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The Bright Hour
The Bright Hour: A Memoir of Living and Dying | Nina Riggs
An exquisite memoir about how to liveand loveevery day with death in the room, from poet Nina Riggs, mother of two young sons and the direct descendant of Ralph Waldo Emerson, in the tradition of When Breath Becomes Air. We are breathless, but we love the days. They are promises. They are the only way to walk from one night to the other. Nina Riggs was just thirty-seven years old when initially diagnosed with breast cancerone small spot. Within a year, the mother of two sons, ages seven and nine, and married sixteen years to her best friend, received the devastating news that her cancer was terminal. How does one live each day, unattached to outcome? How does one approach the moments, big and small, with both love and honesty? Exploring motherhood, marriage, friendship, and memory, even as she wrestles with the legacy of her great-great-great grandfather, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nina Riggss breathtaking memoir continues the urgent conversation that Paul Kalanithi began in his gorgeous When Breath Becomes Air. She asks, what makes a meaningful life when one has limited time? Brilliantly written, disarmingly funny, and deeply moving, The Bright Hour is about how to love all the days, even the bad ones, and its about the way literature, especially Emerson, and Ninas other muse, Montaigne, can be a balm and a form of prayer. Its a book about looking death squarely in the face and saying this is what will be. Especially poignant in these uncertain times, The Bright Hour urges us to live well and not lose sight of what makes us human: love, art, music, words.
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DebbieGrillo
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Taking a deep breath and starting this one.

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CuriousG
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Been some time since I've been able to listen, but beautiful morning audiobook walk through the fields with my pup ☀️

EvieBee Beautiful! Where are you in the world? 3y
CuriousG @EvieBee This is in Ontario, Canada 3y
EvieBee @CuriousG Makes complete sense. Gorgeous state (province?). (edited) 3y
CuriousG @EvieBee Yes, it is a province, so equivalent to a state. This is the Southwestern region so fairly flat with some rolling hills. Has its own kind of beauty - I love seeing all the fields and bush land here during the summer 🙂 3y
EvieBee @CuriousG I agree! I really love that! Your BMG is beautiful too. Loyal companions. 3y
22 likes5 comments
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CuriousG
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Too tired to read a physical book, but just alert enough for audio - time to continue with this one. About halfway through now.

16 likes1 stack add
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CuriousG
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I'm posting one book per day from the ever growing unread stacks in my personal library. No description or explanation, just books I own and plan to read. #tbr

Day 54 (Audible edition)

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Crazeedi
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Pickpick

Read this book when you are able to sit in the light. Riggs chronicles her life after cancer diagnosis. It is heart warming and heart wrenching. What a courageous person to be able to be so open and honest during her journey.
#FabulousFebruary @Andrew65
#BookSpinBingo #7 @TheAromaofBooks
Final for the readathon 6/4 books read!!
Andrew I surpassed my goal.

Crazeedi I also am one book from a bingo on 2 rows! And I will finish my #FoodAndLit book before February ends!! 4y
Andrew65 Brilliant 👏👏👏🙌🙌🥳🍾🥂🍾🥂🚀 4y
Andrew65 Knew you‘d get to 6! 4y
See All 9 Comments
TheAromaofBooks Yay!! You're making great progress this month!! 4y
Crazeedi @Andrew65 thank you for hosting the readathon, it definitely helped me!!! 4y
Crazeedi @TheAromaofBooks one of my best months in quite some time 4y
TheAromaofBooks January & February are traditionally my best reading months of the year. I'm off work with no big outside projects (AKA garden!!) to distract me!! 4y
Andrew65 @Crazeedi That‘s great 😊😍🥰 4y
Crazeedi @TheAromaofBooks gardens definitely distract!!😉 4y
77 likes9 comments
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NatalieR
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Pickpick

Even though I knew how the story was going to end and that I was reading a book about dying, I felt grief and sadness when Nina left her body. I thank her for sharing the story of her life, family, and cancer with me. This is such an open and honest book. I am grateful to have read it. 💜#MountTBR

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ElectricKatyLand
Pickpick

Beautiful reflection on mortality and meaning, written by a woman with terminal cancer, two young children, and a mother who is also dying. Plenty of Emerson and Montaigne references, which pair powerfully with anecdotes about daily living in spite of/in light of disease.

