The start of a new school year is a new beginning, not only for kids but for parents as well. We moms start to count years, not by Gregorian calendar years, but by school grade years. For moms, a year begins not on the first of January, but rather on the first day of school after the long summer holidays.
Since I just started my “new year,” I thought it was the best time to round up my latest reading achievements.
I managed to read 9 books in 5 months from April until September. Five of them are audible books that I listened to. Four of them are Kindle digital books that I read on my iPad. No real printed paper books on my list. What does this digital age do to us? Reading becomes more and more digitalized and instead of having a paper book in our hands more often we have an iPad or little headphones on.
Here is the list of books I read during months between April to September 2018:
- Thinner Leaner Stronger: The Simple Science of Building the Ultimate Female Body by Michael Matthews (Kindle version)
Last year I decided: it’s now or never; it’s time to challenge myself and to try to get the best shape of me. To achieve this goal, I implemented some divergent training approaches and decided to look for a wide variety of fitness and health sources, and this book was one of them.
This fitness book busts myths about weightlifting and its effect on a female body, which I find very important to understand since there are so many misconceptions about weightlifting making one’s body bulky and masculine. While the book has some really great information, in my opinion, a big part of it is not for a total beginner. Ladies are so fragile and weak, and even if we are strong psychologically, we don’t have enough strength to jump from two times per week of Zumba workouts to six times per week of deadlifts with a barbell right away. It’s a great book, but I wish the author had given advice and introductory information on how to get from the point of having a not-perfectly-fit body to the point where one could start doing deadlifts or bench presses or just lifting 15 kilograms of a barbell without any weights added.
- How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie (Kindle version)
This is a lovely self-help book written by Dale Carnegie, whose first edition was published in 1936. This timeless bestseller (more than 15 million copies sold) is packed with advice on how to achieve your maximum potential and illustrated with many examples of famous leaders. It explains how to make people like you, how to win people to your way of thinking, and how to change people without arousing resentment. You can learn all this and many more simple diplomatic tactics from this old but still relevant book.
- Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow by Yuval Noah Harari (Audible version)
I just loved Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari. It inspired many evening conversations with my husband and many discussions during get-together nights with friends. The return of the same theme but with a focus on the future of Homo Deus was something that I was naturally craving after reading Sapiens. The vision of the future of mankind the author presents is very close to my imagination. This is something I like to talk about a lot. I want to envision what life might look like in the future and how today’s decisions and innovations will affect it. It’s a great read.
- A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson (Audible version)
This book was highly recommended by my husband as he has read it many times. It covers the history of science, using easily accessible language that makes it so appealing. I wish I could have read this during my school years.
- The Martha Rules: 10 Essentials for Achieving Success as You Start, Build, or Manage a Business by Martha Stewart (Audible version)
Martha Stewart is an American goddess of domestic perfection, businesswoman, writer, television personality, and former model with an envious career. I wanted to get to know her way of doing things and achieving so much. She is really an inspirational personality.
- Loving My Actual Life by Alexandra Kuykendall (Audible version)
I was looking for recommendations on the web for a book for my girlfriend. This self-help book caught my eye, and I thought this would be the one to get for my friend’s birthday. On my way to a bookshop, I had the idea to read the book as well, so I downloaded it as an Audible version and started to listen to it. Oh, girl, little did I know that the author is very religious; she mentions Jesus and the Bible in every chapter, and the friend to whom I wanted to give the book is a Buddhist. Listening to the book first, myself, saved me from an unpleasant situation.
- Calypso by David Sedaris (Audible version)
I thought it should be similar to A Year In Provance by Peter Mayle, which I enjoyed a lot. It was in some way. It was comical and sad, bright and dark at the same time. I finish it as it was easy and funny to listen to a very unusual author’s voice, but I felt it’s not for my age group.
- There Are No Grown-Ups: a Midlife Coming-of-Age Story by Pamela Druckerman (Kindle version)
This was the book I was waiting for. I read all of Pamela’s books, and I love her style. So after the announcement of her new “baby” coming soon, it was instantly on my list. I read it during my adults-only trip to Paris this summer. What could be better than learning about the Paris lifestyle and getting to know someone’s personal confessions and insights of what life looks after you turn forty (which I am not yet, but better to be prepared) being in Paris? This unusually candid and very personal author life story made me laugh so many times because it’s written in a humorous and sincere way.
- Factfulness: Ten Reasons We’re Wrong About the Wolrd – and Why Things Are Better Than You Think by Hans Rosling (Kindle version)
This was initially recommended by one friend, then by another, and then by my husband. How could I not read it? Absolute must. It turns out that the world, for all its imperfections, is in a much better state than we might think. And it is time to understand that with the help of pure numbers and statistics.
That was my sharing of recent good reads. You can check the books I read from January to April 2018 and during the year 2017 as well.
I would like to encourage you to share your recommendations for good books in this small virtual book club with others too.
Happy reading!
