Solid reading this week. Here are my goodreads reviews. If you’re on goodreads, add me as a friend so I can see your books too! I’ve also started an instagram account where I join my love of reading with my love of art.

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Callings (4 stars): I have never heard of StoryCorps but I loved the title of this book when it showed up at my library so I knew I wanted to read it. It turned out to be a total gem. It’s full of very short stories from real people’s lives and how they ended up or chose with the career they love. It’s very touching and very real. There’s a section specifically for the military as well. I loved each of the stories in their unique way. The variety is what makes this collection even more of a joy to read because you can tell it’s not trying to impart a perspective or a lesson. It’s just giving you glimpses into real people and their real moments. It was exceptionally lovely on audio.

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The Wedding Party (3 stars): I enjoy Guillory’s novels and know that they will be funny, a bit sarcastic and land squarely on sweet. I felt this one was lighter (or maybe more predictable) than usual so I started and stopped it a few times but once I got into it, it was a fun ride for the few hours it took me to read it. If you’ve read the other two, you’ll likely also enjoy the cameo.

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The Confession Club (4 stars): “It’s all well and good to congratulate someone on something good that they did, or to acknowledge what’s wonderful or exceptional about them. And we should do that; we should never be spiritually stingy. But to say out loud our missteps or inadequacies – to _confess_ in an honest way and to be lovingly heard – well, that’s the kind of redemption we need on a regular basis.”

Elizabeth Berg’s novels are a joy to read. They are quiet and sweet and kind and wind their way through your heart and soul. Her characters are richly layered and multi-dimensional and human. They have flaws, fears, delights and everything in between.

“Apparently, sometimes when you feel yourself done with something, you’re not done with it at all.”

This lovely story is just like what we’ve come to expect from Berg, it’s about women aged 20 to 70 who meet regularly for “confession club” where they confess to something they feel bad about. Something they are ashamed of or embarrassed to admit out loud. There are a wide range of confessions, from funny to sad to serious but they all have a lot of heart, of course.

“She envies Nola for the way she is always in a rush to do everything, the way she rises so quickly to the possibility of joy. Most of all, she envies Nola her default setting of goodwill toward man, beast, or weather.”

It’s also about a homeless Vietnam Vet who is finding his way through and meets one of the main characters in the novel. I found him to be a great addition to the story, and really enjoyed his chapters, his journey, and his struggles.

“There are quite a few design flaws in us humans, you know. More than in animals and plants. And I guess we have to cope with them. Don’t have to like them, just have to cope with them.”

There is some plot in this story but really it’s about people, it’s about getting old, it’s about being lonely, it’s about navigating life or marriage or motherhood or friendship. It’s about what it means to be human.

“That’s what life is, at its best. A confession club: people admitting to doubts, fears and failures.”

I am always left with a deep feeling of gratitude when I read Berg’s novels. This one is no exception. They make me feel less alone, softer and kinder.

“We forget how ready people are to help. You can talk all you want about the evil spirit of man. But I don’t think it’s true. I think most of us are just dying to be good. And one way we can do that is to forgive the bad in others as well as in ourselves.”

So many good reminders in this story, about taking risks, giving people chances, giving ourselves chances, and most of all about forgiveness. So grateful for writers like Berg.

Huge thanks to netgalley and Random House for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

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The More or Less Definitive Guide to Self-Care (4 stars): Self-care can be (and has been) defined many different ways. Many of the resources I’ve seen over the course of the last year have all been focusing on the “pampering” aspect of self-care. Things like taking baths, getting a pedicure, etc. I’ve also seen examples around practicing gratitude, journaling, etc. What’s great about this book is that is has both and then so much more. I think it’s relatively true to its title in that it’s pretty exhaustive.

“The goal of self-care is an ever-morphing target, so concentrate on getting to know yourself and your needs instead of thinking in terms of cures and fixes, solutions and antidotes.”

This book doesn’t pass judgement on how to define self-care and what’s acceptable and what’s not. It casts a wide net and gives you so many options that you feel empowered to pick what works for you at different times in your journey.

There are so many awesome ideas in this book that I can’t imagine there won’t be one that speaks to you. I’ve read several books and hundreds of articles on self-care in the last few years and there were several new-to-me ideas in this book. Many of which I was excited to try immediately.

