January: Here's Looking at You!
What I am reading, books for making a shift, finding audiobook deals, and new book reviews.
Last month I wrote about Jólabókaflóð, Iceland’s Christmas "book flood” tradition. This month I experienced my own book flood. I began a morning reading practice: I set a timer for 20 minutes to start each day with a non-fiction book. [Note: I highly recommend the 20 minute timer to increase your reading.] I also started listening to a lengthy audio book while I embroidered. Then I received my February book club in the mail and had to take a peek. It was so good I started reading that book too. Then, I realized I had not picked up my local library book club pick for January and dashed to the library to get that one. I wasn’t sure if I would read it but when I started in, just to see if I liked it, it proved excellent as well. So now, if you are keeping track, I am actively reading four books. DO. NOT. DO. THIS! I thought I could handle that if I did not pick up any more books, but do you know what happened? I got a notification from Libby that Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrel is now available to read! This is the book I named as my “must read” in 2021. I have been waiting months for this one. So now I am going to have to find a way to read this one as well in the next 21 days. I am drowning in excellent reads and I am not unhappy about it.
How is your 2021 reading going?
New Year: Here’s Looking at You!
This may not be the year for a ton of resolutions but if you want begin some good habits or maybe drop some bad ones, below are some “self-help” books that I have found inspiration in:
Looking to be more creative? Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert is my favorite book on creativity. Her permission to pursue creativity as an avocation and follow your curiosity is brilliant. Though I read this a few years ago and found much wisdom and encouragement, I listened to it again this past year and still love it.
Want to stop agonizing over decisions? Don’t Overthink It by my favorite podcaster Ann Bogel has some great advice regarding using your values to decide things ahead of time and limiting choices.
Need some motivation or a kick in the pants? Jen Cinsero’s debut book You Are a Bad Ass is straightforward and has some excellent advice on leaving fear behind and moving forward with your dreams!
Need to start or break a habit? 2019’s Atomic Habits is a quick read with some great advice on how to build good habits and lose bad ones. Hint: Start small and tie new habits into something you are already doing.
Want to improve focus at work? Both Essentialism and Deep Work speak to the difficulties of dealing with constant distractions in our world right now. Essentialism points you to focus on what matters while Cal Newport's Deep Work pushes you to make time for work that is deeper than answering emails and texts.
I listened to most of these books rather than read them. It is a trade off because I can listen while I drive or do things around the house. The drawback is I can’t take notes or underline things so I am not sure how much of the advice I actually implement.
Speaking of audiobooks, have we discussed Hoopla vs Libby? If you want the latest and greatest titles - it is best to just go with an Audible or Libro.fm Subscription. I am pretty thrifty with my book buying dollars so it is rare for me to purchase audio books. Here are my suggestions if you want to listen to more books and don’t want to go broke:
Free Listens
The easiest and cheapest way to listen to books is to use the Libby and Hoopla Apps. Both are tied to your library card.
Don’t choose between one or the other but use both to look for the titles you most want to hear (or read). One more hint: though tied to your library card, you can add more than one card to your account. This gives you even more books to choose from! Friends and families are now sharing library card information so that they can add more libraries to their borrowing options. No worries about overdue fines as ebooks and audio books return automatically on their due date.
Low Cost Audio Options
Chirp offers some of the best audiobook deals around. For example, I just looked and The Shell Seekers, one of my all-time favorite books, is only $3.99! Subscribe to the weekly newsletter to keep up with special deals.
Libro.fm is an alternative to the large Amazon-owned Audible. It links your audio purchase with local independent book stores. They have a sale page and I spotted Lily King’s Writers & Lovers (a favorite from 2020 about a struggling writer) for $4.95.
Book Reviews:
Looking for a fast paced and fun historical fiction novel with a little bit of heft? The Woman on the Orient Express is a fictionalized account of Agatha Christie’s own train trip to the Middle East. Set shortly after her mysterious disappearance (fact) and divorce (fact), Christie is traveling aboard the famous Orient Express all the way to Baghdad to escape her old life and begin anew. On the train, she befriends two other women, both with secrets to hide. The book’s structure takes you through each stage of the journey, depicting life in Baghdad and Ur in 1929. The imagery is wonderful and the descriptions of the landscape, the food, and people transported me to another time and place. As with any good historical fiction, there is drama, conflict and finally resolution. I highly recommend this book if you want to get lost in a story right now.
As mentioned above, I was excited to get Hamnet from the library and it did not let me down. This is a fictional reimagining of William Shakespeare’s family life in Stratford Upon Avon. Beautiful prose and detailed characters made this book, set almost 500 years ago, seem clear and fresh. I loved that the people were not bad or good but complex and products of their circumstance. Though framed around an unnamed playwright (clearly W.S.), the main protagonist is his wife Agnes. This is a story about family - motherhood, marriage, sibling relationships, and the grief of losing a child.
A definite contrast to Hamnet, Ruth Ware’s most recent novel, One by One is a fun fast paced thriller perfect for the season. Ware is prolific and reading her novels is like digging into a bag of potato chips, once you start, its hard to put down. I don’t love all her stories but I really enjoyed this one. Set in a Chateau high in the French Alps, a corporate getaway goes very wrong when guests begin to disappear and an avalanche cuts off those who are left from contact with the outside world. Narrated back and forth between a guest and an employee - it kept me guessing for quit some time. There are some great tense scenes and an exciting ending.
I listened to this World War 2 novel after seeing it appear on many favorites lists in December. I don’t think I need to explain much; There is love and bravery, hardship and evil…it is Poland in World War 2. What I will say, is that if you love World War 2 novels, you will love this one. However, I feel like I have hit the limit with this genre and am ready to take a break.
The author of Mudhouse Sabbath was raised an Orthodox Jew but converted to Christianity. In this book she looks at many of the faith-based spiritual practices she grew up with that are missing in the Christian life today. She covers marking days while grieving, providing community to the elderly, eating with intention and the role of candles. This is a calm, life affirming book. It provideds practical applications for incorporating spiritual practices that may be missing into your everyday life.
Ending this month with my favorite thing of the week - thank you Brad Montague!