Favorite Books of 2023!

Hello hello, and welcome to Episode 106 of Life On the Brink!

Happy New Year! I hope you have enjoyed a restful holiday season and a lovely start to the new year. I do enjoy looking back on the last year, especially when it comes to special memories or to BOOKS!

Today I’m sharing the best of the best, those books which received 5 stars from me, or (because sometimes I don’t rate non-fiction) which I thought were just excellent. I’ve got 10 books, plus a cookbook, to share, and I’m also sharing your favorite podcast episodes from last year as well!

For the complete show notes, click here!
For full transcript, click here!


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Transcript

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Welcome to Life on the brink, a lovely little place filled with inspiration and creativity that is dedicated to enjoying life one day at a time. I'm Ana. And together, we're exploring the beautiful things in this world that fascinate us. And often discovering something new. Hello, hello, and welcome to episode 106 of life on the brink and the first episode of 2024. Yay, I hope that you had a restful and an enjoyable holiday season. I know I did. And I really appreciated the break that I took from pretty much everything. And this year was really special because Josh, my husband was able to take off like his, the place where he works was completely shut down in between Christmas Day and New Year's Day. So it was really cool to have him with me. And both of us taking a break for a week. So it was really restful. And then the first week of January, I was out of town, I was traveling with the group that I sing with called the TrueTone honeys, we were in New Orleans. We tried to film, not film, we tried to record our first album last year and it didn't work out. And so we went back and it did work. And it was awesome. And it was better than we could have planned honestly. And as I finally got back home and I'm starting to get sorted, get thinking about the new year, I've come down with a bit of a cold. So that's why I sound a little bit congested or my voice isn't top notch, if you notice, but thankfully, I wasn't sick through the holidays, and I wasn't sick, traveling and you know, recording having to sing all those sorts of things. And also very fortunately, it's just a cold, it's nothing serious. And everything seems to be just fine with little baby girl. So I hope that whatever your holiday season looked like and your start to the new year, that it was lovely, and at least a bit restful or invigorating, I know that the new year can be a great chance to sort of reset or have a fresh start, or that sort of thing. But interestingly enough, I mentioned this in the January newsletter for life on the brink, that I'm really for the first time, the start of a new year doesn't really feel like anything different. I don't have that same sort of New Year fresh start. I'm not even switching planners, like journals, I'm just sort of continuing. I really feel like 2024 For me, and for Josh, for our family that it's just a continuation of last year that we're very much in the same season. I don't have any more like no new words for the year, just the ones from last year. And like I said, I'm I still have plenty of space in my journal. And so I'm just gonna keep writing in it, and see when it feels right to change it and maybe when when baby's born. Yeah, I just I feel like I'm in a season of preparation and intention, I guess you could say. Rather than feeling like it's a new year, I feel like I'm just continuing in the same year. But I do still like to look back on the last year, especially when it comes to special memories, or when it comes to books because usually the goals that I have for myself revolve around reading mostly in terms of quantifiable goals. And last year, my reading goals were as follows. One to read 40 books to to incorporate more audiobooks, and three to read more classics. And I can happily say that I did do those three things, I think that shows perhaps a smart or an achievable goal for myself. Last year, my goal was I'm sorry, in 2022. My goal was 35 books, I think and so I pushed it to 40. I did get into audiobooks. And so I read 40 Exactly, including paper and audio books. And I did read a few more classics I read probably like four maybe five that would classify as in A classic classical canon. And a couple of them are on my list that I'm sharing today. Because today is my favorite books of the year, we're getting into the favorites. So before we go any further, I just want to invite you to stop and make yourself a nice cup of tea, something warming I have really been enjoying the Harney and Sons blend called Jane's garden. Josh got it for me for Christmas. And I've been drinking it a lot, especially with honey and lemon this week, as I've been sort of recovering. And it's a green tea blend with Rose and pomegranate, it's really, really nice. But I feel like especially for a bookish episode, it calls for a little mug of something a little coziness. So I invite you to join me in that. And let's dive into