"The Bright Side" by Cathrin Bradbury

As soon as I read a review of "The Bright Side: Twelve Months, Three Heartbreaks, and One (Maybe) Miracle" by Canadian journalist Cathrin Bradbury, I knew I had to get my hands on a copy.  

"The Bright Side" describes how Bradbury survived her own personal annus horribilis (2015, pre-COVID) in which absolutely everything that could go wrong in her life, did. I haven't experienced most of the things that Bradbury did -- thankfully (yet??) -- but I can relate to the overall theme of midlife turbulence. (Plus, she also -- cough! -- turns 60 in the book!)  

Despite the difficult situations described in its pages (and yes, I did shed some tears), there's good stuff that counterbalances the bad too. The overall tone of the book is upbeat, hopeful -- and frequently hilarious. And the writing is fabulous!  I devoured more than half the book in one sitting, and finished it in a little over 48 hours.  

As one Goodreads reviewer says, "She wasn't writing about Covid, but the timing's perfect." This theme was echoed in a cover endorsement from Plum Johnson -- author of my favourite books of 2015, "They Left Us Everything" (reviewed here) -- who called it "the perfect antidote to a tough year." 

I loved it.  5 stars on Goodreads 

This was Book #18 read to date in 2021 (and Book #2 finished in April), bringing me to 50% of my 2021 Goodreads Reading Challenge goal of 36 books. I am (for the moment, anyway...!) 9 books ahead of schedule. :)  You can find reviews of all my books read to date in 2021 tagged as "2021 books."