Bogormen

Title: Unshakeable: 365 Devotions for Finding Unwavering Strength in God's Word
Author: Christine Caine
Genre: Christian, essays
Rating: 3.5/5
# pages: 383
Date read: December 2019

In this daily devotional, bestselling author, speaker and activist Christine Caine will take you on a year-long journey of building your faith in our Unshakeable God. Through inspiring personal stories and powerful scriptures, she will equip you to live boldly and courageously, fully trusting our faithful God. She will inspire you how to activate living your life on mission. Unstoppable. Undaunted. Unashamed. Unshakable.


Rather than trying to come up with 365 different devotions, I wish that Christine Caine had boiled down her message to perhaps the 50-75 best ones. There were some absolutely AMAZING devotionals in the collection, that I bookmarked and will return to regularly (July 30th and November 14th being my two favourites), but there were also many that felt like repeats, didn't bring anything new to the table, or where it was kinda obvious that she was struggling for topics to fill out the book.

Had those been weeded out, and only the strongest left behind, it would have made a much more lasting impression.

Title: A Life in Stitches: Knitting My Way through Love, Loss, and Laughter
Author: Rachael Herron
Genre: Essays
Rating: 3/5
# pages: 144
Date read: June, 2018

In these 20 heartfelt essays, Rachael Herron shows how when life unravels there's always a way to knit it back together again, many times into something even better. Honest, funny, and full of warmth, Herron s tales, each inspired by something she knit or something knit for her, will speak to anyone who has ever picked up a pair of needles. From her very first sweater (a hilarious disaster, to say the least) to the yellow afghan that caused a breakup (and, ultimately, a breakthrough), every piece has a moving story behind it. This beautifully crafted and candid collection is perfect for the knitter who loves to read and the reader who loves to knit.


Unfortunately I was slightly disappointed by this essay collection. I had fully expected to adore it (essays about knitting - what's not to like?), but just wasn't as charmed by it as I had thought I'd be. I can't pinpoint any specific issue I had with the collection, so I think it was just a matter of lack of chemistry.

Not a bad book by any means - I just didn't fall in love with it the way I thought I would, and therefore spent waaaaaay too long reading it.

Title: Yes, My Accent Is Real: and Some Other Things I Haven't Told You
Author: Kunal Nayyar
Genre: Essays, memoir
Rating: 4/5
# pages: 256
Date read: January, 2016

Of all the charming misfits on television, there's no doubt Raj from The Big Bang Theory - the sincere yet incurably geeky Indian-American astrophysicist - ranks among the misfittingest. Now, we meet the actor who is every bit as loveable as the character he plays on TV. In this revealing collection of essays written in his irreverent, hilarious, and self-deprecating voice, Kunal Nayyar traces his journey from a little boy in New Delhi who mistakes an awkward first kiss for a sacred commitment, gets nosebleeds chugging Coca-Cola to impress other students, and excels in the sport of badminton, to the confident, successful actor on the set of TV's most-watched sitcom since Friends.


I really enjoyed getting to know the man behind the character of Raj. My favourite essays were absolutely the ones that related to TBBT in some way, but I appreciated the others as well, and found many of them heartwarming, amusing or both. Kunal Nayyar has a great way with words, and I left the book thinking I would really like him as a person and would have a great time spending time with him.

Title: The Amazing Thing About the Way it Goes
Author: Stephanie Pearl-McPhee
Genre: Essays
Rating: 2/5
# pages: 224
Date read: December, 2014

The Amazing Thing About the Way It Goes takes on the amazing in the ordinary in this side-splitting series of short commentaries. Pearl-McPhee turns her trademark wit and perspective to everything from creative discipline to a way you would never think about fixing your email situation. This book looks at everyday problems, and honestly, it won't do much to solve them, but at least you'll be laughing.


I love Stephanie Pearl-McPhee's essays about knitting. The rest of them? Unfortunately not so much. And as there wasn't a single knitting essay in this collection (which I knew ahead of time, so it wasn't a case of being disappointed by that - I'd just expected to enjoy the rest more), it could only just make it to two stars... it was okay, but no more than that.

Title: Sleeping Solo: One Woman's Journey Into Life After Marriage
Author: Audrey Faye
Genre: Memoir
Rating: 4/5
# pages: 51
Date read: September 2014

I don't really feel right rating this book. How can you "grade" somebody's personal experience? Fortunately the goodreads rating system (which I've adopted here too) is based on how much you like a book, and not how good you think it is from a literary standpoint. That helps.

"Sleeping Solo" is Debora Geary's first book under her new pen-name, and does a lot to explain why she had to change pen-names, and why she could no longer remain Debora Geary.

It's a fascinating book about the first 8 months of her life post-divorce, and invites you a look into her journey from a married woman to a single mother.

Personally I am amazed at how quickly she was able to regroup - had I not known the timeline I would have assumed these events took place over a couple of years rather than 8 months - but each person regroups in their own fashion, and while I do believe some ways are healthier than others, it does seem as if Audrey Faye chose the way that was best and healthiest for her.

It's a deeply personal account, that doesn't claim to offer any advice or "truth" for other people in a similar situation, but is simply a writer's way of reacting to a deeply personal and transitional set of circumstances.

I appreciated reading it, and getting to know a bit more about the person behind some of my favourite books.

Title: Sh*it My Dad Says
Author: Justin Halpern
Genre: Essays
Rating: 4/5
# pages: 176
Date read: March, 2014

After being dumped by his longtime girlfriend, twenty-eight-year-old Justin Halpern found himself living at home with his seventy-three-year-old dad. Sam Halpern, who is "like Socrates, but angrier, and with worse hair," has never minced words, and when Justin moved back home, he began to record all the ridiculous things his dad said to him:
"That woman was sexy.... Out of your league? Son, let women figure out why they won't screw you. Don't do it for them."

"The worst thing you can be is a liar. . . . Okay, fine, yes, the worst thing you can be is a Nazi, but then number two is liar. Nazi one, liar two."

Justin weaves a brilliantly funny, touching coming-of-age memoir around the best of his quotes. An all-American story that unfolds on the Little League field, in Denny's, during excruciating family road trips, and, most frequently, in the Halperns' kitchen over bowls of Grape-Nuts.

Very different from what I had expected, but I absolutely loved it. "Dad"'s no-nonsense attitude to things really appealed to me, even though I'm not sure what he would have been like to live with.

But his love and affection for his family shone out from every essay, making it a much more heart-warming essay collection than I had ever anticipated.

Loved it :)

Title: Hyperbole and a Half
Author: Allie Brosh
Genre: Essays
Rating: 5/5
# pages: 288 pages
Date read: November 2013, September 2014, April 2020

Touching, absurd, and darkly comic, Allie Brosh's book showcases her unique voice, leaping wit, and her ability to capture complex emotions with deceptively simple illustrations.

This full-color, illustrated edition features more than fifty percent new content, with ten never-before-seen essays and one wholly revised and expanded piece as well as classics from the website like, "The God of Cake" "Dogs Don't Understand Basic Concepts Like Moving" and her astonishing "Adventures in Depression" and "Depression Part Two" which have been hailed as some of the most insightful meditations on the disease ever written.

I'd better start out with a confession -- I've never read the Hyperbole and a Half blog. I've tried a couple of times, but just never really got it.

Despite that, somehow this book found its way into my claws, and when I saw that it was making the finals of the Goodread's Choice Awards I figured "Why not?" ... and that was all it took.

Just two pages in I was completely sold. I devoured the book in two quick sittings (would have been one, but I had to go to work), and am now slowly working my way through the blog - trying not to gorge on it all at once. Now I can honestly say I understand all the hype - Allie Brosh is brilliant, and the mix between text and cartoons in her essays makes for a very different reading experience that - IMHO - works perfectly.

Her letters to previous selves was probably my favourite essay, but the two essays on depression were heartwrenchingly relateable.

Terrific read.

Title: Holidays on Ice
Author: David Sedaris
Genre: Essays, Short-stories
Rating: 3/5
# pages: Audiobook ~4hrs
Date read: October, 2013

David Sedaris's beloved holiday collection containing six pieces, including such favorites as the diaries of a Macy's elf and the annals of two very competitive families.

Loved "Santaland Diaries" and "Dinah, the Christmas Whore", but can't quite decide what I thought of the rest. Very, very dark and very, very disturbing. Also, I couldn't figure out which were fact and which were fiction. Some were obvious, but not all of them.

But definitely not a book to read to get into "the holiday spirit"! ;)

Title: Yarn Harlot
Author: Stephanie Pearl-McPhee
Genre: Essays
Rating: 4/5
# pages: 219
Date read: October 2012, October 2013, August 2014, December 2019

Stephanie Pearl-McPhee's deepest wish is that everyone understand that knitting is at least as fun as baseball and way cooler than the evil looped path of crochet. Every project, from a misshapen hat to the most magnificent sweater, holds a story. "Yarn Harlot" moves beyond instructions and patterns into the purest elements of knitting: obsession, frustration, reflection, and fun. Stephanie Pearl-McPhee's humorous and poignant essays find humor in knitting an enormous afghan that requires a whopping 30 balls of wool, having a husband with size 13 feet who loves to wear hand-knit socks, and earns her "yarn harlot" title with her love of any new yarn--she'll quickly drop an old project for the fresh saucy look of a new interesting yarn.

After reading Free-Range Knitter I wanted to read more of the Yarn Harlot's essays. Thankfully she didn't disappoint, and the only problem was that I could only read one or two essays at a time - then I had to go pick up my own knitting for a spell! Good thing they were short! ;)

Most of the essays were funny, charming and/or uplifting. However, there were two very sad ones, and one especially that left me sobbing :(

Reread for the October 2013 Read-a-Thon: PERFECT Read-a-Thon reading - especially for the late night / early morning hours.

Title: Under the Duvet
Author: Marian Keyes
Genre: Essays
Rating: 4/5
# pages: 315
Date read: March, 2012

Her novels are read and adored by millions around the world, and with "Under the Duvet," Marian Keyes tackles the world of nonfiction. These are her collected pieces: regular bulletins from the woman writing under the covers.

Marian loves shoes and her LTFs (Long-Term Friends), hates realtors and lost luggage, and she once had a Christmas office party that involved roasting two sheep on a spit, Moroccan-style. She's just like you and me ...

I've long read and enjoyed Marian Keyes' novels, so I figured it was about time to read her essay collection. I tried it once before many years ago, but at the time hadn't realized that it wasn't yet another novel, so pretty quickly gave up on it as it wasn't what I was expecting. This time I knew what to expect, and greatly enjoyed it. It's always interesting to learn more about the person behind the books.