So, call me crazy, but I got Tina Fey's new memoir, Bossypants, a day ago and already finished it within 24 hours. It's just that good! A few pages in and I was laughing out loud, and that continued throughout the entire book. It's the perfect mix of wit, sarcasm, humor...and I thought the writing was just excellent.
The book is a memoir, so it's chock full of tales from her youth, all the way up to today. It's funny, it's personal, it's the kind of book you can't put down. Quite simply: if you like to laugh, then this book is for you!
If you get it, let me know what you think. Happy reading!
Happy Friday everyone! If you're anything like me, this weekend you will more than likely find yourself in a bookstore someway or another, running your hands over all of the books, flipping through the pages, and skimming over the first few pages of those that catch your eye. One of my most favorite things to do is spend an hour or two wandering through our local bookstore, making lists of all the titles I'd like to read. I can't get enough of books, and before I became a teacher I actually worked in a bookstore. It was heaven. And now, even though I've been using my beloved Kindle for over a year, I still purchase and swoon over all of the books in our local shop, and our library continues to grow. Today I thought I'd put together a list of 9 books I really love- some are my all-time favorites, a couple are recent reads, a few are of the young adult genre. So, if you're looking for something new to read this weekend, bring this list out with you, and see if any of these English-teacher approved books strike your fancy! Have a great weekend.
Hello everyone! This post was from Sunday morning, but when I started going into labor I pulled it! I rescheduled it for today. :) Friday I will begin sharing my wonderful guest blog features, so get excited!
Today I thought I'd share three things: a book, a movie, and an album! 1) a book
My blog has been lacking a bit in my normal book recommendations for one reason, and that reason is...HARRY POTTER! I've been reading the HP books for the very first time, and I recently finished book four. I'm trying to go slow so I can savor every bit of the series, so I decided to take a small break before I start book five. It's hard though, because I have the last three books stacked up on my nightstand, taunting me, but my Kindle is also full of samples of great books I've been looking forward to checking out. On a related note: did you know on the Kindle you can get the first chapter (or sometimes couple of chapters) sent to your device for free? I always do this to make sure I want to read the book before I commit to spending the nine or so dollars on it, and I'd say it's one of my favorite features of the Kindle. So, during my Harry Potter break this week I've read a few books in my downtime (aka waiting to have a baby time), and there was one in particular that I really enjoyed.
I am going to include a short summary from Publisher's Weekly, but I've shortened it because if you're anything like me, you dislike hearing too much about a book!
Near the start of this outstanding novel of psychological suspense from Edgar-winner Lippman (Life Sentences), Eliza Benedict, a 38-year-old married mother of two living in suburban Maryland, receives a letter from Walter Bowman, the man who kidnapped her the summer she was 15 and is now on death row. The narrative shifts between the present and that long ago summer...
This is the first book I'd read by this author (it was published just a few months ago) and I was really impressed by not just her style of writing, but her ease of story-telling. Her characters have great depth, and as a reader I started to really feel like I knew these people, and I got to live a bit in their experiences, which was an experience in itself. I found this novel to be fascinating, dark at times, but overall an intriguing read that I'd recommend to anyone who is looking for a new book!
2. a movie
Yesterday Hank and I went and saw "Morning Glory." I love Rachel McAdams, Diane Keaton, and Harrison Ford (along with a lot of the other minor actors), so you'd have to imagine my happiness when I first came across this preview over the summer:
Hank wasn't too keen on seeing it, but throughout the entire movie I glanced at him to find him laughing, smiling, and even maybe, sorta, kinda having a little tear in his eye. In the end, he enjoyed it. And as for me? I LOVED it. I found it to be motivating, inspiring, and uplifting. It went beyond a "chick flick" and I thought it was a lot of genres rolled into one; romantic comedy, a feel-good film, a "finding yourself" kind of movie, and yes, a movie that girls would enjoy. But my husband loved it too! There's something for everyone. I highly recommend this movie! 3. an album
I'm quite late on the Mumford & Sons bandwagon, but recently this album has been on repeat in our house close to everyday. It's just that good. I adore these guys- their music, their voices, and those cute scruffy faces. But, on the small chance you haven't yet fallen in love with this band, give this little playlist a listen, and then head over to their website to buy their album! Enjoy!
I've recently read some great books lately, that I thought I would share with all of you!
The Opposite of Me, by Sarah Pekkanen - click here to view via Amazon.
The summary on Amazon gives too much away, so click above if you want to order it, but I'd suggest refraining from actually reading the synopsis; it gives away the entire book! In summation, all you need to know that is that this book is about relationships between sisters, between oneself and who you "think" you are, and also who you really are. It's about coming into your own, following your passion, and realizing that life might not be what you've always pictured it to be, but that can be the perfect thing for you.
This book is part chick-lit book, part tearjerker (not in a Notebook way, more in a gentle tears in my eyes during various parts of the book kinda way)...and I really, really loved it. It's a great "beach read" kind of novel without being stupid or annoying, like a lot of those books are to me. I do love some Shopaholic-type books from time to time, but overall I find them to be mindless, and I often find myself getting irritated with the writing. I found this book to be witty, intelligent, and honest, and I couldn't put it down. It's a longer book, at almost 400 pages, and I found myself engrossed the entire time. I HIGHLY recommend it to all of you, and if you end up reading it please, please let me know what you think.
The second book I finished recently was a memoir called Falling Apart in One Piece: One Optimist's Journey Through the Hell of Divorce, by Stacy Morrison. Click here to view it via Amazon.
From Amazon.com:
The emotionally charged story of a divorce that brought the surprising gift of grace...
