Me Before You, This Is Personal

Hello darling reader friends! Are you still recovering from the sugary, emotional cocktail that encompasses February the 14th every year? This book is sort-of a romance, but not really. JoJo Moyes' Me Before You is definitely an emotional roller coaster. I started it on the recommendation of my friend Mary (shout out!), who is a librarian, therefore I knew it must be legit. All librarians have a secret sixth sense- book judging. You should trust them. They live with books. Why didn't I become a librarian again? Oh yeah, because I couldn't be quiet for more than ten seconds. I have a big mouth. ANYWHO.

Here is the shelfari.com description of the book:

Lou Clark knows lots of things. She knows how many footsteps there are between the bus stop and home. She knows she likes working in The Buttered Bun tea shop and she knows she might not love her boyfriend Patrick. 

What Lou doesn't know is she's about to lose her job or that knowing what's coming is what keeps her sane. 

Will Traynor knows his motorcycle accident took away his desire to live. He knows everything feels very small and rather joyless now and he knows exactly how he's going to put a stop to that. 

What Will doesn't know is that Lou is about to burst into his world in a riot of colour. And neither of them knows they're going to change the other for all time.

Throughout the whole book, the main character and care-taker Lou is on a mission to convince Will, a quadriplegic, to live. She has six months to accomplish this mission. She is not a trained care taker. She has no medical skills. She was hired to be her kooky, joyful, busy self in order to revive his spirit. The touching, ironic, yet predictable aspect of the story is that although she is supposed to help Will regain his life and dignity, HE helps HER with the same goals. She learns to take the risk of stepping outside of the comfortable "safe" walls we build for ourselves. He helps her to clean out the skeletons in her closet and to embrace life and all it has to offer her.

My favorite parts about this book are the hilarious characters and the writing. I love British humor. I listened to the audible edition of the story and read along on my kindle when I wasn't listening. I definitely enjoyed the audible better for the timing and the fun accents! The story and humor reminded me very much of the movie The Intouchables (pic below), which I have to admit I enjoyed better than Me Before You for the ending.

SPOILER ALERT: Will chooses death, after all the beauty and love that is created within the six months of Lou interacting with him. Maybe I shouldn't be mad at him, but I am. I always tell myself just to let myself be with the people and experience their side of the story throughout a book. And I did. But I still disagree. He was so smart and had so much left to offer the world, and to offer Lou, and I feel cheated from his decision. We are so much more than our bodies. Maybe I simply can not fathom, even after reading the book, what it is like to be a quadriplegic. It must be so difficult. I have no doubt. I know I do not understand. What I loved about the book is that neither did Lou. But she respected him and stayed with him. You do not have to agree with someone to respect them. In fact, I think the most powerful argument for your opinion is respect for those who have a different one.

This is personal. I do know what it is like to hate my body. It is something that I have struggled on and off with for a long time. I have done very unhealthy things to myself because I couldn't see anything but pudge in odd places and not enough pudge in other places. You might be so surprised! It makes me smile looking back because it seems so far away now. I have been fully redeemed of that hatred. My body is now something that I see as a tool for all the beauty that is beaming within it. From the inside out, I have found grace and hope, placed there from my Creator. I won't accept that hatred from myself or the world any longer. So if you are reading this, I just want to leave you with this message: THERE IS HOPE. Be kind to every part of yourself, from your crooked pinky toe to your wrinkly elbow. Your body is carrying sunshine within it. And that sunshine is YOU. 

Love from the Baby SisterLit,

Jillian

The Only Romance Novel I Would Recommend

Good evening lovelies. Yesterday we recorded our third podcast. Sometimes the experience goes by so fast and I'm not ready to move on yet. My mind is still swimming with the novel I just read and I didn't feel my two cents on the episode gave it justice. Does that ever happen to you? You get stuck and you aren't quite ready for it to end, but inevitably the last page comes, but you are still there. I'm still with Sarah in Redeeming Love, by Francine Rivers.

Many of my best gal pals (shout out Naomi and Jenna!) read this novel in high school and I remember them telling me about it. I was skeptical and put it off. Now I'm sorry it took me so long to pick it up. I want to publicly admit that YOU WERE RIGHT my friends. (Glad I got THAT off my chest.) When my friend Camie (shout out!) recommended this again, I knew I couldn't ignore it any longer.

On the podcast I mentioned that it is the only romance novel I would recommend. I'm not against romance. In fact, I love it. Too much. But it messes with me and I have to protect my heart. Especially as Valentine's Day approaches, I am wary. Too many single (and married) friends hurting for something so much deeper than what can be given in a 300 word steamy Mcsomething or other. Real love is beautiful because it is not about your happiness, although this is a welcome result. It is messy. A struggle. It is about giving of yourself, over and over and over and over again because it ISN'T ABOUT YOU. (If you aren't interested in why I believe this, read Sacred Marriage, by Gary Thomas). Any book that spins romance in any different way cheapens love and fools you into desiring something that doesn't exist. A longing addiction that can never be satisfied, except...

