Category Archives: Reading & Read & Love

yoga & what i’m reading

Posted on by
Reply

Writing once a week is proving hard, so I’ll write about what I always want to know about y’all. First of all, I did Day One, Day Two, and Day Three of my yoga challenge, and it took me all week to do them. Looks like I am going to have to be better this week if I want to get this 14-Day challenge done in 3 weeks…yikes!

Meanwhile, I am trying to get some good reading done while I’m in-between book club books, a rare time when I read what I want instead of what I’m supposed to! Right now, I’m listening to Mindy Kaling’s first book, Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?, which is read by her and therefore delightful. I will say, though, that celebrities-turned-authors are not my fave genre, and I’m glad I am listening to this instead of reading it…I miss the fiction story of it all. Maybe I should do some autobiographies.

I am also reading The Likeness by Tana French who wrote a book club book we read, In The Woods which was an awesome Law and Order:SVU-type book with partner love and intrigue. While I can I say I didn’t like how the first one ended, I will say I love the way French writes and I am enjoying the second one.

Next up, I want to read Midnight’s Furies, which is a book about India’s independence and the partition of Pakistan. Book Club is this week, so I’ll get a new assignment there, and I also am stumbling through the audiobook of Team of Rivals (I don’t love the narrator, she’s a little pretentious sounding to me) and I have Empire Falls next for an audiobook, too. I have an Audible subscription because I am in the car for about an hour and a half a day, so I try to make use of my time.

In other news, I am caught up on Limetown, Serial, Radiolab, and trying to find other podcasts to love – I also dig 99 percent invisible, and I know Katie will remind me of Pop Culture Happy Hour.

So that’s what’s up here. Happy Sunday, everyone!

xo

this summer’s gonna hurt like a mother.

Posted on by
1

I have a lot to write about, but I am behind, per the usual, so permit me to sweep past London and seeing my family and my birthday and move into Summer Reading. I’ll get back to all of that soon enough, but right now I have a roadblock about vacation recap and want to talk about reading. So here we go.

I set lofty goals for myself this year to read 52 books, or a book a week. I love reading, but running a food blog, and having a full time job, and exercising and cooking and having a husband and friends and a family and a 30 mile commute and a healthy love of a handful of television programs all get in the way of that. One way I motivate myself is to set goals obsessively. I find that if I have something to work towards I do better than just saying “I’d like to read more.”

I have read 11 books this year. I am 13 books behind schedule. Yikes! Luckily, summer time is my peak of reading. And I have a 30 mile commute that I can use to listen to books on tape. And beach days will come. When I was young, summer was synonymous with reading late into the night, much later than I normally could even keep my eyes open, whipping through Harry Potter and The Egypt Game and anything by Ronald Dahl. Summer days were reading by the pool, by the ocean, in the living room as the rain came down and the cable went out. Something about warm weather and long nights translates my wants to reading a good book.

I want to use the summer to catch up, so I’ve done some re-arranging on Good Reads so I have a clear list of what’s next. Here’s what I am trying to get through this summer:

1. 99 Days by Katie Cotugno – I am about half way done with this now, and I am having a hard time putting it down. A perfect summer read about summer love, loss, and how to be yourself and know that screwing up is ok, even when it’s not.

2. Bully Pulpit by Doris Kearns Goodwin – I am listening to this one, you guys, and guess what? It’s read by Ed Herrmann, who I know lovingly from Gilmore Girls. He passed away at the end of 2014, and having 35 hours to go with him is like a secret treasure that I am keeping close to my heart.

3. Divergent by Veronica Roth – I have had this on my “to read” list for months and months, and I just gotta do it. Plus, let’s be real, I bet that I’ll read it, love it, and breeze through all the books in the series.

4. The Dovekeepers by Alice Hoffman – I love Alice, and I’ve been wanting to read this since it came out. History, magic, and women = all I need in a book.

5. The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt – I’ve been reading this book for months and months, but it’s too big to lug around. I want to finish it, so some late evenings on the couch (or late evenings in the sun on Zuma Beach) seem like the perfect place to get.it.done.

6. You Were Never in Chicago by Neil Steinberg – A book on this history of Chicago as told by a young man who spent years as a journalist there. My whole family lives in Chicago, so I feel like it’d be good for me to read this nonfiction pick. Plus, Nikki rated it four stars, so it must be good.

7. Bridget Jones’s Diary by Helen Fielding – Confession time, you guys. I’ve never seen or read Bridget Jones. It’s one of those things I am certain I’ll love, but haven’t had the time to devote to it. Like in the summer of 2007 when I decided it was time to love Counting Crows. I was right. 2015: the Summer of Bridget Jones.

8. Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel – Hollywood Stars. The Great Lakes. Haunting. That’s enough for me. My Goodreads community liked it.

So there you go, eight books I’m looking forward to this summer. What are you guys reading and loving? Have you read any of the above books? Get at your girl, and let me know what’s up!

xo

 

what humans could be.

Posted on by
Reply

The past few weeks have been uplifting and heartbreaking all at the same time. I’ve kept quiet because every time I write something pertaining to the police brutality or the killings in Pakistan or really, all over the globe, or the beheadings of journalists…I just don’t know how to say all I’m feeling and wishing and hoping. So I stay quiet, and I try to do best by the people I interact with every day, because I feel like that’s all I can do.

