Stories and Songs: Sounds Like Me

Sounds Like Me: My Life (So Far) in Song by Sara Bareilles
Simon & Schuster, 2015

I grew up in the world of music just as much as the world of books. Being in band from 5th grade all through college had a huge impact on my life, both in terms of skills I have and the person I am. It's a challenging thing to describe how music made so many changes, which I always thought was ironic considering how universal and uniting music can be.

But recently, I was able to find some words that give voice to my thoughts in Sara Bareilles' essay collection. In these eight essays, singer-songwriter Bareilles sheds light on her childhood, various aspects of her career as it has changed over the years, and how music has been there for it all, seeing her through. A few of the pieces are stories behind some of her songs ("Gravity", "Love Song", and "Brave" all get time in the spotlight), while others cut into the pain she's endured: her parents' divorce, her struggles in high school and later in the music industry, learning to find herself while living alone in Italy. There are high points, too, such as writing the music and lyrics for the 2016 Broadway musical Waitress.

Given her background in songwriting, essays were a perfect choice for Bareilles to try her hand at a longer format. There's an extremely conversational style to the writing which is reminiscent of the banter Bareilles is known for in between songs at her concerts. I've been lucky enough to see her perform live once on her Little Black Dress Tour, and hear her when she was on tour for this book. The event hosted by Anderson's Bookshop in Naperville, Illinois was enjoyable and I left with a big smile on my face. There's such comfort that comes with meeting another introvert! Also, I made her laugh when I met her in the signing line, which was a bonus.

If you like Sara's music, pick this book up. You'll laugh. You'll get misty eyes. You'll lose count of how many times she swears, but f-it, you won't mind (I sure as hell didn't haha). This was a quick read that I throughly enjoyed and I hope she picks up her pen again soon.

Comments welcome, and, as always, happy reading.

Keep Creativity Coming: Big Magic

Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear by Elizabeth Gilbert
Riverhead, 2015

*ARC provided by the publisher - thank you! This in no way impacted my opinions of this book.*

Creativity can be a fickle thing. On the one hand, people can appreciate amazing things when they see them. Works of art. Powerful stories. Music that can move the soul. However, they can be less appreciative of the work that goes into creating such works, and, therefore, the people who aim to do the creating. It can be as daunting as it is liberating to live a creative life.

But never fear because Liz Gilbert is here. Best known for her memoir Eat, Pray, Love, Gilbert's latest book explores the nature of creativity: Where does it come from? How does it shape us? How can we harness it (if we can at all)? And that's just the tip of the iceberg.

Gilbert has clearly put a lot of thought into this topic - she's done two TED talks on the subject. This book is a unique blend of nonfiction in that it is part opinions, part theories, part anecdotal, and part motivational. Her voice is clear and authentic. She shares from her many and varied experiences from throughout her own creative life, and it was refreshing to have an author, who despite having just poured herself into a book, is the first to admit that she doesn't know everything, that she could be completely wrong. But that's exactly why she brings in the opinions and experiences of so many other people - she very consciously tries to cover as many of the bases as she can.

As someone who likes to consider herself a creative person, or at least aiming to live a creative life, I found this book to be great. I'm currently in between projects and exploring a handful of different creative outlets, searching the one that fits me in this moment. As a result, this was a case of reading the right book at the right time. I'm still exploring my options, but I'm so much happier in my uncertainty. So, thanks Liz. Keep doing what you're doing, and I'll keep trying what I'm trying.

Comments welcome, and, as always, happy reading!

Elizabeth Gilbert's Website
Elizabeth Gilbert on Twitter

Have Fun Storming the Castle: As You Wish

As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Making of The Princess Bride by Cary Elwes
Touchstone, 2014

I'm pretty sure I was in junior high the first time I ever saw The Princess Bride. Flipping through the channels, I came across this movie that was so wildly unlike anything I'd ever seen before. Sword fighting pirates. A miracle wizard. An actual giant. A princess who can't catch a break. A prince who is a huge jerk. And True Love. I wasn't quite sure of what to make of it, but with its wonderful satire and incredible quotability, how could I not fall in love?

Such were the thoughts of so many others who have come to find this film over the years. The movie's star Cary Elwes (Westley the Farm Boy) takes readers behind the scenes of this beloved movie, one he and so many others in the production are still proud to have been a part of over 25 years later. But while making this movie was the job of a lifetime, it wasn't always smooth sailing. Elwes had a few injuries over the course of the production. The sword fighting training was grueling. And then there was the pesky English weather to contend with. But as anyone who has seen this movie can attest to, the results on the screen were pure magic.

The biggest problem, the reason this film was initially considered a bit of a flop was because the marketing department at Fox had the same reaction I had the first time I saw it: what kind of story is it exactly? As a result, the movie did very modestly at the box office, but it turns out it was only "mostly dead" - thanks to the rise of the VCR, the movie grew to become a beloved classic.

For fans of the movies and people who enjoy DVD extras, this book is a must-read. Elwes does a great job of including the thoughts of others who worked on the film and covers everything from his audition to the cast's reunion for the movie's 25th anniversary. This book was also a remarkable insight into Andre the Giant who unfortunately passed away in the early 90s but was an incredibly thoughtful and kind man who was often misunderstood due to his size. I read this whole book over the course of a gray winter day - the type of day usually perfect for a Princess Bride viewing. I wanted to know more about this wonderful movie, and Elwes was more than happy to oblige.

As Westley would say, "As you wish."

Comments welcome, and, as always, happy reading!

Website for the book
Cary Elwes on Twitter

Signed, Sealed, Delivered: If You Find This Letter

If You Find This Letter: One Girl's Journey to Find Purpose Through Hundreds of Letters to Strangers by Hannah Brencher
Howard Books, Expected Release Date: March 10, 2015

*ARC provided by the publisher - thank you! This in no way impacted my opinions of this book.*

In 2010, Hannah Brencher graduated from college and moved to New York City. She knew she wanted to make a difference, to make the world better, but she wasn't quite sure how to do that. She believed in God, but the belief and relationship was complicated. She was surrounded by millions of people and yet, she was lonely. But things started to change with one choice she made riding the subway and she saw a woman who looked as tired as Hannah felt. She pulled out her notebook and wrote this woman a love letter. Not a romantic love, mind you. Just a note to give her a push, making a connection to let her know someone was thinking of her and wished her well. When she looked up from writing, the woman was gone and eventually Hannah decided to leave the letter (and the doezens of others she wrote like it over the following weeks) behind, simply addressed "If you find this letter, then it's for you." From there, a movement of sorts grew along with Hannah and her faith in God and in people, eventually taking shape in her organization More Love Letters.

It's hard for me to not be personal when talking about this book. In so many ways, I can empathize with Hannah. We both graduated from college in 2010, both wanting to make the world better but not quite sure how, both afforded opportunities while at the same time being stifled by a crippled economy. Reading this book made me feel like I had immediately made a friend; there was that instant connection of "this person gets me," an "I wish we could hang out in real life" sort of feeling. Her fears, as she comes to realize as her year in New York goes on, aren't quite as singular as she thought - they're universal, especially, I believe, among Millenials.

Hannah's story is nicely paced, moving along linerally while at times providing flashbacks, filling readers in on past events to explain her opinions and point of view more completely. Some people may find her quest or voice a bit cheesy at times, but I saw it as a person fighting to stay hopeful, especially in the face of depression.

This is a book for people who keep on trying, who have maybe lost sight of the good things in the world in the face of so much bad. The world does need more love letters, and it needs books like this and people like Hannah who aren't afraid of saying "this is who I am, this is what I believe, and if we work together, maybe we can make this world a little bit better one page at a time."

Which is to say, this book was absolutely for me and I can easily see myself rereading this and recommending it to people for years to come.

Comments welcome, and, as always, happy reading!

Hannah Brencher's Website
Hannah Brencher on Twitter
More Love Letters Official Website

A Journey to Time Past: Call the Midwife

Call the Midwife: A Memoir of Birth, Joy, and Hard Times by Jennifer Worth
Penguin, 2002

Oh how wildly different the world was 60 years ago, especially in East London. Poverty was high, work was hard, and families were huge, all things that kept the Sisters at Nonnatus House busy. When young nurse Jenny Lee joined as a midwife, she had no idea what she was in for having grown up in a privileged West End life. But her years in the docklands and among these people would have a profound impact on her forever.