Redeeming Love is a story about how that longing can be satisfied, how we can be made whole from whatever the world has done to us, how we can be worthy of the richest love of all. And it is not just a novel, but my story. Your story.

Here is the Shelfari description: Can God’s Love Save Anyone? Bestselling author Francine Rivers skillfully retells the biblical love story of Gomer and Hosea in a tale set against the exciting backdrop of the California Gold Rush. The heroine, Angel, is a young woman who was sold into prostitution as a child. Michael Hosea is a godly man sent into Angel’s life to draw her into the Savior’s redeeming love.

If you are not a Christ follower, reading this book may help you understand what in the world the draw is to Jesus. Read it and understand me a little more than you did yesterday. If you are a Christ follower, be prepared to re-encounter the ways in which God saved your life.

This book impressed me in so many ways. It emphasized how many times we stray from God because we feel unworthy of this kind of all consuming redemption. Angel left at first because she thought it was a joke, laughable. She left later because she realized she didn't deserve this unfathomable love. This kind of love is strange to us. We don't understand a love that doesn't have a catch, an expiration date, a patience limit, or that sacrifices so much for our well-being. But that is what God does. Who God is.

This book also impressed me because, unlike many Christian novels, it didn't mask the ugly things that human beings do to each other. It was real. The story was one filled with abuse of every kind. Although sexual abuse is in the forefront, it is also a story of slavery of the mind, heart, and soul. For this book to tell the real story of redemption, it needed to tell just how deep and deeper still God can redeem, even from the worst evils that Angel faces in her lifetime.

Although this story is fictional, I felt like it was true of every single one of our lives. I appreciated Francine's note at the end of the novel, because it exemplified just one real life example of how this story is true for her. She writes: "I used to believe the purpose in life is to find happiness. I don't believe that anymore. I believe we are all given gifts from our Father, and that our purpose is to offer them to Him. He know how He wants us to use them. I used to struggle to find happiness. I used to work hard to attain it. By the world's standards, I was successful. But it was all meaningless vanity. Now, I have joy. I have everything I ever wanted or dreamed of having: a love that is so precious I can find no words to describe it. I haven't achieved this through my own efforts. I certainly have done nothing worthy to earn it or even deserve it. I have received it as a free gift from the Lord, the everlasting God. It is the same gift He offers you, every minute, every hour, every day of your life. I hope this story will help you see who Jesus is and how much He loves you. And may the Lord draw you to Him."

And that is all she wrote.

And me too.

The Baby SisterLit,
Jillian

#3: Clockwork Angel

Welcome to the third edition of SisterLit!

Today we announce a GIVE AWAY! You must listen to the end of the podcast to hear how to win!

Jen also revealed the gender of her baby, due in June!

The main topic of our discussion focuses on Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare, the first in the Infernal devices trilogy.

We also discuss additional titles we have been reading this past month:
MazeRunner by James Dashner
Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver
Stolen by Lucy Christopher
Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire
Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers

We delve into the topic of book to movie adaptations, the good, the bad, and the ugly. We also talk about upcoming movie adaptations from this buzzfeed list.

We chat about using Shelfari as a book resource to find great titles, fun facts, quotes, summaries, book suggestions, all about the books you are reading!

We give shout outs to the wonderful listeners that have left reviews on Itunes!

Lastly, we reveal The Book Thief by Markus Zusak as the next book we will review together in SisterLit!

Remember to listen to the very end to hear the bloopers. You will NOT want to miss them this time!

Enjoy and keep reading!

(Just keep reading, just keep reading, just keep reading...what do we do? We READ!)

The Courage of Butterflies and Friends Who Read Hardback Books

Today I finished a book. Shocker. If you thought I was going to talk about something other than books on this blog, you are on the wrong blog. But I digress.

Today I finished a book. Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver. Let me tell you a story about this book. My dear friend Alison (shout out!) let me borrow this book from her house almost a year ago. The book was beautiful- hardback with that all too sweet cracking when the binding was disturbed. This book was a gift to her and I felt awed when she offered to allow me to borrow it. If you have been listening to our podcast, you will know that we sisters have been pretty steady in the ebooks via our shared family kindle library. Every book we read is on our kindle, conveniently away from the wear and tear of our pet and kid and life filled lives. We can take multiple books with us, protected in kindle covers. It has been awhile since I've had to care so deeply for a piece of literature's body. When I first made the switch to e-books, it was hard. Books (real paper books) are beautiful, but I knew that it was the words that made them really beautiful. What kind of counselor doesn't live by the mantra that it is the inside that counts? With our kindle library, we get the pleasure of sharing them with each other, which makes the books even more beautiful. I don't need a shelf of hard backs just for show! (okay okay, I'm still convincing myself;)

Back to the story, I carry my kindle around with me in my purse. Errrrrrrrrerywhere I go. After about minute of doing this with the hardback, it was already showing signs of crumpling. It was distressing. Like making even the tiniest crack in your grandmother's china. With a deep desire to hold respect to my friend and her china, er, book, I put the book on the shelf and never read more than a fourth of it. Plus, I was in my last of everything in grad school, and it is hard to care for anything gingerly in the last of everything in grad school, let alone to actually read anything for pleasure. I finally gave it back to her, and we were both left disappointed. I vowed I would read it on my kindle and have a tea with her when everything was finished. When my Aunt Kimberly (shout out!) gave me a gift card to Amazon for books as a graduation present, this was the first book that I bought, both on kindle and audible.

