‘Tis The Season – Favorite Things to Read

by Valerie on December 8, 2010 · 1 comment

As I mentioned this morning, winter is officially here. As are the holidays.  And this means it is time for me to actually do something about my grand plans of a gift guide.  I ended up borrowing a page from Oprah and Sarah (of the SHU Box) and deciding to start with a Favorite Things Gift Guide.  Tonight is Favorite Things To Read. There will also be Favorite Things for Making Life Easier, Favorite Things for Comfort and others.

This year, I loved:

Life Is a Verb: 37 Days to Wake Up, Be Mindful, and Live Intentionally

 Life Is a Verb: 37 Days to Wake Up, Be Mindful, and Live Intentionally made me laugh and want to cry and draw and connect with people.  It was truly truly wonderful.  Based on how much I loved this book, I would recommend other Patti Digh books, such as Creative Is a Verb: If You’re Alive, You’re Creative or and Four-Word Self-Help: Simple Wisdom for Complex Lives 


A Homemade Life: Stories and Recipes from My Kitchen Table



I also reread A Homemade Life: Stories and Recipes from My Kitchen Table. Yes, it is a book about food, but to me this book is really about family and hopefulness.  I have loved Molly’s writing style every since I started reading Orangette years ago, and this book is more of that wonderful style.

Talking with My Mouth Full: Crab Cakes, Bundt Cakes, and Other Kitchen Stories 

While we are on the food theme, a book that is also about families and food and traditions that is a wonderful read is Talking with My Mouth Full: Crab Cakes, Bundt Cakes, and Other Kitchen Stories.

When in need to inspiration, writing prompts and just generally a companion in changes, I pulled out the following:

The Complete Artist's Way: Creativity as a Spiritual Practice
 Tranquilista: Mastering the Art of Enlightened Work and Mindful Play
Hip Tranquil Chick: A Guide to Life On and Off the Yoga Mat
Truth be told, I have read more magazines and cookbooks this year than any other books this year. I am saving the cookbooks for their own post, but here are my current favorite magazines:
Real Simple (1-year auto-renewal)
Real Simple – comfortable, reliable, and always informative.
Whole Living (1-year auto-renewal)
Whole Living – which is soothing in and of itself.
Lucky (1-year auto-renewal)
Lucky  – I used to be a huge Harper’s, Vogue and InStyle fan, but now I find Lucky to be the first fashion magazine I start with these days, and then sometimes move on to one or two or three of the other three.

And that wraps up Favorite Things to Read – more favorites posts to come in the next few days.

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{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }

1 Debi December 12, 2010 at 4:10 am

Love your idea of the Favorite Things even if it's borrowed. 😀

Real Simple used to be one of my favorites. Then I moved on to Natural Living. Then I just stopped magazines because I got to a point where I wasn't even flipping through them. 😀 I did just start a subscription to Living Without. We'll see how long I last with that. lol

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