Finished "Year of Yes"

So I gave a brutal first pass review of Shonda Rhimes's Year of Yes in the review here. While I still stick to my guns and say the writing style was boring, my book club members point out that it is more self-reflective and there are several takeaways from this book that can be helpful.

Say "yes" to things that scare you. We all have fears, but when those fears get in the way of us reaching our full potential, or become a hindrance, we have to challenge ourselves to tackle that fear head out. Shonda would not be the writer that she was if she did not write controversial stuff, or challenged herself to write 3 shows simultaneously.

Say "yes" to the people that matter. Put your phone down. Get off Facebook. Turn off the tv. Give the people that matter uninterrupted, full-attention time. I'll refer you to another website that I enjoy and how we really don't know how much time we have with people, so we should cherish them while we can. (Here's the link, excuse the fowl language). In the book, Shonda said yes everytime her kid wanted to play. It was only 15 minutes usually, but in those 15 minutes, it taught her kids that she was accessible, and it gave her insight into their world. Parents often wonder why their teenagers don't talk to them or tell them things. Perhaps they were trying to for the past 10 years and you were too busy. Invest the time now and build those relationships.

Say "yes" to no. The lack of a decision is a guilt-ridden passive aggressive no. But it still lingers over you. If you don't want to do something or go somewhere, just say no. Have enough respect for the person asking to not give them a "maybe" when you know you won't, and enough strength in the choices you are making to decide. We make a lot of decisions by not deciding to decide. But it's not purposeful. Just decide. Just say no and move on. Read the book or return/sell it. Work out or get rid of the gym membership. Go to bed early or decide that you don't deserve enough sleep. Say "yes" to conscious decisions by saying no to passive ones.

Say "yes" to being good enough. One of the stories Shonda told was about a school who looked down upon mothers who brought in store-bought goods over home-baked goods. You can feel bad about our parenting skills because you didn't have time to bake 30 kids snacks or you can focus on what really matters: providing a good home environment, feeding your kids, working so that they can have what they need, and spending time with them. If cookies don't fit into your schedule, forego them. People need to learn to stop shaming other people for not being able to do what they did. We don't know our neighbor's struggles or what they do and don't have time for. Women especially, are expected to do it all. As soon as we all realize that we are not, and will never be, perfect, the sooner we give ourselves permission to be good enough.

There are several good pieces of advice in the book, like just accepting a compliment: Don't downplay it, just say thank you and smile. I recommend the audiobook to push through, and extract what's good for you.

I am motivated to say "yes" more. "Yes" to me!

Hours of "NO"

It's the beginning of 2016. Who wouldn't want to read a book entitled Year of Yes: How to Dance it Out, Stand in the Sun and Be Your Own Person, by Shonda Rhimes? THE Shonda Rhimes who has written Grey's Anatomy and Scandal. Shonda Rhimes who owns ABC Thursdays. She has her own hashtag #tgit. You would think that such an amazing writer, would have a killer self-help book. You. Would. Think.

And believe me, my purpose is not to bash her or the book. But I gotta let this out. Because I am ONLY on the 2nd of 6 cds and the only thing keeping my eyes open was that I was driving 60 mph in an automobile. I have to finish this book. I have a book club to run. I suggested this book. People are coming over to my house to discuss this. But Ugh.

First, big ups to audiobooks. I love them!! You can multitask to the fullest and still "read" a book. I don't think I would be as far if I weren't listening to this. Second, it is nice to have the author read the book themselves. They know exactly where to place emphasis and if it were anyone else, you might blame the reader for not conveying the characters. Third, to be fair, I am not finished with the book. It might get better. I'm praying it gets better. But I feel like I have a gist of the writing style and content already from listening to 2 hours of the book.

Shonda Rhimes is a remarkable writer. If she were writing a script or if this were a Lord of the Rings type book, where Tolkien paints detail to an excruciatingly painful level, this would be great. It would make a great movie, because the producer would have to just follow the bread crumb trail clearly written. But this is not a script or a movie. THIS is a book I purchased to motivate me. To convince me to say "YES" instead of "NO"; to take a challenge. Instead, I feel lied to. Like this was just some marketing ploy to get me to spend $20. 2 hours in, I don't think she's offered any helpful advice. Sure, advice is IMPLIED by her actions, but all I hear is -  and I know she doesn't mean to do this - I'VE DONE THIS, THEN I DID THAT, SO I SHOULD BE OUTGOING, BUT I'M NOT, SO THEN I DID THIS, AND I WAS SCARED, AND SO I CHALLENGED MYSELF TO SAY YES, THEN I SAID YES, THEN I DID THE SCARED THING, AND HIP HOP HURRAY TO ME. And I'm like, well that was great and all, but where is the "how to" in the TITLE!?!?!

I did like the commencement speech she gave at Dartmouth graduation in 2014 but I felt like I was eavesdropping. It wasn't really directed at me, the reader. I'm waiting for her to explicitly tell me, the reader, some jaw dropping knowledge. But while I wait for it, I shouldn't be bored to tears. The writer of Scandal and Grey's Anatomy should not be boring me to tears when I read her stuff. I am utterly shocked and dismayed. I do not understand how this could be. But then a friend reminded me that the original script is just a suggestion and a lot of production and direction goes into a show. And while she provides the skeleton, there's so much more that make these hit shows hits. Not to trivialize her talent, but it's like night and day y'all.

