Confession? I read a whole book over the weekend. I started it on Saturday morning and was done just before dinner on Sunday. It was magnificent. The previous week had been a killer week work-wise and I needed to not look at screens (computer, phone, TV) for a while. Reading a book totally re-set me and I was ready to face my screens again come Monday morning.
I’ve got back into reading in a major way in the last few years. I used to devour books as a teenager but stopped prioritising it at uni when I had to read so much for my coursework and then the habit of not reading just kind of stuck. Randomly I think it was podcasts that led me back to my reading roots. I listen to a few podcasts that have book recommendations (like Chat 10 Looks 3) and it’s had me back in the land of fiction where I haven’t been for ages.
Here are a few books I’ve read in the last few weeks and they’re all pretty darn good. If you’re looking for a good book to read, try one of these.
1. Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng
This is a book about motherhood and what it looks like in all its different forms. Celeste Ng has been on my radar for a while and this popped up in my Kindle recommendations so I went for it. It had over 4-star ratings across all platforms (Amazon, Goodreads) so I knew it would be good. I really enjoyed it, it was a lovely look at the way different women approach the raising of their children and how what looks ‘wrong’ to some people is often just different.
2. The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris
I’m actually still in the process of listening to this as an audiobook (I’m almost done!) but I’m totally hooked. And the title is very self-explanatory. It’s based on the true story of Lale and Gita Sokolov, two Slovakian Jews who survived Auschwitz and then ended up living in Australia. Obviously, it’s awful (as most stories about the Holocaust are) but whenever I read about massive world events like this, I really connect with the smaller stories inside the bigger stories. I’ve read a lot (and watched a lot!) about the Holocaust but it’s so big and awful it usually takes a story about an individual person or family for me to really connect with what’s going on. This is definitely one of those stories.
3. The Woman in The Window by A.J Finn
This is another book I’m almost finished and I’m loving it. It’s about a woman who lives alone in New York and spies on her neighbours. Which is all fun and games until she sees something she shouldn’t… I love a book that unpacks the complexities of being human. Also harbouring important information you shouldn’t have and wondering what to do with it. What can I say? I love secrets and any book that slowly reveals excellent secrets is WAY up my ally.
4. Bad Blood by John Carreyrou
This is a non-fiction but it’s bloody awesome. I listened to this as an audiobook and I ended up cleaning out all our cupboards just so I could finish listening to it. It’s about Theranose, a blood diagnostics company that ‘changed the world of medicine’ by saying they could test for hundreds of diseases with a simple drop of blood. The problem was, none of it was true. This is the story about the founder Elizabeth Holmes and how she managed to build a billion-dollar company that couldn’t do 90% of what they said they could do. It’s such a fascinating look into people in power and how easy deception can be. It’s like the Belle Gibson case but on a much, much bigger level.
5. Everything Is Lies by Helen Callaghan
I also listened to this one as an audio-book and loved it. It’s not a totally life-changing book but it’s a good thrilling romp. Also if you’ve never listened to an audiobook before I can highly recommend this one. I’d been favouring audiobooks over podcasts recently because some podcasts can feel like an extension of Facebook if you know what I mean? They feel like I’m reading stuff on the internet which is generally what I’m trying to avoid to by listening to it in the first place.
What’s on your books to read in 2018 list? Any crackers you want to share?
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