whatcha readin'? {2016::book 11 - goal 12}

i love books like this.
i don't think that's a secret
or a surprise.
i like books that make me want to
do
things...
read up on a subject, grab my camera,
grab a pen and journal, pick up a paintbrush,
try something i have never tried before.

and i love elizabeth gilbert.

i love love love loved eat pray love
and totally, completely, wholeheartedly
expected to NOT like it.

but i did.

and so i was very excited about this book of hers
and it did not disappoint me.

she tells a story about the amazon
and highways being swallowed whole
and a chance encounter
that kinda sorta gave me goosebumps.

i just like the way she writes.
so earnest.
so honest.

and i love that she says this:

“If you are alive, you’re a creative person.””

— Elizabeth Gilbert, Big Magic

because i totally agree with it.
people tell me all the time
"i'm not creative at all, you're so creative"
but i think there are varying degrees and proportions of
creativity in
EVERYONE...
i think some people call it by a different name...
and then they don't recognize it in themselves
but
it's there...
if you cook, if you garden, if you build things,
if you play...if you sing, dance, brainstorm, solve puzzles,
guess at riddles, read, write, plan a vacation,
if you have made a snowman or a sandcastle,
flown a paper airplane, wrote a letter to a friend...
anything can be creative
because there is no one set way to do anything.

you're creating a life for yourself.
that's pretty damn big.
:)

so anyway...yeah...i loved this book!

4 out of 5 ♥♥♥♥'s

NEXT UP:  THE HEART GOES LAST - MARGARET ATWOOD
(and yay!  it's book 12!!  i will hit my goal for this year!!)

whatcha readin'?

it's a whatcha readin' post
but without a finish,
there's no "the end"
because...
i haven't gotten to the end yet.

but i have to tell you that
while i am reading
the heart goes last
and really enjoying it
i am also reading a couple of other books
(which i don't normally do..
normally i am a monogamous reader,
loyal to the last page).

but this is different.

i am trying to journal every day
and sometimes, i need some help.
so i started reading elizabeth gilbert's
big magic
and i am loving it!

and i am also trying to doodle a little more...
so i had gotten
drawing lab for mixed media artists
by carla sonheim (whose art i love)
and last night
i spent about an hour and a half
drawing a full page of cats
30 cats to be precise...

i have never drawn
a cat
in my life.

at first it was kind of terrifying
and all sorts of frustrating.
but once i kept going
(like about 12 cats in...)
it started to get fun.
i drew them with glasses on
and bowties...
laying down, sitting up, backs arched,
fluffy, skinny, black cats with green eyes...
and it was fun and kind of
enlightening in an unexpected way.

so...a bit of a mass book update instead...
best i can do
in a rambling have to do this very fast because
i-have-to-go-watch-game-of-thrones-before-stirling-starts-without-me-kinda-way
 

whatcha readin'? {2016::book 10 - goal 12}

ok....before I can say anything
about this book
I have to say...
she is adorable.

a-dor-able.

so quirky & cute & funny
and she totally gets off track in interviews
(which is a trait that I can completely relate to...
except not really in interviews
because, well, I'm not famous,
but in every day life conversations
and during what other people would easily consider
to be making small talk...)

and I loved this book.
I really knew nothing about felicia day
when I started reading this
so it was all a pleasant surprise to me...
I have since starting watching The Guild
and her interviews and may
have tried to find her home number and
address...you know, just to say hi...
and oh-my-gawd-you GET me!
(and i'm only slightly kidding...heh)

any book that appears to have
EMBRACE YOUR WEIRDNESS
as its main theme
is obviously right up the alley
of a girl who was always called weird
(and, for the record, it only stopped kinda hurting
to be called weird
when you decide to take it as a
compliment instead of an insult)

plus I made a list of things
that I really seemed to identify with her on:

1. Anne of Green Gables:: how awesome is that! and she wanted to move to PEI!?!  C'mon over, it's never too late!  you can stay with us! :)  (i know, i know...the stalker vibe again)
2. She talked about a period of "who am I when The Guild ends" and I feel like I have been going through a bit of that myself with the end of the weddings...not on the same level (again...I am not famous), but still, identifiable.
3. She also refers to herself as neurotic a lot.  Which made me think...wait...am I neurotic because I relate to so much of this?  Is that neurotic for me to think that?  I need to go google neurotic.

5 out of 5 ♥♥♥♥♥'s

NEXT UP:  THE HEART GOES LAST - MARGARET ATWOOD
 

whatcha readin'? {2016::book 9 - goal 12}

i knew immediately
that this was going to be the type of book
that i did not want to end...
ever.

i love, love, loved this book.
i was drawn in from page one and
could not put it down...
and i mean to the point that
i had it on my phone
and i read it as i walked back
and forth to work.

i knew right from page one that
i was going to be sad to see it end.
i loved the characters...
Handful/Hetty, Sarah, Mauma - not Missus though -
i hated her.

i loved getting a glimpse into Sarah's mind,
into how torn she was,
and how confusing and hard it must have been
to not believe in slavery
while growing up in a family that did.

i love Sue Monk Kidd's style of writing...
she captures voices in a way that makes you feel
like you know them, like you get them.
i didn't realize until almost the very end
that this was based on actual people, Sarah and Angelina Grimke

i made a note while reading this that said
"must read everything by this author"
but i realize now that i have already read a good majority
of what she has written.
i loved the mermaid chair and the secret life of bees...
i just wish there was more of her books to read.
i'll be watching for the next one!

5 out of 5 ♥♥♥♥♥'s

NEXT UP:  YOU'RE NEVER WEIRD ON THE INTERNET (ALMOST) - FELICIA DAY

whatcha readin'? {2016::book 8 - goal 12}

there were many times throughout this book
that I thought...
why am I reading this?
why am I going to put myself through this?
I'm not sure that I want to
think
about stuff like this...
but in the end,
I was glad that I stuck with it.

it was sad and obviously,
right from page one,
I felt like I knew what was coming
(given the title of the book)
but the honesty pulled me in and kept me reading.

such a beautiful and moving tribute
to what sounds like an extraordinary woman
and a glimpse into the relationship
between a mom and her son...
a son and his dying mom...
it was interesting and heartfelt and
definitely worth picking up...
just be forewarned that
you may end up crying at some point
in the breakroom if you read it on lunch
while you are at work...{taken from true experience}

4 out of 5 ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ 's

NEXT UP:  THE INVENTION OF WINGS - SUE MONK KIDD