My first book of the year is a DNF. There's a part of me that wants to see this as a bad omen for whatever arcane reason, but overall if I must put more weight into this than it deserves, then I'm more inclined to see this as a good omen about letting go of the things that don't serve me. I'm terrible at DNFing books. My compromise is usually "read 100 pages and if you still can't get into it by then, DNF is fair game." Unfortunately this book was only 131 pages long and every time I thought "I must be closer now!" I very much wasn't.

( When I can tell a book isn't working for me, I go into analysis mode )

I've seen a reading meme float on my reading page:

* Grab the nearest book.
* Turn to page 126
* The 6th full sentence is your life in 2026.

I don't want to do it for the other book I started, which is actually closest to me, because I'm not that far in yet and it would spoil me! But I suppose my DNFed book is also there, so... Although I don't really like to talk that much about the things I don't like, I feel like the author is probably doing okay in circles far away from mine. The library waitlist for that book is unbelievable.

So, Orbital by Samantha Harvey! Even if we weren't meant to be this time, what do you predict for my 2026?

You are looking now straight into the heart of the Milky Way, whose pull is so strong and compelling that it feels some nights that the orbit will detach from the earth and venture there, into that deep, dense mass of stars.

Hm.... Don't let the abyss seduce you and swallow you up, no matter how pretty it might look at times? Sure! I can keep that up.

Actually I forgot I had Charlie Jane Anders' "Never Say You Can't Survive" hidden under a few notebooks near me, too. I've been doing a slow reread, a couple of paragraphs here and there, highlighting and tagging bits I want to be able to return to easily later. Maybe that'll give me the how?

"Or you might yourself remembering a broken shoelace from a pair of shoes you owned a dozen years ago."

which is within a section titled, "Big emotions come from tiny things"

Joy in the mundane? Sure, I'm extremely up for that, too :D

I'm a bit antsy about not having finished any book yet, but this is fine. I wrote a fair bit, and also read not-books. Over the last couple of years, I stopped tracking my reading publicly, only jotting down notes in my BuJo instead, maybe an occasional rec here and there, and that's worked wonders to help me read more. I'm still considering creating a goodreads account so I can review at least indie and smaller authors, but I haven't fully committed to a decision yet. Especially when the current system is working out so well for me.