Posted on by saraelizabeth419

Is Bookstagram the new Book Blog?

Please accept my apologies.

It’s been a few months shy of a year since I last posted and I cannot believe that it’s been THAT long.  I can say that there has been a lot going on in my life, which there has, and that I just haven’t had time to sit down and put my thoughts to paper, which is also true.  But really, the biggest reason that I have not posted is because I started a Bookstagram, well, really a Booksandwinestagram.  Is that even a thing?  It is now.

Unknown.jpeg

Ever since before I can remember, books were a huge part of my life.  Before I could read I would have others read to me, then when I could read, I would spend all my available hours reading (okay, I do like tv also).  When I was old enough to drink, I began cultivating my wine palate, and though I’m not a master sommelier, I do know what I like.

Another thing that I grew up with was photographs.  I’m not sure what your household was like, but mine (and more specifically every time I saw my grandparents) was filled of pictures so much so that we developed what we called our “picture smiles.”  When I was in high school, I took all the photography classes they had, learned how to use a manual camera and develop my own film and photos.  Over the past few years my passion for photography (and art) had dimmed, but starting this Instagram page about books and wine has opened that part of me back.

Unknown-2.jpeg

With all of that being said, I’m starting up the blog again.  I can’t promise that I will post about every book I read, but I do promise that I WILL post.  I’ve always loved writing (it’s why I’m in the book industry), and it feels good to be back!

Posted on by saraelizabeth419

Sophie Kinsella’s My Not So Perfect Life

Have you ever had a really bad day but posted a pic onto social media to make it seem like your day had in fact been great? We’ve all been there. During my recent trip to Europe I was suffering from a sinus infection, and although I did push myself to see everything, I felt miserable for a good portion of the trip. I made multiple trips to the pharmacy for medicine, cried because at one point I could barely swallow, and drank less French wine than I had hoped for, but of course, that wasn’t what I showed to the world. Just like Katie Brenner, the main character in Sophie Kinsella’s newest novel only chose to show the good, I did so as well (of the pics I did post, there are very few close-up pics of me) – but not to the extreme that she takes it.

In My Not So Perfect Life, we follow Katie, a young twenty-something country girl as she tries to make it the branding industry in London. Her boss is all over the place, her commute is a nightmare, and her room in the apartment she shares with two other people is so tiny that she has to keep her clothes in a hammock above her bed (horrible!). But, if you looked at her Instagram account you would never know. Her social media alter ego goes to the best restaurants, has days and nights on the town, and overall, leads a perfect, enviable life. There are a few reasons why Katie does this, but the main one is that she wants to make her father proud and not have him worrying about just how not perfect her life really is. She doesn’t want to disappoint him or be pitied by him. And just as it seems her life is starting to become what she anticipated it to be (making new friends at work and a possible love interest), Katie gets fired and, after a ton of job searching, is forced to return home, where she tells lie after lie to her father. As in all Kinsella novels, Katie eventually has to confront her situation and fess up to all the lies that she told.

I think that Katie’s story is my favorite of (what I’ve read of) Kinsella’s so far. Her story is very relatable to anyone starting out in an industry from the bottom up: the meager salary, the long commute, the not-so-great apartment, the wanting to make people think that your life is all put together. In a way we’re all like that last one, all hoping that one day our lives will reflect exactly what we put on social media, even though in reality, we know that no one’s life is ever actually perfect. Katie’s story is also one about growing up, and accepting yourself for who you are. I feel that, as we get older, we get more comfortable with ourselves and we’re less likely to hide who we are or apologize for it.

IMG_5988
Sophie Kinsella’s My Not So Perfect Life. February 2017 The Dial Press. Penguin Random House.
Posted on by saraelizabeth419 · 2 Comments

Follow Your Dreams

Life has a funny way of working out when you least expect it. Someone just told me that the other day, but it’s something that I’ve heard my entire life. And, were it not for the fact that one of my dreams came true a few months ago, I wouldn’t believe it.

Yesterday morning, I was on my way to work, reading an advanced copy of Jill Alexander Essbaum’s debut novel Hausfrau (German for housewife), and I came across a passage that stuck out. “What is the purpose of pain?…It’s instructive. It warns of impending events. Pain precedes change. It is a tool.” There are clichés that we always tell ourselves during difficult periods in our lives, but I’d never seen it written in such a way before. It was as if a veil had been lifted and I could really see the truth in the words. After reading that passage a second time, I took a moment to reflect upon my life, the recent devastations as well as recent achievements. Pain really does precede change. It doesn’t always happen right away – because, let’s face it, the greatest changes come along gradually – but it happens. And it’s always positive.

Three months ago, after yet another difficult period in my life, a dream of mine came true. Not just any dream, a HUGE dream. One that I had longed years for. When I was a child, my first love was reading. I simply loved books and all that they entailed, but it wasn’t until I was in college that I realized I could actually have a career in the book-world without being a writer. It took over seven years, but not only did I get a job in book publishing, I’m working in the imprint that I fell in love with two years ago.

