I had high hopes for this book, and the only thing I was slightly disappointed by was the fact she hardly spoke about Pitch Perfect at all! Which is a surprise because it’s arguably the film she’s most well known for… But otherwise, this book is just fantastic. Anna Kendrick takes you right into her mind and sometimes you wonder whether you really should be in there!! She is incredibly honest, sometimes cringely so! But it is so, so funny. 

What’s most enlightening about this book is that you get to see how very normal Kendrick is (calling her Anna feels a bit to presumptuous, though I definitely think we could be besties). She describes the very normal life she was still living at the same time as filming Up In the Air. Well, normal as in she shared a flat with some friends and slept in a twin Ikea bed. She’s also very honest about her struggles, her loneliness and her anxiety, but she does it in the self-deprecating, humorous way which she approaches everything! Hearing about her childhood doing shows on Broadway, with a supportive family and a level head, you can see she was a child star who stayed on the rails. Her move to LA to pursue acting as an adult is eye-opening, unglamorous and full of brilliant anecdotes (again, some of which you wonder should be in print form! Maybe I’m just very sensitive…)

If you love Anna Kendrick, you will love this book. If you hate her, you would probably hate it because it’s basically her in book form. If you are indifferent, I’m sure you could grow to love her! I read it in about three days because I enjoyed it so much. 

I had read A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian by the same author, and another one I can’t remember the name of, and really enjoyed them. I enjoyed this book too, but didn’t find it as funny as the other ones. It has its moments and I think I even laughed out loud a couple of times at the beginning. However, the plot then gets very involved in the housing market collapse and the banking crisis and there were often moments I didn’t really understand what was going on… A similar feeling to when I watched The Big Short. 

The plot revolves around a family and each member (apart from the dad…) has their own chapters where they tell their side of the story. Each character has their quirks (they are generally a very quirky family, they used to be in a commune) and none of them are hugely likeable, but they are believable. One character that the book portrays really well is Ollie-Anna, who has Down’s Syndrome. I haven’t before read a book where a main character has Down’s and it’s really interesting to see her through the other characters’ eyes. Unfortunately she doesn’t get her own chapters, I think it would be great to hear things from her point of view.

I would recommend this book as a light, easy read. Occasionally it mentions mathematical and financial terms that went over my head, but I tended to just brush past those! If you wanted to look things up, you might even learn something new!

So I’ve realised that I’ve missed out a review, whoops! Don’t want you guys thinking I’ve read one less book than I’m meant to!

A while ago, I read The Opposite of Loneliness: Essays and Stories by Marina Keegan. If you don’t know about Keegan, she is best known for an essay she wrote called “The Opposite of Loneliness”. The essay went viral after Keegan was killed in a car crash just five days after she graduated from Yale University, aged 22. That essay and a few other pieces she wrote, both non-fiction and fiction, were compiled into a book. 

I don’t remember much of what I thought about the book, other than I didn’t think it lived up to the hype. I know some reading this will disagree with me, but I wasn’t hugely impressed by the first essay. I thought the fiction was much stronger and I did enjoy some of the short stories. However, the book didn’t leave a great impression of me so I think I’d only recommend it if you’re curious about the hype.

The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert

It was a bit silly starting this tome of a book so late in the challenge! But, 580 pages later, I’m so glad I did. Whilst the theme of botany in nineteenth century America isn’t something I’d normally choose to read, Gilbert’s writing is just so exquisite and easy to read that I became enthralled with the protagonist, Alma’s, journey and research. 

The book covers almost of all Alma’s life, her travels, her heartbreak, her family… This is the reason why I like big books (and I cannot lie). I became completely absorbed in Alma’s life, as one of the reviews says in the cover, I felt like I had lived another life. 

I don’t want to talk too much about the plot as I think a lot of the book’s charm comes from the many twists and turns the plot takes, with secrets revealed and hidden. Likewise, there are many quotes I could pick out but to give you an idea of the poetic tone of the book, I thought I’d leave you with just the final lines:

“She clutched the great tree as if it were a horse. She pressed her cheek against its silent, living flank.

