 |
I try not to buy too many books new (and when I do, I try to go to the one local bookstore we have), so many of the books I read just fall into my lap. I find them at the thrift store or on Jon's section of our bookshelf or a friend passes them to me. And the library of course.
You and I, as mothers by Laura Prepon. 2/5. I actually read her first book, Stash, I long time ago, and didn't love it, but it was fine. This book about Laura becoming a mom is totally fine too. I liked reading all the quotes from her celeb friends, and I now know for sure that Ashton Kutcher is amazing. Instead of asking Mila what he can do to help, he just looks around and figures out how to help, and does it. Amazing. Also I liked this one line in the section on meditating when she said that our thoughts in our head will continue to stream for our whole entire lives until we die. All we can hope for is to slow the thoughts down with meditation sometimes.
A promised land by Barack Obama. 3/5. I love him, and I love the way he writes and speaks. I just couldn't get through this book because I think my tastes are so much more low-brow than Barack can offer me. I just don't find it that interesting to learn about his political aspirations and about his work life. I want to know about his love life and his marriage, which there is a little bit in this book, but not a ton.
Indeh by Ethan Hawke and Greg Ruth. 3.5/5. I love so much how graphic novels are changing the way we learn about history. I liked this, but I felt like I needed a little more hand-holding while reading. I wanted a bit more narration. As it was, I feel like I now need to go and find more info about the history that the book was depicting. Which is maybe a good thing. The illustrations were so amazing and great. Jon wished that the Spanish dialogue was translated in the back of the book or something. Can't wait to read the next graphic novel by these guys.
Loving what is: Four Questions that can change your life by Byron Katie. 5/5. This was technically the last book I read in 2020. I read it super fast and then swiftly returned it to the library because I want everyone to have a chance to read it if they want to. I have read a few books by Katie now, and I'm pretty into it. Some of the stuff is a little hard to swallow, but for me in my very privileged life, this book is amazing. She talks about how we don't make any decisions. None. You can just get up every morning and let life live you. And that seems totally crazy. But then I think about the big decisions I have made in this life. And honestly, they kinda happened in spite of me. Even the stuff that took a lot of work like getting into dental school. When I look back, it was inevitable for me. And though I worked hard and studied hard, I was doing exactly what I felt like doing the whole time.
And a couple other things I have been consuming in the past week or so:
Your Honor. 4/5. This show on Crave is so good because Bryan Cranston is so good. I still think of Breaking Bad as the best show we have ever watched. Uggg, just so good. Jon and I have to watch a light funny show after this one since it's intense and I'm just so worried about the judge and his son!
Scoob! 2/5. The boys and I watched this one the other day. We also recently watched the live action Scooby movie from 2002, so I couldn't help but compare them. This cartoon was so much better! I found it pretty clever sometimes, and definitely bearable, which is basically what I'm looking for in cartoon movies I watch with my kids. They LOVED it.
VEEP. 5/5. We tried watching this years ago and just didn't love it. But this time, we are so into it. It reminds me of Parks & Rec in that it is super funny but not necessarily laugh out loud funny. We sometimes watch multiple episodes in a night, and by now are in love with at least 5 characters. The relationship between Ben and Kent is just so unexpectedly delightful, honestly. Love love.
