Part of Your World: A book pairing

A fun new bookish series!

I like to read. Maybe y’all don’t know that about me? Seeing as how I never really mention it, you know? For those of you are new around here, I am deeply devoted to books and reading. Reading builds empathy, expands our worldview, calms anxious brains and builds our imaginations. Reading connects us to each other and to ourselves. As Alan Bennett puts it:

“The best moments in reading are when you come across something—a thought, a feeling, a way of looking at things—that you’d thought special, particular to you. And here it is, set down by someone else, a person you’ve never met, maybe even someone long dead. And it’s as if a hand has come out and taken yours.”

In this series, you can expect a variety of genres, themes, and styles but what they will have in common is that each book has something to say about what it means to be human. The stories featured in this series will hopefully connect us more deeply to the stories we are living every day. They might bring us comfort or wake us up or expand our perspective, but each title here has the power to draw our attention to the lives we’re living and the characters in them. Basically, if you like the book recommendations in the monthly newsletter but get overwhelmed by quantity, this is where you’ll find my five star favorites. And if you’re wanting to slow down and savor your reading life, this is the series for you.

Our first book pairing is Part of Your World by Abby Jimenez. I brought this on our recent trip to NH as a fun, beachy romcom to wrap up my Summer Reading Challenge, and it delivered, but it was so much more than that, too. Through richly developed characters, Jimenez explores PTSD, equitable access to medical care, classism, and domestic abuse. If you’re thinking “Wow Krista that sound sounds bleak. PASS”, hear me out. You will absolutely find the happily ever after you came for and on your way you will meet characters who make you laugh and claim a permanent place in your heart.

---

Part of Your World by Abby Jimenez

Smells like: Cedar, pine and maple syrup.

Tastes like: Roasted Garlic Caprese Grilled Cheese

Sounds like: Wildest Dreams, You and Me On The Rock, tires on gravel, the “ding” of a check-in desk bell, the rooooooo of a hound dog.

Feels like: your favorite flannel on a cool morning

Pairs well with the film: The Lucky One

Favorite quotes:

“If you could wipe your whole life clean and rebuild it from scratch and nobody would question how you’ve done it, what order would you put it in?… you have been conditioned your entire life to do what’s expected of you, to blindly serve. You can decide to put yourself first—you do have a choice. It’s not an easy choice. It’s not without consequences. But you do have a choice.”

“Sometimes what you have to give is enough. Even if it’s a rock instead of a diamond.”

“My whole life I’d always felt a little fractured and scattered. Probably because it was always someone else trying to decide what I needed to be. I was a mosaic of someone else’s design where none of the fragments were put in the right place. And now I had finally put myself together and I recognized myself for the very first time.”

---

This monthly newsletter is free to read, but it’s not free to write.

Writing is how I make sense of the world and is worth doing whether or not I ever make a dime, but at the same time, someone has to keep the kids alive while I write down all the things I’ve been meaning to tell you.

If this newsletter adds value to your life, please support its publication by sharing it with a friend and/or clicking the button below to upgrade your subscription.

---

Meet me in the comments

Have you read it? Did you love it/hate it/feel just meh about it? What would you pair it with?

Or take it deeper and tell me, what’s one thing you would do differently if you could rebuild your life from scratch?