What I’ve Been Reading 8

I can’t wait to share What I’ve Been Reading with you! It’s been forever, but I’ll blame that on the book shipment that took over a month to get to me…a rant for another day. But I have a great batch of books for you, so let’s jump in! 

The Sea of Tranquility by Katja Millay

This book totally took me by surprise.

I’ll preface this by saying: it is a book about teens. Remember last time when I swore off teen novels? I made an exception here. And I am SO glad I did.

Although this is a “teen” novel, it wasn’t completely drowning in unnecessary teen drama, crazy feelings, unnecessary sexual tension… Every thing felt very carefully chosen and only added to the storyline.

This book is told from the point of view of Nastya and Josh, two teens that have both suffered huge losses in their lives. As the story unfolds, you learn more and more about what each has lost, but it isn’t given away upfront (which I love) because you learn to love each character for who they are in the present moment. Despite Nastya’s refusal to talk (for over a year!) and mountains of secrets, and Josh’s wish to be invisible as he powers through each day, they develop an unusual and deep friendship. I don’t want to give anything away, but the story just SUCKS you in after around page 50. I read for 2 days straight just to stay in the story and not let the characters go.

Read this book. It made my soul ache. It was one of those books that left me in a daze for days afterwards, wandering around, wishing I had them in my life still. It’s good stuff.

 

The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo

I’m a little late to the game with this one. If you’ve heard of that “cult cleaning up” book and wondered about it, well I read it for you!

I was very skeptical of this book and I’m really not into the “self-help” section at the bookstore, but I felt a need for this book. And I had no clue it would do this to me, but it really put a foot in my ass to get things done.

It is very short, succinct and almost brash. There’s a reason, though: you’re supposed to be tidying your house, not reading a book about it for weeks on end! You just need to get things done.

So, yes, Kondo is an odd ball. She sadly (in my opinion) was obsessed with cleaning her room growing up versus having traditional fun…but I definitely let those “holier than thou” sounding parts of the book just slide. Along with the parts on folding my kimono. But the rest was needed. I gave it a really good shot, trying to do everything she asked that I wouldn’t normally do in my everyday life (because clearly, what I have been doing my whole life has left me with the mess I am frustrated with).

I put every piece of clothing on my bed, got rid of a TON and folded the rest and put them away exactly as she told me to. I made a space to empty my purse everyday when I get home (this was a crazy sounding concept, but it seriously has rocked my world, leaving me with a purse every morning that only has the things I need for that day and only the lipstick I’m wearing at that moment…versus a purse filled with trash, receipts, coupons, 12 lip balms, a sweater…). I went through my precious BOOKS, getting rid of the ones I truly didn’t love and knew I wouldn’t recommend to a friend, and only kept the hundreds that I prized. My husband even went through the boxes and boxes of stuff he hadn’t unpacked in 10 years of his sports memorabilia and mementos, looking at all of it and deciding which he actually cared about. We got rid of SO much junk, it was amazing.
So, yes, I recommend this one. It’ll make you throw all of your stuff away, in a good way.

 

Carry On by Rainbow Rowell

I didn’t read any reviews or even the book jacked when I started this book, so I was shocked to recognize the characters…this is the story from within the story Fangirl! I had a brief moment of emotional panic: can I read another “other worldly” book? Can I fall in love with another wizarding story? Do I have the emotional capacity to read this right now?

Yes, I’m an emotional reader (if you couldn’t tell). Push that panic aside, this book is AHmazing.

It’s actually really funny, incorporating everything from our modern day lives into a HP-esque storyline, making it feel way more relaxed and accessible.

I loved getting swept away by a bit of magic and nothing was overly intense. I loved the characters’ personal development (there’s a lot of “could I be gay??” which I thought was very interesting and added so much dimension to the characters) and the phrasing was so brilliant (spells were actually more of nursery rhymes than unpronounceable words).

All I have to say is: if you love Rainbow Rowell and you loved Fangirl, you’ll LOVE this story. It may seem lengthy, but I read it in a few days and was very sucked into it!

 

Why Not Me? By Mindy Kaling

Oh Mindy. Make me pee my pants laughing why don’t ya.

Did you read her first book? Ok well this is more laugh-out-loud, real, raw hilarity.

I love how relatable she is, extremely blunt, and very unabashedly personal.

Wondering about her relationship with BJ Novak? Wondering about her dating life? Wondering what she would have done in an alternate universe where she’s not a sitcom writer? EVERYTHING is addressed.

I burst out laughing several times, so you should probably read this in private. But, I just loved it and I feel like we’re best friends now. You know, Mel and Mind…that’s what they call us.

And that’s it! What are you tempted to read now? What was your latest great read?

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