Lara’s Top Picks of 2023

Better late than never, right?! Here are my favorite 10 books of all the 26 books I read last year, in descending order, complete with links to full reviews of each of them. You’ll notice a small handful of Colleen Hoover books; that’s because I did a Colleen Hoover binge last summer and discovered they are a true guilty pleasure for me. Last year happened to be a year of great reads for me, and the top 5 on this list could have really gone in any order. Each of them was incredible.

10. Ugly Love by Colleen Hoover. It’s the ultimate story of “girl tries to fix boy,” but in this one, she actually does it. While people may hate that trope, I couldn’t put this book down.

9. November 9 by Colleen Hoover. Two lovers meet on November 9 every year as their love story grows. It’s a silly trope that’s been done before, and yet here, it still works.

8. Naturally Tan by Tan France. The Queer Eye host uses his memoir as a vehicle for also offering fashion advice and self-help tips he’s learned along the way. Eloquent and fashionable, just like Tan, himself.

7. Verity by Colleen Hoover. A thriller and page-turner that will make you feel a little icky, but that you won’t be able to put down. For those who like Gone Girl.

6. The Incomplete Book of Running by Peter Sagal. It will make you laugh, and it will make you cry. NPR Host Peter Sagal writes a compelling memoir about how running is not just for physical health, but for mental and emotional health and gets you through the hardest of hard times.

5. Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus. This is a fun novel for anyone who loves novels about: love, feminism, chemistry, cooking or parenting. Yes, it manages to tackle all of that into one powerful story.

4. The Candy House by Jennifer Egan. Egan, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of A Visit from the Goon Squad revisits many of the characters from that original book, telling what feels less like a novel and more like a collection of short stories about characters who are all somehow connected.

3. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid. This is a one helluva page-turner told through the eyes of a journalist reporting on an elderly actress who recalls all the men she married over the years. But the real story is who Evelyn Hugo’s true love was, and how she and this journalist are connected.

2. Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin. A sad and yet still hopeful novel, Tomorrow tells the story of soulmates, not in love, but in video game creating.

1. Fleishman Is In Trouble by Taffy Brodesser-Akner. A statement on mid-life in New York City, Fleishman is depressing in how deeply relatable the characters are as well as their perspectives on marriage, parenthood, anxiety and meltdowns.

Review: The Incomplete Book of Running

Most people who know The Incomplete Book of Running author Peter Sagal know him as the host of the decades-long running NPR show Wait Wait…Don’t Tell Me! But I must confess I’m one of the few running fanatic oddballs who knew him first as a columnist in Runner’s World magazine. I always liked his articles, as he identified as an “amateur” runner. New to running, I could identify with that and quickly came to laugh at and enjoy all the silliness and embarrassing components of running he wrote about, like the inevitable, but unexpected, undesirable “egress” that will inevitably happen when you’re running near the woods and nowhere near a suitable toilet. I could also identify with his description of the power and high of finishing a quality run or setting a new PR in a race. After continuing to read his columns for some time, I was not at all surprised when he wrote in one issue that this would be his final column, that he felt he was no longer properly representing the true “amateur” runner anymore. I agreed. This was a guy who started as an amateur, but had very quickly gone on to run many marathons with objectively speedy finish times. And yet, I knew I would miss his columns.

Boy, was I surprised when years later, I discovered the Wait Wait…Don’t Tell Me! podcast and put all the pieces together that the host of the weekly news quiz podcast was same Peter Sagal whose columns I’d lovingly read years ago. So when I finally stumbled upon his book, The Incomplete Book of Running, I knew I would love it. And I was right.

His memoir revolves around running and how he came to it as a boy, how he fell off the habit during the family-building years of adulthood and how somehow it reeled him back. He writes about his quest to PR in the marathon. He writes about the marathons that were completely unfocused on finishing time, but instead focused on running with people with physical handicaps. He writes about his experience running the Boston Marathon in 2013 when the bombing happened. He writes about jumping into races he wasn’t signed up for and the consequences he face when he was so transparent about his frowned-upon misdeed.

Some parts of his book seemed familiar to me, particularly the section about “egress” when you run, and I wondered if parts of this book were made up of some of the columns he’d written in Runner’s World. It wouldn’t surprise me, and it seems like a highly effective way to take on writing a memoir. Hey, if you’ve already done the writing, why not re-use it?

