Here are my goodreads reviews. If you’re on goodreads, add me as a friend so I can see your books too! I also have an instagram account where I join my love of reading with my love of art.
“She felt she could get up and dance on it when she realized the beetle was silent. In fact, when she prodded at the back of her mind, she realized it was gone. She no longer cared what the others thought or did or what they thought of her. It no longer mattered to her that Amanda and Chloe were being assholes, that she hadn’t started studying for finals yet, or that who-knows-what chemicals were being pumped through her body that very minute. It wasn’t like she always thought it would be: a sharp hit to her system and she was somebody else. Her body slipped into it easily, naturally, like this was how she was always supposed to be. She felt curiously warm and safer than she’d ever been. She felt gloriously, sparklingly fine.”
I read Erica Boyce’s The Fifteen Wonders of Daniel Green last year and loved it, so when I saw she had a new novel, I knew I wanted to read it. Just like the previous novel, what made this story magical for me was the character development. Similar to Daniel Green, this book started slowly. I wasn’t sure who was who and how they were related. But just like the previous novel, it all came together.
Each of the characters in this story is textured, complicated, and real. They have their own stories and a series of experiences that led them here to be this person. They are 3-dimensional and rich and I couldn’t help but get attached to them.
There are some surprises in the story but nothing that felt super twisty to me, nothing that distracted from the overall quiet but powerful nature of this story.
The depictions of anxiety are so vivid and so visual and so visceral in this story that I could both see and experience it as I read it. I loved this story as much as, if not more than the previous novel. I cannot wait to read more of Erica Boyce’s stories.
With gratitude to netgalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for an early copy in exchange for an honest review.
The Honey Don’t List (3 stars): I am usually a big fan of Christina Lauren books. They are fun and uplifting and the characters are well developed. While this wasn’t a bad book by any means, I felt like it wasn’t one of their strongest. The biggest reason is because the characters weren’t nearly as developed as I feel they usually are. We knew almost nothing about Melissa or Rusty Tripp, especially Melissa. We’re told a lot about how awesome in love they were but it’s a lot of telling and very little showing. Nothing to really explain how Melissa ended up this way or even a bit more of her textured personality. They mostly seem to be cartoonish.
But even with all that, I still read the whole book in a day, got lost in the story and enjoyed my way through it. If you’ve never read Christina Lauren, I wouldn’t start with this one but if you’re a Christina Lauren fan, I am sure you’ll enjoy this one.
with gratitude to netgalley and Gallery, Pocket Books for an advanced copy in return for an honest review.
The Beekeeper of Aleppo (4 stars): I loved this sad but beautiful book. I checked it out of the library many, many times before I finally broke down and decided to read it. The story of Nuri and Afra is completely gut wrenching. The things they must endure to get out of a war ravaged country and how there’s no such thing as a happy ending in these situations is so beautifully depicted in this story. It will definitely break your heart.
Long Bright River (4 stars): For reasons I can’t explain, I didn’t want to read this book. It looked like it was going to be a police procedural and I’ve read enough of those that I am not excited about them. And I’ll be honest the plot in this story wasn’t what drew me to love it. This is a slow cooking book and then by about 3/4ths of the way through, I found I was so attached to the characters and wanted to know how things turned out for them. I loved the writing. The depictions of addiction were so powerful and the brokenness of a family, so real. I am glad I read it but this is definitely not a fast-paced story.
Godshot (4 stars): “Whatever’s happened to you can either make you beautiful, or it will ruin you forever. You decide.”
I have so many feelings about this book. I’ll start by saying that the writing is phenomenal. Such beautiful sentences and such a pleasure to read them. It reminded me of White Oleander many different times. Really excellent imagery in her writing. The atmosphere of the draught was so stifling, so real that I felt parched as I read the story.
“I don’t think they were her ideas. I think they were yours, and then they were the beers’ and then they were that man’s from the phone. I think she learned to ignore her own ideas a long time ago.”
I also loved the character development. I think the characters were mostly well developed, especially Lacey May and her mom. Vern was less so but we don’t really see much of him directly in the story so it would have been hard to do that. I loved Daisy and her daughter. There was so much texture in the characters.
