Book Review: Big Magic

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Readers of all ages and walks of life have drawn inspiration and empowerment from Elizabeth Gilbert’s books for years. Now this beloved author digs deep into her own generative process to share her wisdom and unique perspective about creativity. With profound empathy and radiant generosity, she offers potent insights into the mysterious nature of inspiration. She asks us to embrace our curiosity and let go of needless suffering. She shows us how to tackle what we most love, and how to face down what we most fear. She discusses the attitudes, approaches, and habits we need in order to live our most creative lives. Balancing between soulful spirituality and cheerful pragmatism, Gilbert encourages us to uncover the “strange jewels” that are hidden within each of us. Whether we are looking to write a book, make art, find new ways to address challenges in our work,  embark on a dream long deferred, or simply infuse our everyday lives with more mindfulness and passion, Big Magic cracks open a world of wonder and joy.

-Goodreads

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Classic Books: Why to read them and a new free way to go about it.

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Ah classics. As an English major in college I read a lot. I loved some of them, hated others, but like any reader I know they are important.

There was an argument I was reading online about how classics became classics. The person writing it was stating that some classics were simply bad books. I’m not arguing with their point, but I think it’s important to know what makes a classic. Classic books are books that changed the publishing/writing world. They are new, they are fresh, there was something about them that was very important at the time it was written. Whether it was a brave new idea or a new method and style of writing, classics have changed the way fiction is viewed and read.

With that being said, some classics are better than others and some are harder to read then others. That’s just the way it goes.

I like classics while I’m reading them but getting into them has always felt like a bit of a chore. As technology has evolved, I’ve finally found a better way to go about reading them. Classics are great because almost all of them are in the public domain, which means they don’t have copyright laws tying them down anymore.

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Book Review: The Magnolia Story

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The Magnolia Story is the first book from Chip and Joanna, offering their fans a detailed look at their life together. From the very first renovation project they ever tackled together, to the project that nearly cost them everything; from the childhood memories that shaped them, to the twists and turns that led them to the life they share on the farm today.

-Goodreads Summery

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Why I Won’t be Watching #GIRLBOSS on Netflix.

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If you’ve read every book on bloggers ‘must read’ lists then you know about #GIRLBOSS. I haven’t seen a list without it in a long time. I read the book and I wasn’t as carried away with it as everyone else, I thought it was written poorly and had bad flow, but the story was good enough.

I didn’t actually have a problem with the book until I looked into the story it was about. I found articles like this one full of reviews from Nasty Gal’s workers saying that the business was run poorly and that Sophia Amoruso filled management roles based on friendship not skill. For a long time Glassdoor only had a two out five star rating from employees who worked there. In the last year it’s gone up to three. Sophia Amoruso is no longer CEO but when I read about all of this she was and a lot of the reviews were directed at her personally.

Those reviews weren’t even considering the lawsuit Nasty Gal was involved in after firing more than one female employee right before they took maternity leave. For a woman and business that were built on women empowering women I couldn’t think of an action that counter acts that message more. Continue reading

Book Review: Packing Light

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When I was in college, I figured my life would come together around graduation. I’d meet a guy; we’d plan a beautiful wedding and buy a nice house-not necessarily with a picket fence, but with whatever kind of fence we wanted. I might work, or I might not, but whatever we decided, I would be happy. When I got out of college and my life didn’t look like that, I floundered around, trying to figure out how to get the life I had always dreamed of. I went down so many different paths for it. Career. Travel. Friends. Relationships. But none of them were as satisfying as I hoped they would be.  Like many twenty-somethings, I tried desperately to discover the life of my dreams after college, but instead of finding it, I just kept accumulating baggage. I had school loans, car payments, electronics I couldn’t afford, a house full of mismatched furniture I didn’t love but that had become my own, hurt from broken relationships, and unmet expectations for what life was “supposed to be” like. Just when I had given up all hope of finding the “life I’d always dreamed about,” I decided to take a trip to all fifty states…because when you go on a trip, you can’t take your baggage. What I found was that “packing light” wasn’t as easy as I thought it was.

This is the story of that trip and learning to live life with less baggage.

-Goodreads Summery

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Book Review: The Defining Decade

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“Our “thirty-is-the-new-twenty” culture tells us the twentysomething years don’t matter. Some say they are a second adolescence. Others call them an emerging adulthood. Dr. Meg Jay, a clinical psychologist, argues that twentysomethings have been caught in a swirl of hype and misinformation, much of which has trivialized what is actually the most defining decade of adulthood. Drawing from a decade of work with hundreds of twentysomething clients and students, THE DEFINING DECADEweaves the latest science of the twentysomething years with behind-closed-doors stories from twentysomethings themselves. The result is a provocative read that provides the tools necessary to make the most of your twenties, and shows us how work, relationships, personality, social networks, identity, and even the brain can change more during this decade than at any other time in adulthood-if we use the time wisely.”

Good Reads Summery

When I first picked this one up I decided that I probably wouldn’t review it, then as I started reading I decided I should post it with some stupid disclaimer about how I “don’t usually read self-help books.” But now that I’ve finished it, I feel like I should state: If this is what self -help or self-improvement books are all like, then I should read one a week.

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Book Review: Furiously Happy

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In LET’S PRETEND THIS NEVER HAPPENED, Jenny Lawson baffled readers with stories about growing up the daughter of a taxidermist. In her new book, FURIOUSLY HAPPY, Jenny explores her lifelong battle with mental illness. A hysterical, ridiculous book about crippling depression and anxiety? That sounds like a terrible idea. And terrible ideas are what Jenny does best.

-Goodreads

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