BHS Episode 4: Pockets of Lovely with Abigail Rudibaugh

Today, we’re getting to know Abigail Rudibaugh By Her Shelf:

Abigail calls Cincinnati, Ohio home alongside her husband and two young daughters. As a graduate from Miami University of Ohio in Integrated Language Arts, she spent nine years teaching, but is now taking time to nourish her writer’s soul. Abigail believes that in a prescriptive and productive world, poetry has become the umbrella in which she can finally find some shade. Find her on Instagram & Twitter @pocketsoflovely or at pocketsoflovely.com

In this episode, Abby and I discuss:

-The “lovely” story behind the name Pockets of Lovely

-How being a writer has changed the way she reads

-The late Mary Oliver, one of Abby’s favorite poets

-Embarrassing book habits

-FOMO on pop lit conversations

And so much more.

Whether or not you consider yourself to be a poetry lover, I guarantee you’ll connect with some part of this interview with Abby.

The books (These are affiliate links. I receive a small commission if you buy through one of these links):

The first book Abby remembers loving (Kindle)

The assigned reading that surprised her (in a good way) (Kindle)

This classic was disliked twice in five interviews! (Kindle)

A Thousand Mornings Kindle Version

Ariel by Sylvia Plath (Kindle)

Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert (Kindle)

Abby’s Surprising Book (Kindle)

Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (Kindle)

Liane Moriarty

John Steinbeck

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum (Kindle)

Abby’s current read (Kindle)

Up next for Abby (Kindle)

Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng (Kindle)

The Links:

I’m Nobody! Who are you? by Emily Dickinson

Abby’s site: Pockets of Lovely

Poet Mary Oliver

“A Thousand Mornings”

Poet Wendell Berry

Recordings of Sylvia Plath reading poems from Ariel

Newsletter subscribers will receive two special emails this week: A list of diverse books if Madeleine’s episode inspired you and a list of can’t miss poetry collections if Abby’s episode sparked your poetry reading fancy. You can subscribe to the newsletter here.

Next week’s episode is actually the first episode I recorded for the podcast. My guest is an entrepreneur and content creator focused on empowering women to be confident and cultivate self-esteem. You don’t want to miss getting to know this powerhouse By Her Shelf. Be sure to subscribe so you don’t!

If you’re loving the show, I would really appreciate it if you left a rating/review on iTunes. It helps others find the show…and maybe their next favorite book.

FOMO: The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

FOMO posts are blog posts about the books that have been buzzed about, made the bestseller lists, won all the awards, are constantly cited as life-changing or industry shaping…and I haven’t read a word of them. These posts are my chance to explain why I haven’t jumped on the bandwagon, and your chance to tell me if I should. The book I’ve chosen for today has been mentioned on Anne Bogel’s much lauded podcast What Should I Read Next? and was featured in all the glossy magazines for their must read summer 2017 lists. Even fellow By Her Shelf contributor Alex of CatFairy Books can’t stop raving about it and recommending it. So why haven’t I read it yet? 

Title: The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo

Author: Taylor Jenkins Reid

Release Date: June 13, 2017

Why I have FOMO: This book has been talked about and recommended by both glossy magazines and “serious” publications. It has glitz, glamour, and the backdrop of the golden era of Hollywood. The book smacks of Elizabeth Taylor and other starlets of old Hollywood. The buzz for the book is strong, but the premise is a stronger draw for me: an aging icon who chooses an unknown reporter to write her biography. There promises to be secrets, a look at the sacrifices of one woman to be the best, and some gut wrenching revelations. I should be all over this.

Why I haven’t read it yet: As I said, this book has been recommended in several places, and some of the recommenders have hinted at what the revelations might be, and let me tell you, nothing ruins a book (or movie) for me faster than hints or spoilers at the book’s central mystery. Not only does this ruin the reading experience for me, but this particular hint/spoiler is not something I’m interested in reading. I know I’m being vague, but that’s so I don’t ruin it for anyone else thinking of reading it (I’m a giver that way).

