What I’m Reading Lately 9.17.18

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It’s been a hot minute since I shared some of the books I’ve read and loved. My book journal where I track my reads is currently packed somewhere (booo!) but I think I’ve read close to 40 books so far. Definitely not on track with my usual pace, but that’s ok! Here are some of my favorites I’ve been reading lately.

Fiction

Eleanor Oliphant Is Totally Fine

I listened to this audiobook, which I highly recommend. I enjoyed the story, centered on a woman, Eleanor, who has experienced a trauma in her past and is not entirely self-aware enough to fully understand the world around her. I enjoyed the story and watching the evolution of Eleanor as she learns about friendship, love, and taking ownership over her own life.

Little Fires Everywhere 

I hated (ok, really didn’t like) Celeste Ng’s first book, Everything I Never Told You. I loved Little Fires Everywhere. The story is centered in a community called Shaker Heights, and examines what happens when a poor girl and a rich boy become friends and how the difference in backgrounds impacts their friendship and their families. Plus, there’s a mystery fire and you need to figure out who set it.

The Things We Wish Were True

I listened to this book for free after accidentally buying a month of Kindle Unlimited (whoops!). I full on loved it. The story takes place in a southern town, and follows a handful of characters who are brought together after an almost-tragedy at the local pool. I love novels that have multiple perspectives and follow multiple characters, so this was right up my alley!

The Alice Network

I full-on resisted reading this book because it was everywhere. EVERYWHERE! Sometimes I don’t love reading books that everyone is reading. But, I gave in and got The Alice Network on Audible. I loved it. Historical fiction, told through two perspectives – Eve during World War I as a spy, and Charlie who is trying to find her cousin who disappeared during World War II. It’s a mix of mystery, suspense, and friendship. Loved it!

Into the Water

I just finished Into the Water yesterday. I was looking for an easy, suspense read after finishing Year of Yes. This wasn’t an easy read (lots of perspectives) but it was a mystery that kept me guessing until about 75% of the way through.

Non-Fiction

Educated

This book has gotten mad buzz this year and for good reason. In short, it’s the story of a family living in Idaho and how the father’s increasingly radical point of view pulls his children from going to school formally and instead keeps them at the family home, working and practicing Mormanism. Despite the odds (not having formal schooling, an abusive family member, a dangerous living situation), Tara ends up not only going to college, but earning her Ph.D. Must read.

The Sound of Gravel

This book was very similar to Educated. It’s a coming of age story about a girl growing up in an unstable family environment, consistently moving between Mexico and Texas, trying to make ends meet. Ruth is one of many siblings, and takes care of her siblings, her mother, and herself.

The Glass Castle

Book #3 in the dysfunctional family memoir. I would call this one of the original dysfunctional family memoirs. This is definitely a genre I love – I think its interesting to delve in to someone else’s reality and learn about what their life is like. I really enjoyed the book and want to watch the movie next.

The Year of Yes

I am a full-on, crazy Grey’s Anatomy fan. I liked Scandal, but I loved Grey’s. I wasn’t sure how I would like Shonda Rhime’s book, but it turned out I loved it. Shonda Rhimes talks all about how she had it all (on the outside) but actually, she was turning down every opportunity to get involved in her own life. She decided, after a conversation with her sister, to say yes to every opportunity that came her way. And what happened was she forced herself out of her comfort zone and grew

Bye, Bye Dorm

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I’m starting my fourth week in Iowa. I’m kind of shocked that I’ve been here close to a month already. In some ways, I feel like I’m starting to really get to know the area and have a routine and am part of the community. Other times, I don’t feel settled at all and wonder what the heck I was thinking moving here without Jason and Hoss.

The end is near though! Last week, I found out that the seller’s of our Iowa house would let me rent the house until we close at the end of September. It was something I talked to their realtor about before we put in an offer, but needed to get through the offer stage and inspection before it could become a real option. Luckily, they were willing to work with me since they knew my situation and the house is vacant and gave me a pretty sweet deal to move in. So, as of Monday, I am living in our house and am 100% out of the dorm. You have no idea how good it feels!


Sneak peek at our upstairs living room

This really has me feeling better about everything. The house is pretty bare because we aren’t doing our official move in for two weeks. Even though we have access to the house, we’re not crazy enough to ignore the fact that something could fall through on the sale here or the sale of our Minnesota house. We’re currently in the midst of appraisals at both houses, so fingers crossed they both go well. Part of me worries that everything has gone too well with this entire process that something is bound to fall through. Ah, the joys of anxiety.

