Since I’ve been home and sick most of this week, I read another big batch of course. All of these were read when it was still 2017 so they go in that category. It’s Friday here so I have two more days until this year’s over. It looks like I will finish this year having read 304 books or so. Definitely the most I’ve read in recent history.

I started this week with The Last Black Unicorn which I knew nothing about except that it showed up as recommended or best of the week in every site I visited. As it turned out, it wasn’t a good fit for me at all. I won’t go into the details because I think all the reasons I didn’t like this book were personal to me. Your mileage might vary.

Nourishing Intimacy was another one in my Audible pile and I can always use Tara Brach to take me to a better place. And this was wonderful, of course.

I then tackled Pema’s Coming Closer to Ourselves because it was also on my Audible pile. I love Pema Chodron. I love the way she speaks, I love her wisdom, her honestly, and how readily she shares how flawed she is. I am so glad to have discovered her.

I then read Stick with It because it looked like a good book to start new year’s plans with. It was okay but nothing magical for me. I feel like I stick with things in general so I wasn’t expecting a miracle here but it was still good.

I haven’t read enough Tony Robbins so I was excited to see Unlimited Power at the library but once I started it, I realized it was a super-abridged version at less than one hour. What I listened to was good but of course it was ridiculously short.

It Ends with Us was a recommendation by the most popular reviewer on Goodreads. I don’t usually read Colleen Hoover and I knew nothing about this book because the recommender said not to read what it’s about. I will say I read it super fast, however, I am not sure it was the right book for me. Had I read what it was about, I might have chosen not to read it. 

I picked up Inventing Joy from the library and had no idea what it was about. I thought it was about joy but it’s not, it’s actually about a woman named Joy. The one who invented the miracle mop and her life was made into a movie a few years ago, which I’d watched and liked, so there really was no reason for me to read the book, but the reading was so compelling that I couldn’t stop. I really enjoyed it.

Motherest is the only other fiction I read this week, besides Colleen Hoover, and it was a story about families and mother-daughter relationship and I enjoyed it.

I am almost done with my next book and then have a few more on my pile, so we’ll see how many more I can get through. 

Books I Read this Week 2018 is a year-long project for 2018. You can read more about my projects for 2018 here.

• The Heart’s Invisible Furies
• Bear Town
• Lilian Boxfish Talks a Walk
• The Impossible Fortress
• The Weight of Ink
• The Sun and Her Flowers
• Stay with Me
• The Ready-Made Thief
• All Grown Up
• Sycamore
• Spoonbenders
• Standard Deviation
• Anything is Possible
• The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane
• Setting Free the Kites
• My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry
• The Dry
• Celine
• Pachinko
• Faithful
• Six Wakes
• The Lonely Hearts Hotel

Young Adult+Middle Grade

• All the Crooked Saints
• Full Cicada Moon
• Letters from Rifka
• The Golden Compass
• We are Okay
• A Million Junes
• The Hate you Give
• Strange the Dreamer
• Scythe
• Learning to Swear in America
• Wolf by Wolf

Non-fiction:

• The Power of Moments
• A Mind At Home with Itself
• The Four Tendencies
• The Bright Hour
• Radical Candor
• Loving What Is
• Mindshift
• We Should All be Feminists
• I’m Judging You
• Shrill
• The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck

And here’s the full list:

I skipped Erdrich’s previous novel but I loved the one before that (Round House) so I was excited to tackle her new dystopian novel: Future Home of the Living God. And while it was hard to read (because let’s admit it, none of her novels are easy to read – subject-matter wise) I enjoyed this book. I connect with her writing style even if I’ve had enough of dystopian for a while.

I picked up The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue for my Young Adult book club and I wanted to like it because everyone seems to have. But alas, it wasn’t for me. I don’t seem to connect with characters that go frolicking around regardless of what century they are in.

Your Best Year 2018: Life Edition was my new reflection/planning purchase for this year. I did 14 pages of journaling thanks to it on the plane to Sydney. I am enjoying using this book so far and look forward to continue using it. I’ve read all the pages up until the planner part starts which I will use in January.

