As I have gotten older, I realize that one area I did not know much about what keeping a house. I sought to remedy that and bought numerous books on the topic. In reality though, I found them to be too large and daunting. Some of them I have not read and still sit on my shelf today. I may at some point remedy that but for now they sit there reminding me of what I thought I needed to know. What I am sharing with you today are smaller books on the topic that helped shape the way I think about cleaning, organizing and running a "house" (in my case it is actually apartment, but the basic principles remain).
Organized Simplicity by Tsh Oxenrider
This book is a good one for theories of thinking about your house in a minimalist way. Also I found it helpful for decluttering and deep cleaning in a way that makes your house feel organized and clean and gives you a fresh start. I also appreciated her ideas on green cleaners.
The Pie Life by Samantha Ettus
This book is more of a mindset book. I found it interesting, but to be honest I did not find it was the book for me, but it may be the book for you. The author addressing ways of trying to "do it all" and not lose your mind in the process. I am more of a less is more gal myself but if you really do want to try to do it all this book may give you strategies to help.
Simple Matters by Erin Boyle
I found this book to be wonderful. I love her ode to minimalism and her advice for ways to do it practically. I appreciated her ideas to start where you are and make small steps. She also addresses cleaning and acquiring possessions in a way that they will have staying power and will last the long haul.
Bloom by Éstee Lalonde
This book is more a way to think about how to think about decorating your home. I found it a book that encourages you to be yourself and to find your own way. She shows you how she found her path as an example to help you find your own.
Notes on a Blue Bike by Tsh Oxenrider
This book is a memoir book, where the author expounds on her ideas for how to live a life that is more intentional. She discusses her thoughts around changing her life in ways that are meaningful. I found it to be a wonderful read and I enjoyed her thoughts on meal planning and making small steps in the right direction (which is whatever direction you decide matters to you).
The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondō
This was the first book I read that made me want to take action and have less. I found this to be a useful book to a degree. After the fact I did not follow it completely and I take some of it with a grain of salt, but I did find it to be a helpful starting point. Once we had less stuff we were able to continue decluttering on our own, this just set us down the path.
I have realized that this is a topic I really enjoy reading about, if you have any suggestions to add to this list please let me know below.
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This month I had a bit better luck than last month. I found two books I thoroughly enjoyed.
Option B by Sheryl Sandberg and Adam Grant
This book was right up my alley and had been on my to be read list for a bit. I decided to listen to it on audio and honestly I appreciated the content. This book deals with grief and coping with loss and finding resilience after tragedy, but I love how it was written with practical information and narrative stories. I also found it to be hopeful. This book is not for everyone, but I really am fascinated by books about grief as you know.
Book Rating: 5/5 The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert
I honestly did not anticipate enjoying this book. This book is a fairytale adjacent book, which seems to be a theme I am encountering quite a lot in my reading lately. I will at some point do a roundup of all of the ones I have read to be together in one specific spot. This book describes the story of Alice as she is set upon an adventure which forces her to learn about her past and her grandmother who is the author of a slightly dark book of fairytales. This book would be described as a fantasy novel, and I thought it would be scary, but found it instead to be completely enjoyable. I listened to this on audio and it was narrated by the same voice actor who narrated The Lunar Chronicles. I really enjoyed her voice and that made this experience enjoyable as well.
Book Rating: 4/5 What have you been reading recently? Anything you want to share or think I would like please let me know down below.
Something I have started to learn is that I like old people. I often feel like an old person, I like to eat dinner at 5:00 and go to bed early, and get up early. I like restaurants where the customer base feels established. I enjoy people with more experience than me. I find this to be the case because I feel less judged, more accepted and I love to listen to stories that are different from my own. I have come to realize I also like this in my literature. The following books have an old man as the protagonist, some of them explore coming to terms with the past, finding a space in the future, some are just intriguing stories.
A Man Called Ove- An old man copes with finding a space in the future as a person without a job and who has experienced loss.
At Home in Mitford- An old man, who is a priest, copes with aging, and also finding balance between helping others and helping himself. This is a series and so far I have read the first three that all have the same protagonist.
The Hundred Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out The Window and Disappeared- An old man runs away from a nursing home, and finds unlikely companions as he recounts his incredible life.
The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry- An old man goes on a walk across England and finds a way to come to terms with the past and make peace for the future.
Major Pettigrew's Last Stand- An old man copes with loss of his brother and a changing world. He tries to find his place in an unfamiliar world and struggles with doing the right thing and how that might be viewed by society.
