Current Reads – January 2015
After we welcomed in the new year, I vowed to read a book per week. While I’m chuckling to myself now, I do think I’ll be able to read two books this month. It took five years to kill my attention span. I mostly blame social media. How long will it take to get it back? Hopefully not another five years.
It feels a little weird to be reading two books and neither of them are fiction. I’m usually strictly a fiction kind of person. Not just any fiction but usually dark, creep and serious fiction. So far, my thoughts on each:
- Yes Please is funny but not as funny as Tina Fey’s book (so far and my opinion) but it does make me love Amy Poehler a lot. Maybe I’ll finally binge watch Parks and Rec before winter ends. She speaks to having children a bit later and being a working, successful mom. I like that.
- The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up is really worth all the hype. I’m excited to take the methods that Marie shares and implement them after we get done traveling next month. It’s a big committment upfront but she claims you’ll never relapse to being messy if you do it correctly. If it works for me, then pigs will also be flying.
Do you have reading goals or do you just naturally read without any needed motivation?
A Consideration
A weekly email where I share things that made me stop and consider. Never sponsored, no affiliate links.
Comments (31)
-
-
-
I really need to start reading again. I’m embarrassed to admit how long it’s been since I’ve read an actual book. It used to be one of my favourite ways to end the day (an hour or so of reading before bed).
-
-
Love it.
I feel like it’s in the air…I’m on my fifth book of the year! WHAA!?!?!? My sister-in-law and I were talking about this yesterday…she’s reading a ton too. I feel like it is exactly like exercising…once you get going and get more in “reading shape,” it becomes easier.
I’ve been meaning to read the tidy up book…read Poehler’s book and while of course I love her, I didn’t like it as much as I thought I would.
About to start Miranda July’s new one, The First Bad Man.
-
You’re my reading hero!!!! And I agree about Yes Please. I’m closer to finishing (compared to when I wrote the post) and it’s just NOT my favorite. Sad.
Keep me posted on The First Bad Man!
-
-
I keep forgetting about Yes Please – I have the ebook waiting to be read. I wasn’t crazy about Tina Fey’s book (I have some issues with certain types of jokes she makes) but loved Mindy Kaling’s and I’m hoping Amy’s will fall somewhere between the two. I do love her on Parks.
-
I really loved Tina’s (I felt like I laughed out loud the whole time) but it was over 3 years ago. Mindy’s is fantastic. So far I’m just not loving Amy’s and I’m almost done. I actually skipped a whole chapter because I was bored.
-
-
I LOVED “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up.” I’m not quite ready to go all the way on the KonMari method yet, but it definitely encouraged me to get rid of a lot more and I find myself asking if something will bring me joy when I’m considering it. I did get rid of half the clothing in my closet in the process!
I haven’t read “Yes Please” yet but you should definitely watch “Parks and Rec” – it’s great!-
I am not ready to go all the way with her method either but I think I will once I’m done traveling and have time to actually give it the attention it needs!!
-
-
I need to read the Tidying book and implement it in my life, mostly just to make my husband happy. He loves things to be clean/tidy and I am the WORST. Maybe my Valentine’s Day present to him??
-
-
The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up is BIG on my list! Parks and Recs couldn’t really keep my attention enough to binge watch but I do love Amy so I might give her book a go.
-
I’m not sure if I could binge watch it either. The characters are funny but the storyline (in my opinion and from what I’ve seen) wasn’t too riveting.
-
-
I just downloaded “Yes Please!” on Audible, read by the author obviously (as it always should be, in my opinion.) I drive a lot, so I like to have a good read on my iPhone for when the radio isn’t cutting it.
I’m finishing up “Little Failure” by Gary Shteyngart, “Art, Inc.” by Lisa Congdon, and “The Rosie Project” by Graeme Simsion. :)
-
It’s SO fun when the books are read by the author. That’s how I listened to Stephen Colbert’s book. Checking out those other books you mentioned now!
-
-
I have a similar goal to get through at least 1 book a month this year. So far I finished The Desire Map (started it late last year!) and am finishing up The Slight Edge. These two are on my list too! As is re-reading ChargeUp. ;) I used to read late into the night and my parents would come in and make me go to sleep. “You’re going to ruin your eyesight!” they’d say. Ha! After college my attention span was zapped with my late hr work schedule. So I am working on it! I try to have a book with me all the times and sometimes do audio in the car too. :)
-
I love to hear you’re re-reading Charge Up! My parents would say the same thing to me. I would also carry around my favorite books in my bag because they felt like friends. Ha! Love it.
