reading

Books That Changed My Life

/ Brienna / Leave a comment

This is an interesting prompt for me. The answer to the question “Has a book changed your life?” is clearly yes. The interesting parts lie in what books, and how.

In high school, my English teacher gave me Watership Down and The Sound and The Fury to read for book reports. I loved the former, it’s one of my all-time favorite books, and I was not too fond of the latter. However, both deepened my appreciation for the English language and literature–both capital L Literature and regular old literature.

The most recently impactful book would have to be Adam Grant’s Think Again. I was going through a rough time at my job, and I was in the process of interviewing for my now-current job with Automattic. This book gave me the courage to re-think my situation and to make the bold leap to leave a company I’d been with for 15 years.

A book in progress that I feel will be highly impactful when I finish and put it into practice is Dare to Lead by Brené Brown. I’ll be sharing a review with my thoughts on this one soon.

Other impactful books are the books that inspired my Four Pillars of Health series:

Also, I feel that any book well read changes me. As I read, I absorb a little bit of it, and I may change in myriad ways. I learn, and I become curious about new and different topics.

And lastly, I would be remiss not to mention The Animal Manifesto, which is partly responsible for my decision to become a vegetarian.

Today’s #Bloganuary prompt: Has a book changed your life?

Reading challenge complete!

/ Brienna / Leave a comment

I’ve reached my reading goal of 20,000 pages (and then some) with a few days to spare!

This year, I set a reading goal based on pages instead of number of books. Since book length can be so variable, pages seems like a better comparison of how much I’m reading, year over year.

Also, a goal based on the number of books caused some bad behaviors. I was avoiding really long books and reading a lot of short stories or novellas towards the end of the year, just to keep the book count high.

This year, my longest read was The Golem and the Jinni, at 819 pages. My shortest read was A Gift from the Sea, at 130. That’s quite a difference!

In 2020, I read 104 books but only 800 pages more than the year before, when I read 82 books. In 2013, I read seven more books than in 2014, but only 250 pages more. In 2016, I read one book more than the previous year, but actually came in with 650 fewer pages!

Looking at this data, it seems clear that counting the number of books is misleading!

Now that I am no longer hyper-focused on book counts, I’m looking forward to jumping into some longer picks. For 2023, I want to re-read The Stand (1,358 pages), and finally get around to the latest Outlander novel, Go Tell the Bees that I am Gone (960 pages).

Bonus trivia! According to Goodreads, the longest book I’ve ever read is A Breath of Snow and Ashes (Outlander #6). I’ve read 18 other books that have over 1,000 pages (four of those are Outlander novels, another four are Stephen King, and three are GoT novels).

What are you looking forward to reading in 2023?

Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries

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Emily Wilde is a professor and the leading expert on faeries. She is compiling the world’s first-ever first encyclopaedia of faeries. She is most herself while researching or in the company of books and doesn’t seem to fit in with others.

Emily travels to a remote village to complete her encyclopaedia, where she is joined by a colleague/rival, Wendell Bambleby–much to her displeasure. Wendell is the opposite of Emily in many ways. Where she is unkempt and lacking in fashion, Wendell is stylish and sophisticated. Where Emily has alienated the locals, Wendell makes fast friends. And it’s a good thing he does, otherwise these two would be in big trouble!

This book fell short for me because it centers on Emily and her research and spends less time directly on faeries. While faerie lore and stories are sprinkled throughout, I prefer when the faeries and their world are front and center. I will admit though, that I enjoyed it a lot more than I expected.

This book is perfect if you’re looking for something new, like books about socially awkward people, and (of course) if you like books about faeries.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group – Ballantine, Del Rey for an advance copy in exchange for sharing my opinions. All opinions in this review are my own.

Maame

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Maame by Jessica George is an endearing, emotional story about family, finding one’s self, and coming to terms with life and all that it has to offer.

The books I’ve received from Netgalley have been disappointing lately, so I wasn’t expecting much from this. However, I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this novel!

Maame tells us the story of Maddie, who has spent a lifetime convincing herself that the restrictions and isolation in her life are all due to voluntary choices and personal preferences. When her mother returns from Ghana, Maddie is asked to move out. She realizes this means she can finally start living her own life and resolves to be a different person. She will drink alcohol, date, and not say no if offered a cigarette (without becoming addicted).

Growing up, Maddie was told not to speak of family issues. To Maddie, this meant not sharing anything with her friends, as wasn’t everything ultimately a family issue? This also meant Maddie didn’t have many friends or people to talk to. This impacts her ability to interact with her roommates and co-workers, and she soon learns that she needs the support of others.

Living on her own terms, Maddie soon learns that freedom is a double-edged sword and not everything she thought she knew about herself is true.

This novel touches on many topics, ranging from familial love and duty, sexual abuse, elderly care, death, and the comforts of friendship.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for an advance copy in exchange for sharing my opinions. All opinions in this review are my own.