So, fingers crossed that everything keeps going well. Knowing that Jason and Hoss will be living here in 2 weeks or so is really helping to keep my anxiety at bay and hopes up. The end of this crazy 1.5 months will hopefully be coming to an end soon and I’m so excited to have my family back together again.

Dorm Chronicles: The One With the Noise and a Half Naked Person

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It’s been awhile since my last update, so I thought I’d share what just happened this evening…

I’m getting more comfortable here in Iowa. I have a daily routine – work from 7:45-4:45ish each day, then off to the gym for a class or cardio workout. It’s good! I usually get back to my dorm sometime after 6, make dinner, and then settle in to watch Parenthood. It’s a good routine, though I can’t wait to move out of the dorm and make a routine in our own house.

Anyways, this evening around 8pm, I’m in bed, watching Parenthood season 5, doing my sudoku, and sipping on some Crystal Light (#lifegoals) when I hear my upstairs neighbors screaming, yelling, and jumping. Okay, whatever. It happens, I can be cool.

But then it doesn’t stop.

I’m sitting here, trying to be cool, but also keeping an eye on the time. After twenty minutes of continuous jumping and screaming, I give in. I know that I am living in a dorm with young kiddos and it’s only 8:20 and not quiet hours yet, but it’s also ridiculous to have to put up with this noise all night.

So, I put on more acceptable clothes, make sure I don’t mascara on my face because maybe Parenthood had made me cry, take a deep breath, and go upstairs to ask my neighbors to keep it down.

I walk down the hall and need to figure out which door to knock on. I go full on creepy and stand outside each of the doors and listen to figure out which door to knock on.

I figure out which door to knock on. I knock.

“What?????” I hear a yell from in the room. I do nothing, because I don’t know these people. I knock again.

“WHAT???????” comes a full-on scream from inside of the room.

I stare at the door and try to decide what to do. Obviously, they are not going to answer the door but they’ve acknowledged I’m there. So I take a deep breath and open the door.

Oh boy. There are two girls, obviously getting ready for a night out, drinking Franzia wine, in their underwear. We’re all shocked by the sight of each other.

I try not to laugh as I take in the ridiculousness of the entire situation. I smile and tell the girls I’m their downstairs neighbor and while I hate to do it, they are incredibly noisy and are shaking my room and making a rukus (did I say rukus?) and they need to keep it down. They look shocked, which is kind of hilarious. But after a moment, they tell me they’ll keep it down. I thank them, and tell them if it keeps up I’ll call the RA. Then I close the door, start laughing, and walk back to my room.

And now I wait to see if they stop making that damn rukus.

Luckily, I’ll probably living in the dorms for a few more days….but I’ll share that update for another day!

Living the Dorm Life

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It’s official, friends. I am living in a college dorm. I’m in a traditional student room (i.e. no bathroom or kitchen) with a twin size bed, and a mini-fridge that I bought from Target in the College Shop section yesterday. Since this is so ridiculous, I thought I’d give you a tour of my home for the next month and a half!

My hallway. It’s white and depressing. But I don’t have any students living on my floor, so it’s not so bad.

My door! Think I should hang something up on my bulletin board? Send your suggestions and I’ll do the best one!

My vanity / kitchen sink area. Please note the hideous blue stripe paper that is glued to this bad boy. It’s really cramping my style. And if you have a keen eye, you can spot my hot pink shower caddy.

My kitchen aka mini-fridge, microwave, and food.

Closet! It’s a two-fer, because it’s a closet with a dresser inside. Ignore the clothes hanging over the rod, as I don’t have enough hangers. Sigh.

Here’s my den / media center. TV (with a roku that is NOT compatible with the campus’s wi-fi, kill me now), books, and computer.

Finally, my bed. Twin size, extra long. I could do a bunk bed if I wanted, but I think I’ll pass for now!

So far, it hasn’t been terrible. The kiddos above me like to slam their door, so that has been driving me crazy. Not having counter space or my toaster oven is getting old quick (and I’ve only been here 24 hours). I definitely need to get a better blanket and would like new sheets, but I don’t want to waste money on twin-sized sheets for such a short stay. It’s not the worst in the world, but I’m definitely not living my dream life!