-
-
I’ve noticed the decline in my own attention span while trying to read, too! So frustrating. Leaving my phone in another room and forgetting about it helps me focus, but I’ve got to do that more often. I read Yes, Please last month and loved it! I actually thought it was funnier than Bossypants, but that could have been because it was fresher on my mind. (P.S. On a design note – with Yes, Please, I was super-shocked at the paper-weight they chose. The book looked and felt like a scrapbook, which was surprising but fun, but also *expensive*. Yay for libraries. What did you think about that? I’d be interested to see how the higher price affected bookstore sales.) I’m trying to read 36 books this year. My strategies are: always have a book in my purse; take advantage of reserving library books online, and throw in some fun YA and middle-reader novels when things get heavy.
-
I had to leave my phone upstairs while I read on Sunday. It helped so much because I’m so tempted to checking social media, the weather, my texts… Love your strategies.
OMG I’m so glad you brought up the design/printing of Yes Please. It’s so heavy, the paper is so luxurious and it’s in full color!!! It definitely goes to show that women like Amy can afford to do great things in the world of publishing. But dang it weighs down my bag.
-
-
Evan
My mom instilled a love of reading in me at a young age so I’ve enjoyed it for as long as I can remember. That, coupled with my love for learning random things (I can read Wikipedia for hours), makes for an eyesight-killing combination haha.
The one book recommendation I always give is The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss. He’s such an extraordinary writer, and his way with words and descriptions just blows my mind. Don’t let the “fantasy” label scare you away either; his work is goes way beyond that. It’s one of the first novels I can remember where I think about the characters even while I’m not reading and wonder about the world he created.
Rave over.
-
I think I can tie my love of reading back to my mom, too. She would read series (Little House on the Prairie and the Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe series) before bed every night. I would cry when we finished! I will totally check out that book! Thank you so much for the great referral.
-
-
My goal is two books per month. I used to be an avid reader (two books a week!) and now I’m not even halfway to my first book and I have a few more days to reach my goal. I already deleted Twitter from my phone but I think it’s time to cut Facebook. That’s not a “book” I want to read lol
-
I dig that goal. I feel like I will thrive with that vs once per week. I need to delete FB from my phone. I didn’t last year because I managed a client’s FB page. NOT ANYMORE!!
-
-
Ahhh reading. Ever since I could read books I always had one on the go. As I got older I’d sometimes leave a book for months on end until I finally picked it up again and was like, ‘…wait, what’s going on.’ (Until I was 15 and got really into Twilight, but LET’S FORGET ABOUT THAT.)
I’ve actually been getting back into it this year too! AND one of my books happened to be Yes Please! Which, no, is not as funny as Bossypants! And yes, HAS made me choke up on the bus! What a time! But seriously, I respect her so much as a human, and it’s really made me reflect upon myself and my ideals. I didn’t expect that at all, and I’m so glad she wrote it.
I do most of my reading on public transit these days, or (if I’m REALLY into a book, as I have been for the three I’ve read so far this year) I actually want to get back to it once I get home from work. Although I’ve started to slow down now that I’ve started a book that isn’t quite as gripping.
I would love to read and be inspired by a book like The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, but I think I’d need to change my attitude about changing my life first. I hope you’re able to benefit from it!
Happy readings! Keep us posted :)-
HAHA re: Twilight. Love it. I really respect her and other comedians who worked really hard to get to where they were. And those that are talented WRITERS (not just actors).
-
-
In high school, I read a lot, but unfortunately college completely took that away. I would try to sneak books in during summer and winter breaks, but that didn’t happen often either. Since I’ve been done for a while and I had so many books on my “to read” list, I finally set a goal to read 30 books this year. Once I got started, though, I know that’ll be easy to reach.
There’s something about getting lost in a book, fiction or otherwise, that just fuels me. I guess it’s the introvert in me. :)
-
That’s a great goal, Kory! I love getting lost in a book. But I sometimes resist it because I get afraid to “waste time” (which isn’t really true). That’s why I avoid tv too.
-
-
-
Kelli
I just bought the Marie Kondo book! My apartment is very excited!
-
I just listened to Yes Please! and Bossypants this month and agree completely! Maybe because I can relate more with Tina Fey? It was surprising because I like Parks & Rec more than 30 Rock. Anyway, I love book lists. Can’t wait to check out the other book.
Catriona
I was an English major so I’m usually reading multiple books at one time. I typically go through at least two a week. It’s borderline addiction style.