Everyone is Beautiful – A review

I just finished reading Everyone is Beautiful by Katherine Center.

I absolutely loved this book, and I have to admit, I was a bit surprised. I wasn’t sure how much I could relate to the story of a married woman with 3 kids. But the story of Lanie Coates is the story of any woman who has seen imperfection in her own life. And really, which of us hasn’t?

One of the things I loved about this novel, besides the brilliant writing and laugh-out-loud humor, was the use of art (photography and music) to demonstrate the creative outlet we all need. I also appreciated the fact that Lanie admits that having kids isn’t all about baking cupcakes and smiling faces. She shows the real side, the very difficult side, that you sometimes wish you could get away from.

One aspect of the novel that I could completely relate to was the idea of reinventing yourself. Lanie goes on a quest to get her pre-mother self back. She starts taking time for herself, even when there doesn’t seem to be even one minute. She starts going to the gym, she starts taking pictures, and she starts being a little bit selfish. And in the midst of doing it, she not only regains her “self,” but she also finds the new woman who she has now become.

One of the quotes I love from this book comes from the last page, but it doesn’t give anything about the novel away:

Beauty comes from variety, from specificity, from the fact that no person in the world looks exactly like anyone else.  Beauty comes from the tragedy that each person’s life is destined to be lost to time.  I believe women are too hard on themselves.  I believe that when you love someone, she becomes beautiful to you (Center 233).

This quote made me think about myself.  So often I focus on the things about myself that I want to improve – weight loss, how to deal with my crazy, curly hair, a new foundation or lipstick that will make me look beautiful – and I forget to focus on the things about myself that I love.  My personality, my humor, my intelligence, and my lust for life.  I am beautiful, and this quote reminded me to think about that a bit more often.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a well written story but I feel like it should be mandatory reading for anyone who is a mother.

I look forward to reading Center’s other books, because she is an author with a gift for expressing the everyday in an extraordinary way.

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Book Review – I Loved, I Lost, I Made Spaghetti

I just finished one of the best books I have read in a long time.  It’s called I Loved, I Lost, I Made Spaghetti by Giulia Melucci.  I could relate to everything in this book – the bad dates/relationships, the love of cooking, the Italian-American (half Sicilian, mind you) culture – all of it.

The book is a combination smart chick-lit, recipe book.  The pairing works fantastically well, as do the menus she provides throughout the book.  Anyone who knows an Italian will tell you that one of the ways we show our love is through food.  The idea for the book was inspired.

Melucci’s style is a great mix of sarcastic, self-deprecating, and so, so humorous.  Her down-to-earth style reminds me a bit of myself.  This is the type of book I would have loved to have written.

The recipes in the book sound divine, and I’m definitely going to try many of them out.

I just found out that Giulia Melucci is going to be giving a book signing in SF on July 11th, and I’ve made plans to be there.

Here’s a little bit from the author, just to entice you:

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Pretty in Plaid Review

I will start this review by saying I’m completely biased, and I love Jen Lancaster. I’ve seen her twice in person at book signings, and I am a huge fan.  The most recent book signing I attended was last Wednesday at the Borders at Stonestown Galleria in San Francisco.  I came to the signing rockin’ a popped collar on my polo shirt and sporting a side ponytail.  The signing was ’80s themed, because the book is a look back an Jen’s life growing up in the ’80s.  It was such a treat to hear Jen reading from her book, answering questions from the audience, and then taking the time to sign books and take pictures with everyone.  Jen Lancaster is such a class act; she really shows her appreciation of her fans by making herself so available to them at the signings.

This book definitely didn’t disappoint. I could relate to almost all of it (although I was never in a sorority, I did go to an all-girls Catholic school and Mean Girls are Mean Girls, know what I mean?). Lancaster improves her writing with each book, and this one was engaging. I love Lancaster’s wry, witty style and her sarcasm is fantastic. This book was number 8 on the NY Times Bestseller list for a reason, people.

One of my favorite parts of Jen Lancaster’s books is the end, when she starts to reflect on what she’s learned by going through the process she’s described in the 250 pages or so that you’ve just read. I finish each book not wanting it to end, but knowing that I’ve been completely entertained, inspired, and might have learned a thing or two about myself in the process.

Jen Lancaster is my Candace Bushnell (if you’ve read the book, you’ll get the reference).

If you haven’t read the book, I highly recommend you pick up a copy today.

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Finally Friday

I know I haven’t written a real post on here in a while.  Not sure exactly why that is, other than the fact that I’ve been writing a lot more on my weight loss blog, and sometimes it’s hard to come up with content for both.  Or, the other obvious reason, because there hasn’t been a whole lot worth writing about going on in my life. 

