All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven
Taking a class that forces me to read Young Adult fiction, opens your eyes to a genre that may be overlooked by most adults, including yours truly. I am not a fan of YA literature, as I feel that many times the books are too easy and the subject matter doesn’t really apply to me any longer. For young adults that are struggling to find their place in the world, the genre is very timely.
This book is written from two points of view, both of which are unique to life situations that could happen to any teenager. Finch and Violet are the two main characters and they live lives that are very different on the outside, one has a very loving two parent family, the other lives with a mother that is overworked and visits a father who has replaced his original family. Violet suffers from crippling emotional issues due to the death of her older sister; Finch suffers from emotional issues that stem from an abusive father and a life that is less than stellar. They pair up for a school project where they eventually become emotionally invested in one another. While the ending of the book is sad at first, the more you mull over what happened, you realize that there was no way for them to fully save one another.
Not growing up in the current climate of heightened awareness for mental illnesses, I found the book helpful in terms of understanding how my future students might feel if their lives mirrored either character in the book. Perhaps more adults would be a bit more sympathetic if they looked at the lives of young adults, as opposed to just assigning blanket blame to everyone in a generation. I guess the same could be said for younger generations also.
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt
Having visited Savannah, Georgia about 8 years ago, I saw a lot of merchandise for this book. I was slightly intrigued, but it was a passing fancy as I forgot all about it after I left. Fast forward to New Year’s Day 2017 and I’m having a wonderful conversation about books with Skyler (a high school student and the daughter of some friends). She recommended the book, as it is one of her favorite books. Considering we had quite a few texts in common, I took her up on the offer and found the audio-book at a local library. As I commute to class, I have between 40 to 120 minutes of commuting per week.
The book moved a bit slow and it took me a bit to figure out how all of the figures in the book are connected. Once I figured that out, it seemed to fly by! I enjoyed the book, the mystery, the voodoo and the characters in the book. I laughed many time through the book and I also felt sympathy with many of the characters. While driving, I thought of my time in the beautiful city and wondered how close I was to the locations the book. By thinking about the book in that manner, I really wanted to visit Savannah again.
Many stories in the book are interconnected in a way that is not instantly obvious, save for the narrator being the person telling the various stories. Once the pieces began to fall together, I realized how well the author attached the characters to one another and their specific story. I want to watch the movie, but as usual I fear that it will ruin the impression I have of the book (especially considering I looked it up on IMDB and discovered that two actors I dislike are two main characters in the stories). Overall, I would recommend the book for someone who enjoys reading books that make you think and enjoy mysteries and murder.
Mindfulness: An Eight-Week Plan for Finding Peace in a Frantic World by Mark Williams, Danny Penman, and Jon Kabat-Zinn
We all live frantic lives at this day and time. No one has has time for anything beyond work and maybe some family obligations. As a culture we are overworking and under appreciating things in life. This book asks the readers to take a step back and become aware of how unaware we are of our surroundings. There are meditation practices in the book that can help bring the reader to a present state of mind and become more aware of how to decipher what is truly important in life.
I was asked to read the book for a class that is one of the final steps to receiving certification to teach. The book was assigned because the instructors do not want teacher candidates to become overwhelmed while student teaching. I can appreciate the concern for the future student teachers, especially since this course is taken shortly before student teaching.
While reading the book I realized that somehow I already practice Mindfulness on occasion. I am not always a positive person, but I do try to find the positive in many situations. I get down on myself and feel like the world is crashing down around me. I give up things that give me pleasure, because I feel that if I don’t cave in, no one will. I am wrong. After finishing the book, I decided that I will take time for myself, regardless of what I think will crash down around me. There are many things I do to nourish myself and I always seem to disregard them when I feel stressed out. I have to remember that if I do not nourish myself, no one will. I spend time enjoying my children, my husband, and other things around me. However, I also feel a burden when I’m doing that because I feel like I am the only one who is there for them all the time and it is exhausting. Due to the current weather situation in the Midwest (no real winter this year), colds and other illnesses have run rampant. I do not remember being sick for so long and as I look back, I think that part of that may be because I am not nourishing myself and “burning the candle at both ends”. Between work, school, married life, and being a mother I leave very little to no time for myself. I am in control of myself and I need to find areas to cut out unnecessary time suckers that do not make me happy. Last night, I left the living room when the television came on. I am sick to death of having constant noise in my house. My husband, whom I love dearly, must have constant noise, which causes me stress because I like the quiet. I like time for self-reflection, meditation, yoga, and simply being in the quiet. Because I left the living room, I was able to carve out time to exercise, which is my “me” time, which is usually one of the first things I cut out of my life. When I cut out the exercise, I become a bitch. I am a terrible human being when I do not “refill my cup”, so that I can be a nourishing force for others.
Overall, I am glad I purchased and read the book. I will probably try practicing some of the mindfulness practices in my life so I can continue to re-evaluate my life and what I really need to keep myself happy and content in my life. I need to be present in my own life, because it is the only one I will ever have.
(All images taken from goodreads.com)
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