As 2019 comes to a close, I wanted to finish off the year with an overview of the books I have in progress and hope to finish. Even though the start of a new year is somewhat arbitrary, I like to go into the new year having finished all of my in progress reading.
This year, five days until the New Year as I write this, I have five books in progress. I'll edit the post on January 1st with whether or not I've actually completed each book.
In the next five days (now to New Year's Eve), I hope to finish reading:
- The Storyteller's Secret by Sejal Badani
- How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character by Paul Tough
- Joyful: The Surprising Power of Ordinary Things to Create Extraordinary Happiness by Ingrid Fetell Lee
- The Reckoning by John Grisham
- It's Not How Good You Are, It's How Good You Want to Be by Paul Arden
The Reckoning by John Grisham
To be honest, I'm struggling with The Reckoning. After enjoying the first half, I'm at a point that I find tedious. I normally give myself 40 pages to decide if I'll keep reading a book or give it up. I'm so far beyond that...I found this novel decent enough to keep reading until the halfway point and now I'm just not into it. If there's one book I likely won't finish, it's this one. And, I (probably) won't feel bad about it.
- Edited to add: I decided to give up on The Reckoning. It just hasn't been holding my interest and I have many other books I'd rather be reading. I'll put my copy in the my apartment building's laundry room for someone else to read.
- Because I'm not finishing The Reckoning, I am not including a link to buy it.
The Storyteller's Secret by Sejal Badani
As I write this blog post, I have about 9 hours left before 2020 officially starts, and I will most definitely finish The Storyteller's Secret even if it means not finishing others on my "currently reading" list.
I LOVE THIS BOOK!
The Storyteller's Secret is cross-generational and cross-cultural, spanning a US-born and raised young woman, her Indian born and raised mother, and her Indian born and raised grandmother, as well as an assortment of other characters. It also includes a British soldier and an Indian Untouchable. The story is steeped in the mysteries of womanhood, mother-daughter relationships, unlikely friendships, and forbidden loves. However, as much as it is partially a love story, I believe the bulk of the story is really about relationships and perceptions. Badani does a masterful job of writing about a very American young woman dealing with American customs and norms while grieving a marriage and miscarriage, while also writing about her mother who had to straddle two cultures and nations, and a grandmother who was rooted in a traditional Indian upbringing but longed for more.
I found Badani's novel via Prime Reading, a perk of being an Amazon Prime member -- you have access to borrow up to 10 e-books at a time with NO due date, and you keep access to the books even after they are no longer Prime Reading offerings. Essentially, you have the e-book until you are ready to return it. Please note -- Prime Reading is NOT the same as Kindle Unlimited.
How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character by Paul Tough
I LOVE THIS BOOK!
The Storyteller's Secret is cross-generational and cross-cultural, spanning a US-born and raised young woman, her Indian born and raised mother, and her Indian born and raised grandmother, as well as an assortment of other characters. It also includes a British soldier and an Indian Untouchable. The story is steeped in the mysteries of womanhood, mother-daughter relationships, unlikely friendships, and forbidden loves. However, as much as it is partially a love story, I believe the bulk of the story is really about relationships and perceptions. Badani does a masterful job of writing about a very American young woman dealing with American customs and norms while grieving a marriage and miscarriage, while also writing about her mother who had to straddle two cultures and nations, and a grandmother who was rooted in a traditional Indian upbringing but longed for more.
I found Badani's novel via Prime Reading, a perk of being an Amazon Prime member -- you have access to borrow up to 10 e-books at a time with NO due date, and you keep access to the books even after they are no longer Prime Reading offerings. Essentially, you have the e-book until you are ready to return it. Please note -- Prime Reading is NOT the same as Kindle Unlimited.
How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character by Paul Tough
I really wanted to finish How Children Succeed before 2020 begins, but that won't likely happen. I began reading the book in order to glean insight into how better to help my extremely intelligent tutoring students. Many of the students I work with are quite smart, but they lack grit -- they lack determination and endurance in the face of challenges or adversity. So far, I'm greatly enjoying Tough's book and have gained some insights into how to better serve my students, but overall, I'm just enjoying learning about other educators and methods around the United States.
Very interesting and worth reading if you are a professional in education.
Very interesting and worth reading if you are a professional in education.
- You can buy How Children Succeed via Amazon HERE.
I started reading Joyful for an online book club, but it took me a while to get into it. I won't finish it before the end of today, but I am enjoying it enough to continue. Fetell Lee's book is a great look at how the environment around us shapes our interaction with it and with ourselves, as well as how that environment (natural and man-made) impacts our mental and emotional well being. I've made some changes to how I have my home and office organized and decorated based on what I've gleaned from Joyful, and those changes have indeed made a positive impact.
If you've dabbled in Feng Shui but not really stuck with it, Joyful might be a good read for you!
If you've dabbled in Feng Shui but not really stuck with it, Joyful might be a good read for you!
- You can buy Joyful on Amazon HERE.
- Edited to add: I finished Arden's book while flying home from a two and a half day trip that devolved into me staying holed up in my hotel room with food poisoning. It's a fast, easy read and, in the end, how you apply the principles of the book is entirely up to you.
- You can find Arden's book HERE on Amazon.
What books rounded out the end of 2019 for you? Would you recommend them or suggest a fellow reader take a pass? Drop a comment and let me know!
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