All of these little running anecdotes I expected and loved. It tempts me to say if you’re not a runner, you may not like this book. But then I think about the other stuff that’s also in his book: the depression, the anxiety, the end of a marriage, the body image issues and disordered thinking about food and fitness, a second shot at love, coming to terms with his childhood, coming to terms with his parenting, forming friendships, building community. The Incomplete Book of Running is a reference to the famous running book, The Complete Book of Running by James E. Fixx. But it’s also incomplete because it’s not completely about running; it’s about how running affects all the other stuff in your life, and the other stuff in your life affects running.

And then I realize this book probably is for everyone. After all, it made me cry, which most books do not do. There has to be more to a book than running to make me cry. To make me cry, a book has to have heart. And inspire. And this one does both, in spades.

Buy The Incomplete Book of Running in paperback for $11.87.

Or on your Kindle for $13.99.

Review: Chakra Healing for Vibrant Energy

Twice a year, I give myself a literary-based reset. Around my birthday and New Year’s Day (both the starts of new years), I reflect on where I’ve been the last year and where I want to go in the next year, and I rely on a book to inspire me to make move toward those goals. For my birthday this year, I read Chakra Healing, hoping it would, in fact, help to heal me further in a spiritual way.

A lot of my spiritual healing and growth happened in the years immediately after my dad died after I moved away far from home, landing a job I didn’t love. I underwent 200 and then another 300 hours of yoga teacher training and spent two years learning much more about myself than I ever did previously in therapy. Learning about the chakras was one of my favorite parts of that teacher training. The chakras may sound a little “woo-woo” to those outside the yoga world, but there is a scientific component to them. The chakras are the energy centers of the body, the locations where many of our nerves and energy lines intersect. Combined, they work as a force. Even those who don’t know what chakras are inadvertently talk about them all the time. Anytime you find yourself saying something like “I had a gut feeling” or “my mind and my heart want two different things” or “I have butterflies in my stomach,” you are referencing different chakras. Gut feeling = third chakra. Mind = seventh chakra. Heart = fourth chakra. Butterflies in stomach = third chakra.

Michelle S. Fondin’s book Chakra Healing for Vibrant Energy was perfect offering for resetting where I want to be. It not only refreshed my memory of what I learned about the chakra in my yoga teacher training, but it went even deeper, not only explaining the meaning of each chakra but also offering tangible things one can do to revive the energy in each chakra. Each chapter focuses on a different chakra and explains where that chakra is located in the body, what it controls, how to know if that particular chakra is off-balance for you and what you can do to re-balance it. In reading her book, I learned my second chakra (the sacral chakra, which focuses on ease) and my fifth chakra (the throat chakra, which focuses on how you speak and use your voice honestly and appropriately) are the most out of wack. Those imbalances, according to Fondin, show themselves in the form of being reactive, getting bogged down in dark emotions and talking too much, replacing speaking by yelling or crying or speaking to convince rather than inspire. I love that the book points these out.

All too often, self-help books tell a person what to do. But the author it writing this advice blindly, without knowing the reader’s personal and particular problems. But this book, unlike many others, states: “hey, if this is what you’re struggling with, do this. But if this is what you’re dealing with, do this.” That the suggestions are so implementable — journaling! dietary changes! meditating! — the book feels like it truly does help. It suggests focusing on one chakra at a time — maybe one a day, or one a month, so you can do a fully body healing over seven months. I love that idea and think I’ll re-read the book in bits here and there so I can do a deep dive on each chakra, giving myself more time to grow and focus on the healing I feel I really need.

Get Chakra Healing in paperback for $9.79.

Or on your Kindle for $9.30.

Review: Popism: The Warhol Sixties

Andy Warhol is an artistic icon, a legend in the art world, photography, film industry and pop culture. He’s known for the big risks he took in pop art and being one of the few artists to become a household name by becoming a celebrity in his own right in the 1960s. I’ve always been fascinated by him because, quite frankly, who hasn’t, with his silver white hair, oddities, fangirling around with the most beautiful models of yesteryear and successful Marilyn Monroe and tomato soup pieces of art? But after visiting The Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh, I realized there’s a lot I didn’t know about him. So I picked up this book, maybe or maybe not realizing in that moment that he co-authored it. Written years later, Warhol and co-author Pat Hackett detail what it was like to be Andy Warhol in the 1960s.

