Spring has sprung and so have my thoughts on these wonderful books! One after another, my March reads knocked it outta the park. A little romance, a little thriller, a spiritual read my soul needed, a way-outside-the-box rock & roll treat. This month, I also paid extra-close attention to my reading habits, as time with three babes ticks on. When and how do I find time to read five books in a month?! As long as you beautiful friends continue to ask me this, I will keep on answering! My girls all got SO sick this month, so we were housebound a ton. I mostly read while they slept—two books in one week! But also, in case it’s helpful…
Two of these were audiobooks, which really makes all the difference! I say this all the time, but I have plenty of mindless chunks in my day where I can listen to a book chapter or two, as I would to a podcast episode. Driving, folding laundry, cleaning up while the girls play. Embracing Audible has drastically upped my reading volume, or at the very least, maintained it in this blur of young babes. Reading brings me great joy, and so I continue to fight for it, because joy gives us actual strength!
Secondly, once upon a time, I was a strict one-book-at-a-time kind of gal. Not anymore, you guys!!! I am almost always reading two books. Typically, one fiction, one nonfiction. I often read nonfiction books over a few-month period, taking them in pretty slowly, hopping in and out to soak in new information when I’m in the mood. For example, I started Big Magic in January, for instance, and finally finished this month. I can easily read nonfiction and novels simultaneously without my brain crossing content or getting confused. Especially if the books are in different media form—i.e., nonfiction hardback and a fiction audiobook. Two novels, though, no matter what—especially two with any similarities in setting, plot or time period whatsoever? Nope, no can do. Reading more than one book at a time is certainly not for everyone. But I’ve found, personally, that it broadens the diversity of my reading, enhances my experience with the material, and overall increases the number of books I can get to!
As a side note, I bought my first Mary Oliver book last month, Devotions, and it is breathtaking. I will be taking my time with these poems through the end of the year.
Anyway! I’m not saying at all that anyone needs to read more or better or differently than you already do! I just get asked all the time how I possibly read so much, and I’m always so happy to share!
Now, without further delay, here you are, friends! Marching right into these recommendations! Would love to know if you’ve read any of them!
Momentary “Summer” Addiction
Pack this one NOW for your spring break and summertime getaways! Oh my gosh, I adored this novel. Summer Wives is everything I love about fiction—murder, mystery, drama, intrigue, romance, all in the most vibrant historical (but not boring-stuffy-historical) setting! In 1969, Miranda Schuyler returns to Winthrop Island, a New England summer vacation spot for the wealthy and fabulous, after decades away making a name for herself as a world-famous actress. Her family and their former manor remain merely a whisper of their former splendor. Why did she leave? Why is she back? The page-turning, time-hopping plot explores the interplay of passion and secrecy, race and affluence, in this breezy magnetic resort town of the 1950s/60s. You have the rich families who summer there—and the year-round working-class Portuguese families who labor to keep it running. I couldn’t get enough of the splashy glamour, complex relationships, and magnetic characters. I highly recommend this one and give it five stars! (Contains some sexy scenes.) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Momentary Behind-the-Music Special
Filed under: Super-praised, everywhere, so-hot-right-now books that I couldn’t not read! I saw so much buzz about Daisy Jones and the Six for months, and officially purchased on Audible when I saw it was Reese Witherspoon’s book club selection for March. Even so, I wasn’t sure I would love this tale of a fictional throwback rock band. Rock & roll isn’t my typical JAM, if you know what I mean! What’s with the hype? Should I, like, already know more about Fleetwood Mac and the music scene in the 1970s because everybody is comparing this book to that! *Wikipedias Stevie Nicks. Nix? Nicks.* My knowledge of historical rock remains minimal at best, guys, but you know what? I still adored this book! Now, it is chock full of drugs, sex, and rock & roll, obvs, so please beware, sensitive readers. Taylor Jenkins Reid creates a world so real you can feel it, hear it, breathe it. The format is also unusual and took me a minute to jive with—but then I couldn’t stop listening! The story unfolds in interview format with the whole cast of characters, giving the vibe of a magazine interview or Behind-the-Music TV special. While I may not reach for rock on the reg, I do reach for deeply human stories that can teach me something new about love, genius, ambition, addiction, heartbreak, family and, sometimes, music. This book is so beautifully done and the ending left me in tears. For me, it echoed last year’s incredible Bohemian Rhapsody movie with glints of A Star is Born (yep, I said it). I loved this one! Four stars (one star knocked because parts were pretty dark and gritty, even for me)! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Momentary Creative Inspiration
How do I sum up the big magic contained in this treasure?! I know this sounds woo-woo, but this book found me at precisely the right moment in time. I chose Courage as my word for 2019. In addition to seeking authors to inspire me in this area, I also resolved this year to read more of the books I already have. See: Hundreds/Stacks/Big Personal Problem! While cleaning out a cupboard over my girls’ winter break, deep in the back, I found this one. I cracked it open immediately, surprised I hadn’t gotten to it before. And then the first section beamed back at me: Courage.And soon this sentence: “Do you have the courage? Do you have the courage to bring forth this work? The treasures that are hidden inside you are hoping you will say yes.”
