When I finished graduate school, I told myself I was going to do a lot more personal reading. I did so much research and reading while in school. As a young child I used to devour fiction books. So why was it so hard as a young adult to read? I struggled with this for years until I discovered audio books. Once I started listening to audio books it made me more eager to read more books.

About two years ago my role at my company changed which meant I’d be on the road driving more. For long drives, I would download and listen to books. Then I began listening to books as I ran. I started training for a half marathon and as my runs got longer I had more time to listen to books. When my role at my company changed a year later, I found myself using audio books to slow down my walks with my dog or pass the time with monotonous chores like folding laundry.

Of course, when you read more books, you tend to bring them up in conversation. My husband would always declare, “You didn’t read that book. You listened to that book.” This statement of course led to our debate over how to refer to the way I took in a book. We debated words like absorb, digest, and take in, and eventually landed on consume as the winner. I prefer consumed because you can ‘consume’ a book by reading or listening.

Consistently for the past several years, I am consuming about 2-3 books at a time. I do so by departmentalizing my books in the following way:

• Audible – I use while driving, walking, or doing chores when I’m home alone. I consume all types of books through audible – fiction and non-fiction. However, I tend to be able to actually complete non-fiction books with the use of audible versus when I try to physically read non-fiction. My favorites are the audio books read by the author.
• Kindle – I use at night in bed. I typically read fiction (historical fiction is my favorite) and autobiographies. I love my kindle because it does not require a light to enjoy so it is not disruptive to others in my environment. Kindle books are great for night time drives when you are the passenger in the car or on airplanes! At times it takes me longer to finish reading on my Kindle because of the need for sleep.
• Paperback – this is more random but tends to be books that have been loaned to me or more discipline-type of books that would traditionally fall into the ‘self-help’ category – professional development or personal/spiritual development. I typically read these in the morning if I’m eating breakfast alone or before I start my workday. These are great to bring along on errands if I know I will be waiting on an appointment. I like to underline and make notes in these types of books to refer back to at times.

Since I enjoy reading and I have a goal to read more books this year than what I read last year, I thought I would share what I finish reading each month.

By no means am I a book critic, but I generally have opinions on most of my reads. My goal is to share the book title, how I ‘consumed’ the book, a bit of what the book is about, what I enjoyed, and who I think may also appreciate the read.

I’ll include my opinion in the form of a numerical 1-5 rating system as well:

1 – I rarely give a book a one. This would indicate that I did not finish it or absolutely did not enjoy or find value in the book.

2 – I struggled to complete the book. A two means that I can see why some may value the read but I personally did not enjoy or value the book.

3 – A three is tricky for me. I finished the book and found it just okay. It means that I may have had a difficult time initially getting into the book, parts of the book, or understanding a character. Perhaps the theme did not dig in deep enough to convey a strong opinion, emotion, or capture the intended purpose of the author.

4 – I get it and genuinely like it. I think others will find value or pleasure in the book because of the story, characters, or message.

5 – I LOVE the book. I believe almost anyone would enjoy this book as well. If you are similar to me then I believe you will LOVE the book as well.

So here are the books that I completed in June: