The Little Book of Talent: 52 Tips for Improving Your Skills by Daniel Coyle

A small book full of practical tips to help you improve whatever skill you're working on. I didn't read anything really new in this book, but it's a nice reminder to break things down and focus on the little things. Hum, maybe I'll practice the piano.

Why Not Me? by Mindy Kaling

I've actually never watched a show with Mindy Kaling in it, but I've read her books. She is funny, thoughtful, and smart. I'd like to be friends with her. Maybe I should watch some of her shows first.

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead by Tom Stoppard

Finally, onto the final book for the Modern Mrs. Darcy Challenge! This category was “a book you should have read in high school.” I checked out some high school reading lists online and yes, there are many, many books that are typically assigned in high school that I have not yet read. However, I decided to go with a play that Boomer and my friend, Huy, read in high school and they both recommended it.

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are characters from Hamlet, so this play follows them along the same timeline as Hamlet. It helped to re-read some of Hamlet while I was reading this play so I could remember what was going on.

Easy-to-read and funny, this play adds another dimension to the reading of Hamlet. I can see why Boomer was assigned this play right after his English class finished Hamlet.

With my completion of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, I’ve completed thee 2015 Modern Mrs. Darcy Reading Challenge. Thank you to Modern Mrs. Darcy for putting this Challenge together for us. It definitely challenged me to read out of my comfort zone and to pick up books I wouldn’t have otherwise. Doing this Challenge also started some great conversations with my friends and family as I asked them for recommendations for each of the categories. And, I had never asked my mom which book she loved until I had to ask her to complete the “a book your mom loves” category. I had no idea  that my mom loved Great Expectations and The Grapes of Wrath. I hope that Modern Mrs. Darcy has a 2016 Challenge for us!

 

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

One of my favorite movies is (500) Days of Summer starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel. I’ve watched this movie many times and discussed it again and again with Boomer. It is a heartbreaking and painful movie to watch and yet, I still watch it.

In one of the later scenes, Summer, the Zooey Deschanel character, says something like, “I was sitting in a deli reading Dorian Gray.” Ever since I’ve heard that line, I’ve been meaning to read The Picture of Dorian Gray. So for the 2015 Modern Mrs. Darcy Reading Challenge category of “a book you’ve been meaning to read,” this was the perfect choice.

Dorian Gray is a handsome and dashing young man who sells his soul in order to stay young forever. As he stays youthful and everyone else around him ages, an oil painting of him also ages and depicts his moral decline.

This was a spooky and strange book. I can see why it attracted interest to Summer in 500 Days of Summer as she sat reading it in a deli.

Orchard House: How a Neglected Garden Taught One Family to Grow by Tara Austen Weaver

Tara's mom buys a sprawling Seattle property with an unwieldy backyard. Tara, along with her mom, have high hopes for what the backyard will yield and how it might bring their family together. She writes about the battles with the land, the failures and successes of their plants and trees, and how she begins to see glimpses of the family and community she has longed for.

This was a very slow read for me. I found it to be thoughtful and human, full of the aches of wanting to be closer with family members who don't really care so much.

If you like to read about gardening and/or family relationships, you might like this one.

Books that Influenced My Life in 2015 + My Favorite Fiction

For 2014, I had a really difficult time coming up with a list of my favorite books of the year, mostly because I didn't read a ton of books that I loved. :(

Thankfully, 2015 was a very different reading experience and I read a lot of really neat books. As I looked at all of the books that I read, I noticed that there was a theme connecting some of my favorites: books that influenced how I think about life and/or how I live. In addition, there were some great fiction books I read as well.

Thank you again for reading my blog! I hope that 2016 has lots of good books in store for all of us!

Let's start with my favorite fiction:
1. The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins

Totally consumed one entire day of my life.











2. The Opposite of Loneliness by Marina Keegan

I usually am not a big fan of short stories, but I loved these.











3. Our Souls at Night by Kent Haruf

A small book with a mighty punch.











4. Wonder by R.J. Palacio

I cried twice while reading this book. We could all use some more kindness in our lives.










Onto the non-fiction books that changed how I think about life/organize/think about life:
1. The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank

I can see why this is required reading in school. It touches on what we all share as humans and the evil that exists in the world.











2. The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing by Marie Kondo

I haven't even written a review of this book on this blog yet because I am still in the process of tidying up my house, but already this book has changed my closet and my bookshelves.









3. Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeown

What's really important and what's not? Good to think about before the days, weeks, and years pass on by.










4. Football for Dummies by Howie Long

Wow, this book really changed my life. Understanding more about the game of football has made watching the game so much more enjoyable. It's opened up great conversations with so many people about who's playing, injuries, management decisions, etc. And I read the sports page now. Sorry, Boomer, time to share!








5. The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right by Atul Gawande

I didn't love how this book was written or anything, but I sure do make way more checklists now that I've read it.

Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff

Lotto and Mathilde are the tall, good-looking, too cool for school, 22-year-old newlyweds. They seem perfect, right? Not so fast. Lotto, by marrying Mathilde, is cut off from his family's fortune, so their first years together are quite lean. Until Lotto becomes a famous playwright.

Fates and Furies tracks the early histories of both Lotto and Mathilde. In addition, we follow them along the course of their marriage.

This book had a very clever structure. However, the most glaring problem I had was that I didn't really care about Lotto or Mathilde, or their marriage. They were not very like-able characters, so meh.