The Weekly Warp: April 25, 2021

For the past few weeks, I spent many evenings typing up a reading list  for this website. It was a lot of data entry and linking. I started tracking what I read back in the summer of 2003. I don’t know why I started tracking but I’m glad I did. Going through this list has been a joyful version of “this is your life” - in books!

Every title was a glimpse back at a specific point in my life. For some titles, I not only remembered the book but I could recall where I read it and how I felt. Over 15 years of tracking is a lot of memories to fall into.
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Doing this project showed me how reading changes with our stages of life. In college, my books were heavy on assigned texts and romance novels - you know, to lighten things up. Post college, I expanded my non-fiction reading since I no longer had to read books for class. Then there were the book club reads, hobby binge sprees, and the “hey, this must be popular for a reason” picks. Then there was the move to pregnancy and parenting books - with a lot of YA to take a break from all the adulting.

I am always curious about what books other people are reading. If you're the same, head on over to my reading list page. Books are listed in reverse chronological order.

Since I began tracking, I've read 961 books totaling 300,419 pages. I might need to get myself a cupcake when I hit 1,000.

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• The absence of the Philly accent in films and series. [Slate]
• Things to consider when picking your resume font. [Career Contessa]
• Real depictions of labor in entertainment are rare but can be empowering. [NYT]
• The constant maintenance costs needed to stay middle class. [Culture Study]
• Ingenuity flew! [NPR]
• A bunch of desserts for peanut butter lovers. [PureWow]
• Clever visual cues for gentler package handling. [99% Invisible]
• The population density T. Rexes. [Nat Geo]
• We need to fix our broken employment system. [Culture Study]
• More words than I thought possible on library furniture. Also, fascinating. [Library Barbarian]
• The historical story behind Maid Marian. [Atlas Obscura]

• This story on the agony of pandemic parenting should be renamed. The callers are, noticeably, all moms. [The Daily]
• When did we enter the Anthropocene? [Short Wave]
• Hair doesn't turn gray. It's born gray. [Short Wave]
• Thank the horseshoe crab. [Short Wave]
• What just went down in soccer. [The Daily]
• For this week's dive into The Indicator archives, I recommend:
  • The exploitation of prison labor. [TI]
  • The plastic shortage in science. [TI]
  • Masks. But make it fashion. [TI]
  • Why companies are cutting pay during the COVID recession. [TI]
  • How fines and fees pay police by overburdening low-income communities. [TI]
  • The history of paper money. [TI]

• It was The Husband's turn to pick what show we watch and he picked Amazon Prime's The Great Escapists. It's a delightful romp of an island escape adventure hosted by Tory Belleci (of Mythbusters fame) and Richard Hammond (of Top Gear and The Grand Tour). There's a lot of nerdy science mixed with humor. This could very well be a family show if it weren't for some of the adult jokes. We binged all six episodes in two evenings.

• We learned our kiddo loves bacon when I made chicken cutlets with summer corn succotash. She even started stealing it off her dad's plate. It's a quick dish made even quicker by the fact that I used a bag of frozen succotash to make it.
• Shrimp is one of our go to proteins. We had it three times this week. One of our favorite recipes is this spicy sriracha shrimp and zucchini lo mein. Don't skip the butter. It's a key part of the flavor profile. Also, we add one extra egg to mix because it's just that good.