Reading Challenge-December Update
December marked the end of my first Good Books Reading Challenge. My goal was to read 52 books. I ended with 82 books. Some Stats: Fiction: 34Non-Fiction: 46Books written by women: 49 Quick TAKE lessons: Reading begets reading. (The more I read the more I wanted to read) Reading makes readers. (My kids are reading way more now and never leave the house without a book.) Reading transports. (I’ve been exposed to ideas, places, beliefs that I would not have considered had I not read the books.) Keeping a reading log is fun and helpful. (This is the first time I’ve ever kept a list of what I’ve read. I love having a log. It helped me see patterns and learn about my reading habits. I used Good Reads. BEST OF: Non-Fiction (Top 3 in no particular order) Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer Wild Mercy by Mirabai Starr The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohlleben Fiction: In this House of Brede by Rumer Godden A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens Series: Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan Inspector Gamache by Louise Penny Cormoran Strike by Robert Galbraith December Books Talking to Stranger by Malcolm Gladwell I listened to this on Audible. I decided to give Audible a try for the next few months. I think I would have liked this book better had I read it and not listened to it. It’s very interesting and disturbing. The content he covers to make his point is unsettling and difficult. Listening to it was sometimes just too much for me. That said, it’s a book that is worth reading. I’m trusting myself less when it comes to understanding people and that’s probably good because he makes a clear case that we aren’t very good at it! Read this book, don’t listen to it. “The thing we want to learn about a stranger is fragile. If we tread carelessly it will crumple under our feet… The right way to talk to strangers is with caution and humility.” ― Malcolm Gladwell, Talking to Strangers Glass Houses (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #13) I was reading this while I was listening to Talking to Strangers which was a very interesting experience. This book is about a police officer who trusts himself to judge character. To read this while listening to Malcolm Gladwell’s masterfully layout case after case that detectives got wrong because they trusted themselves to read people was an interesting experience. That aside Louise Penny just doesn’t disappoint. This story was masterfully written and so thought-provoking. “Three Pines is a state of mind. When we choose tolerance over hate. Kindness over cruelty. Goodness over bullying. When we choose to be hopeful, not cynical. Then we live in Three Pines.” ― Louise Penny, Glass Houses A Great Reckoning (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #12) This might be one of my least favorite of the series. But an engaging story, none-the-less. It’s so fun to be invested in a big series and see the characters develop over time. “There is always a road back. If we have the courage to look for it, and take it. I’m sorry. I was wrong. I don’t know. I need help. These are the signposts. The cardinal directions.” ― Louise Penny, A Great Reckoning My Glory Was I Had Such Friends by Amy Silverstein This book was wonderful. It’s an autobiography of a woman waiting for her second heart transplant. I had never considered organ transplants before reading this story. It was hopeful, funny, sad and very thoughtfully written. I’m glad I read this book. It’s one worth reading. It’s the account of her friends that traveled across country week after week to stay in the hospital with her while she waited for a heart. She never spent a night alone, her friends were there every.single.day. “Think where man’s glory most begins and ends, and say my glory was I had such friends.” W.B. Yeats Enter your email to subscribe– It’s only ever used to notify you of new questions from The Art of Powering Down.
The post Reading Challenge-December Update appeared first on The art of powering down.
