A Thousand Splendid Suns – Khaled Hosseini

Rating: 3 stars

Cliff Notes: I have heard great things about this book for years and was excited to pick it up at a recent book sale.

Full Summary: It took me a little longer to get through because of the foreign names of geography and culture (food, clothing, celebrations, etc). I also got bogged down at times with the in depth details of the conflict in the region.

But the stories of these women. Holy cow. The resilience and courage these women showed throughout the novel is humbling, especially knowing that the situations that these women endured are probably taken from actual events. And are probably still happening today.

A Thousand Splendid Suns Khaled Hosseini
By |2019-12-12T19:29:07-05:00June 24th, 2019|Mental Well-being|0 Comments
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Secret Daughter – Shilpi Somaya Gowda

Rating: I would rate it 3.5 stars if I could.

Cliff Notes: I loved all of the Indian culture present in this book. The author did a great job describing it in great detail. The themes of motherhood and what that means for women really struck a chord with me, making it hard to read at times.

Full Summary: I don’t think this is spoiler-ish at all, but read the review at your own risk. Somer could not have kids and struggled with that infertility and what it meant about her as a woman. It really struck a chord with me as I have had these same thoughts. Not that I struggled with infertility, but as a woman who does not have biological children of her own.

Shilpi Somaya Gowda Secret Daughter

Throughout evolution, one of the main “purposes” for women is to procreate, to carry children, nurture them, work with other women to foster a community in which to raise the children. This is not my jam. I am about as nurturing as a porcupine, although it has gotten a bit “easier” as the kids have gotten older. Teenagers don’t really want to cuddle – they actually don’t even want to be on the same level of the house with us. I put “easier” in quotes because let’s be honest – the bigger the kid the bigger the problems. We certainly have had our fair share. But I am specifically talking about my ability to be maternal and nurturing. Or not be maternal and nurturing, as it were.

When I first became a step mother and we made the choice to not have children of our own, I did struggle with the idea that I had no purpose as a woman if I was not going to have my own kids. What was broken in me that I did not long for that? Over time I have come to see different ways. I can make a difference in the lives of kids – my nieces or my step kids. Friends’ kids and such. Not everyone needs to birth kids in order to make an impact in their lives. Nurturing can look many different ways.

By |2019-12-12T19:29:22-05:00June 22nd, 2019|Mental Well-being|0 Comments
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Nights in Rodanthe – Nicholas Sparks

Rating: 3 stars

Cliff Notes: Super cheesy, but sometimes you just need an escape. I loved how the story ended.

Full Summary: The copy of this book that I read is the one where it had the movie characters on the front so the whole time I just pictured Richard Gere, which I generally don’t like to do because I want to use my imagination. Because that is pretty much the point of books, right!?

Anyway, so this was super cheesy – I am not sure how you fall in love like this in a weekend. But how the relationship played out was RIGHT UP MY ALLEY!! I do want to watch the movie so watch for the review of that. I see a new hashtag coming – Book to Movie Adaptation. Hint: The books is always better.

Nights in Rodanthe Nicholas Sparks
By |2019-12-12T19:29:31-05:00June 21st, 2019|Mental Well-being|0 Comments
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Songs of the Humpback Whale – Jodi Picoult

Rating: 4 stars

Cliff Notes: Accidental unicorn. This was a reread, but I did not realize it until too far in. I figured if I forgot so much I might as well redo it.

Full Summary: I like how this was written backwards. I remember when I read it the first time that I was confused for quite a bit of the first half of the book. Which is probably why I don’t remember so much of it. This barely counts as a reread.

I like how much this book honors young love. Love when you are a teenager is different. It is often dismissed as puppy love or not “real” love. It might not be a love you can base a future on and God help me if I would have married a person who liked who I was when I was 15 or expected me to stay that poor same young woman. But those first loves are big and deep and real. Jodi Picoult does a wonderful job of presenting it in this novel.

Songs of the Humpback Whale Jodi Picoult
By |2019-12-12T19:29:42-05:00June 20th, 2019|Mental Well-being|0 Comments
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A Monk Swimming – Malachy McCourt

Rating: DNF around p 60/300

Cliff Notes: Too scattered for me to get traction with the author’s voice

Full Summary: I think part of the problem I was having was I expected Frank McCourt kind of novel. This memoir was more of a series of humorous anecdotes. I would have liked to shoot the shit with Malachy, but could not really engage in his stories. He would have been a great blogger I bet.

A Monk Swimming Malachy McCourt
By |2019-12-12T19:30:27-05:00June 18th, 2019|Mental Well-being|0 Comments
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Braving the Wilderness: The Quest for True Belonging and the Courage to Stand Alone – Brene Brown

Rating: 5 stars

Cliff Notes: A must read for everyone. THIS is a book that should be required reading in all schools (instead of The Hunger Games, perhaps?) and board rooms (I cannot believe we are not done with Who Moved My Cheese yet). This book outlines 4 lessons we all need in order to be gentler with each other and ourselves.

Full Summary: Everything Prophet Brene writes is golden and this book is no different. How do we disagree civilly? What does it mean when we are dehumanizing others in our arguments or requiring either / or thinking?

Brene Brown breaks down sociological constructs and concepts for easy understanding through her storytelling, examples from her research, and the writings of others. I highlighted and flagged so many pages in this book that I know I need to digest and write future blog posts about. I hope you will keep coming back to read those as well as going out to get all of her books.

By |2019-12-12T19:31:23-05:00June 9th, 2019|Mental Well-being|0 Comments
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Salem Falls – Jodi Picoult

Rating: 5 stars

Cliff Notes: Besides Addy being a worthless ding dong, I loved this book.

Full Summary: I kept waiting for the twist (and brashly called it incorrectly about halfway through this book). When the twist I anticipated did not happen, I was satisfied with the twist we were given. And by “satisfied” I simply mean from an entertainment point of view. The new twist was disgusting from a human being point of view.

I am so angry at teenage girls who are manipulative and brutal to peers and “friends.” You know how mean girls are made – by watching women be mean to each other. And mean girls grow up to be mean women. Ladies – WE ARE BETTER THAN THIS!

I am so angry at false reports of rape. It makes it so hard for the truly injured girls and women. It makes it so hard for truly caring adults to interact with youth because of suspicion founded on lies. One false report out of a hundred actual rapes turns the tide of public opinion that “most reports are false.”

Then to adults who actually ARE predators. Take them out back.

By |2019-12-12T19:31:53-05:00June 8th, 2019|Mental Well-being|0 Comments
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My Old True Love – Sheila Kay Adams

Rating: 4 stars

Cliff Notes: Some of the passages in this book just took my breath away. It was a short book, but I slowed down to not miss them so it took me a little longer to read it. I also loved the dialect and phrases and these cannot be read on Sue Speed.

“I went right back to bathing Sylvaney. Sometimes you have to set grief down and not carry it right then, but do not fret. It will squat right there and wait for you to pick it back up.”

Arty Norton

Full Summary: Like life, this book was a trudging of daily hardships at times. It would just outline this happened and that happened, then this happened so that happened. But then there was a flurry of joy or tragedy and the processing of it all. These parts of the story are what kept me engaged in the read. One of my favorite parts was around the deaths that occurred. Stay with me – it is not morbid.

At one point in the novel when Arty is grieving a death of a loved one, she refers to something she was taught. That you actually are born twice – once to the world and once to Heaven. I find this so comforting, like a way that death is a beginning, not an ending.

By |2019-12-12T19:32:25-05:00June 7th, 2019|Mental Well-being|0 Comments
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