If you know me you know that I’ll choose a book over just about anything….except maybe food. It’s a close one, TBH. It’s likely there is a buttery fingerprint on at least 4 of the keys as I type this…
Anyhooooo…..books are a way to not only detach from the negativity we’re all drowning in online, but to learn and expand our knowledge base. I admit to using them equally depending on how I’m feeling. It’s not unusual for me to simultaneously be reading 3 books so I can select which one I go to based on my mood. Thank you for that portable ability, Kindle!
Sidebar – I love my Kindle. This is a HOT TOPIC with anyone that is an avid reader, but I’ve been sold on it. My husband got me my first one about 9 Christmases ago, and naturally my hardcover book loving self didn’t want to hurt his feelings, so I tried it. Fast forward to exactly one year later and he asked how many books I had read in those 365 days. Any guesses? I’d never tracked it before, so I wasn’t sure if it was a lot, but to him it was a big number. I’m still torn…that’s just how I’ve always devoured read books. That year I read 95 books, so less than 2 per week.
I quickly learned that I could go on my weekly work trips with approximately 7 less pounds (and on vacations with 11 less pounds) because I wasn’t toting around numerous books with backups in case I finished one or lost one or whatever my over-planning scenario my mind came up with. And while this isn’t an ad for a Kindle (but I won’t be mad if you holler at me Amazon) I can say that I LOVE the paperwhite versions. I don’t want your fancy, full color, fire5000’s that can get me to magazines and email….I want the paperwhite version that is backlit so I can read in bed without a light AND there is no glare in direct sunlight as I lounge by the pool. It’s basically as close as you can get to an actual book page, minus lugging actual books around and having to complete menial tasks like “manually turning pages.” If you’re a book lover like me give it a shot. If you live near MSP and found the brand new Oasis I left in the back of that Yukon last year and you didn’t return it to me even though it had my name and number on it, I hope you’re enjoying your books, @$#&%!
Ok, back to books. Currently I’m hooked again on Jen Lancaster. She has a new book…Welcome to the United States of Anxiety. It’s nothing like her first three, which I read cover to cover in a weekend, laughing so hard my neighbors knocked on my door to see what was going on. (Bitter is the New Black had me convinced we were separated at birth).
She wrote this new book just prior to us shutting down with COVID, but it’s like she had an eerie sense of what was to come. It’s witty and IMHO dead on with her relatable anecdotes and fact heavy/researched data. I agree with 94.65% of it and I like the direction she went with this one, which is definitely more opinion based than the others, but like with swine….I dig it.
I’m really only blogging about this because it’s bringing a smile to my face in the midst of what has been a pretty emotional and demanding week, so I figured someone else might need a good laugh as well. I have plenty of work related books, self help books, biographies, autobiographies and beach reads I can recommend….I might list a few below if I remember to since I have #GirlGangs all over the world that participate in virtual books clubs with me, and have for the last dozen or so years, but today I wanted to smile and to share that.
As I read her stories and her style of writing it reminds me of weird strange interesting things that I experienced in my childhood and frankly, what people had to put up with if they were in the Orbit of Kate at the time. Like that time….
My mother dressed me for school, because selecting my own outfit was not an option at age 7, and I laid on the floor frozen in place much like a cat you try to put a harness on and walk. Why you ask? Well, because, as I screeched at the top of my lungs and poured buckets of tears my poor mother finally realized I was hysterical because “my jeans didn’t touch my belly button.” She tried to put me in low rise jeans in the 80’s. I know, the horror. No need to send her hate mail – I’ve mostly forgiven her. This was after the great debacle of the wide leg purple corduroys. They were nixed by a prior tantrum because “what if people look down the leg of my pants as I lie on the floor and they see my underwear?!?!” Her response? “Don’t lie on the floor and let people look down (up?) your pant leg.” Touche mom…way to teach me to be rational.
I am soooooo off topic here. BOOKS! Ok, here’s a few I’ve enjoyed, in no particular order, and please feel free to send me your favs. I’m always looking for new reads to entertain and learn teach me.
Secrets of a Charmed Life, City of Girls, The Nightingale (ok legit anything by Kristin Hannah), The Red Tent, Where the Crawdads Sing, The Lovely Bones, the first 3 Jen Lancaster books, and of course all the great girl power options from Brene Brown, Sophia Amoruso and most recently, Maya Angelou. I had only ever read I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, embarrassingly enough, so I decided to keep going and I’m not disappointed I did. I’m disappointed I didn’t do it sooner. I’m looking forward to hearing your favorites and hoping that Jen Lancaster retweets me…*swoon* #Fangirl