He spent most of his time in New York but of course made big trips to Los Angeles too. But he was a city boy through and through, and The Factory in New York was his biggest canvas. The Factory was where Andy lived during this time and hosted dozens and dozens – no, maybe hundreds or thousands of parties? I say thousands because practically everyday and eveyr night was a party at The Factory. He writes that people would just show up. Sometimes he knew them. Sometimes he didn’t. But always, it was fun. Until the end.

What’s interesting about Warhol’s writing in Popism is that it’s just as you would expect. Fairly nonchalant and matter-of-fact like a blase journal entry, and yet, there are tonal shifts in these moments of pure poignancy that remind us why Andy Warhol is one of the most iconic artists of all time for a reason. At the end of a paragraph, he’ll make a statement full of deep meaning that clues the reader into just how observant Warhol really was, and how even though he was so “cool” and “nonchalant,” things mattered to him just as much as the next person. Warhol was never too cool to feel.

Popism is extremely detailed and assures me that Warhol had so much of his life documented. That’s the only way he could have remembered all the shenanigans, all the pranks, all the art, the people, parties, trips, drugs, and extravagances. The time he was shot. The friends who disappeared and later died. The book may be best for those who lived through that time, who would be more familiar with some of the mega name drops throughout the memoir. But anyone who reads it will be fascinated by the lifestyle, whether they recognize those name drops or not. And everyone can appreciate the warmth, yet distance Warhol holds in his heart for the fun times of youth before they turn sour and the ability to look back on those times with the benefit of age and wisdom, knowing when to leave it behind and grow up.

Get Popism in paperback for $6.99.

Or on your Kindle for $13.99.

Book vs. Limited Series: From Scratch

The Netflix limited TV series “From Scratch” blew up and was all over my social media feed when it debuted last fall. Women seemed to be head-over-heels for the dramatic love story about a black American and white Italian man who meet, fall in love, start a life together and face cancer. But because I was watching other streaming shows at the time, I made the decision to hold off on watching the series until after I read the book first – and what a good decision that was.

Don’t get me wrong. The series is good! There’s a reason it was so successful. Zoe Saldana is amazing as the lead character, Amy, who studies abroad in Italy and falls for Lino, the handsome chef. Saro eventually follows Amy back the United States, where they marry as she builds her life as an artist and gallerist and he, as a chef. Midway through the series, Lino becomes ill. Despite being so young, he and Amy discover he has a rare form of cancer. The first half of the series focuses on their budding romance. The second half dives into their joint fight against cancer. But throughout all of it, there is love, Italy, the joining of two families from literally opposite sides of the worlds and also opposite sides of the emotional spectrum. While Amy’s family embraces Lino, though not necessarily his food in the beginning, Lino’s family is hesitant to welcome a black American woman to the family, resulting in years of residual family drama and disconnection that it ultimately rectified after Lino’s cancer diagnosis.

The story is based on author Tembi Locke’s real-life story and married to a man named Saro. So let’s start there. Right off the bat, the names of all the real-life people are changed for the TV series. According to a podcast interview I listened to with Tembi Locke and her sister, Attica Locke, who co-wrote the TV series, they decided to change the names to offer some separation because telling their story on-screen felt particularly raw, personal and traumatic. I can understand that. But it did feel kind of confusing having just read the book. These are real people after all. It’s not a fictional story.

And while the TV series detailed most of the same parts of the story, I preferred the format of the book. The book begins by telling the reader the Saro (spoiler alert!) dies. The memoir is told with a back-and-forth format allowing the reader to understand where Tembi is now emotionally and then explains what led up to that and how she got there. Telling the story this way eliminated the “plot twist” of Saro getting cancer, but also emotionally prepared the reader for what’s to come. Knowing what’s going to happen helps shift the focus from the tragedy of Saro’s death to a broader story about love and families coming together. The memoir spends more time elaborating on the family’s several trips to Sicily and the way Tembi and her daughter ultimately connected with Sicily and Saro’s mother so beautifully. Because the series doesn’t mention Saro’s cancer until halfway through, we don’t get a glimpse into that worldly and familial connection until the final episode, which is a little too late to allow for the same depth and poignancy the memoir offers.

