Literary Lifestyle – …on the B.L.

lost & found

June 6, 2018 RaeAnna

Read: Yes
Length: 310
Quick Review: When Millie’s mother abandons her, she accidentally gathers a small and unlikely group of friends and protectors.

lost & found is nothing short of witty and inventive. Brooke Davis is a beautiful story teller; although, her name makes me think of “One Tree Hill.” A quick read full of humor, insight, and struggle. I enjoyed reading it because it is fresh instead of a new take on an old story. I haven’t read much, if any that I can think of, Australian literature, so it was great dipping a toe into the unfamiliar.

Millie is a little girl obsessed with dead things. In her notebook, she keeps a list of all the dead things she has seen including her dog, Rambo, and her dad. Her mother abandons her at a store one day. Karl the Touch Typist is old. He has lost his wife, but he and Millie become friends over snacks. Agatha Pantha is a Millie’s elderly, shut-in of a neighbor since her husband died. Each of the characters are eccentric and lost in their own grief. They’re an odd group, but somehow they complete each other.

Davis has a wickedly funny, observational sense of humor as each of the characters describe their views of the world from often overlooked age groups. It’s hard to think the story of an abandoned little girl is funny, but it is; not the fact she was abandoned, but the way the story is told.

I love that the main characters are from age groups seldomly written as protagonists. As an adult, it’s hard to get into the brain space of a child and an older person – we haven’t been there yet. They are groups of people who are overlooked, underappreciated, and greatly underestimated. It was lovely watching these characters, who usually fly under the radar, be so full of life.

The chapters are fairly short and told from each characters’ perspective. The language is simple and to the point. There are great humorous moments and a style all its own. lost & found is a great read if you want to laugh. It’s also a great book to get through on an afternoon after work.

Memorable Quotes:
“I am never going to have sex again, he says. Not with this face.”
“And then they do IT, because even old people call it IT.”

Title: lost & found
Author: Brooke Davis
Publisher: Dutton (Penguin Group)
Copyright:2015
ISBN: 9780525954682

Books, Fiction

The Veins of the Ocean

May 26, 2018 RaeAnna

Read: Yes
Difficulty: II
Length: III
Genre: Fiction – Novel
Quick Review: A young Colombian woman struggles with finding herself amid healing from a life burdened with tragedy and guilt as an immigrant, daughter, sister, and woman.

Patricia Engel is an award winning author, and she doesn’t disappoint in her novel The Veins of the Ocean. A beautiful novel about a young woman who emigrated from Colombia to Miami as an infant with her family. Mere months later, a tragedy strikes her family, which changes her future forever. Engel captured my attention within the first page with her dark yet enchanting style and content. The first chapter is stunning while setting the mood with a unique cadence, style, language, and enough clues to let you know you’re in for a story about gender inequity, culture, family, and so much more.

Reina is in her mid twenties. Her brother Carlito is on death row. Her life has been nothing but reactions to one tragedy after another. She struggles with being a daughter in a traditional latino family, where her brother received all the attention and praise. When there is nothing left for her, she picks up her life in Miami to start a fresh in the Florida Keys. Along the way, Reina grieves and finds love, passion, acceptance, and forgiveness.

It’s hard to describe the depths Engel reaches in her novel. She explores sexism, immigration, communism, religion, grief, the prison system, ecosystem, guilt, sexual assault, and so much more. The characters are beautiful and flawed and relatable. Dealing with Colombian and Cuban characters, Engel brings cultures seldomly discussed.

There are seven parts comprised of many chapters, which vary in length. Along with the compelling narrative, the chapter lengths make you say “just one more chapter; it’s only two pages,” and next thing you know, you’ve read fifty more pages. The story is beyond compelling, and I finished the novel in a day because it was so interesting. It’s beyond quotable about love and pain and loyalty. Engel draws beautiful parallels between life surrounding the characters and their own.

One of the things I enjoyed most about The Veins of the Ocean was the lack of dialogue. The vast majority of the story is Reina looking backward and her thoughts on the present. It’s a stunning look into the mind of someone coping with pain. For me, I found it relatable. I think most people can relate to working through grief and guilt. There’s a unique cadence to the language that is so engaging.

Memorable Quotes:
“It’s good for you to dream about things that will probably never happen.”
“We thought it hysterical that there is an industry of artificial horror when real life is so much more lethal.”
“Making friends with danger is the only way to survive.”
“… the love of a mother is not unconditional or eternal the way they say.”
“I am mourning my sadness.”