some books. I always enjoy listening to other people's favorite books of the year because I always find something that I've never heard of, and I add them to my list of you know, want to read on Goodreads. And just so you know, as you're listening to this list, I'm going to leave links to each of these books. And I've got a nice list on the blog post. So you can find that at life on the brink dot live. And while I think about it, I mentioned the monthly newsletter, you can also sign up for that on the website life on the brink dot live. It's at the bottom of every page, there's a little banner, and it's on the left side. It's free, and it comes out every month. It's got some extra stuff. And so let's see. Let me look at my list. Yes, so I've got 10 books. And all of these either received five stars from me when I read them or because sometimes I don't rate nonfiction. They're just also books that I thought were really, really good. And I also have a cookbook at the end that I haven't like, read cover to cover, but was my favorite cookbook of the year. And some of these books you may have heard about before, maybe I mentioned it in one of the seasonal reading lists. In fact, if you go to the website, and you click on blog, and it'll take you to a menu, I've got some categories listed. And so you can always just click books. And that page will show you all of the book related episodes that have been released, not just for 2023. But farther back as well. Oh, and at the end of this episode, I'm also going to share just the top three podcast episodes from last year. I did this at the end of 2022. And I thought it was really interesting, really fascinating. And so I'm going to share those as well after this list. So let's get into it. These were my 10 favorite books from 2023. So basically the top 25% I've kind of got them in ascending order. So starting with my least favorite of the favorites and working my way up to my favorite favorites. But like I said, all of these were five star reads for me or really, really good. And I recommend them all. Coming in at number 10. We've got Daisy Jones in the six by Taylor Jenkins read. I know many of you may have already heard of this book, perhaps you've already read this book. But I think that it's worth noting because I've read this is I think my third one I've read the seven husbands of Evelyn Hugo, I've read Malibu rising. And this, I think is my favorite one that I've read thus far by Taylor Jenkins read. And I've watched one, maybe two episodes of the show the adaptation that came out last year, and I liked it. But I didn't love it. Like it didn't grip me. Maybe if I watched more episodes, I would but something about the format of this book I so loved it is basically it's written as like a transcriptions sort of a mockumentary of members of this band from the 70s that are recounting their experiences years later. And I really like when books are written in a strange format. And it really works. And so it's as if you are watching several different interviews at the same time, like they're being cut back and forth so I could really see it. That's something I really like about Taylor Jenkins reads writing is that I find it really easy to visualize the time, the place the people, and I just really enjoyed how this book is about music. So there's so much musical talk, but you never get to hear it. And I really enjoy that. And there's talks about specific photographs and like iconic moments, and the descriptions are such that you can really see them So I read this in the summer. And I, this is my favorite one of hers thus far. I thought it was a really fascinating read. And yeah, I recommend it. Next up on the list is the enchanted APR by Elizabeth von Arnhem. This is an older book, it was published in 1922. And it basically recounts, four different women that are, well, they live in England, and they decide to spend the month of April in this, like villa in Italy. It's in like the Riviera, and how it impacts each of their lives. And sometimes their stories will crossover with each other. And I like how it's in third person, but you get so much inner monologue and the thoughts of each of the well, not just the main character, sometimes the character is outside of that as well. But it was just beautiful. It was light. It was fascinating. And then it gets a little bit sort of I got I was sort of having flashbacks of things like The Importance of Being Earnest or like even Shakespearean level shenanigans and like misunderstandings, so it kind of does all of these storylines, end up intertwining and I ended up being really gripped, like, how in the world is this going to end? And it's just great. It has a like, I'm not going to spoil anything too much. But I like the ending is just really, really nice. And yeah, I really loved this book I loved I listened to it to the audiobook of this one. And it was a delight. So that's the enchanted APR by Elizabeth von Arnhem. And now we've got a string of memoirs, numbers, let's see, eight, seven, and six are, all three of them are memoirs, all three of them I listened to, and they were all narrated by