Sorry this is late!
Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking by Susan Cain (5 stars)
An amazing exploration of what it means to be introverted in an extrovert-oriented culture. An introvert herself, Susan Cain researches how the outgoing, “hail-fellow-well-met” salesman personality became the American ideal, and how deeply it permeates our society. She interviews successful introverts from all walks of life, including many who have learned to act like extroverts for their professional and social survival. Throughout the book, she affirms the value of introverts and encourages parents, bosses, and friends to stop trying to force the introverts in their lives into an extroverted mold. This book blew my mind. I never fully realized how much I’ve been discriminated against as an introvert, or how often people have tried to “fix” me – and I’m pretty close to the middle of the I/E spectrum. I can understand why some extroverts have been offended by this book, but I don’t see it as an attack on extroversion at all. It’s just an attempt to balance the scales and remind everyone that there’s more than one way to be.
The Vogue Factor by Kirstie Clements (3 stars)
I reviewed this here.
Why Is My Mother Getting A Tattoo? And Other Questions I Wish I Never Had To Ask by Jancee Dunn (5 stars)
While But Enough About Me focused mostly on Jancee Dunn’s career as a rock journalist and VJ, this memoir is about her lovable, tight-knit, crazy family (and friends). Stories include a trip with her Southern mother to Savannah, her siblings’ plot to revisit their childhood home (long since inhabited by another family), how Dunn announced her surprise pregnancy to her husband (with her whole family as an audience), and the titular story of her mother getting a tattoo. She also transcribes several ordinary but hilarious conversations with her best friend, Julie, who calls her at the same time every morning. It reminded me of the daily calls I used to have with my sister as we both drove home from work. Anyway, this book is total comedy comfort reading.
This Girl by Colleen Hoover (3 stars)
I reviewed this here.
Off Balance: A Memoir by Dominique Moceanu (4 stars)
Most Americans remember Dominique Moceanu as the youngest member of the Magnificent Seven women’s gymnastics team that won gold in Atlanta in 1996. Her talent and determination caught everyone’s attention. But behind that facade, she was enduring constant abuse at the hands of her father and coaches, under a level of stress no child should have to experience. Now an adult, happily married to another gymnast and a mother of two, Dominique is clearly coming from a healthier, more confident place. She tells her story honestly, without sugarcoating past events OR demonizing those who harmed her. That’s a hard line to walk. Especially when she finds out, shortly before the birth of her first child, that she has another sister whom she never knew existed. Some reviewers are skeptical whether a lot of these events really happened, but sadly, it all seems pretty believable to me.
Flat-Out Love by Jessica Park (and companion novella, Flat-Out Matt) (4 stars)
When Julie arrives in Boston for her freshman year of college, her apartment rental turns out to be a scam. So her mother’s former roommate takes her in, and she’s suddenly part of their unusual family: kind, geeky, and exasperating MIT student Matt, precocious and quirky preteen Celeste… and a life-sized cutout of their adored older brother, Finn, who is away on a long international trip. As Julie grows closer to Matt and Celeste, she has a growing certainty that something’s very wrong in their household. I don’t want to say much more about the plot, but suffice to say I read the entire book in one night. LOVED IT!!! Aside: Even though it’s clear in the book that Julie is from Ohio, I kept imagining her as British. I finally realized that her “voice” reminded me a LOT of British-American blogger Holly of Nothing But Bonfires.
The God of the Mundane by Matt B. Redmond (4 stars)
In this short and excellent book, former pastor Matt Redmond debunks the prevailing attitude that our lives don’t count unless we’re doing Something Big for God. He observes that our celebrity-worshiping, success-oriented, everyone-is-special culture has fully assimilated into the Church. I especially liked his point that, while the Church urges us to live big, daring lives like the apostles, the Bible never actually commands such a thing. Instead, it encourages Christians to aspire to a quiet life, doing the work God has put to our hands. While this book is a little repetitive considering its length, a lot of the statements in it profoundly encouraged me. I really need to take its message to heart.
Forever, Interrupted by Taylor Jenkins Reid (3.5 stars)
I reviewed this here.
Revenge Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger (2.5 stars)
Ten years after the events of The Devil Wears Prada, former enemies Andy and Emily are best friends and co-founders of a successful high-end wedding magazine, The Plunge. Andy has just married the handsome, charming heir to a media empire. Other than her mother-in-law’s disapproval of the marriage, her life is going great, and her nightmarish year working for Miranda Priestly is far in the past. Then Andy gets several unexpected surprises, and Miranda makes an offer to buy The Plunge that the girls can’t refuse. I was really excited for this novel, but it didn’t live up to my expectations. I somehow expected a more lighthearted plot. A lot of what happens in the story is disappointing and sad.
Books for June: 9 (woo hoo!)
2013 year to date: 37
1 Comment + Posted in: book reviews, reading
Last weekend I went to Panama City Beach with my sister, BIL, and niece! A couple they know in Dothan has a condo at the beach and kindly offered to let us use it. So I flew down (from Nashville) on Friday, and Debra, Lance, and Niecy met me there.
Unfortunately, our weekend quickly started to resemble a Griswold family vacation. Both my incoming and outgoing flights were three hours late. The weather was fairly stormy (although we enjoyed a few pockets of sunshine). We couldn’t swim very much due to DOUBLE red flags on Saturday – I had never seen this sign before:
We did go to the pool and pose on the beach, though!
On Saturday, Debra and Lance both got really sick. We suspect food poisoning because Niecy and I never caught it, but we also ate a lot of the same things, so it doesn’t make much sense either way. I felt SO terrible for them. We actually closed up the condo and went back to Dothan on Saturday night. Sunday was supposed to be Debra’s and my Hermanas Only day at the beach, so I was really sad and disappointed.
On the plus side, I got some fun bonding time with Niecy that I wouldn’t have had otherwise. She’s at a really fun age. I already miss her, but thankfully she and Debra are coming to visit in a few weeks.
By Sunday morning Debra had made a miraculous recovery! So she and I went back to PCB and had our day together after all. We went to the pier, which was lovely.
This sign cracked me up:
And then it was beach time, during which WE SAW DOLPHINS! I didn’t attempt to take pictures of them, but there was a large pod about 100 yards offshore. I was ecstatic. I’ve only visited the Gulf about five times, but I’ve seen dolphins every time.
So the vacation ended well, and since I was blessedly not sick, I was able to stick to my plan of spending Sunday night with my college BFF Emily and her family in the Nashville area. We went to lunch and hung out yesterday before I headed home, and I spent some quality time with all of her kids, including her new baby. Two birds! One stone!
And now it’s a VERY short work week. Yay!
3 Comments + Posted in: family, florida, friends
My vegetable garden is OUT OF CONTROL! Every evening, when I go out to look at it, I still feel stunned. I love to talk about my garden. A few of my co-workers are now calling me Farmer Brenda and asking when I’ll be selling at the farmer’s market. :) I haven’t harvested anything yet, but it won’t be long!
The tomato plants have continued to grow about a foot a week, but I think they’re slowing down now with the arrival of the fruit! I have five plants. Roma, Mortgage Lifter and grape all have lots of green tomatoes now. Beefsteak looks strong but doesn’t have any blooms yet. My Sweet 100 cherry, which is hidden in the back of the tomato section, is the only plant in the garden that hasn’t thrived. I’m not sure if it’s not getting enough light, or the other plants are taking its nutrients, or what, but it’s not dead yet so I haven’t given up on it.
Behind the tomatoes is the cucumber trellis, which the cucumbers have already taken over. This picture was taken last Friday, and since then I’ve had to start draping the vines over the top of the trellis. I may eventually have to cut them back because there’s nowhere else for them to go!
On the left and we have assorted bell peppers and one banana pepper, in the middle are more peppers and an eggplant, and on the right are yellow squash and spaghetti squash, which are just as aggressive as the cucumbers. You can see the vine running up the side of the house. Off to the right I also have cilantro (which already bolted – boo), tarragon, basil, sage, dill, and oregano.
This was my first squash EVER! Every year, my squash plants bloom and have great foliage, then wither and die suddenly without producing a single fruit. So, even though a chipmunk came a few days later and stole this one off the vine, I’ve already declared success. Now a second squash has appeared and is already bigger than the first.
