Show Us Your Books – October 2020

I miss commuting to my job in the city for many reasons, but one of them is the enforced reading time. My commute consisted of a 26 minute train ride, and a 15 minute shuttle ride in the morning, and the the 26 minute train ride in the afternoon. Plus the time spent waiting for said trains and shuttle. That’s a good hour and twenty minutes of time per day where all I could do was read. Now I work from home, meaning I sleep in, work past my quit time, then immediately get up and go to the kitchen to figure out dinner. That missing time really shows in these monthly reviews of what I’ve read.

I also had a large work project this month and put in some night and weekend hours, which ate into reading time even more. In September I only read two books.

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

Untamed — Glennon Doyle
I’m not a mom, so Glennon’s folksy doing-my-messy-mom-best persona wasn’t something I sought out in the past. I think that benefited me greatly coming into Untamed because I didn’t have to deal with the baggage of loving her book about putting her marriage back together and reading in Untamed about how it was a good deal of fiction writing. (She was Rachel Hollis before Rachel Hollis, if you know what I mean.)

It’s part essay, part memoir and the crux of it is that women are taught to be small and be nice (aka tamed) from early on and sometimes you just gotta say your piece, go for what makes you happy, and live. Within the first few chapters she says her kindergartener would have been called a shaman in other cultures because she felt so strongly and viscerally about dying polar bears. I breathed through that Momestary moment and I’m glad I did.

I’ve held my tongue so hard I tasted blood, trying to be gentle. I’ve spent thousands on potions and poisons, trying to be youthful. I have denied myself for decades, trying to be pure.

Untamed, Glennon Doyle

I have read many self-help books over the years starting with my SARK phase in the 90s, and what I’ve learned is that you don’t have to to take every nugget of wisdom in a book to heart. If it works for you, take it. If not, leave it. Glennon’s stories and insights work for me better than the “girlbossbabe” genre of these books.

I will share the parts that made me cackle though: Glennon is married to Abby Wambach, pro soccer player. Glennon ADORES Abby and Abby is her universe and her reason for being. Their love is beautiful and pure and the energy crackles between them. But holy moly their dialogue is like:

Glennon: (hearts, flowers, feelings, life force, woo, spirituality, and many many words)
Abby: ok babe

Three stars, which means I liked it. The order of the essays was disjointed, and I never quite understood how the individual essays related to the chapter titles.

Witches Abroad — Terry Pratchett
This is the twelfth book in the Discworld series. I ‘ve been enjoying them so much that instead of binging them, I’m spacing them out so I don’t burn out on the series. I read book #1 in 2016. Funnily enough, I only rated it 2 stars. Nevertheless, she persisted.

After Magrat Garlick is bequeathed a fairy godmother wand, she and her 2 witchy associates, Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg head to Genua to stop a fairytale from happening. As with the rest, this book was rollicking fun. Pratchett was a genius.

Four stars and I feel that if you just pick the Witches books out of the series, you’d have a blast.

Magrat plunged on with the brave desperation of someone dancing in the light of their burning bridges.

witches Abroad, Terry Pratchett

Currently Reading: The Bookish Life of Nina Hill by Abbi Waxman.

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!

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

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