Jen A. Miller Consulting

Tag: Single Girl Reads

Single Girl Reads | Winter Reading List

Catherine’s Winter Reading List 2014

PHOTO: Bonnie Barton.

It’s raining, it’s pouring… I didn’t realize until a couple weeks ago when the first rain of the season hit San Francisco just how much I love rainstorms. With cold air and longer nights, it’s the perfect weather for curling up with a good book. This season’s picks are a little deeper, a bit more emotional but, like my fall picks, will probably strike a chord. Brew your hot beverage of choice (I go with hot cocoa or apple cider), switch on your holiday lights, snuggle with your most-loved blanket, and get ready to revel in some reading.

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December 4, 2014
Single Girl Reads | Fall Reading List

Catherine’s Fall Reading List 2014

I have a nerd confession to make: During my college years, I would visit my high school’s website for their English classes’ summer reading requirements. These along with the books I never got around to reading (though I managed to pretend I did) became part of my growing “to-read” list. For book lovers, choosing one has much to do with your atmosphere, where you are in life, and what you need from the book you choose. Perhaps it’s just me but as the temperatures start to drop (perhaps figuratively in California), I am looking for a paperback with impact—one that might change me in some way with its story or with its composition. These kind of books require undivided attention: read from your your in-home reading nook, a quiet park bench, or on your long commute. Here’s my reading list for the fall, some that have been on my list for a while, some that I’ve read before, all highly recommended.

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October 6, 2014
Single Girl Reads | Gone Girl

Four reasons you need to read Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl before it hits theaters

If you haven’t seen the trailer for Gone Girl, click through and scroll down. You’ll have chills down your spine, and not the Grease kind. The movie starring Ben Affleck hits theaters October 3rd, which means you have three weeks to dive into this psychological thrilling novel. It may seem like an endless read when you pick it up, but trust me: you won’t put it down. Sure, going straight to the movie instead of losing 3 days of your life reading non-stop cover to cover seems more efficient, but you will be missing out. But you don’t have to take my word for it…

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September 12, 2014
Single Girl Reads | The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything

9 reasons you need to read James Martin, S.J.’s Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Anything

When Jen and I were developing the idea for The Single Diaries, we agreed that our main focus would be on relationships: romantic, platonic, familial, but most importantly the one with self. One major life influence for each of us is spirituality, and it may be for many of you as well. Regardless of your self-described religion or spirituality, I highly recommend The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything as a way to incorporate that part of your identity into real life. This book is applicable to anyone looking to deepen their spirituality, regardless of their main belief system. As Martin S.J. states, “Just as there are insights from Zen Buddhism that are useful to me as a Christian, so there are practices and techniques from Ignatian spirituality that can help the Zen Buddhist. And the person who is Jewish or Muslim, too. Anyone can use these practices to better his or her life” (393).

In Twenty-Seven | What I’ve Learned This Far, I cited this particular book as a wonderful starting point for anyone looking to reflect and deepen their knowledge of themselves on this level. I tend to read books with a pencil in hand, but this one is impossible to get through without one. It took me a really long time to get through it, not because it was uninteresting… on the contrary, while the material James Martin S.J. covers is dense and requires a lot of reflection and processing, he writes in true Jesuit fashion making the teachings of St. Ignatius accessible for all with more than a few moments of real laugh-out-loud humor. Whether your goal is to get to deepen your sense of self, learn more about St. Ignatius and his friends, or get a better understanding of Jesuit teachings, here are 9 points that Martin, S.J. makes… and my arguments for why you should pick up a copy and start the trek through this book today, if not sooner.

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August 22, 2014
Single Girl Reads | All’s Fair in Love & Wardrobe

Why you need to add Stephanie Simons’s All’s Fair in Love & Wardrobe to your shopping cart immediately

If you love The Devil Wears Prada, read Vogue religiously, or know every episode of The Rachel Zoe Project, you MUST pick up this book. Written “to all the girls who’ve ever wanted to shop, dress, eat, party, travel, and Instagram like a fashion editor; now you can date like one.”

With a crash course on how to date like a fashion “editrix” (“channel a front row state of mind—don’t settle for being a back-row babe who’s constantly shuffled around and buried out of sight under the proverbial exit sign”), guides to the 7 phases of waiting for him to call and throwing the pity party of the season (“do create a stellar guest list; don’t open less than three gift registries”), a history of the relationship between love and fashion, how to master the “signature walk” of shame, a collection of closet confessions (assumedly Simons’s own dating anecdotes), and over 100 cheeky rules, All’s Fair in Love & Wardrobe makes you want to makeover your wardrobe, your romances, and your life to appear as casually cool and easily put-together as an editor off-duty. Here are 5 points why you should pick up a copy, read, reread, and personify All’s Fair.

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July 15, 2014