I made a commitment to read (or listen to because let’s be honest sometimes it’s just easier to listen to an audiobook) one book a month this year and so far I have been doing a great job!
I love to read but I noticed last year, I didn’t really read much. I attempted to join a local book club and thoroughly enjoyed the books but the women in the club were reading whole books in two weeks. As a working mom, I did not have that much free time to complete a book that fast and didn’t want a good book spoiled at the meetups. So, I quickly left the book club – but found I was slow to pick up another book.
The reason for my challenging myself to read one book a month was twofold. First, I wanted to do something for myself. When you read you become immersed into the story and find yourself taking a break from reality. I find this is super important for my mental health and I realized it was something I was not doing for myself on a regular basis. And second, I wanted my kids to see me reading more and less behind a screen. I fully believe we foster a love a reading in our children when they see us read. Isn’t that a great reason to begin reading? I sure thought so.
Now before I go into the July book, I am going to quickly recap the books I’ve read thus far this year.
January: Gone Girl
February: The Woman in the Window
March: City of Girls
April: The Scent Keeper, Never Have I Ever
May: Untamed, Never Have I Ever
June: American Dirt
July Read
This month I finished Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine. I will say this book was hard for me to get into. I actually started it a few months ago and stopped about a quarter of the way into it. The story just did not pull me in initially. But a friend who had read the book told me to try again. I forced myself through a few more chapters and really started to get into the book.
It’s about a woman who believes she lives a completely normal life of going to work, checking in with her mom, and enjoying a simple meal each night. She is thirty years old, has worked at the same job since she left university, speaks on the phone to mummy once a week, and drinks two liters of vodka every weekend. Eleanor Oliphant is fine. But is she?
The epitome of socially awkward, Eleanor is oblivious to social cues and norms, uninhibited by a filter, quite literal, and extremely frugal. At thirty, she’s set with her one and only job—no ambition for anything better or more challenging on the horizon.
Pick up this book to find out how Eleanor learns to engage with others in a social situation and go from being ok with being alone to enjoy the company of others.
Overall a great story once you get past the first couple of chapters.
What book are you currently reading? I would love to know what your favorite books of 2020 have been thus far. So drop them in the comments below!
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