Happy mid-month! We've had a cold and snowy February BUT there is something nice about knowing March is just around the corner. There have been years it's been nice enough (above 50° with the only snow being in parking lot piles) for me to run in February. That doesn't look likely this year but I consider winter over on March 1st and will return all the winter books we've had checked out from the library for many weeks. The Christmas lights will stop turning on twice a day and come down from the porch windows. I will take down my paper snowflakes. It'll still be cold and we will very likely still get some snow (we had a decent snowfall in mid-April last year that was all melted within 48 hours besides the snowman Luke made) BUT...the promise of spring. It is coming soon-ish!
Since we've been inside a lot I've been knocking through my reading. I'm slightly ahead of last year's pace, maybe from choosing some shorter books OR from just prioritizing my time differently (maybe some of both). And so many have been very enjoyable!
Just two other book posts in the past month:
I keep my books VERY up to date on Goodreads here and post pretty regularly (sometimes about books) on Instagram here.
Now here's what I've been reading!
How to be a Family: The Year I Dragged my Kids Around the World to Find a New Way to be Together by Dan Kois
I was intrigued by this concept (which is similar to At Home in the World) and how families make living around the world possible with school aged kids. It is interesting to read about (briefly) living in different places and how much you can live like the locals when you're only there a few months. It's not a local's perspective but it's comparable to different places in a way that locals can't. I mostly enjoyed this although ALL the politics got a little annoying. 3.25 Stars
Code Name Helénè by Ariel Lawhon
Oh, this one was so good. I had pushed it off my monthly read lists for many months but finally got it and was so glad I did. Heavily based on a real woman who did some pretty incredible things in England and France during WWII. I know, there are GOBS of WWII novels and I've read a lot of them. But this was sharing the story of what a real woman did and her achievements and daring deserve to be known. (It didn't get it's own blog post but I did post about it on IG here.) 4.25 Stars
The Home Edit Life: The Complete Guide to Organizing Absolutely Everything at Work, at Home and on the Go by Clea Shearer and Joanna Teplin
Organizing is something I greatly enjoy but these woman take it to a whole other level. They also have a budget that greatly exceeds mine AND more space. It was fun to see how some celebs organize parts of their homes and I love seeing things organized prettily BUT...I don't need the space to organize 5 back stock bottles of olive oil because I don't have a reason to have 5 back stock bottles of olive oil! Who does??? I didn't get all the back stock but the pictures were pretty to look at. And it did make me rethink how I organize some of my spaces. 3.75 Stars
Dear Emmie Blue by Lia Louis
Rom-com-esque book set in the current day, two kids on the opposite sides of the English Channel who befriend each other after one sends off a balloon the other finds. They are BFFs until one is about to get married. I always have a bit of a hard time buying the male-female best friends when one of them is marrying/is already married to someone else yet these two stay best friends. I mostly figured out the ending but it was still sweet. 3.75 Stars
Ready Player Two by Ernest Cline
I enjoyed Ready Player One quite a bit, even though I didn't get all the references. I even got Matt to read it (he got a lot more of the 80s nostalgia). Obviously we were going to read this one (even though only one of us have so far...). It was pretty similar to the first but set later. The first 100 pages were a lot of telling, not showing, which didn't seem promising but then the story line moved ahead. I had a really hard time getting invested in whole chapters that focused around things I know very little about (like Prince, the artist sometimes known as). And I'm not sure I liked how things were wrapped up in the end...I hope that's not the civilization we are moving towards. Really, these books makes me want to spend much less time on devices! 3.5 Stars
Big Dreams, Daily Joys: Get Things Done, Make Space for What Matters, Achieve Your Dreams by Elise Blaha Cripe
A good "you can do it, live your dreams" pep talk that was really motivating. A lot of "yes, you'll fail but maybe you need different measures of success and just get moving on your dreams" which is a lot more motivating in the book than that. I appreciated it. 4 Stars
The Little Book of Small Living by Laura Fenton
We live in 1200 square feet with 4 people which feels like a mansion after seeing how small of spaces people lived in here. A lot of NYC apartments (which fascinate me) and not a lot that was my style but it did help me rethink some things in our house which I really appreciate! And it made me feel really good about our decision to live in a smaller house. 4.25 Stars