Also, a book with a mystery at its core always runs the risk of the mystery not living up to all the foreshadowing and hype around it. You get to the end and go “that’s it? I spent umpteen hours reading and speculating for that?”

Another reason I haven’t read it is because books with a historical element are hit or miss for me. Sometimes I can get into them, and sometimes I lose interest. I don’t mean books that were contemporary when they came out a long time ago (somehow this doesn’t bother me at all, especially if I love the premise), but stories that are contemporary that “harken back to a ‘simpler’ time.”

Here’s Alex’s endorsement of Evelyn Hugo:

This is the kind of book that I will never forget about. I have to say this book left a profound effect on me. Mrs. Reid’s book made me realize the fragility of life and that we must live our lives now. This book taught me to hold the people that I love close and to never take them for granted because even though we all want to be successful in life it shouldn’t be in the expense of others.

Evelyn Hugo taught me that we must take chances in our lives and that we don’t get many chances to make a mark in this world.

Evelyn Hugo is more than Evelyn Hugo the starlet and the one that America worships in cinematic history… This is about a woman that literally grabbed life by the balls and made incredibly hard decisions. She hardly apologized for the choices that she made in her life and she has ne regrette…(No regrets)…

Your turn: What do you think? Am I missing out by not reading The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo?

Alex’s FOMO Book List

TGIF, fellow book lovers! Erica here to introduce a fun post from Alex of CatFairy Books all about FOMO books. As you know from my previous post, a FOMO book is a buzzed about book that you haven’t read and aren’t sure if you’re missing out or not missing a thing. You, the readers, get to tell us which books we should absolutely read and which ones we can totally pass on. Which books on this list should Alex read? Let her know in the comments!

My Fomo Books…
Guys if you know me I am always experiencing the feeling of FOMO! (FOMO stands for Fear of Missing Out.) Now I am a huge YA fan but I personally feel like I hopped on the YA train a bit too late! I started to really delve and obsess over the world of YA about two years ago. What I discovered is that there are so many books that were published about two or three years before I discovered YA that still have so much hype and unfortunately I haven’t read any of these books! And then there were books that were published back when I was in the late teens that I should have read and finished a very long time ago! This is when the FOMO feeling breaks in…

Here is my list of FOMO Books! (Prepare yourselves, don’t yell at me!)

The Harry Potter Series…

I know gasp! What is wrong with me?! I started to read the Harry Potter series back when I was 19 and stopped when I got to the third book!

https://giphy.com/embed/JSueytO5O29yM

via GIPHY

I am known to be absolutely terrible when it comes to finishing a book series! Fortunately, I am now officially catching up to the Harry Potter series! I just finished the audible version of Order of the Phoenix and I only have two more books left to go! Audible has been a lifesaver for me when it comes to catching up on books!

ACOTAR Series

When I first got into YA all I would hear about on BookTube was Sarah J. Mass and the ACOTAR series! I was so intrigued to read it because they described The Court of Thorns and Roses to have a Beauty and the Beast vibe! Beauty and the Beast retellings are my jam and I will read any well-written Beauty and the Beast story! Unfortunately, I just never got a chance to read it because I kept getting distracted by other books that were recently released already! (Recently released books are evil!) Now I am actually FINALLY picking up the ACOTAR series! I just started reading the first 50 pages of The Court of Thrones and Roses and so far the story is very intriguing!

Fangirl

Honestly, it doesn’t many any sense that I haven’t read this book yet because I am a complete SUCKER for YA contemporary books! I gobble them up like I gobble up my pastelitos de guayaba!

Fangirl is about a blogger who writes Harry Potter like fanfiction! I mean really…I need to read this because this book has me written all over it! Although I did read Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell thinking it was a good start to introduce myself to the world of Rainbow Rowell but now I want to kick myself! Eleanor and Park wasn’t a favorite for me to say the least and I wish I started with Fangirl! TBR goals!

The Sun is Also a Star

This book has been sitting on my bookshelf for way too long! I read Everything, Everything last summer and I completely fell in love with it! I couldn’t stop reading it and even though I wasn’t thrilled with the ending I am in love with Nicola Yoon’s writing! See my book review about it here.

