After finishing “Untamed”, I started to realize how much I loved the experience of reading a memoir, especially an inspirational memoir. I feel like it’s a whole subgenre that’s made just for me. Glennon Doyle referenced her close friend and fellow author, Elizabeth Gilbert. For those of you who haven’t heard that name before, Elizabeth Gilbert is the author of “Eat, Pray, Love”.
A booktuber/youtuber who I love and really admire also referenced some of Elizabeth Gilbert’s work, specifically, her craft book about creativity called Big Magic. She said it helped her with her creative productivity and that it showed creativity in a whole new light. And if “Big Magic” is even 1% as inspirational and motivating for me as “Untamed”, I know I’m going to love it. If Elizabeth Gilbert gave advice to Glennon Doyle, the author who basically kicked me in my heart, brain, and soul, I’m going to read her work and hear what she has to say to me.
I also ended up purchasing Gilbert’s newest fiction work, City of Girls. This was another book that has been getting praise from some members of the book community I follow and have similar tastes to. I don’t know much about this book but I was told that it was similar to “The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo”, which is one of my favorite books of all time, so I didn’t even hesitate buying it after I heard that.
In the highs of my book buying spree, I ended up visiting a bookstore near me to pick up a textbook I had bought to study. I won’t include that in my haul but know that somewhere in the world, I’m using that textbook as a pillow and very strongly trying to learn from osmosis lol.
While I was in the bookstore, I was walking through the bargain aisle and was on a mission of picking up a fun book that wouldn’t make me cry, the academic kind of crying anyway. I want to be the type of person who walks into a bookstore and can pick up a random book and just go with it. I also want to be able to test myself when it comes to trying out random books so I gravitate towards books that I haven’t heard about. I want it to be something I probably would never pick up but since it’s in the bargain section, I allow myself to be a bit wild. That’s how I picked up The Revolution of Marina M. This book is a historical fiction book set during the Russian Revolution and it is ginourmous. It’s a 800 paged hardback that is honestly, quite heavy to hold. My current reads have been mostly historical fiction so why not add a 800 paged one to it huh? This paragraph in the synopsis, is what sold me.
“As her country goes through almost unimaginable upheaval, Marina’s own coming of-age unfolds marked by deep passion and devastating loss, and the private heroism of an ordinary woman living through extraordinary times.”
What says winter more than historical fiction, Russian Revolution, passion, and devastating loss?
I also picked up a couple editions of Breathe magazine. I picked up my first Breathe edition at my local pharmacy in October and I still haven’t read it. I flipped through it and fell in love with it. It’s full of beautiful art, calming titles, and feels like a perfect magazine for some deep introspection and self-care. I didn’t want to start and finish the magazine I found in my local pharmacy in case that’s the last edition I’ll find for a while. But once I found out my local bookstore stocks it, I’m planning to start it soon.
The past couple months have been very stressful for me and very new. It’s like I’ve been taught to swim in a very shallow pond and suddenly dropped in the middle of the ocean and told to swim back to the coast. Basically, I’m looking for anything that’s cozy, comforting, inspirational, and will really force me into practicing self care. Which is why I’m turning into a inspirational memoir and magazine buying person the past few weeks.
What is one book that you bought recently?
Here’s the list of books mentioned in this blog post: