October’s Reads
October’s reads will be ones you can’t put down. Although, after you’re through you won’t be able to help but pick up time and time again.
The books I read this month brought on such an incredible yet emotional experience for me. I was too consumed with thoughts, emotions, and talking to anyone who wanted to discuss them to read more than two. I couldn’t help but continue to revisit each text and analyze my interpretations, especially surrounding the main theme in both on regrets.
Choosing the word “change” as my word of the year for 2020 has definitely tested me. October’s books challenged me to recognize the changes I’ve made over the last year, changes in how I see myself, and contemplate changes I want to make moving forward.
I hope that one of these reads is as life changing for you as it was for me!
Kisses,
Kate
3.8/5 goodreads Summary
This read put me in a bit of a funk having to take a hard look at my own beliefs regarding topics of motherhood, community, race, identity, and regret.
The author smacks you with a dose of reality that you’ve always known yet isn’t simple to accept in all situations. That reality for me was that not everything is black and white, sometimes there isn’t a right or wrong way, and not everyone always agrees which can muddy the water.
That muddy water is good though, regardless of how difficult it can be to wade through. We should question ourselves, our actions, our intentions, and values.
I understand what the author was trying to do with some pieces of the ending being left untied. That was something that frustrated me about this read though and is why I ranked it below a 4. But, if you enjoy imagining different endings after a read this is the one for you!
Favorite Quotes :
“He felt as if he’d dived into a deep, clear lake and discovered it was a shallow, knee-deep pond. What did you do? Well, you stood up. You rinsed your mud-caked knees and pulled your feet out of the muck. And you were more cautious after that. You knew, from then on, that the world was a smaller place than you’d expected.”
“Sometimes you need to scorch everything to the ground and start over. After the burning the soil is richer, and new things can grow. People are like that, too. They start over. They find a way.”
“Most of the time, everyone deserves more than one chance. We all do things we regret now and then. You just have to carry them with you.”
“It bothers you, doesn’t it?” Mia said suddenly. “I think you can’t imagine. Why anyone would choose a different life from the one you’ve got. Why anyone might want something other than a big house with a big lawn, a fancy car, a job in an office. Why anyone would choose anything different than what you’d choose.”
10/5 goodreads Summary
This read on the other hand helped to lift me out of that funk a bit. I’ve never felt so comfortable and in a way, at home with an author’s writing.
I felt like I was sitting with an old friend that knew exactly what to say that’d give me a new perspective while inspiring a more optimistic outlook on the future.
I believe that there are many points in life where we think we’re the only ones going through something, who’ve felt a certain way, or considered different choices. The Midnight Library has a great way of guiding you through the protagonist’s life while helping you appreciate your own.
Favorite Quotes:
“You’re overthinking it.’ ‘I have anxiety. I have no other type of thinking available.”
“We only need to be one person.
We only need to feel one existence.
We don't have to do everything in order to be everything, because we are already infinite. While we are alive we always contain a future of multifarious possibility.”
“So you see? Sometimes regrets aren’t based on fact at all. Sometimes regrets are just…She searched for the appropriate term and found it. ‘A load of bullshit’ ”
“If you aim to be something you are not, you will always fail. Aim to be you. Aim to look and act and think like you. Aim to be the truest version of you. Embrace that you-ness. Endorse it. Love it. Work hard at it. And don't give a second thought when people mock it or ridicule it. Most gossip is envy in disguise.”