At the beginning of January, I had surgery, which led to a few months off work and not being able to do much work at home either. Thankfully, I love to read, so I planned ahead and lined up a bunch of books from the library and a few from Amazon.
January Non-Fiction Books Read
In total I read 9 non-fiction books. I’ll rank them from the lowest rated to the highest rated with a quick synopsis.
2-Star Reads
Grit by Angela Duckworth – Simply put, if you want to succeed, you need grit. I wanted to get into this book, but it seemed repetitive to me. And for whatever reason, I struggled to finish. It wasn’t bad, but it didn’t hold my attention.
Set Boundaries, Find Peace by Nedra Glover Tawwab – If you set boundaries for yourself, you can find peace. And this book, too, fell under the repetitive area for me.
3- Star Reads
For Such a Time as This by Kayleigh McEneny – This is a memoir of her path to the White House. I’m not sure what I was expecting from this book. I drooled over her binder; I want that kind of organization in my planner and in my life. Maybe I held out hope for the recipe to that kind of organization, whatever it was, it was interesting, but not quite what I expected.
High Conflict by Amanda Ripley – This is about when people stretch to a more volatile communication method rather than trying to understand or come to some middle ground. I think the book was a good start. I plan to reread it in a year or so, just to see if I missed a few key points on how to defuse the situation or how to avoid being caught up in high conflict situations.
4-Star Reads
Workbook: Virtue and The Fruit of the Spirit by Dunnam & Reisman – this is a 7-week (8-week?) workbook on working through virtue in your life. I like most of the workbook, there were a few spots that I felt lost on, but for the most part, I think it was a good exercise.
Devotional Stories for Women by Susan Heim and Karen Talcott – The title is self-explanatory. Nice little booklet. Easy little reads that gave me a little comfort.
Fatal Friends, Deadly Neighbors by Ann Rule – This was one of Ann Rule’s compilation books, where one story takes up the bulk of the book and then there are four to five other shorter stories along the same vein. This is true crime.
5-Star Reads
30-Days, Change Your Habits, Change Your Life by Marc Reklau – Little tips that will help you improve your life. I really enjoyed this book, the tips are simplified and easy to implement and understand. Some we’ve heard before, some give a better explanation, some I’ve never considered. My only problem was that it didn’t make sense on the “30-Days” part. Maybe I missed something at the beginning of the book like, “implement 2 tips a day” but has between 90 and 100 tips, so not sure what the plan was to change your life in 30 days. If you read it, go into with the mindset that you’re reading 90 tips that can help you change your habits.
Midnight in Chernobyl by Adam Higginbotham – Phenomenal breakdown of the Chernobyl disaster. I was 15 when Chernobyl blew and it has always been something I’ve been drawn to learn about. I’ve read many books (wait until I release my March Roundup) on Chernobyl, but this one explained the whole story fabulously. With the exception of Chapter Two (I believe that was the chapter about Alpha, Beta, Gamma), that hurt my brain. It was done as well as he could have done to make someone like me understand. One Hundred Percent recommend this book.
January Fiction Reads
I read five fiction books this month, two of which were short stories.
3-Star Reads
No Exit by Taylor Adams – A young girl stuck at a rest stop in a blizzard. A child locked in a crate in a van. Action-packed. This was a quick read, it was good, but after a while all the action lost its punch, because there was so much of it.
Twelve Nights at Rotter House by J.W. Ocker – Guy stays in an abandoned haunted house for a week and is joined by his best friend. I’m torn on the rating I gave this, there is one part I can’t mention that I still think about. A small slice of life, slipped in so quietly and then at the end becomes a “Damn, that was a good approach.” But, the middle of the story didn’t fully grasp me. It was good, but I didn’t mind setting the book down to tend to things like feeding people. In a really good book, I will stare down my family members – they are fully capable of fixing themselves food.
4-Star Reads
The Columbus School for Girls by Liza Wieland – This is a short story that falls into the dark academia category. A teacher takes his wife and students on a field trip – that’s all I will say. This was a good short story. I figured out what was going on pretty quick, but it was a quick, fun little read.
The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell – A well-intentioned act to bring a friend into the home goes spiraling down. People aren’t always what you assume. Twisted and intriguing.
5-Star Read
The Grownup by Gillian Flynn – A haunted house, a working girl, and a devilish child. I read Gone Girl when it came out and it was okay. Wasn’t my favorite but I also wasn’t in the “it’s amazing” group either.
A few or six years ago, when I was in the Book of the Month Club, I got a freebie of this short story. When I read the first page, I almost put it down and wrote it off. It starts out with a girl working in the back of a fortune teller’s business and she’s not exactly reading fortunes (we’ll just say that). Thankfully, I decided to read it anyway since it was so short. It was awesome. It’s everything I like, a little creepy, and a little off, a whole lot twisted. And I absolutely love the ending.
Do you have any book recommendations you think I should check out? Let me know, I will read it.