“It was the same way I had. Her belief had accumulated like a tumbleweed and it became too hard to go back once she’d come so far, sacrificed so much.”
But here’s the thing: this story was so sad. So so so over the top terrible. Just one awful thing after another. I am not saying this kind of stuff doesn’t happen. Of course it does. It just was so much that it almost felt manipulative. Horrible things happening to women all throughout this book. So you have to be ready for that. It just felt like I was watching a roadside accident and I am not one of those people who finds that fascinating, I find it devastating.
I’d give this a 3.5 but the writing was so amazing that I felt a strong need to round up.
With gratitude to netgalley and Catapult for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.
And there we go, another week of reading in 2020.
Books I Read this Week 2020 is a year-long project for 2019. You can read more about my projects for 2020 here. I am also tracking my books in real time on Good Reads here. If you’re on Good Reads add me so I can follow you, too! I’ve also started an instagram account where I join my love of reading with my love of art.
Prompt: Design – 02 | What have you been doing recently to design a life you love?
I spend a lot of time thinking about what matters to me and designing the life I want for myself. I pick a word of the year, make daily, weekly, monthly goals for myself so that I can continually work towards building the life I want. This time of year is always when I take a moment to look back and reflect on the year I’ve had. On what worked and what didn’t work as well. I make a point to write down all the things that happened so that I can see how much happens in one year and how much I’ve already done. It’s important for me to get to see it because it’s easy for me to write off all the positive efforts I put into areas of my life and only notice where I am still falling short.
After I bid farewell to the last year, I spend a lot of time dreaming, wishing, designing the life I want for the following year. At this moment, I am spending my time thinking about what I want 2020 to look like. I use my One Little Word to have the overarching goal for the year. Next year, my word will be: WILD. It’s a reminder to go out into the wild more often. To hike, to camp, to be near the water. To learn, grow, take risks. I then choose my core desired feelings. Four or five words that reflect how I want to feel throughout 2020. When opportunities come up, I think about how they will make me feel and see if it’s one of those five. If so, I say yes. If not, I turn it down. This helps me spend more time feeling the way I want to feel.
Once I have those down, I then design projects for myself so I can push and encourage myself. So I can in fact live my word and my feelings every single day. I have projects around drawing (like @karenikareads), reading, telling stories, going on hikes, movement, journaling and reflection, etc. This helps me take time each week to remember how I am spending my moments and see if I can help align them to the way I want to live.
I spend a lot of time designing the life I want. I still manage to struggle all the time but I know that being intentional helps me get closer to the life I want then ever.
This year I am planning to do something different than last year. Around last September, I stopped taking a lot of daily photos which then meant I also stopped scrapbooking. I have several of the Story Kit’s piled up. So I decided to switch gears a bit and see if I can use Ali’s prompts to tell my stories. I might (or might not) also turn them into scrapbook pages. In the meantime, I will just enjoy telling my stories.
Stories from 2020 is a year-long project for 2019. You can read more about my projects for 2020 here. The prompts are from Ali’s Story Kits unless mentioned otherwise. I have started an instagram account for these, we’ll see if I keep it up.
Weekly Intention: This is a short week since Monday is a holiday. I’d still like to journal more and see what’s going on with me. Why I feel how I feel. I’d like to slow down and be aware of how i feel in the moments I feel it.
This month’s intention is:Into the Wild: Start small. Make a plan for the steps you want to take and give yourself a lot of grace. Take a handful of steps. You got this. Exactly the same as last week: Doing ok so far with walking and climbing, would like to get back on the yoga and pt wagon. And breathing more. Oh and I’d love to start a hike a week.
One way I will show up this week: Maybe do my perf for a change.
I will go into the wild: Maybe do one long hike.
This week, I will pay attention to: the energy i give off.
One new thing I will begin this week: Let’s go with regular journaling still.
One magic I will create: Hmmm. Book a vacation for winter break, start an evening routine. One of these.
One thing I hope to release: anxiety.
One thing I will join in on: Still need time.
One area I will practice being open: I would love to look over the exercise schedule at work again and see what I can try on.
I am looking forward to: finishing a draft maybe?
