Reading Habits

I love my kindle, but before buying it in 2020, I was a big library girl. I’d wait a few weeks after a book was released to search for it on a library portal and then wait patiently for a few more weeks until that book was ready to be borrowed from my local library branch. When I was a kid, my sisters would drive me to the library, where I would take out 5-10 books at a time. When I was old enough to drive, I made a visit to the library whenever I could. I always dreaded the drive, but loved being in the actual library once I was there. I’d sit and read the latest edition of Vogue or Architectural Digest before checking out my library books. How very 2010s of me…

I used to probably read 1 or 2 books when I was a library girl. Now that I’m a KINDLE girl I read almost double that number of books every month. Sometimes, if the book is 600+ pages, there’s definitely a lil lag in how many books I’m reading, but otherwise I’m pretty consistent with having 1 or 2 books going at a time.

To supercharge our reading habit, my boyfriend and I have also started to listen to audiobooks on our runs instead of podcasts. We usually have 1 Audible credit every month, so we pick a super long book that will last us for the whole month. Even when we listen to it at 1.8x or 2x the normal speed, it gets us through the whole month. The last book we listened to (and liked) was Empire of Pain - super long & detailed, but a thrilling and complex history.

My favorite types of books are self-improvement books with biographies coming in second place. Sometimes I feel overwhelmed at the idea of self improvement but I love how books break it down in digestible steps. I try to take at least one idea away from every book that I read (but not necessarily to implement, just something for my mental toolbox).

Lately, my favorite self-improvement books have been:

• Discipline Is Destiny: The Power of Self-Control by Ryan Holiday

• The Light We Carry: Overcoming in Uncertain Times by Michelle Obama

• Never Finished: Unshackle Your Mind and Win the War Within by David Goggins

• How to Live: 27 conflicting answers and one weird conclusion by David Sivers

• The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life by Mark Manson

I also like to throw in the occasional “fun” book like:

• Lagom: The Swedish Art of Balanced Living by Linnea Dunne

• Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life by Hector Garcia Puigcerver and Francesc Miralles

Some books I’m looking forward to reading are:

• Everything is F*cked: A Book About Hope by Mark Manson

• The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

• The Little Book of Lykke: The Danish Search for the World's Happiest People by Meik Wiking

• The Values Compass: What 101 Countries Teach Us About Purpose, Life, and Leadership by Mandeep Rai

• Kaizen: The Japanese Method for Transforming Habits, One Small Step at a Time by Sarah Harvey

• 8 Rules of Love: How to Find It, Keep It, and Let It Go by Jay Shetty

If you want to stay up to date on what I’m reading, follow me on Goodreads 😃