As I say every month, I’m shamelessly stealing this idea from Jessica Lahey. She has a recurring monthly date where she reviews all the books she read that month. Book reviews are important for authors, and I want to get better about doing this.

So. I’m going to review them here and also online, but I’m going to do it a little differently. I’m only going to review the stuff I really liked. I don’t see a reason to spend my time writing about something I didn’t love; it’s just using up more of my energy. So only positive reviews.

These are the books I liked (or mostly liked) from April.

One Italian Summer (Rebecca Serle): I enjoyed reading it, and I loved feeling like I was in Positano. But I’m not sure I liked any character or any of their decisions. Is that weird? It was kind of like I wanted the setting and situation without the characters.

The Heights (Louise Candlish): This is my second book by this author, and she is fantastic at writing fast-moving thrillers. It’s incredible writing depicting a heartbreaking situation and a moving portrayal of anguish — with a great mystery at the center. I kept thinking and talking about this book while I was away from it, which, to me, is the mark of a fantastic read.

Nine Lives (Peter Swanson): How to feel about this book… It’s an enjoyable read. Full stop. All of his books are well-paced and fun and make you want to keep picking them back up. But Swanson does this thing where he writes spoilers for classic mysteries into his books. It bothers me, taking away from his really well done mystery, and it’s usually completely unnecessary. Even when I’ve read the plots he is spoiling, I feel sad for all of the unsuspecting people who haven’t read those books and now won’t get to experience those mysteries as they should be experienced. So A+ for Swanson’s mystery. But read with caution if you don’t like spoilers.

What did you read last month?

It’s Friday the 13th. I have no clue why I need to say that every time the Roundup coincides with Friday the 13th. As you were.

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The twins finally finished exams. They were pretty giddy by the time the final one rolled around. It was one they had together, so they studied at the same time. I snuck into the ChickieNob’s room to take a surprise photo, which is apparently “annoying” and “distracting.” But they ignored me and allowed me to take a less blurry one of them studying together because they also know that I’m pretty much a mess about them leaving in a year.

The Wolvog had to make a game for the portfolio section of one of his exams, and it’s so much freakin’ fun. It’s a geography game, and I’m terrible at it. But I love playing it while I cook dinner and announcing my low score to everyone. He told me he would put the game online once he gets his grade back.

It feels like everything is speeding up.

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Stop procrastinating. Go make your backups. Don’t have regrets.

Seriously. Stop what you’re doing for a moment. It will take you fifteen minutes, tops. But you will have peace of mind for days and days. It’s the gift to yourself that keeps on giving.

As always, add any new thoughts to the Friday Backup post and peruse new comments to find out about methods, plug-ins, and devices that help you quickly back up your data and accounts.

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And now the blogs…

But first, second helpings of the posts that appeared in the open comment thread last week. To read the description before clicking over, please return to the open thread:

• “We Thought You Were Done With It” (A Blank New Page)
• “The Route to Madness” (No Kidding in NZ)

Okay, now my choices this week.

PocoBrat has a post about the Mother’s Day blues; how she feels about this holiday that keeps rolling around on the calendar, year after year. She writes: “For one thing, I did not grow up with this holiday although it is now widely celebrated in India too. And then, I always think the apostrophe should go over the plural version—it feels more inclusive and more in keeping with the socialist and anti-war origins of the day.” It’s a holiday that comes with a lot of baggage.

Hopelessly Infertile and Surrounded by Fertiles also writes about Mother’s Day. She points out that it has grown in size over the years. “I can handle Mother’s Day. One.Day.Of.Mothers.Day. What I find much more challenging was this year’s three day Mothers Day weekend extravaganza.” I also found that Monday became a fourth day, with people asking about Mother’s Day. Without end, indeed.

Lastly, JewishIVF talks about her pregnancy and these last days before the birth. I definitely identified with this: “I might also be channeling my anxiety about everything coming up toward this particular worry – hoping everyone is safe and healthy and that everything goes smoothly with an easy recovery.” Yes, to all of that, may it be an easy delivery and happy first days.

The roundup to the Roundup: Friday the 13th. Exams finished. Your weekly backup nudge. And lots of great posts to read. So what did you find this week? Please use a permalink to the blog post (written between May 6 – May 13) and not the blog’s main URL. Not understanding why I’m asking you what you found this week? Read the original open thread post here.

I’m not sure why I keep obsessing about the formula shortage. I don’t have a baby. (Clearly.) Everyone I know who has a baby breastfeeds. But I think about everyone I don’t know. There are a lot of families out there, dependent on formula.

As we were. Two different kinds of formula. I couldn’t breastfeed; we were totally dependent on formula for the first year.

Instead of lawmakers thinking about more ways they can force women to carry children into the world, they should be focusing on how to feed the children who are here.

Instead, this is what you get:

Asked a handful of senators tonight if they’re concerned about the baby formula shortage. They had no idea what I was talking about.https://t.co/30YBqHb29I

— Igor Bobic (@igorbobic) May 9, 2022

The air is teeming with bad ideas, and kind of like COVID, we intellectually know they’re there, even though we often behave like we’re breathing in bad-idea-free air. It seems close to impossible to not get infected with societal ideals, such as the mentality that all women are mothers or there’s something wrong with your body if it doesn’t look like X.

Ness Labs introduced me to the idea of mental immunity, and I love it because it’s empowering. Because there’s something you can do.

Mental immunity is a psychological theory that is also known as cognitive immunology. With origins dating back 70 years, this field of research is based on the premise that not only is there an immune system for the body, but an immune system for the mind as well.

It’s protection against fake news or damaging beliefs or peer pressure. I’d go even farther and say that someone with a healthy mental immune system doesn’t become infected by their own “what ifs” and the fake news we tell ourselves. Thought-provoking, right?

Not sure what #MicroblogMondays is? Read the inaugural post which explains the idea and how you can participate too.

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Did you know this was a thing on an iPhone? I didn’t. You can aim your camera app at a page of text, and it will convert it into something called Live Text. (You can also get there from the Notes app.) You highlight the section you want, click copy, and then drop it in an email or note. How brilliant is that?

How I copy quotes from a library book pic.twitter.com/y9rTBeVOrj

— Austin Kleon (@austinkleon) April 12, 2022

I tried it with handwriting, but it was kind of a mess. But with a book or magazine, it’s brilliant.

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Are you also doing #MicroblogMondays? Add your link below. The list will be open until Tuesday morning. Link to the post itself, not your blog URL. (Don’t know what that means? Please read the three rules on this post to understand the difference between a permalink to a post and a blog’s main URL.) Only personal blogs can be added to the list. I will remove any posts that are connected to businesses or are sponsored post.