2018 Book Roundup

2018 Book Roundup

by | Jan 1, 2019 | Uncategorized

At the beginning of 2018, I set an intention to read 50 books in the year. That’s essentially a book a week. I had read numerous articles about how all the most successful people in the world, Bill Gates & Mark Zuckerberg, to name two, read 50 books a year. I’d read other articles about how regular people, like me, found it life changing.  I love reading and am a confessed book junkie; my definition of which is someone who buys way more books than she reads and often has five or six going at a time. So, I decided to go for it.

I didn’t make it to 50. But I made it to 41. I was pretty impressed when I added it up.

I’ve listed my 41 books of 2018 below. I haven’t put links on all of them, but they are all available on Amazon. As you peruse my list, you’ll find I don’t have a genre. I read both fiction and non-fiction, business, yoga & spirituality, self-help, health & wellness, memoir, and pretty much anything that someone I respect recommends.

I’ve included books listened to on Audiobook. Noted with an *. I’ve also included books I didn’t finish. This might sound odd, but there we a few books that I didn’t get quite to the end, but still felt I got a lot out of. There were also some that I skimmed parts. If I felt that I got most of the gist of the book, I included it.  I wasn’t sure about cookbooks. I love cookbooks and I really do read them. I decided to only include cookbooks that have at least 100 pages of informational reading before the recipes.

Here’s my list, in more or less chronological order. I’ve rated the books from 1-5, 5 being I loved it, 1 being Ugh, torture. Interestingly, there were five 5s and one 1.

  1. Devotion by Dani Shapiro – 5
  2. The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz – 1
  3. You are a Badass at Making Money by Liz Sincero – 4
  4. Predictable Revenue by Aaron Ross – 2
  5. Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari – 5
  6. Women, Food & God by Geneen Roth – 2.5
  7. Yes, Yes, Hell No! by Brian Whetten – 3
  8. Creative Confidence by Tom & David Kelley – 4
  9. Building a Story Brand by Donald Miller – 4
  10. The Thyroid Connection by Amy Meyers – 3
  11. How to Change Your Mind by Michael Pollan – 5
  12. The Art of Money by Bari Tessler – 3.5
  13. E- Squared by Pam Grout – 3.5
  14. The One Thing by Gary Keller – 3
  15. True Yoga by Jennie Lee – 4
  16. The Yamas & Niyamas by Deborah Adele – 4
  17. Love Warrior by Glennon Doyle – 2.5
  18. The Elephant Whisperer by Lawrence Anthony – 5
  19. Finding Ultra by Rich Roll* (read previously) – 5
  20. Pussy: A Reclamation by Regena Thomashauer – 3.5
  21. Talk Like Ted by Carmine Gallo – 4
  22. The Keto Reset Diet by Mark Sisson – 3
  23. Liminal Thinking by Dave Gray – 3
  24. Lean In by Sheryl Sanberg – 3
  25. The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck by Mark Manson – 5
  26. Know Your Value by Mika Brezezinski – 4
  27. Simply Keto by Suzanne Ryan – 3.5
  28. Tools of Titans by Tim Ferris – 3.5
  29. The Wisdom of Menopause by Christiane Northrup – 3
  30. Goddesses Never Age by Christiane Northrup – 4
  31. Super Ager by Elise Marie Collins – 3
  32. Calling In the One by Katherine Woodward Thomas – 2
  33. The Urban Monk by Pedram Shojai – 4
  34. Beyond the Mat by Julie Rosenburg – 3
  35. 37 Ways to Build Your Coaching Business by Steve Chandler* – 3
  36. The Artist’s Journey by Steven Pressfield* – 3
  37. This is Marketing by Seth Godin* – 4
  38. Grit by Angela Duckworth* – 2.5
  39. Coconuts & Kettlebells by Noelle Tarr & Stephanie Ruper – 4
  40. Keto-tarian by Will Cole – 4
  41. Ready Player One by Ernest Cline – 5

So, what did I learn from this attempt? I didn’t read enough novels. One? Can that be? And it was my last book of the year!  I thought I loved Memoir, but turns out I really just love Dani Shapiro. I read a couple others and lost interest in a few more, but I didn’t love any as much as her trilogy (4th coming out this year!). And, I suppose the Elephant Whisperer is a memoir, though I’m sure the author would say it was about the elephants. I learned to be discriminating. If a book starts out poorly, I don’t force myself to finish it. Life is too short to read crappy books. I learned that great books aren’t that common, but there are plenty of good ones.

I am ready to start the challenge again. Who’s with me?