Pose Like Wonder Woman and Try Not to Ruin Your Kid's Life

Is the opposite of a reading slump a reading surge?  I'm having a surge, and I hope you are too!  Here's what I've finished up lately:

Presence:  Bringing Your Boldest Self to Your Biggest Challenges by Amy Cuddy
​This book was definitely good at providing insights as to how to tackle challenging presentations, meetings, events, and whatever else.  Although I appreciated all of the examples and research that was shared to flesh it all out, I know I could have gotten just as much out of it if it were condensed down to maybe a one-pager, or perhaps if I were to just watch the author’s Ted Talk.  I think the main takeaway from both the talk and the book is to pose like Wonder Woman for a minute or two before you’re about to do the scary thing.  Then you feel powerful!  

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The Other's Gold by Elizabeth Ames
​I would really like for one of the six of you to read this book so that we can discuss it.  There’s a LOT to mull over, and it would be a perfect read for book clubs.  The premise sounds a little flighty – four different women meet freshmen year in college and deal with their crazy lives with their friendship always there to help prop them up.  What made it a book I can’t stop thinking about are the events that happened within – far beyond the typical unfaithfulness and pregnancy loss and mental illness you’re likely to find in any other book with this sort of setup.  I didn’t care for most of the characters, I didn’t care for the ending….but as the days go by since I’ve turned the last page – I’m still chewing on it and starting to think it was actually really good.  Must talk about!

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Wild Game: My Mother, Her Lover, and Me by Adrienne Brodeur
​The thing that kills me about this book about a mother who involves her 14 year old daughter in the managing of her affair, is that it’s a memoir.  If this were a novel, I would probably think, “Pish posh, would any mother really behave in the way that this *character* behaved?”  But the answer is apparently yes, and I honestly had a blast reading the author dissect all of her decisions and relationships and mommy issues.  It could’ve been boring.  But it wasn’t!  I would recommend.

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Next up:  Our book club selection is definitely not one I would've normally selected, but so far I'm enjoying it and there's SO MUCH FOOD in this book that I'm constantly hungry.  I need to finish it fast or I'm going to go up a dress size before book club meets again.
​How about you?