This week’s challenges: just a lot to get done in one week and I have an MRI on Friday morning.
Top Goals:
Work: walking 1-1s. clean email. get some answers. start.
Personal: figure out a routine that works for me.
Family: support nathaniel and david and jake.
I will focus on my values (love, learn, peace, service, gratitude): I would really like to get back to my center and be clear on what i want, where i am, and what i choose from here.
This week, I want to remember: to focus on what will matter most in 5 years and not just this week.
Living Wild is a year-long project for 2019. You can read more about my projects for 2020 here.
The Wildest Part of this Week was: As opposed to last week, this week went super fast for me. There was nothing super wild. I guess the wildest part was the night hiking Jake and I did on Saturday. It was not super long but it was dark enough that we had to put headlamps on to see. It was wonderful to be in the wild at night.
Top Goals Review:
Work: I only did one walking 1-1. I did clean email. I tried to get some answers but alas did not make a lot of progress here.
Personal: I also have yet to figure out a routine that works for me.
Family: I totally did not make long weekend plans so I am trying to make sure to climb, hike and read as much as possible to make up for it.
I celebrate: Going climbing in the middle of the day on Friday, it was awesome.
I am grateful for: a kind conversation at work on both Monday and Friday this week.
This week, I exercised: I did uphill walking (15%) 5 days, rock climbing 3 days, and took one night hike.
This week, I answered the Call of the Wild: still don’t have this down. we went on a night hike on Saturday and did some climbing (belaying for me) on Saturday by the side of the road which was crazy.
I embracedSilence of the Wilderness: I did almost nothing this week. Trying to get into a better routine here.
This week’s Wildcard was: Climbing Tuesday and getting those overhangs more right! Climbing in the middle of the day on Friday. Hiking at night. All of these were wildcards for me.
I said yes to: staying late at work both Thursday and Friday this week to catch up.
I said no to: starting my perf.
Core Desired Feelings (leap, soft, release, join, delight) Check-in: Hmm. I did leap a bit with Jake and lead belaying. I didn’t release enough. I was delighted with David’s interview that went well and I didn’t find things to join yet. Doing so so on these.
My mood this week was: solid I think for the most part.
I am proud of: getting better at the overhangs.
I release: i would really really like to release all this insane anxiety i am carrying.
Here’s what I learned this week: i am quite self-aware. thankfully.
What I love right now: I love all the climbing.
Weekly Review 2020 is a year-long project for 2020. You can read more about my projects for 2020 here.
Here are my goodreads reviews. If you’re on goodreads, add me as a friend so I can see your books too! I also have an instagram account where I join my love of reading with my love of art.
Willa’s Grove (4 stars): “That’s why I love it. It reminds me how truly small I am every single time. And how wild is the base of the natural world.”
I really enjoyed my time with this story. This is the story of four women who are, for different reasons, at a stage in their life where they are at a precipice. They have (or want to have) left the life they’re living behind and they are trying to figure out what should/could come next.
They all gather at Willa’s home in Montana to spend a handful of days together and see if they can figure out what’s next while supporting each other through their journey of discovery.
“Maybe the reason we’re having such a hard time figuring out what to do next in our lives is because we’re starting with fear instead of love.”
Each of the women have different personalities and different reasons why they are stuck and they open-mindedly support each other as they discuss bits and pieces of their lives and struggles. If you’re close to that place or stage of your life, you might really enjoy this book. If you’re far from it, it might feel hard to connect.
“So it’s a fine bit of irony, really. We don’t want what we have, and then it’s all we want.”
For me, it was a great read. I liked the way the women supported each other. I liked how each character was wildly different and yet they were each struggling in their own story. It reflects how we can each be struggling even if our stories differ and the struggle itself might be something we have in common and something we can guide each other through. It’s a story about community and how we’re built for community.
“That’s why I love it. It reminds me how truly small I am every single time. And how wild is the base of the natural world.”
It’s also a story about beautiful nature and Montana which I also loved.
If you’re looking for a sweet, character-driven story and are wondering your own So Now What? I’d recommend this read.
with gratitude to netgalley and Blackstone Publishing for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.