If self-care is an area where you’re interested in exploring or if it’s an area where you’ve explored for a while and would like fresh ideas, I think you will love this book.

thank you to netgalley and the experiment for an advanced copy in return for an honest review.

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The Gifted School (3 stars): My children attend a “gifted” school so I was both curious and reluctant to read this. I finally got myself mentally and emotionally prepared and then…. well and then it was a bit of a letdown. I feel like the book could have been (and tried to be, at parts) about the ramifications on bringing a public gifted school into a community and whether that’s a good idea or not (from the perspective of educational policy, using tax dollar money, etc.) I get that, it might have made the book less salacious but it would have been more thoughtful and interesting, in my opinion. The book does have some of that but, especially towards the end, it devolves into the increasingly poor decisions made by the parents and shocking revelations in their community, etc.

In the end it’s a book about how people can be backbiting even if they are “best” friends when they perceive a situation to be competition between their kids and someone else’s kids. If there’s a way to stack rank our kids or put barriers, then people can make really poor decisions morally. I didn’t find this at all to be surprising (maybe because i’ve seen it first hand?) so the plot of the book sort of fell apart for me as it became more soap opera and less an interesting take on the impact on community, etc.

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The Lager Queen of Minnesota (4 stars): I read Strada’s previous novel Kitchens of the Great Midwest and loved it so I was not surprised that I loved this one, too. This novel has a fantastic blend of 3-dimensional, interesting, quirky-but-real characters with a plot that circles back in to itself, just like real life does. It’s full of heart, joy, and hope. It’s about real people, in real life situations, who show resilience, support, and strength for each other. I loved every single moment I spent with this book and cannot wait to read more from this author.

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And there we go, an okay week of reading. Here’s to a great week next week.

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Books I Read this Week 2019 is a year-long project for 2019. You can read more about my projects for 2019 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.

Solid reading this week. Here are my goodreads reviews. If you’re on goodreads, add me as a friend so I can see your books too! I’ve also started an instagram account where I join my love of reading with my love of art.

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The Huntress (4 stars): I usually stay clear of historical fiction, especially ww2 fiction and this book was over 18 hours on audio so I kept trying to convince myself not to read it. But the ratings were so high and the reviews were so raving that I kept coming back to it. Finally this week I decided it was time to tackle it.

And I am glad I did.

Like many others, I had never heard of the Night Witches and learning more about them was one of my favorite parts of the story. In fact Nina’s portions of the story were the very best in my opinion. The story is told from the perspective of three different characters: Nina, Ian, and Jordan and they all come together in the end. Nina’s chapters start way in the past and build up to today so we learn the most about her backstory. Ian’s chapters are about moving the plot forward so not a ton of character development in those sections, they are more plot driven. And Jordan’s sections are really more about the Huntress. I wanted to know more about the huntress too, and how she ended up being who she was. I felt she was the least layered character in the story. 

Regardless, this was a fantastic story and I am really glad I read it.

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The Bookish Life of Nina Hill (3 stars): This book was really sweet and I enjoyed reading it, but like many others in this genre, I am not sure it will stay with me past this year. I have read many books like this where I find I am enjoying it in real time but then it won’t really stick with me. If you’re looking for something sweet and fun, this one will do the trick.

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The Expectations (3.5 stars): “Price turned toward Ben now as they walked. ‘Your opponent is always going to want to avoid pain, but you run toward it, you go looking for that pain. Then you’re not afraid, and you win.’ He turned to look ahead again.”

This story takes place in a Prep School on the East Coast and it has some of the themes of “Prep” and “Old School” and other similar novels around the quiet richness, the entitlement, the “properness.” But at its core this novel is about growing up and finding your own identity, your ability to navigate peer pressure, struggling between fitting in and standing out. It’s about what’s said and what’s not said. It’s about the lives of quiet desperation many live. It’s about the things we don’t share especially during teenage years. 

‘”When I was thinking about people to photograph, I just thought that you seem pretty self-conscious a lot of the time, as though you aren’t sure” – snap – “how you come off to other people, and that difference between how you suspect you might come off” – snap – “and how you actually come off is interesting. It gives you” – snap – “a sort of vivid look, and I wondered f I could get that” – snap – “on film.” Snap.’

