December books

I enjoyed few quick reads in December in between two very heavy ones.  For those two (The Untethered Soul and Women, Food and God), I’ll have separate posts coming soon so I can share more about them with you.  You’re going to want to read them too, I just know it.

Tapestry of Fortunes: A Novel by Elizabeth Berg

I’m a huge Elizabeth Berg fan and it turns out that she wrote not one, but two books while I was in a parenting fog.  This one is such a fun read.  It’s sort of like chick lit for responsible older women, if that makes sense.   A great story about change and friendship.

Definitely Not Mr. Darcy by Karen Doornebos

I DO love Jane Austen novels, and this “reality show” quick read was hilarious and fun.  Doornebos did an excellent job inserting all the typical restrictions of the time period.  Quick-witted characters and funny situations.

Someone: A Novel by Alice McDermott

We follow Marie through her life, beginning as a young girl, through challenges and friendships, learning more about her and her family as we go.  This is so well-written and compelling.  Just a beautiful story.

I want to share with you one small piece of the book that took my breath away:

“It was not that my life was less valuable to me now that I had glimpsed what it would be like to lose it.  My love for the child asleep in the crib, the child’s need for me, for my vigilance, had made my life valuable in a way that even the most abundantly offered love, my parents’, my brother’s, even Tom’s, had failed to do.  Love was required of me now — to be given, not merely to be sought and returned.  My presence on earth was never more urgently needed.”

The Perfectly Imperfect Home: How to Decorate and Live Well by Deborah Needleman

A casual guide to creating rooms that are comfortable and design-friendly, with watercolor illustrations throughout.  According to Deborah, the point of decorating is to create the background for the best life you can have, with all its joys and imperfections.

Women Food and God: An Unexpected Path to Almost Everything by Geneen Roth

I read this book because Liv Lane recommended it, and because she said Oprah swears by it.  Since I trust both of them, and since I have been mindlessly munching lately, I wanted to see what Roth had to say about emotional eating.  She is gentle as a guide in explaining how we turn to food when we don’t understand ourselves as well as we could.  We can learn to listen to our bodies and therefore stop manipulating food.  More on this book coming soon.

The Untethered Soul: The Journey Beyond Yourself by Michael Singer

This treasure is about how our thoughts and emotions create our internal energy and then how to let all of that limiting energy go in order to be free and truly live in the present.  It is an absolutely amazing book.  More on this one coming soon too.

About Alice by Calvin Trillin

This is a loving portrait of Trillin’s wife… a true love story.  My favorite part… he never stopped trying to impress her.

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What have you been reading lately? And are you on Goodreads? I’d love to connect there.

Everything I’ve Ever Read (I think)