Creative Meanderings

Reading is my joy. Reading is my escape. Reading keeps me sane. Reading is life!

In past posts, I have mentioned this first set of three books that were on my read-ar, but as I was thinking that it is probably about time that I update on the other books I’ve covered, I realized just how much I have read since my last proper literary escapes post in February.

One way that I can get through many of these books is through Audible. Audiobooks have been a thing for me since I was young since my parents went through a phase of listening to books on their road trips. I used to buy books and download as gifts for years.

However, when I had less time for listening and more time to lounge around on my balcony or home, I read books on my Kindle or in paper form.

Now, being back in the land of a lot more walking and train commuting, I am back to having a ton more time to listen and less to carry around a ‘book’. Therefore, of the 14 titles posted here, I only “read” three and a half of them in totality. The half was _Sapiens_ as I ended up getting the audio version as it was just taking me far too long to read it on my Kindle before bed at night.

So, I’m up to 20 books for the year so far, which is pretty good. I’ve got another audiobook going now, plus one I read at night to slow my brain down.

Of these titles, I have enjoyed all of them. But, will give you a short rundown of my thoughts.

_Spilled Milk_ and _Educated_ fall into a similar genre of the autobiography of a girl who overcomes her circumstances to be ‘successful’ in life. I use quotes because, of course, this is a subjective idea. Both were inspiring in ways and very challenging to read/listen to in parts. I am still processing the impressions they have left on me.

_Stay Sexy & Don’t Get Murdered_, _The Killer Collective_, The Weight of Silence, and _Lying Next to Me_ fit into the ‘murder’/crime genre. Though, the first title is less about crime per se, but is what binds the story together. All were great reads. I recommend the first, though if you are interested in the ladies behind the same titled podcast – which I love!

_Sapiens_ and _My Spiritual Journey_ were historical reads. Neither of which I can say I enjoyed in the sense of the storytelling aspect, but both of which gave me new information about the historical contexts they relayed. I also recognized that though it is good for me to read this genre now and then, I’m just not so interested in it.

_I Feel Bad About My Neck_, _I’m Fine and Neither Are You_, and _Trail of Broken Wings_ were a kind of journey into the mind of women whether from the challenges of aging as in the Ephron book or in finding oneself in the second title, or redefining our inner strengths like with the latter, each offered a different view of the female world. Although I am not necessarily a fan of this kind of literature, I am somehow finding my own female voice through these kinds of works. Of the three, I enjoyed the latter the most, but possibly because it was the more depressing of them all. 😛

_A Year in Provence_ and _Where the Crawdads Sing_ were lovely fiction stories that I thoroughly enjoyed. I highly recommend both, though they are not similar at all.

Finally, the self-help genre with _The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F…_ and _Dare to Lead_ were informative and motivational in different ways. I didn’t quite get all the hype over ‘subtle’ because it assumes a reader who is not reflective or thoughtful already. Thus, not much sunk in as I took much of the advice as ‘duh’ statements. 🙁 Not to say that I didn’t have anything to learn from it, just that an introverted over-thinker such as I had already processed these points. As for Brene Brown’s book read by the author, well, I have been motivated to research the possibility of completing my PhD somewhere. It’s not a for sure thing and, quite possibly I’ll change my mind next month, but through her book, I realized I am indeed still fascinated by leadership and development. So…we shall see.

With that, these are the inputs to my brain the past six months. Still got a few more months to go in 2019 and plenty of trains, planes and automobiles to entertain myself in until then! 😀

Happy Reading!

~T 😀