Good news is that we’re still on track to hopefully get all of our house selling and buying wrapped up by the end of September. Right now, that is what is keeping me going. My dorm life will be an adventure, but it has an end date, and that makes me happy.

Exciting News on the Homefront!

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I made it to Wednesday! Two days of work successfully completed and am on to day #3 today. I would be lying if I said it was easy – it’s tough having to learn an entirely new campus and meet new people – but it’s also fun and exciting. So I’m exhausted, but happy.

First day of work selfie


The office ducks who are checking out the news person…

Yesterday was an incredibly exciting day for Jason and I. Without sharing much detail, we accepted an offer on our house in Minnesota AND our offer on a house we love in Iowa was accepted! I’m so excited and it feels like a huge boulder of stress has been lifted off of my shoulders. I don’t want to share any details yet, because there are still lots of things that have to happen with both properties before it’s official, but it feels so good to have some good news here.

This is totally dorky, but Jason and I virtually celebrated our good news yesterday. We video chatted, and I had an amazing beer at SingleSpeed Brewery (Tip the Cow, a new fave!) and it was as perfect as we could make it.

Other than that, I’ve been getting to know Cedar Falls and hanging out at my Airbnb. Cedar Falls has an amazing Main Street, so I’ve been wandering around checking out the shops and seeing what is all around here. There are definitely some cute boutiques that I’ll be going back to once we actually have a house that have great home decor.

My nights have been spent reading or watching Parenthood. Luckily my Airbnb has dogs, and they are both super snuggly and adorable. I miss Hoss like crazy, but it’s nice to get some puppy snuggles where I can snag them!

Our First Weekend in Cedar Falls

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I’m officially in Cedar Falls, Iowa. I start my new job in about 12 hours, which is kind of unbelievable. The past few weeks have been an absolute whirlwind, with submitting my resignation, getting our house ready to sell and driving down to Iowa to start this new chapter of our lives. We’re moving to Iowa. What?!

I snapped this picture on my way to Cedar Falls on Friday. Our house was officially listed on Thursday and we’ve had some interest. No official offers yet, but we’re keeping our fingers crossed that we’ll hear something soon. Getting our house ready to sell was way more work than I anticipated. Plus, it’s stressful to feel like we’re living in a museum. I know I’m getting a break for the next week, but it’s definitely having an impact on our family. Poor Hoss just doesn’t understand why all of his toys and doggie beds have been put away. I have my fingers crossed that we have an offer soon!

We hit the road on Friday around 10:15am. We had to drive to Iowa in separate cars because Jason needed to get back home to Minnesota on Sunday for work. It was a bit weird not to be in the same car, but I passed the time listening to the Up and Vanished podcast (so good!) and harassing Jason on our walkie-talkies.


When we got to town on Friday, we checked into our hotel then met with our realtor. We looked at five houses on Friday night. There were a couple that were horrible (can’t sugar coat it!), but two that were contenders. The housing market is definitely different in Iowa. The houses are older and definitely are not cookie-cutter layouts like in Minnesota. We saw two houses we liked on Friday night, but it was definitely a reality check for us to remember that our house search in Iowa is going to be much different than our house search in Minnesota was.

Saturday morning we woke up and had plenty of time to get breakfast and explore the area before meeting with our realtor. We had breakfast at the Village Inn (a throwback to my fave Milwaukee breakfast restaurant growing up), then drove to campus so I could show Jason where I would be working. We had fun walking around campus and exploring. Afterward, we drove to Waterloo to check out that side of town. They have a cute downtown and we ended up at Singlespeed Brewery. They have an amazing taproom and good beer. Definitely a good sign!

After our morning of exploring, Jason and I went to meet with our realtor for day 2 of house hunting. We looked at a few houses out of town, as well as more in Cedar Falls. Day 2 was more a bit more promising, with more houses that we felt excited about. We saw one with “ghost steps” (pic below). These steps were in a bedroom leading up to the attic. CREEPY!!!!!

We left day 2 of house hunting feeling really good about two houses and knew we had some serious discussing to do. We decided to head to Main Street to check out the other local brewery, Second State, and restaurants and chat about houses and such. We had a lot of fun doing more exploring.

This morning we spent time chatting with our realtor making some decisions about next steps with the houses we’re interested in. Jason left  to get back to Minnesota around 11:30am and then I was all alone in Iowa. That was a sobering moment – I definitely had a mini-freakout. I went to two open houses to get a better feel on two of the houses we looked at and do some more thinking.