The series also dives a little more into the relationship between Amy/Tembi and her sister, changes Amy/Tembi’s job from actress to artist/gallerist and focuses on financial struggles the couple was having. Financial problems had little mention in the memoir, so I’m not sure how much of that was true and dramatized for TV or simply not included in the memoir because there were so many other topics and themes to explore. Either way, I found some of these subplots distracting from the focus point of the story. Zoe Saldana’s performance was amazing and the show was gorgeously shot, but From Scratch was sadly turned from a beautifully-crafted memoir into a TV series that seemed hell-bent on making women cry rather than helping viewers better understand the meaning of finding life before and after death.

Review: How To Do Nothing

Pretty ironic to take a year-and-a-half off from writing on this blog and then come back to restart it with a review of a book about doing nothing, huh? But alas, here we are. Yes, I’ve decided to hop back on the book review blogging train. After the birth of my daughter, many of my hobbies were put on pause for a while. That was combined with a job that didn’t afford me much personal time. I’ve gotten a new job since then, and my daughter is older now. That means I’m reading more once again and excited to get back to blogging! Thanks for being on this fun ride with me.

So back to the book at hand. Unfortunately How To Do Nothing was nothing like I thought it would be. I had seen the book on the shelf of a friend’s house. The title, the cover, the explanation on the back all seemed like something that would interest me greatly, especially as I’m currently in a rather “minimalist” phase of life. In fact, this year my personal mantra for the year is “One Less,” meaning do one less thing as opposed to one more thing, which tends to be the state of my life.

This book initially spoke to me. After the initial chapters of the author explaining her deep dive into doing nothing, I quickly learned the book wouldn’t be quite what I thought. The subtitle is “Resisting the Attention Economy,” and as it turns out, the book’s content is extremely data and research-driven. It read more like one long published journal article rather than a book. The author is rather thorough and explains years worth of history about why people feel compelled to resist getting sucked up by our rather corporate world that prides itself on productivity. She then explains why it often hardly works, and how people have repeatedly failed at creating safe havens from the real world, even including hippies in their communes.

Don’t get me wrong: some of the information the author shares is fascinating. She also talks about her own personal journey with doing less, including her newfound love of bird-watching as she’s made it a point to pay more attention to the world around her and go on walks in nature. But if you’re looking for a book that will offer tangible things to incorporate into your life to do nothing, this is not the book. The book often went above my head, becoming very esoteric and philosophical with long sentences and SAT words that made it hard to follow. At a certain point, I gave up on following the thread and instead focused on finding small nuggets of gold that resonated with me.

Maybe then, the bigger issue is simply the title. How does one sell a book with the words “How To” in it and then not tell you how to do said thing?

Maybe you’d like to give it a go. How To Do Nothing is available in hardcover for $17.19.

And on Kindle for $11.99.

Review: Chicken Soup for the Expectant Mother’s Soul

Oh my, it feels like it’s been 100 years since I’ve read a Chicken Soup for the Soul book. They were all the rage in the 90’s! And I read so many of them as a teenager. So as an expectant mother myself, when I received this book as a gift, I was excited to crack it open and step into the nostalgia for the series and read some great stories about pregnancy, delivery and children.

It mostly lived up to the hype! There were some great emotional stories that brought me near tears, cute cartoons and funny stories that I read out loud to my husband. The book includes a pretty wide variety of real-life stories from those with infertility issues, those who adopted, those who delivered early and those who delivered late. Considering the book is now more than 20 years old (!!), it did feel a bit dated in its diversity. If it were to be published in 2021 for instance, I would expect there to be more inclusive stories of gay couples or interracial couples having children. But I understand that in 2000, those kinds of stories were not likely to be included.

I also was surprised to find that there were no “celebrity” entries. At some point as I was reading, I remembered many of the Chicken Soup books of yesteryear promoted the stories by “famous” people on the front cover. It was always exciting when you’d come across an entry from Maya Angelou or Garry Marshall.

I also remember feeling the stories were better written back in the day and cut to the heart a little more. But that also may be because I was a teenager when I was reading those books and not as well versed in good writing. It’s hard to come across profoundly gut-wrenching writing when the stories are submitted by amateurs.

