Check out this review of The Miracle Morning: The Not-So-Obvious Secret Guaranteed to Transform Your Life (Before 8AM)

The Miracle Morning: The Not-So-Obvious Secret Guaranteed to Transform Your Life by Hal Elrod

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

like most reviews here the book has a fair bit of marketing spiel but past that I really enjoyed it. I have been doing the core program for 1 month and am amazed at how much more productive I am. he presents a very compelling background story to how he got where he is. He is likeable. He also does a podcast you can listen to when you sign up for some of the free downloads. I have listened to a couple and they are actually quite good. Read this if you are in need of something prescriptive and actually works. Dont be put off by the marketing bits; there is real gold under that.

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Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother by Amy Chua

Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother by Amy Chua

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Ok I loved this book! I decided to re read it after 3 years and it still as visceral as the first time I read it. This time I took my time and read it everyday for 15 minutes in the morning as part of my morning routine.
What I love about this is the author’s unflinching self portrait of how she thinks and behaves. I am not sure many of us can do that especially in a world filled with digital narcissism.

The premise of the book is that not all children are the same; so what works with one child will not work with another. In the media this book has been demonised for its child rearing principles but quite to the contrary its is not a parenting book. Rather it is a personal journey about a parent who thought she knew it all but learnt a few things along the way.

I would recommend it. It goes to my hall of fame shelf.

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The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying: A simple, effective way to banish clutter forever by Marie Kondo

In an attempt to follow KonMari method this is written to spark only joy!

My first Kindle book purchase! Written in a way that does inspire to pick and read again for what is quite a tedious subject. Though I cringed/ cried out loud/ when she wrote about tearing pages out of books to keep the best bits I persevered and read on.

Tidying in her sense means throwing everything but those that ‘spark joy‘ – a new paradigm for me certainly. How do you know what is ‘joyful’? You have to touch and fell everything when you are deciding. Instead of choosing things to throw out you choose things to keep. That was mind bending for me! The idea being that if you surround yourself with things you love you cant help but love handling them. You love your space and everything about it….sort of makes sense. She is ruthless but  in a good way.

I tried out this approach in my smallest of rooms ~(she does say not to tidy by room but by category of things) I used the bathroom because it was the only area of things I could immediately experiment with….Wont bore you with details but by the time I finished ‘tidying’ the bathroom I was a very happy bunny indeed. Its been 2 weeks and my bathroom is still in immaculate condition (a rare feat I can tell you).

One of the best bits of this book is how she really understands why people hang onto stuff and you will find ‘you’ in one of her typologies. I had a small fancy bottle of room spray that I had bought 8 years ago but I didn’t really like the fragrance. I think I only bought it because it matched a colour scheme I was going for at the time. It was quite extravagant for me as well. So I have been hanging on it  (now about half full) and each time I saw it as I washed my hands or brushed my teeth I would tell myself off for not using it more, remind myself that I just need to use  it and finish it. Feeling guilty that I wasnt using it. Anyway the point is I didnt realise how much headspace this was taking up until I got rid of it! Thanks to Konmarie these past 2 weeks have been guilty free teeth brushing and handwashing for me 😉

SO in my humble opinion this book is a worthwhile read. KonMari REALLY knows her stuff, is not apologetic and will definitely give you some ideas about how to do more with less.

Rated 7

The top 10 books about the suffragettes

The top 10 books about the suffragettes

http://gu.com/p/44kaj

On my reading list this year.

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

The first I heard of this book was on BBC Radio 2 when Chris Evans DJ mentioned it and I just happened to be in between books so I reserved it at the library using my nifty library app on my phone. Ok so most people will know this is now a movie. I have not seen the movie yet. Anyway my main gripe about this book is that I caught a nano second of a trailer with Ben Afflek as Nick Dunne and unfortunately when I started reading the book  Mr Affleck was Nick Dunne. This was annoying because in the book he is supposed to be blonde!

That aside,. I really enjoyed the book. Its a cracking book is this. With so much insight into , dare I say it, the functioning of a relationship. So There are loads of plot twists in this book and I am not sure how much to say or not to say.

