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I'm already almost done with my third book of the year, which is a big deal to me, since I only read 11 books in all of 2015! I'm loving this boost and want to try really hard to keep it up.
First off, I finished He Loves Forever by Thomas Olbricht. The book's about the love of God in the Old Testament, challenging the mainstream thought that the God of the OT is angry and overbearing, whereas the God of the New Testament is loving and carefree (spoiler alert: it was the same God the whole time!). Our family's known Tom through the church since before I was born, and he gave me a copy of this book after our VBS in 2014. I loved the book, and found his writing comforting and hopeful. The very best part to me, though, was hearing Tom's voice on every page. He writes just like he talks, and I loved every minute of it.
At the same time, I finished The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley on audio. I loved it! It filled the void that can only be filled by a totally British mystery told by a brilliant, 11 year-old chemist. It was funny and quirky but still very well written. I'm going to try the second in the series as a print book to see if I prefer it on audio or a 'real book' better.
I'm almost done with Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell. Once I get going I have a really hard time putting this book down, but in the beginning I almost had to abandon it! Gladwell looks at the outlying situations that end up making someone successful, and in the beginning, it felt so hopeless that I was leaving it really depressed. Luckily I stuck with it, though, and the rest has been more than inspiring! I think Gladwell glosses over the importance of actively choosing to take advantage of your unique situation a little too much, but still it's a very interesting read. The chapter on geniuses was fascinating and almost eerie.
I just bought I Like People, Too: A Field Guide for Introverts by Lindsey Kubly as an ebook. It's much shorter than I thought it was (only 42 pages!) so I'm planning on reading it on my phone at work over the weekend. I've heard nothing but good things about her tips in this book, and seeing another big goal for me right now is being more social and building better relationships, I'm excited! I'll probably use it as my 'book you could read in a day' for the MMD Reading Challenge.
Looking ahead to what I want to read after Outliers and I Like People, Too: my first thought was Jane Austen's Emma, as it's been awhile since I read a good classic and I would love to get through more of Austen's books this year. Another heftier book I'd love to get into is Kate Morton's The Secret Keeper. I actually attempted listening that to audio on CD two or three years ago, and while I loved the story, I just couldn't listen fast enough and had to abandon it. I'm thinking I should pick it up at some point in February and do it justice!
On the other side of the coin, I might do something fluffy: the third Blackbird Sisters Mystery, Some Like It Lethal by Nancy Martin, or finally finishing another audio I eventually abandoned, Austenland by Shannon Hale. I should also finally finish reading yet another book that's been languishing half-read since 2013, The FitzOsbornes in Exile by Michelle Cooper. That one's actually the second out of three books, but I didn't know it was a series when I started, so I read through it #3, #1, then #2.
Strategic as I might like to be, I'm really just enjoying the extra reading I've gotten done! I'm refraining from making any specific goals of which titles I have to read, and simply going with what I most want to read in the moment. It's been such a release for me lately, and I look forward to that goal tracker being much more full in the future!
Happy Thursday! xoxo
And "Stuffed"?
ReplyDeletehaha! Still on the to-read stack. :P
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