BOOKS IN OCTOBER/SEPTEMBER 2017

You can tell that the school year has started because I only read six books over the past two months  (ha!). In the summer months, I find that I read so much!  The stress that overtakes a teacher during the school  year is a real thing, friends. And sometimes, to be honest, the last thing I want to do is open a book and think. However, with that being said, weirdly, on other days, I find that's all I want to do. Unfortunately, those first few months of a Teacher's school year, it is the former, rather than the latter. 

Outliers: The Story of Success // Malcolm Gladwell 

Genre: Nonfiction/Self Help 
Rating: 4/5 stars (see more on GoodReads)

Summary: He asks the question: what makes high-achievers different? His answer is that we pay too much attention to what successful people are like, and too little attention to where they are from: that is, their culture, their family, their generation, and the idiosyncratic experiences of their upbringing. 

My thoughts:  A great novel. I only gave it 4 (not 5) because it wasn't "life changing" for me. With that being said, it was a phenomenal novel with very interesting thoughts about the benefits of being an "outlier". A great, interesting, easy self-help read

Favorite Quote from the book: “Those three things - autonomy, complexity, and a connection between effort and reward - are, most people will agree, the three qualities that work has to have if it is to be satisfying.” 

The Lies We Tell Ourselves // Robin Talley
Genre: Historical Fiction  
Rating: 3/5 stars (see more on GoodReads)

Summary: In 1959 Virginia, the lives of two girls on opposite sides of the battle for civil rights will be changed forever. Sarah Dunbar is one of the first black students to attend the previously all-white Jefferson High School. An honors student at her old school, she is put into remedial classes, spit on and tormented daily. Linda Hairston is the daughter of one of the town's most vocal opponents of school integration. She has been taught all her life that the races should be kept separate but equal.
Forced to work together on a school project, Sarah and Linda must confront harsh truths about race, power and how they really feel about one another.

My thoughts:  ** spoiler alert ** Ugh, I don't know where to start with this book. 
The first half was so enticing and interesting. I couldn't seem to put it down. It tore at my heart strings of what these young people had to go through in the process of integration in 1959. With that being said, the second half was kind of frustrating to me because I felt like the author was too focused on a political agenda (that didn't to do with race, which is what I thought the book was about?) I don't mind a political agenda if I pick up the book knowing that, but I assumed this was more historical fiction with issues on race rather than her coming out as a lesbian. Anywho, it was a good read, but the story went a totally different direction than I thought. Wasn't an amazingly well written novel, either

Favorite Quote from the book: “We punish ourselves so much in our own imaginations. We convince ourselves everything we do, everything we think, is wrong.For eighteen years I've believed what other people told me about what was right and what was wrong. From now on, I'm deciding.”

The Magnolia Story // Chip & Joanna Gaines 

Genre: Nonfiction/Biography 

Rating: 4/5 stars (see more on GoodReads)

Summary: The Magnolia Story is the first book from Chip and Joanna, offering their fans a detailed look at their life together. From the very first renovation project they ever tackled together, to the project that nearly cost them everything; from the childhood memories that shaped them, to the twists and turns that led them to the life they share on the farm today.

My thoughts:  I mean, who doesn't love Chip and Joanna? Not only am I obsessed with this show and it's my dream to have land and Jo decorate my classic/vintage/farmhouse style home, I thought this novel was good! It definitely wasn't life changing or the most amazing writing I've read, but it made for a quick, interesting, intriguing, fun read. 

Favorite Quote from the book: “Don’t quit, and don’t give up. The reward is just around the corner. And in times of doubt or times of joy, listen for that still, small voice. Know that God has been there from the beginning—and he will be there until . . . The End.” 

Kill the Boy Band // Goldy Moldavksy 

Genre: Fiction (Humor) 

Rating: 3/5 stars (see more on GoodReads)

Summary: We were not planning to kidnap one of them. Especially not the most useless one. But we had him—his room key, his cell phone, and his secrets. We were not planning on what happened next.We swear.

My thoughts:  Hilarious, funny, ridiculous, edgy, and keeps you interested. This novel is not the best written or must amazing book ever written, but it was entertaining and keeps you interested. A quick, easy read--a great audiobook. (Note: lots of F words, if that bothers you!).

Favorite Quote from the book: “Because the truth is, it isn't worth loving something if you aren't going to love it all the way.” 

The Gifts of Imperfection // Brene Brown 

Genre: Nonfiction/Self Help 

Rating: 5/5 stars (see more on GoodReads)

Summary: In her ten guideposts, Brown engages our minds, hearts, and spirits as she explores how we can cultivate the courage, compassion, and connection to wake up in the morning and think, No matter what gets done and how much is left undone, I am enough, and to go to bed at night thinking, Yes, I am sometimes afraid, but I am also brave. 

My thoughts:  I just finished reading this for the third time (listened to it once and read it once) and every time this book teaches me more about the strength in my imperfections. Seriously such a fantastic self-help book; one that really "speaks" to me. This is, truly, one of my all time favorite books that I havee ever read. I am such a perfectionist and this helped me in so many different ways in my life. 

Favorite Quote from the book: (Oh man, how do I just choose one?!). “Authenticity is a collection of choices that we have to make every day. It's about the choice to show up and be real. The choice to be honest. The choice to let our true selves be seen.” 

We Should All Be Feminists //  Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Genre: Nonfiction

Rating: 4/5 stars (see more on GoodReads)

Summary: With humor and levity, here Adichie offers readers a unique definition of feminism for the twenty-first century—one rooted in inclusion and awareness. She shines a light not only on blatant discrimination, but also the more insidious, institutional behaviors that marginalize women around the world, in order to help readers of all walks of life better understand the often masked realities of sexual politics. 