So, I thought I’d do a quick recap/update of some of the things I’ve been doing

• I’ve been sticking to my Back to School Plan of staying 2 hours everyday after school to get my work done, rather than grading at home, on the weekends, and pulling all-nighters.  So far I’ve been really successful.  We just had grades due on Monday, and normally my weekend would’ve been stressful and I would’ve spent hours and hours grading.  Instead, I only spent about an hour grading my last 10 book reports that I hadn’t finished. It’s so nice to get home around 4:30 or 5pm everyday knowing that I have left school at school.  I know I have the entire evening stretched out ahead of me, and I can do whatever I want to with the time.  Weekends too.  It’s been great!
• On that note of having more free time, I really need to get some hobbies.  The last two years I have had almost no free time, so this idea of having idle time is sort of getting to me.  I know that I could/should use the time to workout, and I want to do that.  It’s just that reading a book on the couch sounds so much more fun than working out, ya know?  I think I’m going to tell myself that once I’ve been going to the gym or doing some other form of activity (bike riding, doing exercise DVDs, going for a walk, etc.) at least 5 days a week to start, then and only then can I entertain the idea of doing some other hobby.  Because the main goal I have in my life right now is to lose weight, so I feel like most of my efforts should be focused on that, if at all possible.  Ok, this bullet point was a good little pep talk for me.  🙂
• I joined eHarmony, but so far, the results have been nothing to write home about.  Or write a blog about.  None of the guys that are my “matches” are people I would want to go out with.  Not that they have anything wrong with them, per se, but they either live too far from me, are too old for me (11 years older is too old, I think), and seem to be in a different place in life than I am.  I paid for 3 months, so I’m hoping some diamond in the rough stands out and he and I decide we want to at least go on a date.  So far, I haven’t even entertained that idea with any of my so-called matches.  Ugh. 
• Any ideas of other places I can meet a nice guy? 
• The library has become my new favorite haunt.  I’ve been going at least once a week to return books and pick up new ones.  I’m like a reading machine.  I’ve always been an avid reader, but over the past two years I didn’t have as much time to devote to reading for pleasure, because I had so many things to read for my Masters program.  It’s so nice to read anything I want again.  You can click on my Goodreads link in my sidebar to see what I’ve been reading lately.  Mostly chick-lit because sometimes you just need to get lost in the fantasy, right?
• Now that I joined Weight Watchers, and I’m  eating real food again, I’ve been able to start cooking!  I’ve come to find out how much I really love cooking.  I want to start spending more time pouring over recipe books, creating meals and showing off my culinary creativity.  So much fun!!
• I’ve been enjoying spending time with friends and family.  Every weekend since school started I have been able to spend time with my parents, my sister, my nieces, and/or my friends.  It’s been great.  I’ve spent spa days, had cocktails, hosted a book club, gone to several dinners, and had lots of quick coffee/catch-up sessions.  I love reconnecting with all of my favorite people. 

So, that’s what’s been going on with me.  Nothing overly exciting, but all good things.  I’m enjoying the quieter side of life right now.  I’m learning to live life at a bit of a slower pace and enjoy each day.

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“New” Author I Love – Laurie Notaro

So Laurie Notaro isn’t new, in fact she’s been writing for over 10 years, but I recently found out about her.  I was searching another book on Amazon.com and one of Laurie’s books came up as a “people who bought that book also bought this book” selection.  I loved the retro image on the cover so much that I decided to click on it for more info.  (I know the old saying about not judging a book by its cover, but in this case, I was drawn in).

Laurie must be hot right now, because Cammy mentioned her in a recent post, too.  In the post Cammy mentions that she can’t wait for Laurie’s book signing in Memphis.  I’m so jealous, because as of now, Laurie doesn’t have any tour dates scheduled for the Bay Area at all.  It’s a pity, too, because I think they’d love her here.  

Laurie is snarky, ill-tempered, hilarious, sarcastic, quick-witted, and an all around fun author to read.  Add to that the fact that she’s Italian, and I could totally relate to so much of what she writes.  

So far I’ve read  Autobiography of a Fat Bride: True Tales of a Pretend Adulthood

and  There’s a (Slight) Chance I Might Be Going to Hell.  There are several other books that I have in my queue in the library and in my cart on Amazon.  

I think I love Laurie’s non-fiction more than her fiction, but I’ve really enjoyed everything I’ve read by her so far.  Her down-to-earth yet intelligent writing style really draws me in.  She’s not pretentious, yet she makes allusions to literature and pop culture that you might have to be “in the know” to follow.  I like reading books like that – they make me feel smarter after I’m through reading them, somehow.  

Reading authors like Notaro (and Jen Lancaster) inspire me to pursue my own writing career.  I feel like I should look into taking a non-fiction writing class in order to hone my craft a bit more.  I have the ability to write, and the creativity to come up with some interesting topics, but I think I need a bit of instruction about how to organize all of it into a format that could fit into a book.  (One of my goals in life is to have a book published).  

So if you find yourself at the bookstore or library, I’d highly recommend picking up a book by Laurie Notaro – I’m sure you’ll be glad you did.

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