Sunday, March 26, 2023

The Sunday Post #330

This post contains affiliate links. I earn a commission from qualifying purchases.

The Sunday Post is a chance to recap the past week, talk about next week, tell you what I’m reading, and share news. It’s hosted by The Caffeinated Book ReviewerReaderbuzz, and Book Date.




The Sunday Post #330





On The Blog Recently






In My Reading Life


Last week, I finished two books and disliked both of them, so brace yourself for some negativity!




My book club read Can't Hurt Me: Master Your Mind And Defy The Odds by David Goggins. The author is a very intense human. He grew up in poverty with abusive parents and transformed himself from an overweight, unmotivated young person to a tough military dude and one of the world's top ultramarathon athletes.

This book would have been a fabulous memoir. The author is fascinating. He has an amazing ability to stay so focused on his goals that he's able to push through physical pain and mental exhaustion. He's proof that you can achieve anything if you are willing to make huge sacrifices and work yourself to death. I appreciated learning about his childhood and his military experience and how he stayed mentally strong during stressful situations. He's an impressive guy. I agree with him that humans are stronger than we realize.

The memoir parts of this book are great. The self-help parts . . . not so much. The author enters 100+ mile endurance races without doing much research or training. He runs until his legs break, his kidneys fail, and his heartrate goes wonky. He nearly dies at the end of the book because he hasn't been taking care of his body properly! He keeps making the same mistakes over and over and doesn't seem to learn from them. I don't see his behavior as inspirational or aspirational.

This book is proof that stubbornness and arrogance can push you through challenging short-term goals. It left me wondering how you're supposed to achieve long-term goals if your body stops functioning.





Then I read Daisy Miller by Henry James. I've been reading a lot of Henry James recently, and I'm just not smart enough for his work. His books leave me bored and confused.

This one is about a young American man named Winterbourne who is traveling around Europe. On his travels, he meets Daisy Miller, another young American. They hang out a few times, but Daisy's behavior causes nonstop scandals. She loves to flirt and has several close male friends. A few of those friends may be trying to get her family's money, but she doesn't care. She just wants to have fun in Europe. She ignores all the warnings about her reputation. Winterbourne stops hanging out with her because it's social suicide. Then tragedy strikes.

I'm not smart enough to know what I was supposed to get out of this story. I wasn't entertained by it. Is it a warning to Americans who are traveling abroad for the first time? The book was published in the late 1800s, when it was fashionable for wealthy Americans to take extended European vacations. Daisy Miller is too American. She ignores local customs and doesn't think about her safety. She pays the price for it.

Or, maybe this book isn't about Daisy at all. Maybe it's about Winterbourne. At the end, it seems like he regrets ending his friendship with Daisy because she got herself into trouble after he left. Is it a story about regret? I have no idea.

I don't understand this book.





In The Rest Of My Life


Five things that made me happy last week:


  1. Cinnamon rolls!
  2. I've been playing The Sims 4 a lot because they had a sale, and I bought the vampire pack. I want to live forever in a simulated vampire world.
  3. Qdoba burrito! That was my birthday gift to myself. I got myself a burrito, a video game, and an ugly sports bra. I'm clearly living my best life.
  4. I stayed up all night to watch Shadow & Bone. I am obsessed. I love all the characters. I love the Game Of Thrones style wedding. I want the next season right now.
  5. Last week's boxing lesson wasn't a complete disaster. I have the same athletic skills as an average potato, so lessons don't go smoothly. I usually just flail around while the coaches stare in horror. That didn't happen last week. I actually accomplished what I was told to do.





Let's Dislike Books Together!










Take care of yourselves and be kind to each other. See you around the blogosphere!














28 comments:

  1. So many of us aren’t smart enough to plow through books by Henry James. At some point, I gave up, with the suspicion that it wasn’t my fault. Probably not your fault either. Smart people get bored by bad books, no?

    Here’s a quote from an article in the Guardian: “Wading through his books seems to me to be the literary equivalent of wearing a very stiff and uncomfortable shirt simply in order to attend an endless speech given by a dull and pompous old headmaster. From the first laboriously drawn out sentence to the last, I've read three of his novels now and all of them bored me senseless - I just don't see the appeal. I even read the Turn Of The Screw, which I'd been assured was ‘fun’, but bored me rigid”

    https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2007/feb/09/icantbearhenryjames

    best… mae at maefood.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm striking all Henry James titles from my list of books I want to read before I die.