Have you noticed this pattern? Do you have any other suggestions of things that I have missed in this category? The only other one I have heard of but haven't read yet is The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry. Any other suggestions would be welcome.
Each time I sit down to reflect upon what I have read, I think I have not read much, but I am always surprised to have read more than I thought. Today I am sharing one book I read recently and absolutely loved.
I have been meaning to read a book by Michael Pollan for a while. I have seen him speak and heard of him for years. The first time I heard his name was from my college roommate who was reading The Omnivore's Dilemma, then from my father who went to see him speak, then my husband read The Botany of Desire and I even watched a documentary with him speaking. I really appreciate his messages in regards to food. I knew that I wanted to read his books, but never picked them up. While I was reading Sapiens, I considered watching the series Cooked on Netflix based on Michael Pollan's book. I felt though I wanted to read him first, so I found the oldest book he wrote that my library had and that happened to be The Botany of Desire.
I wasn't exactly sure what to expect when I first picked up this book. This book is a personal exploration of four plants and how their history was a result of human influence. He discusses the apple, the tulip, marijuana, and the potato. If you had asked me when I started reading it if I would want to read about marijuana, I would have told you no, absolutely not. I realize though this is a prejudice I have, also after watching Michael Moore's film Where to Invade Next, I realize the dramatic and unjust role of criminalizing has had on our population as a whole, especially targeting black people in a way that is now legal. Every other chapter though made me want to plant all the things, I am not a gardener, I can barely keep my basil alive. I do not yet have a yard, but I have plans and I am excited for their possibility and where they may lead. Pollan writes in an approachable way, he is clearly biased and it comes through, but I appreciate his sheer joy and how well researched his book is. I would highly recommend this book and look forward to reading more of his works.
This is one of the first months since I have started writing about what I have read recently where I realized that I have not a single book to share. Instead of sharing a book I have loved this month I am on the lookout for recommendations. I am open to a variety of genres and styles, but prefer lighter books, with the exception of memoirs then I do not might sad or hard. Please share below any recommendations and I will try them out!
In the past few years, I have read quite a few self-help and related books. When I sat down to count, in the past 6 years I have read more than 60 books that connect to the topic of self help. I didn’t think it would be that many, a majority were read in the past three years. I was surprised by the number of these books I have actually read. I do not consider myself an expert but if you are looking for some new books and/or are on a journey to better/improve yourself I do have some thoughts. When I start to mentally take into account the types of self help books I have read they fall into a few categories (with some overlap) perspective shifting, research-based psychology books, memoir, and spiritual based books. I can share with you what I have read and what has helped me, but if I am going to be honest books are not the thing that has helped the most. What has most shifted my perspective is reflecting upon my life. I have been more open to the thoughts of others and willing to see a new point of view. By doing that more than anything else I have changed my life because I have become more aware. It is easy to think that books are the answer. I do enjoy reading them, but I have come to learn that a book will not fix anything on its own. The following are the ones I would recommend, but with the caveat that they are books and unless you choose to change and try new ways of doing things, reading a book will change nothing. Also I think we often turn to books to be the one answer, not considering if they are right for us or reflect how we see the world.
Perspective Shifting
Occasionally as I am reading a set of books I notice a theme that wasn’t intentional but is interesting nonetheless.
One theme has been books that connect to the idea of war in some way.
I started with the memoir An American Family, which is the tale of a father whose son enters the military and spoiler alert-he dies when he is in active duty. This book helped to give me a new respect for people in the military and their families. The way the father tells the story is heartbreaking and really gives you a greater picture of how death affects all involved. On audio this book is especially moving because it is read by the author.
Then I moved onto The Song of Achilles. This is a modern retelling of The Iliad from the point of view of Patroclus. The perspective that this book gave me was to question why we value some lives over others and is it really just to assume that the lives we care about actually matter more.
Meanwhile I was reading the entirety of the Red Rising series which is a dystopian series that takes place in space. The first book in the series feels like The Hunger Games meets Ender’s Game with a touch of Game of Thrones, so clearly all the games. The series deals with war and how it affects all involved. It considers how people change and what is the true cost of war. Like most dystopian novels I always wonder if what they are destroying is being replaced with anything better.