She said, “You and I are very far from home, aren’t we?”

In the dark gardens, in the middle of the quiet city night, the tree did not reply.

But it did hold her up just a little while longer.”

*sigh*

I would definitely recommend it to any Elizabeth Gilbert fans and really to anyone else who enjoys long, sprawling books.

I can’t remember the last time I read a book in a day… Particularly of this length. But since I was laid up with a throat infection (and Sam was away) yesterday, I had nothing better to do really! It’s one way to get through my reading challenge…

This book comes highly endorsed by Elizabeth Gilbert (Of eat, pray, love and Big Magic fame), Brené Brown (Queen of vulnerability) and Oprah (it was selected for her book club) so you just KNOW it’s going to be good. Plus you can probably tell what kind of book it is with fans like that. It is a memoir, so one of the rare nonfiction books I’ve read this year. It follows Glennon Doyle Melton from her early childhood struggles with bulimia to her struggles with alcoholism, to her finding God, finding a husband, having children and then having the rug pulled out from under her feet when her husband reveals his infidelity. This book is honest, raw, messy, incredibly vulnerable and not always the easiest book to read. However, amongst all the mess, I found myself smiling at witty things Melton says, as she reveals her personality so evidently in the book, and finding hope and truth which I can apply to my own life. I think I would go as far to say that God used this woman’s words to say some important things to me. Mainly that he loves me a heck of a lot.

There are many things I underlined throughout the whole book and I can’t put them all here. But I’ve picked a couple of my favourites:

“I wonder if the one holding together this sky might also be capable of holding together my heart. I wonder if the one making this sky so achingly beautiful might also be working to make my life beautiful, too.”

“These are the ones who know that faith is standing naked before your maker and asking what Craig asked me in the therapists office that day: I just need to know if you can really know me and still love me. God’s yes to us is free and final. (I underlined this about 5 times) Our yeses to each other are harder to come by.”

There are many many more quotes I could pick out. But then you might as well just read the book. 

This book is not going to be for everyone. There were some times where I had to forgive the author for maybe being a bit thin on her Theology (though it did just make me think about what I really believe about some things, which is a challenge in itself). Plus if you’re not so much of a feeler, you may find bits of it quite sentimental and mushy. But I really enjoyed it and I took a lot from it. In its very essence, it is a book about truth and being true to yourself. The final sections about love made me just want to yell “yes that’s it!” SO I would recommend this, but only to some people…

This week has been a tough one. One of polar opposites. It’s been both screamingly dull at work and breathtakingly stressful. I’ve attended a sad but celebratory thanksgiving service of a wonderful women of God and both held two precious babies and heard wonderful news about two more pregnancies. 

Now I’m sat here with a horribly sore throat, wanting to sleep for days but feeling so thankful for time to rest alone, and also for three hours catching up with close friends in the pub last night. Life is like that. It can leave you deflated and yet buoyant at the same time. 

What a paradox that is. 

But I guess we have a choice. I could sit here and think of all the hard times of this week. Think of grief, illness, stress, tiredness and lowness. Or I could choose to think of role models, friendship, good books, gifts and the simple joy of eating strawberries in Autumn. I know which would make me feel better! But how easy it is to just wallow and hold a pity-party for oneself. But the thing about pity-parties is, they’re very lonely. They shut people out. Instead, gratitude and joy are open, welcoming people in to share in the party. I know I have a very similar blog post on this already, yet it is something that I keep coming back to. Life isn’t about what happens to you, but about how to respond to it. 

So how has this week been? Or rather, how are you going to decide to see this week? I don’t know your life, obviously. This week may have been the hardest you’ve had in a long time, or ever. But can you think of one thing that brought light in the darkness? Have you got it? Now dwell on that thing, let yourself feel the joy that thing brings. If you can, make the whole week about that thing. Whether it’s the colour of the leaves, a cute dog you saw, some good news you heard or an amazing cake you ate. It doesn’t need to be huge. But if it brought you joy, make it huge, celebrate it, focus in on it. This life is too short and too long to be lost in darkness and negativity. Let’s bring light to this crazy world by choosing and spreading joy. 

