Books of January 2021
Welcome, 2021! A bit late, I know, since we’re already about a month in. But I’m still excited.
I was happy to start out this month with some pretty great reads - and although that didn’t necessarily stick, it did help to start the year strong.
While I didn’t set a specific goal around the number of books I hope to read in 2021 (because I know it will be a lot either way), I did set a few reading-related goals. To read more about them (and my other 2021 goals) check out this post.
Last year I experimented with reading books from six different categories every month: memoir, business, personal development, novel/fiction, mystery, and sustainability. When I set the goal, I thought that I would enjoy having a bit more forced diversity and that it might help to create a bit more distinction between books, since I go through them so quickly. While that may have been the case, it certainly felt forced. I hated it by February, but I wanted to give it a fair shot and stuck with it through the whole year.
So while I know that having 6 categories isn’t what I wanted to do, I knew that I wanted to read more classic literature than I have in the past several years. So I decided that I would read at least one classic every month. I asked on Instagram for recommendations early in January and got some great ones. I had noticed as I re-read books at the end of 2020, just how many of my favorites are technically “classics,” even if most of them are less than a century old. Once I made that realization I knew that reading more classics in 2021 was a perfect goal.
But it also reminded me how much I love reading books that I’ve loved in the past. And so instead of putting off all of my re-reading for the end of the year, I decided I would re-read one book a month too. So I sort of have two categories for the new year. We will see how that goes. I don’t hate it yet, but I did notice a bit of resistance around it.
So to check off the books from my two categories, this month I read:
Classic: Northanger Abbey - 4 Stars. This book was recommended by a sweet friend of mine and I was really excited to get started. I’ve always appreciated Jane Austen, while not necessarily considering myself a major fan. And while I still don’t think I’m a major fan, this is probably my new favorite of her books. The story is strongly satirical, without being overly so, or in a way that detracts from the plot itself. It is also brutally funny at parts, especially the beginning. I found some of the characters a bit confusing and got them mixed up a few times, but I had them down by the end. And of course, the language is beautiful. This was a very gentle dip into classic literature, and a great book to use as my start back into reading more of the genre.
Re-Read: Home Work: A Memoir of My Hollywood Years - I read this second Julie Andrews memoir back in 2019, but only read her first a few months ago - which made me want to read the second one again, and so now I have. Her life story is really interesting and engaging. She writes winsomely, even about the more painful periods of her life. She certainly doesn’t ignore hard or difficult topics, but she doesn’t make light of them either - as many authors with her background often do. She has so much perspective gained from her years of experience and I loved reading about all of it - so much so that I wanted to read it again. And not just because she’s Mary Poppins.
I do have one more reading-related goal for the year, but I’ll share that at the end of this post. First, here are the other books I read in January:
In Five Years - 4 Stars. From the very beginning, I knew this was a novel that I was going to enjoy. Although the plot was mildly reminiscent of a Hallmark movie, there were enough twists and turns that I was surprised several times. The characters were all very well developed and the story had a good pace. The premise of knowing what is going to happen and then wondering how we get to that point isn’t completely unique, but it was done well here. I was definitely surprised by the very end, and have some mixed feelings about it. But I think that overall, it went very well with the themes and emotional timbre of the story. This story also reminded me of The Midnight Library which I read a few months ago and really enjoyed - so that may have been part of why I liked this book too.
Badass Habits: Cultivate the Awareness, Boundaries, and Daily Upgrades You Need to Make Them Stick - 4 Stars. I know so many people who adore the Jen Sincero books. And although I’m not as head-over-heels as some people, I do appreciate her writing style and perspective. I think that there are great ideas here for making or breaking habits - even if most of them aren’t particularly new. Jen has a great story though which helps to make all of her points particularly compelling. I think she also talked more about breaking bad habits than other similar books on the topic, and I appreciated that discussion.
Twenty-Two: Letters to a Young Woman Searching for Meaning - 2 Stars. I was excited to read this book, especially since my theme of the year is “22". I hoped it would add extra excitement for this year and that I would gain some insight into some of the life lessons that I will be learning at this age. The book had some of the latter, and very little of the former, and on the whole, left me very confused. The book is a series of letters written by the author to a fictional character as she goes off to college, and then in the ensuing years. While that itself isn’t too odd, the way the letters are written, as if the fictional character is writing back and referencing things from those imaginary letters, was. I found the style distracting and kept checking to make sure that this actually was written to a fictional person, since that didn’t seem right. The lessons shared in the book are important, but not particularly unique - and are things that most people will learn at some point in their lives. The ending threw me off even more and confirmed that this isn’t the book I hoped it would be.
