Good Reads for Your Summer

00:01:03 Moving for daughter brings happiness and success.
00:06:18 Beach activities, family dinners, and relaxation.
00:09:48 Books on female scientist and gender roles.
00:13:25 Book 2: Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt. Octopus, emotions, relationships, mystery.
00:17:47 Animal book set in Paris, easy read.
00:21:35 Seeking spiritual books, recently read "Ruthless Elimination of Hurry" recommended by church.
00:24:17 Near-death experiences explored in John Burke's book.
00:26:54 Multiple book recommendations by different authors. Enjoy!

It’s Summertime! Where are you going on summer vacation? Do you prefer a beach vacation, a hike in the mountains, relaxing by the pool in the desert, or simply walking through a beautiful landscape?

In this episode of the Midlife Mommas, we discuss vacation, rejuvenation, and we give our top picks for Summer Reads. Cam and Amelia have different literary tastes, so we give a good variety of books to take on your Summer Vacay.

This is a fun, light episode. Take us along while you walk your dog, or on your drive to work. Or even better, listen to this episode while you’re traveling out of town to your vacation destination! 😃

Book Recommendations:
Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus
Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt
Perestroika in Paris by Jane Smiley
The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry by John Mark Comer
Imagining Heaven by John Burke
Golden Girl by Elin Hildebrand

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Transcript

0:10

Hi, I'm Cam Holistic, health coach, mom to two humans and four pets. Hi, I'm Amelia, laboratory scientist by day and food scientist by night. Welcome to our show. Join us as we share our holistic approach to life. After 50, you can expect real life stories with a dash of humor and a ton of truth. If it happens in midlife, we're going to talk about it. So hit that subscribe button and follow along. We're the Midlife Mommas. Happy summer. Cam. Amelia, are your toes in the sand and what are you reading? Yes, virtually my toes are in the sand and I always love to read. So we're super excited to talk about summer vacation and summer reads today, but I think we've got an update we'd like to share first. Is that true? Oh, so true. So way back in December of 22, episode number 81, it was called Starting Over in Midlife. Taking Risks to Get off out of your Comfort zone. And it was inspired by one of our lovely listeners who was contemplating moving across the United States, like, giving up everything and moving, like, literally two thirds across the United States to start over and move closer to her daughter. And I heard from her this week on Instagram, and I have an update, so I just want to share it. It's so exciting. I was going to tell you I moved. It was the best decision ever. I love it out here. There's so much to do. I've had so much quality time with my daughter and I found a great job and house. I couldn't be happier. So, anyway, congratulations. I hope that you're out there taking risk and making the most of your midlife as well. That is so amazing. I just can't get over how positive she sounds and just so inspiring. Yeah, because I remember talking about it. Like, would you pick up your life and move across the United States? I don't know. Remember talking about it. I totally remember talking about it. So good for her. And so if whoever that beautiful person is listening, let us know if it's going equally as well, a little bit down the road. So thank you so much for contributing. Yeah, absolutely. And it also reminds me of another listener who now is riding a motorcycle to work. So it doesn't have to be moving across the United States. It could be something else, like taking a different mode of transportation to work to get out of your comfort zone. So there's all kinds of amazing listeners out there doing amazing things, and we love hearing from you. So send us a message on Instagram. Let's hear what you're doing. Absolutely. So today, folks, we are actually recording on the 4 July. It's the high point of summer for many people. Lots of folks are on vacation. So we're going to talk a little bit about summer vacation and about summer reads, because I, for one, love to read in the summer if I'm on vacation. So let's start off with basically talking a little bit about summer vacation. Cam, what's your favorite kind of vacation? I've always loved the beach, but I'm also a fan of the mountains. And so in a month or so, we're going to Washington State for the first time to explore that beautiful country or part of the country and visit some more national parks. I'm so excited about that. I can't wait to see Eagles in the Wild. Like, I cannot wait. So that's going to be my new experience. What about you? What do you have on the agenda? Yeah, well, I have to say that probably my favorite is also a beach vacation, especially when my kids and their significant others come down from the northern states to vacation with us. So I have to say that I work really hard. So a relaxing vacation is good, but I also like a little adventure. So I think you're really going to enjoy yourselves seeing something different. I'm excited. We are seeing three national parks while we're out that way, and it'll be great, I hope, to see whales and eagles and all the things in nature and take advantage of Mother Nature. So I'm very excited. Super cool. And, you know, Kim, I have some friends that like to go to urban environments, big cities, maybe not in the summertime as much as in more temperate climates like maybe Chicago or New York City or somewhere like that. And I do like a good urban vacation, but usually only for a couple of days at the time. We do like staycations, if you will, like