I'll confess that I decided to read this memoir because I quickly fell in love with the TV series it inspired. Here, Jennifer Lee Worth focuses on a handful of the people she came to know at and through Nonnatus House. Sisters Monica Joan and Evangelina couldn't have been more different, but both taught Jenny much about life in general. Fellow midwife Chummy was larger than life in more ways than one, but her big size also meant that she had a tremendous heart. Fred was the convent's handyman and was generally always up to something to try to earn money, though it may not have always been legal. And then there were the many many patients and cases that Jenny worked with at all hours of the day.

I'm not quite sure what to make of this memoir, if I'm completely honest. The book opened my eyes to the incredible poverty of the time, but also the strength of the human spirit. Many of these people were flawed, and they all certainly had their own crosses to bear. Some were successful, some were survivors, and some were victims of an unkind fate. It was also interesting to see how the National Health Service was radically changing some of these circumstances, especially since that program is something that has not only survived but thrived and is still a huge source of pride for the British people today.

My primary criticism, therefore, lies with Worth's writing style (which I feel especially awkward saying since Worth passed away in 2011). I agree with other reviews I've seen on this book that the several chapters regarding a young prostitute called Mary were unnecessarily detailed. As a reader, I easily could have gotten a sense of what the girl saw and experienced another way, and given the way Worth wrote about other situations, since most of the Mary story is told second-hand, I do wonder how much embellishing may have taken place. Also, I felt that at times Worth was a contradiction. One moment she would be saying how she had no idea the world could be so cruel to these people and how she admired them, then the next she seemed to imply how lucky these people were to have a someone like her around to help. Similar sentiments sometime arose regarding her views on the religious life she was surrounded by but wasn't really a part of. Tighter editing could have avoided this.

All in all, I found this book to be an interesting one time read from my library. Should the urge strike, I could see myself checking out the two follow-up books Worth wrote about more of her time as a midwife.

Comments welcome, and, as always, happy reading!

Let's Get Together: We Should Hang Out Sometime

We Should Hang Out Sometime by Josh Sundquist
Little Brown, 2014

*e-Galley provided by publisher via Net Galley - thank you! This in no way impacted my opinion of the book.*

Josh Sundquist was 25 when he realized something pretty extraordinary about his life so far. No, not the fact that he only had one leg - that was amputated when he had cancer as a child. No, this was something that was just as mind blowing to him: he'd never really had a girlfriend. He almost had one, once, but for less than a day before she broke up with him through a friend.

Yeah. Ouch. And so, armed with curiosity and an appreciation for the scientific method, Josh sets out on a quest: to get in touch with all his almost-girlfriends of his past and find out what exactly went wrong. Over the course of several years and many awkward meetings, Josh learns that his path to finding romantic love necessitates first loving and accepting himself. All parts of himself. Even the parts that have been amputated.

It's an interesting journey that readers go on with Josh. While I don't know what it's like to be an amputee, Josh is able to explain his life, his views, his perfect pick-up line of "We should hang out sometime (he has deep thoughts why it's impossible to say no to) and the way he interacts in a world without ever seeking (or getting) pity. Instead, he got a lot of me nodding along, completely identifying with all the bumbling, stumbling, nerve-wracking, occasionally wonderful feelings that come along with growing up and dating.

My criticisms of this memoir are few. By the end, the pattern established of how Josh examines each of his past "relationships" felt a bit redundant, but mostly I was disappointed that we didn't have more to the conclusion with Ashley, Josh's first real girlfriend and now fiance. While I understand the desire for privacy (which they of course deserve), as a reader I wanted to know more about why this time, things were different. And I just love happy endings, so come on! Give me more! :)

Fans of Josh's previous memoir Just Don't Fall or his YouTube channel should absolutely give this book a read. And even if you've never heard of him before, even if it seems like on the surface you may have nothing in common with this guy, give this a read anyway! This book's conversational style feels like a long talk with a friend who, by the end, you'll wish you could hang out with sometime.

