I’ve been on a month-long yoga journey with the amazing Adriene Mishler of Yoga With Adriene. I’ve practiced EVERY NIGHT. This is kind of a big deal because I’m famous for starting things and not finishing them. There are three practices left in the sequence (I started a day late.) I’m telling you this because the nightly yoga, while amazing for my soul, posture, and core, is not conducive to blog posting. I’ve been reading, though, so I’m (as usual) a bit behind on reviews. Here are some five-sentence reviews to clear the decks. All of these were four-star reads. In fact, in January I’ve had ALL four-star reads. Still waiting for the first five-star of 2019!
Dear Mrs. Bird by A.J. Pearce. A charming historical fiction novel set in London during World War II. Emmy Lake is an irresistibly plucky heroine. She takes a job that she thinks is going to be a junior reporter for a newspaper but turns out to be a typist for an advice columnist at a floundering women’s magazine. Mrs. Bird, the advice columnist, is prudish and severe, so Emmy decides to secretly help the young women who need friendly advice in a scary time. This was an enjoyable yet moving look at lives in England during the Blitz.
After a big raid it was always sad to see flattened buildings and burnt-out churches which had stood for hundreds of years, but there was something rather triumphant about the monuments and statues, even the parks and big department stores that were still there, getting on with things. The Luftwaffe may have been trying to blast us to pieces, but everyone just kept getting back up.
Almost Everything: Notes on Hope by Anne Lamott. I love Anne Lamott. I listened to the audiobook, read by the author, and it was wonderful. If you’ve never read her before, she’s like a kindly, slightly kooky neighbor or aunt who tells you hard truths about life but also gives you M&Ms and hugs. She is consistently hopeful yet aware of the pain of the world and unfairness of life. Reading her makes me feel better, stronger, less crazy, and this was one of her better recent books.
It’s okay to stop hitting the snooze button and to wake up and pay attention to what makes you feel okay about yourself, one meal at a time. Unfortunately, it’s yet another inside job. If you are not okay with yourself at 185 pounds, you may not be okay at 150, or even 135. The self-respect and peace of mind you long for is not in your weight. It’s within you. I resent that more than I can say. But it’s true. Finding a way to have a relatively healthy and safe relationship with food is hard, and it involves being one’s very own dearest person. This will not cause chaos or death, as you were surely taught, but rather an environment where you can drown out the many mean and mistaken voices.
A Princess in Theory by Alyssa Cole (Reluctant Royals #1.) A fun, smart, sexy page-turner. This contemporary romance features a guarded, independent STEM-based grad student heroine, Naledi, and an actual prince from the fictional African country of Thesolo, Thabiso, who comes to New York to track down his long-lost betrothed. A case of mistaken identity brings to two together, where they experience undeniable chemistry. The storyline was so well-crafted I kind of skimmed over the sexy parts, to be honest. These characters were fully realized and incredibly likeable; I can’t wait to read more of this series (the next focuses on Naledi’s best friend Portia.)
“Um,” she said. Her general reaction to men she met in her daily life was indifference or tolerance, at best, but something about this man sent her thoughts spinning far, far away from lab work or serving or studying. The only data she was currently interested in collecting was the exact tensile pressure of his beard against her inner thigh, and the shift in mass of his body on top of hers.
Have you read any of these? Have you had a five-star read yet in 2019?
5 sentence reviews sound difficult to do, but you did a great job wrapping them up. I’d like to try A Princess in Theory.
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They can be challenging. Especially if I have a lot to say about a book! But they also are a good way to catch up. Thanks! A Princess in Theory was a lot of fun, and smartly done as well.
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Loved Mrs. Bird! I’ve had two five star reads- finally read Sadie and Eleanor Oliphant. Have you read either ?
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Eleanor Oliphant was definitely a five star read for me last year! In fact, I think it’s my favorite book I read last year. I’ve not read Sadie.
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Loved reading your thoughts on Almost Everything! Your description of Anne Lamott is wonderful. I’ve never read anything by her but have been curious about several of her books and read mixed reviews so it’s good to read such a solid one. This sounds great, I love the lines you posted. I’ll definitely check this one out, thank you!
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You’re welcome! I love her. Traveling Mercies is probably my favorite of her nonfiction. But this one was really good! I love hearing her voice on the audiobook.
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I also enjoyed your first two books. I love your description of Lamott — so apt!
I’ve had just a couple of 5-star reads so far this year and might discuss them in a post soon.
I really need to get back into yoga. The last two years I did six-week courses around this time of the winter, and I’m sure they were good for me.
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I look forward to reading about your five star reads.
Yoga is really saving my mood this winter. And doing a program in the comfort of my own home for free is such a blessing. I highly recommend Yoga With Adriene! She is so positive and encouraging. This 30 day program is called Dedicate. She has others on YouTube that you can do anytime.
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I love yoga with Adriene! I regularly do her yoga for cyclists session. It’s good stuff. Well done being consistent. It’s really hard to do but the benefits are enormous.
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Hooray, a fellow fan! She’s awesome. I’m so happy with my progress this month.
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Wow huge range of books in this one! I’ve only read a bit of Anne Lammott, but I feel like I need to read more-I believe her work would really speak to me, I need that special Aunt in my life 🙂
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Don’t we all? Yes, I do recommend her – she has a way of getting to the heart of life and making me feel better, even when she writes about sad things.
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Yay, yoga with Adriene is the BEST! Congrats on completing the 30-day challenge! I’m glad you enjoyed Dear Mrs. Bird too. Hopefully you won’t have to wait much longer for that 5-star read.
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Thank you! Nice to meet another YWA devotee! I’m thinking of doing ANOTHER 30-day program when i finish this one. It’s made me feel so good.
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I haven’t read any of these, but I really, REALLY like Anne Lamott, especially her fiction and her memoir Bird by Bird. There was another memoir she wrote about faith that I didn’t enjoy and ended up not finishing. It felt too preachy and followed her own ideas about religion that are a mishmash of religions, so it just read as wonky to me. The last book I read by her, which WAS a 5-star read, was Joe Jones. You should check it out! Every so often my husband says, “I miss the people in Joe Jones.” It was a book I read aloud to him.
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That’s awesome that he said that! Its a really good sign when you miss characters in books. I need to check that one out.
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Wow, you’re killing it with the yoga, too! Yoga is one of the things that fell by the wayside when I started my job at the library. Well, not my job, really, but all the extra shifts I agree to take. Ha! I have tried Yoga with Adriene and I really liked it.
Oh, the books sound good, too! I still have never read Anne Lamott.
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She’s a gem. I think you’d like her!
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I am a quitter of yoga- disappointingly so. I love love love Anne Lamott. Thanks for sharing your writing.
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Thank you for reading it! There is always the chance to pick up yoga again!
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I so enjoyed reading Dear Mrs. Bird, and have recently started practicing Yoga with Adrienne, and also just signed out Anne Lamott’s Bird By Bird out of the library. I haven’t read anything of hers yet, and I hope it will speak to me. Lots in common!
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Thanks for reading, Leah. Bird by Bird is really good – I enjoy all of Lamott’s nonfiction works.
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Hello, thank you for this! I just wrote a survey about Anne Lamott on my blog: https://kloydecaday.wordpress.com/2019/07/24/books-on-faith-terrify-me-until-anne-lamott/. I hope you like it!
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