So, I'm going to keep pushing forward. But only because it's Shonda. Because I know she is an awesome writer, I know that it will get better. Or, at least, I hope very strongly. I want to like this book. I want to support one of the best tv writers in my time. I love to write. I want to support a fellow writer. I want to say Yes to this book.

I want to say Yes . . .

30 Books Before 30

Maybe I'm crazy. Or maybe I just want to wander a little less aimlessly. As many of you know one of my dreams is to become a well known writer - to someday have a non-technical book published, that people want to read (and not just my friends and family), that somehow inspires at least one person, and that makes everyone examine the everyday items in their life, and slightly chuckle. Well, as I stated in a previous post, the best way to really do something is to study your predecessors. In my case, that means read more. I think we all could use to read more. With school and work, reading for pleasure gets pushed to the back burner. But I must say, I really love it. I love being engrossed in a novel or literary work so much that you don't want to put it down. I love reading books that I later remember so vividly that I thought I had watched the movie.

My most recent favorite has to be The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri. Great novel on the conflict of 1st generation-ers - the fine line between assimilation and adaptation. The movie (I hated) does not do it justice. At all.

So, I looked at some lists online and compiled a list of 30 books I want to have read by the age of 30. Some of the books I have read already (in bold), but it's been so long that I don't really remember them all. Many of the books I have not read, and a handful I have started (in italics), but never actually finished. So, I'm taking suggestions for the list - maybe you think I should have something on there that's not, or maybe you would take something off. Then, I'll write about the books that I'm reading, or give summaries for the books that I have read - each in it's individual blog post - it will kinda be like the movie Julie & Julia. Hmm, ok maybe not so exciting, since I can't really blog too much about how my hand turned the page, waiting in anticipation, as to what would happen next.

And if there's a book on there that you also want to read - let me know, and maybe we can read it together. A lot of the classic novels are beyond their copyright and are available free online or through an e-reader. I don't read very fast - so if that was a concern, go ahead and nix it.

One more thing - i have a ton of books that I am currently reading, so I may hold off on starting until the new year, to give me time to finish the books on my list. We'll see. And Any suggestions for where to start? I'm thinking of starting light with The Scarlet Letter.

Here's the list: Comments about the list below

1. Animal Farm
2. The Catcher in the Rye
3. Beloved
4. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
5. The Great Gatsby
6. The Grapes of Wrath
7. Catch 22
8. Crime and Punishment
9. War and Peace or One Hundred Years of Solitude
10. The Scarlet Letter
11. The Color Purple
12. Robinson Crusoe
13. The Prince
14. Lord of the Flies
15. 1984
16. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
17. Madame Bovary
18. Ulysses
19. Siddhartha
20. Uncle Tom's Cabin
21. Don Quixote
22. Dracula
23. The Bible
24. The Critique of Pure Reason
25. The Sayings of Confucious
26. Poems of Emily Dickinson
27. Beowulf
28. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
29. Treasure Island
30. Gulliver's Travels
    

So what didn't make the list? There are a ton of wonderful books that didn't make my 30 pick: Metamorphosis (Kafka)- seriously, I could not read past a certain part in the book, when he was describing all of his body parts (man turns cockroach) and how his family wouldn't hug him or welcome him home, I was in disgust, I just had to put it down if I wanted to be able to eat dinner that night. So yeah, that did not make the list. Moby Dick (Melville)- hmm not really sure I want to read that much about a whale - yes I realize that it's about more than a whale. I'm open for persuasion, but so far, no dice. The Souls of Black Folk (DuBois) may be put on, I'd just have to figure out what to take off - I bought it two years ago with every intention of reading it. I love Jane Austen based movies, so I wanted to add either Pride and Prejudice or Sense and Sensibility, but because I had seen the movie [Pride and Prejudice], I probably have a good idea of the author's work. And after all this Twilight hype, I had to add Dracula - c'mon Twilight's got nothing on Bram Stoker, lol. The Complete works of William Shakespeare - well in one word WOW - I think it would take a lot to read off of Shakespeare's stuff, plus I've read a handfull of plays in school - Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, Taming of the Shrew, Othello, etc. War and Peace looks very long - not sure if that will stay on the list. What do you think? Worth a read? And some others that did not make the list: A Tale of Two Cities (Dickens) , Jane Eyre (Bronte), The Jungle (Sinclair), Oliver Twist (Dickens) , A Farewell to Arms (Hermingway), etc. And I'm excited about some of the selections on my list - I've heard so much about Madam Bovary, it will be nice to read the book. The Bible has been a goal on my read list forever. I even bought one of those Read the Bible in 365 days books. So, hopefully with adding it to my list it will actually get done (finally). I may have a separate blog for The Bible, since that will take a year in itself - even if you are not Christian, the basis for a lot of Western philosophy (whether people agree or not) does take root in The Bible. And a Spanish novel - with Don Quixote, will be an interesting add to the mix.

So, hear goes nothing - taking suggestions/comments/interesting fluff on my list until Dec 31st !

(Image from http://fineartamerica.com/featured/bookshelf-joni-dipirro.html)