Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot:  Family, science, race, and history make this book a fascinating and occasionally upsetting examination of the consequences of the success of the first human cells to survive and replicate outside of the body.  I read it for hours over a couple of days.  Thanks to Randi R. for the recommendation.

Habibi by Craig Thompson: Beautiful, stunning masterpiece from product of Traverse City, Wisconsin, and Portland among other places, Craig Thompson.  If you ever read any graphic novel, this should be the one.  I saw Thompson when he came into town.  He’s thoughtful and honest about how hard great work can be to produce.

Mastiff by Tamora Pierce: A satisfying conclusion to Pierce’s most recent trilogy, Mastiff provides the strong female protagonist, Beka Cooper, we come to expect in Pierce’s books.

This is Us by David Marin: Marin was a single white guy who wanted to start a family by adopting children.  This is Us is the story of how absurdly difficult, yet vastly important it can be to adopt children in our country, especially if you’re male and a different skin color from the children you want to be a part of your family.  Marin successfully weaves tales of bureaucracy with joyous tales of his family.  This book struck a chord with me because my family fostered a black baby, but could not adopt him because we are white.

A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness:  Ness digs in deep to the pain of a child losing his mother to cancer.  In this book, he’s figured out how to make death a subject that can be talked about, once the courage is found.  I recommend it for any young adult dealing with loss or mature enough for a very good tale.  It made me cry at the end, but not my 16 year old brother.

18 Minutes by Peter Bregman: This time management book takes a much broader look at your life than most.  Bregman’s basic argument is if you don’t look at how you are deciding to spend your time, then your time will never be well spent.  He walks readers through the process of prioritizing goals and time drains and then, once the work has been done, gives those tools so often found in other books.  I have already implemented those tips that resonated with me and am much more productive.

The Brief History of the Dead by Kevin Brockmeier: Brockmeier makes the ordinary pain of day to day life seem like poetry with his prose.  If you want something that’s well-written and has an unexpected plot, Brief History’s the way to go.

The Outcasts by John Flanagan: This is the first book in the Brotherband Chronicles, thenew series spun off from Rangers Apprentice.  I enjoyed it.  It’s a good adventure with another wonderful set of characters.  I might even like this boy who doesn’t quite fit in better than Will from Rangers Apprentice.  I look forward to book 2.

Otto the Book Bear by Katie Cleminson: Absolutely charming new picture book that comes out in January.  The illustrations and story are classic.  A bear who lives in a book goes on adventures when no one is watching.  This will be my go to gift for friends who have small children.

I am a third of the way towards being able to change my own oil.  Dad helped me this time around, next time, I will attempt by myself while he’s close so I can ask questions.  I can seamlessly play the first half of Amazing Grace on my violin and will soon be able to do the same with the second half.  My friend, Sarah, and I created inspired Halloween costumes.  Multiple strangers took pictures of us as Black Swan and White Swan, therein boosting our fame level and mysterious nature.  I made an awesome fritatta from kale harvested from our community garden.  I read Habibi, which is an automatic level-up in the badass zone.

The goals, they do change as time progresses.  I know I’m on the right path based on the facts that badass people still want to hang out with me and that I’m happy.

I maintain that living an intentional life on a self-charted path is the ultimate definition of a badass.  This month has been a glorious belly flop turned swan dive into the excruciatingly lovely world of books.  This is the waterslide of shiny objects full of words that I am tubing down at the moment and possibly/ probably/ hopefully for the duration of my short-lived human eternity.  Because books breed badassery.  Try that alliteration on for size!

My violin playing is less sqwauky.  My friends are rockstars.  I’m getting better at kickball.  My legs look great in hot pink leggings.  I already know what my Nanowrimo novel’s going to be about.  My basil plant, Big Momma, is still gorgeous.  Yes, these are indicators of badassery.  Thank you.

This next month bodes success as well.  Woot!

Additionally, I can do an average of 10 pushups at a time, a far cry from my ultimate goal of 50.. but headed in the right direction of Michelle Obama arms.  I’ve started working on my soccer fitness so I can play indoor this year.  I may end up with rock hard abs in the process.  Combine Obama arms with rock hard abs, biker butt, and classic JB wit and I will be irresistible.  Watch out future friends and hopefully existent self-confident nerd of my dreams, who dances AND drinks beer!

The moral of the story is that I can’t wait to see the progress I’ve made when I write this report next month.  For now, it’s time to go work on my fitness and then figure out how to dehydrate apples.