the author, I found that I really, I liked that I became kind of picky about fiction, narrators. I've got one later on this list. That was fantastic. But on the whole, I kind of felt like I should do audiobook narration because I didn't love it all the time. But I found I really enjoyed listening to nonfiction, especially memoirs narrated by the author. And these three really stood out to me, number eight, has had a lot of buzz, a lot of noise. And that is I'm glad my mom died by Jeanette McCurdy. It's an abrasive title to be sure. And it it's pretty disturbing, but it's so well written. And it's it's a real story. It's her life. Jennette McCurdy, if you're unfamiliar, was one of the stars of iCarly back in the day. And she recounts, basically her entire life, especially in relation to her mother, and things like eating disorders, and child fame and stuff like that. And what's amazing about this book is that when she's like six years old, and recounting a story from that time, the voice is like that of a six year old, the understanding is like that of a child. And so it's kind of like I said, it's a little bit disturbing, because the situation she grew up with her mother was very abusive and manipulative. But it took a while for her to be able to see that. And so listening to it was just, gosh, it was gripping. And I haven't encountered many stories regarding eating disorders to this level of description. And it, it's jarring and it's, it's sad, but also really empowering the way that she describes her journey and her recovery. And so did I enjoy listening to this book? Not so much, but I really did. Like it was so well done. And yeah, I would recommend that listen, if you ever watched iCarly, which I really didn't, but there's a lot of that old Nickelodeon presence in the in the book. So it's really well done. It's brilliant. And that's why it made this list. It was just powerful. And then right above that, number seven, is your table is ready Tales of a New York City maitre d by Michael Checky. As Alina, I mentioned this I know as a little joy, whenever it was that I was listening to this, because it was fascinating. It's exactly what it sounds like. This is someone who worked in the foodservice industry for many years and at what point I'd have been like the height of it in the 80s. Like leading up to a particular culture of both restaurants and of like money in New York. It is utterly fascinating. The stories that this guy tells are just on another level, like intense amounts of drugs and alcohol and all all manner of questionable behavior and the famous people that he encountered that just he would wait on, or he would see. And several encounters with the mob is like, just fascinating stories, like incredible. And I thought that the the flow of it was really steady, really nice. I feel like I always like learning about more about restaurants, the way that they're run. And usually I read more from the kitchen side. And so it was nice to read about someone who worked in the front of house, I guess, is that what they call it and restaurants on the service side of it. So thrilling tales, really amazing. NARRATION as well, I found him to be a really engaging narrator. And we'll probably listen to this again, honestly, it was really, really lovely. So that is, again, your table is ready Tales of a New York City maitre d, by Michael Checky as Alina. And then finally we're moving into the last of the memoirs, and that is talking as fast as I can from Gilmore Girls to Gilmore Girls by Lauren Graham. If you ever watched Gilmore Girls, this is going to be a great book for you. It's basically like a love letter to that time. Lauren Graham also I think does a fantastic job of narrating her own stories. And she breaks down a little bit more of her past as well as the time in between Gilmore Girls, and the reboot of her time on parenthood, I think is the other show. She wasn't I haven't seen it. But you get so much behind the scenes of just like really great moments. And it helps me to see the reboot through her eyes. The reboot, I mean, you know, a year in the life, which, you know, I feel has mixed reviews, mixed feelings, I definitely have some mixed feelings. But to hear about it from her perspective, was really nice. And she's so gracious when speaking about these things, and you get a little bit of nostalgia through listening to her perspectives on what is now an older show. But it's still so beloved. And so I really if again, if you have enjoyed Gilmore Girls, I think you're really going to enjoy this book. So that's by Lauren Graham. She's the one who plays Lorelai by the way, I suppose I should have said that. But that is talking as fast as I can. Let's see 12345 Or half way amazing. The rest are fiction. Number five on this list is the last audio book that I would like to mention. And it was the best one. It's Cersei by Madeline Miller. And it was narrated by perdida weeks, this woman, like I'll get to the book in a second, this narrator was the best I have encountered in the past year. Like, you know, when you're listening to an audiobook, and you know whether it's a man or