Comments welcome, and, as always, happy reading!

Josh Sundquist's Website
Josh Sundquist on Twitter

Great Advice for Alleged Grown-Ups: Grace's Guide

Grace's Guide: The Art of Pretending to be a Grown-Up by Grace Helbig
Touchstone, 2014

For how long have people said that there's not a guide book for how to be a grown up? Well, now there is! Coming of age in the digital age has been full of ups and downs, and frankly, at 26, a lot of the time I still find myself not quite feeling like an adult. I mean, I do when I'm at work, helping mold young minds and all that jazz, but there's still always been that part of me who feels more like the I'm still 16 years old, hopelessly lost on things like how to interact with other people (not just guys. People. Guys may as well have been from another planet).

But never fear, Grace Helbig is here!

Known for her hilarious videos on YouTube, Helbig dishes out plenty of food for thought five days a week on her channel it'sGrace to her 1.9 million subscribers. In a guidebook tailor-made for Millennials (though you don't have to be one to enjoy this), life gets broken down into easy-to-manage chunks, each section's advice resulting in a hashtag acronyms to help you remember. The guide is both practical and humorous as it is dotted with plenty of anecdotes from Helbig's life, both things her viewers may have seen before as well as secrets coming to light. It's not enough to count as a memoir, but again, it enhances the conversational feel of the entries.

All in all, I can't say enough great things about this book or Grace herself whom I was lucky enough to meet when she was on tour for this release. At an event with over 200 people, she took selfies with everybody and though she's a self-proclaimed introvert and "the Internet's awkward older sister", she seemed at ease and made every person feel special, like a friend, like we weren't alone.

Comments welcome, and, as always, happy reading!

Grace Helbig on YouTube

Say it With a Smile: Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?

Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns) by Mindy Kaling
Crown Archetype, 2011

On the eve of my recent 26th birthday and a new school year, I found myself wanting to escape into someone else's life for a little while but not the world of fiction. I wanted something real, the story of someone who felt like someone I could actually know, who has been through a variety of the highs and lows of their mid-20s and who could laugh at themselves and the fact that "grown ups never actually feel like grownups" is pretty much the world's worst kept secret. So I went to the library and picked up Mindy Kaling's memoir.

I love it when I read a book at what feels like the exact right time in my life. A fun collection of essays by a woman best known for her role as Kelly Kapoor as well as a writer, director, and producer of NBC's The Office, Kaling looks back at her childhood in Massachusetts, life in a college town in a middle of nowhere (and how being so far from the rest of civilization can be a very good thing), her post-college life in New York and the world's smallest apartment, and eventually her move to Los Angeles when she got a writing job on a show that no one was sure would make it, but ended up taking the air waves by storm.

While I preferred the chapters at the beginning over the ones at the end, the whole book is a fun, slightly self-deprecating, totally honest read. In her conversational style, Mindy's narrative felt like reading an email from a friend. I could easily see myself giving this book as a gift to people. This is an ode to the 13 year old girls who held back for fear of doing or saying the wrong thing, but at 26 finally decided that doing the things you love, celebrating the things that make you happy, and realizing things like 'yes you can like "girly" things like makeup and shoes and still be a feminist' is a much better way to live.

Comments welcome, and, as always, happy reading!

Mindy Kaling's Website
Mindy Kaling on Twitter

Beyond Her Years: The Opposite of Loneliness

The Opposite of Loneliness by Marina Keegan
Scribner, 2014

Five days after she graduated from Yale University magna cum laude with a job lined up at The New Yorker and a promising writing career ahead of her that had already won her numerous awards and accolades in college, 22 year old Marina Keegan was killed in a car accident. At the same time that her family and friends were mourning her loss, the world was being captivated by some of her final words. Her final essay for The Yale Daily News, "The Opposite of Loneliness," was going viral online, getting over 1 million hits in a matter of days.