Title: The Veins of the Ocean
Author: Patricia Engel
Publisher: Grove Press
Copyright: 2016
ISBN: 9780802126740

Experiences, Travel

Bathhouse Soapery

May 7, 2018September 8, 2019 RaeAnna

Bathhouse Soapery

Last post from my trip to Arkansas last month. It’s also a really short one! Mostly fueled by my love for being sudsy and smelling nice.

Talking about one of my favorite… What goes better together than books and a bubble bath? Not much.

I found Bathhouse Soapery a couple years ago when I was wandering around downtown Hot Springs. The store is just the cutest! I am absolutely in love with their soaps and scrubs and bath bombs and everything in between. Every time I visit my grandparents, I stop and stock up. So many varieties. So many colors. So many opportunities for relaxation.

I really don’t know much about their store, but they have three locations: Hot Springs, Natchitoches, St. Charles, and you can shop online! I swear by them. The staff is always really nice and knowledgeable. Ready with suggestions if you want to combine scents, which you can do with their scrubs. One of my favorite things of theirs. They have everything you could possibly need and want. It’s not just for the ladies either; there are a lot of masculine scents too. Although, I’m more drawn to those than the flowers. My guy friends enjoy the soaps as much as my lady friends.

Bathhouse Soapery

366 Central Avenue
Hot Springs, AR 71901
(501) 525-7627
Instagram: @bathhousesoap

*I wish this post were sponsored, but it is not. I have spent tons of my own money at this store. I am a believer. I have also converted my friends.

Baked Goods, In The Kitchen

Banana Bread Surprise

April 9, 2018 RaeAnna

Banana Bread Surprise

It’s not a secret I like to eat… or cook… or bake. If you follow along on Instagram, you’ll probably see the ridiculous amount of things I consume by way of my stories. I like food. Nay, I love food. It’s the perfect partner while reading.*

I have always had a soft spot for banana bread. It’s the right amount of sweet and nutty because I fill mine up with nuts. The other day, I was craving banana bread and cheesecake simultaneously. I decided to make banana bread. I wanted to add a little something extra because I’m adventurous like that. You can imagine where this is going… Banana bread with a cheesecake surprise filling!!! “How?” you ask… I’ll tell you because we’re friends!

Ingredients
Banana Bread

3 ripe bananas
⅓ cup butter
1 teaspoon baking soda
Pinch of salt
¾ cup sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 ½ cups of all-purpose flour
½ cup crushed nuts *optional* (I prefer pecans but walnuts are great too)

Cheesecake Filling

8 oz cream cheese
1 egg
½ cup sugar

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350°F, and butter a 4×8-inch loaf pan.
In a bowl, mix together cream cheese, egg, and sugar until smooth. Set aside for later.
In a mixing bowl, mash the ripe bananas with a fork until completely smooth. Then on high speed mix butter and sugar into mashed banana until light and fluffy.
Mix in the egg. Add baking soda, salt, and vanilla extract. Mix in the flour.
Fold in the nuts.
Pour half of the batter into your prepared loaf pan. Pour the cream cheese mixture onto the batter. Then pour the remaining batter to cover the cream cheese mixture.
Bake for 50 minutes to 1 hour, or until a tester inserted into the center comes out clean.
Remove from oven and let cool in the pan for a few minutes. Then remove the banana bread from the pan and let cool completely before serving.
When slicing there should be a layer of cheesecake between the banana bread layers.

I came up with this idea because I have weird cravings, which are absolutely not pregnancy related! I am just a weirdie. It looks like a normal loaf of banana bread until you cut into it.

I explained this recipe to several people. Several were hesitant, but they all tried it. Much to their surprise, I’m a secret genius… I ended up making a few batches because it was so popular!

*Aside from my dog, but she is a given. Assume Beau is the best pawtner in everything I do!

Lifestyle

Invest in Books and Friends

March 13, 2018 RaeAnna

Happy Feminist Friday!

I think two of the most important things women can invest in are books and friendship. These two things have a lot in common. They’re both time consuming. They cost. Books cost money; friends can cost money (going out, gas, etc.). They are absolutely priceless!!!

