Since I had the baby, I've discovered that there's a lot less time in my day (so much less!). And as a result, I can no longer put my energy into everything I used to do. So, I've had to take a hard look at which hobbies, activities and rituals are getting the boot and which are going to make the cut. And it was a no-brainer for me that reading should always top my list- never to be replaced with another activity deemed more important.
I have a very early memory of staying home from school because I was sick and lying in bed all day reading Nancy Drew. Although I didn't feel well, I was in Heaven! And thirty years later, I'm no different. I still choose reading over most activities. (Sure, there are times I want to get my reality TV fix on, but you can often find me immersed in a book at the same time!)
And so I've made a promise to myself to always carve out time for my books, to not let my desire to read get lost in the shuffle of every day life. Which even in the few short months since my baby was born, I've realized can so easily happen! (Um, I'm still trying to get to that hair appointment!)
So I'm proud of myself that I made time for three great books this week!
Swim Back to Me by New York Times bestselling author, Ann Packer. This collection of short stories and novella was the perfect departure from the novels I usually love to read. (She's over at our website, Chick Lit Is Not Dead sharing her 5 Do's and 1 Do-Over. After you read this article, head over there and find out how you can be entered to win a copy of her book!)
Synopsis: There's the story of the wife struggling to make sense of her husband's sudden disappearance. A mother mourning her teenage son through the music collection he left behind. A woman shepherding her estranged parents through her brother's wedding. A young man coming to grips with the joy- and vulnerability- of impending fatherhood. And, in the opening novella, two teenagers from different families- one a tightly knit foursome, the other a father and son who share little more than having been abandoned by the same woman- forge a sustaining friendship, only to discover the disruptive and unsettling power of sex.
Night Road by New York Times best selling author, Kristin Hannah. Earlier this year, I wrote about how I planned to read it. And I'm happy to report that I finished! Once I started it, I couldn't put it down.
Synopsis: The central plot revolves around two very different families living in adjacent shorefront towns in Washington State, and the bond that ties them together in the face of horrific tragedy. Jude Farraday is the happily married mother of two bright, happy twin teenagers, Mia and Zach, who devotedly oversees every detail of their near-perfect family life together. Into the Farradays’s world arrives Lexi Baill, a former foster child from a neighboring working class town, who immediately befriends Mia and eventually falls in love with Zach during their senior year in high school. Recognizing that Lexi has become inseparable from her own children, Jude welcomes her with open arms into the Farraday household. Everything changes one night when, after a graduation party, the three teens are involved in an accident and fingers of blame are pointed at Lexi- even Jude’s.
Kristin also recently stopped by Chick Lit Is Not Dead and shared her 5 Do's and a Do-Over. Check it out here.
My Jane Austen Summer: A Season in Mansfield Park by debut author Cindy Jones. (We recently profiled her as a "Lit It Girl" over at Chick Lit Is Not Dead where she shared valuable insight on her road to success.
Synopsis: Lily is caught in a cycle of loss: her mother died of cancer, her boyfriend left her for an earth mother, and she’s been fired from her job for reading Jane Austen novels when she should have been routing payroll tax deposits. When the opportunity arises to travel to England to re-enact Mansfield Park, she thinks she may finally realize her dream of living in a novel. But even in England, where Lily is immersed in a literary festival so rich it seems Jane Austen is present, her problems find her. Lily must summon her resources and confront painful truths before she is demoted to the role of secondary character in her own life.
What books have you made time for recently?
