Ashley
I could listen to Brené Brown for days... and I did. While I enjoyed listening to her, I constantly wondered when the book would start. This book contains a lot of stories, but not a lot of actionable advice. My takeaway from Daring Greatly is that we are all insecure with our vulnerabilities and that we all trust/seek out people based on their vulnerabilities, but fear sharing our own.
The long lasting impact of this book on my life was unexpected. I have experienced more empathy towards others when they are vulnerable and I have also become more vulnerable in my relationships. I still hold shame in almost every area of my life, but allowing myself to feel and be vulnerable has let me let go of those negative emotions. More often than not, the shame that I share is not received by others as shame, but as vulnerability, and their response to this vulnerability is most has been comforting. I originally rated this as 2 stars, but increased the rating to 3 stars because of this mindset shift.
Girl, Stop Apologizing came at the perfect time for me. I was looking for a jump start in motivation and this book did just that.This book is broken into three sections: excuses to let go of, behaviors to adapt, and skills to acquire.Excuses to let go of was the section I needed. This section lists out 8 excuses that I am 100% guilty of making. These excuses cover everything from insecurities to procrastination.It's a catch-22, because your feelings of not enough keep you from proving to yourself that you are. You haven't yet achieved the things you hope for, and so you decide that you're unable to.I know I make these excuses and I know that I hold myself back by believing them. This is not new, but hearing someone else call out these excuses for what they are has allowed me to acknowledge their presence and let them go. This relief is the lasting impact of Girl, Stop Apologizing on my life.The behaviors to adapt section is a self-confidence booster. It's all about doing what you want and embracing your dreams. There is one exercise that I especially appreciate because it asks readers to look at the future they want as a way to set their goals, vs. just taking each day at a time and hoping you get somewhere, eventually. I struggle in the details and often feel overwhelmed in survival mode, so reframing life as striving towards an overall goal genuinely never occurred to me.The skills to acquire wasn't as helpful to me. It felt like a rehash of various self help book ideas - wake up early, drink water, be positive/grateful, etc. The section was so forgettable that I looked up other reviews and blog posts to jog my memory on what the section covered. Based on what I have read from others, I can only assume that I missed the point.To be honest, I came into this book uncertain if I would like it. I didn't click with [b:Girl, Wash Your Face 35542451 Girl, Wash Your Face Stop Believing the Lies about Who You Are So You Can Become Who You Were Meant to Be Rachel Hollis https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1513038393l/35542451.SY75.jpg 56965748] and I am often uncomfortable with how much Rachel talks about herself. I was similarly uncomfortable with the amount self talk in Girl, Stop Apologizing, but it didn't stick out as much as it did with her first book.Overall, I gained a lot from Girl, Stop Apologizing - I let go of my excuses, have a better way of establishing goals, and stopped eating as many mindless snacks. Rachel kicked off my motivation and helped me out of overwhelm.(I was not aware of the controversy surrounding the author prior to reading this book.)
This is one of my 3.5 year old's favorite book. It's about a friendly little blue truck who gets cut off by a mean dump truck. The dump truck gets stuck and cries for help, but no one cares that he's stuck or bothers to help, except the friendly little blue truck. The blue truck gets stuck helping him and, when he cries for help, everyone comes and saves the two cars. Big mean dump truck learns his lesson and the book ends.
My kid likes it because of its rhythm and the repetitive horn beeping from the truck. There's a page or two that are awkward rhythmically to me, but overall I just think it's short, sweet, and cute.
BLUF: Worthwhile, entertaining, but not for me.
This book had good themes, honest stories, and has reminded me to respect myself enough to reduce self-depreciation, but... it was a little underwhelming. This book was recommended to me by a coworker who swore up and down by it - and I see her life aligning with the concepts - but it wasn't as inspiring or life-changing as she made it out to be.
This is, hands-down, the best pregnancy book I have read. This breaks down some of the conventional pregnancy thoughts and recommendations (i.e. allowable amount of caffeine, “avoid” foods like sushi, deli meats, etc.) and explains why this recommendation came to be and why it is wrong (or right). Oster uses her judgment as an economist via evaluations of relevant case studies.
Also, this says we can eat sushi (with some risks). Always a plus.
This didn't do much for me. It is a cute story about four kids who find a creature that grants them wishes. Each wish become their own sort of disaster and the kids hve to tough it out until sunset when the power of the wish is removed.
To be fair, I dont do well with older books or books aimed at children. The book was first published in 1902 and has a story that can mostly relate to today (some words I havent heard before), but, when narrated by younger kids, theres only so much depth you can get into. I know, reader flaw not book flaw.
I had every intention of reaching the end of this book, despite the excessive use of exclamation marks and the questionable behavior, but I couldn't continue after what was said about an individual who killed themselves shortly after their gender reassignment:
“The reconstructed female organ looked like a thing from an extra-terrestrial alien! No wonder, a couple of weeks later, the poor patient ended his life by jumping out of the hospital window after his boyfriend walked out on him!”
I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
This was one of the few mandatory reading books I actually enjoyed in high school. Unfortunately, my feelings for this book have changed since then. I'm not such a fan of the monotone way of life depicted and the parts I enjoyed - the romance - was fleeting. The end was drawn out, but I can understand the intent. Overall, I'd suggest leaving this book to the poor high schoolers.
Having never read Jen's blog or previous books, I had expected this to be a humorous collection of short stories regarding over-the-top people during the holidays. This is what the books' title suggests and I didn't know any better until I began making my way though the book.
I DNF'd this book a third of the way in. The portion I read was complaining about her parents' collection of Christmas memorabilia, while, at the same time, talking about how she only has three Christmas trees in her house. This isn't interesting to read and does not live up to any promises suggested in the books' title.
All in all, I am happy I decided to read this book before I bought it for a friend.
What the heck did the epilogue have to do with anything? Regardless, this is one of my favored zombie novels as its focus is more on humor than anything else.. and I almost don't care that the main mystery in the story was never explained.. (Unfortunately, and I keep trying, it turns out that I don't enjoy zombie novels.)