This week, I’m staying at an Airbnb. It’s close to campus and gives me a chance to get to know the area a bit more. Plus, there are FOUR dogs here to keep me company while I’m so far away from Jason and Hoss.

So, this new adventure kicked off Friday and officially starts tomorrow morning. I’m excited and anxious, and can’t wait to get started.

Breezy Tee Sewing Project

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I am slowly, but surely, improving my sewing skills. Which is hilarious because a year ago I could barely set up my sewing machine, much less imagine making a shirt I’m proud to wear. But here we are! This week I made the Breezy Tee.

This weekend I made my second Breezy Tee from It’s Always Autumn. Her patterns are crazy easy to use, which I love. Sometimes it’s nice to sew something that doesn’t require much brain power.

Breezy Tee Sewing Project

Fabric

I am madly in love with the single and double brushed poly from Sly Fox Fabrics. I used these colors/designs:

Here is the finished Breezy Tee!

Front of the Breezy Tee:

Breezy Tee Front

Back of the Breezy Tee:

 

 

Breezy Tee Back

Neckband – I’m definitely getting better at these bad boys. I had to redo this one (and ripping serger seams is a b*tch) but I’m proud of the outcome!

Breezy Tee Neckband

Yay! Now to decide what to make next!

2018 Word of the Year: Choice

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There is something about starting the week on Tuesday that makes the week seem so much more manageable. Four day week instead of five? I’ll take it! That being said, I’m eyeing up taking a few days off for a stay-cation, to refresh myself and get ready to take on the spring.

I’ve been hearing a lot about choosing a word of the year and felt particularly inspired by the Happier in Hollywood and Happier with Gretchen Rubin podcasts to choose a word. The thing is – how do you choose a word? How do you figure out what in the world you want to accomplish in the next 365 days? Can you choose wrong? (Oh, hey anxiety!)

2018 Word of the Year Choice

2018 Word of the Year

I spent the past two weeks reflecting on 2017. Last year was tough. For every good thing that happened, it felt as if five bad things happened. 2017 felt like a deep pit that I felt stuck in. No matter what I tried to do, it all felt like too much.

That being said, while reflecting, I recognize looking back that sometimes, I leaned into this feeling. Not perpetuating it, but using all of the struggles and stress as an excuse. An excuse to eat poorly and not exercise and to not have the best attitude and to have cocktails during the week. The result is that I no longer feel like my best self. I feel tired and I don’t feel healthy and this is contributing to me still feeling overwhelmed and not in control.

So as I thought of words of the year, a few came up – control, choice, and ownership. They all are pointing to the same concept but in different ways. I like the idea that I have control, but in truth, I don’t always have control. That’s life and that’s okay. Ownership also came up, as in taking ownership of the choices I make. This is getting a little closer to my intent.

I ultimately decide on a word of the year: choice.

Choice seems to encompass control and ownership, with a more positive spin. To me, choice means that when an opportunity arises or a decision has to be made, I get to choose how I respond. I cannot control everything (nor do I want to), but I can make choices based on what is going on in my life. This may be related to being busy – I choose to work full-time and go to school – or health – I choose to get up in the morning to workout, or not work out. What it means is that I make choices every day, and those choices contribute to my overall well-being and happiness.

Choice. I get to choose each day and I want to make choices that make me a better me.

What I’m Reading Lately . January 2018

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It’s a “snuggly coffee, look out at the snow, and read a good book” sort of day. Which is exactly what I’m planning to do today. I have today off in honor of Martin Luther King Day and plan on having a cozy day at home, doing things I’ve been wanting to do but haven’t for the past four weeks or so. But before that, I wanted to share some of the books I’m reading lately.

My view from the kitchen table this morning. Lots of snow!!

I’ve already read five books this month. I’m surprised by my progress, but some of this is because I flew to Milwaukee for a day last week and spent a lot of time at the airport and flying and did what I do best – read. Thank goodness for my Kindle and good books! That being said, the books I’m reading lately have been great – quick reads, that don’t require a lot of thinking, but are still well-written.

Quick Lit - What I'm Reading Lately

Books I’m Reading Lately – January 2018

The Sun Is Also A Star by Nicole Yoon 

This book was amazing. Ah-mazing. I liked Everything, Everything (also by Nicole Yoon) but this book. This book! What a great way to kick-off my 2018 reading journey.

