Bluebird Books

It's Monday again.  To start a new week I'm sharing three things I'm loving and three things that are getting on my nerves. Here's what I'm loving: 1.  Apps that help you stay on track with exercising.  I am 7 weeks into a 10k running program.  The progression and coaching help me stay on track.  And there are no subscription fees. *actual footage of me running 2.  East of Eden.  I set this aside for the last few weeks but the story had been kicking around in the back of my brain.  This weekend I spent some time with it and loved every minute.  It's just the kind of book that totally pulls me in and submerges me in the lives of the characters and the world Steinbeck is building. 3. Seeing old friends.  This weekend I had the opportunity to see friends from middle school I hadn't seen in 15 years.  We laughed so hard and it was like no time passed.  It sounds trite but it was true.  I was totally nervous before I saw them--I even asked my hus

I just finished Little Fires Everywhere the other night.  I sat at my son's soccer practice with a tear in my eye considering what the book said to me.  Pulling back from the story for a minute I could immediately see the overarching theme of motherhood.  How hard it is, how the past influences our choices with our children today, how we all think we are doing the right thing.  It made me think about other books I had read with similar ideas... When I finished A Curious Beginning last month I had the same feeling.  I closed the book and began to think of the other books and series I have read that were reminiscent of the tone, motifs, and plot.  A few sprang immediately to mind. Both of these experiences had me itching to write this post.  It may become a series of posts or it may be a one-off, but either way, here some read alikes I've noticed in my adventures with books. Little Fires Everywhere    I finished this (at the soccer field) and was impressed with the way

August should be dubbed "anxiety month" around these parts.  My children and I were all suffering from anxiety about the transition that would come on September 3rd: the beginning of school.   We wanted to make every moment count so we squeezed as much meaning as we could into every single thing we did together.  A trip to the grocery store became a bonding experience where we discussed consumer skills, popping into the library to return books became a family affair in which I could recount with nostalgia all of the library classes they used to go to when they were babies.  We were pretty annoying and terrible.  When there was an opportunity for rest, we were frustrated we weren't doing more: "What do you mean that we are just going to hang out here, we should go to the movies or make a craft project or do SOMETHING!"   For a solid month, my kids lamented the change in their sleep schedules and the necessity of homework.  We toyed with the i