Dear Me, this isn’t what life is like.

January 1, 2022March 30, 2025 / Brienna / 1 Comment

This January, I’m participating in a blogging challenge called #bloganuary, put on by WordPress. I’m excited to try this out; while I loved the blogging challenge I did last year during quarantine, having to come up with my own, original ideas every day was difficult.

For this challenge, WordPress will publish a daily writing prompt. Here’s today’s prompt:

Dear Me,

This isn't what life is like. I know high school sucks, and you're pretty miserable. I don't blame you. If the popular coming-of-age movies are to be believed, this isn't an isolated feeling. Even if sometimes you are feeling isolated, like you're the only one being treated this way, trust me when I say it isn't so.

It may not seem like it, but it will get better. And, as trite as this may sound, you've since learned that it's not nearly as bad as it could have been. We grew up with a lot of privilege, and we still have a lot of privilege in our life, we should be grateful for that. We've always had a warm, safe bed, and food on the table, that's not the case for everyone.

What advice do I have for you? Well, my life has turned out pretty great, so you did well. Thanks for getting us to where we are.

If you'd like to choose a different adventure, roll the dice, and see where that takes us, some ideas:

Don't give up on college so easily. Do what it takes to go to Berkeley, I think you'd really like it there.

Or apply to study abroad, that might be a fun adventure. We could go to Spain or Argentina and finally make use of our Spanish and become fluent.

And if you don't do these things, that's ok. By the way, t's ok to make mistakes! What's important is approaching life with a growth mindset, and using these opportunities to learn and do better in the future. It took me a really long time to learn that, I used to run away from anything challenging (I'm looking at you, Engineering Statistics). If you can be inspired by challenges and run towards them, instead of away, you might be surprised at what can happen. It's normal to be scared, that's just part of life. Being brave is doing the things inspite of your fears. "Have courage and be kind" is a motto to live by.

This is perhaps one of the greatest things I've learned, along with knowing that your thoughts are not your identify, and everything you think about yourself is not true.

Oh, one last thing — if you find CompSci is not your thing, try taking a Philosophy class.

Most memorable reads of 2021

December 31, 2021March 30, 2025 / Brienna / Leave a comment

Once again, a year is coming to its conclusion. And once again, it’s been a hell of a year. Last year, I read over 100 books, and close to 28k pages. Strangely, this was not very many more pages than the previous year, when I read 82 books. Clearly, more books != more pages. This year, I read “only” 66 book, around 17k pages. Regardless, that’s a lot of reading!

Here’s this year’s list of the most memorable books I read in 2021. As usual, not all of these books were published in 2021, I just happened to read them this year. Some might call it a “best of” list, these are certainly my favorites and highest-rated reads of the year.

Memorable Fiction Reads

The books in this list are all very different from each other and appeal to me for different reasons.

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue – a fantastical take on life, legacy, and what it means to be forgotten.
A Court of Silver Flames – I love, love, love all the Court of Thorn and Roses books, and this one is no except. Nesta’s story needed to be told.
The Last House on Needless Street – this was a very entertaining mystery/thriller with some unexpected plot twists!
The Light of All That Falls – the long awaited conclusion to the Licanius Trilogy. A very fitting end, and one of my all time favorite epic fantasy series.
The House in the Cerulean Sea – the review says it all, this book is what I needed to read this year.
Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe – another great read, even better in audio form with Lin Manuel Miranda narrating.

Memorable Non-fiction Reads

Team Topologies – this was an eye-opening look at why how you organize your teams really matters, and what’s at stake,.,
Think Again – this book certainly changed my outlook, and contributed to my decision to swtich jobs after being with the same company for 15 years.
Breath – one of my four pillars of health — if you’re not breathing, you’re dead, right?

Me, trying to get through my TBR list.

Photo by **cottonbro** from **Pexels**.

The Soul’s Echo

December 29, 2021March 30, 2025 / Brienna / Leave a comment

The Soul’s Echo by Jill Creech Bauer is a collection of 13 short stories Stories about memories, living, and what it means to have a soul. Like the collection’s title, the stories seem to be echos of each other, with similar or repeated themes. Overall, the concepts and ideas of the stories are above average to excellent; however, the execution is lacking.

Some of the stories are very simple and easy to read. Others are more complicated with many characters and shifting points of view. In short fiction, this makes it very hard for the reader to follow the story. Combined with the fact that some of the sequential stories in the collection seemed to be variations on a theme, it was sometimes confusing. There are two in particular, “The forgetting garden” and “Physocepahla Memoriae” which I found to be difficult when placed together in this way.

The author also uses the name Rainbow in many places; within a single story to a purposeful, well-executed effect. However, when it pops up in another story later, it’s unclear if the reader is supposed to draw a connection to the earlier uses or not.

Of all 13 stories, I enjoyed “the blue healers”, “shangri-la”, and “the soul’s echo” the most.

I received a free copy of The Soul’s Echo from Book Sirens in exchange for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own.

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

November 26, 2021March 30, 2025 / Brienna / Leave a comment

This is another superb book I’ve read recently. It’s not often that I read so many books that I absolutely love, so I’m feeling very fortunate in this regard.

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz is a modern coming-of-age story, centered around Mexican-American teenagers Aristotle and Dante. Our two main characters struggle with identity, fitting in, and learning the hard truths about life. On the surface, Ari and Dante couldn’t be more different; yet as these two lonely boys form a connection, they realize they have more in common than expected.

It’s always so hard to know how much of the plot I should discuss in my reviews; I hate giving away spoilers. Instead, let me talk about themes, hopefully without ruining any of the surprises of the plot. This novel is about love, kindness, anger, honesty, communication, self-acceptance, and so much more.

I had the pleasure of listening to this through Audible. As I may have said before, a good narrator can make or break an audiobook for me, and this is no exception. With Lin Manuel Miranda narrating, the story has a tender, heartbreaking quality to it.

With over 50 Audible books in my library waiting to be read/listened to, it will be a while before I can make time to listen to the second book in the series. However, it’s definitely on my list for next year! I look forward to following along with Ari and Dante as they mature into young men.