  • Books

    May Reads

    I’ve dropped the ball on most aspects of my blog but here is my list of what I’m reading in the month of May!

    Body Kindness – Rebecca Scrithcfield

    This was recommended by a friend because it aligns with my personal feelings toward diet and fitness. I have a long and complex history with health and fitness and have over time, began healing my mind of what I’ve done to it with the diet mindset over the last 10 years, as well as fixing my relationship with food.

    The body kindness objective is to do all things in your life with the intent on being good to yourself. I think we could all use a little more of that.

    I’m listening to this book on Kobo Books.

    The Alice Network – Kate Quinn

    Yes I know, I can’t believe I haven’t read this yet either. I don’t want to talk about it. After reading the Tattooist of Auschwitz and Cilka’s Journey, I’m kind of on a Wartime Fiction kick.

    Crescent City – Sarah J. Maas

    I’ve been looking forward to this book since it launched, but because I’m terribly slow at reading, and I had other things on my list first (including book club books), it was put on the shelf until I had time to really savour it.

    Sarah J. Maas is one of my ultimate favourite authors. Right up there with J. K. Rowling. Her Throne of Glass series, which concluded with it’s final book not too long ago, and the Court of Thornes and Roses series, which is still ongoing, I’ve completely fallen in love with both of her fictional universes. I’ve read both series through twice.

    I’ll be quite lucky to get these done by the end of the month, but we shall see. I’m also reading Harry Potter and The Sorcerer’s Stone to Harper right now. After I’m finished listening to the Body Kindness audiobook, I’ll probably start The Book You Wish Your Parents Had Read.

    Happy reading!

  • Books

    February Reads

    I’ve got an ambitious list of reads for this month! Here they are!

    Nine Perfect Strangers – Liane Moriarty

    This one is about Francis, a 50 something writer who decides to take a expensive health retreat to help her recover from some of the things she’s dealt with over the past few months. The other 8 people who are there with her become connected in ways they really would never expect, when they find out the health retreat is much more than what they bargained for.

    Why We Sleep – Matthew Walker

    I’m actually listening to this on Audible, but its pretty interesting. It’s all about sleep, the science and history behind it, and things we can do to improve our sleep. The mans voice is very soothing though, so it kind of makes me want to go to sleep while listening to it.

    The Last Wish – Andrzej Sapkowski

    We fell victim to The Witcher series on Netflix, and we really enjoyed the whole concept of the witcher and his universe. The Last Wish is actually just all the short stories that were featured in the first season that’s up on Netflix now. If I can manage it, I’d also like to read the second book in this series, Sword of Destiny, but I can’t get ahold of a hard copy of it, because it’s become quite popular.

    The series is about the Witcher, Geralt, and his adventures in killing monsters for hire. It’s a fantasy series, so beware anyone who can’t deal with that. I’m loving it so far and I’m only 100 pages in.

    The Huntress – Kate Quinn

    This one is our book club pick for the month. It’s a post World War II novel of a man in search of a notorious Nazi called the Huntress, teaming up with Nina, who is the only one to ever escape the Huntress alive.

    This seems like it’s going to be a great read, I’m excited to dive into this one!

    What are you reading this month?

  • Books

    Book Club Discussions for Educated by Tara Westover

    Educated by Tara Westover was the title that our book club read for January. I’m no expert on book club (at all), but I thought I’d share the questions and discussion topics we used to lead our talk about the book.

    If you haven’t read Educated, I highly recommend it. I awarded it 5 stars on my Goodreads account. Maybe not for the most expertly written book, but for the story and how it impacted me personally.

    1. What was your overall impression of the book? How many stars did you or would you award it out of 5?
    2. What are your thoughts on Tara’s father? Did you like or dislike him? Did that change throughout the story?
    3. How did you feel about Tara’s mother? Did you feel that her mother stood up for her enough? Do you think this was impacted by Tara being the youngest?
    4. How do you feel that things would have worked out for Tara if she hadn’t developed a relationship with her brother Tyler? He is credited for introducing her to music and learning. Do you think she would be where she is today without him?
    5. What frustrated you the most about what took place throughout the story?
    6. While going to college, Tara took psychology classes, which gave her a deeper insight to her own life. What do you think about Tara’s realization that her father was suffering from a severe mental illness? Do you think it effected how she managed her relationship with him after?
    7. How do you feel that the telling of this story may have impacted Tara’s real family?

    *This blog post contains affiliate links.

  • Books

    January Reads

    I set the goal of reading 24 books this year, but I am aiming to beat that number. I read 22 books in 2019, and my goal was 20. I do count audiobooks as books read, because I do pay attention and process the words. I use Audible for my audiobooks. It’s a monthly payment of 15$ or so but you can use the credit you get on any book, no matter the cost. You can also purchase extra credits. I think they’re 3 for 35$, which is great because some of the books cost 35$ alone.

    This is what I’m hoping to read through this month:

    The Handmaids Tale by Margaret Attwood

    I’ve had this one on my TBR for a while. It’s based on a dystopian world during the second American civil war. The book follows Offred, a handmaid to a commander. She lives her day to day life in this new world and shares memories of her husband and daughter from “the time before”.

    There is a television series out based on this novel, and I have wanted to watch it, but I wanted to read the book first, as usual, so I’m finally getting it done!

    Girl, Stop Appologizing by Rachel Hollis

    I don’t know if you’ve read or listened to Girl, Wash Your Face yet, but I highly recommend it! First of all, Rachel is adorable, and second, she makes you wanna get out there and kick some serious butt pursuing your dreams.

    Yes, I just included a screenshot from my iPhone. I can’t help it, it’s an audiobook, so that’s basically all there is.

    The idea behind this book is that if you want to make a change in any aspect of your life, you need to change yourself. Your day to day behaviours make up your whole life, whether for good or bad. There are lots of tidbits of info in this about how to tweek things in your life to make them work in your favour, and lots of motivation to get out there and do it.

    I’d like to say I’m going to get another book finished this month too, but honestly, I’m loving Girl, Stop Apologizing so much that I think I might have to listen twice!

    What are you reading this month?
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