I’ll tell you what I’m reading if you tell me what you’re reading.
Atomic Habits
by James Clear
I like the author’s blog, so I picked up his book. It’s good, but there’s not really any new information in there. Systems, not goals. Make a habit your identity. Get into the state of flow. He even mentions Benjamin Franklin’s resolutions chart. Except he calls it a habit tracker.
The point is to master the habit of showing up.
I still recommend it. We all need reminders.
Until you work as hard as those you admire, don’t explain away their success as luck.
I don’t work that hard. Do you?
His formula is pretty simple.
- Decide the type of person you want to be.
- Prove it to yourself with small wins
Ink and Bone (The Great Library)
by Rachel Caine
This was a world-building book that I had trouble visualizing. It all seemed so convoluted and unnecessarily complicated.
The ancient library is the bad actor here. The main character is a book smuggler. He’s at library school. There was magic. I don’t know. The book had a whiff of Harry Potter essence, but not as good.
It’s the first in a series and I won’t be picking up the second book.
A Mother’s Reckoning: Living in the Aftermath of Tragedy
by Sue Klebold
The author is the mother of one of the perpetrators of the 1999 Columbine school shooting that left 13 innocent people dead and 24 severely injured.
She recounts her point of view, learning about the tragedy and the role her son played in it. She had no idea he was struggling. The warning signs weren’t there. Or they were there, but her son hid them pretty well from his family.
Devastating is the word I kept thinking reading this book. So many lives were destroyed that day. It’s a sad read that I’m not sure I would recommend unless you want to feel bummed out for a while.
She pleads the case that she didn’t know her son as a monster. I believe her, but reading what he did that day still makes me think he’s evil. Despite all their journals and videos we have, we still don’t really know why. Maybe there is no real why.
It’s well written, but I was excited to be done with it. What a scary world we live in. It’s not just that you could be killed in a mass shooting incident, but that someone you love could be the perpetrator and you had no clue anything was even wrong. Devastating.
Love’s Work
by Gillian Rose
I picked up this book because of this quote I read somewhere:
There is no democracy in any love relation, only mercy.
That struck me as deeply profound and true. The book is not as good as that quote led me to believe. It’s a short read, but the language is super flowery and thesaurus-y. Thumbs down. Besides that one quote.
Someday This Pain Will be Useful to You: A Novel
by Peter Cameron
This is a young adult novel that kind of went nowhere. Our protagonist is a 17-year old boy. He doesn’t want to go to college, but then he does go. He catfishes a friend who gets angry at him, then forgives him. I wouldn’t recommend it. No story.
Love the title though.
Chasing Daylight: How My Forthcoming Death Transformed My Life
by Eugene O’Kelly and Corinne O’Kelly
This is a memoir of a man who learns he has three months to live. I couldn’t put it down and this was one I started and read late through the night just because I could. He makes peace with his death with a to do list of what to do and how to live before dying. He reaches out to all his friends, remembering what they mean to each other. Of course he starts meditating. He tries living in the moment as much as possible.
Wisdom doesn’t always apply to every context.
It’s an easy, quick read, but I think When Breath Becomes Air was better.
Untethered Soul: The Journey Beyond Yourself
by Michael A. Singer
This book has some good information, but it’s wrapped up in a lot of vague hippy nonsense.
Who are you? You’re the one listening to the voice in your head, so you’re not the voice in your head.
You’re not even a human being. You just happen to be watching one.
Which, okay, yeah I like.
I also like the idea that you can’t control everything. Give up trying to shape your world to avoid pain and accept that some pain is inevitable.
“Your definitions of desirable and undesirable, as well as good and bad, all come about because you have defined how things need to be in order for you to be okay.”
…
The truth is, everything will be okay as soon as you are okay with everything. And that’s the only time everything will be okay.
If you can be happy regardless of outside factors, you’ll have tranquility. This mindset is stoic and totally what I’m aiming for in life.
And I love this realization.
Events that happen in the moment belong to the moment. They don’t belong to you.
So, some good stuff, but the advice on how to do all this is “keep your heart open.” I have no idea what that means. Too fuzzy. Directions unclear.
I think I’d still recommend it.
Victor Frankl – Man’s Search for Meaning.
Basically meaning is central to life. That meaning could be a project such as writing a book, it could be loving someone/people or if you have neither of those, it could be just dealing with the inevitable sufferings of life in a good honorable way.
I think it is future-orientated as in Life expects something specific from you (different for everybody) so you have to plough in through whatever you are experiencing at the moment with dignity and purpose so you can deliver on it.
The author barely suffered life in a Nazi concentration camp so I take his word for it.
*barely survived life in a Nazi concentration camp
Great book. Haunting.