      Delete
  2. I started to read James only after grad school. I don’t think I would have been able to before that. I was amazed and delighted by his talent. I loved Portrait of a Lady and my favorite, The Golden Bowl. I’ll read Daisy Miller again and hopefully make a comment on your post! It may take me a while tho.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Congrats on your boxing lesson LOL Now Can't Hurt Me could in fact be a disaster in the making if other people followed that line of thoughts! And I love Shadow and Bone too!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Look at you becoming a boxer. I think it's fantastic that you are pushing yourself. Cinnamon rolls - say no more. I think the last time I had a cinnamon roll was the summer of 2021 when I visited my daughter. It was from Ann Sather and was amazing. You played out my nightmare of joining a book club - reading books I don't enjoy

    ReplyDelete
  5. I loved Shadow and Bone too!! The second season needs to come out now.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Lol, love your honest reviews of those books! I liked the first few episodes of Shadow and Bone, except it was kind of dark at times and hard to see. Then I picked up my phone instead of watching. I need to try again and make sure to not pick up my phone while watching. The meme at the start of this post is totally me. Also the bit about a book club, yeah, that's why I won't join them, lol. Oh, and I used to love Q'Doba's quesadillas and cheese dip, but last time I went they didn't have the same thing I used to get. Hope you have a good week!
    Lisa Loves Literature

    ReplyDelete
  7. I don't really have any specific comments to make. I just always enjoy your witty posts SO MUCH!!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  8. LOL you know you're an adult when you "treat" yourself to a sports bra for your birthday! I just bought myself a new wallet for mine, LOL!

    ReplyDelete
  9. A burrito, a video game, and a sports bra sounds like a pretty good birthday! :-) Maybe the ugly sports bra motivated you in your boxing lesson?

    ReplyDelete
  10. Happy birthday! I love Qdoba! Also, that is a literal picture of me trying to push through. Hahaha!

    ReplyDelete
  11. The Sims vampire edition sounds, honestly, awesome. And I haven't had Qdoba in ages. Reminds me of Quiznos, which I used to go to all the time... then all the ones here went out. How does a Quiznos go out??? Anyway...

    Boxing lessons? Sounds fun. Maybe? Could be useful in the parks? Okay joking

    ReplyDelete
  12. Cinnamon rolls would make me happy too! Happy birthday, glad you were able to gift yourself some things you will love!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Oh, I do like the Sims. It was long, long ago that I played the Sims. I wonder what the games are like now.

    I think you chose wonderful gifts for your birthday!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Goggins' memoir would likely frustrate me. I love seeing someone overcome adversity and achieve great things, but someone who go to such extreme measures without proper research/preparation... and doesn't learn from his mistakes... that's hard to take.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Cinnamon rolls, Sims, and Qdoba! Sounds like a great week.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Happy Birthday -- that's my kind of celebration! I'll skip that memoir/self-help, not at all my approach to life.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Happy Belated Birthday! The David Goggin's book looks good.

    ReplyDelete
  18. I had cinnamon rolls this week, too. Which reminded me of a kitchen magnet my sister found: "I want buns of steel and...buns of cinnamon, too."

    ReplyDelete
  19. Your 5 things always make me happy. And I'm glad you had some fun for your birthday!

    Anne - Books of My Heart This is my Sunday Post

    ReplyDelete
  20. I've been hearing lots of good things about Shadow and Bone! I need to check out that series soon!

    Here’s my Sunday Post

    And my Sunday Watch for movie and TV fans!

    Rabbit Ears Book Blog: WORLD’S WEIRDEST BOOK BLOG!

    ReplyDelete
  21. Yikes! I had not heard of either of those books. Nice honest review. Thanks for the reminder that I need to watch Shadow and Bone!

    ReplyDelete
  22. Some of these famous "classic" writers bore me to tears and I just don't get the appeal, but everyone has different reading tastes. I hope Goggins learned some lessons about proper research and prep after running his body into the ground. That would be tough to read about.

    I need to watch Shadow and Bone. My daughter loved it too. I had to laugh about your boxing lessons!

    ReplyDelete
  23. I binged Season 2 of Shadow and Bone in one night too, and found it preferable to reading Henry James ;)

    Wishing you a great reading week

    ReplyDelete
  24. I'm sorry you didn't like your books this week, but your birthday celebration sounds fun :) Happy Birthday and have a great week!

    ReplyDelete
  25. Some authors are just not for everyone. I don't read "Classics" unless forced so Henry James will never be on my list. Your birthday celebrations sound like fun though. Come see my week here. Happy reading!

    ReplyDelete
  26. I haven't been brave enough to try Henry James yet but I do want to read The Turning of the Screw at some point. Too bad neither book worked for you this week. Hate when that happens! Happy belated birthday and have a great week!

    ReplyDelete
  27. Cinnamon rolls and a burrito? Now I'm hungry. Lol.

    ReplyDelete