Febuary Book Round Up

     The thing I spend most of my free time on is probably, easily, reading. Plowing through books is, and has always been, a favorite hobby of mine. From eagerly waiting each month for the new Sweet Valley High book to drop in high school to deep diving into anything that peaks my interest or helps me wrap my head around things I don't understand, about the world, about myself, reading is my happy place. On my Instagram account I have a highlight filled with some of the books I've read the past few years, and since giving up Instagram (due to a book I read this past month), I thought it would be fun to blog about what I'm reading - my take aways, opinions, ect. A review of sorts, without spoilers (hopefully). It's something I've been thinking about doing for a while and now seems like a good time to dive in. So first up, the books I've read, or am in the middle of reading, in the past month.

    Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport. Before I even read this book I'd been growing bored on Instagram (the only social media site I used). I'd been anxious and annoyed at the amount of time I spent on my phone: communicating with teachers via multiple apps, emails, sites for teaching spin, grocery ordering, online shopping (literally anything so I don't have to take three kids in a store please and thank you), texting. All the apps and sites do make life a bit easier but I felt like I was spending an entire morning on my phone, my brain racing a million miles an hour with things I needed to order, people I needed to communicate with and it was all so... anxiety inducing because it felt frantic. Because I'd have to stop my grocery order to answer a text, then email a teacher, then try to come back to groceries, then need to check and see how many people were going to take my spin class, then schedule a vaccination appointment then finally back to the grocery list. My brain was feeling constantly fried and I wanted to just ditch my phone completely (the chapters on the neuroscience of our brain in down time and how we are not wried to constantly multitask well were great for making me feel less bonkers). Cal Newport's book had hot tips and tricks to going digitally minimal and getting the most out of our technology. He talks about how instead of harnessing the power and potential of technology, most of us tend to be owned by it. He does a fascinating deep dive on the Amish and their use of technology that I ate up and was very impressed by the ingenuity of their approach. The biggest takeaways were things like setting specific times to check texts and email and even time for social media if you're not into giving it up completely, and the rest of the time putting you phone on do not disturb. Learning to leave your phone at home, to not check it for long periods of time.  One morning while I was journaling I was thinking about high school. About how I had open lunch and would often leave and either go home, go with friends or occasionally go sit by the lake and journal, but how no one knew where I was, had no way to communicate with me, I had totally undisturbed solitude time. I may or may not have started crying thinking about that. Thinking about that deep sense of freedom, yearning for more of that in my life. Learning to leave my phone and being intentional about my time away from it was so on par.    

    Another point that stuck out to me was solitude. How before iPods, humans had much more time to just think. To walk around, drive, go to the bathroom and be left with nothing but our brains, listening to ourselves, processing and working out life. This was another thing I'd been missing before I even read the book. Feeling like every little minute of my life had something or someones voice in it, be it my children or a podcast or music or new, ect. Regaining that solitude time, even if it's just a few minutes here and there feels so clutch. He also hits on high quality leisure and low quality leisure, quoting many people who praise the high quality leisure that sparks your brain, makes you come alive, like creating something, reading nonfiction, learning things, challenging yourself verses low quality leisure like watching a show or scrolling. Especially during the pandemic, I spent a ton of time in the evenings on low quality leisure (which I'm not too hard on myself about because, hey, survival and whatever), but how much better we'd feel if we replaced it with high quality leisure. Which struck a chord in me because typically (outside a pandemic ha), nonfiction is my jam, writing, creating, being outside, working with plants are things that bring me so much life, things that are way more fulfilling than scrolling. In general, I feel like a lot of his points I was already intuiting, but he has some helpful tips for putting things into action. And I will say, after a month and a half of being off Instagram I do feel less anxious, less rushed. The past few days I've been curious about taking a peek, and since his system isn't all or nothing, we'll see how this plays out, but as in everything in life, boundaries and moderation right?  However his 'resistance', stick it to the man, section definitely pushed up that rebellious part of me that's like oh, never again, if it's a rebellion I'm in, ha. This book was written before the pandemic and I'd be very curious as to his thoughts on all of it now (as I'm sure intensified ha), and how people who might have read this before fared during the pandemic. Case study please and thank you.

    A History of Wild Places by Shea Ernshaw was a fun read. A novel about a writer that goes missing and a man with an unusual talent to find her. The reason I enjoyed this book was not only because it did pull me in with the mystery and suspense, but because there was also an extreme lack of technology references and an extreme amount of nature descriptions. Upon entering the northern California mountains you could literally feel the breeze on your skin, feel the impending rain, smell the earth after the rain, the smell of the rot. It was a great escape into nature and another way of doing life - albeit extreme and at times terrifying. A good read about a damaged author and her way of escape - how we all might have things we want to escape and how far we'll go to do that - then coming back to reality, but what is reality? 

