We are fortunate and filled with gratitude for what we do have.
Rebel Rising by Rebel Wilson is an excellent memoir. I felt, as I read it, that she was just hanging out on the patio and talking to me. Quite a life. From Australia, a shy girl who just knows she's different and blossoms when acting. Incredibly poor, she becomes single mindedly focused on whatever task is at hand. She's enterprising. She plays tennis. She gets a law school degree. She has a gap year time in South Africa, and a bout of malaria.
She is candid about her weight, the journey in regards to her health.
She is candid about her late blooming love life.
She is really, really funny and I read this book with her Aussie accent in my head. Plus she's far from done - she's producing, directing, and acting. She's a rebel with plenty to say.
So many songs - I love "Cracklin' Rosie", "I'm a Believer", "I Am, I Said", "Play Me", "September Morn", "Song Sung Blues", and so so many more. What's your fave?
And of course - the showstopping "Sweet Caroline"... SO GOOD...SO GOOD...!
If the touring production comes to your town, check out A Beautiful Noise.
Good luck, Levi, in the Terrible Twos Phase.
Lauren and Ryan's marriage is out of sorts. They decide to take a year off to figure things out. The only rule is NO Contact at all. Lauren finds this very challenging. She's questioning monogamy, marriage, romance, fidelity, love, lust, and more. Key questions - what do you value? What are you willing to fight for?
I enjoyed this story and it does make one think about the whole concept of marriage. Taylor Jenkins Reid writes a good tale and obviously liked her characters. She's realistic with their flaws and helps them work through a tough year.
A worthy reading journey.
cover blurb -Lila Kennedy wrote a bestselling book about keeping your marriage alive. Now she's watching her ex-husband play happy families with another woman. Her very fractured family is forced to live under one roof and Lila thinks she's reached her limit. But what if the one person you couldn't forgive holds the secret to pulling your family together again?
Meanwhile, her agent is bugging her for her next book - hoping it will be about being single again and playing the field. Lila isn't feeling that free and easy. She's maybe seeing Jensen.
Her stepdad, Bill, moved in after Lila's mother died. He helped raise Lila. He's a help until he's not.
Her real father, Gene, a failed Hollywood actor, was never around. Suddenly he's at her doorstep - out of money.
And her daughters, Celie and Violet, are furious at their father who left them, and are now rather fascinated by this "new" grandfather.
What a mess. Lila has a lot to deal with and work through. Jojo Moyes is a solid writer who keeps the plot churning, the characters in play, and humor abounds amidst the messes of family life.
Well done.
cover blurb - Change is coming to Faha, a small Irish parish unaltered in a thousand years. Electricity is coming and the rain seems to stop.
Noel Crowe is seventeen, restless, and a bit excited when Christy comes to Faha. He has secrets and a past love here in Faha. Meanwhile, Noel falls in and out of love with three sisters - all out of his league.
cover blurb - Niall Williams gives us a tender portrait of a community - its idiosyncrasies and traditions, its paradoxes and kindnesses, its failures and triumphs - with a tender coming of age story.
I enjoyed the writing - Williams' Irish lilt and his meandering ways all lend a charm. Not a lot really happens and that's okay. It's just the journey and time spent in town - the gossip, the silences, the "scandal", and the time going to church, discussing church, avoiding church, and hoping the rains come again. That is happiness.
This was a nice jaunt, thanks to my sister.
Incredibly amazing place to visit. I hope you enjoyed this quick few days of blog posts as an overview.
Happy November!