The Joy of Movement (4 stars): I am lucky enough to have taken several of Kelly McGonigal’s Psychology classes and I have always been a huge fan. When I saw this book was coming out, I knew I would read it no matter what and I knew it would be fantastic no matter what.
And it was.
It’s chock full of research about how movement can help with depression, loneliness and isolation. How we all need community and how movement can really help with that. It has a lot of inspiring stories and a lot of science. The perfect combination for all varieties of readers.
I have big movement plans for 2020, so I will be coming back to this one again and again to help remind myself of all of its gifts.
If you need any inspiration at all, this is the book for you.
Dear Edward (4 stars): I loved this sweet, slow, quiet and soft book about being the sole survivor of a devastating plane crash. It was written so thoughtfully, with such a good balance between the devastation and loneliness of being this one little kid who lost everyone and the hope of how life goes on and you find your people and you find ways to cope and even pay it forward.
It’s a sad book. It’s a hopeful book. I feel it did quite a good job of respecting the devastation while still reminding us of how much we humans are capable of surviving.
You Were There Too (3 stars): Hmmm I am on the fence about this one. It was a really fast read. The story and the premise was really creative. It had the potential to be a bit silly and I feel like it was never too silly. It did however get melodramatic and I feel a bit like the author wasn’t really sure how to end the story. I really liked several of the characters very much and enjoyed my time with this story.
Come Tumbling Down (4 stars): I couldn’t wait for this book to come out. I have loved every single one of the books in this series from the first one I got my hands on and I loved the creativity of the characters and the plot and the crazy worlds Seanan McGuire dreamt up. She’s just amazing.
This continues the story of Jack and Jill and I will say that it was not one of my favorites. Mostly because there wasn’t much new world building in this one and I find the worlds she creates one of the best parts of her books. I would likely give this more of a 3.5 stars but her characters are so quirky, so unique, so much fun that I rounded up.
I will take any books in this series and I really hope the next one takes us through a new door and we can share more of this amazing author’s unparalleled imagination.
And there we go, another week of reading in 2020.
Books I Read this Week 2020 is a year-long project for 2019. You can read more about my projects for 2020 here. I am also tracking my books in real time on Good Reads here. If you’re on Good Reads add me so I can follow you, too! I’ve also started an instagram account where I join my love of reading with my love of art.
This year I am planning to do something different than last year. Around last September, I stopped taking a lot of daily photos which then meant I also stopped scrapbooking. I have several of the Story Kit’s piled up. So I decided to switch gears a bit and see if I can use Ali’s prompts to tell my stories. I might (or might not) also turn them into scrapbook pages. In the meantime, I will just enjoy telling my stories.
Prompt: Breathe – 01 | Think about the last time you experienced something that took your breath away. Tell that story.
During the summer of 2019, we took a family trip to Oahu, Hawaii. It was my first time on any Hawaii island and while I loved the beautiful beaches and the blue sea, I was disappointed by how crowded Waikiki was and how large and impersonal our hotel felt. I had hoped to have a quiet vacation, sitting by the pool and reading my book but it didn’t look like that was going to be possible.
The week we spent there was still magical, full of beautiful beaches, delicious sandwiches, lots of reading time and family time. But the best part came at the very end.
On our last day there, we looked for one final adventure together. I had read about a hard-to-find hike in this hidden forest near the highway. We decided we had nothing to lose so we went in search of this path.
It was a bit confusing, but we managed to find it and started walking down the bamboo forest that turned into a lushly covered pathway. We got lost a handful of times as we walked up the hill, through the muddy terrain. We thought of giving up but the few people we saw on the way told us to keep going.
So we did.
And it was the best decision ever. At the end of the long path, we came upon an amazing waterfall and a small lake. We were soaking wet from sweat and even though the water was freezing, I couldn’t wait to jump in. We walked up to the waterfall and stood under it as the water fell all over us. It was one of the most magical moments of my life and even now thinking about it takes my breath away.
It reminded me of what a gift nature is and how water heals everything for me.
Stories from 2020 is a year-long project for 2019. You can read more about my projects for 2020 here. The prompts are from Ali’s Story Kits unless mentioned otherwise. I have started an instagram account for these, we’ll see if I keep it up.
