This is where you usually get a huge list of recommendations for the word of the week. Here’s the thing… I’ve been trying REALLY hard to do things that feel good this year, things that put me in my #happyplace more often than not. After doing the YOW book challenge for 3 months I realized it was really stressful, and hard, and not so much fun. đ It’s kind of a bummer, but then you never know how something going to go, unless, of course, you tried it.
So here’s what’s happened.
I’ve changed the Year of Words book club to the Happy Place Book Club. You are welcome to join. There is no mandatory book, word, genre, you are free to read whatever makes you happy. You’re welcome to come share the book you’re reading with the group, share your favorite lines, tell us about a book your best friend recommended… whatever feels good. Reading books is a huge percentage of my happy place, so it feels so much better to have taken the pressure off myself, and go back to just enjoying reading.
If you aren’t part of the book club yet, you can join here!
I do feel though, that I need a little “challenge” to keep me looking for new things, and finding excellent books. Last year I did a 25/25 challenge, finished it, and really enjoyed it, so that’s what I’m going to finish off the year with. 25 fiction books. 25 non fiction books. No rules other than that.
I will still be sharing book recommends on Mondays, but now the list may be smaller and they will be books that I get really excited about reading, and can’t wait to finish my current book so I can read them. That feels way better to me.
So… as much as I LOVE memoirs (I read them all the time) I couldn’t find any this week that really struck me as had.to.have.now books.
I did find a couple fictions books though: (one of which is already downloaded to my kindle, anxiously waiting for me to finish The Miracle Girl so I can start it!
A haunting and hopeful tale of discovering light in even the darkest of places.
For his whole life, the boy has lived underground, in a basement with his parents, grandmother, sister, and brother. Before he was born, his family was disfigured by a fire. His sister wears a white mask to cover her burns.
He spends his hours with his cactus, reading his book on insects, or touching the one ray of sunlight that filters in through a crack in the ceiling. Ever since his sister had a baby, everyoneâs been acting very strangely. The boy begins to wonder why they never say who the father is, about what happened before his own birth, about why theyâre shut away.
A few days ago, some fireflies arrived in the basement. His grandma said, Thereâs no creature more amazing than one that can make its own light. That light makes the boy want to escape, to know the outside world. Problem is, all the doors are locked. And he doesnât know how to get outâŚ
Doesn’t that sound good? This is the one that’s already on my kindle. It happens to be a Kindle Unlimited book, so if you’re a member it’s FREE!
I am doomed to remember a boy with a wrecked voiceânot because of his voice, or because he was the smallest person I ever knew, or even because he was the instrument of my mother’s death, but because he is the reason I believe in God; I am a Christian because of Owen Meany.
In the summer of 1953, two eleven-year-old boysâbest friendsâare playing in a Little League baseball game in Gravesend, New Hampshire. One of the boys hits a foul ball that kills the other boy’s mother. The boy who hits the ball doesn’t believe in accidents; Owen Meany believes he is God’s instrument. What happens to Owen after that 1953 foul ball is extraordinary.
Neither of these are books I feel like I’d typically read, but they both jumped out at me today. So yay, for reading books I might not normally read.
So… what are you reading today?! Do tell… share in the comments or come be part of the club.Â
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I read Body Surfing by Anita Shreve. It was a good read. I wanted to keep reading to know what happened. Well written.
Thanks for the recommend! I’ll check it out. đ