Dreams do come true, but sometimes, in order for that to happen, you need to make an effort. In the seven-plus-years that it took for me, I tried and failed more times than I want to count. There were times where I felt that my goal was impossible and wanted to give up…but I didn’t. And I’m glad I didn’t.

NEVER give up on your dreams. Because, one day they will come true, and the reality of that will make you happier than anything else ever could.

Posted on by saraelizabeth419 · 1 Comment

Emily Giffin’s The One & Only

For her first novel with Random House, Emily Giffin’s The One & Only is, in some ways, quite a bit different from her other novels, revolving mainly around college football and the lives of those involved (directly or indirectly) in it. But, if you look beyond all of the sports discourse, you can see that, at its core, it is still a Giffin novel, just with love and relationships as a secondary focus instead of the main one.

The novel follows Shea Rigsby, a woman whose life completely revolves around football – something she has been passionate about since before she can remember. Her best friend, Lucy, is the daughter of famed college football coach Clive Carr, who not only is the head coach for Walker University – in the town of the same name that Shea grew up in – but also has been a role model and father figure to her due to her father’s absence. The Carrs are Shea’s second family, so when tragedy strikes them, naturally she empathizes and tries to do everything she can do to help them through it. But, with tragedy comes reflection; it’s what makes people reexamine their lives and make changes that they wouldn’t have done otherwise, and Shea is no different in that aspect. Maybe Walker isn’t everything. Shea makes big changes in both her personal and professional lives that, although seem to be the right paths for her, ultimately leave her wondering: what if everything she could ever want or need was there all along. What if Walker really was everything?

There is a major focus on football, but does it work for Giffin? Can her fans get passed the overwhelming assault of an emasculating sport or will they be thoroughly disappointed? Although I was slightly taken aback as to the sheer volume at which football comes into play in The One & Only, I think her writing stands for itself. What I love about Giffin novels is their ability to make me not only feel for and relate to the characters in the story, but also, their ability to make me turn inward and self-reflect. So many of us have aspects of our lives that we are not happy with, whether it be a job that doesn’t interest us, a love life that doesn’t challenge us, or just a melancholic feeling towards ourselves in general. Sometimes, changes have to be made in order for us to be happy, but often times, it’s just more a matter of changing our perception on things, as Shea experiences. Sometimes you need to take a step outside of yourself and your life to realize that everything you ever could have wanted has been there the whole time.

“Sometimes you only get one shot. Sometimes you don’t have the luxury to think or wait or plan. Sometimes you have to reach out and seize your moment. Your best, last, or only chance.”

IMG_1956.JPG

Posted on by saraelizabeth419 · 2 Comments

Pieces of Ourselves

I was talking with Melissa this morning and she told me about a dream that she had last night, a vision, of a specific moment with an old love, one who she has never been able to fully forget. Her description was so vivid that I could imagine myself being there, so vivid that, in the moment, she felt as though she was there again. When she opened her eyes, she felt an intense ache in her heart, a longing that she hadn’t felt in a while. I told her that I knew exactly what she was talking about and how she felt because the same thing happened to me a few days earlier. She asked me, “How does it feel so real?? How come we can’t remember happy moments like that…”

I thought about her question for a moment, then answered with this: It feels so real because it was, because we still love/miss that person so much. Because the memories that bring us to tears have a more profound effect on us than ones that make us smile.

As much as we live for those moments of happiness, they don’t affect us nearly as much as the devastating ones when remembered. Happiness is what we strive for; it’s the ideal, yet, it is pain, we are told, that gives us strength and makes us grow. But really, why is this? Could it just be that we can remember loss more than love because that is what we’ve grown up hearing? Couldn’t we grow just as much through love as through loss? Honestly, I think it is more a matter of changing your perspective, because of course we can and we do. But those memories that Melissa had, that I’ve had, that we all have had, they will always haunt us not only because of the people that we were with then, but even more so because of the person that we were at that moment…a piece of ourselves that we can never get back.

Posted on by saraelizabeth419

Amy Hatvany’s Safe With Me

In Amy Hatvany’s new novel, Safe With Me, published in March by Washington Square Press, she weaves a tale of abuse, loss and unconditional love through three distinct alternating narrations of two women and one teenager, who are connected long before they meet.

It had been nearly a year since Hannah Scott lost her daughter as she was biking out of their driveway and hit by a car. Since then, she threw herself into her work, opening up a second hair salon and moving into an apartment above it, trying to pick up the pieces when all the while she’s still devastated by it. It’s not until a new friend walks into her life (and her salon) with a connection to her daughter that she is finally able to face the situation and start healing.

Olivia Bell has lived her life in fear for a long time, fearful of her husband’s sometimes abusive tendencies, and fearful of her daughter Maddie’s struggling health, which, after an organ transplant a year earlier is finally improving enough that she can return to school. It is when Olivia picks Maddie up on her first day back in tears that she decides to make her daughter feel better…by taking her to the grand opening of a new hair salon in town. Little do they know that their trip to Hannah’s salon will change their lives forever.

At the heart of this novel lies the concept of the power of emotions and how strongly they can affect us, sometimes without us even knowing it. Hatvany makes us take a look at our own lives and relationships, past the ideals, past the rose-colored glasses, and allows us to see them for what they really are (were).

