From February to March I read 2 books instead of 3 since I decided in January to slow down and lean into what I want from this year. My book round-up for 2021 is a wide range of genres (you can find the books I am reading each month
here). This quarter I read one book that is a classic Courtney chick-lit whereas the other is work-ethic related. Can you guess which one I really had to really dedicate my time to read? It is fair to say I am not as easily drawn into reading non-fiction. BUT I am so thankful I stuck it out for the breadcrumbs I picked up along the way from
Deep Work and also super happy about the time spent lost in another's story from
Two Lives of Lydia Bird.
Let's dive in!
The Two Lives of Lydia Bird was nothing short of sad. Um yeah, I really asked myself about 10 times in the beginning of the book "why am I even reading this?!" Pretty funny looking back at it now, but I appreciate the vulnerability of this book. The main character, Lydia, loses the man she's planning on marrying right from the start, and we travel through her grief for the rest of the story. The twist is that she processes her grief through escaping in a certain way that I wont spoil. By the end I felt like a proud sister. Lydia finds meaning to life in a new way and there's some redemption for her in the cheesy way I love reading about in books.
Favorite quotes: "You don't get over losing someone you love in six months or two years or twenty, but you do have to find a way to carry on living without feeling as if everything that comes afterwards is second best."
“Grief is an odd thing. It’s mine and no one can do it for me, but there’s been this whole supporting cast of silent actors around me in the wings.”
Deep Work was a good slow burn for me. I felt like I was back in college reading material that I knew would matter in the long haul but was hard to get into in the meantime. BUT it was worth it. I noticed myself chewing on thoughts throughout my weeks that stemmed from the book's main point: cultivating focused success in a distracted world. Did you catch the counterpoints? Focus and distraction. In today's world it is a foreign concept to not avert our eyes from a singular task. If anything this book has opened my eyes for the need in my own life to cultivate intense focus and retrain my brain from reacting to stimulus that are taking away from my life.
Favorite quotes: "..what we choose to focus on and what we choose to ignore plays into defining the quality of our life."
"If you want to eliminate the addictive pull of entertainment sites on your time and attention, give your brain a quality alternative. Not only will this preserve your ability to resist distraction and concentrate, but you might...experience, perhaps for the first time, what it means to live, and not just exist."
SO so excited for the next 3 books! It's a happy mix of a biography, parenting devotional and fiction. Follow along as I share quotes from what I am currently reading at #nowickibooknook. Catch ya next book review for Q2 books from May, April and June!! XO
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