First Novel of the year!

Tonight is a poetry kind of night!

Friday night in your 30‘s

The best book to celebrate & remember the best show! Perfect companion, and yes it made me cry just like the show.

What are you reading, watching, listening to for International Holocaust Remembrance Day? What are you going to do in this coming year to combat antisemitism? Let Auschwitz remind you to never stay silent. Holocaust Remembrance Day isn‘t only about remembering those 6 million Jews, 6 million souls but to also honour the ones that survived. Today I honour my grandparents and remember the 11+ souls of my lost family members.

Started reading this book in the fall, and I definitely made a big dent but then the winter blues snuck up on me and made it hard to continue reading! It‘s such a great and quick read and I‘m really enjoying it, but I‘m determined to finish reading it before the end of the month.

I started reading this book today and I am already half way done. Can‘t put it down. I have some theories but it‘s been so hard to figure out. Definitely not like most suspenseful books I read, usually can figure it out.

Loved this book, I would have finished it in a week if I wasn‘t struggling mentally. Two very strong determined women who faced so much. This book kept me engaged and wanting to read more and it was so easy to picture everything play out in my head. I didn‘t even know that it is actually based on a real person and that The Alice Network was a real group of spies.

Really enjoyed this book. She writes so beautifully and her story is triumphant. It definitely wasn‘t a quick read, even though I love reading her story about this specific part in her life i definitely found it sometimes hard to want to read it. But I definitely think it is a must read!

“I didn‘t want to examine the happiness too closely; I was too afraid it would fall apart. I was content to let it be”

Lazy Saturday morning

“Every try will not succeed. But if you‘re going to live, live at all, your business is trying. And if you fail once, so what? Old folks say, every shuteye ain‘t sleep and every goodbye ain‘t gone. You fail, you get up and try again.”

Starting the second book of the year! #blackhistorymonth

I read the original book in 2019 and it was eye opening it helped me with understanding myself and even the people closest to me. I read this book because we all know that men think and process things differently than women. It‘s always good to know the whole picture.

“How does one mourn for 6 million people who died? How many candles does one light? How many prayers does one recite? Do we know how to remember the victims, their solitude, their hopelessness? They left us without a trace, and we are their trace.” - Elie Wiesel - Day of Remembrance 2001.

I‘m glad that this was a book of essays. I really enjoyed it but I sometimes felt like I got lost in what the narrative was supposed to be and definitely came across words I had never heard of before. But what I loved about it was it was so profound and there would be a sentence or a paragraph that spoke to me and I knew exactly what it was supposed to mean because I have felt that way too.

Taylor Jenkins Reid is one of my favourite authors so I finally decided to read her short story. I loved how this book was written and how you see the relationships in this book develop. Definitely a great read if you need a quick read.

“Keepers of private notebooks are a different breed altogether, lonely and resistant rearrangers of things, anxious malcontents, children afflicted apparently at birth with some pre-sentiment of loss”

It took me 10 months to finish this book. It is one of the most beautifully written anthology books I‘ve ever read. As someone who has always loved weddings and as a wedding planner it has given me a whole new meaning to wedding dresses/wedding outfits. Even reading these stories it has brought up my memory of asking my own mother about her wedding dress (she didn‘t wear one) and gives me pause on the thought of what my own future dress may be.

With all the social justice and unlearning going on in the last few months, I have taken to reading books and to also make sure that the books one my list will help me to continue educating myself on social justice issues so I can continue being an ally. What books are on your list and are reading to unlearn and be a better ally.

I loved Jill‘s book The Light We Lost and was super excited to read this book. It didn‘t disappoint, it held true to her previous book. This one had more of a twist which was lots of fun to unravel, with a great romantic story that still gave way to a strong and independent women finding herself.

This was my first book of Didion that I read. It was really interesting and fascinating and I loved the old Hollywood feel and time period. It definitely painted an amazing picture. There are parts where it‘s confusing and trying to remember who everyone is and to read in between the lines of the meaning but it still kept me hooked.

Another amazing book, couldn‘t put it down and by a Canadian author. I have read many a suspense books in my life and a lot of the time I can usually put together what happened half way through, but woman on the edge kept me guessing.

