5 Quick picks: Books worth a look

Are you an avid reader or have books taken a backseat to other interests? What’s your favorite genre? If you’re like me, you read a ton as a kid and teenager but don’t get your hands on as many books as you’d like these days. Even if I don’t read quite as much as I used to for pleasure, it’s still wildly satisfying to curl up with a good book. Here are some of my favorite recent reads.

My favorite genre is mysteries/thrillers and “The Girl Before” by JP Delaney had me racing to get to the last page.  This suspenseful quick read tells the story of Emma and Jane, several years apart, and how they came to live at the too-good-to-be-true One Folgate Street residence. It’s owned by an eccentric architect with strange demands and right away we learn there’s more going on than what meets the eye.

“Unfu*k Yourself: Get Out of Your Head and into Your Life” by Gary John Bishop is one of those books that fires you up in the best way possible and helps you break through self-imposed limitations that can leave you feeling stuck. Gary’s writing is no-nonsense and his approach spoke to me in a way other self-development books have not. It’s like reading a 200-page pep talk and was exactly what I needed.

 

“Living the Simply Luxurious Life: Making Your Everydays Extraordinary and Discovering Your Best Self” from blogger Shannon Ables makes a great gift for yourself as we head into 2019. It’s Shannon’s second book and she explains that it “will help you along the deeper journey to discovering your best self as you begin to trust your intuition and listen to your curiosity.” I feel like sometimes we get too busy or sidetracked to focus on what matters and by the time we realize something is off, it’s that much harder to fix. Shannon shares her tips for cultivating a life you love. I completely agree that the everyday moments are just as worthy of a celebration as the big ones.

 

Keith’s been a Oui In France reader for several years and I was so happy to see he published another book! It’s called “Are We French Yet? Keith and Val’s Adventures in Provence” and is a hilarious collection of stories from Keith and his wife Val’s part-time life in Provence. If you’ve spent any time in France, you’ll absolutely relate to his tales that cover pharmacy visits, the butcher shop and more. One of my favorite stories is how Keith describes pharmacy etiquette and why buying Vaseline in France can be a wee bit embarrassing. If you plan on spending some time in France, I highly recommend that you pick up this fun read that will give you a real-life look at what to expect.

 

When I was a kid, I assumed that adults have things all figured out. Now as an adult, I know how very wrong I was. “How to Be Everything: A Guide for Those Who (Still) Don’t Know What They Want to Be When They Grow Up” by Emilie Wapnick is proof that so many of us have multiple passions and don’t know how to bring them all together to live the life we want. Read this to figure out how to make your unique strengths and passions work for you and find out why not fitting into a box is OK.

 

Wish list:

I first heard about “The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life” on a podcast earlier this year and then my friend Jasmine recommended it to me when we were talking about something a couple of months back. It’s my birthday on New Year’s Eve and I let Tom know this Mark Manson book is at the top of the list.

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What have you been reading lately?

P.S. I’ll be back here in a day or two sharing another “5 Quick picks” post over the holiday week, so if you’re taking a little vacation and have time to relax, I’ll see you back here on the blog soon.

 

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