Next I started on a classics binge. I started with The Iliad because I felt The Song Of Achilles had given me context. The Iliad made me consider how we interpret honor and what is truly worth dying for. Many of the characters in The Iliad want an honorable death, meaning they die in combat. The other consideration it brought up for me was the idea of what is the point, why are we all killing people someone else loves and is it worth it. Taken in historical context their need for honor and glory make sense as a way to gain fame. By dying in battle they will be remembered for years to come as they certainly are in The Iliad.
From there I moved onto The Odyssey. The Odyssey discusses Odysseus’ journey home after the Trojan war. I found this an interesting juxtaposition to An American Family because this book seemed to address how war affects families and people who are not there. This book also reconsiders the idea of an honorable death and speaks more to the idea of life no matter how insignificant.
Then to round out the bunch, I started reading The Aeneid, which feels quite similar to The Odyssey but involves fighting more wars post the Trojan war as a way to follow fate and settle in a new area. In this book war is a necessary evil, but also it is shown to be desired by the young men and that the older men are more hesitant and wary. Any incidental themes in your reading? I started drafting a post on my favorite self help books. In the past year or two I have read numerous books on how we can change ourselves. I have made some drastic changes and for me in times of change I hunker down and find my resources. I read and explore and fill myself with information until I am ready to be a part of the world again. I say this dramatically, I am not a recluse nor do I avoid social interactions, but the focus of my days is drawing in and reassessing. In the past, this has been a time of excessive planning and creating expectations. This time was different because I am not seeking a new expectation or a new idea to change my world. I have realized that one idea cannot do that. If I want lasting change it takes time, subtle work and study into how my brain is responding and attempts to shift my way of thinking.
For me gathering information is a huge part of this process. I read quite a bit. I listen to audiobooks in the car and I almost always have a book with me. I know though it doesn’t matter as much what I am reading as it matters how I am reading it. If I am all in and searching for meaning I find many books even not specifically labeled as such. I think about books for that ‘help’ for a while afterwards they inform my worldview and help me think differently. When I live my life, I become more aware and curious. I love information I enjoy gathering resources and learning about the world. I absorb much of what I read and it informs my worldview and my opinions. This can come in the form of books or TED talks or even television. I know that I am highly influenceable and so I am cautious in what I consume. I avoid materials that are labeled and ‘horror’ or things that are too much, but aside from that I will read about almost any nonfiction topic. All of this informs my worldview and allows me to change it, to shift, to be more understanding and patient. My husband is the one who when I was writing a post on self help books (that I haven’t published yet) said that for me every book is a self help book. Each book shifts my view and makes me see the world through a different lens as a way to consider how we affect each other and how I can be a better neighbor.
Every month I like to share things I have been reading recently that I enjoy.
In the past month I read two books that I enjoyed.
I listened to The Book Thief on audio. A friend of mine recommended it to me years ago, and I finally got around to picking it up. This book is a story of a girl during World War II and I found this to be more of a novel take. The book is narrated by death, which just makes for an interesting writing style. I really loved this and the characters became people who I genuinely cared about. Book Rating: 4/5
Last month I read the first book in the series of the Lunar Chronicles. The first book is called Cinder. This book continues the series of what I would describe as dystopian, futuristic fairytales. I love how the author adapted them enough that I was unable to predict what was going to happen and wove new characters into an existing story. I also found she did a nice job of providing a bit of closure at the end, which seems to be a challenge for many authors. Book Rating: 4/5
What have you been reading this month? Any recommendations would be much appreciated! Please leave them below.
The past month I have read a number of unremarkable books. I have read two though that I thoroughly enjoyed.
The first book was one that had been on my list for quite a while. The book, Cinder, is a modern retelling of Cinderella with a dystopian element. I found the book to be different enough to still keep my interest and I just grew to love the characters. I could not put this book down and I enjoyed it and look forward to reading the sequel. I did listen to this on audio and really appreciated that part of it. Book Rating: 5/5
The second book was also one I listened to on audio. The book, Talking as Fast as I Can, is a memoir by Lauren Graham. I was a huge fan of Gilmore Girls growing up and I thoroughly enjoyed this book. This book is read by the author, which makes it wonderful. I found that surprisingly Graham seemed like someone I would actually want to know in real life. I appreciated her point of view and her strengths. I also found her writing to be a good mix of funny and real emotions and I loved reading it. Book Rating: 4/5
I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed each book. Both had been on my to be read list for a while and I was glad I took the time to read them. What books are you reading lately? Any suggestions?
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About MeI'm Sarah; a wife, traveler, foodie, and adventurer. Archives
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