Blog Entries

Bookshelves are awash with advice for those wishing to organize their living spaces.  Techniques vary from no-nonsense clutter-busting to thanking and discarding items that no longer spark joy.  Anyone who has had to clear out a relative's home will understand the practicality of the Swedish concept of death cleaning: the organizing of one's worldly goods before passing away.  The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning serves as a friendly guide to undertaking this admittedly gloomy-sounding project at any stage of life.

In the village of Varenia, all girls are trained to be the most beautiful and charming, so that they may be chosen at the ceremony to marry the prince of Ilara. Nor and her identical twin sister Zadie are born undoubtedly as the most beautiful in Varenia, but a childhood incident gives Nor a small scar on her face. In a village that believes the beauty of a woman is all she has, this scar makes her damaged goods. This takes the burdens of being perfect off of her, allowing her to help her family as the village begins to suffer.

Glennon Doyle, author of the New York Times bestseller Love Warrior, has written a book that is part memoir, part self-help, part uplifting feminist theory. She discusses what it means to be a girl or woman living in a cage, being taught to doubt herself and be demure and little instead of big and, as she calls it, "knowing." Basing her theories and revelations on events in her own life, as well as spirituality, Doyle brings to light the oppressing factors that women deal with in society every day.

Kristen is a fierce, loyal, smart, funny, and driven woman who makes life decisions based on logic, not feelings. When she meets Josh, the best man in her best friend’s wedding, she tries to use logic to keep their relationship strictly platonic, even though she’s never felt this way about anyone in her life-- not even her boyfriend (who is overseas in the military). However, wearing her ugliest clothes, no makeup, and forgoing a hairbrush for days doesn’t stop Josh from thinking she’s the most beautiful woman he’s ever met.

Just when she thought things were finally moving in the relationship direction, Millie Quint finds her best friend/almost girlfriend kissing someone else. Faced with spending her senior year in a completely awkward place, Millie decides to apply to boarding school… in Scotland. Where her roommate turns out to be an actual princess.