Weekly Intention: Ok here we go, week 2. My intention this week is to do better than last week Ha! I’d like to journal more and see what’s going on with me. Why I feel how I feel. I’d like to extend extra grace to myself and I’d like to act before I feel and see what happens.
This month’s intention is:Into the Wild: Start small. Make a plan for the steps you want to take and give yourself a lot of grace. Take a handful of steps. You got this. Doing ok so far with walking and climbing, would like to get back on the yoga and pt wagon. And breathing more.
One way I will show up this week: Curious about myself and others.
I will go into the wild: Maybe we can do the hike we didn’t get to do last week? I can take more outdoor meetings and walk with Nathaniel twice.
This week, I will pay attention to: my words.
One new thing I will begin this week: I skipped the cardio and gave myself a bit more time on that. I think i’d like to begin more regular journaling actually.
One magic I will create: Maybe some snuggles with my kids and husband? Maybe a vacation for next weekend.
One thing I hope to release: thoughts around work still.
One thing I will join in on: I need some more time for this one. Maybe I can join something at work.
One area I will practice being open: I have this one meeting on Monday. I will practice being open there.
I am looking forward to: Figuring out how to move through all this.
This week’s challenges: I think early part of the week looks more challenging than the latter part.
Top Goals:
Work: walking 1-1s. clean email. get some answers.
Personal: figure out a routine that works for me.
Family: make long weekend plans?
I will focus on my values (love, learn, peace, service, gratitude): I am going to try really hard to choose to be in the moment and remember what matters most this week which hopefully will mean my values emerge front and center.
This week, I want to remember: that most things are more transient than they seem.
Living Wild is a year-long project for 2019. You can read more about my projects for 2020 here.
The Wildest Part of this Week was: Hmm this was a week of ups and downs. I felt on the edge the whole week and couldn’t really articulate why. I ended up journaling a bunch and trying to take some steps forward. I also tried to get out of my head often with mixed results. Nothing super wild this week.
Top Goals Review:
Work: I tried to get back into the groove of things. I did clean email. I didn’t write up nbu but started to work towards it.
Personal: I didn’t spent a lot of time trying to figure out a routine that works for me. I did walk every weekday morning.
Family: I started plans with with David and and I did spend time working with Nathaniel.
I celebrate: Can I say making it through? I was pretty anxious about going back.
I am grateful for: a little bit of breathing room in my schedule this week.
This week, I exercised: I did uphill walking (15%) 5 days, rock climbing 3 days, yoga twice, and that’s it.
This week, I answered the Call of the Wild: very mildly. Took 3 meetings outside and did a walk with Nathaniel twice.
This week’s Wildcard was: Hmm I think it was climbing Friday night since it wasn’t in the plans and I just went for it and it was pretty awesome because I climbed only unrated routes and tried two overhangs.
I said yes to: walking in the mornings even though I am so tired.
I said no to: doing anything on Saturday.
Core Desired Feelings (leap, soft, release, join, delight) Check-in: Hmmm, I think I didn’t lean into almost any of these this week. I need to find a way to make them more front and center in my life.
My mood this week was: on and off.
I am proud of: getting some work done outside of meetings.
I release: whatever i couldn’t do. this week’s laziness and falling behind in yoga.
Here’s what I learned this week: if you want something you have to ask for it.
What I love right now: I love how kind my husband is. I am so grateful.
Weekly Review 2020 is a year-long project for 2020. You can read more about my projects for 2020 here.
Here are my goodreads reviews. If you’re on goodreads, add me as a friend so I can see your books too! I also have an instagram account where I join my love of reading with my love of art. I tried to get all the 2019 books last week but I ended up reading two more in 2019. So only 4 of these are from 2020.
A Keeper (3 stars): I have no idea who Graham Norton is but it looks like he is famous (at least the other reviews seem to mention this.) I picked up this book because it got relatively good ratings and I had put off reading it all year. It’s the story of a daughter and a mother years apart. The story of how the daughter came to be. It was sad and heart wrenching and also managed to be touching at parts.