1. Page by Paige by Laura Lee Gulledge: A coming of age story in graphic novel form.  The illustrations are great and spot on, but some of the prose feels stilted and unnatural.  Still, I would recommend it to creative adolescents who are navigating the journey of the self.

2. Bossypants by Tina Fey: This is everything I wanted it to be, funny, smart and memoir-y.  I do love Tina Fey, so I was inclined to love Bossypants before I started reading it.  My favorite chapter is the one about her dad.

3. Eve by Anna Carey: Comes out in October.  Disappointing dystopian future book in which spineless protagonist never develops a spine.  Read Hunger Games again instead.

4. Horoscopes for the Dead by Billy Collins: Excellent new collection of poetry from my favorite poet.  Whimsical, serious, brooding, and fanciful.

5. Dead End in Norvelt by Jack Gantos: Fun young adult novel where the protagonist, Jack, is grounded for the entire summer and his only escape is to help the town’s obituary writer.  I’ve already sold two copies of this because it is one of the few appropriate books for boys in their early teenage years.

6. Terroryaki by Jennifer Chung: What could be better than a mysterious cursed teriyaki food truck that haunts the suburbs of Seattle?  Nothing, I assure you.  Terroryaki was written as part of the three day Labor Day writing contest and Chung also thanks Nanowrimo.  I will probably end up buying all three copies our store has and sending them out  various friends.

7. The 100 Foot Journey by Richard Morais: Foodie novel with a non-white male protagonist.  Refreshing.  You’ll drool.

8. Fables books 1 and 2 by Bill Willingham et al: I can’t believe it’s taken me this long to get to this series of graphic novels.  What was I thinking?  Read it, especially if you’re into mythology/ fairy tales.  Love the shout out to Neil Gaiman.

Now some of you might automatically think, “but she’s already so badass.. any more and we’ll have to shield our eyes around her.”  Please, I have no illusions of grandeur.  I have always made it a priority to work on self-improvement, so naturally I must find more ways to fit the definition.  Of course, the ingredients that go into making an A+ badass evolve regularly to include a variety of activities, attributes, and personality quirks.  The following list includes some of the spices I’ve notices missing from my particular mix of badassery.

This year I plan to:

Learn how to change the oil in my car by myself.

Learn how to ride my bike on the streets of Milwaukee without becoming hopelessly lost and chased by dogs.

Learn one awesome breakdancing move.

Learn how to play a waltz and a jig on my fiddle.

Brew my own beer.

Be a racing sausage.

Put out a zine of my own work.

Learn how to say, “I am badass,” or the equivalent in 10 different languages.

Develop an unstoppable overhand serve.

Pull together a gang of badass friends that will torment onlookers with our cool style and hipness oozery, oh wait that’s already all of my friends, especially the volleyball team I’m on.

I welcome suggestions on how to achieve this somewhat epic list and also things I’m missing.  Let the adventures begin!

PS. Anne and Lauren, thank you for the inspiration.  I dedicate this year to your shining examples of badassery.

1. The Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson: Tamora Pierce-esque hero’s journey of a fat princess with low self-esteem turned badass queen.  Except, Pierce’s protagonists are usually badass to start out and just become more badass.  Comes out in September, read it if you want an escape.

2. The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh: Incredible story of a young woman who ages out of the foster care system and has to find her way through the world.  She finds solace/modus operandi in the old Victorian meanings of flowers.  A powerful coming of age story that hits you over the head with its honesty. Comes out on August 23rd.

3. Downtown Owl by Chuck Klosterman: This is funny in an undercurrent of clever kind of way.  Think of the people you would meet if you visited a town where generations of families have lived there and an outsider moving in is a big deal.  Klosterman finds the eccentricities and humor in this community.  I was suprised by the ending.  This book is already out!

4. the curious incident of the dog in the night-time by Mark Haddon: Older book, read it for a book club I’m about to join.  Haddon gets in the head of a teenager with autism who goes on a detective hunt that leads him on an unexpected adventure.  It’s good, sometimes painful to read, but good.

5. Ready Player One by Ernest Cline: Fun to read this massive geektastic shout out to the 80′s.  A cross between the Goonies and Anne Bean’s Freedomland.  I could not put it down and I don’t even know much about the videogames mentioned.  Comes out August 16th and basically every bookseller who’s read it is gushing about it.

