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Share the books I read in October and would I recommend adding them to your list!
Hello friends! How are you? I hope you had a wonderful weekend! The pilot had a promotion at work – I’ll share some pics in Friday Faves – and we had a blast celebrating with friends and family. I have a lot of work to do this morning because I’m driving out of town this week for a business thought leader. I’m looking forward to a walk with Maisey at the end of the day and some 1:1 coaching sessions.
For today’s post, I’m sharing the books I’ve read over the past month! It’s been a hit-and-miss month and I have high hopes for some new books on the old bedside table. Here is the summary of the October books.
October 2022 book review
The Cancer Revolution
I bought a copy of The Cancer Revolution because I was Dr. Follow Connealy on Instagram and LOVE her account. She shares so much valuable information and I find it fascinating to be able to follow someone who treats cancer frequently and successfully. She uses a mix of alternative and traditional therapies, including IV vitamins, oxygen therapy, red light, detoxification strategies, and sauna, in addition to low-dose chemotherapy. I wanted to read this book because I just want to empower myself with additional tools and information, and I have found so many valuable resources in this book on cancer prevention, cancer treatment, potentially helpful nutritional supplements, and more. 10/10 recommend.
From Amazon:
When it comes to cancer, conventional doctors are trained to treat their patients solely with surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy. These methods are grueling for the whole body – and they don’t treat beyond the tumor or cancer itself. The focus is on the disease, not the whole person – and that’s why results in conventional medicine can be dismal.
But it doesn’t have to be that way. dr Leigh Erin Connealy developed a holistic approach to treating cancer – and these treatments have helped thousands of patients through her Cancer Center for Healing. In The Cancer Revolution, Dr. Connealy on how to get to the root causes of cancer and practical steps you can take to get back on the healing path – from balancing your body’s chemistry with supplements to following a healthy eating plan, to detoxifying your body and Your home, exercise regularly, get deep, restful sleep every night, practice stress reduction techniques, and assemble a supportive healing team.
Chemotherapy and radiation have their place in treatment, but in many cases they are simply not enough because cancer is not caused by one thing but by many different factors. All of these causes need to be addressed, not just the tumor. The Cancer Revolution will empower you to make impactful, attainable lifestyle choices that attack the root cause of the disease and offer hope for recovery and a cancer-free life.
11/22/63
Her. This book was WILD. I listened to the audio version and the narrator was fantastic. I loved the different voices for the characters and really brought this butterfly effect kind of story to life. The premise of the book is that a man named Jake Epping is tasked with using a portal to go back in time to stop the assassination of JFK. He also wants to save and change the life of an acquaintance. Jake learns the implications of changing the past and tries to decide if he even wants to return to the present.
I’ve never read anything by Stephen King as I usually stay away from *scary* or cruel books. This book was intense and some parts were hard for me to hear but I can see why Stephen King is so popular lol. My only problem with this one is that it’s LONG. The guy is wordy. He could probably have dropped about 200 pages in the middle. At the same time, the character development is so deep that I’m still thinking about it (especially the ending!). I would give him a 9/10. I want to see the series on Hulu now!
From Amazon:
On November 22, 1963 three shots rang out in Dallas, President Kennedy died and the world changed. What if you could change it back?
In this brilliantly conceived tour de force, Stephen King – who has absorbed the social, political and popular culture of his generation more imaginatively and thoroughly than any other writer – takes the listener on an incredible journey into the past and the opportunity to change it.
It starts with Jake Epping, a 35-year-old English teacher in Lisbon Falls, Maine, who makes extra money teaching GED classes. He asks his students to write about an event that changed their lives, and he is blown away by an essay: a gruesome, harrowing story about the night more than 50 years ago when Harry Dunning’s father came home and his mother, his and his sister killed brother with a sledgehammer. Reading the essay is a turning point for Jake, his life—like Harry’s, like America’s in 1963—revolves around a dime.
Not long after, his friend Al, who owns the local diner, reveals a secret: his storage room is a portal into the past, to a specific day in 1958. And Al enlists Jake to take on the mission that has become his obsession – to prevent the Kennedy assassination.
So begins Jake’s new life as George Amberson in another world – of Ike and JFK and Elvis, of big American cars and sock hopping and cigarette smoke everywhere. From the dank little town of Derry, Maine (where there’s dunning business to run) to the warm-hearted little town of Jodie, Texas, where Jake falls dangerously in love, every turn naturally leads to a troubled loner named Lee Harvey Oswald and to Dallas, where the past becomes heartbreakingly exciting – and where history may no longer be history. Time travel has never been so believable. Or that frightening.
