Life of Bry

Happy Monday, and Happy Memorial Day ❤

It’s been cold, rainy and miserable here in Western Pennsylvania. For about two weeks now, it’s been in the 50s and just storm after storm after storm. We had my oldest niece’s Sweet 16 on Saturday and the weather was not what you expect for May (at all). I don’t know what’s happening, but I am not a fan. Not one bit.

What I am a fan of is tattoos, and I finally got my Dracula tattoo. I literally just took off the second skin, so it’s fresh and flaky. It’s the castle from Bram Stoker’s original cover of Dracula through a gothic window, and of course the iconic bats. I also had the rosary beads included to remember my favorite part of the book — when the woman drops to her knees to offer the rosary and says “For your mother’s sake.” It makes me tear up every time. I’ll do a full Dracula post eventually, but I’ll leave it there for now.

What I’m reading

I am still making my way through my Hunger Games reread. I finished Mockingjay, and you can check out my review/thoughts here. Now I’m working through The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, which is honestly surprising me. I remember not caring much for it when it first came out, but I’m actually really, really invested in Snow’s story this time around. It makes me wish I was still in school so I could write an essay about Snow’s character progression.

Suzanne Collins knocked it out of the park with this prequel. I love piecing together how similar he is to Katniss and all the choices he made that separated them. It also made me realize how Katniss really was the perfect storm for Snow to make the revolution personal. I can’t wait to sit down and put all my thoughts into words — about 50 pages to go. 

I’ve also finished a couple of audiobooks in the last week or so. 

The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin was just a sweet, feel good read. It follows Island Books owner A.J. Fikry after he loses his wife. Jaded by life and grumpy, he’s a hard sell for almost any book, but a series of events starting with the theft of “Tamerlane” and a baby being left in the shop, A.J. rediscovers a zest for life and reading.

I almost DNFed it, because the concept felt a little corny at first; but I’m glad I toughed it out. I think it says something about life, and how things happen for a reason. We are stuck with the hand life deals us, but we can play it our way. The ending crushed me. I cried in my car on the way home from work. It was ugly. 

There’s also this really compelling juxtaposition between Maya’s story of the last days of her mother’s life and Ismay’s. How Maya sees her mother as desperate and trying to do what’s best for her child, while Ismay sees it maybe a bit more sinister. You get left wondering which is more accurate, and does it even matter?

And it was such a love letter to book lovers. There’s some beautiful quotes: “Sometimes books don’t find us until the right time.” and “You know everything you need to know about a person from the answer to the question, What is your favorite book?” and also “We are not quite novels. We are not quite short stories. In the end, we are collected works.”

I also finished Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen, which I absolutely, positively loved with my whole heart. I adored this book. After becoming orphaned, Jacob Jankowski leaves his ivy league life behind to hitch a ride on the train carrying the Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth.  

The prose of this book was lovely. The storytelling just left me in shambles. I thought it was so clever to mesh the story of young Jacob and that of old man Jacob in showing how time changes everything but also nothing. We are all just searching for our own identity and a sense of belonging, and when we find it, it never really leaves us.

I’m not going to lie, the part that made me tear up the most is the compassion Jacob had for the animals. Particularly Rosie. Because I’m a fierce animal lover, and clearly so are Jacob and Marlena. When comfort couldn’t be found in the people around them, they found it in the animals.

(As a side note: I’ve been thinking about starting a YouTube channel to supplement this blog for book reviews. Is that something anybody is interested in? It would give me another outlet to ramble more coherently without having to write it out lol)

What I’m watching

I’m not embarrassed to admit I’ve been watching reruns of History Channel shows on YouTube lol Specifically there’s a show called Secrets of the Underworld, and they explore historic features beneath unexpected places. It’s now my favorite “busy” show, meaning I put it on while I’m working because I like white noise. However, much like how Ancient Aliens always leads back to … aliens … this show always leads to the Ark of the Covenant somehow. Or the Knights Templar. 

I don’t know if it’s just me, but I treat History Channel shows like Wikipedia. They’re a great starting point for information, but I need additional resources before I take it as fact. I always end up researching more if a topic interests me. If you have any history show recs, drop a comment because I’m always up for docs or shows. Any topic. I’m just obsessed with history.

What I’ve been making

I’ve still been working on my blanket, which has been a pain in the ass, if we’re being honest. I realized I like smaller projects and this blanket will probably be the death of me. However, I will keep working on it surely but slowly because it will be sick once it’s finished.

Other than that, I made my nephew this cute charmander using Tash’s Crochet Patterns’ pattern on ribblr, which can be found here. It’s really easy and I’ve made two of them now. 

I picked up this green Bernat blanket yarn at Ollie’s for $5 a skein, so I started making some little Brontosauruses. I used this pattern from @kayleecrochet on instagram. It’s no sew, which I love; and I made it in just a couple hours, which I also love. I’ll probably make so many of these for when I eventually start selling items, because they’re so easy and absolutely adorable.

Anyway, I’ve been digging into my characters. I wanted to explore their dynamics more, so I’m doing writing exercises in different POVs. Here’s a bit of Alyx describing Darian:

Alyx discovered Darian’s anxious tick of pinching his own thigh. And found out he drank lavender tea without sugar but ate honey cakes as if they’d be purged from the universe. He never had much of an appetite. He barely ate dinner, but loved sweets. Alyx brought him some of Alder’s cinnamon bread one night, and Darian insisted she give the recipe to the kitchen.

She learned the prince stuck his tongue out while writing and hummed while he paced his way through a thought. He could fall asleep anywhere and did. Tucked into the windowsill and sprawled out on the rug and sitting at the desk. He snored. He smelled like rain water and metal. He laughed. A lot. Not carefree as his brother always did, but frantically and sporadically. His moods shifted violently. All cheerful smiles and chirps one moment and clenched fists and short responses the next.

Where I’ve been hiking

Because of the rain, we haven’t been able to hike much. However, we did hike the Staple Bend Tunnel Trail recently. It’s about 4 miles; and it’s an out-and-back trail that follows part of the Allegheny Portage Railroad leading to the Staple Bend Tunnel, which is the first railroad tunnel in the United States.

There’s some informative signs along the trail with the history of the tunnel and railroad, which was really interesting. I lived near this trail almost my whole life and had no idea about the history. There’s even some old foundations left along the way from workers’ houses and the cut stone that used to anchor the railroad rails.There’s also a bunch of baby waterfalls, which were gorgeous. 

Not to mention the 900-foot tunnel was so cool to walk through — also a bit scary. The sides are crumbling, it’s dark as heck, it’s cold and wet. I loved it. 

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