A Year in Books

I have always been an avid reader. On our family cross country road trips growing up I remember sitting in the back of the suburban with my nose in a book (or the local map if a book was not available). And as one author put it, I would gladly read a car manual if there is nothing else available.

This year, whether it was the extended maternity leave or my discovery of the library app that lets me borrow library books on my kindle, I might have gone a little crazy with the reading. Below is the list of books I read in 2018, in order. 

Enjoy!

Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
The Girl in the Spider's Web by David Lagercrantz

Scar Tissue by Larry Sloman
The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins
Less by Andrew Sean Greer
1984 by George Orwell
Bringing up Bebe by Pamela Druckerman
The Odyssey by Homer
The Future is History by Masha Gessen
A Separate Peace by John Knowles
Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward
The Assault on Intelligence by Michael Hayden
Pachinko by Min Jin Lee
Three Daughters of Eve by Elif Shafak
Pick Three: You Can Have It All (Just Not Every Day) by Randi Zuckerberg
My Glory Was I had Such Friends by Amy Silverstein
The Hate You Give by Angie Thomas
A Terrible Country by Keith Gessen
I’ll Be Gone in the Dark by Michelle McNamara
The Awakened Family by Shefali Tsabary
Ninety-Nine Glimpses of Princess Margaret by Craig Brown
What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty
Fruit of the Drunken Tree by Ingrid Rojas Contreras
Social Creature by Tara Isabella Burton
Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne
The President is Missing by James Patterson and Bill Clinton
A House for Mr Biswas by V.S. Naipaul
All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden
Love and Death in the Sunshine State by Cutter Wood
The Girl Who Takes An Eye For An Eye by David Lagercrantz
Becoming by Michelle Obama
The Closed Circle by Jonathan Coe
Wonder by R. J. Palacio

Here Goes Nothing…

For those that are newer to the blog or those that have forgotten about my nomadic years of 2007-2009, I am a huge travel enthusiast and have made most major life decisions in order to see more of the world including: my profession, opportunities to work abroad and a spouse that is just as willing as I am to go someplace new. Over the years I sharpened my traveling skills, specifically my packing skills, narrowing down exactly what to pack so only the necessities were brought along and no space was wasted. A weekend required a small tote, a three week trip to Asia could be managed in a carry on. Packing for a trip was and still is one of the few skills I bring to my marriage. 

However, after having two beautiful kids my relationship with packing has changed significantly. If packing was a battle of space and efficiency I would definitely be losing. With kids you have to pack everything... and I mean EVERYTHING (I am pretty sure I packed the entire contents of Oskar’s room for our first trip abroad.) Unfortunately this is something no one warns you about and something you truly can’t appreciate or comprehend until you are stuck packing for a weekend trip with your newborn baby.

A few months ago, my friend Anjulee highlighted this issue after trying to pack for a weekend trip with her 10 month old daughter Lilah.  Her comment: forget Dr. Seuss’s Oh the Places You Will Go, one of us should write a book about all of the shit you have to pack when you travel with kids.  I made a mental note and began jotting down ideas and my formalizing my normal packing list.  Over Thanksgiving weekend the ideas officially formed into a rhyme/book and what started out as basic musing turned into a fully baked idea. 

And today I officially submitted my book to Chronicle Books to see if they are interested in illustrating and publishing my children’s book (for adults).  Chronicle Books is a local publishing house and have published some of my favorites including: All My Friends Are Dead and Goodnight Goodnight Construction Site.  And even better, they are one of the few publishing houses that accept unsolicited books. Due to this, I will only get a response if they like the book and their review process can take up to six months.  So stay tuned!  And if I don’t get a response, I plan to publish the book here in July!

Heather Does it Again

Last June my fellow mom friend spent the evening with Oskar, Martin and I photographing our evening routine.  The photos were GORGEOUS!  She subsequently took our holiday photos last year and she has once again made my day with the following photos of our family. 

I don’t know what filter or photoshop program she uses, but it is working… these photos capture the true Breuer Family.

The Accidental Jehovah’s Witness

I am a huge fan of holidays and traditions. I love celebrating other people’s birthdays and creating lasting memories. However upon reflection, it might not appear so…

Oskar is two and a half years old and we have yet to experience: Valentine’s Day cards, an Easter egg hunt, a birthday celebration with balloons, decorations and gift bags, trick or treating or sitting on Santa’s lap. Solely based on American standards, it appears we have become accidental Jehovah’s Witnesses!!

Okay, in all honesty while we don’t celebrate holidays the Hallmark way, we do celebrate them the Breuer/Gimbel Way... We have dyed Easter eggs with friends, picked out pumpkins at a pumpkin patch and gotten dressed up for the neighborhood Halloween extravaganza. We have started the tradition of celebrating Oskar’s birthday at the Lake every year with family, cocktails and hors d'oeuvres. We enjoy Thanksgiving weekend ever year with turkey on Thursday, goulash on Friday and a full day of baking cookies. And I wouldn’t want to forget all of our traditions for Christmas including picking out ornaments, cooking (and eating) the various special meals and receiving enough advent calendars to enjoy a new one each day (when you combine two families’ traditions of receiving advent calendars from the parents plus both your husband and sister-in-law decide to own and expand the same tradition it gets a little out of hand.)  Unfortunately for me, the “Christmas tree in a bar” tradition never caught on although I am hoping post- Christmas Eve service Irish Coffees does.

Okay, so while we might not have Valentine’s Day chocolates, Easter candy, Halloween tricks or treats or a photo of Oskar and Alva crying on the lap of some random man dressed up as Santa, I think we are still doing okay in creating lasting memories. And clearly Oskar doesn’t seem to notice or mind.  According to him every day is a reason to celebrate and receive presents…he thinks every box in the mail is a present for him and I am happy to keep it that way (even if that box might only contain diapers or light fixtures for the house).

Below are a few photos from Thanksgiving this year!

Happy Holidays Everyone!

Looking at trains with cousin Alton

Story time with Aunt Cindy

Oskar and Alva's first bath together. 

Oskar riding his new bike...because why wait for Christmas to get a bike?

Cookie time!