woman narrating when they have to do a voice of someone of the opposite sex. Sometimes it just goes really downhill like the older men are like down here or the you know, you know, what I'm talking about was just not a very well done. This woman managed to voice an entire cast of characters over like what was basically 1000s of years in the timeline of this book, and they all have a unique voice, like she adjusts her register here in there. But like, there's a particular way of speaking a particular diction, like the cadence, the lilt of her voice changed so consistently with each of the of the characters. I just loved it so much. So if you're going to listen to one, I really recommend this audiobook, but I'm sure reading it would also be a great experience Cersei now getting to the book, it's not like it's got some big hype in the past couple of years. And I can understand why I think that it's a really solid retelling, to Greek mythology. Cersei is the character in The Odyssey, where Odysseus, you know, on his way home, trying to get home to Ithaca, he stops and she's a witch and she like turns men into pigs and she curses him, et cetera, et cetera. And it's, like so much time From her perspective, and I just loved the descriptions of the gods and and their relationships with each other, the Olympians versus the Titans. And she is, I believe she's technically a nymph. But she is also like a witch having to she doesn't have natural power necessarily to just use on its own. She uses it through making spells, so you've got all your nice apothecary vibes as well. She'd be gathering herbs. It's fantastic. Like, I just loved it. I feel like I got a bit of a refresher on Greek mythology, I got to see so many of these characters again, and remember, oh, yeah, yeah, that's the guy who did that. And then at the end, like, it just wraps up so beautifully. There's a lot of inner thoughts about life and time and love, and motherhood. I really enjoyed this book. It's hefty. Like, it's not short, but it was totally worth it. I found the ending to be utterly satisfying. And I would really recommend the book and the audio book is so that's Cersei by Madeline Miller. All right, moving into the top four. Number four is Chicago law by Joanne Harris. Now, if you've listened to the episode, spring movie night of life on the brink, then you'll know that this is one of my favorite movies of all time, the movie came out in like the 90s. But it's based off this book. And I believe there's actually there's a series of books, but this is the first one. And so I finally got around to reading it. And it is just as good as, as I've loved the movie, you know, I was wondering if it would live up to it. And it's a little bit different. But it's still wonderful. If there's a little bit of some magical realism, as well, it's basically about this woman who moves with the winds, she goes from town to town, sort of sharing chocolate and like dispensing remedies, and making relationships with people through making chocolate, I think she sort of sets up a shop wherever she goes. And so she comes to this little French town, in the countryside, and she really shakes it up because they are very, not necessarily cold, just really straight laced. And they really don't approve of her, her and her daughter, and and it's just her being kind and wonderful. And, you know, she's a strong, independent lady in the best possible way. And there's also elements of love and of just kindness, and of course, chocolate. And I just found the descriptions to be so lovely, really rich, and immersive. And I'd be interested in reading the second book, there's a couple of plot points that are really different from the movie. And so I'd be interested to know how that carries over into the next story. So if you enjoy the movie, or if you're just looking for something that is a really nice transitional winter to spring read, I think it sort of approaches Easter. It sort of goes through the season of Lent, throughout the book, then I really recommend this book. It's shook a lot by Joanne Harris. Already, so my voice is trying to give out I'm going to try and get through these a little bit quickly. The top three are just fantastic, utterly brilliant books. Number three is the Phantom of the Opera by guest on Lulu. I read this on the train to New York about a year ago when Josh and I went to see the Phantom of the Opera on Broadway, which was just a once in a lifetime experience. And I said I'm just so glad we did it. Because it was finishing its run on Broadway and it's been my favorite musical forever. And like in high school, I didn't really have a goth phase, per se. I had a a gothic face. Like, like not so much emo it was more a girl and Poe Phantom of the Opera, that sort of thing. And, but I've never actually read the book. So it's translated from French. And if you're unfamiliar with the classic story, it takes place in the big what is the opera house it's the big one in Paris. Oh, look that up. And about this ghost I think he's typically called the Opera ghost in the book, how he's sort of terrorizes those members of the opera house