Murder Between the Lines by Radha Vatsal
The second (and final) in the Kitty Weeks series. I don't think I could tell you much about the actual murder although I know quite a few people died and people seemed mostly unshocked but it. Maybe people died a lot more ~100 years ago? I liked Kitty and would have kept reading about her if there were more books. 3.5 Stars
Red Sky Over Hawaii by Sara Ackerman
World War II historical fiction (I KNOW) but set in Hawaii during and in the aftermath of Pearl Harbor. This focused on the people who were living on Hawaii at that time and what their lives were like after the attack. It's not something I had thought much about and I appreciated this story and the perspective. A little romance, a little "found family", quite a bit of war drama. 3.75 Stars
Dancing at the Pity Party by Tyler Feder
A quick graphic novel about the author's experience around her mother's cancer diagnosis and death over 10 years ago. It was incredibly moving and honest with some humor in there too. I am amazed at people who have the talent to write and draw like this. 4.25 Stars
We Came Here to Shine by Susie Orman Schnall
I must have really been on a historical fiction kick lately but they have been varied in their time period in stories so I didn't even realize there were so many until now! The story of two women who lives intersect at the World's Fair in NYC right as WWII was gearing up. I knew very little of the World's Fairs (outside of Meet Me in St. Louis) and found the whole thing rather fascinating! The women were strong and determined to make their own path in fields most dominated by men. I really enjoyed this one. 4 Stars
Live Love Now: Relieve the Pressure and Find Real Connection with our Kids by Rachel Macy Stafford
I've read a few books by this author about making more quality moments with your kids and so I just added this one to my TBR when I saw it was coming out. Didn't know until I started reading it that it was about finding moments of connections with your teenagers. Which I am (only) 5 years from (WHAT?!?!?!?). A lot that didn't apply yet but prepared me for what is to come as well as just general "listen to your kids, really listen" messages. Would be worth a reread in a few years. 4.25 Stars
Parachutes by Kelly Yang
The first YA I've felt like I've read in awhile. "Parachutes" refers to rich Chinese kids who are sent by their parents to America to go to school here. Often living on their own or with host families. The two girls in the story are forced together when one comes from China to America to live with the other (and her mom). One rich, the other who cleans houses of the rich (got a bit of The OC vibes). There was a trigger warning in the beginning for sexual assault content (not terribly graphic) which had me a bit on edge the whole book, not knowing where it was coming. The author's note says it's based on part of her story which made the whole thing very poignant and hard. Parts were a lot, most of it made me glad I am no longer a teenager. 3.75 Stars
Living Without Plastic: More Than 100 Small Swaps to Lead a Plastic-Free Life by Brigette Allen and Christine Wong
This was a very ambitious guide to reducing our plastic waste in America. It is a problem and some of these swaps we've already made without a problem. Some were much more involved and I will likely never do. But I did mark many pages to reference for some possible product switches and easy things we can change to reduce our plastic usage, especially one use plastic (WHEN can we start using lunch boxes at school again???). Interesting and quick to read. 3.5 Stars
Read with Luke
Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle's Farm by Betty MacDonald
I thought for sure I had read all the Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle books as a kid. But then I picked up this one to read to Luke (almost 8) and NONE of it was familiar. NOT. AT. ALL. So I guess maybe my branch didn't have this one? Even though I was VERY familiar with the holds system then (I volunteered at the library from 11-13 and one of the highlights was getting a peak at the holds shelf early). The chapters were very long, we often split them over two nights because we just don't have 25 minutes to read right before bed. But my son liked it, I think because my sister and her family (with a multitude of cousins around Luke's age) live on a similar farm. 3.5 Stars
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl
This is one I KNOW I read, multiple times, as a kid. And even though I read it many times I still have scenes from the old movie that play in my head as I read it aloud to Luke. Even though I read it more times than I watched the movie. Luke is enjoying this one but I wonder if he can keep all the characters straight without having the movie visual? But the idea of a secretive chocolate factory is very appealing and interesting to my sugar loving kid! 4 Stars
That's what I've been reading. What have YOU been reading?
No comments:
Post a Comment