what else has me completely booked: july 2026

I am trying to write one of these every month to accompany my book reviews/recommendations, but I don’t think I’ve done it for like two months, so let’s do a little round-up starting from right now.

I just got home from a lovely long weekend in Victoria, British Columbia. Living in Seattle and formerly living in Bellingham, Washington, visiting Canada almost feels like going to Portland, Oregon, except you have to go through customs. My boyfriend and I took the ferry, and it’s such a good experience. I love *not having a car to weigh me down. Walking onto a ferry to then arrive in another country feels incredibly good to me, like I’m living in a Richard Scarry world.

*I have a car, but I hate driving! I am a good driver and a responsible one, but I mostly think cars are terrible and dream of a society where we don’t rely on them.

Anyway, since I was on a little trip, I was thinking about what I’ve been doing lately to entertain myself that isn’t reading, so here we go! Bringing ‘what else’ back.

[podcasts and music]

In April, I wrote,

"Mostly I'm listening to Good Hang (but not the Fred Armisen episode!) and my subscriber-access episodes of Maintenance Phase and Conan.”

Not much has changed in my podcast world other than noting that I have since skipped multiple episodes of Good Hang (Mindy Kaling, Lena Dunham, probably Matt Damon), and I have started listening to KUOW’s Adults in the Room, specifically season 2, which reports on allegations against a beloved but deeply abusive teacher at Garfield High School, who later died by suicide. I’ve known about this podcast since its launch—I’m quite local and know people who know people—but haven’t been ready until now. It’s a hard listen, from the perspective of someone who lives down the road from Garfield, someone who went to high school in the greater Seattle area, and someone who can name at least three of her own male teachers who were later exposed as sexual deviants.