a day adventure. And I love going down to downtown Cincinnati. We went down, I guess, Saturday this past weekend, and sometimes we were bikes, but sometimes we just hike and just walk around along the Ohio River from Kentucky, over in Ohio. And this time we went and not Miley Cyrus. Taylor Swift was in. Oh, yeah, that's a big deal. Oh, my gosh, all the Swifties. And boy, do they really dress up for concerts. And so she was here two nights, friday night and Saturday night. And so we were in the mix of think. I think Dan wanted to go to some people watching more than me, but. It was, you know, speaking of urban vacations, I love that staycation idea. I've done it. But I don't live in an urban environment for many, many years. My daughter and I went to New York City in the fall for three days. We'd leave on a Friday morning, come back on a Sunday night, and we just love to walk the streets of Manhattan and eat some incredible food. So I have worked with people. One lady I'm thinking of in particular, she loves Los Angeles, goes there every chance she, you know, whatever your jam is. We love the fact that folks are taking summer vacations and maybe getting out of your comfort zone in the process, which is super. We were just we went north of the city today, and we went on a bike ride on a bike trail next to the little Miami River. And that was amazing, too. So I like all kinds of adventures, and I don't think it has to be a big, fancy vacation. I love doing these day trips. It's very invigorating, and I don't know, it's just fun. Adventures. I love adventures. I love so let's just talk for a second about what we like to do on a vacation, assuming that we're not staying at home, what are some of the things if you're say going to the beach or going to the mountains, are there any activities that you like to plan in there? I really think it's hiking or walking or bike riding is a new thing for me, but it's got to involve moving my body somehow. What about you? Yeah, same. When we go to the beach the last couple of years, we've gone for one day and we rented paddleboards. That was a lot of fun. One year, we actually did a sunset cruise, which was on a sailboat, which was really cool. So I agree about the active. And the other thing is, when I go on vacation with my kids, we love to eat dinners together as a family, but I like to have some alone time, too. So time to sit on the beach or watch a sunset or sit on the deck and have a glass of wine or something like that is also fun. So just whole variety of activities and letting everybody do their own thing. I agree about the alone time. That's really, like, I can feel myself get antsy if I need extra alone time, so I agree with that. I love it. And the other cool thing about doing things in an environment with a family or if you rent a house is things like cooking. We talk about that a lot, Cam. Hanging out with your family, drinking your glass of wine while you cook. Nourishing, your body dancing. There's so many fun things that you can do that don't really cost money. Right, exactly. We took the doors off the Jeep today. That was an event that's super cool and that's free. It scares me at first, honestly, I'm nervous, but then I get used to so have you done that with your Jeep? No. I have to be honest, the most I've ever done is zip the windows out. Yeah, I'm super mean. And honestly, Kim, it has nothing to do with safety as much as my laziness trying to get all of that back together. And my jeep is old. In North Carolina, there's a very finite time when open air riding is like, now it's super hot. So it's just one of those things that I haven't embraced as a Jeep owner. In fact, on a daily basis, I don't even drive it anymore because I drive an hour to work. But it's still a fun car. I mean, you can't get around the fact that the Jeep is a fun car, and why not have one in summer? Yeah, it reminds me of freedom. Right after my divorce, that was the first thing I traded in the Sob, and I got a Jeep. It was like, Freedom, I'm coming for you. Where's my freedom? And it came in the form of a Jeep. Yeah. So today we left the roof on, and we just took the doors off. So we were sheltered from the sun, but we saw the air. Yeah, it was good. And I called my Jeep, my midlife crisis car. Like, I didn't want a sports car. I mean, I bought a jeep. So how crazy is that? Your midlife crisis car, you can take the doors off. Yeah, you can take the and I remember calling, like, 30 bags of mulch. I was like, yes, this is a convertible, and it's practical. I love it. Anyway, so that was my single life, and now I'm married again. But I love my jeep. Well, and we're talking about summer and vacation. So maybe if you don't go on vacation, maybe it is something different, like if you've never paddleboarded before or if you're not into bicycling or maybe canoeing. So hiking, there's so many fun things you can do either in your own community or with friends or your spouse that might be something a little adventurous this summer. I love it. I think that's great. So I know one of your activities is you love reading in the summer and catching up on books, and so I can just have this vision of you on the beach with your sunglasses on, reading a good book. Yeah, absolutely. And I always wear a straw hat because even my scalp can get sunburned, so yes. And I was going to tell you about three books that I've read recently that would make super summer reads. Some of these came as recommendations of friends, and some actually, one of them did. One, I just had a beautiful cover, and the third one was recommended by a local bookstore. So the first one I wanted to talk about is called Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmas or Garmu. And it's super cool cam. It's about a scientist, a female scientist named Elizabeth