Mind, Matter, and Me

I am late. So very very late. I had a whole plan to have written and posted this way closer to the new year but working night shifts really screws with any plans. I am here now though! Here to talk your ear off about books. My favorite subject.

This year I read 50 books exactly, which was my goal. I am so proud of myself for reaching my goal yet again! What an amazing feeling it is to have reached a goal you had in your mind all year. Goals are amazing like that. They have the ability to either be a thorn in your butt all year, something painful and always an aching reminder of things you have to do, or, they can be like a ire under your butt, always motivating you to keep reaching and reminding you of the amazing things you GET to do. It’s all perspective really. Do I have to do this? Or do I get to do this?

My younger brother hates my reading goals. He himself is an avid reader. He has always been a reader so his vocabulary is otherwise fabulous where as because I am a late in life reader my vocabulary is already pretty set. He’s by default the cooler reader, using words I have to ask definitions for and winning Biggest Book Worm as a senior superlative. He once used the word Lingua-Franca at the local Champaign Chilis at 8pm while we were catching up over dinner. Stunned. I was completely stunned as I had never heard of that word nor could I tell you today its definition. What conversation could have possibly solicited that word. How the hell did he weave it into our conversation?? He is by far the cooler reader. Anyways! Buddy hates my reading goal because through out the year I am at times very stressed about it. I begrudgingly tell my family that I am 3 books behind schedule (look mom! I can use big words too!) or optimistically tell them that I am no longer 3 books behind but now 2! Any time I brought up this reading goal, Buddy would say “I don’t know why you have this reading goal. Doesn’t it take the fun out of reading? It makes it more of a chore, instead of reading because the book is good or you want to”. And I have a lot of thoughts on this. One being that he clearly doesn’t know I have the best taste in books so every book I read is good and therefore I want to keep reading. The second thought being that while sometimes I felt as if it were a chore, more times than not I found it to be motivating. When I am feeling extra down or depressed because of work or life or the whole being a 22 year old girl thing, reading helps me feel better. It is still my favorite form of therapy, a personal reset button, and feels like a big exhaling breath. Knowing myself, without a reading goal I would maybe not return to reading, to my safe haven, and it would take way longer for me to even start to feel better. It would be way harder for me to come out of that sad spell. So sure reading sometimes felt like an obligation but more times than not, it felt like purpose. Something to keep me going.

This year, I loved 98% of the books I read. I have my favorites that I am going it list and I went through the trouble of copying all my favorite quotes from all 50 books into another google document I am excited to share. I hope this can be a post where others can go to if they need inspiration for a book recommendation. I love when people text me and ask me for those. Let this be another resource. I have been trying to come up with ways to make this book review post be more engaging, exciting, or enticing. Beyond the pretty pictures of the covers or beyond the book quotes which I always hope people look over. With the book quotes, my goal is that someone feels inspired by what two cents a certain book gave me to go ahead and give it a try themselves. This year what I came up with was giving my favorite books reviews to let you know what those books made me feel. The feelings a book gives me are a huge factor in whether or not I like the book enough to recommend it. I don’t want to recommend my favorite books with out advertising the feelings they gave me.

With out further ado, here are all the books I read in 2023:

Now for my top contenders and their reviews!! They are in no particular order. Well they are in chronological order from when I read them in the year actually. This list will be followed by the link to my google document of favorite book quotes.

1. A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman
2. This is How it Always is by Laurie Frankel
3. Happy Place by Emily Henry
4. The Humans by Matt Haig
5. Mad Honey by Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Boylan
6. The Measure by Nikki Erlick
7. Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano
8. Earthlings by Sayaka Murata
9. The Windy City Series by Liz Tomford (3 books)
10. You’d Be Home Now by Kathleen Glasgow

Reviews:

1. A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman

You know when you’re outside in the winter and you’re cold. You take that first sip of a hot drink and you feel your entire body warm? Thats what this book felt like. It was like my heart was genuinely warming. It was pulling a grinch and growing 3x its size. This book is a phenomenal example of how being a stubbornly kind, compassionate, and understanding person can change the lives of others. Sometimes the grumpiest of people are the ones who need the most love. And don’t let them tell you otherwise.

2. This is How it Always is by Laurie Frankel

As a person who has no children of her own but has parents who show me relentless support, this book made me feel utterly proud of anyone who has ever been a parent, but more than that, a parent who is accepting of their children no matter who they turn out to be. I was in tears at how protective families can be of those they love. This book was a beautiful depiction of family, life, change, self discovery, and accepting the in-between. Explores the beautiful and transformative journey of Claude who is truthfully Poppy and the family who loved both of them. But loved authentic Poppy more 🙂

3. Happy Place by Emily Henry

Picture that place that you and your friends call yours. A lake house, a breakfast place, an old apartment. A Happy Place. A place where your memories there are only spoiled with happiness, laughter, love. There with the people who make you, well, you. This book is that place but plus that bit of messy that life always introduces into the mix. This book made me feel excited for the future of my adult friendships. It made me excited to return to the places I see as my Happy Places. I absolutely adored and yearned for the the friendships and relationships embedded into this story. Nothing beats surrounding yourself with people who love and know you to the core and vice versa.

