Good morning! Happy Wednesday!
Nate and I got back from Vancouver late last night….cue all the laundry! Ha. Today is my day to get my life back in order and start crossing things off my to-do list. I’m also SO so very excited to go take some workout classes. I always miss The Barre Code when I’m away!
One of those things on my to-do list is to share my July Reads with you! I’m about a week late on posting this (thank you, vacation!) but I’m super pumped to share these 5 good reads with you.
2 memoirs, a novella, a book full of short stories, and a self-help book. I read some good ones last month!
(To see all of the books I’ve read thus far in 2018, click here)
1. The Liar’s Club
I meet with a group of girls for a book club every few months, and this was our July pick. The Liar’s Club is New York Times Bestselling author Mary Karr’s memoir, and it’s phenomenal!
In it, she shares her experiences of growing up in a small oil town in Texas with a mentally unstable mother and a tough sister, her tough upbringing in life, and the fond memories she has of some of the beautiful parts of life.
Full disclosure: this was my first piece of writing to read by Mary Karr. It was hysterical, sad, and unapologetic. I don’t know if I would have picked this if it hadn’t been for book club, but I’m very happy to have read it!
Order on Amazon here.
2. One More Thing: Stories, and Other Stories
I’m recommending this book to everyone I can! B.J. Novak is the guy who plays Ryan on “The Office,” and he’s also one of the executive producers of the show. He wrote this amazing book of short stories; I listened to them on audiobook, which I can’t recommend enough!
The cast includes Rainn Wilson, Mindy Kaling, Jenna Fisher, Lena Dunham, and more. The stories are quick, smart, and actually LOL funny. (You know it’s a fun audiobook if you find yourself laughing out loud by yourself while driving down the highway!)
This would be such a fun book to listen to on a road trip with a couple people! Since the stories are so short, you can join in the middle and it will still all make sense.
Order on Amazon here.
3. Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother
I finally got around to reading this 2011 memoir from the Chinese “Tiger mom!” I LOVED it.
I remember hearing rumors about Amy Chua back when I was in college (I was 20 when this book came out) about her extreme and “evil” approach to raising children. I grew up in classical music world, so I was surrounded by a lot of high-achieving Asian children who weren’t allowed to have sleepovers and never took breaks from school or music practice. Maybe for that reason, nothing in this book was a huge shocker to me.
The story did, however, completely capture my attention and I read it start-to-finish on a flight. After my plane landed, I spent about 45 minutes on YouTube watching interviews of Amy Chua.
It saddened me that most of the interviews were her having to defend her love of her children, explain the satire of the book that so many people didn’t pick up on, and basically try to keep her family from being attacked. Media can be nasty!
I thought this book was enlightening, funny, fascinating, and would make a really great book club read! I’m just about 7 years late in reading it. 😉
Order on amazon here.
4. Everything In This Country Must
I had never read a Colum McCann novel before this. I picked the easiest one (this book is made up of two short stories and a novella) to start. My friend Meg says that McCann is one of her favorite authors, and since I’ve enjoyed other books that Meg has recommended to me, I figured I’d enjoy this one, too!
In case you’re new to Colum McCann, too, he’s an Irish write of literary fiction who lives in New York. He’s written about a dozen books and won numerous writing awards. Everything In This Country Must was made into a movie, which was nominated for an Academy Award. I’m gonna go watch it!
Order on Amazon here.
5. You Are A Badass
This is a re-read for me! I first read it last year, and it was one of the most powerful forces in my journey to start meditating.
I think that meditating has been the single biggest positive change I’ve made in the past 12 months. I re-read this book because it does such a good job of getting me fired up about making and meeting my goals.
I’m going to send it to my sister so she can read it, too!
Order on Amazon here.
That’s it for today! I’m off to do a bunch of loads of laundry and try to get my life back in order…
Thanks for stopping by today! I missed chatting with y’all while I was on vacation last week!
To see all 100 books I read in 2016, click here
To see all 64 books I read in 2017, click here
To see all the books I’ve read thus far in 2018, click here