Ok so Nick and Amy are the perfect couple and she is the cool girl to his lazed back guy. She doesn’t like it that he doesn’t remember everything exactly as she wants it to be remembered. This part I could relate to because I remember when I started dating my husband thinking every moment was existential and he couldn’t even recall what I was wearing or where we had gone! Anyway things started to get ugly when Amy disappears and Nick being the husband is the prime suspect.  The format is alternating  segments of Nick’s tale and entries from Amy’s diary beginning seven years previous in 2005. There are twists and sudden developments that will have you leaping from your bed; the twists are good and well handled.

Flynn succeeds in painting the picture of the breakdown of a relationship. Its such a brilliant read because its not so far fetched. not sure I like the ending though!

Makes me want to read:

Heads Off (A Lisa Becker Mystery Book 1) by Falko Rademacher

 

Rated 7

There is no such thing as fact or fiction…

For blogging 101 we have to write a post based on the daily prompt

When reading for fun, do you usually choose fiction or non-fiction? Do you have an idea why you prefer one over the other?

Well the first thing I thought is that I only ever read for fun! To me there is no fact or fiction (except for when I read Fifty Shades out of pure curiosity!)Weird but the only thing I found painstaking to read were some journal articles way back when I was doing my PhD. Other than that I do love reading <full stop>

I looked at my Amazon wishlist as well as my previous orders to get an idea of what sort of books I have been buying. It tends to be that I buy books on developing skills or knowledge base. My penchant for creating my own reference library is growing. There are a lot of gardening, preserving, sewing , knitting and crochet books at the moment on my bedside table. My library app was another source of insight into my reading and it turns out that I do get more fiction from the library (there was still quite a lot of skills books as well).

So I have come to this conclusion:

I prefer to buy skills books because I will dive into them for this that or the other while I do not invest in buying stories because I have such an appetite for reading that it is very unlikely I will read a book I have read twice………the only exception to the rule is for books that I believe my kids will benefit from reading but I know they would never ordinarily select said books themselves at a library…creating the need to have said books around so they can stumble/trip/come across them 😉

 

Thank You Jeeves by P. G. Wodehouse

Another witty funny read from the posh world created by Wodehouse giving a window into the absurdities and idiosyncrasies of the upper class in England via the modicum of the hapless Bertie Wooster and his butler Jeeves.

In this caper Jeeves feels that he has no other choice that to leave the employ of his master because of Bertie’s sudden enchantment with a banjolele (i imagine its a cross between a banjo and a ukelele). Needless to say hilarity ensues when Bertie is without his somber man who had a knack for keeping him out of trouble.

Would I read it again? I douhbt it but i did enjoy it much like one enjoys an afternoon romp 😉

Rated 6

Bring up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel

When I read Wolf Hall I gobbled it down much like my 9 year old stuffs chocolate cake in his much barely chews before swallowing. Much to my regret I realized what a wonderful read it was when I had finished. So , when I borrowed the sequel ‘Bring Up the Bodies’ I vowed to take my time, to be a seasoned gastronome of the written word and savor every turn of phrase, prose, ….basically really take my time with it. And , oh boy was it worth it!

Mantels setting of the scenes allows you to feel the fear and terror of being at the whim and beck and call of arguably history’s most interesting king Henry viii. Her portrayal of the somewhat inept king is brilliant. The reason d’etre of Cromwell is as clear as how you would think in your head ( at least it feels like that is how I would think). Her style of explaining complex political intrigues and making them sound normal is unsurpassed. Anne Boleyn plays less of a role in this book and we are introduced to Jane Seymour and an interesting side to Jane Seymour is presented. 

THis has to be the first Man Booker prize winning book (s) that I have liked and loved!

Will I read more Mantel?   YES!!!!

 

Rated 9

Will I add to my personal collection – Yes!

Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel

What a book! I had heard about this book a couple of years ago when it initially got published. Well I picked it up at the library and I wasnt disappointed. It like going into Cromwell’s head and to hear and feel his thoughts and feelings. Its an amazingly well written book that is soo different to others in the same genre (e.g. books by Phillipa Gregory). I love it and will be getting the follow on book Bringing Up the Bodies.

 

Rated 8

Stuart Little by E B White

A rather quick read over a week with my little boys. They liked it in bits. Definitely evocative of an olde worlde New York. A strange tale though with little empathy in it – case in point Stuart running away from home to find a bird (no wonder they left this bit out of the movie)

Rated 4