a lifelong learner in space
It’s hard to believe that it’s already been a year since we relocated from Lampang, Thailand back to Siem Reap, Cambodia. In many ways, it’s like catching up with an old friend to discover how much the both of you have changed. The first three months were the hardest, from the startup costs, to the…
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Happy Summer! 🌞 June was all about Ken Follett’s The Pillars of the Earth, all 1243 pages of it, and taking a break from writing. The Pillars of the Earth was an absolute saga published in 1989, set in 12th century England. It became a mini-series and even a video game. It’s history, cathedral building,…
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The Three Body Problem is an award winning sci-fi novel written by Chinese computer engineer and writer Liu Cixin. I was in the middle of reading it when I came across comments around the internet from folks who confessed that they couldn’t finish the book. As a result, I feel pretty smug and satisfied that…
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I’ve been blogging since 2009 and Substacking since January 2024, so I’m not sure if this is a fair comparison. But ever since MailerLite and TinyLetter closed its doors, I needed to find a new newsletter platform, and Substack has been on my radar for some time. My newsletter, No Girl is an Island, which…
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After such a great reading start to the year, I just couldn’t find THE NEXT ONE — but I got there, eventually. As I mentioned last month, I started Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries with low expectations, and try as I might, I couldn’t get into it. I’m not sure if it is considered YA,…
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“Don’t try to be different. Just be good. To be good is different enough.” – Arthur Freed I’ve got two fantastic historical fiction novel recommendations for you this month. First up, Clytemnestra by Costanza Casati. I absolutely love these retellings of Greek myths. And since I’m a big fan of Madeline Miller’s Song of Achilles,…
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I’ve got books for you, and a review of how my Substack is doing so far… I’ve decided I like nonfiction adventure stories, and I say this because even though I have been reading this genre, it hasn’t been something that I’ve consciously recognized — or appreciated. Some notables that come to mind are: //…
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Looking back at your reading year is the same as looking back at photos. It captures the lifetimes you lived through books! Plus, bellyflops under the guise of “life updates”! Apparently, I read the same amount of books as last year – 19, but about a thousand pages less. Boooo. Well, I moved countries and…
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Did you know there’s a phenomenon called shit life syndrome or SLS? You didn’t, but you did, right? It’s rather remarkable that in 2023, with all the technological advancements, that we still have wars, worldwide serfdom, and an elite ruling class. As a child of the 80s, it felt like we were both running towards…
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The Covenant of Water is the best book! And The Muffin Man is a must-eat in Siem Reap. But first, to the reads! The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese is an incredible epic that centers around a family in Kerela, India from 1900 to 1977. All the characters and their storylines were fascinating. I…
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Siem Reap is a haven for vegans. Who knew? But if you’re here for the books, and not those annoying healthy people, then rest assured, the reading roundup is first! Many moons ago, I mentioned this beauty, The Seven (or 7½) Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton. It’s, by far, one of the most…
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My life has completely changed, so why not switch up the blog, too? // Reading Roundup posts were my solution to keeping the blog active during those years where my free time was limited. // I also felt burnt out in Thailand, so I wasn’t inspired to post often. // But now that we’ve moved…
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It’s been a while, hasn’t it? But I am back, and with lots of news. But first — the reads! While traveling, I continued with Megan Whalen Turner’s The Thief series, specifically, The King of Attolia. I thought this would be a great travel read since I was well into the story line, but it…
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Whew. I can’t believe we’re halfway through the year! It was a good month for books, too. Once Upon a River by Diane Setterfield is a mystery that starts with a young girl being “saved” from drowning in the Thames River. But the peculiar thing is she appears to be dead — until she’s not.…
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We’re midway through 2023, yo! And what a month it’s been. But first up, The Red Tent by Anita Diamant, a popular book that I remember seeing everywhere from my youth. The story centers around Dinah from the book of Genesis. She’s the daughter of Leah and Jacob, and sister to the famous Joseph (who…
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This month I read three bestsellers with three very different female protagonists. Discovered Bionic Reading®, The Last of England, and more. I clock in so much time searching and reading that I can’t remember how I first heard of this unique novel. Perhaps from one of you, dear readers. Yes, let’s go with that. Convenience…
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How has the internet changed our brains? There’s been plenty of finger pointing and talk about the adverse effects of social media, but how have we become rewired since the internet sat us down? Are we addicted? Or is that an utterly absurd statement since we need the internet like we need electricity? According to…
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This month let’s give thanks to our reading brain! I needed a nonfiction fix, so I perused my Kindle library and found Proust and the Squid: The Story and Science of the Reading Brain by Maryann Wolf. “WE WERE NEVER BORN TO READ. Human beings invented reading only a few thousand years ago. And with…