in the 1960s. And she's very opinionated, and she's very into her career, and she ends up marrying a fellow scientist and very true to that era. Her career is kind of sidelined by his, so his reputation is one of tremendous importance, and so she's kind of sidelined. So my favorite character in this book is their dog, whose name is 630, as in the time. And she sets up instead of having a regular kitchen, she sets it up like a lab and does all these experiments. So I just love this book. There's so much in it, and it's funny. And so it would really make a really fun beach read and would make a good book club read. Honestly, Cam, if you had a bunch of girlfriends who would have opinions about women and careers and parenthood and all. That kind of stuff, I love that. And of course, you identify a woman scientist. Come on. That's right up your alley. Yeah, it is totally up my alley, and it's funny. I love books that take a serious subject and have a little bit of a humorous spin on it. And this is definitely one. I know several of my personal friends have posted about this particular book on Facebook or Instagram, and it is a really fun read. And this Elizabeth Scientist person, she has a lot of barriers because it's the 1960s, but she doesn't take those lying down. I don't want to blow the plot, and I don't want to give anything away, but she kind of turns lemons into lemonade for her own life and doesn't really just take the old boys network, for what it's worth. She really tries to push ahead, which I think is really cool. I mean, I love that theme, too. No wonder you like that book, because I think being empowered as a woman is very important. Would you say is it very obvious that the roles have changed for women? Gosh, that's 53 years ago, from the 60s? Yeah, that's a really good question. I think so. But it's easy to see when you read this book that there's some still remnants of this, at least in my lifetime. And maybe I'm jaded, but yeah, that's a great question, and I think, yes, you can definitely see the progress that's been made. I can't believe when you said that's. Been 53 years, but dag on it has. Yeah. I was born in the 60s. What about you? Absolutely. Yeah. And you know how old we are, so there you go. It's been that long. Absolutely. And this book also, she has a kid, and the way she raises her child is a little bit different. She kind of treats the kid like a grown up from the beginning. Like no baby talk and all of that. And I got to say, Cam, I was kind of like that. I didn't do all of that jibber jabberish with my children when they were little. Yeah, I feel like I'm the same I feel like I'll have to ask my kids, and I don't think I was that way either. Yeah, very good. Okay, what's book number two? So book number two is called remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt. And this book is the one with the beautiful cover. If you look this up on Amazon, it's got these beautiful colors of blue and orange and yellow. And the coolest character in this book is also an animal. It's an octopus, and it actually has parallel lines between an older lady who has lost her husband and a young man who kind of has lost his way. So Toba Sullivan, she lives in the Pacific Northwest and she cleans the aquarium at night where this octopus lives. And believe it or not, she becomes its friend. I won't really give away because this isn't a talking animal story, so I'll give that much away. And then Cameron is a young guy who just kind of can't get anything right. He's with a woman, and she's a high achiever. And then he kind of quits his job on the fly, and she throws him out. So eventually, this older woman named Tova and this young man named Cameron do meet, and they both interact with this giant Pacific octopus. And it's a great story, Cam. There's some mystery there. It explores some really tough emotions, people that may have some problems or recovering from some trauma from their childhood or even adulthood for that matter. And it explores how we use our relationships to get through it and how sometimes it actually brings up some difficult feelings. So I love this book. And now that I'm actually analyzing all three of the books I chose, all three of them are animal heavy, so I don't know what that says about me. Amelia, I have a book called Animal Speaks. You need to check it out. It's like your totem animals. It's a little woo woo and a little hippie, but maybe there's something to your octopus. I don't know. Yeah, well, the octopus plays a very small but pivotal role in this book, kind of as the glue that brings these people together. And I don't know anything about didn't look I didn't look up a picture or anything, but it gives you a little bit of a different take. And honestly, Cam, another thing I loved about remarkably Bright creatures, I don't know anything about the Pacific Northwest, but one of my very best friends, who actually is a faithful listener, she's from Seattle. So, in fact, I'm just articulating what my brain is thinking. I need to tell her about this book. Maybe I'll give her the book because it's a great book. Yeah. And that's where I'm going on vacation in a month, and I cannot wait to explore the Pacific Northwest. It's going to be amazing. Have you ever been up there before? Like to Oregon or Washington State? Nope, I have not. Northern California is the northest. I've gone. I believe so. No, this is a new adventure. I'm very you know, I've always been attracted by the Pacific Northwest because I've got a couple of friends that live there. But the one thing that would bother me is I think it rains a lot. So I don't know if there's a rainy little I can get a little bit on the blue side when it rains all the time. Yeah. And so my daughter in law's son live up there. And from her accounts, it's