4. The Humans by Matt Haig

Have you ever wondered what an Alien would think of the human race? (I know most of you have, don’t lie to yourself) Have you ever lost faith in humanity because we are so engulfed in our own culture and its horrors that you lose sight of the things that are beautiful and worth living for with in our culture? I felt utterly refreshed. I felt reset by this book. I love Matt Haig as an author. Being human is constantly contradictory and beautifully complex. This book reminds you that the idea of existence is essentially impossible and yet here we are. Living and choosing to love people and life. I loved this book. It was my favorite feel good, fall in love with being human again type of read

5. Mad Honey by Judi Picoult and Jennifer Boylan

News comes that shocks you. You doubt what you knew about a person and now feel forced to question their character, something you never thought you’d have to do. We’ve all been there. Whether big or small. I felt so entangled in the story. Invested in the two sides of the story both told my women who loved the person under scrutiny. But there is a twist of hope. There is beauty and faith and truth in this story. I felt proud of a male character for once. I felt proud of everyone who lives their lives truthfully and authentically. I also learned a lot about how fucking cool Honey is as a resource. I wish I could describe this book better because its a book I recommend to so many people because theres something in it for everyone. Just read it.

6. The Measure by Nikki Erlick

Every emotion under the sun was felt. How would we live our lives knowing just how much time left we had? How much does life change when this information is accessible? I felt inspired by this read. I love a book that is able to offer a reader the perspective that life is messy but it will continue. Life is full of hard choices. All anyone wants to do, is believe they are making the right ones. This book follows multiple POVs which I always adore because it gives you perspective. There are so many ways to view things, and it’s important to learn how perspective shapes being.

7. Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano

You ever wonder what the modern day Little Women would look like? It would look like this book. Little Women set in a Chicago neighborhood (shoutout to Chi city). This story made me wish for sisters and yet be grateful for their (my theoretical sister(s) ) absence. Its a story about love, guilt, sisterhood, acknowledging your past, family, shame, the importance of knowing your roots, darkness, forgiveness. Finding your truth. What brings you solace. Just heart warming and soul saving. So much forgiveness and love and acceptance for family and those you adore. I know I already said those things but I cannot stress my love for this book enough.

8. Earthlings by Sayaka Murata

This book is incredible hard to talk about without giving away minor spoilers. I had no idea what the book was going to bring me. It is a heavy read with hard and sometimes incomprehensible topics. It captures how abuse can transform someone’s reality physically and mentally. You sit fascinated that this is the bodies coping mechanisms for unfathomable experiences. The ending makes you question what is real and what is a delusion. A great read for anyone wanting to be astonished and bewildered by the lives people feel they have to live in order to survive after abuse or trauma. I felt sad at parts of this book. Its a hard read but I grew to appreciate the lessons it was teaching me about coping mechanisms and the importance of listening to the things people are telling you, to believe people. Very different from most of my reads which is why I think I have it in my top 10

9. The Windy City Series by Liz Tomford (3 books)

My review is going to be this. You ever feel giddy because you’re about to hang out with some of your favorite people. Or have you ever been in a relationship that makes you smile stupid. Returning to these books had me feeling giddy. The relationships in these books make me smiles stupid as if I was in them. These are romance novels! So for my people who love romance and appreciate smut, this is for you. I can literally hear these books begging you to read them. Chicago athletes meeting their significant others…Dual POVs…Hot main characters… I loved these books. I felt in love while reading these. I am dating all of them at the same time!

10. You’d Be Home Now by Kathleen Glasgow

I was reading this book at work when a nurse said, “Wow. You’re really invested in that book huh?” This book made me feel like someone was telling me a story that made me want to scoop them up and hug and hold them until everything was going to be okay. A story told from the perspective of a child who has always tried to make her families life easier. Her brother is a drug addict. Her sister is perfect. Who does her family need to be? Who is she on her own? I cried a little here and there. Emmy is stronger than anyone her age ever should have to be. Even as someone with a life impossibly different from Emmys, I still found myself in Emmy. I was emotional watching Emmy transform, accept, and love. Heartfelt and brave!!!

BOOK QUOTES INCOMINGGGGGGGGGG!!! Forewarning, some of the books I read I was didn’t have quotes for or any that were of note to the average human. In that case I think I just left a little review. If you liked one of my reviews and need to be reassured by the quotes to read it, that is so super cool of you. Good idea bud!

And same as last year, my favorite quotes are highlighted in blue!! You should see all the titles on the side so you don’t have to scroll and search. Enjoy my nerds<3

Book Quotes of 2023

To conclude this ridiculously long post, I wanted to say I genuinely would recommend about 98% of the books I read. You just gotta let me know what genre you like! I had this problem while creating the master list of quotes where I was copy and pasting quotes or writing down quotes saved from my Kindle and saying after I finished every book, “Wow yeah that book was so good. I loved what this book had offered to me”. These books? I love them.

Thank you for being patient with me! I got glass in my foot this morning and forgot I had therapy the other day so I had to go to bed earlier and I just have been invested in the ACOTAR series now too. Oh and I have been delivering babies in the middle of the night and sleeping during the day.

BOTTOM LINE: READ A BOOK THIS YEAR! EVEN IF ITS JUST ONE.

LISTEN TO WHAT A BOOK IS TELLING YOU BY WHAT IT IS MAKING YOU FEEL!!!!

This post is literally a mess. If you made it this far, I want to say I love you? Is too soon to tell you that? Anyways I love you and owe you about 15 minutes of my time down the line.

Much love!

Your book nerd,

Me