I’m not big into gadgets….but when I find something that I feel as a busy Mum will enhance my life (meaning make it easier and not incorporate rigorous cleaning) I am generally happy to go with it.
In other words, I guess I am happy to pay for convenience whereas in my pre-kiddie days I was all about cutting corners. That’s why I love my nutribullet! But ……late to the party, as usual…… I recently took the plunge & bought a Kindle. I had the app downloaded on my iPad for the past few years but I grew tired of not being able to read it in daylight & also ferociously minding such an expensive piece of electronics whilst out and about.
Proof of purchase right before setting sail. See my Leanmeanmomma Instagram account here.
So stubbornness gave way to convenience and I treated myself to the paper white Kindle. AND I LOVE IT. It’s compact & light – especially compared to my iPad which is iron clad in it’s Otterbox holder. Having lost one iPad that was 3 months old to the floor courtesy of 1st born, I splashed out on the Otterbox cover, in despair for the replacement and it us the ONLY thing I would now have my previous iPad Air encased in. But it does make it bulky. A small price to pay for piece of mind.
For those of you interested – the otterbox case I mention. You can get it here. It’s expensive but not as expensive as replacing an iPad that little fingers got hold off unbeknownst to me. Mine is chipped…..but I figure the iPad would be (again) in its place if I didn’t have it.
But again, I have gone off on one of my tangents!!! And so, anticipating evenings sitting on the deck of our mobile in France with 3rd born tucked up in his cot I went about downloading some books. That was so simple to do – picking the books was the hard bit!
The only time of the year I get to read a few books is summer holidays. Half of that is because there is no TV. Without fail, as I enjoy it so much when I am reading, I resolve every year to turn the TV off in the evenings and read more. But invariably I don’t as you can do jobs whilst watching bits of TV but a book requires full concentration & sometimes (if it’s particularly good) your heart and a piece of your soul.
So what did I put on my Kindle? I unashamedly wanted easy, light reading that made me laugh aloud & wasn’t too taxing. I googled few recommendations, looked up the NY Times Best sellers list & allowed Amazon to guide me based on the few books I had downloaded to my iPad previously.
Now I am no literary genius & nor do I claim to be – though it would be nice. Life is busy & what I read varies greatly & completely depends on my mood or where I am in my life at that time. For now, 6 months pregnant & generally tired I just wanted fun, easy reading.
And so here it is:
- The Rosie Project
2 pages into this & I thought I’d hate this book. 4 pages in I was laughing aloud & addicted! I kept imagining this as a movie so it was no surprise to read that originally it had been written as a screenplay. Fantastic, light hearted & thought provoking insight into Asperger’s & how a 39 year old hot blooded male with Asperger’s (albeit it undiagnosed) may view romance & approach life in general. You can’t help but fall in love with the main character yourself.
- The Girl On The Train
This one I found hard to put down. It is about an alcoholic girl who spends her days commuting to & from London & thus infiltrates her way into the lives of a couple she sees daily. I did guess what was what half way through but it didn’t matter as the characters didn’t so you are equally gripped worrying for them!
- Confessions Of A Fashionista
I love to shop & anyone who is even remotely interested in the PR side of fashion will enjoy this. It’s like lifting the lid of a world I know nothing about & letting us peak in. A hilarious memoir of the Daily Mail Columnists time in the fashion world.
- Me Before You
This was an Amazon lucky dip if I am honest but 2 weeks after reading it I am still thinking about the main characters. This starts out as what you think is a fairly easy read, non-taxing & harmless. But it evolves into a really thought provoking love story that made me keep on turning those pages.
- The China Study
This I am still working my way through. It’s a book you have to pace yourself with as it’s loaded with facts & figures. I’m still not sure how I feel about it but it’s very interesting. It’s not light reading though!
Having loved The Kite Runner last summer, Amazon threw up
- The Little Coffee Shop of Kabul
as a suggestion for me this time round.
I really liked this book. It really was like stepping off the plane & into a dusty, dark world of which I know very little about. It’s an easy read that allows you an insight into a culture so different to ours but yet reminded me that the women in this book still have dreams, longings, needs & friendships not dissimilar to ours. A heart warming easy read.
- The Kabul Beauty School
And it prompted me to download the authors other book – this time a memoir about her crazy idea to set up a beauty school in Kabul as part of a foreign-aid project. With many different stories all woven into one, it makes us privy to a lifestyle we don’t understand but is hugely interesting to learn about. It was like travelling to another place whilst on holiday in France!
- The Fault in Our Stars was by far the most emotionally taxing read of my lot this year. As a woman, as a mother, as an ex-teenage girl there were so many levels on which you could relate to the main character Hazel’s plight. Hazel is 16, has lung cancer & attends a cancer support group. Sadness, love, fear, romance, friendship, heartbreak & at times even humour pour from within the bindings of this book.
I have yet to see the movie adaptation but I have heard it is great.
And there you go. The story so far, with regards to the my summer reads. Don’t judge me on my choices! Or do so, in the knowledge that there really is only so much a pregnant mum of soon-to-be 4 can digest intellectually for the foreseeable future. Who knows…..maybe I’ll get round to page 2 of Ullysess when they all leave for college. I doubt James Joyce cares though.
Yours, swearing to keep that TV off for a little longer,
Cli xx