It is the piece which lends its title to and kicks off this collection of stories and essays compiled by Keegan's family and former teachers. Some were written for classes in high school and college, others for the newspaper, but all act as windows into this bright young woman. In many ways, she was wise beyond her years, her works venturing into avenues and topics that I am now embarrassed to admit I scarcely thought about when I was 21 (and could/should dedicate more of my time to now at 26). Yet, she always sounds 21. A smart 21, a 21 with an impeccable vocabulary and earnest desire to paint the world in an honest light, the sort of honesty that is raw and unapologetic, occasionally tinted with rose-colored hues but only when the situation deserves it. The collection as a whole stands as a testament to this woman's potential which was already flourishing under the tutelage of some of the country's greatest professors and no doubt would have grown even stronger in time had she had more of it.

Of the nine fiction selections, most of them take on characters older than the writer herself and in a variety of situations. I was intrigued by the complications and two sides of relationships in "Cold Pastoral" and moved by the notions of love and family in "Hail, Full of Grace." Of the nine essays, "The Opposite of Loneliness" had me immediately contacting a friend of mine to declare "stop whatever you're doing right now. You have to read this." "Stability in Motion," an ode to her first car, brought back loving memories of my own first set of four wheels, the freedom, the portable home I'd made for myself. I also could empathize with her struggles in "Against the Grain," not in the sense of having Celiac disease (I don't), but in how she was both impressed and embarrassed by the lengths her mother would go to to protect her.

I highly recommend this collection to those looking to deviate from their usual reading selections. While perhaps not groundbreaking material, Keegan's style and voice is refreshing and full of possibility - something those of us who are lucky to still be here could do well to keep in mind in the days we still have.

Comments welcome, and, as always, happy reading.

The Opposite of Loneliness Website

The World for Women Writers: A Room of One's Own

A Room of One's Own by Virginia Woolf
Penguin, 2009 (this edition - original published in 1929)

During a recent trip to London, I was roaming the streets in need of reading material. My requirements were few: I wanted something by an English author and something small enough I could easily fit into my purse. I found just what I was looking for along with plenty of enlightenment in this edition of Virginia Woolf's A Room of One's Own.

The short book is actually an essay, an expanded version of lectures Woolf gave at Cambridge University in 1928. In a stream of consciousness style that she became well known for, Woolf explores the challenges women writers were facing and famously states that "a woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction." Though this text is nearly 90 years old, many of her arguments are still relevant today: the higher value put on the works of men than women, how women are expected to choose between a personal/home life and professional aspirations, how the working conditions women must endure are different from men's, and how the women of present are building themselves up on the shoulders of those who came before and while progress has been made, there is still much to be done.

I don't normally do so well with stream of consciousness texts as I find they have a tendency to be highly tangential, but this one kept me engaged. Perhaps because Woolf's writing here was not overly lyrical, I was able to follow along. It has been far too long since I've read anything like this. Not to say my usual world of YA lit doesn't make me think, but this made me think in ways I haven't since college. Like stretching muscles I'd forgotten about and neglected, this feminist and progressive essay has a feeling like it could have been written last year. There are so many fantastic quotes and nuggets of powerful thoughts in these pages, and I'm very interested in further exploring Woolf's greater body of work to see how she addresses many of the issues she raises here in her own fiction writing. I've never read anything else by her, and I am eager to change that.

If you are in the mood for something different, for something that challenges to conventions of its time as well as the present day, pick up A Room of One's Own. I'm so happy that I bought this because I can already tell this is the kind of book I can and will and should reread every few years, and that I'll no doubt get something new out of it with each reading.

Comments welcome, and, as always, happy reading!

A Bright Message: This Star Won't Go Out

This Star Won't Go Out by Esther Earl
Penguin, 2014

Esther Earl first came into my life shortly after her's ended. On August 27, 2010, John Green posted a video sharing the news that Esther, a teenager with an incredible capacity for compassion and love, had passed away after a long road with thyroid cancer. I was relatively new to Nerdfighteria at this point - I'd only seen a handful of the Vlogbrother's videos before, but links to this one were everywhere. And so over the years, I've learned more about this incredible girl and wish I had sooner. This Star Won't Go Out is a celebration of an extraordinary yet completely ordinary young woman's life.

