July reading (and a giveaway)

Britt-Marie Was Here: A Novel by Fredrik Backman

Britt-Marie is someone who has lived her entire life for others.  Now it’s time to figure out who she is.  This book is literally laugh-out-loud funny and unexpectedly unique.  Its charming story is full of well-drawn characters and refreshing lessons about humanity.  I absolutely loved it!

At a certain age almost all the questions a person asks him or herself are really just about one thing: how should you live your life? If a human being closes her eyes hard enough and for long enough, she can remember pretty well everything that has made her happy. The fragrance of her mother’s skin at the age of five and how they fled giggling into a porch to get out of a sudden downpour. The cold tip of her father’s nose against her cheek. The consolation of the rough paw of a soft toy that she has refused to let them wash. The sound of waves stealing in over rocks during their last seaside holiday. Applause in a theater. Her sister’s hair, afterwards, carelessly waving in the breeze as they’re walking down the street. And apart from that? When has she been happy? A few moments. The jangling of keys in the door. The beating of Kent’s heart against the palms of her hands while he lay sleeping. Children’s laughter. The feel of the wind on her balcony. Fragrant tulips. True love. The first kiss. A few moments. A human being, any human being at all, has so perishingly few chances to stay right there, to let go of time and fall into the moment. And to love someone without measure. Explode with passion. A few times when we are children, maybe, for those of us who are allowed to be. But after that, how many breaths are we allowed to take beyond the confines of ourselves? How many pure emotions make us cheer out loud, without a sense of shame? How many chances do we get to be blessed by amnesia? All passion is childish. It’s banal and naive. It’s nothing we learn; it’s instinctive, and so it overwhelms us. Overturns us. It bears us away in a flood. All other emotions belong to the earth, but passion inhabits the universe. That is the reason why passion is worth something, not for what it gives us but for what it demands that we risk. Our dignity. The puzzlement of others and their condescending, shaking heads.

The Painted Girls: A Novel by Cathy Marie Buchanan

I always enjoy being transported to a completely different place and time.  This was a suggested read on my Kindle when I finished I Always Loved You by Robin Oliveira.  Buchanan did such a great job with this book.  So much of it is based on fact… 1870s Paris, Degas’ paintings, and a notorious trial of the age.  Living in squalor, the 3 sisters in this story have to fend for themselves, working long hours and putting their success in the hands of the Paris Opera.  All three sisters had my heart from the beginning. Recommend.

We are the daughters of sewing maids and fruit peddlers, charwomen and laundresses, dressed up and painted to look like something we are not. All the years of practicing, the sweat and toil, the muscles aching at the end of the day, it comes down to learning trickery—to leap with the lightness that lets the theatergoers think of us as queens of the Opéra stage instead of scamps with cracking knees and heaving ribs and ever-bleeding toes. Sometimes I wonder, though, if for the very best ballet girls, the trickery is not a little bit real, if a girl born into squalor cannot find true grace in the ballet.

Move Your Stuff, Change Your Life: How to Use Feng Shui to Get Love, Money, Respect, and Happiness by Karen Rauch Carter

Barry Gordon, a physicist as well as a feng shui practitioner, says “Every thing, even the sticky front door that doesn’t open all the way, has meaning. Every thing, every action is intentional, sometimes conscious, sometimes unconscious. Feng shui brings the unconscious in our environment back into consciousness. That brings the beliefs and feelings back into consciousness. Then we have choice and can create our universe consciously.”

Everyone, regardless of culture or creed, has employed some system of thoughtful placement with regard to their living environment and furnishings.  Proper feng shui is purposefully arranging the stuff around you to gain positive results.

Everything that happens in life can be boiled down and placed into nine categories, or life situations. These categories are spatially represented by areas in your living quarters.  The nine areas, once again, are (1) Prosperity, (2) Fame and Reputation, (3) Relationships and Love, (4) Creativity and Children, (5) Helpful People and Travel, (6) Career, (7) Skills and Knowledge, (8) Family, and (9) Health and Other.

I have to admit that my house doesn’t conform (at all) to the arrangement Carter writes about, so I gave up about halfway through.  You can also arrange each individual room to adhere to the layout, and I may go back and do that.

Practical Perfection: Smart strategies for an excellent life by Kelly Exeter

What’s the number one thing that gets in the way of us being kind to ourselves?  Our expectations of ourselves, and those high standards we’re always striving for.

Spoken like someone who’s held herself to unrealistic standards and ended up full of stress, anxiety and depression, this little guidebook urges “strivers” to become more self-aware. Exeter “found that to feel happy, content and fulfilled, I needed three things to be present: Passions: things that got me out of bed in the morning with a smile on my face. Priorities: knowing what actually mattered most to me, and then making the conscious decision to focus hard on those and let go of the rest. Productivity: the ability to get things started and finished.

It simply means we accept having finite resources (time, energy, support, patience) available to us at any given moment in time.

This book has three main sections: Burnout, Overwhelm and Hamster on a Wheel. Each section talks about how we end up feeling that way, and how we can use Passions, Priorities and Productivity to live in the sweet spot of our life.  Missing passion? Burnout. Lack of priorities leads to Overwhelm.  Lack of Productivity feels like a hamster on a wheel.  I particularly liked her questions and tips for identifying your Passions, most common causes of Overwhelm, and how best to narrow our focus.  Recommend for a smart, quick jolt of common-sense advice that works.

Fuego by Leslie Contreras Schwartz

44 pages of pure emotional beauty and pain.  The stark contrast of life with a new baby compared to the generic harshness of everyday life, the pain and natural movement of childbirth, bedrest and it’s meditative wonder and sorrow.  Schwartz’ words are charged with raw emotion. Her poetry tells of constant change and raw supplication to the waves of daily life.  Highly recommend.

Leslie is one of my friends, and I read her book of poetry when it came out a few months ago.  But… she has since gifted me with a signed copy so I’d love to give my original copy to one of you.  Leave a comment to enter… or, even better, tell me what you’re reading lately!