because there's new management and They don't respect his presence there. But he also has been training up this young soprano named Christine de. And it's like it's a true gothic novel in the best way. I loved catching how the musical adapted certain things and even how the film that came out in the 2000s incorporated elements of the book that weren't in the original musical, which is really interesting. For example, if you've seen the movie, and during the song, The Phantom of the Opera, when she's being led down, down down into the lair, there's like one scene where suddenly she's on a horse. And that's not explained, ever. That's a reference to the book. Actually, no, I, I understand it and respect it a little bit more. But the language is still engaging to this day. The story is gripping. It's, it's dramatic, and it's romantic. And it's fantastic. I love it. So so much. I really recommend it, whether or not you've seen the play. And then number two is another classic. It's Anne of Green Gables by LM Montgomery, this is not a secret to anyone, you know, this book has been around, however, I hadn't read it start to finish ever in my life. I'm a huge fan of the movies, the Canadian movie series that was made in like the 80s or 90s. In Canada, I just looked it up, the first movie came out in 1985. And those are flawless. And so I wanted to see how great they were, you know, stacked up to the book. And not only is it incredibly accurate, like the film adaptation, but the book is just beautiful. It's stunning. Like, there's a reason that like kids still read this in school. And like everyone talks about it all the time. Because it's actually that good. It's not just for the vibes and for the, you know, imaginative thinking, although that's there. The story is delightful. And you you read about, and you know, and as she's growing up and like coming of age, and you can see her retain herself, but change and evolve over time. And oh my gosh, the end of it just made me cry and cry and cry and cry. Well, I was also at a point in my life. Well, there's a there's a big moment that happens toward the end of the book, and I won't give it away in case you're unfamiliar with it, but it really shakes and and you see her sort of grow up. And she even though she's had a hard life for the first time she's like really touched by sorrow. And I was at a point in my life where I was feeling exactly the same way. And oh my gosh, where's I'm going to read you the final quote of the book. Here we go. This is the last paragraph. And horizons had closed in since the night she had sat there after coming home from Queens. But if the path set before her feet was to be narrow, she knew that flowers of quiet happiness would bloom along it. The joy of sincere work and worthy aspiration and congenial friendship were to be hers. Nothing could rob her of her birthright, a fancy, or her ideal world of dreams. And there was always the bend in the road. God's in His heaven all's right with the world whispered and softly. Like, that's just beautiful flowers of quiet happiness would bloom along it. Like it's just this kind of writing, right? It's beautiful, and it's emotional. And I just can't get enough of it. I'm gonna read more in the series. I'm so glad there's so more. There's so much more. So that's Anna Green Gables by LM Montgomery, if you haven't read it, you should really read it. And finally, we've reached the number one book and I know that this is going to be a bit of a, like a curve curveball. It may not be the type of book that you're thinking, but it has not left my mind since I read it. It's a short story compilation nonetheless. It is stories of your life and others by Ted Chang. Okay. If you have ever heard of the movie or seeing the movie arrival, it's the alien one with Amy Adams. That is based off of one of these short stories. It's the one called story of your life. And so this book, it contains that short story and like six others. I haven't read an incredible amount of sci fi in my day. But I feel like I'm getting the very very best of sci fi boil down into these incredible short story nuggets. Like every single story is completely different and creates a world so quickly. And oh my gosh, so much. The first one in the in the series is called what is it? called tower of Babylon. And that might have been my favorite one just because it creates a world so different from the one that we live in. And so different from one that could exist, but it still kind of feels like it could exist. And he always does this thing at the end of his short stories where like, there's a really big twist, like in the last page, every single one of them is so good. Like, I can't, I can't talk about it enough. Like there's so much commentary and thoughts on God, and on science and on math. And I'm not at you know, I'm not a huge math girly, like, it's not something that I love to, you know, read about. And yet, I'm just stunned by these. And there was one that was like new to this compilation, and it was about, like, beauty, and like what we see and if we should, you know, what, exactly? How do we perceive beauty? And