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MsJulie
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Pickpick

Reading Nina Riggs‘ moving book after a brush with cancer last fall was, well, scary. Her story emerges as my memento mori, “remember, you must die,” but in a real and beautiful sense. Finding joy in every day is no longer trite. It is essential.

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suzie.reads
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Pickpick

Wow! I can't even cope with how emotional this was! I laughed and I cried. What a beautiful memoir of living and dying.
Nina Riggs memoir of living with terminal cancer is truly heartbreaking ? Her boys will cherish this forever.

One of my favourite quotes from the book -
"You are fully entitled to slap the next person who tells you that God only gives us what we can handle."

Redwritinghood This was so beautifully written. I loved it too, but it was so sad. 5y
suzie.reads @Redwritinghood it was so sad 😥 The last chapter by her husband was heartbreaking. 5y
49 likes1 stack add2 comments
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MeJeMiller
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Pickpick

It‘s a book I don‘t normally read. There were times I skimmed and times I had tears. Sometimes it‘s hard to work in the medical field and read a book like this.

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MeJeMiller
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Okay update. This one made me cry.

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MeJeMiller
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After watching people die from cancer, I‘m hesitant reading this.

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AdeleReads
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”For me, faith involves staring into the abyss, seeing that it is dark and full of the unknown—and being okay with that.”
Nina Riggs, The Bright Hour

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erinreads
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Pickpick

This was beautiful and sad and tbh I‘m still crying about it... 15 minutes after I‘ve finished it. 😭 Thanks for bringing this heartbreaking memoir to my attention, @LMJenkins! I don‘t know if I ever would have read Nina‘s story on my own. 💕 #NewYearWhoDis #bookly

LMJenkins I‘m so glad. 💛 6y
Crazeedi I'm not sure if my heart could take this book right now 6y
87 likes1 stack add2 comments
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erinreads
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When you use your Kindle as a bookmark. 🤷🏼‍♀️

Ashley_Nicoletto I have been guilty of this. Whatever‘s convenient. 🤣 6y
Patchshank 😋 I too am guilty of this 6y
saresmoore Yes! 😅 6y
JSW Have done. Will likely do again. 6y
114 likes4 comments
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erinreads
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Oof. This book. 😭 #NewYearWhoDis

Redwritinghood But her writing is so beautiful I‘m still so glad I read it. 6y
68 likes1 comment
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erinreads
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I haven‘t finished a book yet so far this year (all 4 days of it! 😂), but I plan to finish all three of these this weekend. I think I can, I think I can. 🤞🏻

tjwill 🚂 6y
BarbaraTheBibliophage Go for it!! But the combo of the top and bottom ones might be too intense. It took me a LONG time to read A Little Life. Partly to savor it and partly because it just made me so incredibly sad. 🥰 6y
erinreads @BarbaraTheBibliophage I‘m a glutton for pain because this is my second read of A Little Life, so I‘m nearing the worst of it and kind of dreading getting there. 😭 6y
BarbaraTheBibliophage @erinreads Haha. Then you know **exactly** what I mean! 😰😰 6y
84 likes1 stack add4 comments
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erinreads
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And look what I‘m starting today @LMJenkins! Is this going to make me cry, though? Because maybe this wasn‘t the best read for the metro. 😂😂😂 #NewYearWhoDis

LMJenkins There may be some tears, but the writing is beautiful and there are tears of happiness as well as sadness. 6y
83 likes1 comment
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erinreads
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Great list from @LMJenkins for #NewYearWhoDis! These are the ones I‘m hoping to get to. I already own The Clockmaker‘s Daughter and Sunburn, so I‘m excited to finally read them. And the others sound so intriguing and haven‘t been on my radar till now, so this is already satisfying to me! 😂 Thanks for setting this all up, @monalyisha! 💕

monalyisha Oh good! I was kind-of worried about you. 😆 Your list was so extensive, I thought it might be tough to find books you hadn‘t already read! Happy to see that this pairing worked! 6y
monalyisha Btw, I hadn‘t heard of “Laura & Emma” either & was intrigued when I saw it! Looking forward to your review. 🙌🏻 6y
erinreads @monalyisha You did well! I‘ve only read two of the books on Lauren‘s list and I loved both of them, so I have high hopes for the rest of them! 🤞🏻 6y
LMJenkins I‘m so glad! I‘m just getting to my email and Litsy now so can‘t wait to look through your list. ⭐️ 6y
70 likes1 stack add4 comments
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nelehelen
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Pickpick

4/5
Taking advantage of the very bad air quality here in SF to stay inside for a mini readathon. That said, I started this book awhile ago but never got past the prologue because I just couldn‘t emotionally prepare myself. I still wasn‘t ready, but glad I was able to finally read this memoir. Beautiful and devastating, it really forced me to reevaluate my own life and relationships through her words. And for that, I‘m grateful.

