Nicole > Recent Status Updates

As if I needed another reason to love this book, the effort that Berrett-Koehler put into this book in order to print it and 2) enacted radical self-love has me floored.

The author and publisher do seem cosmically aligned.

Have I absorbed everything Sonya’s talking about? No - layers of body terrorism rear their heads at me while working through dismantling them.

Is this book worth an annual re-read/re-listen? HECK YES.

Not going to lie, my eyes start to glaze over at this point, purely due to the length of the book. Still loving the stories of how family life and the presidency work together.

Darkwater Horizon and the BP spill….holy crap, imagine what that’s doing to our oceans even now.

My younger self hasn’t stopped crying inside me (happy tears, I promise) since starting this book. It’s been quite a road to get here. THANK YOU, Sonya.

The mere fact that you’ve included mention of disabled bodies means so much to me. We’re awesome…now if society could realise that…

Queer, curvy, short, femme, disabled body

A president must keep abreast of so many moving pieces personally and politically. Makes my head spin, but greatly appreciate the teams that work side-by-side with the office.

!! The US has made some meddling moves with other countries that they have the right to condemn us for.

The power balance within our governmen is not quite healthy, but it doesn’t SEEM like a dictatorship. (Research needs on this point.)

Whew, this is a lot to absorb. Enjoying what’s been talked about so far, but part of me wishes there were summaries or a timeline to go with this.

(When in doubt, online searching can clear things up.)

Still loving the discussions of family, political behind the scenes, and general cadence of the narrative.

Taking this one SSLLOOOOWWW in order to learn as much as possible from this man I’ve admired, but some of whose ethics I’ve questioned in later years.

Love: Family ties, the wholehearted thank you to the folks who campaigned for him and worked for him in the White House, his groundedn-ness

Also enjoying the thread about how perceptions of him changed befor/during the campaign. I am still a hopeful idealist.

Ah, the prom sequence…probably one of my favourite scenes of the entire franchise. So human. (I’ll always love that Kristen Stewart wore trainers instead of the unfathomable stiletto heels.)

Edward’s perspective finally unveils the entire set up/reasoning behind New Moon, which remains my top pick of the original four.

Edward is still the creepy boyfriend and Bella’s the adult/parent in a young person’s body. Still an unhealthy match, but I’m too caught up in Edward’s examination of the other characters to stop. Seriously, the portion about Renee was enlightening and answered the question about how Bella draws Edward in. Shield + Magnetism = Bella’s resistance to vampire powers

Thank goodness for more character development and backstory between the adults! Such a breath of fresh air from the teen melodrama- though I may be showing my age here.

The descriptions of the baseball game, ballet studio attack and Bella’s injury setup were super smooth. Another sweet spot in Meyer’s writing arsenal. The romance seems much weaker in comparison to these…

This is starting to feel longwinded, but still loving Edward’s descriptions of the character’s reactions to him dating Bella.

Also, part of me’s hoping for an Esme and Carlisle spin-off.

So much respect for Rosalie! I love the fact we finally have the chance to meet her as a fully developed character (not speaking of film Rose here).


This book is hands down my favourite purely because it’s a family saga that’s balancing the (unhealthy) supernatural romance.

Loving Edward as a character in his own right. His obsession irks me, but his fascination/frustration with Bella draws me in. Meyer seems to have found her stride.

Ironically, it’s soothing that Edward recognises they’re both not acting rationally in this relationship!

Note: As a brown-eyed person, love for our eye colour doesn’t happen too often. This thread of the narrative endears me to the romance.

This book intrigues and disgusts me. Bella offers Edward the hope he has not felt in his existence, but holy crow, he’s obsessive. Still not a healthy relationship!

Granted, I’m loving the glimpses into Cullen family life so far, and am enjoying each of them as individuals.

It’s also awkward to listen to his musings about the future and think back to the original quartet...

I’m enjoying Edward’s voice much more than I ever did Bella’s. Perhaps it’s because this character does not overthink things as the original...and Bella appears much more intriguing from this point of view.

It reminds me when the first movie came out, everything felt new. Of course, the author has had much more time to edit this manuscript!

I was pleasantly surprised by Life and Death - at least the sections that weren’t originally written for Twilight.

Started the Twilight section today...holy crow, did nobody consider editing this beforehand to tighten up the writing? So much minute detail that we don’t need to know.

The audiobook author adds minimal emotional inflection to this content...probably so the listener focuses on the topic The lack of emotion makes it harder for me to concentrate, so I go over the same parts again after zoning out...which is part of the issue surrounding race discussions!

Will update if this changes (and if I remember).