I’ll happily sound like a stuck record on this one. In fact, I even had the title of this blogpost (a quote from the stellar Elizabeth Gilbert) engraved on the back of my new iPad mini (I have one of those now… Isn’t life grand? I’m choosing to believe it is.)

You may be familiar with Mitch Albom. He wrote The five people you meet in Heaven and Tuesdays with Morrie. He has this knack of writing about death and the afterlife that is so profound and beautiful without being sentimental.

This book is no different. Chick Bennetto has reached the end of his tether and decides to give up, he tries to end his life. However, he enters this dream-like state where he meets with his mother who passed away a few years previously. Through their interactions, Chick learns so much about his mother that he never knew. He learns the reasons why she made certain decisions, the sacrifices she made without mentioning them and the love she had for him and many others. It is an exceptionally moving story as Chick comes to terms with his past, is reunited with his mother for one more day and ultimately learns to let his difficult past go. But then what happens? Does he get a chance to be alive again? You’ll have to read it to find out.

My favourite quote from this book is “But behind all your stories is always your mother’s story, because hers is where yours begins.” I think that is so true and beautiful, and it also sums up the novel. There are other quotes I could have chosen, as this short book is packed with nuggets of wisdom on life and relationships.

This is a short book and is lovely to read, though of course the subject matter is very sensitive and delicate. However, Mitch Albom deals with the issue so sensitively and powerfully that I would recommend this book to anyone.

I LOVED this wonderful, wonderful book. Yet another book with several plots rolled into one. But Sam chose this book for me, so… Not my fault!

Emilia’s dad is her hero and, when he dies, she takes over his bookshop to carry on his legacy. The bookshop is a very central, special place in the village, with many interesting characters popping in. We find out about the other characters in their personal lives and watch as they become involved with the shop. Interspersed in the book, there are lists of different characters’favourite books. The whole novel is a celebration of literature, which I’m obviously a fan of! 

It’s not the most brilliantly written book, but the story and the characters are believable, lovable and they leap off the page.

I’d recommend this love story to anyone for a light, really enjoyable read. 

It’s my 27th birthday today (man that feels old). So I thought it would be fun to compile a list of 27 things I’ve learnt in my time on this planet we call home.

1. There aren’t many things that can’t be fixed by a hug, sleep or a good laugh or cry.
2. Being a godparent is one of the best things ever.
3. Listening to loud emo music through your headphones and going to gigs at the 2 pigs every weekend gives you tinnitus. But don’t regret it.
4. Sometimes life feels like a real sh*tstorm and you feel like you can’t get through it. But you’re stronger than you think. You can and you will.
5. A year can change everything. So if life is good, don’t take it for granted, relish every moment and be grateful. If it’s tough, have hope that things will get better.
6. Trailers for scary films are scary. So just don’t watch them, OK?
7. It’s OK to find joy in silly, childish things. In fact, it’s encouraged.
8. Being in community is life-enriching. So find your tribe and do life with them.
9. Opportunities don’t just fall into your lap, you have to grab them and go after them. Sometimes they don’t pay off, but just sometimes they do and you can make your dreams come true.
10. You can surprise yourself.
11. You can disappoint yourself.
12. You can grow to like wine. A lot.
13. It’s never too late to learn a new skill. So try things you don’t think you’ll be any good at.
14. God will sometimes feel distant/silent/non-existent. But have faith, keep seeking him, he is there.
15. People are great.
16. Everyone you come into contact with is human with their own pain and worries. So be kind, patient and compassionate to everyone.
17. Babies and puppies are just awesome.
18. It can take YEARS to heal after a toxic relationship, so just do yourself a favour and avoid them/get out as soon as you can.
19. You can do anything for six months/a year. The time will pass anyway so just do it. Everything can teach you something. Obviously referring to legal things here.
20. You’re not as old as you think you are (I appreciate at some point this will change to “not as young as you think you are” but we’re not there just yet).
21. There’s nothing like live music.
22. You can be both thrilled and slightly heartbroken by a friend’s news if it’s of something you want but don’t yet have.
23. Deep, life-giving friendships exist and they’re wonderful.
24. You’re never too old to enjoy making your parents proud.
25. Your weight/clothes size does not define you. What matters is your heart, your mind and soul. So hide the scales.
26. Marry someone who makes you laugh until you can’t breathe.
27. Life may not be all you planned, but it is wonderful. So regularly take a moment to look at all you have, be grateful and keep dreaming and planning.