I finished this book in two days, I couldn‘t put it down. This is such an amazing book. I love reading books from Canadian authors about Canada. I loved that even though it was fiction the whole essence of the book is about indigenous culture. It had all the elements I love, romance, suspense and culture.

It‘s been awhile since I posted anything on here since it‘s been very hard for me to read since the Pandemic hit, my anxiety has had me feeling antsy and hard to sit down and focus on my reading. I haven‘t read as much as I hoped to have read this year but I have read a few amazing books. Women on the Edge was the last book I read and I couldn‘t put it down. I will make a post about it in another post, but it‘s a must read.

" I will raise you to be strong. I will raise you to be powerful. I will raise you to be fearless."

Loved this book, it did take me a while to finish it because of the heavy content with a super important narrative. But I definitely recommend it.

Finally getting around to posting my 2019 books that I read. I can't believe I read 19 books. I have never read this many books in 1 year. I surpassed all my reading goals for 2019. I can't wait to see all the journeys I will go on this year and the stories I'll read.

This book has an amazing narrative that is so important. I am so sucked in, it's got me hooked.

I will end up coming back to this book. After I started reading it I realized that I am not in the mind set to read this particular book.

I really enjoyed this book, it was kind of predictable where the story was going, but I really liked the read, it kept me engaged.

This book was amazing. Even as someone who isnt married or in a relationship this was a very intresting and eye opening read. I think everyone should read this book. It definitely even helps with figuring out how you yourself feel. Also as someone who was in a relationship with someone who showed me no love language let alone my own I see what people crave and expect from their partners.

I truly enjoyed this read, loved all the jewishness to it (Plus it reminds me how much Hebrew I still remember) It is a wonderfully beautiful book with lots of questions and a whole new meaning of being connected. Becuase in the dark and lonely days there is always something to live for.

" For her I changed pebbles into diamonds, shoes into mirrors, I changed glass into water, I gave her wings and pulled birds from her ears and in her pockets she found the feathers, I asked a pear to become a pineapple, a pineapple to become a lightbulb, a light bulb to become the Moon, and the moon to become a coin I flipped for her love, both sides were heads: I knew I couldn't lose."

" From time to time, when a piece of music no one has ever written, or a painting no one has ever painted, or something else impossible to predict, fathom, or yet describe takes place, a new feeling enters the world. And then, for the millionth time in the history of feeling, the heart surges, and absorbs the impact."

"I danced the only way I knew how to dance: for life, crashing into the chairs, and spinning until I fell, so that I could get up and dance again"

"She chose my father, and to hold on to a certain feeling, she sacrificed the world."

Loved this book. Definitely a great read. Some parts we hard to understand, but it is a book that takes you on an in depth look and journey into mental illnesses. I also loved reading a book that takes place in the city I live in, in an area that I adore. It gives me a whole new look into Toronto!

" Navigate a world where half of everything you know is a reflection, a refraction, or a memory"

Good read but it took me awhile. The title intrigued me & my love for all things 80s movies. It was definitely interesting. I was over half way through reading when it finally sucked me in. It was hard to read with all the British terms so not knowing terminology & "slang" did take away from the enjoyment. But all in all its a great read about finding yourself, standing up for your self and that first loves might end up being your true love.

"There is no shame in travelling the long way round to get where you want to go. It doesn't matter if you take wrong turns. Arriving somewhere you want to be be, in the end, is what counts"

Long Weekend reading!

Doing a little bit of research!

I enjoyed this book. It was interesting and it kept me captivated. I loved how the author used a real life event that happened in the world for her backdrop of her novel. It made me see that even when the worst thing can happen to you, you can come out of it and be happy again.

I think these are going to be the next 3 books I read. But who knows that can change depending on my mood! Let's see if I can surpass 17 books for the 2019 year.

This book really opened my eyes about mental illness and how they connected it to "women". I loved the movie, which made me want to read the book, but now I want to watch the movie because I think now I will have a better understanding of what actually happened.

"Light like this does not exist, but we wish it did".

My goal for this year was to read 12 books - 1 book for each month, and today I met that goal so I have upped my goal to 17 books in the year. I am so proud of myself that I have achived this personal goal for myself. I have always loved reading, since I was a child, but in the last few years I have been lacking, and the last couple of years have been difficult so reading was pushed to the side. Let's see how many more I can read by Dec!