Owning the Stars

After writing my book lists at the end of last year, and realizing that it was so long I had to break the list into two separate posts for non-fiction and fiction that were each massive, I decided to write quarterly book posts instead. So, for your reading pleasure, here are the books I read from the end of December 2018 through Q1 2019. I’m traveling this week, so there’s a good chance I’ve read a couple more books to add to this list, but you’ll just have to wait till the end of Q2 for those!

This post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. That being said, my first preference is for you to check any recommended books out from your local library! Read more about my affiliate philosophy here. You can also check books out in e-book form and download them to the Kindle app, which means you don’t even have to put on pants and leave the house to get your book. Isn’t technology grand? Occasionally, books I read and review are also available for free through Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited program, and I make sure to note if that’s the case.

In the list below, the books are labelled by level of recommendation:

• Drop everything to read this book (DEAR for short)
• Highly recommended (HR)
• Good book (GB)
• OK
• Meh don’t bother (MDB)

Non-Fiction Books

• Refinery29 Money Diaries by Lindsey Stanberry. HR. I really enjoyed this book. I haven’t spent a lot of time reading the Money Diaries series on Refinery29, but it was kind of fun to read about how other women are spending their money from week to week and see how it compares to me. Stanberry also has some great financial advice for women starting out in the workplace, though I wouldn’t say any of it is wildly different if you’ve already read other personal finance books geared toward millennials. If you haven’t, this is definitely not a bad place to start! 

• Fed Up by Gemma Hartley. DEAR. Hartley’s article in Harper’s Bazaar about emotional labor went viral last year, and this book deal was a result. And thank God for that. She does a great job of discussing what emotional labor is, why women carry the bulk of it, and why that’s a problem. As a woman, I found myself nodding along and thinking, “well, duh” quite a bit. It would be interesting to hear what a guy thinks while reading this. The only comment I have: I wish more time in the book had been spent on solutions (and not just for married couples). But that’s a pretty minor complaint, and everyone should read this book.

• The Financial Diet by Chelsea Fagan and Lauren Ver Hage. HR. This book was a fun read, and I loved the great breakout sections featuring experts in different areas. Including Cait Flanders, who is one of my favorite writers! There’s some great advice in here about how to find your first apartment, cook at home, and be financially savvy. It’s a wonderful book for recent college grads who are overwhelmed by adulthood. I actually sent a copy to my youngest sister last fall based on recommendations from Twitter, and I decided I should finally read the book for myself. I’m glad I did!

• The Nature Fix by Florence Williams. HR. Williams goes around the world learning about what science has to say about the effect of nature on our physical and mental health. This book was a compelling read about why it’s important to get outside, and specifically to get out in nature and not just on city streets. While we can’t all disappear and go camping for weeks on end, it did have some easy action items. One I’ve adopted since reading is putting cypress oil on my dryer sheets, and now my whole house smells like a lovely Japanese forest. Placebo or science, it makes me happier!

• Becoming by Michelle Obama. DEAR. This was such a wonderful and fascinating read. It was interesting to read more about Obama’s early life and hear her perspective on her husband’s meteoric rise in politics. I think everyone should read this book. It combines discussion of politics, race, and gender in a witty and endearing memoir. Michelle kicks ass.

• Rest by Alex Soojung-Kim Pang. HR. Pang analyzes the benefits of rest to our creativity and productivity by comparing habits of great thinkers throughout history, from artists to scientists to politicians. He breaks down rest into component parts, including naps, sleep, deep play, walks, exercise, etc. and explains why each are necessary to perform at our best. He also talks about how society has shifted to celebrate overwork and stress, to the detriment of our health and wellbeing. I’m hoping to bring some of his takeaways into my own routines, especially as my schedule seems to get busier and busier.

• The Geography of Genius by Eric Weiner. HR. Weiner writes about his attempt to find out what makes places of genius special. From ancient Athens to Calcutta to Vienna to Silicon Valley. It was an interesting read, and I definitely learned something about these places. He dispels the myth of the lone genius; instead, these cities fostered genius in their people and gave rise to multiple creative geniuses at one specific point in history. There are several common threads, but one of them is exposure to new ideas from around the world; none of these cities were isolated or cut off from inspiration.

• The Bullet Journal Method by Ryder Carroll. HR. I’ve been using a Bullet Journal setup for some time, and I love the method and its flexibility. Before this, I always carried around both a paper planner and a small notebook, but the ease of combining both in something that is customized especially to my life is really attractive. It means all of my notes, ideas, to-do lists, and calendars are in one place. I can tie ideas together and easily make plans. Despite already using Carroll’s unique journal system, I found reading the book to be really helpful. It introduced several new ways that I can document my life and my tasks to meet my goals, both personal and professional. This is definitely worth the read if you already Bullet Journal or if you’ve been looking for a better way to organize your life. The book is well-written for novices and experts of the method alike. Bonus tip: this is the notebook I use. It’s wonderful and magical and I will never look back at my sad Moleskine notebooks again.

• Pass the 65 by Robert Walker. Not going to lie; this is the most boring book on this list. It’s basically the only thing I read in January (other than the occasional mindless romance to give my brain a break–see below). That being said, it gets the job done. It’s a good resource if you are studying for the Series 65 exam, though I definitely had to supplement it with other study materials to absorb what I read. It’s a standard textbook price at $50, but pro tip: I used a free Kindle Unlimited trial (normally $10/month) to read it, so it was free!

Fiction Books

• Warprize by Elizabeth Vaughan.
• Warsworn
• Warlord
• Warcry
• Wardance
• Warsong. GB. Look, these books aren’t groundbreaking. But sometimes I like a good familiar romance series when my life is chaos and I can’t focus on anything with more substance. Vaughan tells a good story, despite some plot issues and one-dimensional characters. It’s also a little weird that the first three books are not fantasy, and then in the next three, suddenly wyverns show up. But whatevs.

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• Twilight by Stephenie Meyer.
• New Moon
• Eclipse
• Breaking Dawn. GB. Ok, so when I was looking for something to procrastinate with while studying for my exam, I realized that all of the Twilight Saga movies were on Hulu. So, of course, I watched them. And then I decided that I probably needed to reread all the books too. Really, the same rationale as above. And now I’m kind of regretting deciding to honestly list all the books I read…

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