Posted on August 30, 2023 in Books
I will need three parts this month because of all the children, middle grade, and audiobooks I have been consuming. Wow!
Continue reading →Posted on August 27, 2023 in Books
The second book in the Daughter of the Moon Goddess duology. I have had this book for many weeks from the library and they kept allowing me to renew it. I wanted to start it many times. It took me two non consecutive Saturdays before I could finish it since it’s just shy of 500 pages and I wanted to give it time and full attention.
Continue reading →Posted on August 23, 2023 in Books
GoodReads suggested one of these books to me. I don’t usually find that many recommendations on GoodReads but the author and the reviews sounded promising. I requested all three books from my library. All of the books are children’s picture books, two them have no text in the story, and all have themes of being lost and found.
The Only Child
This is the author’s most well known work. The story was based on their experience of growing up lonely under the one child policy in China. I really resonated with this story as we have similar backgrounds. Loneliness was a theme of my life as well. I still work on it in therapy and how to connect better to myself and others. I cried at the end of this book which is rare. I’ve been more emotional lately though. That’s not a bad thing and this book really captured specific feelings and experiences that I could really relate to. Beautiful artwork.
4.75/5 stars.
Stormy: A Story about Finding a Forever Home
This is a shorter story about a stray dog. This also made me cry at the heels of the last one.
4.25/5 stars.
The Flamingo
The colouring on this was the best of all. Ghibli vibes. I didn’t cry with this one but I almost did. Lovely stuff.
4.25/5 stars.
Read all three on August 14, 2023.
Posted on August 19, 2023 in Books, The New Yorker
Lady Tan’s Circle of Women by Lisa See
A historical fiction novel about a woman doctor in the 15th century China. It’s been awhile since I read Lisa See’s Shanghai Girls. I really liked how she handled Chinese culture, history, and female relationships in that novel. Here again, she excelled in those things. The book has nuanced portrayals of women. The protagonist is flawed and privileged, but there is character development due to her many interesting female relationships. This was also a medical drama and there was even a surprise mystery. The medical content was not too gory but it was unavoidable. I think the Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) would be hard to grasp or understand for most people. I got the gist of it due to my background. I will never understand the appeal of bound feet and it makes me cringe. It’s one of the reasons I don’t like reading these Chinese historical books. This was a nicely researched historical drama that would make a great Chinese TV series.
4.25/5 stars. Read August 5, 2023.
Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle by Emily Nagoski and Amelia Nagoski
Like many women, I liked Come As You Are by Emily Nagoski. I’ve been exploring stress and anxiety research recently. I really liked the first chapter about completing the stress cycle and tips on stress management. I wish it had discussed this more. A lot of the other content I was familiar with such as gender roles. It was very feminist but any of these tips could be applied to all genders. I think it had some nice tips in the end but not as essential health reading.
3.75/5 stars. Started July 31, 2023 but I mainly read this August 6, 2023.
A Man Without a Country by Kurt Vonnegut
This is another book which I bought over a decade ago and didn’t read until now. It was a pristine first edition hardcover too. I’ve read two Vonnegut novels. I really liked Slaughterhouse Five but not Cat’s Cradle and don’t remember why. While they were strange and dark, I liked Vonnegut’s unique voice. He was a good writer. I liked the essays and there was good dark humour in most of them. I did find it a bit depressing after the first few essays. It was a product of its political time so it’s a bit strange to think back on the George W. Bush years and the Iraq war. He was right about a lot of things that apply now. I do think it’s for the best he didn’t see what’s happened in the last 15 years. The book left me a bit hopeless which is why I can’t give it the full 4 stars.
3.75/5 stars. Read August 6-8, 2023.
The Moth Keeper by K. O’Neill
Cute. Very Ghibli-esque. I like the Tea Dragon trilogy more but this was still a lovely cozy fantasy graphic novel. I liked the imagery and the gentle tone in O’Neill’s work. I understood and appreciated the theme of loneliness, isolation, community, and yearning.
4/5 stars. Read August 9, 2023.
These Precious Days by Ann Patchett
Audiobook read by the author. A lovely book of essays written by an author I’m growing to love. Intimate essays about her life, friends, family, death, illness, and books. I discovered that I had already read a couple of these essays in the New Yorker which told me that I am really a New Yorker reader and Patchett lover. These essays feel like hanging out with a friend. I have the trade paperback version, but decided to listen to the audiobook since she narrated it. I am going to keep my paper copy a little more before giving it away because I enjoyed this book so much.
4.5/5 stars. Listened July 31-Aug 9, 2023.
Posted on August 6, 2023 in Books, The New Yorker
Still lots of graphic novels and illustrated works. I achieved my 52 books very early this year as a result.
Continue reading →Posted on August 4, 2023 in Books, Stationery
I think I may have tried reading this before. I definitely read the author’s website when this first method first got popular.
I have used a Filofax for years. I’ve experimented with Bullet Journalling as well. I’ve tried it and most of the tenets of it does not work for me personally. Over the years, I’ve found that all I really need is a dated agenda which has space for daily to do and events. I mix it with use of my digital calendar. I keep my daily to-do under 10 items (usually) and sometimes, they are repeating daily routine like my morning pages, meditation, and making food. I like checking it off. I use a digital calendar for events to go alongside my Filfoax. Work gets its own calendar and I cross reference my two digital ones.
In addition to this, I do morning pages (really one page) and a pre-bedtime evening journal. This is enough reflection and writing for me. I’ve discovered that I really can’t live without a dated agenda though. Even though I miss some days or weeks, I always go back to it. Buying the filofax refills once a year minimizes wastes of buying a whole new agenda. I prefer the Two Days Per Page Diary.
This book was fine and I think a lot of people would benefit from it. I think you can get the gist of this method via the author’s website, Youtube, and other online resources. The book felt very padded with philosophy and general self-help organization things which I did not need. I skimmed a some of it as a result. Good to try at least.
3.25/5 stars. Read July 14-21, 2023.