Book: Running like a Girl, Alexandra Heminsley

Thoroughly enjoyed this read. Having recently joined a running group to improve my running pace, one of my fellow runners gifted this book to us. 

It is lovely to follow Alexandra's journey of not being a runner at all, to becoming a marathon runner.

It has such good tips and tricks from selecting shoes, to keeping your head up. She also includes things like make up and false eye lashes. Although, I have never been big on make-up, it is very unlikely to change now :) mind you, maybe that's the trick I need to get faster :D

4/5

Audiobook: This is Going to Hurt: Secret Diaries of a Junior Doctor, Adam Kay

 

Wonderfully entertaining, really enjoyed listening to Adam Kay share his experiences as a Doctor in the UK. He has a marvellous wit!

Audiobook: Flat Broke with Two Goats: A Memoir, Jennifer McGaha

It's an ok read. After the exhilarating Bad Blood by John Carreyrou this was very 'meh'. 

Audiobook The Secrets We Kept, Lara Prescott

Throughout the book I was wondering whether it was based on a true story. Google has let me know that the book is 'semi-autobiographical'; the upcoming movie, not. 

The world of  spies has always been fascinating. A golden thread throughout is Dr Zhivago by Boris Pasternak, which is a movie / book that I would now like read too. 

People who read the physical book (The Secrets we Kept) said it was brilliant, for me, the audiobook albeit interesting and I enjoyed the different voices, was ok. 

Audiobook: Untamed, Glennon Doyle

When I read reviews of this book, they were all incredibly positive. Personally I struggled to get through it. I just didn’t really resonate with it. Perhaps it's because the author constantly reminds us that she is gay and married. But, I do appreciate and respect that that is her journey. I had the choice to not listen to it; but I had downloaded it and didn't want to feel that I had wasted a credit. 

At times it did feel a bit like a sermon, but then there would be an interesting or funny part, which would get me to continue listening.

I think Glennon Doyle and I are about the same age, this is exactly how I also feel about phone calls: 

I will never understand why people insist upon calling my cell phone. It's such an aggressive action to take: calling someone.

Some of the other bits and pieces that I made notes about:

Our minds are excuse makers; our imagination story tellers.

“When women lose themselves, the world loses its way. We do not need more selfless women. What we need right now is more women who have detoxed themselves.  What we need right now is more women who are full of themselves. A woman who is full of only herself no longer internalizes the world's memos and expectations. A woman who is full of herself knows and trusts herself enough to say and do what must be done, and lets the rest burn.

Glennon describes a decision-making process where she tries to feel each option instead of weighing them in her mind. Whichever option feels warm and pleasant is the one that she picks, ignoring the one that feels cold.

I had never heard this quote from Archbishop Desmond Tutu before, and I really like it:

“There comes a point where we need to stop just pulling people out of the river. We need to go upstream and find out why they're falling in.” Desmond Tutu

One last one from Glennon: "Life is brutal. But it's also beautiful. It’s brutiful.

 

Audiobook: Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine, Gail Honeyman

This was another book on the ‘recommended’ list on the Audiobooks app. I had absolutely no idea what to expect. Not being completely sold after listening to the sample, I noticed all the awards and recognitions and decided to download it anyway. I’ve become so fond of all the characters (except the mother). It’s one of those books that you want to finish, but also don’t want to finish. Cathleen McCarron, who read the book was great with her beautiful Scottish accents.

The premise is about Eleanor who is an accountant at a design firm, everything seems pretty normal; she has her routine and way of doing things. Very set in her ways and opinionated about how things should be, we start seeing that things may not be as ‘fine’ as it all first appears. We get to see glimpses into her past and the puzzle pieces slowly fall into place. It’s a marvellous book and highly recommendable. 

Audiobook: Educated, Tara Westover

I stumbled across the “Audiobooks” app when I was looking for the audiobook Sapiens. Even though I have a list as long as my arm of books that I want to read, I couldn’t make up my mind what to use my second ‘Audiobook’ credit on. 

When I saw ‘Educated’ by Tara Westover, I didn’t think too much of it. What I quite like about the app is that is allows you to listen between three and five minutes of a book and you can then decide whether you want to download and listen to the rest of it. Every time I opened the app, ‘Educated’ popped up. Reluctantly, I decided to listen to the first few minutes to get an understanding of what it’s about. It was intriguing!

It’s about Tara Westover who grows up in a Mormon culture. I didn’t (still don’t really), know too much about Mormonism. It was absolutely fascinating, and very soon I was hooked, and every opportunity I  got, I would listen a bit more.

Her father was against relying on the government in any way, so did not register his children when they were born. He only believed in home remedies; so no going to hospital if you’ve seriously injured yourself. And all the education you needed you got at home. The fact that Tara was able to move out and get educated, is incredible.

I didn’t take too many notes while listening, but I really like this:

 “You are not fool's gold, shining only under a particular light. Whomever you become, whatever you make yourself into, that is who you always were. Even gold appears dull in some lighting—but that is the illusion. ... It was not that I had done something wrong so much as that I existed in the wrong way.

Highly recommendable.