Reading Retreat Report!

From July 20-22, we had what is hopefully our first annual summer reading retreat! Attendees were Miriam, Sarah, and Jessy. We hope that more people will be able to join next year! We had a delightful cabin in Pinetop-Lakeside, and we got to read among the trees.

It was so nice to get to read with no interruptions, and to get to talk about books with each other as we went.

We also took turns cooking vegan meals. Here's a full account:

Day 1
We arrived in the late afternoon. After an excursion to Safeway, we spent a few hours reading.
Miriam finished Certain Dark Things, by Silvia Moreno-Garcia. Sarah finished Mort, by Terry Pratchett AND Comfort Me with Apples, by Cat Valente (our September book!). Jessy was working on a book, but it was also her turn to cook. She made some tasty vegan sausages with roasted vegetables!

Day 2
This was our full day of reading (no driving) and we made the most of it! We started with some yummy french toast, and tofu scramble, courtesy of Sarah.

Miriam finished The Bodyguard, by Katherine Center and also The Hacienda, by Isabel Cañas. Sarah finished Ring Shout, by P. Djèlí Clark. Jessy finished The Daughter of Doctor Moreau, by Silvia Moreno-Garcia. Miriam made lunch, which was soyrizo tacos with refried beans!

That evening, we headed to a restaurant for dinner.

Day 3
This was our last morning reading in the trees! We had to check out of our cabin at 10am, so we had leftovers for breakfast and then read until the last possible second before heading out. Sarah finished The Kiss Quotient,by Helen Hoang and Jessy finished They Never Learn,by Layne Fargo. Miriam had sore eyes from reading 500 pages on the previous day, so she didn't finish any books. On our way home, we stopped in Globe for lunch and some thrifting. Over all, this was a fun little retreat and we hope to do it again next year! We also hope more of our members will be able to join us!

Book Ratings

The following are the star ratings for each book completed by one of us on this retreat. In the case that more than one of us had read the book, the rating is the average from among those people.
Certain Dark Things: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Mort: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (3.5)
Comfort Me with Apples: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (4.75 and we can't wait to talk about this one in September because it's WEIRD)
The Bodyguard: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Hacienda: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Ring Shout: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Daughter of Doctor Moreau: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Kiss Quotient: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (4.5)
They Never Learn: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️