Three of the Best! - Books I have read this year!

Hello Ladies,


Three of the best this week is a review on the three best books I have read this year. I love to read. and I love to read anything, probably why I enjoy reading peoples blogs so much. These three books are totally different in every way, but I loved every one of them tremendously. I hope by showing you all these books, you will also give one of them a go. xx A

Life By Keith Richards

For legions of Rolling Stones fans, Keith Richards is not only the heart and soul of the world’s greatest rock ’n’ roll band, he’s also the very avatar of rebellion: the desperado, the buccaneer, the poète maudit, the soul survivor and main offender, the torn and frayed outlaw, and the coolest dude on the planet, named both No. 1 on the rock stars most-likely-to-die list and the one life form (besides the cockroach) capable of surviving nuclear war. This book brought out the ultimate groupie in me, I think if I lived a different type of life in a different era, I would have so definitely been a groupie.
After giving us an idea of his post world war two upbringing in the little town of Dartford  in a very modest family Keith talks about the inevitable consequences of fame, the nearly complete loss of privacy and the weirdness of being turned into a folk hero by fans.

“I can’t untie the threads of how much I played up to the part that was written for me,” he says. “I mean the skull ring and the broken tooth and the kohl. Is it half and half? I think in a way your persona, your image, as it used to be known, is like a ball and chain. People think I’m still a goddamn junkie. It’s 30 years since I gave up the dope! Image is like a long shadow. Even when the sun goes down, you can see it.”I loved this memoir because of its honest way of writing (he pulls no punches). He’s decided that he’s going to tell it as he remembers it, and helped along with notebooks, letters and a diary he once kept, he remembers almost everything. He gives us a sort of time-capsule feel for the madness that was life on the road with the Stones in the years before and after Altamont; Accounts of his many close shaves and narrow escapes (from the police, prison time, drug hell); and a heap of sharp-edged photographs of friends and colleagues — most notably, his longtime musical partner Mick Jagger

Life is way more than a revealing showbiz memoir. It is also a fabulous portrait of the era when rock ’n’ roll came of age, a raw report of how music swept like a tsunami over Britain and the United States in the 60's and 70's. Of course die-hard Stones fans, will have detailed discussions of how songs like “Ruby Tuesday” and “Gimme Shelter” came to be written.

But the book will also dazzle the person who thought they had only a casual interest in the Stones or who thought of  Keith Richards as just a rock god who was mad, bad and dangerous to know, and later in the book they will know the rock star, who actually remains something of a shy romantic with women, worrying about finding “the right line, or one that hadn’t been used before.”

A Pressure Cooker Saved My Life By Juanita Philips

Juanita Phillips thought she could juggle the perfect life - career, kids, beautiful house - but, as she reveals in the book, something had to give. 

Once, when Julia Gillard was merely regarding the glass ceiling, not breaking it, she questioned whether a mother could become prime minister. Gillard's casual remark sparked controversy among readers of The Bulletin back in 2008 but did not surprise the journalist who reported it.

With the benefit of maternal hindsight, Juanita Phillips, the female face of ABC's national news, readily accepts that motherhood and political ambitions might be mutually exclusive in such a demanding role.

Something had to give in her life, and ultimately for her it was the home with the water views, her health and the career of her husband, Mario Milostic, as Phillips assumed the traditional patriarchal role of breadwinner and Milostic that of full-time carer.

Late to marriage and motherhood, Juanita, like many of us, had wanted her cake and to eat it, too. But two children, a public profile and career, and a large mortgage had proved an impossible juggling act and convinced her women could not have it all.

But no one could have predicted that Juanita Phillips, this female trailblazer of television news, would retreat to the nostalgic world of '50s domestic homemaker to help recalibrate her modern family life.

" A Pressure Cooker Saved My Life", was the result and chronicles her inner conflict, guilt and the emotional meltdowns of her attempt to "have it all, do it all and keep it all together".

Of course, Juanita admits something as simple as an op shop-bought kitchen utensil can't achieve a  state of domestic bliss and career satisfaction that has escaped 40 years of feminist agitation.

But nor does this part-journal, part-cookbook speak of the '70s feminist crusader. It's not angry, it's not political. It peeps over the white picket fence for inspiration. Juanita Phillips returns in memory to her childhood years, those long hot summers growing up in Sydney and then Brisbane, and discovers it has a commodity she now craves: predictability, tranquility and home as a peaceful refuge.

"Everybody has to feed their kids," she says, "even feminists.".
"Yes, it is possible to have it all – just not all at the same time, Phillips concludes. "If you try to have it all at the same time, you'll pay a high price. Whether you think it's worth the price – well, that's your decision and yours alone

The Secret By Rhonda Byrne

The Secret is a best-selling 2006 self-help book written by Rhonda Byrne, based on the self-help film of the same title. The film was released before the book in DVD format in 2006. The idea of this book is that the universe is governed by a natural law called the law of attraction. The law of attraction is said to work by attracting into a person’s life experiences, situations, events, and people that ‘match’ the frequency of the person’s thoughts and feelings. Therefore, positive thinking and feeling positive can create life-changing results such as increased wealth, health, and happiness. After being featured in two episodes of Oprah, the book reached the top of the New York Times best-seller list, where it remained for 146 consecutive weeks. It continues to frequently appear in the top ten and extended New York Times bestseller list. 

This book was a fabulous read, but on that note I did find myself absently obsessing over my thoughts. You become quite obsessed with all your thought becoming positive, but it also makes you aware of all the negative thoughts you have every day x

Oh and by the way I recommend Life by Keith Richards xx A