The Night Portrait: A Novel of World War II and da Vinci's Italy - 3 Stars. There was a lot of jumping around in this book. While the lives of the four characters certainly intersected, despite the centuries between some of them, it felt like a lot of back and forth. I never felt truly dedicated to or interested in one story, since I knew that in the next chapter I would be in a different one with a different character. And I didn’t feel like I truly cared about the characters in any of the stories. Overall though, the book was interesting and the stories tied together pretty well at the end. I was particularly intrigued by the Monuments Men and the philosophical question of what life is like without art, the inherent value of art, and whether actions should be taken to potentially prioritize art over human life.
When Women Pray: 10 Women of the Bible Who Changed the World through Prayer - 3 Stars. Since prayer is an important part of my faith and spiritual life, I am always looking for unique literature to read on the topic. This book chronicles 10 lessons we can learn from the prayers of 10 women. I’m not sure that any of the lessons were new or that there was anything particularly revelatory. But I appreciated the reminder of the importance of prayer and why we do it, as well as this somewhat unique look into the lives of these historical women.
Fair Play: A Game-Changing Solution for When You Have Too Much to Do (and More Life to Live) - 3 Stars. I’ve read several books about the equitable division of labor in modern relationships, this one had an interesting twist - making it into a game. Literally. Down to cards and taking turns. I think that there is a lot of valuable insight and research in the book to support this idea. And for many, taking the opportunity to approach assuming familial responsibilities with levity could make a “fair” division more likely - and fun. I did feel a bit like the book implied that this is the one right way to determine the distribution of responsibilities, whereas I think that the concepts are certainly helpful - but likely not for everyone. I also think that grouping the “conception-planning-and-responsibility” (CPE) of tasks to make sure that they are completed efficiently makes a lot of sense, but is another thing that is probably harder in execution. But I guess giving the game a spin, is probably worth it.
A Useful Woman - 3 Stars. This book felt like an Agatha Christie mystery with a Jane Austen setting. Unfortunately, there was a lot of exposition at the beginning and it felt like quite a while before getting to the real heart of the story. The characters were all developed and I was kept interested and surprised through to the end - at least once I understood what the mystery was. There are a few more books in the series, so I am curious to read them and see how the story and characters continue to develop.
The Home Edit Life: The No-Guilt Guide to Owning What You Want and Organizing Everything - 4 Stars. I still run my professional organizing business and absolutely love organizing, so it’s no surprise that I liked this book. Of course, The Home Edit is top of the line and all of their spaces are absolutely stunning. I did feel a bit like this book was a response to the worry from countless people after they released their last book that their spaces could never measure up because they actually own stuff. And stuff that they want to keep. Besides that slight defensiveness, however, I think the book had a lot of valuable information. It was divided naturally into categories based on organizing different areas of your life, with tips and insights for each. And of course, the pictures were stunning.
Think Like a Monk: Train Your Mind for Peace and Purpose Every Day - 3 Stars. Jay Shetty definitely has had an interesting life experience and he shares it very well in this book. I enjoyed reading about many of the ancient philosophies and how they have carried over into modern thought - and of course, about the many that haven’t. I was a bit surprised at how many coaching principles that I use with my clients have their roots in the ideas that he shared. Since I have been exposed to most of the ideas that he shares in this book for years, I didn’t find most of them particularly novel or interesting - but that doesn’t mean that they aren’t important!
They Came to Baghdad - 3 Stars. This book definitely had a lot of characters and a lot of characters switching around. And I wasn’t sure how I felt about the story or some of the major plot points, but they all came together somewhat satisfactorily at the end. Like most of the relationships that Agatha Christie writes, the ones in this book felt fake and cliche - although in this case, they were fundamental to the story. By the end, I had figured most of the mystery, but I was still surprised in some ways and kept interested to the end.
The last reading-related goal that I set for this year is to buy at least one of my favorite books every month. I’ll try to share the ones that I buy each month and I am so excited to expand my personal library. I read a lot, but I don’t buy books very often. I almost never buy books unless I have read them first (unless they are from one of my favorite authors), but I’ve found that rarely buy the ones I love even once I have read them! So I’m glad to have this excuse to buy my favorites.
This month I bought Furiously Happy: A Funny Book About Horrible Things, I Don't Know What You Know Me From: My Life as a Co-Star, and I Know How She Does It: How Successful Women Make the Most of Their Time. I know that’s more than one book, but if one book is good - three must be better right? I bought these in “like new” condition off of Thirftbooks and they were super reasonably priced. And I got three so that I could hit the $10 minimum for free shipping. I also love that I’m not buying brand new books, since that’s a very sustainable option (all the growth I did last year around sustainability is still going strong!). That’s not to say that I won’t buy some brand new books this year, because I’m sure I will, but I’m definitely going to buy sustainably when I can.
There were some great books this month (that I read and bought!) and there are great ones ahead. I can’t wait to share.
Until next time,