My thoughts:  Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. I love that it talks about feminism in a positive light--that feminism does not mean man-hating or angry, lonely, of masculine women. True feminism is rooting for women to succeed and to see them in positions of power. Great points about raising soft men and the expectations we place on boys and girls, men and women.

Favorite Quote from the book: (Can't just choose one! Ah!). “We teach girls to shrink themselves, to make themselves smaller. We say to girls, you can have ambition, but not too much. You should aim to be successful, but not too successful. Otherwise, you would threaten the man. Because I am female, I am expected to aspire to marriage. I am expected to make my life choices always keeping in mind that marriage is the most important. Now marriage can be a source of joy and love and mutual support but why do we teach girls to aspire to marriage and we don’t teach boys the same? We raise girls to see each other as competitors not for jobs or accomplishments, which I think can be a good thing, but for the attention of men. We teach girls that they cannot be sexual beings in the way that boys are.” 

July/August Reads 
May/June 2017 Reads
March/April 2017 Reads
January/February 2017 Reads

What were some of your most recent reads that you want to share with me?
Have you read any of these novels? 

Go Set a Watchman // Sierra's Book Reviews

I took this at a bookstore because all of the books on the shelves...YES PLEASE. Bookstores make my OCD heart happy. 

To Kill a Mockingbird is my favorite novel of all time. Because of my intense love for this book and all that encompasses it: the characters, the writing, and the story, I was a little apprehensive to read Go Set a Watchman. Despite what many people say, this story is not a sequel to TKAM. It involves some of the same characters: Scout, Atticus, and set in good ol' Maycomb County, but that seems to be it. Scout, who only goes by Jean Louise, in this novel. It is set twenty years later, after Jean Louise has lived in New York City. She returns back to Maycomb to find out that her father and the life that she once imagined, was not as much as a daydream as she had remembered. She struggles with her illusions of her father from the past and dealing with, in a way, "forgiving" her father for his imperfections.

A lot of people had many negative things to say about this novel. Yes, it cannot, by any means, be compared to TKAM (can anything, really?), but I was pleasantly surprised while reading this. This might have been because I was so nervous and negative to begin it and was surprisingly inspired by the lessons and quotes that took place.

The controversy surrounding this story is one that causes anyone to stop and think. Atticus and Jean Louise debate, perhaps, even fight, over the issue of race in many discussions. One of my favorite parts of the novel was at the very end when Jean Louise comes to terms with the imperfections of her father, and realizes that he, in fact, was not the perfect person that she had imagined.

My favorite part about the story was Jean Louise's narrative voice and the struggles that she goes through. It is one, I think that we can all relate to, especially at this current time. We can relate to the issues of race in our days, and we can relate to the struggle of one day, realizing that your parents are not perfect. My least favorite part of the story was the lack of plot. I do feel like this novel had immense potential, but it was lacking in the story development throughout. The voice and moral were present and quite strong, but the plot was lacking.

But, let's also revisit the fact that I am obsessed with the names of these characters: Atticus, Jean Louise, Scout and Harper. I have my future children's names. No, but seriously. Ha!

Overall, I give this novel 4/5 stars. 

Favorite quotes from the novel:

+A man can condemn his enemies, but it’s wiser to know them. 

+She was almost in love with him. No, that’s impossible, she thought: either you are or you aren’t. Love’s the only thing in this world that is unequivocal. There are different kinds of love, certainly, but it’s a you-do or you-don’t proposition with them all.

+If you did not want much, there was plenty.

+The only thing I’m afraid of about this country is that its government will someday become so monstrous that the smallest person in it will be trampled underfoot, and then it wouldn’t be worth living in.

+As you grew up, when you were grown, totally unknown to yourself, you confused your father with God. You never saw him as a man with a man’s heart, and a man’s failings—I’ll grant you it may have been hard to see, he makes so few mistakes, but he makes ’em like all of us.

+I was taught never to take advantage of anybody who was less fortunate than myself, whether he be less fortunate in brains, wealth, or social position; it meant anybody...

+She was born color blind.

+Jefferson believed full citizenship was a privilege to be earned by each man, that it was not something given lightly nor to be taken lightly. A man couldn’t vote simply because he was a man, in Jefferson’s eyes. He had to be a responsible man. A vote was, to Jefferson, a precious privilege a man attained for himself in a—a live-and-let-live economy.

+I guess when you're hurt your first instinct's to hurt back.

+Integrity, humor, and patience were the three words for Atticus Finch. There was also a phrase for him: pick at random any citizen from Maycomb County and its environs, ask him what he thought of Atticus Finch, and the answer would most likely be, “I never had a better friend.” Atticus Finch’s secret of living was so simple it was deeply complex: where most men had codes and tried to live up to them, Atticus lived his to the letter with no fuss, no fanfare, and no soul-searching. His private character was his public character. His code was simple New Testament ethic, its rewards were the respect and devotion of all who knew him. Even his enemies loved him, because Atticus never acknowledged that they were his enemies. He was never a rich man, but he was the richest man his children ever knew.

+She was easy to look at and easy to be with most of the time, but she was in no sense of the word an easy person. She was afflicted with a restlessness of spirit he could not guess at. 



See more thoughts on my GoodReads.

Other Book Reviews: These Is My Words//  Intuitive Eating //Happier at Home // Happiness Project // Wild // Elizabeth Smart: My Story // 

Have you read this book?
What did you think about it?