintaining my personal Instagram account. Curating my feed in 2022 with a gradient of rainbow-colored posts was a whole lot of fun, but I’m ready for something different and new. If you want to keep up with what I’m thinking, reading, doing, and creating, make sure you’re following me here on the blog.
- If you’re familiar with the Middle Grade blog I co-host, you probably noticed a few updates that rolled out in January, including some improvements to the graphics. I’m always delighted to see my skills changing and improving and being put to good use.
- To be totally cliché, shortly after the start of January I did a minor overhaul of my office space—which has simultaneously been a huge distraction and refreshing change of scenery. When you work from home, sometimes moving a desk and switching to better lightbulbs is an exciting change of pace.
Favorite Things
- I recently was invited to a new D&D campaign and have been enjoying the chaos of learning how to play as a Warlock for the first time. Fear me; I have no idea what I’m doing.
- Winter has gotten me right in the nostalgia! I’ve been revisiting old interests, listening to baroque music and Owl City on heavy rotation, playing the new and improved Nintendo Switch update of Oregon Trail, and reading Jane Austen.
Reading Highlights
I love starting a challenge, so hitting January 1 with a fresh stack of books to read and a brand new goal for the year has been a lot of fun. Here are a few of my favorite books from the recent reading pile.
Operation Sisterhood
Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich
Moving in with her mom’s boyfriend Bill and becoming part of an offbeat new family has Bo feeling out of sync. Their new brownstone home is packed with freeschooling sisters, a veritable menagerie of unusual pets, and little time to process all of the changes Bo isn’t sure she’s prepared to embrace.
Tumble & Blue
Cassie Beasley
Blue Montgomery can’t win. It doesn’t matter how hard he tries—it’s just his fate. But a fate can be changed. Soon after his arrival at his grandmother’s house, more family gathers to the Okefenokee in wait of the red crescent moon. Maybe this is why Blue’s dad left him.
Tumble Wilson is training to be a hero. Her attempts have always gone a little bit sideways, but nothing can extinguish her spirit. Except, maybe, her parents moving to a remote little house on the edge of a swamp. Is there anyone she can save in a place like this?
Other Recent Reads:
- The Bone Garden by Heather Kassner
- Cinders & Sparrows by Stefan Bachmann
- Frogkisser! by Garth Nix
- James Acaster’s Classic Scrapes by James Acaster
- Mansfield Park by Jane Austen
- The Wingsnatchers by Sarah Jean Horwitz
Middle Grade Book Bingo
I did manage to earn a BINGO for Middle Grade Carousel’s Book Bingo reading challenge, which is my favorite way to stay motivated about my reading goals. Hopefully it won’t be too long before I hit my first major goal of 10/10 books for 2023!
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Elza Kinde 