Just when Stacy Morrison thought everything in her life had come together, her husband of ten years announced that he wanted a divorce. She was left alone with a new house that needed a lot of work, a new baby who needed a lot of attention, and a new job in the high-pressure world of New York magazine publishing.
Morrison had never been one to believe in fairy tales. As far as she was concerned, happy endings were the product of the kind of ambition and hard work that had propelled her to the top of her profession. But she had always considered her relationship with her husband a safe place in her often stressful life. All of her assumptions about how life works crumbled, though, when she discovered that no amount of will and determination was going to save her marriage.
For Stacy, the only solution was to keep on living, and to listen—as deeply and openly as possible—to what this experience was teaching her.
Told with humor and heart, her honest and intimate account of the stress of being a working mother while trying to make sense of her unraveling marriage offers unexpected lessons of love, forgiveness, and dignity that will resonate with women everywhere.
This book popped up in my recommendations while I was browsing Amazon in search of books to put on my Kindle. As you probably already know, I love memoirs. I wasn't too sure about the topic of this book, but I had a sample sent to my Kindle anyway and began reading. Immediately I was engrossed in the writer's unique and wordy style. I'm not sure if it's for everyone though- she REALLY gets in her own head and the writing shows that. It's part story, part stream on consciousness that explains every single thing the writer is thinking about, why she is thinking it, and where this thinking gets her. Personally, I adored it. Everything she said made a lot of sense, and coming from someone who is happily married, I thought it was interesting to see the other side of things, especially from someone who never thought she'd be there. I found so many of her insights to affect me quite deeply- her thoughts on parenting, marriage, self, what it means to be a woman...all of it was hard hitting and although incredibly poignant, still extremely uplifting. I loved the author's writing style and couldn't put this book down either.
MOVIES
It's Complicated
I've always loved Meryl Streep and she's one of my all-time favorite actresses. It's amazing, but the older she gets, the more amazing she gets. I find her to be incredibly inspiring, and this movie is no different. I highly recommend to everyone- you will laugh (hard), you'll cry, you'll think about your life and where it's headed. It's another one of those movies that makes you think, but it's not one of those movies that throws anything in your face. It's more of an underlying "hmm..." as you watch it, and especially afterward. Go rent it!
The second movie I'm recommending is quite different from the first.
Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?
I love love love movies like this. Dark, macabre, suspenseful. My all-time favorite movie is Rosemary's Baby, and this movie has that same feeling. I've had it recommended to me a million times but Hank and I only just watched it for the first time a couple of weeks ago when it was on Netflix Instant Play. We were both immediately engulfed in the strange way this movie sucks you in. You have to see it! Let me know what you think if you do.
BEAUTY PRODUCTS
I've tried quite a few new beauty products over the past couple of weeks and I wanted to recommend one and NOT recommend the other. The first is a product I've mentioned on this blog before. It's the belly cream that Autumn had me get when I became pregnant.
Great Mother's Belly Butter for Babybearing Women- click here to view via mothernature.com
OH MY GOSH you guys, I LOVE this stuff. I will continue to use it even after I have Henry, because it's truly amazing. It's a thick cream/body butter kind of stuff that goes on pretty greasy. Greasy would probably bring about negative connotations, so try to think of it as a pleasant greasiness, and that fades as it sinks into the skin. There's no petroleum in it, so it is actually absorbed and used by your body to heal, prevent and repair.
Ingredients: Cocoa Butter, Olive Oil, Coconut Oil, Comfrey Root, Wheat Germ Oil, Calendula, Marshmellow Root, Hawthorn Berry, White Oak Bark, Red Raspberry Leaf, Passion Flower, Vitamin E, Pure Essential Oil
Due to it's heavy consistency I apply it only before I go to sleep, but I apply it everywhere I feel a little dry, not just my belly. I've had issues in the past with a small eczema like dry patch on both of my forearms and this completely took that problem away. At $20 a 4 oz. jar it's a little pricey, but if you order from mothernature.com and then search for coupon codes at retailmenot.com you can get anywhere between $20-30 off your order. I love this stuff and I think it's totally worth it!
The second product I am sharing but NOT recommending is Chanel's Double Perfection Compact- click here to view via nordstrom.com.
This product initially got me really excited. One of my formspring commenters recommended it to me, and I ordered it right away, after reading online that it was oil-free and wouldn't clog pores. I have extremely sensitive skin, so I need to be careful, but even the reviews on makeupalley.com were favorable for sensitive skin, so I took the plunge and ordered it. At first I liked it. Alone and dry, the powder (which is supposed to be of a foundation consistency) wasn't enough coverage, and to me was just like my Laura Mercier translucent finishing powder, which is in no way foundation. I found though that if I layered it over my Almay foundation it gave me a nice MAC Studio-Fix-ish look, without the breakout (or so I thought). I also tried it wet, which make the formula thicker and allowed it to work better on its own.
As time went by, I started to breakout. For some reason I didn't attribute this to the makeup- I'm pregnant with crazy hormones so of course it was my body. But I decided to stop using it for a week, and my skin went back to normal during that time. I haven't used the powder again and have had NO breakouts! I'm so annoyed with myself that I used the product for almost a month, dealing with imperfect skin, thinking it was little baby Henry's fault! ;) It was all the powder. And for $50, that's no good. So, my verdict is that this product may work for someone else, but NOT for me! No thank you.
I hope you guys enjoyed this mini-recommendation post! Let me know if you end up reading, watching or trying any of these things! I hope all of you have a wonderful Sunday.
ps, thanks again for all the congratulations about our happy news! Baby Henry is already so loved and I feel lucky to have such a great support system here on this blog! Love to all of you.
