McKenna > Recent Status Updates

Is it not truly the end goal for us to be enough- enough to be lucky. Enough to be alive. Enough to be with each other. Is that not the goal

Since driving along the Susquehanna is a normal occurrence for me, it’s fascinating reading a poem where it’s so transfixed on how the landscapes contribute to the feeling of life and death. Because for me, it is filled with nostalgia and home- and then complicates into the feelings of home. But seeing it as a guide point to something more is interesting

The Susquehanna??? I wonder where. The Susquehanna is such an old river- truly a magnificent piece of nature

I am comforted by the idea that we become fireflies in death- our spirit continuing on in its pieces of light

“I am beautiful. I am full of love. I am dying”

Miracle Fish- the idea of your body and its connectedness to nature is like my peak spirituality. I feel utterly connected to the world around me and feel so much more joy when I am outdoors and grounded in the world

The tension between me and the concept of finishing my reading challenge in the next 10 hours….

I fear I couldn’t end 2025 without one more Heartstopper reread lol

Listening to my body /=/ restricting myself from necessarily bodily functions for 14 hour days. That’s actually the opposite of listening to my body

feeling a lot of feelings and the holidays are hard (update for specifically my current christmastime)

I love listening to audiobooks whilst driving <3
especially on long drives home!

This should’ve ended at Chapter 28- let Caroline go and be with Taylor & Arden be her show business self. Let Caroline have character growth and her own choices

Sometimes Libby holds means you get a Christmas YA romcom in August😭

also I need to keep reminding myself that these are teenagers- they are written much more like 20 somethings

I’m so impressed by her ability to remember specific details cause if I’m being so fr dissociating through this experience or similar ones is so incredibly easy I fear- or at least that’s my personal experience

Anyone who knows me personally knows why I’m rereading this right now and god is it hitting me in a lot of feelings. Feeling a lot a lot

“The cares and anxieties of a close attendance on an aged mother has engrossed all my time, though not my thoughts. They are free, and will haunt the leafy forest, where dwells my little friends the Insects, and there I have longed to be” - Margaretta Morris

I have never felt such kinship with a human

The first bit of this book I’ve been like “eh it’s accurate but I don’t really relate to this form of ocd” and then the last two compulsions & obsessions came to punch me in the gut

I FINALLY FINISHED THE PAIRING- it took me 5ver to finish goddamn

I had recently bought a copy of this book at a library book sale- excited to finally own a copy. But for their birthday one of my close friends has requested a copy of any of my favorite books. Since we became friends 4 years ago over our shared love of a video game, I thought it was only fitting that I actually annotate this book about people who came together over games and give them that copy. Excited to re-read!

*spoilers* I’m so intrigued by both Alice and June as characters. Maybe Alice thinks she was adopted legally but June most definitely knows otherwise

Surprisingly this is the first time I’ve cried while reading this book

I fear I’m so emotionally attached to Ampert. I tried so hard to not fall into the trap of becoming emotionally attached and yet I did

Plutarch is like one of my least favorite characters in the entirety of THG and this book is just furthering my hatred

“I don’t care much for mockingjays. Something unnatural about a bird that’s half-mutt”

Such an emphasis on the necessity of being human & holding onto that identity- maysilee specifically also cares a lot about purity which is interesting

(1) I feel like this is very reminiscent of catching fire rn- all of the other districts against careers & underlying plot to destroy the arena. Although, I feel like if the children had been the catalyst to the revolution rather than adult victors that there is symbolism in that
(2) giving him a 1 doesn’t make sense to me from the Capitol’s perspective- it just draws attention to him? Unless that’s the point?

This is the one major spoiler I’ve received which is sad

I’m so fascinated by the way that the perception of death does not change in dystopian worlds

My Donner Party theory is already thickening- she asks for plates/cutlery & the line “if you let them treat you like an animal, they will. So don’t let them”

She is going to try and hold out her dignity as long as possible until she physically cannot anymore, which is a theme more generally in these 40 pages but I have a feeling she’ll be a real proponent of the theme moving forward (I could be so wrong)

I’m sure it’s intentional but I cannot stop thinking of the Donner party when I read Maysilee’s last name- I have a theory about how it fits together but it’s too presumptuous to share since I’m only 40 pages in

I must lock in on my summer reading