#ReadHarder2018

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HeatherBookNerd
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Pickpick

Beautiful writing. You can tell Riggs was a poet. This is an unvarnished and candid memoir of living with terminal cancer. She perfectly captures the tug-of-war between living in the present and acknowledging the nearness of death. Putting sentimentality aside, she is forthright about her desperate longing for more time with her young sons and husband and her attempts to prepare them all for inevitable separation. A wonderful writer gone too soon.

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KadeLexical
Pickpick

Absolutely beautiful writing. I picked it up for content and plot, but would read again for the wonderful way she wields words. Also led me to other literature with her poignant references.

julesG Welcome to Litsy! 6y
CarolynM Welcome to Litsy 🌼 6y
See All 6 Comments
CoffeeNBooks Welcome to Litsy! 📚 6y
Lel2403 Welcome to Litsy 📖 6y
Samplergal Welcome! 6y
12 likes6 comments
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KadeLexical
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“We are certain only that there is so much of which we are not certain”

StillLookingForCarmenSanDiego Welcome to Litsy 📖💙 6y
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nelehelen
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today was a good day 🙂

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LMJenkins
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1. I went camping at The Festy, a three day music festival in Charlottesville.
2. I am working from home, listening to an audiobook and tidying my house.
3. The tagged book was finished this week.
4. I bought a 6-month Audible membership for a friend going through chemo.
5. Hard question! I love Italian food, steak and risotto, Indian food, savory Mac & cheese and salads with lots of goodies in them like meat and nuts.
#HumpDayPost

BarbaraTheBibliophage Awww—what a great gift! 6y
26 likes1 comment
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LMJenkins
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Pickpick

I woke earlier than I needed to this morning, so I‘m reading a bit. I‘m approaching the end of this book and it‘s exquisite but torturously sad. Her sentences are perfect and as I read them, I am feeling what she must have felt or a fragment of it: knowing you‘re about to leave your two beautiful boys forever, much too early. 💔

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LMJenkins
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sb3626
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Pickpick

I originally chose this because for the Read Harder challenge but it was significantly better then I could have hoped for. I was rooting for Nina the entire way and just wanted her to live even though the title already tells you otherwise. This was a slight mistake to listen to at work because I had to stop every so often to stop from bursting into tears but it was just so heartfelt. #readharderchallenge

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Notafraidofwords
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Pickpick

I picked this one up at the library, because I‘m doing the bookriot challenge this year. This was published after the author died of cancer. She is a poet & it shows. Told in short snippets, the reader learns about the family she has to leave behind as she is diagnosed with cancer shortly after her mother. She passes at a very young age and her husband finishes the story. This was heartbreaking, so I‘m glad I finished it in a few sittings.

trazo I am half way through this book. I am loving her writing. 6y
Notafraidofwords @trazo yeah, she‘s a poet. Sometimes her words feel confusing and I have to reread. 6y
79 likes2 comments
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LMJenkins
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💛 My kiddos make me happy.
📚 Right now I am only reading one! The tagged book.
⛰ I miss a lot about my hometown, but if I have to pick one thing, I‘d say the terrain. It‘s hilly and rocky and lush.
💲 I don‘t, but I should!
🙁 Tough choice, but I really do already have “access” to every book, so I guess I‘d choose the million dollars and try to be happy without books (I‘ll be sneaky and read magazines).
#HumpDayPost

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Well-ReadNeck
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Today‘s entry for #MonthOfMemoirs is a five tissue read. Brings all the feels.

https://wellreadneck.wordpress.com/2018/08/29/the-bright-hour-nina-riggs/

101 likes3 stack adds
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LMJenkins
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I‘m sitting on my porch in the shade with a big tumbler of ice water, trying to decide which one of these beauties to start right now. Help me choose!

candority I haven‘t read any of them, but Little Fires Everywhere has been on my TBR since it came out! 6y
Cinfhen I‘ve only read one and it was a quick and gripping read 6y
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LMJenkins Thanks all! I decided to go with The Bright Hour first. 👌 6y
38 likes6 comments
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steepedinpages
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Pickpick

This book was incredibly heartwarming and inspiring. It‘s incredibly sad that Nina lost her fight with cancer, but she spent her remaining time leaving behind a legacy that will encourage many others.

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KaitiWinchell
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❤🍨📚❤

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KaitiWinchell
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50 pages in and loving it. ❤

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arlenefinnigan
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Pickpick

What a beautiful, sad book. Unflinchingly honest and as beautifully written as you'd expect from a poet.

JennyM This was a beautiful read. 6y
arlenefinnigan @JennyM I really want to read her poetry. 6y
29 likes1 stack add2 comments
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arlenefinnigan
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#ReadHarder challenge 17: a book published posthumously

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UrsulaMonarch
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This is so terrible and also completely relatable.

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UrsulaMonarch
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Pickpick

This book is marvelous. Devastating, hilarious, touching, honest, poetic, and shockingly compulsively readable, even as you dread the end of the book. I recommend it even to those who may be reluctant.

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michiganvol
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Good morning! Nothing like a lazy Saturday with a new book. Making slow progress with my #ReadHarder challenge, I thought I'd be farther ahead by now! This one covers the first book challenge. I have the tissues ready.

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UrsulaMonarch
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I started this book ten minutes ago and it's already devastating and amazing. 💚

40 likes2 stack adds
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trazo
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Finally going home. I love reading on the train! 🚊 📚 ♥️ 😊

DivaDiane Me too! 7y
73 likes1 stack add1 comment
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RachLovesTV
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Pickpick

A beautiful written memoir, not just about dying, but also about living: how you go on living with terminal illness, with chronic pain, with the death of your mother, with the knowledge your kids will have to go on without you. Riggs tries to work through these and other thoughts as she deals not only with her own diagnosis, but that of her mother, dying of a completely different type of cancer. 💔😭 #cancersucks

bookandcat She urged her husband to meet with (and then he later married) the wife of the author of 7y
RachLovesTV @bookandcat I heard that! An article about them actually led me to both these books - I read When Breath Becomes Air last month. I don't think they are married yet, but what an amazing story. It's like something out of a movie. 7y
Rhondareads An amazing heartbreaking book, 7y
UrsulaMonarch @bookandcat @RachLovesTV I did NOT know about this!!!! 7y
RachLovesTV @UrsulaMonarch You couldn't script a better story. It's pretty crazy! 7y
32 likes1 stack add5 comments
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RachLovesTV
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I knew this one would be a tough read - aren't all cancer books, especially when your family has been personally impacted by cancer? What I wasn't expecting was to go through the death of Nina's mother with her. It's definitely hitting close to home. 😢

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RachLovesTV
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Just started listening to this one today. It feels a little disjointed, but I'm enjoying it so far. New fun fact: the author met her husband in the same town in which I went to college: Carlisle, PA!

#audiobook #cancersucks

35 likes1 stack add
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melrailey
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Pickpick

Totally should have waited to read this book as it hit way too close to home. Still a good listen.

mrozzz Heartbreaking. Beautiful. I already want to reread it! 7y
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TLFinn
Pickpick

Love this book. Poetry.

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JennyM
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Pickpick

Sitting in the car waiting to pick the kids up, and I can‘t stop the tears. I am nearly the same age as Nina, and also have 2 kids the same age. My heart breaks for her family. Life can be beautiful and cruel.
Go well, Nina.

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LauraBeth
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1. The Bright Hour - see tagged book for synopsis 😿
2. Reese‘s Peanut Butter Cups
3. Forever Winona in Reality Bites
4. Apple Watch
5. Super Bowl party 🎉

#humpdaypost

vivastory I ❤ Reese's minis pb cups 7y
LauraBeth @vivastory 🙌🙌 7y
WhatDeeReads Reese‘s for life 7y
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merelybookish Winona! ?I was explaining to my daughter the other day about how she was the "it" girl for my generation! 7y
daena Winona Forever 🖤 7y
mrp27 Granny dresses and Mary Jane doc martens a la Winona was my uniform back in the day. 7y
LauraBeth @merelybookish I remember she had a Rolling Stone cover that said Venus In Blue Jeans 😀 7y
LauraBeth @daena 🙌🙌 7y
LauraBeth @mrp27 I bet you rocked that look 😀 7y
108 likes10 comments