1- The Christmas Boutique by Jennifer Chiaverini 1/1
I thought this would be my last read of 2020 but ended up being my first book of 2021. It's been ages since I read an Elm Creek Quilts book and it felt like visiting old friends. <3
2- An Extra Mile: A Story of Embracing God's Call by Sharon Garlough Brown 1/15
This is the fourth and final installment in the Sensible Shoes series. I picked it up because I was struggling through a couple harder books, and along with the current state of everything, felt I needed to read something more inspirational and uplifting.
If you have not read this series, I highly recommend. They are fiction but also inspire the reader in their own spiritual walk and prayer life. I know its January, but this will probably be one of my top of the year- these books and stories and thoughts stay with me. And make me think about my own spiritual/prayer life.
3- We Met in December by Rosie Curtis 1/18
I probably put this one on hold sometime in December of so- thinking it would be a fun, holiday-ish read. Naturally it didn't come through until January but I still felt compelled to read it before my loan ran out. It is told from the alternating perspectives of Jess and Alex- two housemates who become friends but both long for something deeper in their relationship, unbeknownst to the other of course. The story actually takes place over the course of the following year.
And then I hang up, because she’s got to get going to her chair yoga class, and I hug my knees and I smile to myself, because somehow, at twenty-nine and seventy-nine, the two of us are doing okay in our new lives.
But I think about Nanna Beth, and how she told me to remember I only have one life and that I should leave it with as few regrets as possible.
4- Becoming by Michelle Obama 1/19
I have never much been a fan of The Obamas. So this book wasn't really on my list despite seeing it recommended over and over in my feeds.
However, in the midst of the election turmoil and also my Presidents Project, I felt drawn to it. I choose the audio version because it was read my Michelle Obama herself. At first her reading style annoyed me but I eventually got used to it. This book is also quite long and it took me three library loans and a trip to Houghton and back to finally get it done.
That said- I very much enjoyed this look into the former First Lady's life. It made me see her and President Obama as people, real life people, who were just trying to do their best. It's pretty amazing how a poor black girl from the south side of Chicago grew up to be the First Lady of the United States.
It made me want to pay more attention, and see the world with a more open heart and mind.
“For me, becoming isn’t about arriving somewhere or achieving a certain aim. I see it instead as forward motion, a means of evolving, a way to reach continuously toward a better self. The journey doesn’t end.” --this is my favorite quote in the whole book.
“Let's invite one another in. Maybe then we can begin to fear less, to make fewer wrong assumptions, to let go of the biases and stereotypes that unnecessarily divide us. Maybe we can better embrace the ways we are the same. It's not about being perfect. It's not about where you get yourself in the end. There's power in allowing yourself to be known and heard, in owning your unique story, in using your authentic voice. And there's grace in being willing to know and hear others. This, for me, is how we become.”
“Kids wake up each day believing in the goodness of things, in the magic of what might be. They’re uncynical, believers at their core. We owe it to them to stay strong and keep working to create a more fair and humane world. For them, we need to remain both tough and hopeful, to acknowledge that there’s more growing to be done.”
“Hamilton touched me because it reflected the kind of history I'd lived myself. It told a story about America that allowed the diversity in. I thought about this afterward: So many of us go through life with our stories hidden, feeling ashamed or afraid when our whole truth doesn't live up to some established ideal. We grow up with messages that tell us that there's only one way to be American - that if our skin is dark or our hips are wide, if we don't experience love in a particular way, if we speak another language or come from another country, then we don't belong. That is, until someone dares to start telling that story differently.”
5- Dear Martin by Nik Stone 1/27
This book really made me think and challenged my perspective. This is the story of Justyce, a high school senior. He is wrongfully arrested at the beginning of the story, basically for being black and in the wrong place, even though he was there trying to do a good deed. I really, really loved this character. His struggles, his compassion, his desire to be better. His letters he writes trying to figure everything out to Martin Luther King Jr (Hence the Dear Martin).
It's funny how a story can make you feel both sad and hopeful. This one did. I'm sad for the way this story transpired. While not a true story per say, the author did an excellent job making it feel true to life. Unfortunately, similar stories probably unfold all across the country in real life far too often. Without giving any spoilers- the end also made me feel a little bit hopeful. The world will always be a flawed and broken place. There will always be bad people. Or even, good people, who make bad decisions in the moment. But we can do better. I can do better. Each person is in control of their own self- change and love starts with M E and Y O U.
“You can’t change how other people think and act, but you’re in full control of you. When it comes down to it, the only question that matters is this: If nothing in the world ever changes, what type of man are you gonna be?”
6- The Dress Shop on King Street by Ashley Clark 1/28
This was our book club selection this month- I picked it because the cover jumped out at me- loved the red hat. I did enjoy this story. =) The story goes back and forth between modern day and the 1940-50's- unraveling the mystery of a satchel, and a wedding dress with a butterfly button.
I really enjoyed Franklin and Millie's storyline- She was on the train headed to a new life- he was a train jumper. Turns out jumping on Millie's train was the last jump he made.
It was interesting watching their story unfold and slowly learning how in intertwined with Peter and Harper in modern day.
But some mornings, like this morning, she did look at him for a long stretch of time before he awakened- studying his jawline, his neatly trimmed beard, even the way his chest rose and fell with breaths full of relaxation, and in those moments, she longed to be closer to his breaths, closer still to his heart.
Oh, she was in for it now. All kinds of trouble.
Sewing had always been the way she expressed herself, since she was twelve and got her first machine. She couldn't imagine not sewing. Connecting seam to seam, button to button, fabric to dream, was how she made sense of the world.
"Because sometimes we put a halt to the very things that would free us-- we stop them, push them away, because our fear becomes too strong. We have no guarantee what will happen, so we make sure nothing happens at all."
This month: 6
Total read in 2021: 6
Kindle: 3 Print: 2 Audio: 1
Library: 5 Owned: 1 Unread Shelf: 1 print - 0 Kindle Purchased: 2
My favorite this month: The Extra Mile