not as rainy as she thought. Or maybe they just got lucky this year. I don't know. I'll check back next year. But they absolutely love it. And before they moved there, my daughter in law and daughter went, my daughter in law won this event, and they went to Wigby Island, Washington. And I remember my daughter telling me she cried when she saw it. It was exactly what she dreamed. Like the ocean and the green trees and the mountains. It has everything. Streams, ocean, mountains. It has it's very emotional. That's super cool. I don't know that I've ever been to a location that brought me to tears like that, but I'm super impressed. I think she had it worked up in her head, and then it was that. And in fact, the airbnb where they stayed had an eagle living in the backyard. Wow. I mean, come on. We don't see eagles where I live. On occasion we do. That's true, because we do have them in my area, but not like my son sees one every single day driving to work. So I don't know. It's like a cardinal, but he sees it all the time. Yeah. Anyway. Okay, what's book number three? Book number three, cam. This is a super light and fast read. It's called parastroika in Paris. And Parasroica is a racehorse. So this is all about animals. There are people, but these animals talk. And so Paris Roika goes by the name Paris for short, and she's a very curious horse, and she decides one day her stall door has left a jar, and she leaves the racetrack, and she's first befriended by a dog named Frida, I think. And they meet up with a crow, and then they befriend some ducks, and they end up living very near the Eiffel Tower in Paris. And another thing is, I love books about Paris. I bet I've read four books that take place in Paris. I've never been there, haven't even really thought I wanted to go there, but lots of the books that I read take place there. But it's a cute little read as you see the development of these animal characters and then the people that interact with them and watch them. It's a cute little book. And that book was the one that was recommended by my local bookseller. So I loved you know, when I think of talking animals, and I might even be all wet, I go back to, like, Animal Farm or one of that George Orwell thing, and so I'm like, oh, this is going to be weird. But it is really know. Besides the somewhat difficulty that scientist Elizabeth has in lessons in chemistry and then the difficult pasts from the two characters and remarkably bright creatures, all three of the books I selected for summer reads are light. They didn't tackle any tremendously sad subjects, and I don't love really difficult things like that in summer. I don't know why. The gravity. I can do it in winter a little bit better. And I'm not a huge mystery person, so there's a little bit of intrigue in Remarkably Bright Creatures, but none of the books I've recommended. If you're a big fan of high criminal stuff or murder mysteries or espionage, these are not going to be your summer read. So that you're stuck with what I like for this recommendation. Yeah. So there's a theme of animals, but there's also a theme of relationships. Oh, totally. Yeah. Very interesting. Are there any similarities about the relationships, or is it just like, finding themselves or I don't know. That is a really good question. I think all of the main characters in each of these books do go through some self evaluation, including Perestroika the horse, as she kind of, in her horsey way, says, oh, I had it so great, and I had all my grain given to me, and now I've got to kind of forage. So relationships are key in so much of the books that I read and just kind of what I seek out, I guess, cam, but yeah, definitely. And I'm actually reading a book now. This is a sidebar. This was given to me by a friend, and this is a Pat Conway or Conroy book that wrote Prince of Tides. I've never actually read that book. It's called south of Broad. And this is a book that takes place in Charleston, South Carolina, and talk about relationship heavy. It gets into some deep stuff about relationships, sibling relationships, parent child relationships, as well as friendships. So that was not one of the ones I recommended in this talk, only because I haven't finished it, so I don't know how it ends. Okay. Well, I love it. You inspired me. Maybe I'll pick up a fiction book. My list is always nonfiction. I don't know what's wrong with me. But no, there's nothing. And I think that's great because I think our listeners need both sides. Like, my stuff may be boring, so I'm eager to hear what you recommend. Yeah, so this was Amelia's topic idea 100%. And I was like, well, what do I read? And I go to my little side table next to my bed, and I'm like, there's a theme here. So mine are all in the spiritual realm. And I know when I took an inventory test of my, like, spirituality was in my top five. So I guess I'm seeking books about that. So. The first book I read recently was the Ruthless Elimination of Hurry by Mark. Excuse me, John. Mark, comer. And it's really about how to stay emotionally healthy and spiritually alive in the chaos of the modern world. It was actually a book recommended by someone at church. I go to one of those megachurches, and so we have lots of different speakers, if you will, on the weekend. And one of the speakers recommended this. And actually, now that I'm thinking about this particular book was given to me by my son and daughter in law Christmas, another book by the same author and I don't remember the title was recommended by the person at church. And my husband has that book, which I have not read yet anyway, so I'm putting it all together now as we speak. So let me ask a question about this. When you read The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry, did you identify some needless hurrying