What I Read Last Week: Part 1

Week 1 of my reading challenge went really well, and not just because I got really close to my reading goal for the week despite the obstacles in my way, but also because I read a lot of books that I enjoyed. And I'm so excited to tell you all about them.

This year, I decided to get into a time machine and travel back to the late 90's and read Simple Abundance. For those of you who weren't watching a lot of Oprah in the last 90's, Simple Abundance is a book that's supposed to teach me to simplify my life and learn how to be grateful and all the new-agey-feel-good-late-90's-crap that I used to be so into in high school. Oh, high school. All the other kids were wearing jeans and t-shirts, and I was dressing like I was on my way to the office and reading self-help books and biographies about Ghandi and yelling at my friends for not recycling. Hmm, hard to believe I wasn't popular.

I bought this book while I was still in high school and then attempted to read it 8 years in a row. I would always make it to about January 12th and then quit. And then one year, I finally made it all the way through the book!!! Unfortunately, my brain is so filled with useless information like the birthdays of celebrity children and the jingles to candy bar commercials from the 80's, that I have no room left over to actually remember the books I've read. So I have no idea what the book contains or how I felt about any of it, which made me want to read the book all over again. Because I have to give myself something to not remember 12 years from now, right.

The book is meant to be read over the course of the year, with one essay being read per day. I read my entries for the week, which came to a total of 8 pages. So far I don't feel like it's transforming me into a better person, as Oprah promised, but I am pretty excited that I've made it to January 15th without quitting!  I'm also excited that I found a cuter way to photograph this book that my usual approach of throwing it on the floor and hovering over it while trying to get a picture that doesn't contain my own shadow, so double victory for me today!

Apologies that this book clashes with the background I photographed it on. But I just think my new comforter is so cute that the whole world (or the 9 people who are actually reading this blog) should see it.

Just like those Cooking Light recipes that list every single ingredient the recipe contains all in the title (Sweet Potato Soup with Cherry Tomatoes, Caramelized Onions, Bacon and Arugula), the title of this book pretty much explains what the book is about.

Extreme honesty time: I intensely disliked this book for the first 5 pages. I picked the book up, tried to read it, put it down, wasted some time on Barnes & Nobles website looking at books that I don't need because I already have 200 books in my to-read stacks, tried to read the book again, put it down, folded some laundry and wondered why I own 12 shirts that all have black-and-white stripes. And then finally, on about the third attempt, I pushed past page 5 and began to enjoy the book a little bit more. I still didn't love it at that point. There were too many references to the author's dreams, which were really bleak and involved a lot of talk about ice and animals being slaughtered. It wasn't until the last 3rd of the book where I really enjoyed it. Which is a shame because the book contains some really great advice about the writing process.

The cover, and the synopsis for this book, were both very misleading. It looks like happy book, doesn't it. It's colorful and bright and there are people on bicycles (although I can't help but feel like the woman at the top with the scarf needs to read up on the Isadora Duncan story.) The description on the back of the book says it's about a woman who feels stuck in her life until she meets an unexpected friend and goes on a 100 day journey that teaches her to be joyful. I've re-read that synopsis 3 times now to be sure, and never once does it mention that it's about a woman who lost her baby to SIDS who befriends a woman dying of a brain tumor. Don't get me wrong, it was still a good and I'm not sorry I read it. But I was looking for a happy reading experience and I like a little warning before I sign up for 400 pages of reading about death. This is definitely not the kind of book that I normally enjoy reading, and there were some cliches and somewhat unrealistic events sprinkled throughout, but what saved the book for me was that I really liked the two main characters.

Three Wishes is a true story of three women who are trying to find love because they want to start families. They go on bad dates, buy eight vials of sperm which they end up passing around like a game of hot potato, go on some good dates, have some kids, lose some kids, meet a man name Sprax. You know, the usual.

I got about 100 pages into this book when it all started to feel very familiar. This resulted in me being a little distracted for about 40 pages because I was debating back-and-forth whether I've read this book before or I've just read a book that was really similar. Right around page 141, I realized that I bought this book once. Read it. Got rid of it. And then turned back around and bought it again last year. (See the aforementioned inability to retain information about the books I've read.) I'm beginning to think that Goodreads was invented by someone like me, who was sick of buying the same book two or three times in a row and they just had to put a stop to the madness. (I am hopeful that with the help of technology, I'll never again have to experience sorting through my to-read stacks and finding out that I have 42 books that I bought, forgot I had, and then bought again. Fingers crossed!)

I enjoyed this book, but be forewarned dear readers, it's an emotional roller coaster. I would not recommend reading it if you're pregnant. Spoiler alert: bad things happen to pregnant women (and not the fluffy entertaining kind of bad things like when Sami Brady found out the twins she was expecting had two different fathers.)

I'm glad I read this book, but I don't think it's one I would read again. Correction: it's not a book I plan to read again, but given my book buying track record, I will probably buy it and read it at least 3 more times before I die.

To be continued tomorrow. . .