how does that, you know, affect the hierarchy of of our social systems like, incredible insights into this guy's brain? Like, I like trust me, trust me, trust me if you need something that is gripping. And what's nice is you read a short story. And it's done in like 30 pages, right? I think the longest one is maybe like 75 pages. I could talk about these all day, I cannot wait to read more Ted Chang, and 24. If you're surprised that this is my number one pick know that I too, am surprised I read it for a book club. And instead, I think about it all the time. Yeah, there's such unique stories. Please read this book. It is gripping, if you just want to fall into a story that is so different. There's like seven of them in this book. So that's my number one pick. I love it. Love it. Love it. Love it. Yeah, and I need someone else to read this in my life so that I can talk about all of these stories with. That was my favorite book. And I had lots of really nice books this year. And I hope that maybe if you pick up one or two of these that you can discover a new favorite or book that you you really enjoy. But of course, I am also going to mention a cookbook. This was my favorite. I think it's relatively new. I think it came out in like 2022. Maybe. Let me look at Yeah, 2022 it's called ghetto. The surprising simplicity of French cakes by Alexandra crepin Zano. This, I feel is such a straightforward and fantastic cookbook. It is literally all about cakes. There might be some other like slight variations, maybe Madeline's or something. But it I really love the French philosophy of making simple cakes that can be made out of moments and notice and then adjusted based on what you have. And they're usually not too sweet. They're usually on iced, you know, but can be decorated in all kinds of ways. I have played around with several of the recipes in the book over the past year, and have made some really delicious simple cakes. And of course, there's some more involved ones as well with generally sponge and various Yule logs and stuff like that. But the there's no photos in the cookbook. It's all watercolor illustrations. So it's also just the most beautiful aesthetics stunning book. Yeah, I really recommend it. If you are intimidated by baking, or perhaps French baking, or European baking or metric recipes. It's a really, really great place to start. It's simple. And it's it's lovely. It makes everything feel approachable. I really recommend this book. And those are my books. It feels like a really nice year when you look back and I can remember all the different seasons where I read these books. And it's nice to know all the news stories and the things that I've learned just since last January. So now real quick before we get to the little joy, I just want to share the top three episodes of life on the brink from last year. And by that I mean the ones that are most popular with the most listens. Just so you could in case it's interesting and you haven't listened to one of these yet. I find it fascinating. Number three is podcast 95 Home sweet Mays on embracing French style and rituals in the home. And that is of course based off of another book which didn't quite make this list but I really did enjoy. The book is called Home Sweet may zome. Creating a French home and it was beautiful. Wolf, it's fantastic. In my year of beginning to renovate this home, it's become a great source of inspiration. And then coming in at number two was podcast number 88. On the importance of hobbies and finding the right one for you. I think this came out right at the end of spring or so. It was just a lot of fun to research and to write and think about. And I've gotten some really beautiful feedback from you guys about that episode as well. And then, towards the beginning of 2023, the number one episode most popular episode was episode 80. Taking care of yourself when you feel overwhelmed, anxious or burnt out. Oh, yeah. I find that consistently episodes about slowing down taking care of yourself, etc. tend to always be popular or enjoyable, I guess. And I think that speaks to our need to take care of ourselves and our desire to slow down and to be more intentional. And so if you haven't listened to any of those episodes, and they interest you feel free to check those out. And I hope that you have a beautiful start to the new year, I Oh, I didn't speak about goals for this year, I really don't have any my main goals are just to, you know, give birth. And to just invest time into my home. And my family, I'm not going to create a number goal for reading because I feel like I'm just going to set myself up to be stressed. I feel like I'm not going to have a lot of time, or probably not as much as I think when baby girl comes in June, but I do it. Fortunately, it's enough of a habit and enough of a love now that I know, I still will read when I can. And actually, I think that and maybe this year is the one that I become cinephile, like in its biggest form for me, like maybe I'll be a movie watcher this year. And I feel like they're more accessible. We'll see. So whatever your reading goals, I hope that today's