This month is about finishing off books. I needed a few psychological ‘wins’ and moving titles from my Goodreads ‘currently reading’ to ‘read’ list usually provides a nice mood boost. (Tell me I’m not alone here.) This required my having to re-borrow these Twin Peaks titles (twice!) from the library, but I got there in…
No, don’t worry. June isn’t almost over already. I know this post usually comes out at the end of the month, but I’ve moved it forward for a couple of reasons. The first reason is that I have a lot of books on my pile at the moment and it’s helpful to stop and reflect on…
The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo is a verse novel about a Harlem high school student, Xiomara, who is struggling with her faith, the Church and her mother – all while beginning to navigate the waters of first love. As one who’s struggled with my own issues with being brought up within Catholicism, I recognised…
If you’re familiar with local (and international) bestselling book lists of late, you’ll recognise the title The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris. This widespread regard is well-deserved, for the novel handles the balance between the intimacy of the central love story while accounting for the atrocities that were occurring at the same time. As I was…
There will be no new podcast episode of The Creative Life this week – I’ve been wrestling with a headache that refuses to go away and threatens, at any moment, to turn into a migraine. The tasks I’ve been able to do – such as writing this post – have been fit into the pockets of…
Read / February 22nd, 2018
Looking back over this month’s reading, I think there’s a common theme among all of the titles: that through resilience and self-examination humans can endure hardship. Whether these experiences come through the death of a loved one, the solo trek across a desert or unpacking the mysteries within our brains we can learn so much about our nature….
Read / January 30th, 2018
I’ve begun 2018 with a reapplied focus to read more and to better document those texts as I go to avoid the scenario of getting to the end of the month only to look back and think “Hmmm… what was that about again?” (I won’t say how often it’s happened…) How I record these thoughts…
Hello again and (almost) Happy New Year to you! I hope you’ve had a restful holiday period – ours has been… eventful. See the bottom of the post and you’ll see why! But it’s been lovely to host family and generally take it easy. I’ve needed it. The first book I’ll talk about is Rising…
Read / November 28th, 2017
After the hecticness of the past month – well, year! – I’ve had a wonderfully slower paced bit of time recently and I’ve been taking full advantage by reading a lot. These three books are just a sample, really, but I’ll cover the rest in the next December wrap up. First, due to still being inspired…