   The Story Of the Lost Child by Elena Ferrante, the last book in the Neapolitan series and it did not disappoint. Her whole series has blown me away. Her writing is incredible, truly a work of art, while also giving you the history of Naples, Italy, of the world. The role that education can play, how the lack of it can affect your life, or not. A story of a lifelong friendship that hit a bit too close to home sometimes. A story of communism, socialism, capitalism and where we all land in that. Politics. Classes. Belonging to a class and/or trying to change your class. On becoming a woman, sexuality, the body and it's changes. The 60s and ideas of feminism and a working woman and how to try to balance all that. It stirred up the communal rage I have for women everywhere who have been pushed down, have had too much put on them while the men leisurely go on with their lives ignoring all that women carry and asking to be served all the same. Of motherhood, feelings of guilt for trying to live your life and learning to let things go and be how they are.  A story of knowing yourself and sticking to what you want, grounding.  I think the most fascinating thing to me was constantly asking, but is this the author's story? The main character, Elena Greco is a writer, writing her story in novel form and I can't help but try to tie it all together with the book that I was reading. Elena Ferrante is also not the authors real name, but a pseudonym so that put another twist in my head- could it be her friend Lila who did finally publish a book!? This might be a bit of a spoiler... trying to keep it vague. But essentially this series made me think, examine things, and want to go to Italy stat. Weirdly, a number of novels I've read in the past few months have been set in Italy and it seems to be a theme. I'm here for it.

    The Midnight Library by Matt Haig was a wild ride, and one I honestly wouldn't mind taking in my real life. Diving into quantum physics and philosophy and quality of life, what makes a life, what makes us happy. Nora Seed is very unhappy with her life and attempts suicide, but lands in-between life and death to bend time and view the other lives she's living should she have had made different choices. The ending on this one had me in tears. Matt ties in science, philosophy, mental health and everything in between. I have more than a few pages dog eared with good (mostly from Walden by Henry David Thoreau) quotes. One of my favorites was, "If one advances confidently,' Thoreau had written in Walden, 'in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.' He'd also observed that part of this success was the product of being alone. 'I have never found the companion that was so companionable as solitude'." Another one, "'Compassion is the basis of morality', the philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer had written, in one of his more softer moments. Maybe it was the basis of life too." And lastly, 'We only know what we perceive, Everything we experience is ultimately just our perception of it. "It's not what you look at that matters, it's what you see."' again, a character quoting Thoreau. There's just so much life depth in this book. I had a suspicion about how the book would end, but I throughly enjoyed it nonetheless.

    The last book I finished (not pictured) is Valdimir by Julia May Jonas. This one was interesting for sure. A book about a writer in academia. Give me a book about the writing life and I'm in. I just now realized that I didn't even know the main characters name, it never once mentions her name, although the book is mainly written from inside her head. She's in her late 50s, a professor, a writer, a mom, a semi-wife to John. I say semi as they have had an open marriage since the beginning. Honestly it's kind of hard to review this one. There are so many things spinning in my head from it. Jonas challenges millennial thinking but in a good kind of way, one that makes you stop and think for a minute. She talks about a woman aging, what it feels like to not feel attractive and young any more. What it's like to be a mother to an adult daughter. Her obsession with Valdimir and his sad story that fuels a beginning of a book, and her creative process had me aching for my own feeling of the flow that comes with a new endeavor. There does come a bit of a weird turn I absolutely didn't see coming that had me laughing but also feeling very awkward for her. Like, lady, what the hell. Granted she's going through a bit of a trying time in life, as her husband has been accused of using his power to seduce students and she's caught in the middle, of her silence and how that's perceived. But the story takes a wild turn and ends abruptly. Mostly, my brain is still spinning from this one. I still recommend it because of the thoughts it encourages and inspires the reader to think about.  In thinking about getting old, this paragraph was a gut punch, "My worth would be equal to how helpful, useful, and uncomplaining I could be. I would be tolerated as long as it was clear I appreciated the cots, the sofa beds, the small bedrooms.  I would have to demonstrate gratitude for the scraps and crumbs of time, attention, money and luxury that came my way. I would work for it, with early morning watching the baby, or nights doing dishes after everyone fell asleep, I couldn't be particular. Particular old women are not invited on vacations. Unless they are very rich, which I was not." Jonas is a very skilled writer and I loved reading her work on the technical aspect.

    The two books I'm still in the middle of are Isabel Wilkerson's The Warmth of Other Suns and Julia Cameron's The Artist's Way. The Artist Way is actually more of a 12 week workbook and I've been heavily enjoying it. She encourages writing Morning Pages (journaling three pages daily) and an Artist's Date. Both of which have, while hard to accomplish at times, had a noticeable impact on my creative life. I think the biggest thing is just realizing how much I need new experiences - even small ones like a hitting a new trail and/or coffee shop - and learning to take the time to do what makes me come alive (and a bit more sane). I'd read Wilkerson's Caste during 2020 and was absolutely blown away. I've owned The Warmth of Other Sun's (I live at 1/2 Price Books, y'all) for a while, but was inspired by Black History Month and my kids giving me pieces of what they've learned in school this month to dig into it. It actually reads a bit more like a novel with a whole lot of facts, which keeps me coming back for more. She's a brilliant writer and I'm learning more and more necessary facts most of us weren't taught in our history classes growing up.

    But to wrap it up I noticed a theme of solitude and life without digital devices in hand around the clock in more than a few books. A theme of creativity and seeking pastimes that don't involve technology at all, but creating, tending the earth, reading, studying. This is something that always fascinates me. When the books I read, that seemingly have nothing in common, actually do have little threads of similarity. That also probably goes back to what Julia Cameron would call paying attention. Slowing down and noticing what's sticking out to us. Because as Haig/Thoreau says, "It's not what you look at that matters, it's what you see."