Hear me out.

It starts out as a tiny scratch in your throat when you swallow. You tell yourself it’s just your imagination but before you know it, your entire throat is engulfed in a fiery pain that makes you want to rip it out and stomp on it. Or, you know, sip something warm and soothing.

That was me last week. After several days of dealing with a nasty sore throat, I finally made an appointment to see my doctor. I had tried gargling salt water, sucking Burt’s Bees lozenges, and drinking warm tea with lemon/ginger/honey, but none of it worked. In desperation for relief while I awaited my appointment, I turned to my Facebook friends for remedies that I hadn’t tried yet. They swiftly came to my rescue with all kinds of treatments they use to treat their own sore throats. My friends are awesome and their remedies reminded me of two books/articles that I’ve read recently that have been on my mind:

I’m still participating in the March Photo a Day Challenge,but because my Instagram photos feed into the blog widget about 1/3 of the way down the page for your viewing convenience, I’ve decided to post a weekly recap of photos instead of trying to post them here every day. So here are days 9-20 for this year’s challenge

One of my new life resolutions this year was to read more books. I set a realistic goal of 12 books this year, which equals out to one per month, and so far, this is the only new life resolution that is actually going well! If I can make it to 25 – the goal I set on Goodreads – then that would be even better, but I’m trying to stay realistic. Here are the books I’ve read so far in 2019.

It’s time for this week’s Friday Four, a fun survey I’m doing so that my readers can get to know me a little better.

Four books I’d recommend: This is a really tough one because I don’t know if I can pick just four! I really enjoy reading but I don’t feel like I have enough time to read for fun (grad school life) and I don’t really read any of the best sellers, I just read what sounds interesting. I also like reading books before they become movies; I’ve read the Sookie Stakehouse Southern Vampire Mystery novels (the books that True Blood was based on) and the Stephanie Plum series (the books that One For the Money – the movie with Katherine Heigl was based on). So, anywhere, here are four books that I’ve really enjoyed.

1. Yes Please by Amy Poehler. “In her first book, one of our most beloved funny folk delivers a smart, pointed, and ultimately inspirational read. Full of the comedic skill that makes us all love Amy, Yes Please is a rich and varied collection of stories, lists, poetry (Plastic Surgery Haiku, to be specific), photographs, mantras and advice. With chapters like “Treat Your Career Like a Bad Boyfriend,” “Plain Girl Versus the Demon” and “The Robots Will Kill Us All” Yes Please will make you think as much as it will make you laugh. Honest, personal, real, and righteous,Yes Please is full of words to live by.”

Technically I’m still reading this one but I love Amy Poehler and will support anything she does. So far this one has been very inspiring so I would definitely recommend it to any and everyone.

2. Full Frontal Feminism: A Young Woman’s Guide to Why Feminism Matters by Jessica Valenti. Feminism isn’t dead. It just isn’t very cool anymore. Enter Full Frontal Feminism, a book that embodies the forward-looking messages that author Jessica Valenti propagated as founder of the popular website, Feministing.com.

This book is terrific for anyone who is interest in learning the basic foundation of feminism or for any seasoned feminist who wants to have a reference guide. I love this book because it explains the bad-ass principals of feminism for all of us bad-ass feminists. It’s definitely worth a read!

3. Smoke Gets In Your Eyes & Other Lessons from the Crematory by Caitlin Doughty. “Most people want to avoid thinking about death, but Caitlin Doughty—a twenty-something with a degree in medieval history and a flair for the macabre—took a job at a crematory, turning morbid curiosity into her life’s work. Thrown into a profession of gallows humor and vivid characters (both living and very dead), Caitlin learned to navigate the secretive culture of those who care for the deceased.”

This is one of the most informative and thought-provoking books I’ve ever read. It made me reconsider death and how I would want to be cared for after it happens to me. Doughty has the ability to navigate this difficult subject in a way that makes it interesting and fun. It’s definitely worth a read.

4. Blindness by José Saramago. “A city is hit by an epidemic of “white blindness” which spares no one. Authorities confine the blind to an empty mental hospital, but there the criminal element holds everyone captive, stealing food rations and raping women. There is one eyewitness to this nightmare who guides seven strangers—among them a boy with no mother, a girl with dark glasses, a dog of tears—through the barren streets, and the procession becomes as uncanny as the surroundings are harrowing. A magnificent parable of loss and disorientation and a vivid evocation of the horrors of the twentieth century, Blindness has swept the reading public with its powerful portrayal of man’s worst appetites and weaknesses-and man’s ultimately exhilarating spirit. The stunningly powerful novel of man’s will to survive against all odds, by the winner of the 1998 Nobel Prize for Literature.”

This is another though-provoking read because throughout the book, I found myself wondering if humanity would really react the way they do in the book, how I would react if this situation were to happen in real life, and the chances of this situation happening in real life. I will also say that you should see the movie because it is really good! It’s as close to the book as any movie I’ve ever seen.

Bonus: The Sookie Stakehouse Southern Vampire Mystery novels

*All photos by me.