books

Fiction

The Charm Offensive by Alison Cochrun

This novel was recommended to me by

poppyseedheart so I knew it was a winner. (Also it's dating show themed!) I'm about halfway through, and the main characters are written so tenderly plus there is great mental health rep.

Nonfiction

Building a Life Worth Living by Marsha Linehan

I started this memoir in 2020 but never finished it, and I decided to revisit it again. This go-around I'm about halfway through. Marsha Linehan is truly an inspiration for the personal struggles she faced and how she turned that into creating a powerful evidence-based therapy modality, dialetical behavioral therapy. The fact that she did so as a woman during a time when the field was male-dominated is just that more impressive. Warning: this book does contain some pretty graphic descriptions of self-harm.

Toxic Positivity by Whitney Goodman

Toxic positivity is something I think I've always been grappling with, but never had a name for it. I'm (yet again) about halfway through, but so far I have really enjoyed what I think to be a really clear-eyed, balanced view of the issue.

music

"The Sound" by Stray Kids

I'm loving the chorus of this song, it's so addicting! Looking forward to the entire album when it drops.

"Fine" by Taeyong

My villain origin story is that I can't find this on Spotify. It's interesting to see what kind of music Taeyong makes when he's just making music for himself, and in this case, it's a mellow, easy-listening, atmospheric track.

games

Hunt a Killer: Nancy Drew Mystery at Magnolia Gardens

Not a computer game, but a game nonetheless. Was a fun, diverting way to spend a couple of hours, although the puzzles were not necessarily that challenging, and I over-thought the final puzzle, resulting in an extra and unnecessary half an hour or so of gameplay.

Avatar Legends: The Roleplaying Game

I just received the gameplay materials for this game, and I'm hoping I'll be able to play it! I've never played a table-top RPG so there will definitely be a learning curve.

Until next time!

etymologie

media round-up: jan. 2023