Guests of August (4 stars): “That was what marriage was sometimes like, she thought. Slights and moods, words unspoken, angers contained, toxic combinations that inevitably simmer and overflow. But it is also inevitable, she assures herself, that heat cools, that even caustic stains fade and are wiped away, leaving only the palest of scars.”
It took me a while to read this story and there were so many characters that it was sometimes hard to keep track of them all and their children. But I still enjoyed the time I spent with it and the best part, of course, was exposing all the human-ness we all have. How marriage is hard, how forgiving and being open and vulnerable is hard.
I especially loved the parts where the doctor and his wife kept forgiving each other and wanting to strengthen their marriages at different times when they weren’t together and then something would happen and change everything again. I think that’s such an accurate portrayal of how life and marriage is and how the chances of both people feeling and being in the same place at the same time is such a rare occurrence. It’s so much more often that we feel surges of emotion/love/forgiveness at mismatched times.
It was a lovely novel to end 2019 with.
Thank you to netgalley and Severn House for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.
Radical Compassion (5 stars): There’s nothing like starting out my year with Tara Brach. I have been a longtime fan and her podcasts have carried me through several very tough years. Tara’s ability to mix methodology, thinking, and storytelling is unparalleled. In her podcasts, she usually also tells some wonderful jokes that have stayed with me over the years. If you haven’t listened to any of her work, I cannot recommend it enough. Her other books are also phenomenal.
This book is focused on compassion as the title states. Specifically in the practice of her version of RAIN: – Recognize what is happening; – Allow the experience to be there, just as it is; – Investigate with interest and care; – Nurture with self-compassion.
The book explains the practice, gives examples and contains meditations that give you the space to do right then. I listened to it on audio which was perfect for practicing the meditations. A great way to start the new year and to hold my intention of more compassion.
You’re not Listening (3 stars): “For example, someone who has a critical inner voice will hear someone else’s words very differently from how someone whose inner voice tends to blame others will. It’s all your fault versus It’s all their fault. In other words, our inner dialogue influences and distorts what other people say and thus how we behave in relationships.”
I had mixed feelings about this book. On the one hand, there was a lot of interesting information and data that explains how we listen, common pitfalls we fall into and why it’s important to listen better. All of which I totally agree with. That’s the reason I wanted to read this book to begin with. I knew I wasn’t listening as well as I could be and I wanted to do a better job.
There were some really engaging bits. For example, I liked learning about the right-ear advantage and how you might be able use (if you’re right-handed) to pick up up meaning vs using your left ear to hear more of the emotional feelings. It was new to me and an interesting concept. But overall, it was a lot of here’s why you’re not listening and here’s what happens if only you could listen better.
The author did a good job of making her case of how we’re not listening as well and why it matters. She had a lot of interesting studies and cited many resources. And if that’s all the book promised, maybe I would have rated it much higher. To be fair, it is the title of the book so maybe that should have been my hint.
“People’s inner voices have tremendous influence in part because they are perceived as louder.”
Even though the title only promised to tell me what I was missing and why it mattered, the blurbs promised that it would also teach me how to listen better. And this is where I felt the book failed me.
The continuous repetition of how phones, internet and social media is killing my listening skills and making me a worse person just got old. I was already bought in, but after multiple times, it just felt like she was lecturing.
I think maybe I could have tolerated that if there was more examples on how to actually be a good listener. She talked about “shifting” and “support” responses which I really liked reading about. Such illustrations around what you do when you listen poorly and how you could listen better were exactly what I was hoping the book had more of.
“In fact, smart people are often worse listeners because they come up with more alternative things to think about and ae more likely to assume that they already know what the person’s going to say. People with high IQs also tend to be more neurotic and self-conscious, which means worry and anxiety are more likely to hijack their attention.”
And in the end, because so much of the how was missing, the book felt more and more didactic to me as I read on. I felt I was being lectured at, scolded, and reprimanded. Her tone started getting to me and I couldn’t let it go. I was going to write: it might just be me but of course it’s just me. Book reading is a personal experience and this was my personal experience. I don’t read non-fiction as often as I read fiction but what I really love about non-fiction is that each time I read one, I learn something new, I grow, and I can look at the world and be in it a little bit differently.