I listened to it throughout Christmas while I baked and wrapped and cleaned and finished it this week as I started my hour total commute to and from my new job. It was a luscious experience in and of itself to hear it narrated with multiple accents. Later I learned that Barbara Kingsolver herself narrated it. I never wanted to turn it off and go to work. I never wanted to stop doing chores! It was a Christmas miracle!

As for the book itself, in true Kingsolver fashion, this was a dense book written with stunning prose. The main character, Dellarobia (I want comments on thoughts about that name!) walks into the book complicated and leaves the book complicated, but grows to be one of the most respected and courageous characters you will ever meet in your lifetime. She asks many questions, challenges herself to take the best (but not easy) road, and still has grace towards others, even when they believe and act blatantly different than she does. When you walk away from this book, you could simplify it in many ways, be offended, take sides, or you could simply listen and let yourself be with Dellarobia for awhile. For example, Kingsolver writes about the most "offensive" topics, the pick-a-side topics, the anti-dinner-table, anti-holiday-party, and dare I say, anti-podcast topics (And you thought I was the "good girl" of the sisters! Shame on you!). She writes about butterflies (not so offensive), marriage (still pretty PC), socioeconomic chasms (warmer), global warming (BAM), religion (CRASH), and yes, politics (my least favorite-insert your worst Onomatopoeia here) and so much more. But this is still fiction, and that is the beauty, my friends. She tells it with gentle courage, through Dellarobia and her mountain of butterflies. She says everything I cannot find the words to say and makes me find the words I really want to say all at the same time. And maybe you will find your words too, because after all, you can't say them at the dinner table, unless you are a rebel.

As mentioned before on the podcast, I always take the offered privilege of reading the acknowledgements. You should ALWAYS read the acknowledgements, but this is another blog post for a later day. I read that Barbara Kingsolver received the Dayton Literary Peace Prize in 2011- an award given in my very own city! I'm swelling with pride. I had never heard of it (woops!). I found the 2011 speeches and I watched this acceptance speech by the lovely Barbara herself. It was so enlightening, to say the least. She talks about the expected and the unexpected ways that literature promotes peace, which I believe is exactly what Dellarobia's story does. It causes one to think deeply, to empathize, and to practice the pursuit of understanding another human being's point of view. Literature is a tool in helping us to understand that most things in life are much more complex than an "us versus them," dualistic lifestyle that sometimes we are too tired to swim against.

Woof! I feel like I just exerted a marathon's worth of mental energy and depth into that blog post! Next time I will stretch and lather with vaseline in odd places.

Also I've added some things to my bucket list: Read Dayton's Literary Peace Prize award books every year and attend one Dayton Literary Peace Prize gala in a very fancy dress and get an autograph in a hardback book.

Be courageous, loves. Peace out! (Get it????)

One of the SisterLit,
Jillian

Food for thought!

#02: Gone Girl

We present to for your listening pleasure the second episode of our SisterLit podcast. All three of us sisters are here for this second podcast and our varied viewpoints are on full display in this podcast.

First we discuss our favorite books of all time. They are as listed as followed:
-Jennifer's List

1. Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
2. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
3. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith

-Jillian's List

1. Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
2. Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
3. Blink and Three by Ted Dekker

-Jessica's List

Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling

1. Prisoner of Azkaban
2. Order of the Phoenix 

We delve into the twisty world created by Gillian Flynn called Gone Girl. We talk many spoilers so do not listen if you have not read the book! If you would like to skip this segment it starts 15 minutes into the episode and ends at 38 minutes. We all agree that this book is a fun ride but very intense and not for everyone.

The end of the podcast is devoted to our listeners who have commented lovely things about our first podcast. We also talk briefly about our next books we will be reading. We will finish up our discussion of the Divergent trilogy next podcast and also talk about a new trilogy The Infenal Devices by Cassandra Clare.

Just for fun, we found that we were using the word Basically quite a lot in this podcast. Anyone who counts the basically's in this podcast gets a shout out in our next podcast will be out in January.

New Sisterlit podcast tonight!

Merry Christmas! SisterLit will be putting up podcast #2 tonight. Jen, Jess and Jillian all be on tonight, stay tuned!