pickThis author is a peloton instructor, and I will admit the first class of his that I took irritated me. I have since come around, though, taking more of his classes, and when I found out he grew up spending part of his childhood in North Carolina, decided to read this book.
I generally don‘t like memoirs, especially first person nonfiction celebrity memoirs, like this one. That being said, it was a fun read, and his life story is inspiring.
pickQuick, easy read that was fun and funny! Great for the beach.
pickI really liked this book. I thought it was a really great view of a woman‘s struggle with mental health, but also her relationships as a woman. She combines a look at her issues along with her experiences relating to men and reflects on this and also raises a lot of thought provoking things about what it is to be a woman who struggles with mental health. Very brave to share and finish.
so-soIf you want to ruin your holiday spirit, read this book. Groom gave birth to a son when she was 19. She gave the child to her aunt and uncle to raise. The child then dies of leukemia at 14 months of age. 25 years later she still mourns her son & finally speaks to her aunt & uncle about her son who she was never able to see. The story leaps around, there‘s a great deal of alcohol and men mentioned, and it‘s hard keeping up with her timeline. 3/5
so-soA thin memoir of a huge age-gap (and power gap!) relationship between Ciment and her decades-older former professor. It was my assumption that this book would examine the inappropriate nature of their union. And, while she does acknowledge the difference in age and position, Ciment does not assign blame to her husband. This was melancholic and I it didnt live up the the hype, for me.
I‘m tackling both of these books at the same time & I‘m feeling overwhelmed. Their childhood & early adult years were so tough. Minka‘s mother so absent. Kelle‘s alcoholism & giving her child up for adoption. Both of them needing to find love/protection from men. It all gives me pause to see how fortunate I am. Leaving home at 16, being pregnant at 18, struggling later on with alcohol, and yet somehow I have 4 incredible kids & 5 grandkids 🔽
Hello #SheSaid!
Thoughts for those of you finishing up this week….for those of you that signed up for the mail list, mine is mailing out this week too.
In 2012 I sat among the Mam Indigenous people in Guatemala impacted by mining. We were gathered in the basement of a church for ceremony and I noticed that the colours in the four directions were the same I knew: white for North, red for East, yellow for South, black for West. I smiled at the sight of shared knowledge that made me feel closer to home. They were in a state of active recovery of traditional practices—again, same deal as us.
I turned toward the big scary things looming in the distance and let myself feel them, and to let myself fall apart, trusting that Creator would put me back together again after it had passed. Mama rarely cried or showed fear, and I knew a part of this had to do with her desire to protect us. I couldn‘t follow her down this path. I made a mark in my map, broke the endless loop, and created a new way. #SheSaid
#Bookspin December:
1. Hunger
2. The Future Is Disabled
3. All Boys Aren‘t Blue
4. Woman on the Edge
5. The Reason
6. Swimming in the Dark
7. Crip up the Kitchen
8. It‘s not about the Burqa
9. The Argonauts
10. Dutch Girl
11. Greenwood
12. Swimming in the Dark
13. It Could Happen Here
14. You or Someone You Love
15. All Boys Aren‘t Blue
16. Freedom
17. Ordinary Notes
18. Coming Out
19. His Name Is George Floyd
20. Ordinary Girls