episode can bring you to a new favorite book, perhaps. And now before my voice is totally gone, I'll be right back with this week's little joy. This Week's Little joy is one of many lovely moments that I had last week while I was in New Orleans. So as I mentioned, I was there with the TrueTone honeys. And it was wonderful to be able to travel with two of my best friends. And we finally recorded our first album that is going to come out sometime later this year. And I just so happened that my last day there was the first day of Mardi Gras this year. So I got to go to a real Mardi Gras parade and never thought that would happen. That's like really cool. And so I just want to highlight one really awesome memory. And that was I think at the end of my first full day, we were meeting with a friend who's local to the area, and she told us to meet at a place called Morning Call. It's a it was a coffee stand and now is like a brick and mortar spot. And it's on the corner of Canal Street and something else. City Park. So it's been yeas and it's coffee. And I also had gumbo because I was hungry. But the Benitez is the focus of this. Because I've always been like Cafe Du Monde loyalists, you could say just because that's the one I've always heard about even from those that I know that have lived there. But we went to this other place and it was revolutionary because the BAS were Dopey and like chewy, but we're still crisp on the outside and they just put the powdered sugar on the table. They let you put as much as you wanted on it, which is fantastic. And I got coffee. I'm not kidding when I say this was probably the best Cafe Au Lait I've ever had in my whole life. Something about the coffee, it was so smooth, almost to the point that it felt like hot chocolate not it didn't taste chocolatey. It was just it didn't have the bite. That coffee usually does. You know what I'm saying? It was amazing. It was amazing. And so I asked the friend that we were meeting there. I said do they sell beans or coffee grounds by any chance? And she said oh no, no, it's like a very secret recipe. They don't let anyone try to recreate it. I was like okay, okay, so I'm going to leave a link to their website in the show notes. But if you're ever in New Orleans, I really recommend Morning Call. It was amazing. And finally, I'm going to share it the album The music that I've pretty much been listening to as I've been practicing for recording our album and that is the Boswell Sisters swing so the Boswell Sisters were from New Orleans and they were really famous in the 20s and a little bit into The 30s. And we actually got to see, like so many cool artifacts from their family while we were down there, it was insane. But this is a compilation album of some of their, perhaps biggest tunes, and several of them, I and you know, TrueTone honeys, the group we perform, and I think a couple of them are going to be on our album as well. So it's just really fun. It's interesting music, it's interesting to sing and to listen to. And it's just delightful. So I'm gonna leave a link to that in the show notes. And feel free to give a listen. Alrighty, well, that's the first episode of 2024. I hope that you have a lovely week, I'm going to go back to a biweekly schedule. So you should have another episode in two weeks at the end of January, I will say as I become more and more pregnant, and things become more and more unpredictable, I suppose. If you don't follow me over on Instagram, I'll leave a link to it in the show notes. But it's on a on the keys with underscores in between every word as you can find me. And if I ever have something change in the schedule, or you know, for some reason I can't post when I normally would, I will share about it over there. Because I do try to keep to a schedule with this. I can just anticipate perhaps some tumult in my body. But it's all good. It's all good things. And I'm really excited for this year. And I'm excited for you for you in this year. And thank you so much for joining me on this creative journey of love the podcast and everything that it entails. So feel free to leave a comment on the blog post for this episode. Or as I said, you can message me over on Instagram. I really, really love hearing from you. And oh yeah, don't forget, you can leave a review on Apple podcasts or on Spotify. I think Spotify is just the star rating but I love those too. So if you're really enjoying the podcast, feel free to leave those inputs. And yeah, I hope that you have a really beautiful start to the year and happy reading thank you for tuning in to this episode of Life on the brink. If you're enjoying these episodes, please feel free to leave a star rating or even better leave a review on Apple podcasts to help spread the word. For podcast show notes and extra inspirational posts throughout the week. Head to the blog at life on the brink dot live. And if you'd like a little extra dose of inspiration in your life, sign up for the monthly newsletter, which lights up your inbox the first Friday of each month. Thank you so much for listening. And until next time, friends you have a lovely week. Bye