1. I'm Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy
This one was recommended repeatedly on podcasts I enjoy. Rough title; very interesting book. This is a memoir by Jenette (a teen actress in iCarly), who does a great job of writing from the perspective of her childhood self who viewed her mom as her best friend and assumed she always had her best interest at heart. It took years for her to see it more clearly and understand that her mother was a narcissist who encouraged her eating disorder, forced her into an acting career, and was abusive in more ways than one. She writes with honesty and humor about some difficult subjects and about slowly finding freedom and healing. And by the time you reach the end of the book, the title makes a lot more sense.
2. Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing by Matthew Perry
I didn't care much for this title, but it was also an interesting read! Chet Lee's favorite Friends star (JK) gives fun details about his acting career, Hollywood friendships, best and worst movies, landing the role of Chandler on Friends, and struggling to find good roles since then. He writes about how his self-doubt caused him to sabotage relationships with women from Julia Roberts to Neve Campbell to Lauren Graham to Lizzy Caplan. And more than anything else, he writes about his lengthy and very painful struggle with drug addiction. His stories and perspective were interesting, and I genuinely wish him well and hope he stays healthy in the future! Still, I was frustrated to see that he continually painted himself in the victim light and struggled to take responsibility for his own choices, at times blaming God (his version of God) for his addiction issues. So it was really interesting, but not inspiring.
3. Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng
I never watched this show, so I knew nothing about this aside from it being recommended on a podcast. It's a fictional story about two families and how their various relationships weave together. The ending was TV-worthy drama, yet relationally unsatisfying to me. Maybe there will be another book/season that brings more closure? Anyway, my main takeaway or memory from this one (certainly not the author's intent) was the story of a woman who became pregnant via donor on her *fifth* attempt. This story included adoption drama, surrogacy, abortion, and a lot of defining and redefining what constitutes a family.
4. The Comfort Crisis by Michael Easter
I was drawn to this title as someone who wants to get out of my comfort zone and take more risks; I am not loving the book at all and likely won't finish it. It's definitely written for men more than women, and the author uses lots of statistics that don't translate as well via audiobook. There's a lot of talk about bears, and the author continually refers to evolution to explain human behaviors and tendencies, and I'm not on board with any of that.
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In other slightly book-related news, it makes me happy to know that these three women (all Christian authors, podcasters, and speakers) are all fellow Enneagram 9s. Melanie Shankle, Sophie Hudson, and Lysa TerKeurst! Melanie and Sophie have talked a lot about having a hard time getting started with writing, starting with years of blogging but needing someone to push them to keep working on their book goals, but they've built successful careers talking about everyday life stuff, and they've written great memoir books that are inspiring and fun! Then there's Lysa, who has been through the ringer relationally, but her faith becomes brighter each time, and she has so much grace and wisdom and good, practical advice for hurting people! I find each of them inspiring and relatable, and it's encouraging to me to see people with a very similar personality to myself succeeding as Christian authors - YAY!!
Lysa: "Sometimes to get your life back, you have to face the death of what you thought your life would look like."
"I will no longer diminish the best of who I am to cover up the worst of who someone else is."
"It’s impossible to hold up the banners of victim and victory at the same time."
"Sometimes I care so much about what the other person is feeling that I forget it's not my job to own their feelings or manage their feelings. It's my job to be kind but clear, and it's their job to manage their feelings... I've learned it is not necessary to overexplain why this is a no."
Melanie: "David knew how deeply he was loved, and that knowledge brought him to redemption and repentance every time he messed up... Satan wants nothing more than to let our fear of who we were keep us from becoming who God wants us to be."
"There are probably only a handful of times in our lives when someone who will change us forever walks in -- when we find someone we can love with our whole hearts, who will challenge us and shape us and make us feel like the world is safer and brighter just because they are in it. A person who loves us for exactly who we are, yet teaches us to be better because of who they are and how they live their life.”
Sophie: "Watching and learning from Mama and the other women in my family gave me a deep love for home and hearth and taking care of people. I knew from a young age that there was eternal value in those things."
"When the Holy Spirit gives you compassion for someone, it really doesn’t matter how many years stand between your respective dates of birth. All that matters is responding to the prompting of the Holy Spirit and recognizing that any opportunity to speak into someone’s life, bless them, pray for them, or minister to them -- well, it is a privilege."
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