Essentially, this book is about two teenagers who serendipitously meet and spend the day together in New York City. They fall in love. Oh, and one of the teens is about to be deported back to Haiti. I loved everything about this book – the premise was unique, the characters were believable, the build-up of tension and pacing of the book was superb. To me, this is an example of what really good, YA-writing is and is supposed to be. This doesn’t pander to its audience or talk down to it, but rather embraces the characters and story, and it is written well. Love, love, loved this book!

Young Jane Young by Gabrielle Zevin

This book took me by surprise. I’ll admit – I was resistant to read it because everyone was talking about how good it was and it sounded cliche to me.

Premise – a young (21-year-old) professional has an affair with the married Congressman she’s working for and it becomes public. Slut-shaming ensues.

This book was so much more than that. It’s told from different perspectives – the girl’s mother, the Congressman’s wife, etc. The book doesn’t focus on the affair, but rather the consequences of the affair and poses questions that typically aren’t answered after something like this happens – what happens to the girl/woman after a public affair? Why are men and women treated differently? How does this impact the families? 

I loved this book and highly recommend.

The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin

Young Jane Young inspired me to start reading Gabrielle Zevin’s other books. Wow – The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry is equally as good (dare I say better) than Young Jane Young.

The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry is about a man who owns a bookstore. Each chapter focuses on a time in his adult life, starting with him living in the aftermath of his wife’s death and dealing with the appearance of baby who is abandoned in his bookstore. This is a beautiful story. I loosely felt a familiar feeling as when I read A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman – a different story, but a feeling of evolution and change. This story was beautiful and I loved it.

Attachments by Rainbow Rowell

This book was a perfect, light read. I’ve been reading a lot of palate-cleansers aka books that don’t require me to think too much. This book was great for that.

Essentially, this book is about a 28-year-old guy working at a newspaper that has recently adopted the internet and email in 1999 and is charged with monitoring peoples’ emails to ensure they are behaving appropriately. He starts to fall for someone whose email he is monitoring but doesn’t know who she is. Mayhem ensues.

(And all the 1999/Y2K references are fantastic!)

This was a cute and quick read. I loved it and will check out some of Rowell’s other books now too!

Zealot by Reza Aslan

I enjoy listening to Reza Aslan talk about religion, however, I didn’t love this book. I’ll be the first to admit that my relationship with religion is troubled at best and that may have colored my reception of this book. This book focuses on the history and historical context of Jesus. Honestly, I had a hard time following the book and felt it was a bit unfocused. Overall, not my favorite.

There you have it – my round-up of what I’m reading in January 2018. I’m about to start listening to Priestdaddy by Patricia Lockwood and reading Acceptance by Jeff VanderMeer to finish the Southern Reach Trilogy. Here’s to the books I’m reading lately – there have been some great ones!

What are you reading lately?

 

Top 5 Non-Fiction Books of 2017

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Happy Friday friends! I can’t believe it’s the last Friday of 2017. I don’t know about you, but I’m thrilled to say goodbye to 2017 and hello to a brand new year! Yesterday, I chatted about my top 5 fiction books of 2017. Today, I’m back with my top 5 non-fiction books of 2017. I’m not going to lie – today’s selection was a whole lot harder to narrow down than yesterday’s, which really surprised me!

My Top 5 Non-Fiction Books of 2017

My Top 5 Non-Fiction Books of 2017

As I combed through my non-fiction reads of 2017, I was kind of shocked by how many awesome books I read. I read good fiction books, yes, but my non-fiction books were nothing short of amazing. I had a hard time whittling my selection to my top 5 non-fiction books, so there are a few honorable mentions at the end (not sorry!).

“I am hyperconscious of how I take up space. As a woman, as a fat woman, I am not supposed to take up space. And yet, as a feminist, I am encouraged to believe I can take up space. I live in a contradictory space where I should try to take up space but not too much of it, and not in the wrong way, where the wrong way is any way where my body is concerned.”

Hunger by Roxane Gay

This is the 99th book I read (well, listened to) in 2017. Talk about ending the year on a high note. I don’t feel like I can do justice to describing this book, and that is partly because my experience reading it was so personal. If you’ve been reading since I blogged on Racing Bananas, you know that I’ve had a lifelong struggle with my body and body image. In Hunger, Roxane Gay describes what led to her becoming “morbidly obese” (I hate this terminology) and how gaining more and more weight protected her. While I don’t share her specific background or experiences, the relationship she has with her body and how the world views her body was all too familiar to me. This was an incredibly difficult book to listen to, but it is one of the best books I’ve ever read.