The majority of the book does focus on the years after Esther's diagnosis, but a life 'before' is established. From the very beginning, she was bright, precocious, inquisitive, and caring. And while she remained these things after cancer came into the picture, she was also a teenage girl with dreams and desires and mood swings and she wasn't without her flaws. Sure she had a good attitude a lot of the time, but she also shared in her diary and blog entries when was grumpy and mad and upset and in pain. She had a complicated relationship with her body, with God, with her family, and with her friends. The internet became a place where she didn't have to be A Girl with Cancer, but simply a Harry Potter fanatic. But eventually she did open up to those people about the true nature of her health and it only made her full life that much richer.

As someone who works with teenagers, I can attest that this book does a great job showing who they really are. That they are capable of doing and feeling so much more than they are often given credit for. I also appreciated the inclusions from her parents, doctors, and various other adults in her life who recognized that Esther was extraordinary for a lot of reasons. I went into this book with prior context which I think helped my reading to an extent, but basics are given for those less familiar with Esther's story. I will admit that since I was not a friend of Esther nor did I know of her before, I occasionally felt uncomfortable reading, like I was intruding on a conversation too late to ever really be a part of it.

All in all, this book is big love letter to an amazing person who was the kind of teenager I wish I had been. She had empathy and enthusiasm, embraced Internet culture and found true friendship and acceptance in an arena I had been too afraid to explore until my 20s. She wasn't a saint, though. She was, through it all, herself, and that was more than enough to change a lot of lives. And I say this is a love letter not in a romantic way, but in that platonic, familial, every-day kind of love that so few people celebrate as often as they should, but Esther was wise enough to realize at 16 we could all do more on that front.

DFTBA, Esther. Your book is an amazing testament to your life and the people you touched. I only wish I'd have "known" you sooner.

This Star Won't Go Out - Foundation set up in Esther's memory
John Green's Video Euology
Esther's YouTube Channel

Find Your Passion: The Element

The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything by Ken Robinson
Viking, 2009

With Valentine's Day coming up in a few day's time, I confess that my original plan for this week's post was to give a review of a novel containing some sort of love story in it that even single gals like me wouldn't mind so much. But then I ended up finishing a book a few days ago and it says even more about love than I could have expected it to. It's nonfiction, it's written by an expert in the fields of education and creativity, and it may sound crazy, but trust me when I say that The Element is absolutely a love story that I believe everyone should read.

In today's economy, we are constantly telling ourselves as well as our children and younger generations that when thinking of what to do with their futures, practicality is probably the best way to go. We consider the financial numbers, oftentimes convincing ourselves that it's better to play it safe and go with the path of stability. But Robinson turns that idea on its head - what is it doing to individuals, to our society, when we essentially push creativity and these other forces of passion aside that we can see time and again if we look to the great names and ages of history, if we are building a world where people's careers are merely jobs and not something they actually enjoy.

His solution isn't easy and it won't just happen over night, but I believe that he's thinking in the right direction: we must each find and embrace our Element, that thing he describes as "the meeting point between natural aptitude and personal passion."

Though I wouldn't go as far as to call this book narrative nonfiction, it is certainly filled with stories of real people to help illustrate his points. Some you may have heard of (like Paul McCartney) and others, not so much but that doesn't make their incredible contributions to the world any less extraordinary. While he does speak a lot about education and what educational reforms in recent (and not so recent) years have done to how we value creativity, do not feel like this book has nothing to offer you if you aren't a teacher or don't work in a school of some sort. This book has something for everyone. Are you passionate about math or global warming or cartoons? Then chase it. Do you have a good business sense but don't want to give up your love of music or dancing? There's a way to embrace all these parts of yourself and they can help you become the best version of yourself.

I first heard of Sir Ken Robinson when I was in undergrad working towards my teaching certificate, and after watching a video of the TED speech he gave in 2005 (embedded below), his thoughts blew my classmates and me away. Links to this soon popped up on our Twitter feeds and Facebook accounts, and people who have nothing to do with schools agreed whole heartedly with his concepts as well. So if there's something in your life that you LOVE but may be afraid to go after or try, I say give a listen here or read what Robinson has to say. Embrace your Element when you're lucky enough to discover it, and may it open up whole new worlds for you to explore.

Comments welcome and as always, happy reading.


Ken Robinson's Website
Ken Robinson on Twitter