I’m reading* Mastery by Robert Greene.
Life stories about Darwin, Einstein, Da Vinci among others and how you can yourself become one of them, or at least achieve much more than the average complainypants.
Interesting ideas, bit repetitive and feels like it could be 20-30% shorter but maybe the content is there because someone that is not me needs it to make sense of it?
Would I recommend it to you? Perhaps, you seem to be doing most of the things he suggests already.
*Listering to, they don’t recommend reading while driving.
I’ve always figured love is a democracy and that I’ve just never managed to convince more than 50% of the voters we’re married, except that time she did not even bother to show up to the vote.
LOL at your last paragraph. Yeah, I’m sick of self help books saying the same thing.
Just finished The Power by Naomi Alderman (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29751398-the-power) and it was brutal and haunting but so, so good! It’s about what happens to the world when teenage girls suddenly acquire the ability to channel electricity, and how power dynamics start to shift as a result. I read it practically all in one sitting it was so compelling.
Interesting premise. Thanks! I’ll put it on the list.
House of Broken Angels! Wonderful exploration of family dynamics.
Thanks! It’s on the list now.
Ooh I loved Untethered Soul! Very vague but made me think in a way that other books I’ve read recently haven’t.
I found myself thinking about it a lot after I finished it.
Chasing Daylight sounds interesting, but should I just go with When Breathe Becomes Air? How about Regrets of the Dying by Bronnie Ware. I want to read that one, but they don’t have it at my library…yet.
Here’s a couple more arrows for your quiver, some recents for me:
A Walk in the Woods, Bill Bryson — Fun read, they made a movie out of it recently. I think old man Nick Nolte plays the goofy dude
12 Lessons for Life, Jordan Peterson — Heady, good read, but I’m always tempted to pick up the cliffnotes when I see a list in the title
The Hidden Life of Trees, Peter Wohleben — Amazing. That’s it.
How to Eat in the Woods, Bradford Angier — I’ll let ya know
As you can see, I’m on a bit of a theme streak. Keep ’em comin’!
P.S. — Did you read Player Piano yet?
Yeah, if I was only going to read one, I’d read When Breath Becomes Air. Regrets of the Dying is okay, but too much biography of the author which I didn’t care about.
I love Bill Bryson. I won’t read anything by Jordan Peterson. I’ve heard of the Hidden Life of Trees and am putting on my list. I’ve never heard of Player Piano. Good? Should I put it on my list?
Why categorically not read Jordan Peterson?
There are too many other books in the world to read than to spend time on climate change deniers.
Righto, When Breathe Becomes Air goes on the (increasingly unwieldy) reading list. I didn’t know that about JP, but then again, I don’t know very much about him beyond the book and some youtube videos. I did find his interview with Sam Harris to be quite interesting. Likewise on the deniers, we needed to move beyond that term about three decades ago, but that’s a separate conversation! On Player Piano: if you enjoyed (and became mildly terrified at the same time) by 1984, Brave New World, Oryx and Crake, etc., give it a read. I can only take so much dystopian stuff though… I’m a happy camper yo!
Oooh, I love Oryx and Crake and 1984. Brave New World was okay.
I agree with you about the wiedlyness of a reading list. Mine is getting crazy long, too. But I love it!
Wieldyness isn’t a word.
Oh geez. Was so wanting to subscribe to your blog/email newsletter. Sigh…
What’s stopping you?!
I think you would hate it, but I love ‘Il gattopardo’/‘The Leopard’ by Tomasi di Lampedusa.
It is one of the few books I keep re reading.
And I have actually made progress on my goals!!! That is thanks to your advice on taking body measurements and thanks to your quotes ‘it is better that you do than what you do’, ‘grit just means getting up again’, and ‘resolution chart wants you to be happy’.
I’m sporting a very large grin right now. Thank you so much for saying that.
And I’m putting The leopard on my list.
Big hug!
I’m reading China Rich Girlfriend which is the sequel to Crazy Rich Asians. I thought Crazy Rich Asians was funny. Loved the book and the movie. So I picked up the Kevin Kwan sequel. BTW, regarding my resolutions chart, I gave myself an “A” on two of the resolutions and an “F” on the other two. Why an F? I took a Fourth-of-July vacation from these two last week. It just seemed like the right thing to do. Of course, it could not be because these two are difficult and I would do anything to put them off.
11 days in when I usually drop a resolution if I’m doing terribly at it. I feel your pain!
I’ve read Crazy Rich Asians and liked it, but not enough to pick up the sequel. Cute read, though. Tell me if you think it’s worth it and I’ll put it on my list. Thanks!
