“I can never read all the books I want; I can never be all the people I want and live all the lives I want. I can never train myself in all the skills I want. And why do I want? I want to live and feel all the shades, tones and variations of mental and physical experience possible in my life. And I am horribly limited.” - Sylvia Plath
Loved:
Not really anything this month - it was a fairly un-noteworthy one as far as reading went, and that makes me sad!
Enjoyed:
Queen of Katwe, Tim Crothers: Heartwarming, lovely tale of perseverance and grit in the face of overwhelming struggle. Phiona, a young Ugandan girl living in one of the world's worst slums, becomes a chess prodigy through dedicated training and with the help of some seriously committed mentors and supporters. A quick and inspiring read.
Scrappy Little Nobody, Anna Kendrick: I just love Anna Kendrick - she's one of my favorite celebs - and her book cemented that status for me. She's witty and self-deprecating in exactly the way I find myself being, which is refreshing. The book was a lightning-fast read and I'd recommend it to anyone who is a fan of her acting!
Fat Girl Walking, Brittany Gibbons: This memoir of one woman's journey to body confidence was witty, pithy and unapologetic. Not to mention, often laugh-out-loud funny. I could identify with so many parts of it - and that was refreshing.
The Five Love Languages, Gary Chapman: I borrowed this from Anna as part of my New Year's resolution to be more intentional, and it was a quick, eye-opening read. I mean, every basic girl in the world has read this, and identified her love language, but I found the parts about interpersonal relationships, especially non-romantic ones, to be informative and useful. (For those curious, I'm [DUH] Words of Affirmation, hahaha.)
Tolerated:
Whole30, Dallas and Melissa Hartwig: I mean, duh, it's a book about a diet plan. Nobody's going to be jumping for joy over that. That said, it was informative and clear, there were funny little one-liners sprinkled throughout, and I enjoyed the success stories that started each segment.
The Bell Jar, Sylvia Plath: I had a really hard time with this, and it put me in a weird headspace, but I guess that's the point? The writing is extraordinarily evocative and forceful, but the pace and intensity of the literal downward spiral into insanity, depression, suicide...maybe not the best book choice for a dark, frosty Minnesota January, hmm? (Part of my 101 in 1001 #70, which I am clearly not going to finish...such a shame!)
The Darcys: New Pleasures, Linda Berdoll: Could not even handle this Pride and Prejudice spinoff. I would read like three pages and get distracted by the numerous grammatical errors and typos and generally awful bodice-ripping, and put it down, only to pick it back up and cringe anew. DO NOT RECOMMEND.
Re-reads:
Again, none this month and that kind of bums me out too. Time to revisit a few old favorites, I think...