What I loved most about this story is that nothing gets resolved. There are many threads in the story and the author could have easily been tempted to follow them. But many of them are left unsaid. We don’t know what will happen and that makes this book so much more real to me. I usually like my plot lined buttoned up but I loved that it wasn’t so here.

The urge to belong, the yearning to understand, the struggle to be cool vs being kind, and the angst of having some freedom and yet not quite being an adult are all portrayed beautifully in this story.

Thank you to netgalley and Little, Brown and Company for an early copy in return for an honest review.

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What I Wish I Knew When I was 20 (4 stars): I had heard about this book a long time ago and had intended to read it. More than ten years later, I am finally able to finish it and I am so glad I did. It was a fantastic read with lots of great stories, tangible/practical advice, great shift in mentality and perspective. It’s great for a teen going to college, but it’s also great for those of us who are older and could use an injection of new perspective and energy. Well worth the read.

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The Players Ball (2.5 stars): I read this because there were parallels to Billion Dollar Whale and Bad Blood and I was in my twenties for much of this story so I thought it would be interesting to read about all the craziness during the birth of the internet and domain registration craze. As it turned out, I think this book didn’t end up being nearly as interesting as the other two. Maybe the author thought the salacious nature of the topic would be enough to carry the book, or the quirkiness of the main characters. But, for me, neither did the trick. I felt like the nuance, the richness of layers of research, and the depth was missing. It didn’t turn out to be as interesting nor as insightful as I would have hoped.

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I Am Her Tribe (4 stars): “my hope for you is that you greet your reflection with kind eyes. that you never look to someone else for your belonging.”

i have highlighted so much of this book. Danielle knows how to put vulnerable feelings into words so well. Her simple poems are deep and profound.

“do not fast forward into something you’re not ready for or allow yourself to shrink back into what’s comfortable growth lives in the uneasiness the in-between the unfinished sentence you are a season of becoming”

some pieces resonated more with me than others, of course, but those that did jumped off the page and made me feel less alone.

“give yourself permission to be where you are and to still be loved for it”

these are words i will carry with me and pass on to my kids and remind myself of when i am in those dark moments.

“how you choose to show up magnetizes what shows up for you”

and they are words i will hold near my heart to remind myself to stay open and show up as my full self in the world. so i can make room for others to do the same.

“my heart serves as an invitation for others to show up + share their brightest, most authentic light what a gift i give to this world when i choose to remain open”

they are words that remind me of who i want to be. who i long to be. and what i yearn for.

“there is no greater love story than you in all that you are.”

i loved every moment of this book.

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The Nickel Boys (4 stars): Another masterpiece from Colson Whitehead. This story based on Arthur G. Dozier School for Boys is heart wrenching and eye opening. It breaks your faith in humanity and doesn’t sugar coat the truth. It’s a brutal story and it’s beautifully written. Not having grown up in the United States, I know very little of all this horrible history and feel the need to educate myself. Elwood’s internal hope and the hopelessness of his real life are beautifully intertwined in this novel but in the end you are still left broken and angry and sad for his horrible and unjust life.

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State of the Union (4 stars): “The trouble is, marriage is like a computer. You can take it apart to see what’s in there, but then you’re left with a million pieces.”

I don’t think it’s possible for me not to like a Nick Hornby book. There are so many reasons why from his sarcastic/bitter/clever humor to his witty dialogue. But what makes him stand out, for me, is the humanity his characters have. They are always flawed, always full of quirkiness, and always so very real.

This book is very short. It’s about a couple and we get to experience their dialogue as they meet at the bar across from the marriage therapist’s office ten times. It’s almost totally dialogue and neither of them are super likable. 

But they are both human. And I think like many of his other books, Hornby has some acute observations about marriage and people in this short short book. 

“…I think we should acknowledge that we have a flawed marriage. We live on a fault line, and the house might collapse at any moment.”

I laughed, I winced, and I had to pause and think. I loved every moment of getting to experience some Nick Hornby again.

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And there we go, an okay week of reading. Here’s to a great week next week.

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Books I Read this Week 2019 is a year-long project for 2019. You can read more about my projects for 2019 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.