Truly though, that does not detract from the stories and content itself! Reading the book made me grateful for the relatively easy and healthy pregnancy I’ve had, hopeful – and a little nervous! – for delivery and excited to be a mother.

Get Chicken Soup for the Expectant Mother’s Soul in paperback for $15.59.

Or on your Kindle for $9.99.

Review: Natural Disaster: I Cover Them. I Am One.

Recap: Ginger Zee is one of the most recognizable faces in TV news. As the chief meteorologist for ABC News, she appears daily on Good Morning America, travels the country to storm chase and deliver vitally important news about the weather and shares the details of her personal life on Instagram – complete with very adorable photos and videos of her two young sons.

But as she describes in her memoir, it took a while and a windy road for her to get this point. She worked in small markets, wore flip flops her first time on-air and wasn’t entirely sure how to write a script. She dated men who were horrible for her, broke off an engagement and suffered from verbal and emotional abuse. She tried to commit suicide and ultimately checked herself into a facility to get help. All of this was going on “behind the scenes” as she climbs the professional ladder, eventually making it to New York.

She is so delightfully adorable on-air and on social media that it’s hard for viewers to consider the many layers of anxiety and depression that she has managed over the years. And that is exactly why she wrote the book – to show the way things appear on the outside aren’t always the way they appear inside. This book is a thorough study on that, and an encouraging look at what can happen when you recognize the problems in your life and finally decide to get help.

Analysis: Ginger Zee’s story is powerful and necessary to be heard. Especially by young women – in any industry. But as a TV news person myself, I was also enraptured with her tales of job interviews, TV mishaps and ABC Network travels and assignments.

As much as I love her as a person and her anecdotes and found her story to be captivating, the writing itself could have used some work. The Natural Disaster title works perfectly as a representation of what she does for a living and how she describes herself, but the metaphor is used repeatedly throughout the book, to the point where I felt like I was being beat over the head with it. At times, I also found the book confusing in terms of time jumps. There were a few chapters that would go in chronological order and then she would write something like “But wait, let’s go back because this was also happening that entire time.” Maybe she was going for a little whiplash action in her writing just as she felt she was experiencing in her life, and just as one would experience in a real natural disaster. Either way, I sometimes got a little lost keeping track of what happened when because of those time jumps.

All that said, Ginger Zee has a voice and she’s using it to talk about big topics that MATTER. And there’s nothing more that I can do except respect and thank her for that.

Get Natural Disaster in paperback for $16.99.

Or on your Kindle for $14.99.

Lara’s Top Picks of 2020

I’m going to be completely honest with you. This year was an absolute crap year for me when it came to reading. I recognize a global pandemic may have seemed like the perfect opportunity to sit and read a ton, and I’m well aware that many people did that. However, I’m an essential worker and was not home nearly as much as some others this year, and I also felt so completely drained by work and the day-to-day reality of the state of the world that when I was home, I found myself wanting to do nothing more than veg out on the couch watching Netflix. I simply felt I had no more brainpower to expend on reading.

That said, I read far fewer books than I normally do in a year and kept this list a little shorter for that reason.

Another thing. Here’s the disclaimer I include every year. This is not a list of my top picks of books that were published this year (although some were). For that kind of list, I recommend the NYTimes 100 Notable Books of 2020 list. This is a list of my top picks of books I personally read in 2020, regardless of what year they were published. Below that is a complete list of the books I read this year. Enjoy!

8. The Sweeney Sisters – This fictional tale of three wealthy sisters grappling with the death of their famous father and what to do with his legacy was a perfect summer beach read. Light, easy, romantic, a little predictable and still a lot of fun.

7. Living the Sutras – Part yoga textbook and part journal guide, this book breaks down the ancient yoga sutras, detailing the theory and practice of yoga. Each of the 195 sutras go much deeper than “triangle pose!” and in this book, each is accompanied with a little writing prompt, allowing the reader to also go deep and learn about themselves while reading.

6. The Promise of a Pencil – Part memoir/part self-help, Adam Braun shares how he built an incredibly successful charitable organization from the ground up. In doing so, he also shares how he learned to let go of the corporate life he was conditioned to desire, how to be a better leader and human and the importance of leaning into your passion for the betterment of the future.

