Book Nerd Alert: Humbling and Uplifting

I am a damn lucky woman. The minute I forget that and begin wallowing in my own minor struggles and fixate on my pile of flaws, I really need to stop and think about how good I have it. Why am I even saying this today? Because it ties back in to the book that I had the pleasure of reviewing over at the Blogher Book Club this month. Once again I was a very lucky book nerd and was selected to participate in the Blogher Book Club, receiving a free copy of Girl in Translation by Jean Kwok (nothing makes me more giddy than free books,) reviewing it for Blogher and getting the chance to read the other wonderful reviews over on that site. At first I thought, how are 100 women going to say something different when we all review the same book? But that's the beauty of Blogher, it's a place filled with so many talented, unique and insightful writers that we all manage to come at each book selection in our own way.

So if you get a minute, I'd love it if you could head over to Blogher here and read my review. I loved so many parts of this book. It follows the story of a young girl and her mother who move from China to the US and struggle with language barriers, abject poverty and cruel relatives, but almost like a modern day fairy tale, they find their way to happiness and success, through the most unlikely of circumstances. So I'm feeling pretty lucky today myself, waking up in a warm home, loved one sleeping next to me, going to a great job and after taking my pick out of a closet filled with clean clothes, full mug of coffee in my hand. This family has none of those advantages, but they don't let it get in their way. They push through, they survive and more than that, they make their own American dream. This novel is somehow inspiring, humbling, infuriating and delightful, all in less than 400 pages. Go check it out. It might make your Tuesday a little brighter.

(PS. Check out my new banner from the talented Brenda! Books and cooking, yep, that pretty much says it all.)