Reviews

This Is Where You Belong: The Art and Science of Loving the Place You Live by Melody Warnick

dfarmil's review against another edition

4.0

I originally forgot to add this book to goodreads I guess, so I am adding it now. I read this book right before moving and thought it was really very worth it. I think it is a beautiful concept and "guide book" to making a place a home.

audrey88's review against another edition

funny informative inspiring lighthearted fast-paced

3.75

princesspersephone's review against another edition

3.0

I too am a constant mover - reinventing, exploring, and starting anew as i move to a fresh city every year or so. Melody Warnick mentioned all of the places i've lived in recent years, the city i just moved to, and the city i hope to be moving to in the next few years. It was exciting to hear tid bits about each location. This book was an expose about how to build a community, get involved and feel connected to the places you live. However I do believe it would have been better done as a long analytical article, rather than a full length book. I found few new insights to be gained from this book. At times it did seem to go off on tangents and become a little redundant. The section at the end about natural disasters was very interesting and probably my favorite part after living in Louisiana and Virginia. After experiencing the wake of disasters in both places i can definitively attest to how hardship brings people together. I hoped to hear more about internal action that could be taken (i.e. holding back the urge to run away from your problems) instead of the entire book being about external actions to take, but that it probably harder to pin down from person to person.

abbsdear's review against another edition

5.0

If you’re looking for a way to get involved or just need to learn how to appreciate the place in which you’re currently living, this book is amazing! So many great ideas of how to create a love for your town. I will be referring back to this book many times.

duparker's review against another edition

3.0

3.5 Stars. Interesting if not emotional look at why people stay where they live, move around all the time, or at least contemplate moving. Well written, with chapters that work well to move the concept along.

jess_carterby31's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful informative medium-paced

4.75

This is a great book if you are nervous about the prospect of moving or have just moved and need to know how to build community. 

katie_chandler's review against another edition

4.0

This is one of those memoirs of a life experiment. I think other reads may have rated it lower because they expected something more factual. I found her advice incredibly useful as I just moved to a new place, after perpetually moving. Thinking, "What would people who love this town do?" led the author to do a variety of activities outside her newbie comfort zone, and I will likely follow suit. Yes, the concepts are all fairly common sense, except that in a very practical application, I wasn't thinking of many of the ideas presented in this book.

Listened to the audiobook version, but frequently wished I could reference the written lists and resources. Didn't realize the author was a BYU alum until after starting the book, which made me feel impressed that it was recommended through an unbiased source.

smallafterall's review against another edition

4.0

Ok, ok, this was a bit of a obvious choice. I've been meaning to read this one ever since we decided to make a move to a different part of the country. I'm glad I waited until I was here, rather than giving myself a "to do" list before we got here. It turns out, according to Warnick's research and own experiences, I'm doing a lot of the right things to develop a sense of rootedness in my new place. Warnick is a serial "mover" and was looking for ways to help her finally gain a sense of connectedness in her newish home, Blacksburg, VA. I know the sense of rootedness she talks about, because I had it in my last home. What was comforting about reading this examination of what makes a place a home was that it doesn't necessarily have to do with the place itself, but what one does to make it a place you love. If you seek out the best that a place has to offer, chances are you will begin to see it in a positive light and naturally develop a sense of loyalty and familiarity. I don't want to oversimplify and say that she is advocating "if you set out to have a good attitude, you'll eventually get one" in a "fake it till you make it" sort of way, but there's no doubt that the people who honestly try to love a place are probably more successful at being happy there than those who wait for it it just grow on them. I wonder how much of my fondness for southwestern Ohio comes from its innate charms, and how much from my experience of living there with a natural habit of seeking out its advantages? Sometimes her experiments and discussions feel a little heavy handed, like she felt like she had to keep doing some things to fill out her book project. But there are plenty of tips here I'm going to keep in my back pocket as ways to build a sense of community. I've always had an affinity for discussions of place, rootedness and the concept of "home" and used to teach a literature unit centered around that idea. This book would fit right in there. I got annoyed at times with the focus on a more urban style of living, over rural or suburban types of existence. At times I picked up on a sense of superiority there that I'm already well aware of as a suburbanite. We get it, it's not cool to live in the suburbs, and we can't walk anywhere because we're addicted to our minivans or whatever.(she spends a whole chapter extolling the benefits of walkability and to be sure, there is a very real disconnected and isolating phenomenon found in modern neighborhoods, suburban or not) But that's okay, because there's plenty of perks to be had in the burbs as well, and I can still make use of most of her points. This was a good book for me to think about in this particular time in my life, and I think I'll be revisiting it in my head quite a bit in the coming months.

mnstucki's review against another edition

4.0

6/2019
I still love this book. So many good suggestions, so many fantastic points. <3

aclaybaugh's review against another edition

Too slow moving, too much research included that bogged down the reading