Do you pick a word or theme for the year? I started this practice several years ago. It is part of an effort to be more intentional and create the life I want to have rather than just letting life happen to me. It started as a casual effort but became a more serious endeavor once I started using the Dragontree Apothecary Rituals for Living Dreambook and Planner (affiliate link.) I love the thought-provoking exercises in the Dreambook section and the practical application of breaking my goals into tasks and scheduling them in my planner. I always feel as though I Read More
Tag: Book Club
Not So Empty Nesting
A few months ago, I started a blog post about my struggles with my youngest going to college and leaving me with the proverbial empty nest. I never got around to publishing that blog. Now it has taken me several attempts to hit the publish button on this one. Despite my usual tendency to overshare, something in me doesn’t want to put this out into the world. But here goes…. Honestly, I felt like I handled the empty nest better than anticipated. I was sad, don’t get me wrong, but I had spent months preparing for the sadness. The struggle Read More
A Discovery of Witches
Empty Nest Update I have been in a reading slump. You might remember that I spent most of the year preparing for an empty nest. I was really worried about what life held for me when I no longer had kids at home. When the time came, I took it pretty well. This was largely due to prepping and planning and important connections with people who made sure I had plans on my calendar. The kid, on the other hand, did not fare so well and will be moving home in December to consider Plan B. Disappointment happens. I went Read More
Judge a Book by Its Cover
Everybody does it. Given Context is my way to blog about the books I read and how they fit into the larger context of my life. Sometimes there is an uncanny connection with something in a book and something in my life. Other times it is not that straightforward. Today I want to talk about judging a book by its cover. This post is over a year in the making. Last year one of my book clubs decided to try judging a book by its cover. It was a great idea from our leader to pair a beautiful book with Read More
Artemis by Andy Weir – Written for the Big Screen?
When I read a book for Book Club, I like to save my final review and blog post until after the Book Club meeting. Sometimes discussing the book with other book lovers can drastically change my perspective. Occasionally, I feel a warm, gooey love for a book, and then my club-mates poke holes in my favorite parts and bring my final decision down a few notches. More often, a book doesn’t click with me and the discussion at Book Club helps me see the merits of a book I would have panned otherwise. Artemis falls somewhere in the middle. Perhaps Read More
Wool and My Own Story in Context
I liked this book. My book club was a bit up in the air on it. Some felt it dragged, but most enjoyed the story. It took me 2 months to read it, but I don’t feel like it was dragging… I had to put it down sometimes and go read something less depressing (like a retelling of Alice in Wonderland with sexual violence and cannibalism.) Don’t let that turn you away. This was my problem, not the book’s. It was a rough patch for me, and this book just took me deeper into that… in a literal sense. Given Read More
READ THIS BOOK – The Hate U Give
When my best friend asked if I was aware of this book, I said no. She read the entire book in one day and couldn’t put it down. I saw her a few days later, and she put the book in my hands. I’m a slow reader, so it took me a couple of days, but The Hate U Give is a serious page-turner. It’s YA, so that often leads to a quick read, but you may already know that YA can also handle some dead serious subject matter. I cried. I laughed. I felt overwhelmed, angry, sad, and guilty. Read More
Good Omens: Is it too late to have the Apocalypse?
This may be my year of re-reading books. I decided to cut my reading goal in half this year, because I want to spend more time writing. I also find that what-to-read voice inside my head turning frequently to books I have already read. And there’s another thing… I have an utterly embarrassing love of anything written by Neil Gaiman. This is not the first of his book that I have read repeatedly. I probably shouldn’t be ashamed – he’s really, really good – but it’s probably the literary equivalent of saying that you love The Beatles. But Neil (I Read More
Way Station by Clifford D. Simak
When I read something for book club, I try to wait to review it until after the book club meeting. Often my initial reaction to a book is changed through the discussion of the book. This is one reason I attend book clubs. For me, the best way to experience a book is by sharing it with others. This is why I am writing a blog about books. I listened to an audiobook of Way Station, and I felt that it went very quickly. At about 2/3 through the book I realized I was enjoying myself but that not much Read More