In the past 6 months I read fourteen books and enjoyed them all – but of course, some more than others.

Here is my list and my star reviews [purely for fun].

July

Number the Stars by Lois Lowry

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Beautiful story and quick read since it is young adult [historical] fiction. I don’t know how I missed reading this when I was in school. I, like the author, am moved by the story of how the Danes smuggled nearly their entire population of Jews to Sweden during World War 2 and this fictional portrayal of those real heroes is profound and beautiful.

The Happiness Paradox by Richard Eyre

⭐️⭐️⭐️

I don’t even know why I picked this up at the library – I think I was hoping that he was going to say that all our stuff or maybe our money was getting in the way of our happiness. Unfortunately, that’s not what he said, but it was still worth reading. The premise of the book is that three things that we are all pursuing are the very things that are making us unhappy: control, ownership, and independence. I wouldn’t recommend the book though because it is painfully repetitive.

Time to Parent by Julie Morgenstern

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This book was helpful for me to assess my own parenting and think through ways I can change to be more efficient and more effective. Parenting is broken down into four quadrants with the acronym PART: Provide, Arrange, Relate, and Teach. Biggest take away from the book was that I don’t have to finish every book I start. I have a problem with this. I will spend precious time reading a book that doesn’t even interest me anymore because I don’t like leaving things unfinished. But I see now how that is a waste of time and after reading this book, I actually stopped reading a few books in the middle!

Overdressed by Elizabeth L. Cline

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

One of my favorite books of the year. I listened to this book as I got back to running after having my baby. I was so engrossed in this book that I often ran longer than I had intended. I want to read it again [the hard copy way] so I can really let this information sink in. As someone who is already committed to ethical and sustainable clothing, this book opened my eyes to just how challenging – and CRUCIAL – that goal really is.

You Can’t Go Wrong Doing Right by Robert J. Brown

⭐️⭐️⭐️

I liked this book. Honestly, I had never heard of Robert J. Brown, but this slice of history was important to learn about through the eyes of a man who knew some of the greatest leaders of all time [and some not so great leaders].

August

Why I’m No Longer Talking [to White People] about Race by Reni Eddo-Lodge

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This book is on Emma Watson’s feminist book club list [which I am still working my way through] and it was eye-opening. It was obviously written for the British population – but if anything, American history of racism is even more deeply-rooted and upsetting.

“Racism’s legacy does not exist without purpose. It brings with it not just a disempowerment for those affected by it, but an empowerment for those who are not. That is white privilege. Racism bolsters white people’s life chances. It affords an unearned power: it is designed to maintain a quiet dominance.” – Reni Eddo-Lodge

Pachinko by Min Jin Lee

⭐️⭐️⭐️

This is another book from Emma Watson’s book club. It is no doubt beautifully written, but looking back on it, I don’t really know the purpose of a lot of it. Still, Lee writes with such an effortless style that I was sucked in from the beginning and read it really quickly [considering the book is lengthy]. I wanted it to wrap up with something profound or have some unexpected development to tie everything together – or at the very least, provide some sort of moral lesson…but I was disappointed.

September

September was a great month for me physically, but a bad month for reading. The baby was finally old enough to need more attention and I was back to working out twice a day, but I had no time for reading. At this point in the year, I adjusted my goals and aimed to read at least one book each month for the rest of 2019.

October

Talking Across the Divide by Justin Lee

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Probably my favorite read of the year and one of only two books that I actually want to go buy [I don’t own physical copies of books unless I literally want to read them over and over and over again].

November

Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I loved this book. It was meaningful and beautiful and it had my three favorite elements in fiction: a profound moral theme, a surprise, and a satisfactory resolution. You know it’s a good book when I am literally yelling out loud while reading. What was so great was not that there was a surprise, but that it kept me guessing the whole time.

The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell by Robert Dugoni

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This is easily my favorite fiction book of the past six months. Ironically, it wasn’t on my list. I had never even heard of this book [or author]. I only read it because it was listed as a free kindle book through Amazon and I was bored. I read the first half in a day before my Amazon subscription expired and I had to wait TWO WEEKS to get it from my library. I was dreaming about this book and literally yelling out loud so much while reading that my husband was concerned for my sanity. I guess I respond to books just like I do movies – I laugh, I cry, I try to tell the characters what to do, I get super invested in the story.

It’s a blessing and a curse.

My Life on the Road by Gloria Steinem

⭐️⭐️⭐️

This is another on Emma Watson’s feminist book club list. It has a very slow [and quite frankly boring] start for me – so much so that I almost stopped reading it. But it definitely got better as it went. It was very strange to read things in direct opposition to what I was told in my conservative, evangelical, Republican, and 99.9% white upbringing. It was strange…and liberating.

“I began to see that for some, religion was just a form of politics you couldn’t criticize.” – Gloria Steinem

Thank you, Gloria.

December

Now Say This by Heather Turgeon and Julie Wright

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I wrote about this previously in one of my motherhood posts [Lessons in Motherhood and Practicing Parenting], but I’ll say it again. I LOVE this book. I will reread this book over and over again.

The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I kept seeing this book so I placed a hold on it at my local library. Took a few months, but finally got it and read the whole thing in a few days. I LOVE this author. I enjoyed the story, as hard as it was to read at times.

Girl, Wash Your Face by Rachel Hollis

⭐️⭐️

This is a great pep-talk, and let’s be real, we all need a pep-talk every once in a while. But unfortunately, it felt too fluffy and egocentric for me. I’m all for reaching for your dreams, but I sincerely hope that your dream is not wrapped up in a Louis Vuitton handbag…or a vacation home in Hawaii…or even a thriving business. I would hope that your dreams are not in any way related to accumulating more expensive stuff, but rather, about giving more away.

Of course, that’s probably just me – which is why Rachel Hollis has 1.7 million insta followers…and I have 60.

😆

Anyway, I’m looking forward to more great reads in 2020!

📚 📚 📚

Karis