The Sun is Also a Star got amazing reviews and it looks like the perfect contemporary read to get you out of those dreaded book funks! The book is essentially a romance of two strangers meeting in the bustling city of New York and falling in love but it’s not only about romance. One of the main characters finds that her family is going to get deported to Jamaica and this is when the conflict ensues… Nicola Yoon is a gifted writer and I can’t wait to finally read this!

Let me know your thoughts in the comments below! Are these books worth a read?! Have you experienced FOMO when it comes to books?! What books are they? I would love to hear your opinions!

FOMO: Educated: A Memoir

FOMO posts are blog posts about the books that have been buzzed about, made the bestseller lists, won all the awards, are constantly cited as life-changing or industry shaping…and I haven’t read a word of them. These posts are my chance to explain why I haven’t jumped on the bandwagon, and your chance to tell me if I should. The book I’ve chosen for this inaugural post is one of the Top 20 Picks for Best Book of the Year so Far for 2018, a #1 New York Times Bestseller, and one that’s been mentioned everywhere since before its release in February. So why haven’t I picked it up?

I’m not one to jump on a lot of bandwagons. They’re usually full, and crowds make me nervous. A recent galivant through the land of the Enneagram personality test revealed that I am what’s known as The Loyalist, so apparently NOT jumping ship for the next hot thing is an important part of who I am.

There’s something in me that, when I see a bunch of readers heading for the cliff, makes me want to go in the opposite direction. I may find myself at the same stream eventually, but I like to take my own path sometimes.

Educated: A Memoir by Tara Westover seems like a book that would be right up my alley. I love memoirs. I’m a fan of higher education. It’s a coming of age story about self-reinvention and family loyalty, which are themes right in my wheelhouse. Anyone who knows my criteria for a good memoir knows one of the top requirements is that the story is unique enough to be interesting, yet rendered universally enough for me to identify with the individual, and according to critics and lay readers, Westover has done just that. I should have been the first person in line to read this, especially since one of my favorite book recommenders, Anne Bogel, talked about it before its release on her show. So why wasn’t I?

First of all, February was busy. My book release had been pushed back and I was working like crazy to meet my new deadline. All that stress pushed me to binge on $.99 kindle romances in the evenings in between episodes of America’s Dumbest Criminals on Amazon Prime to rest my brain. I wasn’t interested in a “demanding” read.

Second, the book was a little too buzzed about. Many times when a book is so lauded early on, I’m skeptical. Was it really good advance marketing and a quirky spin on her story that garnered all this attention, or is the book actually good?

Third, I’m finicky when it comes to memoir or books that have an autobiographical component. I can read almost any romance as long as you can guarantee a man and a woman fall in love and have AT LEAST a happy for now ending that looks really promising, but when it comes to memoir, I need more than a good story. I have to connect with the person, their story, or their voice–and hopefully all three. I take less chances in this genre. I usually read memoirs of stories I heard about or people I’ve met online or in real life who I like. I know nothing about this Tara Westover, and while her story seems interesting enough, all I know of it is what’s been said about the book. As for her voice, I have no clue.

Four, and more or less important depending on how far I am from payday, is the price. The paperback price is listed at around $25, and the kindle is still $12.99 (the link above is to the hardcover and is $16.80). I’m not a world famous reviewer who gets Advanced Reader Copies (ARCs) from major publishers regularly (yet!), so I have to at least pretend as if I’m minding my book budget. True, I could just check this one out of the library, but I imagine the hold requests on this are pretty up there (not that I’ve bothered to look–I’ll add this to future posts).

Instead of going round and round in my head, I’m putting it to a poll here on my blog. Do you think I should read Educated? Why or why not? I’m especially interested in the opinions of those who have read the book or heard the author speak. Once I get some feedback and make a decision, I’ll add it to the bottom of the post so you know what I decided (because I hate when I vote and I never find out the decision).

XOXO,

Erica

P.S. Eventually when I get more tech savvy, I’ll have an actual poll on these posts.