That’s it! Any more wisdom anybody would like to share is welcomed 😊. 

This thriller isn’t something I’d normally read but I quite enjoyed it. Basically I’d finished my book on holiday so Mum let me read hers (thanks Mum).

A prostitute is found murdered so the story follows the police, other prostitutes and also the local cathedral who are trying to reach out to them. There are a number of other murders but are they linked? Is it a serial killer or more than one person? Who is it? Ooooooohhhh…. 

While there were times the writing was a bit weak, the number of twists and turns help you to forgive that. I didn’t guess who the killer was until the very end, I didn’t think there was any hint before, and that’s very clever.

This is one part of a series featuring the main detective, Simon Serrailler. I haven’t read any of the other parts of the series and I don’t have a great inclination to, though several things are mentioned and then not expanded on because they happen in other books, which can be a bit frustrating.

Considering the only other thriller I’ve read it’s Gone Girl, this seemed tame in comparison and wasn’t so heart-poundingly tense, but it did keep me gripped until the end. 

I’d recommend it to those trying out thrillers for the first time; those into the more John Grisham style may find it slightly lacking, though that’s just my opinion.

Apologies that these are two very succinct book reviews. What with being away for a few days last week, starting a new job this week and finishing off a couple of articles for a new magazine called Clarity (which you should definitely check out and snap up, it’s an incredibly exciting new thing to be a part of: http://www.claritymag.co.uk), I haven’t had the time or inclination to write book reviews! But I would recommend these two books so here are some brief thoughts on them:

Christ in You by Eric Johnson

Written by one of the senior leadership team of Bethel Church in Redding (son of Brian Johnson), this was a very interesting, charismatic and challenging read. The tagline is: Why God trusts you more than you trust yourself, which hopefully gives you an idea of the aim of the book. It’s basically an encouragement to believe that God can use you no matter what the situation you’re in is, your past or your concerns about the future. 

A favourite line from it is: “… the whole thing started with the notion that people have the capacity to accomplish the intent of God’s heart.” Wow. How incredible is that? That was underlined straight away; it so perfectly encapsulates the idea that we are God’s hands and feet in this world.

There was one chapter which rang a bit too much like prosperity gospel to me, which then coloured how I read the rest of the book. However, you may interpret it differently to me, or you may agree with what he says.

I would recommend this to any Christian as a good read to give you a kick up the bum and encourage you to achieve great things, with Christ in You.

Heartbreak Hotel by Deborah Moggach

This author also wrote The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel so obviously has a thing for hotels…

This is the first book I’m reading with a book club I’ve just joined, which is exciting! It will be interesting to hear what they thought of it.

I absolutely loved it. It’s one of those books that’s from a number of different characters’ perspectives with their personal stories all overlapping. I adore those kind of books because, to me, novels are all about the characters. I don’t care if not much happens, so long as I get to delve deeply into a character’s life and mind!

Reviews have called this book “hilarious” and I wouldn’t go that far, but it definitely has its funny moments. Most of the characters are middle aged so maybe if I was older I’d be able to relate and get more of the jokes! It’s also very heartfelt and moving, it gives you hope and inspires you to not stop trying new things.

Overall, it was a wonderful read that I really enjoyed curling up and relaxing with. Lovely lovely.