whatcha readin'? 2019 {book 16::goal 25}

I don’t even know where or how I heard of this book…
but I am sooooo glad that I did.

I loved this book.
The intricate threads tying each person together
in ways I didn’t expect,
the backstory,
the reasoning behind the reasons…

But Kate & Peter’s story…well….
Kate’s story…
the creeping realization, the gradual descent into…
the delayed reactions and then the subsequent
futile motions of trying to figure out where it all
went wrong, of how to fix it, to apply rational logic
to something that defies logic & is completely
out of your control…
well.

That made me cry.

Because I saw myself in that.
I saw me.
As clear and as sharp as looking in a mirror.
I saw me.

So my opinion on this book may be a little biased
because of that….I suspect you are either drawn to
or run away screaming from
what you recognize in yourself….depending on the day.

On this day, it felt good to be understood,
if only by a fictional character in a book with a name
I can never seem to remember.

Also, I wrote this note after reading it:

“The only secret to love is to be kind” found in the acknowledgements.
♥

5 out of 5 broken ♥♥♥♥♥
NEXT UP:: THE GREAT ALONE - KRISTIN HANNAH

whatcha readin'? 2019 {book 15::goal 25}

I wanted to love this book.
I really, really did.

I love Amy Tan’s writing
and there were parts in this that made me
stop and take notice,
made me stop
so I could say the words out loud…
like this:

“Through writing, I dive into wonderment and come up
with corpses, whale sharks, pirates, and the head of a rose.”

Sigh.

And I love memoirs.
Especially writer’s memoirs.
I want to see how their brain works,
take out the pieces, bit by bit
and examine them under a microscope…
to study the synapses, the fires and misfires,
wondering how did you get here from
there.

But this one, well, maybe I was too hopeful.

There is no easy, nice way to say it…
I struggled off and on with the book
but the letters to her editor
just completely lost me…
I finished it only so that I could say that I finished it
and that’s not how you want to finish a book.

2.5 out of 5 ♥♥♥♥♥’s
NEXT UP:: ASK AGAIN, YES - MARY BETH KEANE

whatcha readin'? 2019 {book 14::goal 25}

I wanted to love this book.

I really did.

If you have been reading this blog for any amount of time,
you probably know that I like books like this…
I like how to’s and suggestions and lists and motivation.

What I did like:
♥ her no-nonsense suck it up deal with it this-is-up-to-you-to-change attitude.
I like people who are little bit tough love.
somedays. somedays…I want to throat punch them.
It’s a fine line.

♥ Her references to the wizard of oz and Dorothy

♥ That she talked about the struggle of quitting diet coke…
Uh….yeah…I get that (as I pop a can in the freezer just now so I can have it before bed).

♥ Her red converse sneakers

♥ She’s kinda adorable.

What I didn’t like:

• It was a little too religion based for me.
  This was not her fault…it was an oversight of mine.
  I didn’t realize when I got it that this was a large part of where
  she was coming from. And I am not against religion…it’s just…
  not my thing…

• That was pretty much it….I mean…some of it is a little cliched..
  but no more than any other book in this type of genre that I have read.
  I went into it expecting that to some degree.

All in all…I enjoyed the book. I felt like I got something out of it.
If I feel I have to take notes while reading something, then…that
feels like a worthwhile read to me and I definitely did take notes while
reading this. I do recommend it. Just go into it with an open mind.

3.5 out of 5 ♥♥♥♥♥’s
NEXT UP:: WHERE THE PAST BEGINS - AMY TAN

whatcha readin'? 2019 {book 13::goal 25}

here’s a secret
that’s not really a secret…
i love fairy tales.

and this felt like a fairy tale to me.

a little girl lost and abandoned,
secrets kept and whispered and wondered about…
a mystery,
a book of fairy tales,
a hidden garden, walled away from the rest of the world…

oh, i loved this book.

i will warn you though…i had to make notes at one point
of who was who and how this person knew that person
and so on and so forth. :)

5 out of 5 ♥♥♥♥♥’s
NEXT UP:: GIRL WASH YOUR FACE - RACHEL HOLLIS

whatcha readin'? 2019 {book 12::goal 25}

i finished this
quite a while ago
and when i was done
i didn’t give it 5 hearts…
i gave it
5 broken hearts.

i made a note in my phone
as i was reading this…
it said:
i am reading it.
and it is very good.
but i cannot say i am enjoying it.
so sad. so fucking sad.

and that is still how i feel.

the story was harrowing and yet
somewhat hopeful
and the descriptions
so vivid, it made me feel ill
and unable to sleep…
i often catch myself thinking
who could do this,
who could be this monstrous,
this inhuman
and then i think
of the gradual descent,
the blurring of lines…
of lost morals and the absence kindness or empathy…
of misplaced hatred and fear…of the power of propaganda…
of children kept in cages
and i wonder
how backwards
we are willing to let ourselves slide
and honestly
that keeps me awake at night, too
wondering if we have
learned
nothing.

5 out of 5 broken ♥♥♥♥♥’s
NEXT UP:: THE FORGOTTEN GARDEN - KATE MORTON