5 Great Books to Read This Spring
I’ve mentioned a couple of times on the blog that I love books, and I love to read. I always enjoy when other bloggers post personal reading lists, because I love adding to my (ever-growing) book list. I don’t read nearly as much as I did before my daughter was born, but I am usually still able to get through at least two or three titles per month. So, I thought I would put together my own list of great books to read. Hopefully, you will find something intriguing here. 🙂
The Year of Yes: How to Dance it Out, Stand in the Sun, and Be Your Own Person by Shonda Rhimes
If any of you are feeling stuck in a rut, or just need a little bit of inspiration, I highly recommend this book. Actually, I would recommend this book to anyone, whether you were feeling that way or not. It is an easy, and fast, read and will literally have you laughing out loud. If you’ve ever watched any of the TV series that Shonda Rhimes writes for, then you already know that she is a brilliant writer. This is her story of stepping out of her comfort zone for one year, and the incredible transformation that she went through because of it. It was hugely motivational for me, and truly shifted the way that I think about things. The friend that recommended it to me called it “Life changing.” Go pick up a copy, and you can thank me later. 😀
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
This book was a suggestion at a book club that I have with my girlfriends. A couple of the girls had already read it and absolutely raved about it. It didn’t end up being chosen as our book of the month, but I was so intrigued by it, that I read it on my own. This book is so fantastic on so many different levels that it is hard to boil it down into one short paragraph. It is the story of Henrietta Lacks, a poor black tobacco farmer, whose cells were taken without her knowledge back in 1951. Those cells have been bought and sold by the billions and have been vital in the development of the polio vaccine, gene mapping, cloning, and more, and yet, her family can’t afford health insurance. It is an amazing story involving the clash between race, ethics, and medicine. It truly puts things, like how privileged so many of us are, into perspective.
Bridget Jones’s Baby: The Diaries by Helen Fielding
This was my most recent read. If you’ve read any of the Bridget Jones books, then you know pretty much what to expect from this one. It is an easy read (as long as you don’t mind cussing) that doesn’t require a lot of extra brain power, which is exactly what I was needing. In this book, Bridget Jones finds herself unexpectedly, yet delightfully, pregnant. The only catch is, she’s not sure who the father is. It could be Mark Darcy – ex-fiance, love of her life, all around stand up guy. Or it could be Daniel Cleaver – another blast from the past who is a charming and funny imbecile (although that’s not how she refers to him…). This book is full of over the top shenanigans about baby-deadline panic, maternal bliss, and the overall chaos that is Bridget Jones. It’s a great book if you need something fast, easy, and funny.
Simplicity Parenting: Using the Extraordinary Power of Less to Raise Calmer, Happier, and More Secure Kids by Kim John Payne
I just finished this book about a week ago, and I really loved it. I think we all have certain ideas about how we want to parent our children, and this book fell right in line with most of my own personal desires. For a few months now, I have been desperate to purge. Like, my whole house. I started warning my husband around November that as soon as the holidays were over, the purge was on. And I have been slowly working my way through the house. Though this book is geared towards parenting, there are so many things to glean from this book about life in general. I’m making my husband read it also (hehe), and after reading the prologue, he said, “I feel like this was written for me specifically.” He didn’t mean for him, as a parent; he meant for him, personally. This book talks about how to streamline your home environment (declutter), establish rhythms and daily rituals, create breaks in that schedule, and scale back on media and parental involvement. If you are looking to simplify your life in any way, especially as a parent, I highly recommend this book.
A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness
Ok, I’ll confess that this is not a recent read. When I was thinking about books that I truly enjoyed and would want to recommend, though, this one came to mind. It is actually the first of a trilogy. This book probably would be considered Sci-Fi, as its central characters are vampires and witches. Don’t let this scare you, though, if you are not a big sci-fi type. This book combines fantasy, history, romance, intrigue, and suspense. It is rather long (all 3 books are), but I found it difficult to put down once I started reading. This is a book that I have read more than once, which I rarely ever do. I enjoyed it every bit as much the second time around as I did the first. So, if you’re looking for something a little different, or wanting to escape into a alternate universe for a bit, I absolutely loved this book.
So, there you have it. Hopefully, you’ll find something you enjoy here. And feel free to leave me your own personal recommendations in the comments!