Here it is – the first of August already. Do you know what that means? It’s my birthday month! And it’s also time for the LWD Book Club August selections. Our theme for August includes back-to-school, routines and planners. Even if you don’t have a child headed back to school soon, for most of us, this time of year will forever feel like a new start. I’ve always liked the fact that my birthday falls this time of year. It’s a good time for me to re-evaluate my goals, and fine-tune or tweak my routines. It functions as a bit of a reset with a bit less pressure than the first of a whole new year.
Let’s take a look at the books I’ve chosen for August:
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LWD AUGUST BOOK CLUB SELECTIONS
The Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod
I’ve been hearing so much about the concept of “the Miracle Morning”. I’ve even joined Miracle Morning Facebook community, although I must admit I’ve not interacted much yet. I’ve read some things about the Miracle Morning online but haven’t yet read the book. I think this is the perfect time to do so.
What if you could miraculously wake up tomorrow and any—or every area of your life was transformed? What would be different? Would you be happier? Healthier? More successful? In better shape? Would you have more energy? Less Stress? More Money? Better relationships? Which of your problems would be solved?
What if I told you that there is a “not-so-obvious” secret that is guaranteed to transform any—or literally every area of your life, faster than you ever thought possible? What if I told you it would only take 6 minutes a day?
Enter The Miracle Morning. What’s now being practiced by thousands of people around the world could perhaps be the simplest approach to creating the life you’ve always wanted. It’s been right there in front of us, but this book has finally brought it to life.
South and West: From a Notebook by Joan Didion
Last week I took a couple of days “off” and went to the city. I visited the OKC Museum of Art, bought a new purse, got to hold my cousins’ new baby, took a friend to dinner, saw a movie and checked out a bookstore my son had been raving about. What a lovely, lovely place. I could have spent all day and a small fortune there. I limited myself to three books, however, two of which I’m including in this month’s selections.
This first one is a small book but from what I’ve read so far I believe it will be rather intriguing. As an aspiring writer myself, I love the idea of keeping a notebook filled with bits and pieces from which to draw later. I have little snippets jotted down here and there but nothing so cohesive as a single notebook. Perhaps this will inspire me to do likewise. In fact, I bought myself a lovely journal at the museum bookstore which I believe will be perfect for this.
I was also interested because of the settings: California (where I was born and grew up) and the Deep South, starting in New Orleans (my favorite place).
Joan Didion has always kept notebooks: of overheard dialogue, observations, interviews, drafts of essays and articles–and here is one such draft that traces a road trip she took with her husband, John Gregory Dunne, in June 1970, through Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. She interviews prominent local figures, describes motels, diners, a deserted reptile farm, a visit with Walker Percy, a ladies’ brunch at the Mississippi Broadcasters’ Convention. She writes about the stifling heat, the almost viscous pace of life, the sulfurous light, and the preoccupation with race, class, and heritage she finds in the small towns they pass through. And from a different notebook: the “California Notes” that began as an assignment from Rolling Stone on the Patty Hearst trial of 1976. Though Didion never wrote the piece, watching the trial and being in San Francisco triggered thoughts about the city, its social hierarchy, the Hearsts, and her own upbringing in Sacramento. Here, too, is the beginning of her thinking about the West, its landscape, the western women who were heroic for her, and her own lineage, all of which would appear later in her acclaimed 2003 book, Where I Was From.
When the English Fall: A Novel by David Williams
This book caught my eye as soon as I entered Commonplace Books. I’ve long been fascinated with the lifestyle of the Amish. Having also lived through the worrisome time period before Y2K when many feared a major collapse of the grid, this sounds like something right up my alley.
A riveting and unexpected novel that questions whether a peaceful and nonviolent community can survive when civilization falls apart.
When a catastrophic solar storm brings about the collapse of modern civilization, an Amish community in Pennsylvania is caught up in the devastating aftermath. Once-bright skies are now dark. Planes have plummeted to the ground. The systems of modern life have crumbled. With their stocked larders and stores of supplies, the Amish are unaffected at first. But as the English (the Amish name for all non-Amish people) become more and more desperate, they begin to invade Amish farms, taking whatever they want and unleashing unthinkable violence on the peaceable community.
Seen through the diary of an Amish farmer named Jacob as he tries to protect his family and his way of life, When the English Fall examines the idea of peace in the face of deadly chaos: Should members of a nonviolent society defy their beliefs and take up arms to defend themselves? And if they don’t, can they survive?
FACEBOOK BOOK CLUB EVENT
If you are on Facebook check out the LWD August Book Club “event”. We’ll be reading and discussing these books together. Check it out:
PREVIOUS LWD BOOK CLUB CHOICES:
Tori says
August 2, 2017 at 3:58 amInteresting picks. Hope you enjoy them. By the way, how are you doing with catching up with previous months’ picks?
I used to carry a notebook like that with me everywhere. I shredded every notebook I’d written in when I lost the last of my sight.
My review post for July will be going up on August 6th.
Deanna Piercy says
August 6, 2017 at 4:53 pmI am still struggling to make very much time to read each day but I keep plugging along.
Do you ever regret shredding your notebooks?
I’ll check it out!
Tori says
August 12, 2017 at 10:20 amYes. I mean, in some ways I’m glad, because I don’t want others reading some of what I know was in some of those notebooks, but… I wish I’d thought to keep them so I could scan them in to the computer and have access to some of the things I’ve written. Not just the story ideas and poems, but the random thoughts and observations. In fact, the latter even more than the former.
Deanna Piercy says
August 13, 2017 at 3:30 pmI’m just getting started bullet journaling and am giving thought to just how much I want to include. I’d like these to be something my kids would want to read someday when I’m gone so I won’t be including anything too personal. On the other hand, I have a personal journal which I will possibly want destroyed at some point.
Tori says
August 2, 2017 at 3:59 amIf you got three versions of my comment, it’s because I was getting some kind of error message, and it took me three attempts to get it to say it had posted a comment from me.
Deanna Piercy says
August 6, 2017 at 4:51 pmI just got this one. Sometimes the internet is a frustrating place.