“We try on personalities like second skins, learning to present only the best versions of ourselves to the world, fearful of what might happen if we reveal just how imperfect and vulnerable we really are. But it’s these imperfections…these struggles, that truly connect us.”

Posted on by saraelizabeth419 · 2 Comments

The Life & Death of It All

It’s been a while since I’ve heard anyone utter that expression, but due to recent events in my life, this popped into my head this morning. I am reminded of a scene from the finale of Dawson’s Creek (yes, I was a fan back in the day), where, to paraphrase, Dawson says that the opposite of life isn’t death, that life has no opposite.

It has been a long time since that show aired, but that line has stuck with me through the years, mainly because of how true it is. Birth is the opposite of death because birth is the beginning of something and death the end, but life…life is existing. Can there be a true opposite to that? I don’t think that there is, and I think that that is a thought that is overlooked more often than not. Many people go through life without a care in the world, ignorant of the very real fact that they are on a once-in-a-lifetime journey, because when life ends, that’s it. There are no second chances or do-overs. It’s just over. Then there are others who strive to make a name for themselves, to leave a legacy, but they have it all wrong too. These people are so wrapped up in leaving something behind that they, too, are ignorant in the rarity that is life, and therefore miss out on the little things, which, as we know, really are what make up one’s life. Not that there is anything wrong with living either of those ways, it’s just that often times a person’s life isn’t really appreciated until circumstances threaten its very existence. And it shouldn’t be that way.

We tend to obsess over the little things that really have no significance, something of which I am definitely guilty of. But, I often find that while I am obsessing, something big or traumatic happens to someone that I care about which always forces me to take a step back and reexamine my life, and brings me to the realization that all of my obsessing is just wasting time that should be spent doing/thinking about other things. That, if I put as much effort into my life and my relationships as I do obsessing, I would be leading a much fuller life and, hopefully, not missing out on the things that truly matter.

Right now, in the midst of a life or death situation of someone that I truly care about, I sit back and think about everything that I thought was important, people who I once thought would be with me forever but have faded away, and I realize that, while some of these people I do miss, the only thing that matters is right now: this minute. And that everything else just isn’t as important as I once thought. That the only thing to do is to live in the present, because everything else just isn’t living….

Life has no opposite; life is existing.

Posted on by saraelizabeth419

A Change in Tune

Ever since I started this blog, I generally dedicate my first post of the year to a reflection of the events of the past twelve months and what I hope for the next. I would focus on major events that changed my life, little moments that stole my heart, and lessons that I learned, but this time around I am going to do it a little differently for a couple reasons…one being that my life really has taken a drastic change.

For the most part, 2013 was an awesome year with few exceptions. It didn’t necessarily end or begin the way that I would have liked it to, but looking back, it actually was better. The things that I’m doing now I may not have otherwise done had the year ended differently. For example, currently I am vacillating between reading a manuscript for a woman that I met in the grocery store and struck up a conversation with, and editing my first book – this book was not written by me, it is my first editing project on this level. It is a challenge, but I really love it. I had a discussion with the author just the other day and she was beyond thrilled with the work that I have done so far, which is a great feeling. I am working on some home improvement projects, dusting off my toolbox, changing out old photographs and once again going through my closet. But probably the most important project that I have started is one that takes place inside myself. A few months ago I came to the realization that there were things in my life that I was not happy with, things that, if I really focused on and poured energy into, could be changed for the better. A reinvention. It’s not the first time that I have decided to reinvent myself, nor will it be the last I am sure, but it is always interesting to see the results come into fruition…because they always do.

Last night I was out with a couple of old friends, people who I hadn’t seen in a while, but nonetheless, people who know me better than most. It was a spur of the moment thing that got me home well after my bedtime, but it was worth it on so many levels. We bounced around to a few different spots; I made conversation with strangers, tried a fish-dish, and ended the night singing and dancing in a dive bar to Billy Joel songs playing on the jukebox. We had a discussion on life and what we felt was the one thing that is the most important. One of my friends felt that the concept of time and what you do with that time was the most important thing, but my thoughts were a little different, but I digress.

A few times throughout the night, one of my friends pointed out to me that he noticed a change in the way that I was acting, and that a few months ago I would never have done certain things or said certain things (for example, earlier that night we had been waiting for an appetizer to come out which should have been out long before. He made a comment to the waitress about it, and I stepped in and commented as well, but was much more forceful than my friend was, and the food came right after that). I told my friend about my self-improvement/reinvention project, and he was very impressed and felt that I was onto something huge. And that was when it hit me. I AM onto something huge. My friend Melissa and I talk endlessly about how this is OUR year and how amazing it is going to be, and being out with my friend last night, and having him recognize these changes in me that I’ve been making made me realize that this year will be amazing, and in some ways it already is.

Last year might not have ended the way that I had predicted it would, but I was given something that was much better. Not everyone can reinvent themselves, but I know that I can, and having these improvements and new confidences recognized is one of the most amazing feelings in the world. I can’t predict the changes that life will throw at me this year, but I do know that whatever they are, I will face them straight-on, with my head held high and with a new attitude. And. It WILL be amazing.