“People always ask me, ‘You have so much confidence. Where did that come from?’ It came from me. One day I decided that I was beautiful, and so I carried out my life as if I was a beautiful girl … It doesn’t have anything to do with how the world perceives you. What matters is what you see. Your body is your temple, it’s your home, and you must decorate it.” 

This Is My Face, Try Not To Stare by Gabourey Sidibe

This book came out of left field as a favorite for the year. I’m a sucker for a “celebrity memoir,” but this book is so much more than that. Gabourey Sidibe (from Precious, The Big C, Empire) shares stories from her life growing up in New York, living with her parents, a US citizen and Senegalese immigrant, her experiences with her body (theme here!), her time working as a phone sex operator, and eventually becoming an actress. To me, this book felt real. It was about someone who didn’t necessarily want to be famous, but instead about someone who grew up in difficult circumstances and how that shaped her as a person. I loved it. Plus, she’s ah-mazing as a narrator.

“I’m sorry, but eeeeeeeww. A woman telling another woman that she’s not likable because she’s smart is gross. It’s a big F-U to all the women who have fought and continue to fight for ladies’ equality, and furthermore, it continues the cycle of discouraging women from being as well rounded as men are allowed to be.”

You Can’t Touch My Hair: And Other Things I Still Have To Explain by Phoebe Robinson

This book was another one that shocked me with how good it was. I knew Phoebe from 2 Dope Queens (love the podcast!), but not from much else. I bought this book when it was on sale on Audible for $4.99 (#cheap!). I’m so glad I did. Phoebe is hilarious. I related to her as a millennial who loves pop culture. She shared her perspective and experiences as a black woman, as a feminist, as someone who isn’t perfect but is real. I would full-on be crying I was laughing so hard, and then would be nodding my head in agreement with her thoughts on feminism. If you’re in the millennial (30-ish) age range, I think you’d like this.

“Pajamas? Poor people don’t wear pajamas. We fall asleep in our underwear or blue jeans. To this day, I find the very notion of pajamas an unnecessary elite indulgence, like caviar or electric ice cube makers.”

Hillbilly Elegy by J.D. Vance

Skiiiiiirt, change of pace here! I listened to Hillbilly Elegy back in January or February, as I was trying to piece together an understanding of where the country was politically (at least, NPR told me that’s what this book would help me do). While it didn’t do that entirely, what this book did provide was a perspective on what it’s like to live in Kentucky, in a poor town with little prospects, in a poor family strife with struggle, and helped me think about how different that experience is from my own. I don’t think I’m being political when I say our country is torn right now, and in my perspective, much of that is derived from people struggling in a way they haven’t before, and villainizing other people as a way to explain that struggle. For me, J.D. Vance provided a perspective on his life, and what it was like growing up in a part of the United States where the American Dream isn’t guaranteed, where college isn’t guaranteed, where you work for that American Dream without the promise of achieiving it. This book provided me perspective, and I appreciated that.

“This is every reader’s catch-22: the more you read, the more you realize you haven’t read; the more you yearn to read more, the more you understand that you have, in fact, read nothing. There is no way to finish, and perhaps that shouldn’t be the goal.” 

My Life With BOB: Flawed Heroine Keeps Book of Books, Plot Ensues by Pamela Paul

This book was recommended to me this summer, and I am so glad I picked it up. Pamela Paul is the editor of the New York Times Book Review, and she shared her story of BOB. BOB is her book of books, and is diary, a tribute, a history of the books she read throughout her life – but also to her life itself. This book is mostly a light read; while it does touch on some tougher times in her life, My Life With BOB is really a celebration of books – of the books we read and the role they play in our lives. As someone who started keeping track of all of the books I read since 2015, I loved that someone else does that and knowing that tracking those books provide not only a list of books read, but a reflection of the life she’s lived. If you’re a reader, this is a must read and I highly recommend!

Honorable Mentions:

There are a few more books that I just have to mention because they were that good.

Eviction, Born a Crime, Furiously Happy

Your Turn! Those are my top 5 non-fiction books of 2017. What were your favorites?