This book did a good job of highlighting the importance of listening better. I’m sold. It did a less good job of how I could help bridge the gap and become a better listener myself. Maybe that can be her next book. 🙂
With gratitude to Celadon Books for an advanced reader’s copy in exchange for an honest review.
Such a Fun Age (4 stars): This book peppered the internet over the last few weeks so I couldn’t wait to get my hands on it and see what I thought about it. What I found most interesting about this book is how light and breezy the cover and the narration are compared to the actual story. Well not even the story but the story below the story. On the surface, the characters and the plot also seem breezy, if maybe a bit on the neurotic side.
But underneath it all, this story is saying so much without saying it. This books covers issues around racism, savior complex, identity issues, socioeconomic disparities, choices we make around how we show up in the world and even parenthood. There are deep, serious issues covered without the author being heavy handed and the reader feeling like they are being lectured at.
The best part of the book is how 3-dimensional the characters are. Each of the characters is flawed but in all the human ways. Not a caricature. You can see how they are messing up and how they are making poor choices but you feel for them. You cringe on their behalf. You root for them and get disappointed in them, and expect better from them. Just like you would from real-world people. It’s a feat to pull off in any book, but exceptionally hard in a book like this, covering so many complicated societal issues.
I really enjoyed this one.
Recipe for a Perfect Wife (4 stars): This was a really quick read for me. Once I started it, I just didn’t want to put it down. The audio narration was excellent and I found myself attached to the characters right away. Even though I could see most of the twists coming (except for one) I still enjoyed all of my time with this story.
I liked Nellie’s story more than Alice’s just because I think Nellie was a bit more developed as a character and her motivations seemed a bit more clear. In the beginning of Alice’s story, it felt like she started lying or doing uncharacteristic things for no clear reason. Maybe out of ennui. It made it harder for me to connect with her. By the very end of her story, I did find myself cheering for Alice but still not as much as I would have liked. Alice’s husband was even more under-developed. He almost felt cartoonish to me.
Even though I can find many flaws with this book, I still found myself unable to stop reading it. Unable to stop caring about the characters. Unable to look away from the dark undertones of these housewives’ lives. I found it to be a very satisfying read.
And there we go, first week of reading in 2020.
Books I Read this Week 2020 is a year-long project for 2019. You can read more about my projects for 2020 here. I am also tracking my books in real time on Good Reads here. If you’re on Good Reads add me so I can follow you, too! I’ve also started an instagram account where I join my love of reading with my love of art.
This year I am planning to do something different than last year. Around last September, I stopped taking a lot of daily photos which then meant I also stopped scrapbooking. I have several of the Story Kit’s piled up. So I decided to switch gears a bit and see if I can use Ali’s prompts to tell my stories. I might (or might not) also turn them into scrapbook pages. In the meantime, I will just enjoy telling my stories.
Prompt: Joy – 03 | What do you do to create joy when you aren’t feeling it?
This was an easy one for me. There are many things that bring me joy: twinkle lights, candles, crackle of fires, hugging my kids, snuggling with my husband, being out in nature, going on vacation especially where I get to see unusual animals.
But water holds a magical place in my heart. When I am near the water and can hear the sound of the waves and see the endless blue, it brings me both joy and peace simultaneously. No matter how anxious or down I might feel, the sound and sight of water is like a wash of joy.
I am very lucky to have always lived near water. When I was a teenager in Istanbul, my then boyfriend and I would always go to this one spot near the water and city lights the night before any big exam so I could calm down and help center myself. I then lived in Pittsburgh, New York, San Diego and the Bay Area, all with their own bodies of water. (I also lived in London and Tokyo briefly, both of which are also near water.) Even now, years later, when I feel overwhelmed, I still seek the water.
During the dark months winter, I often seek out YouTube videos of waves or beach fires so I can hear the ocean, seagulls, and the crackle of a fire. While it’s not the real thing, it still brings me joy almost instantly.
Stories from 2020 is a year-long project for 2019. You can read more about my projects for 2020 here. The prompts are from Ali’s Story Kits unless mentioned otherwise. I have started an instagram account for these, we’ll see if I keep it up.
