Books read in 2017

The past few years I’ve really upped my game in the reading department.  The most common question I get about that is “how do you have time to read?”.  I don’t have more time than any other crazy busy person out there, I just make time.  Reading matters to me.

Life the past few years has felt harder for a variety of reasons.  And I realized instead of being an emotional eater, I’m an emotional reader :).  So instead of stuffing my face with breadsticks or donuts, I just read a book.  Oddly enough, I like to read pretty heavy stuff.  I’m a huge fan of a memoir or a historical novel with some deep, heavy topics.

Anyway, here’s the books I read in 2017.

I read a lot of reeeeeeally good books this year so it’s hard to narrow it down to my very favorites.  But here are some worth singling out (also please note I take no responsibility for language in any of these books–I can’t remember which ones have stronger language and which ones don’t–sorry.  I’m able to look past some language if I think the message of the book adds value to my life.  Take that for whatever it’s worth).

1.  Little Bee  The writing in this book is out of this world.  So so good.  If I read a book in less than two days, you know it’s a good one.
2. Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood  This is a memoir about Trevor Noah.  I had no idea who he was before I read the book.  This was super interesting.  I wanted to more about how he ended up where he did, but the first part of his life is fascinating.
3. You Are a Badass: How to Stop Doubting Your Greatness and Start Living an Awesome Life  Possibly the best self-help book I’ve ever read.
4. All the Bright Places.  This book is pretty heavy, and I don’t normally read Young Adult fiction, but man this one was good.  Couldn’t put it down good.  Her other book Holding Up the Universe I also thought was really good.
5. Killing Jesus (Bill O’Reilly’s Killing Series)  This is a non-religious account of the life and death of Jesus.  I’ve read a lot about Jesus and I lived in Israel for four months studying his life and visiting all the places he lived, but I still learned so much in this book.  Super interesting and very well written.
6. Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less  I’ve been making a very deliberate effort to simplify every aspect of my life and our family’s life.  Less less less in just about every aspect.  This book was super helpful in that pursuit.

I could go on and on with books I’ve loved, but this is at least a starting point of books worth reading.

You can see the books I read in 2016 and some of my favorites in this post.

I also share books I’ve read on Instagram if you want to follow me there (@ltross)!

If you have a book you’ve read and loved, let me know.  I’m always looking for good books!

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