I’m reading Junkyard Planet: Travels in the Billion-Dollar Trash Trade. It’s a pretty fascinating glimpse into the global scrap trade, and the lucrative businesses that deal in the things we throw away.
I’m always impressed by your consistent book reviews. I find myself overwhelmed trying to put books on hold, especially when there are potentially hundreds of people in front of me. What’s your library strategy? I need help!
On my to-do list every Friday is “go to the library website and order some books.” I just look at my to-read list and choose a bunch that call to me. I have a LOT of books on hold. LOL. I’m in the 600s to read Michelle Obama’s book becoming. I’m in the 200s to read There, There by Tommy Orange.
It’ll come in time. 🙂 In the meantime, I have lots of other books waiting for me. Every week or so I go to the library to pick up and drop off my haul.
Thanks for the recommendations, I’ve read 3-4 of your book ideas so far – your a good filter! 🙂
Three books, one of which I’m still reading/listening to:
Escaping the Giant Wave
Barking up the wrong tree
Fail fast, fail often (might have gotten this from you, ignore it if so)
Let me know if you recommend any of those when you’re done with them! I’ve never heard of Fail fast, fail often, but it sounds like my kind of book. Ha!
I’m currently reading the last of the stanfields. It was a free amazon prime book and I can’t decide yet whether I love it or hate it (I’m a little over halfway through). By far the worst part of working is how much it chews into my reading time!
I’ve added when breath becomes air to my reading list. Without knowing what you like about it, perhaps you would enjoy the year of magical thinking by Joan Didion.
I loved the Year of Magical Thinking and the one she wrote about her daughter Blue Nights! So good and heartbreaking.
I’m intrigued that you can’t decide between loving and hating it. I’ve never had that experience with a book!
Sometimes I need to know how a book ends to decide how I feel about it. With this one, the writing and plot are reasonably engaging. For awhile there were these separate stories, and the book jumps around in time. So the reader has to discover some connections. The author artfully crafted that portion. But now I need to know *why* and to solve the ultimate mystery. The book could flop if that’s no good. At the midpoint, I’d give it 3 stars and it will probably end up plus or minus one.
I appreciate your explanation. That makes sense.
I’m reading the Untethered Soul and struggling to get through it. And still looking for the “how to” for all the things he talks about. Very deep for my mind…
I did find it hard to get through as well.
I rarely find a novel written after the 1960’s that holds my attention. Love 1950’s and 60’s sci-fi, especially for the little gems like a person needing to land a flying car in order to use a coin-operated payphone.
Was progressing towards finishing the complete works of Stephen King in order of publication, until I realized how many more hours of my life were going to be devoted to reading truly dark, macabre, and disturbing stuff.
So now I lean towards non-fiction set in the 1800’s and early 1900’s. I like true tales of survival in nigh-impossible conditions: shipwrecks, lost at sea, arctic castaways, cult survivors… My recents and currents are:
The World and William Walker, by Albert Z. Carr
The New New Thing: A Silicon Valley Story, by Michael Lewis
Savage Harvest, by Carl Hoffman
The Endurance: Shackleford’s Legendary Antarctic Expedition, by Caroline Alexander
That’s hilarious! Flying cars and payphones.
Do you recommend any of the books you’re reading? I also like reading more than one book at a time. If I don’t feel like reading one, I’ll surely feel like reading another.
I can recommend all of them. But of course they’ll only interest someone who is particularly interested in those peculiar subjects. I like having multiple going so that I can have a morning book and an evening book and a weekend book, etc. – like flipping channels on a TV, in a way. If something contains disturbing content (Savage Harvest) then I don’t read that right before bed; and I don’t read anything about current/modern times (the most disturbing content of all!) on weekends.
The one I didn’t list is Walking to Listen: 4,000 Miles Across America, One Story at a Time, by Andrew Forsthoefel. It was a little preachy for my tastes; I bristle when someone in his early 20’s wants to tell the world what life is all about. I got to the part when he imparted a lesson he learned (one that I’ve heard previously, many a time): that you shouldn’t waste time reading a book you don’t like – and so I closed it for good, on that same page.
Who knows what subject will be interesting until we try?
Great idea about not reading scary books at night.
Just finished “Biased: Uncovering the Hidden Prejudice That Shapes What We See, Think and Do”. The title pretty much explains what the book is about. Author is a Harvard Phd who teaches at Stanford and received a MacArthur Genius grant. Interest book.
My favorite book of the year is Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng. She is a great writer with an interesting technique. Both of her books start at the end of the story and then explain how we got there. This book opens with a house on fire with (you guessed it) little fires everywhere. part of the story focuses on international adoption.
Thanks for the suggestions! They’re on the list.