Here’s the cantaloupe! No fruit yet, but the vines are loaded with blooms. I put up this trellis for them so they’d have their own area and not choke out other plants. Hopefully it’ll hold up the heavy fruits. In front of the cantaloupe section is my heirloom watermelon vine, and a special mystery squash that was a gift from the owner of Bartlett Nursery. I’m really excited about the watermelon. The seeds were given to me by my sister’s father-in-law.
Before this year, I had truly given up on ever having a successful garden. I wasn’t going to stop gardening, but I had tried everything I could think of for five or six years, so I accepted my destiny of consistently mediocre harvests. But my dad never gave up and continued to help and encourage me. Now I have this amazing bounty. Hopefully there’s a lesson there!
2 Comments + Posted in: gardening, thankful
About a month ago, my friend Esther tweeted me a link to an online writing course in which she had just enrolled. I think you should sign up with me, she said. It was called Story 101, a ten-week writing course about “finding your voice.” Each week had a different theme with assignments and discussion topics. It looked like something that could really benefit me.
I’ve considered going back to school a hundred times, but don’t know what I could go for that would significantly improve my life or justify the sacrifices involved. Most recently I rejected the idea because my main work-oriented goal is to grow as a writer, and I don’t necessarily need a degree for that. Well, shortly after I came to that conclusion, this opportunity arrived. But I was (justifiably) concerned about having adequate time and energy to commit 110% to the course – the old perfectionism problem. Finally my sister said, “Even if you can’t do A-plus work, you’ll still get something out of this. Just do what you can.” How revolutionary. I also realized that if I’m ever going to take myself seriously as a writer, I’ll have to get over my mindset that investing money or significant time into my writing is too self-indulgent. And the world won’t end if I sometimes need to prioritize the course over other things. If I was, say, getting an MBA, no one would blink at me letting some things slide to focus on schoolwork. But even though I won’t have any conventional marks of success or achievement at the end of this course, it will still be valuable TO ME. This is my “grad school”… or at least the start of it.
So, I signed up, and the course starts on July 1. As in next Monday. I know I need some risk and challenge in my life, but at this eleventh hour I feel mostly apprehensive and wonder what I got myself into. I’m still pretty fuzzy on the day-to-day details of the class. Mainly, I’m worried that even though it’s supposed to be about finding and clarifying your own voice, there’ll be a lot of pressure to conform to a certain kind of voice (which many of the enrollees already seem to share). I’m doing this to become a better me, not to learn how to better imitate someone else. Maybe fighting to remain myself will be another learning experience (although I feel like I’m already doing that constantly). Who knows. Regardless, I’m thankful to have a friend in it with me.
Anyway, I’m sure I’ll be glad I did Story 101. It’s just the anticipation that’s agonizing. Over the next few months, I’m sure I’ll have some posts spawned by my assignments or the course in general. I’ll also need all the encouragement and support I can get. So I wanted to mention it here.
13 Comments + Posted in: career, the writing life
On Saturday, I went to a meet and greet with D.J. Stephens, one of my favorite Memphis Tiger basketball players of all time! He just graduated and is eligible for the NBA draft on Thursday (along with Adonis Thomas, who left school early to enter the draft). So this was like a last hurrah for Tiger Nation before he goes wherever he’s going (we’re all hoping to the Grizzlies, but who knows). He’s an incredible athlete and I’ll be thrilled to see him get a chance.
I had brunch with Alanna beforehand near the bookstore, and she stayed to wait in line with me and even got D.J. to sign a poster for the boy she nannies. The place was packed. We waited in line for about an hour, and there was probably another hour’s worth of fans behind us.
D.J. seems like a truly nice, humble, genuine guy. He was great with the kids, as well as random alumni there without kids!!
I had such a blast. It was especially great to be with a friend who enjoyed my excitement and didn’t think I was weird. I get self-conscious sometimes about how into this basketball team I am, but that’s just the way it is. It brings me joy. I could be taking joy in much worse things. :) She even confirmed my belief that I ought to be working for the University and putting all this passion to good use. Maybe someday!
PS: This is now my official meeting-a-Tiger shirt. I wore the same one when I got a picture with Charles Carmouche in 2011:
2 Comments + Posted in: friends, tigers