My year markers have always been off.  New Years consistently underwhelms, even when I manage to do the Polar Bear Plunge in Lake Michigan on New Years Day.  The date markers that gain significance in my life are those associated with some great transition.  Previously, this was the start and end of school with summer as a lovely interlude.  This year and the next two, I anticipate, I will mark my progress by the date I finished my cross country move to the great Midwest.

Am I happy that I’m back in Milwaukee?  Yes, definitely.  My little bro is super cool, despite the fact that he is, most certainly, a TEENAGER.  I love that I can take him to soccer practice when he doesn’t want to go, almost get hit by a baseball at his baseball games, and annoy him when I get excited about something.  Also, it’s fun to watch him pubertize.

I do often feel like a statistic.  I am nearly 27 and I live with my parents in one of my hometowns.  I don’t have a living wage job, although finally, I do have a job at an independent bookstore.  I am yet another white woman participating in the good food movement who listens to indy rock and drinks expensive coffee.  Luckily, I was more into qualitative data analysis in college and know that statistics never tell the whole story.

The more I write, the more I realize I’m living pieces of the life I’ve often dreamt.  I manage a community garden.  I sell books for a growing bookstore with an intensely knowledgeable and experienced staff and get to read books before they come out.  Soon, I will take fiddle lessons, paid for with time bank hours.  I have a black lab and a basket chair.  Nuff said.

Last night, we had an author event with Bonnie Jo Campbell, from Kalamazoo, Michigan.  She said that she couldn’t write what and the way she wanted until she left KZoo and then came back with the perspective of other places.  Taking that as my cue, it’s time to step up my writing.  I’m doing the Artist’s Way again, with a group of friends, two in California, one in MKE, so that I can move any creativity and productivity blocks out of the way.  This time around, I feel more rooted than I have in a very long time.  I expect more out of myself because of the firm grounding.  Milwaukee’s been good to me and will be good for my writing.

Look for our food blog we’re launching on August 1st.  More details to follow.  And please, if you’re traveling across the country, make Milwaukee a pit stop.

1. Moment of Truth by Lisa Scottoline: Mystery with tons of twists and turns.  Based in Philly.  The frequency of typos bugged me, but the story was worth powering through.

2. Move Your Stuff, Change Your Life by Karen Rauch Carter: Good intro to feng shui.  At least, that’s what I assume, I knew nothing about it before I read the book.  I appreciate the intention behind all of it.  “Concentrate on why you are placing an object in that spot.  Every time you see the object, it should trigger that future picture in your mind again (227).”

3. The Beauty of Humanity Movement by Camilla Gibb: Excellent storytelling.  Past and present Hanoi, Vietnam.  Quick read.

4. The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness: YA dystopian future novel where you can hear the thoughts of your neighbors.  Enjoyed it, haven’t made it to the next book in the series yet.

5. My Give a Damn’s Busted by Carolyn Brown: Romance novel involving feisty honky-tonk owner and sometimes cowboy.  Entertaining.

6. Fish! by Stephen Lundin: Inspirational business moral based on the fish throwers at Pike Place Market.  Worth reading just to understand the burgeoning franchise.  Takes 1/2 an hour.

7. The Intelligent Entrepreneur by Bill Murphy Jr: Loved this!  Murphy follows three Harvard Business School grads on their adventures to start their own businesses and eventually make bank.  He distills easy lessons for all of us.  Good for anyone interested in entrepreneurship.

8. Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson: My favorite strip in this collection is the one where his bubblegum bubble pops all over his face.

That’s all I’ve got for May and June.  I’ve been starting a lot of books and not finishing them.  I can’t seem to read the really good fiction right now, there’s too much ambiguity and shading in the very well-written characters… as it should be.

1. An Object of Beauty by Steve Martin: Exploit in the art world.  Appreciated that works referenced were included within the text.  Will Martin’s talents never cease to surprise me?

2. Canned by Franklin Schneider: Funny and subversive.  Schneider has perfected working the system to support his slackerdom.  His scathing critique of the world of work rings true based on my work experience.

3. Naamah’s Curse by Jacqueline Carey: These books are a guilty pleasure of sorts.  Carey blends romance and fantasy well.  Naamah is feisty, stubborn, and kind, all characteristics I enjoy in protagonists.

4. My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George: I probably read this at least 100 times when I was a kid.  As an adult, I can understand why I loved it, but don’t plan to read it as many times.  His hero’s journey seems so easy now.

Magazines: Inc, Vogue, Fast Company