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Kimberussell.com

a blog by Kim Russell

June 11, 2019

Show Us Your Books: June 2019

What the hell happened to May, Kim??

Don’t know. It’s funny. I was on a reading TEAR and then got into a new book and…stopped. I kept reading a half-chapter and putting it down. And then I got distracted by life and the garden and yardwork and lovely lunchtime weather and before I knew it I had stopped reading. I went back to dorking on my phone and daydreaming while on the train. I was taking walks at lunch instead of reading. I let two of my holds get returned unread. I didn’t want to read.

yikes!

And then I felt ashamed, and, Readers, I get into these crazy shame spirals where I don’t do THING because I stopped doing THING and for some reason feel unworthy of starting THING again because I will eventually fail at THING. Many verbs and nouns can be substituted for THING. Examples include: reading, blogging, walking, exercising, flossing (!), picking up dog poop daily, breakfasts, and I think you get the picture.

What gets a reader back into reading? The right book.

For my book reviews, I used the Goodreads rating system, which is:

Onto the books! I use the Goodreads rating system, which is:

  • One star: did not like it
  • Two stars: it was ok
  • Three stars: liked it
  • Four stars: really liked it
  • Five stars: it was amazing
The dam broke.

Educated — Tara Westover

Deep in my non-reading shame spiral, I deleted 2 emails from the Philadelphia Library saying I had books from my hold list ready to claim. I was 35% into the book I was PLODDING through and I was going to make myself finish that one before starting another one. And then Educated became available. I had been waiting for this one for the better part of a year and I knew if I let it go I’d be eleventy-billionth in line again. I reluctantly put the other book aside and started Educated.

I finished it in ONE AFTERNOON.

This is Tara Westover’s true life story of growing up in a very poor, very religious LDS family in Idaho. Her father was distrustful of public education, so none of the kids went to school. Her parents were distrustful of doctors, so they treated every ailment, from the sniffles to massive injuries, with herbs and oils. As the children aged, two of Tara’s older brothers left home to go to school. Eventually, Tara decided she wanted to give school a shot as well. She studied on her own for the ACT and managed to gain admission to BYU. The more she learned and the more self-actualized she became, the harder it was for her to reconcile her family’s beliefs and intentions.

This book was a hard, harrowing read. It’s chock full of domestic abuse, emotional and physical. There are multiple mental breakdowns because Tara’s journey isn’t an easy, sanitized, and Disney-princess-fied one.

Five stars. One afternoon.

Becoming — Michelle Obama

When Michelle Obama’s Becoming hit the shelves, I bought it for my mother for Christmas because I knew that the time until Christmas + the time it took Mom to read it and for me to borrow it from her would still be < the time it took for me to get this from a library.

This book I took my time with because I didn’t want it to end. I loved Michelle’s stories of her family who selflessly made sure she and her brother had whatever they needed to survive. I loved the stories of her continually pushing herself outside of her comfort zones. I loved the stories about the goofy, optimistic nerd whom she fell in love with and made a life with.

And man I miss having her and her family in the public eye.

Five stars for my fellow rule-follower and box-checker. Believe the hype.

Now isn’t this the most staged book tableau you’ve seen? A real influencer would have turned the towel around but I was too lazy.

The Little Paris Bookshop — Nina George

I bought The Little Paris Bookshop from Barnes and Noble a month ago because I liked the cover. Jean Perdu has a bookshop on a boat in Paris and claims to be a literary apothecary – he asks his customers questions and then prescribes the perfect book(s) to solve their emotional ills.

But of course, our Jean is the illest of all, for he is pining for a love who left him 30 years prior. (his name translates to John Lost in English after all.) After a moment where he allows himself to FINALLY FEEL AGAIN he unmoors his boat and goes on a journey toward healing and such. I should have hated this book with its manic pixie dream “filles” and boorish, self-absorbed men on their grief journeys. But it worked its magic on me in the end.

Three stars and life begins at 50!

Currently reading: Crazy Rich Asians — Kevin Kwan

And that’s it. Three books in one month. But it’s awfully nice to be back. 🙂

All of my book lists and reviews are on Goodreads.

This a part of the Show us Your Books linkup from Jana Says and Life According to Steph. If you want to read more bloggers gush about the books they’ve read this month, click the button below and have fun!

Life According to Steph

Other SUYB posts:

2022:
April | May

2021:
January | February | March | April | May | June | July | August | September | October
2020:
February | March | Spring/Summer | September | October | November | Year-end review
2019
January | February | March |April | June | July | August | December
2018
January | February | March | April | May | June | July | August | September | October | November | December

Posted In: Reading · Tagged: books, show us your books, suyb

Comments

  1. kristen says

    June 11, 2019 at 11:08 pm

    i totally do the same thing cycle too.
    i really liked educated. crazy, but good. and becoming. SO good! i miss her. i miss them.

  2. Dara says

    June 12, 2019 at 8:53 am

    I read Becoming this month too and liked the same things you mentioned!

  3. Kristin says

    June 12, 2019 at 9:15 am

    If you like Educated, try The Glass Castle. So similar and so good!

  4. Jess at Just Jess says

    June 12, 2019 at 9:25 am

    Educated is on my TBR list and Becoming is a book club pick this year so I will finally get around to reading it!

  5. Fonda @Savvy Southern Chic says

    June 12, 2019 at 9:39 am

    Educated is on my list!

  6. Heather says

    June 12, 2019 at 1:55 pm

    I really liked (as much as you can like?) Educated too. Becoming just became available for me today on audio from the lib so I am excited to get to it asap!!

  7. SMD says

    June 12, 2019 at 2:39 pm

    I didn’t want Becoming to end either. I miss FLOTUS. A lot. As much as you can miss someone you will never know personally. I miss her more than Barack.

  8. sarita says

    June 17, 2019 at 7:35 am

    Becoming and educated were two of my favourites this year for sure! I miss the Obamas so much LOL

  9. Alexandra Consolver says

    June 17, 2019 at 2:18 pm

    I want to read both of these, but don’t get around to non-fiction as much as I’d like! I want to try to read a bit more this summer! 🙂 Here from SUYB! XO – Alexandra

    Simply Alexandra: My Favorite Things

  10. kathy @ more coffee, less talky says

    June 26, 2019 at 8:33 am

    Educated was so good!

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Hello!

About Me

I've been blogging for over twenty (2 decades! 2-0!) years and I'm apparently one of the few over-50 female bloggers who haven't sold out to THE MAN yet; hence this blog remains quirky, homespun, and unprofitable. No big. However, if you're from Disney, Doritos, or Dave Matthews Band, I'm open to talk about selling out.

I live in Southern New Jersey with my husband WM, and our dog Murphy. I'm an adult who likes Disney but not a Disney Adult. I used to work a fun (really!) office job in Philadelphia, but since March of 2020 I'm a work from home hermit. So if you're looking for a childless, slightly round, marginally boring GenX woman's blog to follow, you've come to the right place! :)

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Kimberly's bookshelf: read

The Duke and I
liked it
The Duke and I
by Julia Quinn
Wherever You Go, There You Are: Mindfulness Meditation in Everyday Life
liked it
Wherever You Go, There You Are: Mindfulness Meditation in Everyday Life
by Jon Kabat-Zinn
Spare
really liked it
Spare
by Prince Harry
tagged: memoir, own-ebook, and nonfiction
Well-Read Black Girl: Finding Our Stories, Discovering Ourselves
really liked it
Well-Read Black Girl: Finding Our Stories, Discovering Ourselves
by Glory Edim
The Guest List
really liked it
The Guest List
by Lucy Foley

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