I read 15 books in total but three of them were re-reads. I have begun re-reading Harry Potter for the umpteenth time, but this is my first time reading it on my Kindle which has been fun. I usually would be kind of bummed I didn't get into the 20s but I'm giving myself some slack. This was a rough year and some months my head and heart were not in it.
1. Call Me By Your Name by Andre Aciman - I read this at the beginning of the year after hearing great things about the movie (which I still haven't seen). It's more than a summer romance. It was sad and complicated and just a really great coming of age story.
- Time makes us sentimental. Perhaps, in the end, it is because of time that we suffer.
2. Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur - My friend Lauren let me borrow this book as well as The Sun and Her Flowers. I remember sitting in my bed reading them - devouring them both within a day. I found pieces of myself in all of her words and slowly felt myself start to repair itself. I feel so strongly about these two books that I want every woman I know to read them. I've already gifted them several times since reading them myself. These books helped save me and I am forever grateful to Rupi and Lauren for that.
- i don't know why
i split myself open
for others knowing
sewing myself up
hurts this much
afterward - i know it's hard
believe me
i know it feels like
tomorrow will never come
and today will be the most
difficult day to get through
but i swear you will get through
the hurt will pass
as it always does
if you give it time and
let it so let it
go
slowly
like a broken promise
let it go
3. The Sun and Her Flowers by Rupi Kaur - Just like Milk and Honey this is a book of poems and drawings. It's a quick read with an everlasting impression and both of these book have quickly become some of my favorites.
- i hardened under the last loss. it took something human out of me. i used to be so deeply emotional i'd crumble on demand. but now the water has made its exit. of course i care about the ones around me. i'm just struggling to show it. a wall is getting in the way. i used to dream of being so strong nothing could shake me. now. i am. so strong. that nothing shakes me. Randall i dream is to soften.
4. Wild Embers by Nikita Gill - I was clearly on a poetry kick. I don't remember how I heard about this book (maybe my Kindle suggested it?) but it is a similar style as Rupi Kaur but also completely it's own. It was filled with words I needed to hear over and over.
- “Everything that terrifies you
these monsters
that keeps you up at night
that torment you
that make you feel small
breakable
unable to breathe
like you should not
exist at all,
you defeat them everyday
just by being alive,
this on its own
proves that you are
enough,
and you already have
everything you need
to survive.” - The loneliest thing you can ever do is take every instance where you should grow and waste it by only thinking how could this happen to you?
- We are the descendants
of the wild women you forgot
We are the stories you thought
would never be taught.
The should have checked the ashes
of the women they burned alive.
Because it takes a single wild ember
to bring a whole wildfire to life.
5. Still Me by Jojo Moyes - Nothing will ever top the first book but I loved Lou in NYC and getting to know another intricate rich family. I love this series so much but if this is the end it was a good run.
- "What's brown?""That's Felix's appointments. The cat.""The cat has his own social diary?""It's just groomers, veterinary appointments, dental hygienists, that sort of thing. Ooh, no, he's got the behaviorist in this week. He must have been pooping on the Ziegler again"
- Women always have to make the difficult choices. But there is great consolation in simply doing something you love.
- You can hang on to your hurt out of some misplaced sense of pride, or you can just let go and relish whatever precious time you have.
- I thought about how you're shaped so much by the people who surround you, and how careful you have to be in choosing them for this exact reason, and then I thought, despite all that, in the end maybe you have to lose them all in order to truly find yourself.
6. I'll Be Gone In The Dark by Michelle McNamara - I love true crime podcasts (MFM is my main bitch) and TV specials but I haven't really delved into book territory. I heard such great things about this book from Karen and Georgia and of course from Patton Oswalt. They were not wrong. It's plenty informational but Michelle's words were so much more than that. It was a horrifyingly fascinating read. The craziest part of the story is GSK was caught a month after it's release which just still blows my mind.
7. You're Not That Great (but neither is anyone else) by Elan Gale - This is basically like a comedic self-help book. Self-help alone and I would've been all "Bye Felicia" but Elan Gale has a way with words that make you never take yourself or anyone else that seriously. But if you need (or know someone who could benefit) from a fun kick in the ass then this is a perfect option.
- You have the energy to complain about how shitty the Wi-Fi is on airplanes, while the people who lived here before you died of dysentery just trying to deliver a love letter to someone two states over. You are living your best life.
- There is a lot of power in having other people dislike you. There is a lot of power in having other people not believe in you. There is a lot of power in people telling you that you're never going to be the things you want to be.
- Feeling good felt good, but nothing was as inspiring as feeling bad.
- ...some common phrases that are ACTUALLY true and useful: Life is Unfair. Bad Things Happen to Good People. The Only Sure Things Are Death and Taxes.
- Life is glorious. Life is full of adventure. Life is full of limitless opportunity. Don't waste it. Don't wait. There is no promise of tomorrow. Figure out what the fuck you want to do and fucking do it. Get out there and make your life happen. No one else is going to do it for you.
8. Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng - Everywhere I went (on the internet) this book was being recommended to me. On Instagram. On book lists. On my own Goodreads account. So it took awhile but I finally gave in. I enjoyed it but it's not in my top books of all time category. I liked the family dynamics especially the focus on different mother-child relationships.
- "I'll tell you a secret. A lot of times, parents are not the best at seeing their children clearly."
9. To All the Boys I've Loved Before by Jenny Han - The book was better than the Netflix movie. There I said it! But the movie was cute enough.
- There are certain outfits you have that make you feel good every time you wear them, and then there are outfits where you wore them too many times in a row because you liked them so much, and now they just feel like garbage.
- "No! And how could you stop after Chamber of Secrets? The third one's the best out of the whole series. I mean, that's literally crazy to me." I peer at his face. "Do you not have a soul?"
- When someone's been gone a long time, at first you save up all the things you want to tell them. You try to keep track of everything in your head. But it's like trying to hold on to a fistful of sand: all the little bits slip out of your hands, and then you're just clutching air and grit.
10. This Will Only Hurt A Little by Busy Phillips - I really loved this book. Like Busy really talked about some shit - some funny shit and some really hard therapy worthy shit and I loved her even more for it.
- No one is going to tell you all the things you want to hear all the time. You have to know them yourself.
- It was hard to imagine living in a world where women are so truly reviled that a man can brag about abusing them and still get elected president. But I did live in that world. Clearly.
11. Becoming by Michelle Obama - I sobbed throughout this entire book. Her journey is just so incredible and it really hit me. The book spans her childhood on the south side of Chicago all the way to getting to and leaving the White House. She is a true inspiration!
- I'd learned that the world could be brutal and random, that hard work didn't always assure positive outcomes.
- And to be clear, we were now up against a bully, a man who among other things demeaned minorities and expressed contempt for prisoners of war, challenging the dignity of our country with practically his every utterance. I wanted Americans to understand that words matter - that the hateful language they heard coming from their TVs did not reflect the true spirit of our country and that we could vote against it.
- For me, becoming isn't about arriving somewhere or achieving a certain aim. I see it instead as forward motion, a means of evolving, a way to reach continuously toward a better self.
12. Am I Doing This Right? by Tanya Hennessy - You may know Tanya from her Facebook or YouTube videos because that's where I first "met" her and I've been obsessed ever since. I love her humor! When she announced her book I wanted to pre-order the sucker but since she's Australian I couldn't get it on my Kindle. So I added it to my Christmas list and Dustin got me the hard copy all the way from the outback...probably close at least. It's a quick read of personal stories and opinions much of which I could relate to. Also I read the whole thing in her accent just imagining her say "THIS IS HEAVEN!".