The last few books and my favourite book of the year

I think I ended up reading around 50 books this year, which is probably average for me. I thought I would have read way more since we were on lockdown for so much of the year, but it turns out that I can't read as much when I'm super duper stressed. 

Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi. Loved it so much. Now I need to go read Homegoing also. The main character is a grad student researching mice brains, which I just loved. All of it. 

Washington Black by Esi Edugyan. Oh man. This one is still with me. It was a little hard to read just as it will always be hard to read about slavery. I loved how part of the story happened in Nova Scotia. I need to learn so much more about how "free" black people lived in Nova Scotia. Also the author is Canadian, which is just cool. 

French Exit by Patrick DeWitt. This one was so quick and easy to read. I liked that it was light and cute and also a teeny bit dark. Also loved the cover artwork. 

A thousand splendid suns by Khaled Hosseini. I was so wrapped up in this book for a couple days. It's hard to read. I have never really understood much about the details of the Afghanistan war, and this book helped me understand things a tiny bit more. But really this was a love story about a woman and her husband's second wife's kids. Love love love. 

After thinking about all the books I have read this year, there is no question which one I loved the most. American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins blew my mind. I still think about if all the time. My mom read it after me, and she still brings it up sometimes. 

And there is one book I read twice this year. I never ever read books more than once. I have a friend who just loves to dive back into a book she has read multiple times. I could never do that. But Pema Chodron's When things fall apart is just so great to read anytime, and for sure when things are feeling kinda hard. The first time I read it, I highlighted sentences that were so true for me that I couldn't believe I hadn't thought of them before. The second time I read it, I had totally different sentences to highlight. If I had to distill the book into a couple lines, I would say that it's about finding the thing you dread the most and walking straight into it. Except that you don't have to go looking for hard stuff in life. You can sit patiently and wait and the hard stuff will come, and when it does, face it and lean into it. 

So this concludes my book reviews for the year, and I promise I will be back next year with lots more books.  

A weekend on PEI

We usually see Jon's parents every few months, and even though we saw them over the summer for a few days, we were eager to see them again before Christmas. My mother-in-law turned 80 last month, and for the last few years we have talked about renting a hall and having a big open house type party for her birthday. She has lived on PEI since she was in her late twenties, and knows tons of people! Anyway, of course the big party wasn't happening, but we still wanted to see her. We got really lucky and were able to come the week before the border closed. 

(birthday cake time)

We had such a nice little visit. We stayed in a little Airbnb 5 minutes from my mother-in-law's house, and right on the water. Two highlights: we went to Jon's childhood home where his dad still lives. The house has never been upgraded (save for necessary things) since Jon was a kid, so it was really cool to see. I hadn't been there since Jon and I were dating and we stayed there for a few nights. I liked showing the boys a different kind of house. And Jon showed me tons of old pictures and newspaper articles and yearbooks. And we had a look at the old poster from Jon's modelling days. 

The second highlight for me was going for a walk all by myself through the downtown. It was a rainy afternoon and no one wanted to go with me, so I just walked around, popping in to different stores here and there. I think working in a little alone time on a family vacation is so awesome. 

Recent books

I am reading and reading and reading. This month I was really favouring nonfiction by women. Maybe that is what I favour all the time. The book that had the hugest effect on me this month is actually not pictured: Three women by Lisa Taddeo. 

Wild Game by Adrienne Brodeur. LOVED it. One of my favourite type of book is a true story about rich people who do things that seem crazy to middle-class me. This book is so that. And it's also about breaking the cycle in parenting and not doing things that your abusive/alcoholic parents did to you. So good. 

A Man called Ove by Fredrik Backman. Meh. I read Beartown, and wasn't super into it, but this is the book that gets more attention, so I wanted to try it. I found the writing really repetitive and slow. The story is good, just really slow. 

Dear Girls by Ali Wong. I loved her Netflix specials like everyone else. And I loved this book. I was definitely not laughing out loud with this book (like with Tina Fey's Bossypants). The book is for sure more of a love letter to her husband, and I really liked learning about how they met. This was a cute and quick little memoir. 

