Mormons and SpecFic - Liz Busby

What I Read: September 2022

This month has flown by, my friends! I feel like it’s impossible that I actually read the 12 books reviewed below because I’ve been so busy this month with back-to school and things. I’m volunteering the equivalent of a part time job running my dad’s campaign for county auditor and as the PTA council Reflections specialist.

My word count for September was 400 words short of my 4,000 word goal, but not too terrible overall, considering. I ended up writing 2-3 days a week instead of 4 and making up the word count by writing slightly longer. I need to drill into my head that 250 words doesn’t actually take that long, so I’ll just sit down and actually do it.

branches of tree with yellow leaves in autumn — Photo by Julia Volk on Pexels.com

I finished one story whose working name is “Reclaiming the Desert” but is also known as Solar Punk Utah in my file system. It’s a story about the ecological restoration of Utah and the mending of family relationships divided by a gulf of faith. Hopefully I’ll find a good home for it soon. Submissions are happening, though who knows if they are going well. 7 submissions out this fall, but no bites yet.

We released three episodes of Pop Culture on the Apricot Tree last month: one on Netflix’s The Adam Project, one on the anime film Mirai, and one on Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.

For October, I’m going to continue writing short stories and start work on my grad school applications. So crazy that this is really happening. Book reviews after the jump!

What I Read: August 2022

opened book on tree root — Photo by rikka ameboshi on Pexels.com

School’s back in session and I’m working to get back on the writing horse. My goal for the fall is to write 250 words at least 4 days a week. And I restarted up my critique group after our summer break, which feels like a feat unto itself given how many critique groups dissolve and fall apart. Hopefully they’ll keep me accountable. I also plan to submit something every Friday. Not all of these will be fiction, but I figure getting myself out there is a good habit to get into. I’m also running social media my dad’s political campaign for the next two months, so I’m keeping myself quite busy.

My reading life is also busy! I finally signed up for Netgalley and found some books I’m really excited to take a look at. Plus the internet seems to be dropping recommendations left and right that I can’t wait to pick up. Does anyone else feel like there’s a book avalanche right now?

What I Read: June 2022

This month I was the ending of a lot of things: my speculative fiction class at BYU (which convinced me to apply to grad programs next year), my Under the Banner of Heaven analysis for Public Square Magazine, and my presentation on colonialism in the Stormlight Archive for the Mormon History Association. We’ve also put the podcast on summer break.

woman leaning on table — Photo by Andrea Piacquadio on Pexels.com

I am kind of exhausted and looking forward to a summer break and maybe getting back into some fiction writing of my own after all this academic and nonfiction writing. I’m going to just try to relax for the whole month of July, then jump back into the mix in August as the kids go back to school. (Did I mention my youngest is starting first grade?! It feels both so long in coming and too soon at the same time.) I will certainly be doing a lot of reading during the break, trying to catch up on a few books people sent to me for review as well as books that I bought at LTUE and MHA. A reader’s work is never done!

What I Read: April 2022

It’s a speculative fiction blitz this month with only four book read. I’m a little surpri My nonfiction reading has been tied up with a couple projects including finishing my presentation for the Mormon History Association conference in June. I’m going to be talking about Mormon colonialism in Brandon Sanderson’s Stormlight Archive, which has been fun but exhausting to research. I also started my reading for the graduate class in speculative fiction I’m taking on a post-baccalaureate basis. This is one of my goals for 2022; I’m hoping it will help me decide whether I really want to go back for an MA or MFA in the next few years.

I’ve also squeezed a little fiction writing in, submitting to a couple flash fiction contests. I didn’t make the cut for the Mormon Lit Blitz, but I’m excited by the titles of this year’s semifinalists. Tune in on May 30 to start reading with me!

woman wearing green top reading book — Photo by Artem Beliaikin on Pexels.com

What I Read – January 2022 & 5×5 Challenge

close up shot of a person reading a book — Photo by cottonbro on Pexels.com

New year, new reading challenge! This year, I’m trying out the 5×5 Challenge (via the Scholé Sisters homeschooling community). The premise is to pick 5 categories or topics you want to read about more in-depth this year, then select 5 books for each category over the course of the year. It comes out to about 2 books a month. I’m hoping this will be a way to balance my need for structured reading with the ability to still pick up random books from the library (or more realistically, the new Brandon Sanderson novel).

My five categories for 2022 are:

Old Testament Context – Our church’s Come Follow Me curriculum this year is on the Old Testament. In addition to reading a new translation, I want to get some background on how to get your head around the Old Testament. Some of these will be LDS-specific and some more generally Christian or even Jewish (I hope to pick up Robert Alter’s Psalm translation.)
Mormon Lit Backlist – Filling in some works by Mormon authors that have been on my TBR pile for a while that I need to get to.
Stoicism – It’s been a rough year for me coping with the new political environment in Utah (really, several years and the whole country would also work here). I’m hoping that reading about stoicism will give me some tools to both act according to my conscience while not drowning in anxiety and anger.
Reading the Hugos – Working my way backwards through the novel winners that I haven’t read yet.
Books Becoming Movies – Because I like to have read the book first, plus my other categories are so serious that I felt like I deserved a break.

Now on to the reviews!

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: