Oh man, is your New Year starting out a bit more stressfully than you had anticipated? Yeah, me too...
Whenever I am stressed, I look to books for comfort and security. (Granted, when I get too stressed I can't concentrate on reading, which only stresses me out further. Oi.)
But enough about stress! Let's talk about books! 📚📚📚
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A quick run down for my month in book terms:
I finished:
3 novels
5 picture books
3 novels
5 picture books
I gave up on:
1 non-fiction book
And as always, I am excited about:
sooooo many more books
1 non-fiction book
And as always, I am excited about:
sooooo many more books
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The REVIEWS in this post are as follows:
First Book Read In 2020 (When The Stars Lead To You by Ronni Davis)
Toss A Coin= Take My Money (The Witcher Franchise)
Did Not Finish. Will Not Finish. And That's Okay With Me. (Quit Like A Woman by Holly Whitaker/ Never Enough by Dr. Judith Grisel)
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I have separate pages for each book review, so that they can be referenced and searched for individually. The links (in addition to the hyper-links above ↑) will also be at the end of each review.. . . . .
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FIRST BOOK READ IN 2020
The first book that I finished in this new year was Ronni Davis's When The Stars Lead To You.
I became aware of this book, and this author, when Regan McDonell (another incredible author) was hyping it on social media. Because of Regan, I decided to check out the book for myself. Also, the book looked like it had potential. And it did! I really enjoyed this book. I even requested that the bookstore where I currently work should carry it - just so that I could write a shelf talker and hand sell it!
An aspiring astronomer, Devon, falls in love one summer only for the boy, Ashton, to disappear without any communication. About a year later, and just in time for their senior year of high school, Ash reemerges. Just as in love with each other, but each with their complex challenges, they must figure away to survive the year, and decide on their futures. Taking on the unique yet universal challenges of academic pressures, race issues, class issues, mental issues, and being a teenager, Ronni Davis' debut novel beautifully, realistically, and respectfully takes on important issues. This books is perfect for fans of Angie Thomas' The Hate U Give & Stephen Chbosky's The Perks Of Being A Wallflower.
I became aware of this book, and this author, when Regan McDonell (another incredible author) was hyping it on social media. Because of Regan, I decided to check out the book for myself. Also, the book looked like it had potential. And it did! I really enjoyed this book. I even requested that the bookstore where I currently work should carry it - just so that I could write a shelf talker and hand sell it!
LINKS FOR WHEN THE STARS LEAD TO YOU:
So anyone who has spent any decent amount of time with me knows how I am pretty much obsessed with all things The Witcher right now. The netflix series, the video game, and perhaps most importantly - the books.
It has honestly been a while since I have been this....hooked on a single subject matter. I want to say...years? It feels good to be able to let myself be completely immersed in something. I missed being sucked in by something. And for the first time in... awhile, it's just for me. I am not thinking how this interest will benefit work, or what my co-workers will think or say about it. It's...a relief.
It's also nice to finally have someone in my life who not only accepts and respects and encourages this. It's nice to have someone in my life to share a genuine mutual interest with.
That said, I am now having to "force" myself to put The Witcher aside (temporarily), so that I may catch up on some other reading. Such as my books for the book clubs that I am in. (One of which I am the moderator)
Yes, I may have originally been interested in the show primarily because of Henry Cavill. (Shout out to my longest lasting celeb crush - hailing back to ...2003!)
I mean in all seriousness and honesty, I have to give a big THANK YOU TO HENRY CAVILL. I have read soooo many books because he was in the screen adaptations for them. Including, The Witcher which is based on a series of books based on the Polish author Andrzej Sapowski. I will give you the heads up, that technically there is the main 5 books with 2 short story collection prequels; however, since the show used the prequel books, I would start with those. Specifically, The Last Wish.
What I have been enjoying about these books, along with the entire franchise really, is that they are set in a complex world, but not too complex that you aren't able to visualize it. There is a familiarity within. This may be because some of the stories are dark twists to some of the classic fairy tales, such as Beauty & The Beast, Snow White, and Hansel & Gretel. I have been trying to share how cool and gritty these are, and yet, almost more realistic. What I am also appreciating with The Witcher World is that despite the books originally being written and published in the 80s-90s and yes, the title character is a male, but the women are just as complex and dynamic and multi-dimensional. They are just as important, if not more so and they are treated that way - not background decoration or flat.
I also highly recommend reading the book while listening to the original soundtrack to the game, The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt. Although... the soundtrack to the show is now available, so that is another epic option.
I will give you the heads up though, if you want to read the books, at present the only why to get them right away is an E-Book. The demand for the Witcher is such that the books cannot be printed quickly enough and are on intense back-order! The wait at the library is.... well a wait as well.
And so ultimately, yes, I will happily continue to toss a coin to the Witcher.
LINKS FOR THE WITCHER:
Read The E-Book!
Read The E-Book!
Check Out This Cool Map!
LINK FOR THIS REVIEW
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I am someone who like with people, I give books as many chances to redeem themselves as possible. I try to read a book to the end, hoping that there will be something positive that I can take from it. However, since my TBR is forever growing, I am starting to be better about stopping when a book persists in frustrating me. So, with that said, in the first month of 2020, I have my first DNF (Did Not Finish).LINK FOR THIS REVIEW
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DID NOT FINISH. WILL NOT FINISH. AND THAT'S OKAY WITH ME.
The book is Quit Like A Woman by Holly Whitaker. (Ironic, I know.)
The author, well I believe is will intentioned, but ultimately completely missed the mark for me. I understand that I may not be her target audience (Goop loving & trending yoga attending with money to spare), but I went in with an open mind, and I tried to keep an open mind, even as she got ranty and quite dismissive of what didn't work for her, but works for millions of other people. She did have sparse moments of clarity and insight, I will give her that, and honestly those bits were what kept me reading for as long as I did. But ultimately, the information that I found most interesting, she openly admits that she got from another book; Never Enough by Judith Grisel.
Judith Grisel, like Holly Whitaker writes from experience. Of going down that dark and gritty road of addiction, and ultimately being able to find a way back up and into a life of sobriety. Both of the authors have since made careers from their experiences. Where Holly Whitaker has made... a self-help/ lifestyle web community, Judith Grisel went down the academic route. Grisel, currently a professor of psychology at Bucknell University, has a PhD in Neuroscience. World-renowned, her focus is on how addiction effects and changes how the brain works. She goes into detail, in a very accessible way, about this in Never Enough. I own a copy of this book, and I found it fascinating.
So, at the beginning and end of the day, I recommend skipping Quit Like A Woman, and read Never Enough instead.
...Maybe I am just late to the game on this, but I am starting to notice a significant increase in books that are being released, with marketing support behind them, on sobriety.
For some people, sobriety is a choice, for other's a necessity. As someone who has multiple important people in my life for which it is a necessity, I picked up the these books to learn, and better understand. I am looking to grow and expand and become a better and more empathetic human being.
Also, Neuroscience is just kind of mind blowing.🤯
LINKS FOR NEVER ENOUGH:
Buy The Physical Book!
Read The E-Book!
Listen To The Audiobook!
LINKS FOR QUIT LIKE A WOMAN:
Buy The Physical Book.
Read The E-Book.
Listen To The Audiobook.
Pay $550+ for her 8 week version of AA Meets Goop.
Again, I recommend spending the $$$ on other books instead.
(P.S. AA is free.)
LINK FOR THIS REVIEW
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Food For Thought?
Do you ever feel like you are never reading enough? Or that you are not reading the "right" books? That what you really want to read, or perhaps even are currently reading isn't considered "literary" enough?Food For Thought?
If so, you are not alone. I feel that constant struggle. EVERY DAY. Especially at where I work, a bookstore - where it is my job to read across the genres and not judge reading preferences. (Which I don't by the way.) But I still feel it. And most of the time I try to shrug it off, or even make a point of reading "less than high literary" in front of my peers. Hell, I started a Romance Book Club! (But that is another fun story for perhaps my next post.)
The point is, this is something that I continue to fight against and struggle with everyday. I think that that is one of the reasons that I created this blog initially. I wanted a place where I could talk about books that I genuinely love, and not feel the same judgement and pressures that I sometimes feel in my day to day life.
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BONUS QUESTION: Who wants to buy this bookstore Lego set for me?!
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