I also finally got to read The Heart’s Invisible Furies which I’d checked out twice before. I made a list of books I want to make sure to read before 2017 is over and this one was on my list, so I decided I was going to tackle it for once and all. I am so so glad I did. I love love love loved this book. Even though I find Irish literature so difficult most of the time, this was a fantastic book. It was touching and funny. Some of the best dialogue I’ve read in a while. Loved this one.

The Deal of a Lifetime  is a short story by the wonderful Backman. I figured he wouldn’t disappoint me and of course he didn’t. It’s super fast read and I read it twice.

Fewer books this week since the Boyne book was so long. But so so worth it.

Books I Read this Week 2017 is a year-long project for 2017. You can read more about my projects for 2017 here.

I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter 

was next  in my library queue. I wasn’t sure what it was about but wanted to read it anyway. I am glad I did. I liked it. Nothing amazing but a lovely book.

I also finally finished Full Cicada Moon which I was reading for Lit Club in my kids’ school. I love love loved this book. I cannot recommend it enough. It can be both Middle Grade and Young Adult. I loved it as an adult.

Permission to Screw Up  was a quick and easy read about someone I didn’t know at all and a topic I am not usually interested in but it was still interesting and thought provoking.

I also finally got to read The Golden Compass which has been on my list for years and years. It was fantastic.

It was time for some mindfulness so Real Love was the perfect choice for that. I love Sharon Salzberg.

Celebrations was super-quick and my first Maya Angelou. I loved it.

I was dying to read Bonfire because I had heard it was a great read. I had to wait patiently until some of my other library reads were done and it was worth the wait. I read it all in one sitting and really enjoyed its fast pace.

Book number 265 now. Here’s to a few more awesome books, especially for the long flights ahead.

Books I Read this Week 2017 is a year-long project for 2017. You can read more about my projects for 2017 here.

I’m a fan of Alice Hoffman and I knew I was going to like Rules of Magic and I wasn’t disappointed. She has a way with words and characters that I always find myself getting lost in her books. This one was no exception.

I am not sure what compelled me to read Reset. While I work in Silicon Valley and am no stranger to all the issues around being a woman, I am not sure Ellen Pao is my model for how to make things better. But I picked it up and started it and found myself wanting to continue. I am glad I read it but there are other people who inspire me a lot more. I especially feel inspired by a friend at work who continues to help me think differently about all of these issues and to challenge myself and the people around me and the company, too.

I then grabbed A Short History of the Girl Next Door which was a light read but not at all what it promised to be. I didn’t dislike it but I also didn’t love it.

I was looking forward to Dunbar which is the newest installment of the Shakespeare retellings. This one is on King Lear, one of the best. But alas this particular retelling didn’t speak to me. Partly because the audio was terrible and partly because I just didn’t like the plot/perspective the author took for the retelling.

I had started Almost Sisters a few months ago but never finished it. When it came up in my queue again, I decided I would finally finish it. It was okay. It was an enjoyable read. But I just want better books at the moment.

I also finally finished Grit which gave me a lot to think about around how to live my life, raise my kids and make decisions. I am still thinking about it and maybe I can find ways to incorporate it into my 2018 planning a bit.

Here’s to more reading this week!

Books I Read this Week 2017 is a year-long project for 2017. You can read more about my projects for 2017 here.

I read about Everyone’s a Aliebn When Ur a Aliebn Too in a blog I read where the person said it was their best read of the year. I had never heard of this author so I must be missing some context because I wasn’t crazy about it at all.

I knew I would like  The Power of Moments: Why Certain Experiences Have Extraordinary Impact  and I wasn’t wrong. Great book that I want to read at least once more for practical steps I want to take.

The Strength Switch: How The New Science of Strength-Based Parenting Can Help Your Child and Your Teen to Flourish  was also very practical and I loved it. I love the idea of the perspective shift this book recommends. I will need to read it a few times.

I read Towers Falling for the 5/6th grade Lit Club I teach at my sons’ school. It was about Sept 11, which I lived through in NYC. I didn’t like the book for a multitude of reasons. It was also the first time I read a book and listened to it where the narrator was incredibly awful. Above and beyond bad.

I am now almost done with Autonomous and even though I read all of it, I can’t fully tell you what it’s about. I mean I can but not really. Not sure it was worth all the time.

Here’s to more & better reading this week!

Books I Read this Week 2017 is a year-long project for 2017. You can read more about my projects for 2017 here.