But I’ve been reading and listening a lot. I find when something makes me emotional, reading others’ opinions on the facts always shows me that people at the root of it, are good, and they have similar feelings to me, and they make me think, and that, if nothing else, helps calm my soul.

So here’s an article that just calls it like it is about Hollywood. Here’s a quote that really meant something to me, “You’re telling me no Mexicans are qualified to do anything at a studio? Really? Nothing but mop up? What are the odds that that’s true? The odds are, because people are people, that there’s probably a Mexican David Geffen mopping up for somebody’s company right now. The odds are that there’s probably a Mexican who’s that smart who’s never going to be given a shot.”

And here’s another thing: every Friday, at 7:25 (ish), my local NPR station (what what KPCC!) plays a Story Corps podcast. Most Fridays, I am in the car at this time, waiting for the moment, and nine times out of ten, it makes me cry – because humans are awful, or because humans are compassionate, or because humans are just so cruel/amazing/the worst. Now, usually I just tear up, but I’ll tell you something, this story just made me sob.

Because you guys,  how awesome is it that this air force colonel not only went with the idea that he was Santa, but he also called the radio station to say that the AIR FORCE WAS SEEING A SLEIGH. That, my friends, is just amazing. So many people in this world do really important life changing stuff, but sometimes it’s just how you treat others (whether they’re children or not) that is what you’re remembered for.

Also let’s take a minute for Serial being over.

.

But seriously, go listen to RadioLab to fill the void. Just as interesting, usually with better endings (no offense to Sarah, we knew what we were getting ourselves into.)

At the end of a long week, at the end of a rambling blog post about many things large and small, I am signing off to go to bed to catch a plane to Chicago to see the family. I hope that you’re having a good holiday season, and that you can take some time to reflect on the events of humanity and just, for a second, breathe deep and help out a fellow human. I wish, as always, for peace this season.

the longing of the soul

Posted on by
Reply

Hey, all. I am doing this in a backwards manner because today is Ash Wednesday which means the beginning of Lent, so before I bore y’all with photos of my adorable nephew that I got to meet and spend time with this past weekend, I am going to tell you about my plans for Lent.

A few years back, I started using Lent as a focus point in my life, helping me get back on track to something that I believe is important to me. It may not be “religious” for me any more, but it is certainly a spiritual act. Last year, I used Lent to focus my exercise, vowing to move my body for 40 days.

This year, in keeping with my wants for myself this year, I am going to make time to read. I have reconnected to reading this year through my New  Year’s Resolution to read 52 books in 2014, and I think spending just 30 minutes a day will help me reach that goal.

When I was in college, I read all the time; I read on trains, on planes, on the way to and from work and class. When I moved to LA, my commute became king, and I now tend to drive everywhere. Although I sometimes listen to books on tape CD, I usually am focused on traffic after work so I listen to NPR or music.

But I’ve been trying to listen to spoken word more, by listening to podcasts (mostly RadioLab) when I run, and I have been trying to get to bed in time to read a book, not Facebook or Twitter or the millions of blogs I read.

I’ve really enjoyed reconnecting to my love of books, and I hope these 40 days, a mere 20 hours of my life, can really remind me to pick up where I left off in that novel rather than that TV show or that feed.

Do you guys do anything for Lent? Share it with me and we can help each other out these 40 days!

Happy (Ash) Wednesday, y’all.

some infinities are larger than others.

Posted on by
1

I just finished reading “The Fault in Our Stars” by John Green, and I have many feelings about it. I think it’s one of the best sad books I’ve read, and I am glad that we read it for Book Club. I won’t say much more about it because I want you to go read it because it’s a great easy read and because I think you’ll like it.

The_Fault_in_Our_Stars

I think one of my favorite things about reading a good book is how great it makes you feel, and how much it reminds you that you want to read more. After finishing this, I sat down for several hours yesterday reading Harry Potter (Number 6) because C and M and I are rereading the series. I am also reading Twelve Years a Slave (my lunch time nonfiction book) and The Goldfinch (my BFF-told-me-to-so-do-it book) and And the Mountains Echoed (the I really love this author and also my BFF said I’ll love it book.)

I have always been a person to read more than one book at a time, mainly because I like to be able to start and stop depending on my mood, weaving in and out of different worlds, times in history or the future, in different perspectives. I try to be reading the book club book, a novel, a nonfiction book, and sometimes throw in another novel (or two) for good measure.

This means I am never left thinking “Ugh I am tired and don’t want to read that sad book about slavery” because OH WAIT you’re also reading a young adult novel about wizards. When people ask me about it, how I read more than one book at a time, this is what I tell them: it’s like having your arsenal of unwatched TV shows queued up on your DVR. You watch multiple shows during the week, you don’t need to finish an entire season before you can move onto another show.

I assume the average person can keep straight the characters of a show (I don’t confuse Lady Grantham with Barney Stinson’s universe, and I don’t forget that Crosby is married to Jasmine in Northern California and that Leslie loves Pawnee, IN., and Ben’s butt, no matter what.) And so it goes. You read and you remember how much you love it, and pretty soon that’s all you want to do.

I wouldn’t have it any other way.