Hester—DNF
I had high hopes for this book of the month picture and thought it would be a fun choice for Fall/Halloween. I’ll announce it about halfway through. I’m so bored and there are too many books to read. If you want my copy, I’ll be happy to pass it on!
From Amazon:
A vivid reinterpretation of the woman who inspired Hester Prynne, the tragic heroine of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, and a journey into the enduring legacy of the New England witch trials.
Who is the real Hester Prynne?
Isobel Gamble is a young seamstress harboring generations of secrets as she sets sail from Scotland with her husband Edward in the early 18th century. A pharmacist smitten with opium and his debts have forced her to flee Edinburgh to make a fresh start in the New World. But just days after they arrive in Salem, Edward abruptly joins a departing ship as a medic – leaving Isobel penniless and alone in a strange land, forced to fight her way by any means necessary.
When she meets young Nathaniel Hawthorne, the two are immediately drawn to one another: he is a man haunted by his ancestors who sent innocent women to the gallows – while she is an unusually gifted manual worker, possessed of strange talents of her own is concerned. As the weeks pass and Edward’s safe return becomes increasingly unlikely, Nathaniel and Isobel grow closer. Together they are a muse and a dark storyteller; the magician and the enchanted. But what is what?
In this sensual and mesmerizing tale, a young immigrant grapples with our country’s complicated past and learns that America’s vision of freedom often falls short of its promises. Interwoven with the story of Isobel and Nathaniel is a lively questioning about who will be a “real” American in the first half of the 19th century, a depiction of the early days of the New England Underground Railroad, and atmospheric interstitials that capture the long story of “unusual” women accused of witchcraft. Laurie Lico Albanese’s Hester is meticulously researched and yet impressively staged. It’s a timeless tale of art, ambition and desire that examines the roots of female creative power and the men who seek to quell it.
Go-to dinner
I was so excited when my absolute favorite published a new cookbook. You can always count on Ina for recipes that have been meticulously tested and taste amazing. I have a success rate of around 99% with Ina’s recipes and she is my go-to resource when I’m looking for a dinner party recipe or crowd pleaser. This cookbook focuses on go-to dinners that can be made fairly quickly, along with side dishes and desserts. The dessert selection alone is worth it (a gorgeous chocolate torte and cupcakes) and I can’t wait to add some of these new dishes to the rotation.
From Amazon:
Even Ina Garten, America’s most trusted and popular home cook, finds cooking stressful at times. To make life easier, she relies on a repertoire of recipes that she knows will turn out perfectly every time. Cooking night after night during the pandemic inspired her to rethink her approach to dinner, and the result is this collection of comforting and delicious recipes you’ll love to prepare and serve. You’ll find plenty of recipes to freeze, make ahead, prep, and easy to assemble recipes so you too can make dinner a breeze.
In Go-To Dinners, Ina shares her strategies for preparing her most satisfying, no-fuss dinners. Many, like Overnight Mac & Cheese, you can toss in the oven right before dinner. Light dinners like Tuscan white bean soup can be prepared ahead of time and put together at the last minute. Go-to family meals like Chicken in a Pot with Orzo and Hasselback Kielbasa will fill a crowd with very little effort. And who doesn’t want to eat breakfast for dinner? You’ll find recipes for Scrambled Eggs Cacio e Pepe and Roasted Vegetables with Jam Eggs that are prepared in no time and are so filling. Ina’s “Two-Fers” show you how to turn the leftovers of a second night’s dinner into something different and delicious.
And sometimes the best dinner is one you don’t even have to cook! You’ll find Ina’s favorite serving boards with store-bought ingredients, like an antipasto board and a breakfast-for-dinner board that are fun to put together and so impressive to serve. Since no meal can be considered dinner without dessert, there are plenty of prep and easy sweets like Bourbon Chocolate Pecan Pie and Beatty’s Chocolate Cupcakes that everyone will rave about.
For Ina, “I love you, come to dinner” is more than just an invitation to dinner, it’s a way to create a community of friends and family who love and care for one another, and we all need that now more than ever . These go-to recipes will give you the confidence to create dinners that will bring everyone to your table.
What are you reading? I’m looking for a page turner for that hester let down.
Also, I’d love to hear your favorite cookbook author!
Have a great morning and thank you for stopping by the blog today!
xoxo
gina