Book Beginnings: Furiously Happy by Jenny Lawson

Ok, Jenny Lawson is not for everyone, but I like her books and find her books compelling reading. If you like the cover, you might like Jenny. Yes, there is humor in her memoirs, but also honest and revealing writing about mental illness and physical conditions she faces like a true warrior. I honor her courage. But you might find her books (and a few cuss words) simply not for you.
I am linking to Book Beginnings at Rose City Reader where the rule is to post the first sentence of a book you are reading.
So "Furious Happy: A Funny Book about Horrible Things" begins:
"No, no. I insist you stop right now.
Still here? Awesome. Now you're not allowed to blame me for anything in this book because I told you to stop reading and you just kept going. You're like Bluebeard's wife when she found all those heads in the closet. (Spoiler alert). But personally I think that's a good thing. Ignoring the severed human heads in the closet doesn't make for a good relationship. It makes for an unsanitary closet and possible accessory charges."

I am also linking to Friday 56 at Freda's Voice where we share something from page 56.
"The second advantage of being on antipsychotics is that they can actually help. In the time I've been on them I've hurt myself less. I feel more stable. The blue men who live in my closet try to sell me fewer cookies and most of those squirrels plotting against me have disappeared."

Personally I salute this brave young woman. Her supportive husband gets my admiration too.

Here is the cover of her first memoir.

Her dad has a love of taxidermy which affects her life today and as a child, and explains the two subjects of the two book covers.

My Magic Rabbit

Did you ever have a pet rabbit? My grandpa, Elmer Pelkin, was a professional magician and he pulled a white rabbit out of his top hat and gave it to my sister and me as a pet. So I had a magic rabbit.

We named the bunny Fluffy and his favorite times were when I let him hop around the yard eating clover. I picked clover for him and he found his own.

Now thinking of rabbits has me thinking ahead to Easter.

Best Books I Read in 2016

Some of you bloggers count the books you read each year. I have not counted them before, but since 2011 I have been writing down each title I read, so I decided to look at my list and found I read 92 books in 2016. That is a nice number of books. Now that I am retired I have time to indulge my reading passion.
The list includes several 500 page Anthony Trollope novels and the Bible which I read in a year.
Reading Highlights
"The Belton Estate" by Anthony Trollope. I love this book: who will Clara marry?
"Bilbury Grange" by Vernon Coleman, the memoirs of a U.K. country doctor. I read the first two in this series before figuring out it is fiction. It is fun to read and very realistic.
"God's Smuggler" by Brother Andrew. One of my top 20 all time favorite books, this is the true story of how Brother Andrew smuggled Bibles to countries where it was illegal to buy or give away Bibles. He was in dangerous situations, fell in love, had almost no money, but a lot of faith and courage.
"The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper" by Phaedra Patrick. Upbeat book about an older widower who uses his wife's charm bracelet to track down more about her past. I reviewed this on my blog recently.
"Cruelest Month" by Louise Penny. This is the third in the series about Inspector Gamache, a mystery set in Canada in a small town south of Quebec. Gamache is a man of high character and his own unorthodox ways of solving mysteries.

"The Woman Who Walked in Sunshine" by Alexander McCall Smith. Number 16 in this series about Mma Ramotswe, a lady detective who lives in Botswana. I give all in this series 5 stars.
"The Enchanted April" by Elizabeth von Arnim. Another book on my 20 all time favorites book list.
"Even Dogs in the Wild" by Ian Rankin. Rebus, Fox and Shiobhan are back in this great detective series.
"A Man Named Ove", a curmudgeon at age 59. One of my favorite books this year.
"Pursuit of Love" by Nancy Mitford. Witty, upper class England between the wars.
"The Three Clerks" by Anthony Trollope. I like all 15 of his novels I have read. The 3 clerks all take wildly divergent paths in life, careers, and love.
"Ralph the Heir" by Anthony Trollope. There is more than one Ralph in this novel, which one will be the heir?

"Is He Popenjoy" by Anthony Trollope. Love and inheritance. Is the child legitimate? Is the man a pretender to a title and an estate? This novel echoes an actual scandal in England in the 1870s of a pretender to a title.
"Let's Pretend This Never Happened" by Jenny Lawson. Brilliant, dark memoir by young woman who copes with mental illness. I bought her next book "Furiously Happy", haven't read the new one yet.
"Mother Was It Worth It?", number 3 in humorous memoirs by Tottie Limejuice, who moved to Auvergne in rural France from England with her ill mother and troubled brother. Start the series with the first book so it makes sense.
I like reading books other bloggers enjoyed and hope you like my list of reading highlights from 2016. I recommend all of the above.