Nate and I are home from our “mini moon” in Austin and back to all of the normal stuff like, y’know, work. Haha. But the wedding weekend was absolutely magical, and I’m excited to share more about it with you in the near future! I got a few preview pictures back from our photographer, and they triggered all the feels…. Being married is wonderful!
Today, though, I’m sharing the books I read in March since April starts TOMORROW! What? This month I read 5 easy books. It was my wedding month and I honestly didn’t have a lot of brain power left, so I just picked books that would either be kind of brainless, or deep yet short in length. I read a couple of these during my flight to Milan earlier this month, and one was an audiobook that I played in my car while I was out and about running a million errands for the wedding!
________________________
1. GRIT: passion, perseverance, and the science of success by Angela Duckworth
The first book I read this month was the result of Angela Duckworth’s years of research about why some people have the ability to stick with something to the end and others give up more easily. She even created a “grit scale” that could determine whether someone would be successful in a challenging situation. I found this book to be mostly about her findings from her research on the advantage of perseverance instead of luck or talent. And while there are some practical tips on how you can improve your grittiness, it seemed to be less of an instruction manual and more of a scientific journal.
2. I didn’t come here to make friends: confessions of a reality show villain by Courtney Robertson
Ok, I told you I picked some brainless books! Remember last month when I read Emily Maynard’s memoir I Said Yes? Apparently I’m getting into the habit of reading former Bachelor and Bachelorette contestants’ memories. Now, these are not academically engaging books, and I’m well aware of that. But they’re FUN! Courtney Robertson was the winner of Ben Flajnik’s season of The Bachelor, and she was “The Most Hated Bachelorette In History” (<- always so dramatic with your titles, ABC!). This book is her “here’s-what-really-happened-and-why-you-shouldn’t-hate-me” memoir. If you watched her season of The Bachelor, this is an entertaining read.
3. Between the world and me by Ta-Nehisis Coates
I was all over the place with my book choices this month! Between The World and Me won the 2015 National Book Award for non-fiction, and it was a finalist for the 2016 Pullitzer prize for non-fiction. It was also the “Book Recommended To Me by Someone With Great Taste” on my 2017 Reading Goals (recommended by my sister, who just earned her Ph.D. in creative writing last year). This book is written as a letter to the author’s young son about what it really means to grow up as a black man in the United States. My sister said, “this is a book that every in the United States should be required to read,” and I agree. It’s short, yet potent. This was one of my two favorite books I read this month.
4. Born for this: how to find the work you were meant to do by Chris Guillebeau
I found out about this book from Emily’s blog, requested it at the library, and just got it this month! Chris Guillebeau is an author, blogger, and entrepreneur. He’s a fascinating guy who made it his goal to visit every country in the world by the time he was 35 (wow!), and this book is his guide to help people find the work that they were actually born to do. Instead of providing vague stories, this book is full of practical resources with actual steps to take if you feel like you’re stuck in your current workplace. I LOVED it!
5. garlic and sapphires: the secret life of a critic in disguise by Ruth Reichl
This was the other one of my favorite books this month! Ruth Reichl was the food critic for the New York Times. After realizing that she was receiving celebrity treatment from chefs, she decided to disguise herself each time she visited a new restaurant in order to be served in the same way as everyone else, and the results were sometimes shocking! First and foremost, I love the way that Ruth describes food! I had heard that her cookbooks can almost be read from cover-to-cover because of the way that she talks about food….and now I want to try to read one of those! Also, the story is fun to follow. I loved hearing about her costume changes and how she not only redesigned her appearance, but also created entire new personalities and personas for herself.
____________________
What have you been reading lately? Have you ever read any of Ruth Reichl’s cookbooks from cover-to-cover like a novel?
Oh friends…I have so many things to do this weekend! The wedding and mini-moon made me put regular life on hold, and now it’s time to start playing catch up on regular life things. Time to hustle!
Love,
Kelsey
SaveSave
Welcome back! So happy to hear your wedding weekend and mini-moon were so wonderful! And I’m so glad you enjoyed Born for This! 🙂 I love everything Chris writes.
LOVED it!!
Ah! I’m going to put some of these on my to-read list! Thanks for the recs!