5. Unbearable Lightness – I never really cared or knew much about Portia de Rossi until I read this book, and now I have incredible respect for her. Her memoir about her battle with an extreme eating disorder and depression is dark, honest, real and compelling. And her ability to write far exceeded my expectations.

4. Universe of Two – This WWII-era historical fiction novel has nothing to do with battle and nothing to do with the Holocaust. What a gift. Instead it centers on the Manhattan Project: one of the engineers involved and the women he was in love with who lived across the country. It’s romantic, educational, beautifully written and I couldn’t put it down.

3. Waiting for the Punch – If you’re a fan of Marc Maron’s podcast WTF, you will love this book. And if you’re not, but have always wondered what the fuss is all about, this book is your perfect way in. The book is divided into themes, and each one includes transcriptions of some of his best, funniest and saddest celebrity interviews. I may have cried more reading this book this year than any other. It is chock full of life lessons and earns its own credit separately from the podcast.

2. Becoming – What more can I say about Michelle Obama’s famous, bestselling memoir that hasn’t already been said? It is superb. It is honest, feminist, political without being too political, uplifting and inspiring. I don’t know why I waited so long to read it, and honestly, why have you?

1. Untamed – Glennon Doyle deserves every bit of praise she received this year for this book. The bestseller struck a serious chord with most of America as Doyle details her honest descriptions of falling in love, parenting, feminism, politics, charity and the importance of being true to yourself and your passions and following through with everyone you want despite the “consequences.” She calls herself on her bullshit. And you’ll read this, crying, calling yourself on yours.

BOOKS I READ IN 2020

The Magnanimous Heart – Narayan Helen Liebenson

The Promise of a Pencil – Adam Braun

Unbearable Lightness – Portia de Rossi

Okay Fine Whatever – Courtenay Hameister

40 Days to Personal Revolution – Baron Baptiste

The Sweeney Sisters – Lian Dolan

Universe of Two – Stephen P. Kiernan

Untamed – Glennon Doyle

Becoming – Michelle Obama

Waiting for the Punch – Marc Maron

Living the Sutras – Kelly DiNardo

Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream – Doris Kearns Goodwin

Review: Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream

Recap: LBJ was the 36th President of the United States. I like to say that separately from the fact that he was inaugurated after the assassination of John F. Kennedy because those two facts are often lumped together and LBJ deserves a little more recognition than that. Because he didn’t just step in. He changed America. He took our country through the turmoil and trauma of the 1960s. He signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. He put into place legislation that still impact us through the present. He also entered the U.S. into the Vietnam War.

And yet, he was much more than all of this. LBJ was a tall, broad man who loved his wife Lady Bird more than anything. He was awkward at public events, but fantastic negotiating in small groups. He grew up with a deep-seeded fear of paralysis and death only to succumb to a heart attack alone – his worst fear realized. Biographer and author Doris Kearns Goodwin takes us through his entire life, from his parents and the generations before he was born to the last day of his life. She shines a light on everything he did, everything he succeeded in and failed at, and the lasting impact he’s had. She paints LBJ not only as a President, but as a person.

Analysis: Here’s the thing. I have to admit I didn’t know much about LBJ before reading this book. The extent of my knowledge was that he took over after JFK was shot. But after a trip to Austin, Texas last year and a stop at the LBJ Presidential Library, I was fascinated by everything he had done for the Civil Rights movement. Why didn’t that ring a bell? I’d never read a presidential biography before, and LBJ had piqued my interest just enough to encourage me to buy this one.

It took a long time for me to get through it – months! It’s not because it wasn’t a good book. He is a fascinating man with both good qualities and bad. And author Doris Kearns Goodwin was not only close enough with him to know him well, she’s also an excellent writer. Plus, I’m giving myself a little extra grace with how little I read this year – there was a global pandemic after all, and with everything going on in the world, I found that most days, the last thing I wanted to do was read.

The book is simply dense. There is a lot – and I mean a LOT of information – detailing each of his policies, the men he worked with, his childhood, his struggles during Vietnam, his struggles with the Kennedys. Everything you could want to know about the man is in this book. The same thing that makes it dense is the same thing that makes it delicious and fast-moving once you get into it.