With this abundantly generous, lovingly detailed, impeccable manifesto for creative living, Elizabeth Gilbert offers the most encouraging, motivating, moving essays of wisdom you could imagine. It almost feels like you’re reading the actual recipe for her secret sauce, because, well, you are! But she believes so wholly in the abundance of creation and art, that she spills it all with a joy, effervescence and kindness you can palpably feel. I’m so thankful for this book. It is an absolute must for anyone out there with writing dreams. But also for any artist, entrepreneur, or human being seeking some inspiration. It is so freeing and infinite! There’s no creative doubt, fear, limitation, hindrance, or assumption I face on the regular that LG does not address with the insight of a sage and clarity of a bell. I read chunks of it daily over several months because I wanted to savor it. I loved the structure, short flowing essays divided into 6 sections, her essential ingredients for creative living: Courage, Enchantment, Permission, Persistence, Trust, and Divinity. Five stars! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Momentary Spiritual Read
This book was a breath of fresh, clean air in my lungs and my soul. With each chapter, the author and liturgical priest walks slowly and poetically through a new part of an average day, exploring the seemingly mundane tasks that make up a life—the things that make us human, humble and raw. Brushing Teeth. Losing Keys. Fighting with My Husband. All chances for us to break open, to worship, to heal, to bring honor and glory to Christ. In an era where so many voices keep shouting hustle-hustle-hustle, go-go-go,this book gave me permission to breathe. To feel solid, good, faithful, sacred and whole, right here in the middle of my messiest mom days! Where I am called for such a time as this. I loved this book and feel that my heart is better for reading it. It was just the spiritual book I was craving. There were just a few slightly slow portions, but other than that, it was pretty much perfect to me. I read a chapter a day as my morning quiet time until I was finished. “In our workaholic, image-barraged overcaffeinated, image-addicted, and super-charged culture, submission to our creatureliness is a necessary and often overlooked part of discipleship.” Four-and-a-half stars! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
Momentary Scary-Dark Thriller
Calling my fellow thriller babes with a penchant for shady plots and criminal minds! Holy. Rest. Stop. I couldn’t put this one down! I devoured it in a handful of days while my sweet girls were down with the flu. CU Boulder art student Darby Thorne is racing home for Christmas to see her suddenly dying mother, when a snow blizzard forces her into shelter at the nearest rest area off the blinding-white-covered highway. Shelter.Ha! I mean, what on earth could be creepier than an overnight date with horror at one of these orange-glowing roadside visitor centers?! You know the ones! You can practically picture the cast of the characters and smell the cold stale coffee! If you read a lot of thrillers, you know that often, by about halfway through, you can start calling the plot lines or at least throwing down some sound guesses. Not this one! The story kept me guessing until the last sentence. I was totally riveted, practically shouting. Darcy is one tiny ball of fire and force to be reckoned with. This book is haunting and glorious. I mean, glorious if you’re into disturbia, which I very much am. One of my favorite thrillers in a while! Five Stars! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
What should I read next?!