Trick Mirror by Jia Tolentino. This book is a lot. It's the kind of book that takes a lot of energy to read because it is so dense and feels so well-researched. I found myself copying sentences out of it into my little journal because they were so true. I liked it, but was always reading it with something easier to read at the same time. 

Three Women by Lisa Taddeo. Oh wow, this book. It is the true story of three women and their sex lives. This is the main thing I learned/remembered from my own life while reading this book: Women always blame women for the bad behavior of men. Women blame themselves and they blame victims. Also, women deep deep down don't really like seeing other women happy and successful and sexually satisfied. I think this is changing right now with #metoo and #imwithher. In my own life, a man behaved badly and absolutely nothing bad happened to him. And a whole bunch of female relationships were destroyed by what the man did. I could talk about this forever. It is what keeps me up in the middle of the night. This book is such necessary reading for women alive in this time in the world. 

An overnight in Fredericton

(I will miss this little guy when he is too big for the front of my bike!)

 Like everyone, we are trying to stay closer to home, especially with school being on the go and so much talk of a second wave. So we decided to do an overnight in downtown Fredericton, which is about 15 minutes from our house. We opted to bike there, which is about 21 KM on a trail that used to be the train tracks. We planned for about three hours for the bike ride, with lots of stops for snacks. And there is a gas station about halfway, and we had promised 7-year-old Cohen that he could get a Powerade there (highlight of the trip for him). The bike ride was super easy and flat. I was surprised by how good it went! We brought everything we needed (clothes, bathing suits, toothbrushes, water, snacks) on our bikes in dry bags. 

(snack break time)

(Will and I are all about the hot tub)

When we got to the hotel (which is right on the trail-super convenient), we checked in and stored our bikes in a room off the lobby. We hung out at the room, swam in the pool, and then headed to the restaurant beside the hotel for supper. That evening we laid in bed, watching tv together. I love that part of hotels so much!

(always elevator selfies)

(this sweet guy at our pre-breakfast)

In the morning Cohen and I woke up first so we snuck down for coffee and apple juice and playing uno. Then an hour later Will and Jon joined us for breakfast downstairs. A quick swim in the pool and some more relaxing, and then we headed home (by car). 

We had the best time. Weirdly (or not weirdly I guess), the hotel was super empty. This feels like a pretty good time to do some staycations right in our town. And it's nice to know we are contributing to keeping a local business supported. Also, where we live there are super good deals for locals to stay in local hotels. So I feel like we got a steal of a deal. Such a great time with our little family. 

October 2020 Library list

I read all these books in the last couple weeks and wasn't super into any of them. Let me explain:

Their eyes were watching god by Zora Neale Hurston. This was necessary reading for me. The main character's grandmother is the product of a rape by a slave owner. It's just really important for me to continue to read books by non-white people. 

God's Joyful Surprise by Sue Monk Kidd. I have loved a few other books by this author, but this one was kinda meh for me. It is the story of how Sue goes from being totally busy with young kids and church duties to finding solitude and meditation. Basically, meditating is a good thing and we should all be doing it. Still so excited to read more of her books. 

Think like a monk by Jay Shetty. This guy is a legit celebrity at this point. And he meditates for an hour a day! He was a full-time monk for three years before pursuing his current career. The idea here is that meditating is pretty much essential, and also we should all be living to help others. I am fully into that idea, but preferred this other book that he referenced a lot that I recently read. 

The last story of Mina Lee by Nancy Jooyoun Kim. Something about this story felt rushed. The same imagery was used over and over, and the last half of the book felt like it dragged on a little. Still, I will pass it on to my mother and sister. It was decent for sure. 

Stay sexy & don't get murdered by Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark. Pretty funny. I have actually only listened to a few of their podcasts, but in print they were super likeable and funny. It's always fun to learn about people going from struggling along to having success by doing the thing they love. Although for these two ladies, their idea of struggling was having their own cooking show and writing for a sitcom. Reading stuff like this makes me feel like LA is a whole other world. 

Right now I am two pages in to this book, and I am OBSESSED. I will of course review soon.