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The weird thing about being vegan is everyone else’s reaction. After three years of veganism in Thailand, it’s been an interesting journey into a subculture that I’d otherwise be pretty ignorant about. Prior to our decision, we considered ourselves fairly balanced and healthy, but afterwards, we see ourselves as lifelong students always expanding our knowledge…
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Apparently, I’m the only person who didn’t read Station Eleven during the pandemic… Published in 2014, Emily St. John Mandel’s post-pandemic world was ahead of its time. And it was rediscovered during Covid-19 as not only brilliant, but thank-god-ours-isn’t-as-bad-as-this-one. Yeahhh, I don’t think I’d have read it exactly that way. I did become even more…
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This year I’m going to try something different. Besides books, I’d like to share essays I’ve read from around the web, as well as any novels I stopped reading. When I joined StoryGraph, I found that to be an interesting option, so why not include them as well? The Rook by Australian author, Daniel O’…
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I read 19 books in 2022, my least amount in years, but that’s okay, I was busy teaching third graders. Ha! But before we look back at this reading year, I wanted to share my December read, The Waxing Moon: Volume 1 of The Areekyan Chronicles Trilogy by my friend Barry S. Marwick. First of…
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1 // MUSIC This year I returned to bluegrass, a genre that I fell in love with post-undergrad years while living in the American Southwest. It’s been a beautiful reunion, and I happily discovered what my old favorites were up to now: Chris Thile in Punch Brothers and Sara Watkins in I’m With Her. This…
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Do you consider yourself a slow or fast reader? I’m a slow one, and I used to use it as an excuse whenever I borrowed books from friends, or whenever they’d ask me what I was reading. But now I’ve decided, it’s not an excuse, it’s how I read, and it’s a badge that I…
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A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine is a one-of-a-kind science fiction story that had my intense attention as soon as I started it. It’s possible I needed to be more sober, but I think it’s because the protagonist houses a working memory (that talks back!) of another ambassador inside her mind. Right? What makes…
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Hello again and thank you for allowing me to cheat by combining two months into one. August got away from me with frequent trips to Chiang Mai and starting the new school year. I already wrote about it here. Years ago, I got turned on to micro-memoirs through a short online course. Most folks are…
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This month I finished two fiction and one non-fiction book. Woohoo! Let’s go! The Night Tiger has all the delicious elements that I enjoy and seek in historical fiction. Written by Malaysian Yangsze Choo, The Night Tiger is set in 1930s Malaysia and is essentially about a missing finger. The story follows a young dressmaker,…
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For about a year, I received Mark Manson’s newsletter. What I liked about him was he seemed to be an independent and well-read thinker. I may not have agreed with it all, but he was interesting enough for me to stick around. But when I read “The Point Is To Stop”, I felt compelled enough…
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Fact: When I get away from the internet washing machine, I get more reading done. Generally speaking. Although, I have been known to just pass out at nine or look at on my phone before bed. Bad, Lani, bad! Anyway, after reading a Western, I needed something different. In the past, Agatha Christie was my…
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As some of you know, this past year has been a real struggle for me. So, I’m writing this not from a place of expertise, but as a reminder to myself and as a way to gain better perspective. Become Antifragile In 2020, when the world went into lockdown, it went on wayyy longer than…
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Do you like Westerns? John Larison’s Whiskey When We’re Dry is a riveting read that had me turning the pages, but I would have enjoyed it more if my waking life wasn’t so stressful! As a result, the story made me feel anxious about what would happen next to Jessilynn Harney. I’d look at my…
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I loved Project Hail Mary! How can I talk about this without giving anything away? And that ending! I didn’t even know that Andy Weir, who wrote The Martian had written another book. Wait, what? He wrote ANOTHER book between The Martian and Project Hail Mary? And it was voted best sci-fi of the year…
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How did I manage to read THREE books this month? (Don’t scoff, you ten-books-a-month-readers) Oh, I know! I read fast, page-turners. Here we go! First up is Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing. I had bookmarked Jeremy from Hong Kong’s recommendations, and boy howdy, am I glad. I was continuously gobsmacked over what Shackleton…
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This month all I had time for was one book, but it was 672 pages, so that counts as two novels, right? In January, I summarized the Red Queen story, so if you’re interested, I’d definitely have a look. But here’s my quick version once again if you don’t want to click over: The series…
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Happy New Year and Happy Chinese New Year! Year of the Tiger and a year of dropping all of the reading challenges. Maybe when I’m no longer working full-time, I can try them again, but until then, I’ll read with no goals in mind. One Book Lane truly summarizes this series best, “Hunger Games meets…
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Life, the Universe, and Lani 
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