that you do that you're like, oh, I need to what sort of realizations did you have when you read the book? I knew that my morning habits, like, I would wake up, drink my coffee, and jump into the world instead of giving myself peace and time before. So I think that's part of, you know, being more mindful, if you want to binge watch something on Apple TV or know, being aware of those situations, I think it just brought more spotlight, if you will, the little things that I was doing that yeah, that's how I would describe it, for sure. Very nice. Well, I'm super impressed and I would love to pick this book up. Is it a long book? It's not a long book. And it didn't take me very long to read it at all. No, not at all. And again, he has another book, which I don't remember the name, but it's along the same. Yeah. The second book, I have only started it's by John Burke, and he actually spoke at my church. It's called Imagine Heaven and it's about near death experiences. Wow. I know. So this particular book is all about this. John Burke interviews people that have had near death experiences and connects the dots. What are the similarities? What was it like? And he says that one in 25 Americans have a near death experience. Wow. I know. Did you know that? That's shocking to me. Yeah, me too. I know. My parents had a college friend that she had at least one near death experience and she wrote a book about it. And I remember as a little girl, like, seeing the book, but I never read the book, but I knew that that happened to her when she was actually giving birth. And I was always curious about that. So maybe I'm coming back to it. But anyway, John Burke explores the common experiences these people have. And some of the common experiences was the light is different. Like, things are translucent and you can communicate without communicating with words. That was like, wow, we're more brilliant. And communication was different. And then a lot of the experiences were more about how you treated people versus the things that you have and the things that you did and accomplished. So that was definitely a common theme as well. Again, I'm just now getting into it. I've just heard him speak. Oh, I can't wait to hear more. Can you tell? Is it written as a series of short stories with each near death experience, or is it one continuous narrative that he tells? What he does is he interviews all these people. This is his life's work, basically, is interviewing people that have had near death experiences and kind of connecting the dots. So what is heaven like? And this is the closest thing that we know people that have been there and came back and then kind of tying their stories together. So that's what it's about. This is really great, and I usually stick to fiction, but these two books have definitely piqued my interest. So I'm going to look up John Mark comer for sure. And when you finish imagine Heaven. I want to know how you like it. Okay. My husband did the audiobook after he came to speak at our church, and he was like, this is amazing. Yeah, it just keeps coming up. So, again, it's next in my list of books to read. Cool. I'm going to look it up. And so I know that your daughter in law is an avid reader and I think that I don't remember if you said this on air or off that your son and daughter in law are, like, avid readers and the first place they look for when they move is like a gym in a bookstore or a library, which I think is super cool. Can you give us a few things she's recommended? Yeah, they're crazy readers. They read like, a book a week or whatever their goal is. At the end of the year, they send a picture of all the books they've read. It's crazy. So I'm not familiar with any of these authors. So why don't you go ahead and read the list? Okay, sure. So golden Girl by Elan hildebrand. I've read at least four of Elan Hildebrand books. I'm not familiar with Golden Girl, but I am intrigued. The next is an author, Emily Henry, and her and Abby Jimenez are both authors that your daughter in law recommends that I'm not familiar with, but knowing Elon Hildebrand, I trust her judgment. I'm sure these are, you know, along that same, um, if you're into Southern authors, mary Kay Andrews is hysterical. Anything by her is a great summer beach read. It's not deep, so don't be looking for any super heavy duty advice on anything because it's just funny. I like Kristen Hanna pretty good. There's a couple of other authors, Karen White, she a lot of her books take place in the Charleston area. So if you're from Charleston or know that geography, there's a lot of Southern history there, so that'd be good. And this is another one, love and Other Words by Christina Lauren that your daughter Nal recommended that I'm not familiar with. So it looks like we've got at least eight really solid recommendations between you and me and your daughter in law. So for anyone who's going on a vacation, we've got plenty of things for you to read. And even. If you are going on an adventurous vacation, maybe you read it in Rao if you're able to do that. So we hope you enjoy these books. Yeah, we'll list them all in the show notes, so it'll be easier for you to find exactly which books we talked about today. Yeah, well, Cam, I am going to finish out my 4 July holiday today. I'm actually going to grill a steak and a little piece of fish, do a little surf and turf. And so it's been a good day. I'm so glad to have had a chance to talk with you and share some stuff with our listeners. Yes, it's been a great holiday and we hope you enjoy your summer adventures wherever they take you. Thanks for listening today. You can find us on Instagram at Midlife Mommas For all of our other contact info, check out the show description below and we will talk to you next week. You subscribe our channel.