Emily English's Blog, page 2
January 12, 2023
A Tentative Poke at 2023
It’s still January and I’m already wishing you a Happy New Year! This is amazing! Who knows? Next year, I may have something drafted in December and ready to go on January 1! Anything is possible!
We rang in the New Year at home with charcuterie, sweets, wine, and a champagne toast (sparkling cider for the kids). My sister and her 9-year old joined Mark, Sofia, and me as we tuned in to Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve so we could watch Tomorrow x Together as well as J-Hope! Highlights!
2022: Ye...
November 22, 2022
Book Review: Waiting for Spring
I crushed on this manga way harder than I expected.
Yes, Waiting for Spring by Anashin is another shojo manga—you know, the one targeting adolescent girls and young women. Make no mistake, I love all kinds of manga. This is just what I’ve been in the mood for lately. I’m a moody reader.
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October 25, 2022
The 5-Day Self-Care Challenge
At the end of September, I joined a 5 day self-care challenge hosted by life coach Heather Jones. I wrote a review of her book More than Mom which you can find here. Spoiler alert: I highly recommend.
When Heather posted about the self-care challenge, I was intrigued. I’m the type of person who perks up at the word “challenge.” It’s like when my brother and I were little and we had daily Nintendo Street Fighter and NHL video game fights. Or when Apple Fitness+ says to exercise for a million hours...
October 17, 2022
Book Review: Library Wars
My borrowed copy of Library Wars from my local library. Peep that barcode, friends.
I wasn’t sure if I’d like Library Wars at first. It takes place at a time when Japan’s federal government creates a committee to decide what media—specific...
August 15, 2022
Book Review: Remarkably Bright Creatures
If you know me, you know I love octopuses. I really love octopuses. So when my sister loaned me her copy of Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt, I had to read it right away. This was also my official summer beach read which made it even more spectacular.
You might be wondering why I didn’t already own it. Well, my friends, just because I love octopuses doesn’t mean I know of every single octopus thing out there. Goodness.
Anyway, the story is about an old woman named Tova who works at a...
February 22, 2022
Book Review: More than Mom
Defining success can be tricky. We let so many outside factors influence what we feel we should be. We apply labels like “mom” or “career woman” and create boundaries around them as if the label or person could be reduced to a generic definition in the dictionary.
More than Mom by Heather Jones is awesome for getting rid of those labels and helping you redefine or un-define yourself. (I like to keep myself nebulous.)
I grew up during a time when the definition of success was finishing college and ...
February 3, 2022
“Happy New Year” Gets Later!
My very child-like tiger scribbles
My “Happy New Year” has now landed in February. My New Year 2020 and New Year 2021 posts are not looking so late anymore! But get this…now I can wish you a HAPPY LUNAR NEW YEAR! It’s the Year of the Tiger, ...
April 24, 2021
Book Review: Kingdom of Ash
The book was fine. Don’t hate me for not loving it, but it was just too much. Maybe I would have enjoyed it more if it had been 400 pages shorter…
I picked up Kingdom of Ash by Sarah J. Maas over a year ago, read a few pages, put it down, and forgot about it. I know, I know. This is the book that brings the whole Throne of Glass series to its epic conclusion and I should have been excited about it, but while so many people adored this series I thought it was just “good.”
Anyway, I finally picked ...
February 28, 2021
Film Review: Minari
Mark is a bit of a film geek and when he heard about the movie Minari months ago after it won awards at Sundance, he couldn’t wait to watch it. Movies being what they are during COVID, we checked out the show times and bought “tickets” to watch it at home during a 4-hour window last night. IT WAS SO GOOD. ALL THE STARS. Steven Yeun for Best Actor!
I won’t give away any spoilers, but if you don't want to know anything at all about the movie maybe come back to discuss after you’ve seen it.
What’s it...February 5, 2021
Book Review: The Life-Changing Manga of Tidying Up
I finally got around to reading Marie Kondo’s book The Life-Changing Manga of Tidying Up: A Magical Story. I first heard about the “spark joy” movement (is it a movement?) about five years ago from my brother’s now-wife. Soon after, I was hearing about this minimalist lifestyle everywhere, and it really seemed to blow up when it hit the Netflix scene.
I’m not quick to jump on the bandwagon, so here I am much later, reading the book that I had actually bought for my older daughter. She had finish...
