I’m going to be honest, I’ve got a ton of books in my ‘to read’ stack right now. I don’t know how it happened, but I’ve totally let my pile get out of hand pretty quickly. In my defense, lots of great books have been coming out recently and I can’t help but buy them all. This month I’ve been picking up lots of books about ways to be better at work from learning from mistakes other women have made and getting more insight into being a leader. I’ll be posting my favorite books for work later this month, so let me know if you have any good recommendations!
For fiction this month, I picked up On Turpentine Lane. Faith has moved back to her hometown and is working at her alma mater while she waits for her fiancé to get back from a cross-country walk. She moves into a bungalow on Turpentine Lane and finds some mysterious artifacts in the attic which leads her on mission to discover their history.
It kind of reminds me of Eligible which came out last Spring and is one of my favorite books I’ve read in ages. I’m really excited to get into this one because I’ve heard great things about Elinor Lipman’s writing. This will be a good vacation or airplane read.
A similar story as my last pick, The Keeper of Lost Things is about Anthony who lost the love of his life 40 years ago on the same day he lost a keepsake from her. Since then he’s collected everything he’s found that’s been lost or misplaced. He leaves all of this to his assistant Laura whose job becomes finding the stories and owners of all the lost things.
I’m always fascinated by books like this of trying to find the backstory and history of something and how the person searching for it always finds a bit more of themselves out of it. I’m really ready to curl up on the couch with this one Sunday afternoon.
The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck
I have been very interested in reading this one for a while now. As someone who is distinctly Type A, I tend to give way too many f*cks. So I’m definitely in need of figuring out how to let go and give fewer. The book definitely gets into some of the controversy around our generation making everything super positive and happy and everyone gets a trophy. I don’t always agree with his opinions on some things, but that’s part of learning and growing. I like to see things from all perspectives so this is definitely a good one if you struggle with figuring out what to let go of and how to care a little less.
On basically the other end of the spectrum is Year of Yes. I picked this one up for book club and have actually had a few people recommend it to me. Year of Yes is all about saying yes to things (obviously) but in a way that makes you get outside your comfort zone and take chances. I think confidence is a skill that is learned and practiced, not something you just have. Year of Yes is really all about building confidence and taking on new challenges to get you there.
My favorite kind of book shopping is cookbook shopping. I love to read cookbooks and I love to find new recipes to try. I heard of One Part Plant from the wonderful Julia of Snack Happy. I’m always looking for more ways to eat more vegetables and to make vegetable based meals. Honestly, I just get tired of cooking meat sometimes or I go a little too hard on the queso and my body is like hey bitch eat something green for once. In One Part Plant, the challenge is to eat one plant based meal a day. It’s so much easier than you’d think and a lot cheaper to eat plant based. I’m super excited to dive into this book and get some inspiration!
Have you read any of these yet? Let me know what’s on your reading list this month!
xo – Tracy