Books
Well, I obviously think these are one of the most important things anyone can invest in. Not like I’m a book blogger or anything…

Books for a really, really, really long time were inaccessible. They were expensive to make. Then the Gutenberg Press happened. Woohoo! Technology helped make the production of books simpler, faster, cheaper, which allowed more books into the world creating more authors and more readers. Before the Gutenberg Press, you had to be super rich or clergy to have books. The other big reason books were inaccessible for so long: literacy. The only way you learned to read was if you were – again – super rich or clergy. Rates of literacy began to rise after books became more accessible………..

I forgot to mention one teensy little thing. Previous paragraph is pretty much just about men. Women reading, yeah that, it’s a new thing. Women didn’t read. They weren’t taught. Education was a thing for men. Educated women? They existed… Very few and far between. That history is loooong.

Anyways, books are important. It’s still a fairly new phenomenon. There are still many places in this world where reading is rare, but I’m lucky to live in a place and a time where reading is easy and inexpensive!

Women should read because knowledge is power. Enough said.

Friends
Friends are super important. Books are not my only friends. I wouldn’t say I have tons and tons of friends. I have several really close friends. I am beyond blessed to have each and every one of them.

Funny enough, books have lead me to several of my friendships.

My best friend and I met in the library at college. We both worked there. I was a senior; she was a freshman. It was her first day of college, and it was my last first day of college. I trained her. One thing lead to another, and she has never gotten rid of me since.

My blogger bestie, Maria, and I solidified our friendship over books and reading and the general accumulation and discussion of knowledge. We lived on the same dorm floor our freshman year in college – a handful of years ago, now. We met and hit it off pretty much immediately. I would love to say books were the catalyst, but it was a combination of books and fashion. We LOVE both. Fast forward a handful of years. We had fallen out of touch because life. We kept tabs, but hadn’t talked or seen each other in YEARS. Living on opposite sides of the country, we each entered the blogosphere within months of each other, literally two. She is a fashion/lifestyle blogger: Millennial Fashionista. I am a literary/lifestyle blogger. We support one another. We chat often. We share blogging woes and highs. Books brought us together many years ago, and books helped rekindle our friendship. Click here to see us in action on her page!

Friendship is such an important aspect in our lives as people and women. It’s important to have a support system. Friends provide a place to be our weird selves.

Books and Friends. My two favorite things!

Books

Homegoing

February 13, 2018 RaeAnna

Read: YES
Length: 300
Quick Review: Follow the descendants of two sisters, whose lives take different paths, through eras of great turmoil in Ghana and the US.

I rarely read a book that vibrates my heart, but this shook my soul. I knew it would be good because of all the hype both critical and popular, but I was thoroughly unprepared for the depth of Gyasi’s abilities. It is rare writers produce such a masterful work and even rarer it happens in their debut novel.

Beginning in Ghana there are two sisters who never meet, and their lives go in very different directions from an early age. One marries a white man and her descendants remain in Ghana for many generations; the other is sold into slavery in America.

Chapters are snapshots of lives for each generation alternating between the sisters’ descendants. The stories never have fulfillment or completion, but each has a depth allowing for an emotional connection to each person’s struggle. Each struggle the character goes through represents a similar struggle hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people experienced. The realness is palpable and heartbreaking and absolutely necessary.

Throughout the entire novel and each chapter there is an ominous air penetrating every corner of the narrative, but Gyasi is able to weave in tiny traces of hope, which is a human necessity to carry on through the darkest times.

Gyasi explores the history of the slave trade with roots in the Gold Coast and follows it through the history of Ghana as well as the history of America. Slavery, rape, murder, mining, Jim Crow, police, drugs, passing, so on and so forth.

It is an epic story of how people are formed and shaped by their pasts and their ancestors pasts. Every action cumulates and snowballs to create opportunities and circumstances which affect those who follow in our footsteps.

I absolutely cannot recommend this novel enough. Homegoing is phenomenal and important and entertaining and impactful. It’s a novel that will not leave you quietly.

Memorable Quotes
“He looked at her like her body was his shame.”
“the methods of gathering slaves had become so reckless, that many of the tribes had taken to marking their children’s faces so that they would be distinguishable.”
“watching this man she’s been told is her husband become the animal he’s been told he is.”
“They couldn’t tell one black face from another.”

Title: Homegoing
Author: Yaa Gyasi
Publisher: Vintage Books
Copyright: 2016
ISBN: 9781101971062