You can fill your scars with Magic Marker
Ocean Vuong
“It was the kind of day where anything felt possible. As if the charity of the world had tipped, finally, to one side of the rusted scale. The kind of day where you can fill your scars with Magic Marker and tell yourself you’re normal—and it might be true.”
― Ocean Vuong, The Emperor of Gladness
This will probably be my favorite book for 2026. It’s going to be hard to find something that will top this one, but I will try because it’s only March, and I want to keep reading.
I’m madly in love with Ocean’s writing, so I borrowed his other book from my library app, On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous. It’s an audiobook. and from what I’ve heard so far, it’s as beautifully written as The Emperor. I’m only on chapter 2, and I’m savoring every word. I already know when I’m done listening to it I will borrow it again. I’m on the list to get The Emperor of Gladness again, but I have to wait 5 months because it’s in high demand. I was lucky to get it when I did.
Because I’m suddenly no longer in a reading slump, and want to play catch up for not reading enough all winter, I also started reading Writers and Lovers by Lily King. I’ve had this one on my TBR list for a while now. I’m a bit disappointed because I had hoped I would like this book, but it’s not my cup of tea.
Last night I looked at the glowing 5 star reviews of this book to figure out what I’m missing. I feel like it’s a “me, not them” type of problem because most people liked it, but I could walk away right now, and not care if I read another page or how it ends.
I’m only going to finish it because I’ve stacked too many books on my DNF pile lately, and it’s about to topple over from the weight of it in my mind. I feel a bit of shame when I don’t finish a book, always have. I don’t want to add another one to the pile. I plan on whittling down my DNF stack over the spring/summer. I won’t force myself to finish books I didn’t like, but I want to get back to the ones I stopped reading because I got too busy.
From Margaret Ray‘s book Good Grief, The Ground: bit.ly/raygoodgrief
This little snuggle bug fell asleep beside me, and kept having little dream twitches. He was poke poke poking me in the side. 😹😻🐈
Trying to knock the phone out of my hand takes extra concentration. 🤣
Repeat Until Death by Novo Amor - Performed by Tamara Laporte
So happy Tamara posted a new song recently. Her voice gives me chills. So pretty. I’ve been listening on repeat for weeks now.
[ASMR]Compilation set★ASMR SOAP★Crushing soap★Cutting soap cubes★FOAM&GLITTER&STARCH★
Fun title, color, visuals, sounds, and wow!! 5+ hours long!! I’ve had it up on my second monitor while I work for days now, and it makes me so happy to keep glancing up and stealing little eye candy breaks. All those colors are my colors.
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I’ve also been posting notes here on Substack in between these longer posts.
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