May Reading List

READING LIST FOR MAY 2018

This year has brought on a massive amount of changes for me.  One of the biggest has been my commitment to reading more.  I thought I was going to hate it...  I challenged myself at the beginning of the year to try and ready four books a month.  I know... aggressive.  But, so far, things have been great!  I'm learning a lot and enjoying myself.   So, here are my reads from May. 

1. DON'T YOU CRY - By Mary Kubica

A great friend of mine suggested that I start using the Goodreads app a while back, so I took her advice and set it up!  After a few short minutes of entering my information and prior reads, this was one of the books that was suggested for me.  To be honest, it took me a little while to get into this book.  Kubica's writing style was unique for me as she bounces around from character viewpoint to character viewpoint, but the actual story does become quite compelling and did manage to keep me captivated.  I personally couldn't quite relate to the main character, Quinn Collins, but Kubica lays out such an interesting plot line, it's hard to put the book down! 

2. THE SUBTLE ART OF NOT GIVING A F*CK - By Mark Manson

I laughed A LOT while reading this book.  I can't say that Mr. Manson is the most savvy of all writers, but I think that's part of what I loved about it.  For myself, I've always been pretty okay with walking my own path and being able to shrug off what others think of me - for the most part.  But, this read was still a wake up call to how we are all so subject to judgement and all too frequently make life decisions based on it.  The part that truly resonated with me was his acknowledgment that we have a listed amount of emotional capacity and therefore shouldn't waste ourselves on things that we simply cannot control.  All-in-all, I enjoyed this book and now keep it next to my bed for a good refresher on days that I don't feel went so well.  It does require a bit of a sense of humor AND please note, there is quite a bit of profanity in the beginning of the book. 

3. YOU ARE A BADASS - By Jen Sincero

I LOVED this book.  Although, after reading the reviews for this book when I went to purchase her second book, I realize that the readers temperature is probably heavily based on where they're at in life.  As a business owner and a creative, reading this book felt like she was speaking to me directly.  I think more than anything, the take away I got from this book was that we are all completely capable of achieving whatever it is that we want in this life.  And she's friggin hilarious in how she delivers that message!  Obviously, humor in my reads does well for me.  I can't say enough great things about this book and think there's a little something in here for anyone who reads it. 

4. BLINK (THE POWER OF THINKING WITHOUT THINKING) - By Malcom Gladwell

My husband was reading Gladwell's book, Outliers, and wasn't finishing up any time soon, so I decided to read one of this others.  I found this book to be fascinating.  I am a person who reacts and behaves instinctively in most aspects of my life.  My husband often tells me that I lead my way through life based on "feeling."  This book was EXCELLENT at explaining why and confirming that reacting instinctively and intuitively is not only healthy, but can be quite reliable.  He backs up his message with some truly fascinating examples.  A lot of examples.... But, I still found them to be captivating.  I think this is an excellent read for those of us who find themselves with analysis paralysis all too often.  But, I think most could get something quite valuable from this read as it really gives insight as to how clever our brains really are and how valuable intuition is.